Chapter 21 – Confrontation with the Disciplinary Committee Chair

“Then, shall we have our match, Kamiji Shinta-kun?”

“Understood. But I’m an amateur at kendo, so please don’t expect too much.”

Holding his bamboo sword, Shinta faced off against the Disciplinary Committee Chair, Nakamura Kaoru, in the kendo dojo.

A little while ago in the disciplinary committee room, Shinta had received this request for a match from Kaoru. At first he intended to decline the offer, but he couldn’t help being bothered by the ferocious presence he felt from the woman before him. Having been on the receiving end of hostility and malice from many people, Shinta sensitively picked up on the unsettling aura coming from Kaoru. The reason he agreed to this bout was because he wanted to ascertain Nakamura Kaoru’s true nature.

The time designated for the bout was set after the other club members had gone home, and currently, Shinta and Kaoru were the only two people inside the spacious dojo.

“Heh heh… I’ve been looking forward to this.”

A smile played on Kaoru’s lips, her face clearly showing that she had been waiting for this moment from the bottom of her heart. However, Shinta sensed something was off when he saw her expression. That smile wasn’t just one of gratitude for accepting her request, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something much darker lurked beneath it.

“Now, let’s confirm the rules before we begin. In a normal mock match, victory is decided by landing a valid strike like ‘Men’ or ‘Kote’, but for this match, the winner won’t be decided until the opponent declares ‘I yield.’ Are you fine with that?”

“I’m fine with it, but are you sure? Even if it’s a mock match, with rules like that, couldn’t someone get seriously injured if we mess up?”

To Shinta’s slight unease, Kaoru offered a challenging smile.

“Heh heh, there’s no need to worry about me. Besides, you wouldn’t fall completely behind a sport swordsman, would you? So… why don’t we both go all out?”

That confirmation felt exactly as if she was saying ‘Don’t break too easily on me,’ especially since she had told him to fight freely without being bound by form. It was as if she was asking for a no-holds-barred fight.

“Then… here I come!!”

Almost simultaneous with those words, Kaoru pushed off the floor hard and closed the distance in an instant.

(Ngh, she’s fast!)

As expected of a fierce competitor who took second place in the national tournament, her footwork was clearly in a league of its own compared to the other members. With the speed of a jaguar, she closed the gap and readied her bamboo sword. From a high stance, her blade swung down like a falling boulder.

“Meeeeen!!”

Shinta leaped backward to dodge the merciless downward swing that held absolutely no restraint. The sound of the strike smashing against the floor was tremendous, and if it had hit him, it would have reaped his consciousness.

“Heh heh, you dodged it, just as I thought. But how about this?”

Kaoru was actually delighted that her first strike was dodged. Taking another large step forward, she thrust her blade out—aiming straight for his Adam’s apple.

“What!?”

Dodging the merciless thrust to his throat by a hairsbreadth, Shinta opened up some distance.

“Hey… isn’t that going a bit too far against an amateur?”

It was only because Shinta possessed physical abilities and reflexes far beyond those of an ordinary person that he was able to dodge it, but it was incredibly close. If that thrust had caught his throat, it could easily have led to a major injury. True, a thrust wasn’t a foul, but he couldn’t hide his surprise that she’d mercilessly target an amateur’s throat. Furthermore, that thrust just now was driven by completely unrestrained momentum.

“Hey, just to be sure, this is strictly part of practice, right, senpai?”

“Heh heh… to think you’d completely dodge my fastest thrust just now. As expected of the Legendary Ex-Yankee, your physical abilities are leagues above any mediocre club member.”

Ignoring Shinta’s question, Kaoru just kept muttering to herself.

“Hey, senpai?”

He had felt a faint, unsettling presence even before the match began, but now that presence had grown much thicker. A single bead of sweat rolled down Shinta’s cheek as he watched her suspiciously. Just as he wiped it away with the back of his hand, Kaoru, who had been looking down, slowly raised her head.

Plastered across her face was a deranged, manic smile.

“Fuhahahahaha!!”

He wasn’t even given the time to be dumbfounded by the blatant change. With a lunge even more terrifying than before, she had somehow slipped right into his guard. Maintaining her momentum, she unleashed a one-handed horizontal sweep aimed straight for his torso.

“Ngh!? The hell, that hurts!!”

“Whoops, that was close!!”

Grimacing in agony from the shock running through his flank, Shinta swung his bamboo sword back, but Kaoru dodged the counter by a hairsbreadth and retreated to create distance.

“Good, very good! Withstanding my full-power strike and immediately counterattacking? You truly are… a wonderful opponent♡”

The calm and composed Disciplinary Committee Chair she had shown until now was completely gone. Standing before him was a battle junkie whose sanity had snapped, her madness exploding outward.

“I see… so that is your true nature. No wonder I couldn’t let my guard down around you.”

In this moment, Shinta realized that the intuition he’d cultivated during his delinquent days had been spot on. The person wielding the bamboo sword in front of him was a complete lunatic mesmerized by combat—a beast that couldn’t be reasoned with.

“Now, from here on out, anything goes! Arouse me more and more, Demon Goddddd!!!”

Along with that roar, the beast who had completely unleashed her true nature lunged right at Shinta.