Vol 1 Chapter 31: Katsuko Shusa vs. Mionemu Ina – A High-Level Sparring (Vol 1: The Delinquent High School Girl’s Servant Survived and Advanced to the Second Year)

After finishing their warm-up, Mionemu-senpai and Katsuko began sparring.

They both donned an “abdomen guard” to protect vital areas, along with full-face headgear that reached down to the jaw.

“There’s a weight difference, so let’s start with some light sparring, alright?”

“Yes. Understood.”

When Katsuko worked as a sub-trainer at the gym, she sparred using only punches against male amateur kickboxers in the bantam and featherweight divisions. However, Mionemu-senpai is taller than those fighters and competes in a higher weight class.

That said, men generally have an advantage in power, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that Mionemu-senpai is stronger than them.

From what is known, Katsuko barely allowed any punches to land—even against top amateur kickboxers in the A or B class—casually brushing them off. According to Takeuchi Sukuna-san—a featherweight who often trains with Katsuko and has recently moved up to the A class as a potential pro—

『(ﾟ∀ﾟ)Ahya! I’ll never spar with Shuso-chan again (^_-)-☆. It just completely drains your confidence and motivation ( ;∀;)』

…Her words were so laden with emoticons that one could practically see them floating around.

Even though it’s a different discipline, if someone at Takeuchi-san’s level—on the verge of going pro—couldn’t handle Katsuko, weight class differences might not matter at all. Still, it would be fascinating to see how well Mionemu-senpai, who competed at the Inter-High, would perform.

“Ready… begin!”

Rurei pressed the stopwatch button and signaled the start.

“I look forward to working with you.”

“Likewise!”

In the center of the ring, as their gloves met, Mionemu-senpai suddenly twisted her upper body to the left, established a pivot with her right foot, leveraged her rotational force, utilized the spring in her knees, kept her elbow slightly bent, and unleashed a long uppercut.

Katsuko swayed back to dodge the punch, then quickly stepped back to widen the distance and escape Mionemu-senpai’s range.

“That’s dirty…”

“On the other hand, it probably just means she’s that serious.”

Although Azuma-kun remarked that it simply demonstrated her seriousness, one might wonder whether a surprise attack on a first-time sparring partner is wise.

Perhaps she intended to apply pressure, but Katsuko was not one to be easily intimidated.

Closing the gap, Mionemu-senpai took advantage of her height to deliver an overhead jab.

Was it hard to read a jab coming from that angle? Katsuko gradually backed away.

Whenever Katsuko tried to advance, that uniquely arched uppercut would come flying, preventing her from stepping forward.

Using her reach advantage to apply pressure, Mionemu-senpai drove Katsuko into a corner of the ring.

“She’s very skilled at using the ring and cutting off her opponent’s escape, isn’t she?”

Azuma-kun muttered in admiration.

While amateurs tend to stick to the ring ropes—thereby giving the pursuer a shield—Mionemu-senpai didn’t move along the ropes. Instead, she maneuvered inside the ring in a diamond pattern, closing the distance in a straight line to block Katsuko’s escape route and drive her into the corner.

Trapped in the corner, Katsuko faced a right straight from Mionemu-senpai.

But Katsuko extended her glove forward, catching Mionemu-senpai’s right fist and stopping the punch.

Instead of letting the punch land and then parrying, Katsuko preemptively halted it with a stopping technique, nullifying the attack.

“Nice one!”

In response, Mionemu-senpai threw a left hook, but Katsuko, weaving in a graceful semicircular arc, slipped under the red glove and circled around to Mionemu-senpai’s blind spot on the left, escaping the corner.

Then, as Katsuko unleashed a barrage of jabs, the roles reversed—Katsuko drove Mionemu-senpai into the corner.

“Good!”

One couldn’t help but cheer for Katsuko.

Though the offense and defense had switched, Mionemu-senpai showed no sign of panic. Instead, she assumed the so-called L-guard stance, positioning her left arm at a right angle against her raised right elbow.

“Ha!”

Katsuko retaliated by throwing a right hook, as if repaying every blow she had received.

Katsuko’s right—having previously knocked several biker gang members to the ground—was now aimed at an Inter-High level boxer.

At the moment the punch seemed destined to land, Mionemu-senpai raised her left shoulder and blocked it with a shoulder block.

Without pausing her attack, Katsuko used the recoil from untwisting her body after the right hook to launch a sweeping left hook.

When Mionemu-senpai guarded the left hook with her raised right arm, Katsuko continued by unleashing a piercing right body uppercut.

Mionemu-senpai parried the right uppercut—aimed precisely at the upper sternum above the no-foul cup—with a left parry, as if smacking it away, but Katsuko’s barrage was far from over.

As Katsuko fired a left uppercut that seemed determined to pierce her opponent’s body, Mionemu-senpai caught it with the tip of her elbow, using an elbow block to intercept the punch.

One advantage of the elbow block is that by receiving a punch with the hardest part of the elbow, the opponent is discouraged and finds it harder to land a blow on the body.

However, Katsuko, undeterred, threw a right straight.

Mionemu-senpai’s posture was beginning to falter, and it seemed as though the punch would land—but she turned her palm toward it and caught it with a stopping technique.

Although stopping lacks the continuity of blocking or parrying, it is an effective defense when one’s posture collapses.

Once she regained her footing, Mionemu-senpai weaved out of the corner, escaping the danger zone.

“Amazing… you actually withstood that barrage!”

Everyone was astonished that she had managed to defend against a hellish five-hit combo—right hook, left hook, right body uppercut, left body uppercut, and right straight—using, respectively, an LG guard followed by a shoulder block, guard, parry, elbow block, and stopping technique.

Thus, with both fighters exchanging advances and retreats without a single clean hit, the sparring ended in an almost evenly matched contest.