Atoru was angry. He only chose the secondary class because a while ago people told him hat he could be teached by the sole disciple of the great monolithic master.

But he was fooled. And if there was one thing he hated more than losing was being fooled.

As if Kiu's only disciple would be only a little older than himself, freaking unbelievable.

Oh, when he caught those stupid students who had lied to him, his wooden staff would break from the beating he was going to inflict.

No time for distractions, somehow Senou lost. Although I think it was stupid of him.

"Youngster, are you ready? Do you even know how to swing that little thing?"

An unprofessional teacher that make shitty jokes on his first day. Change of plans, I think I'll end up breaking my stick today.

Without answering Ariel, Atoru held his staff horizontally in a direct position to Ariel.

Instead of making horizontal cuts with the staff, he then attacked him in a stabbing position, as if trying to pierce him.

...

Ariel was almost laughing at how his student was trying to pierce him like a cheese that had just been fermented.

With light strokes he dodged each thrust as he used his staff to push Atoru's in the opposite direction.

This exchange of blows kept repeating furiously for about 10 seconds. In the eleventh, the student took two long strides and changed the direction of his blow by turning it horizontally to hit Ariel's torso.

Raising his eyebrows, Ariel defended himself at the last moment holding his staff at the top end with both hands.

Fast.

Unsatisfied with his teacher's defense, he swung his staff again to try to hit him oh his other side.

Very predictable.

Ariel blocked him more sharply in the second blow.

“IWham!!”

...

Shifting his hands and ready to turn his staff again in the other direction, Atoru got what he wanted by noticing Ariel's changing hands on the rod.

He fell into the feint.

Instead of switching sides to reach his teacher, he swung his staff on the same side, even though his hands were in a different position.

He put all his strength into one blow, and with that same blow he had already succeeded in taking down fighters twice his size.

Got you teacher.

...

Okay, it was a bit his fault to fall for a 16-year-old boy. But in his defense he could use the argument of trying to make room for his students.

Who was he trying to fool? He knew he had underestimated the boy and was about to receive a blow hard enough to break a bone or two in his torso.

As it was the first day, it was part of his job to impress at least a little all these impressionable teenagers. He even tried to be lenient at first, but if he went slowly at Atoru, he knew the boy would become too confident, and that was an unforgivable flaw.

His master at least never let him push the boundaries of confidence in combat. For that, he was very grateful.

In the audience's eyes, Atoru's rod coming in contact with the young teacher's body was inevitable.

As the boy whirled and narrowed the gap between the wood and Ariel's body, the teacher bent his knees and brought his body closer to the floor.

His body was straight and his knees increasingly bent. His right hand rested against the lower base of the staff.

Quick as a bullet, Senou's club reached its destination. The clatter of flesh, bone and wood, however, was not heard.

“Swooish!”

The air had been cut.

Ariel was on the floor, almost actually. His knees were almost fully bent. the space between his calf and his body to the floor was at a 90 degree angle.

Probably this only happens in drawings or paintings. No one believed what they saw.

Ariel's body was resting with his hand on the staff.

As if that wasn't enough, at the very short break Atoru hit the air, Ariel thrust upward with the same hand.

Just before it was completely straight, his staff imitated the same movement as his student, only now the target was the joints of his leg.

"Clack!"

Atoru was lying on the floor without any reaction. Ariel was on his feet as he looked down with a slight smile.

It wasn't disdain or anything. Atoru was only sixteen and managed to make him serious, even for a single moment. Even that Senou was not far behind in terms of skill and strength.

He remembered something his master told him. It was exactly what he felt now.

“Laddie, there are few things better than lying with a woman in bed. One of them is part of my life as a Taiaso practitioner. It's anticipating rivalry, feeling the fear and wonder of exchanging blows with someone who makes you feel unprepared. When you feel it and I know that you will feel it many times over the next few years, hold on to that flame and don't let it go even though it might burn you.”

It was briefly the silence of the rest of the students.

"W-What the fuck was that?"

"Man, he looked like a monkey when he squatted down!"

Kanri was incredulous in the corner of the gym while judging Ariel.

"How the h-? He could have hit those two idiots with one hand. May they damn themselves. If he is as good at teaching as he is fighting, I can beat them myself in the near future.”

Inattentive about Kanri's eager thinking, Ariel was even more intent on testing the potential of the remaining twenty or so students left.

A small army of sixteen years old doesn't sound so bad to me.