His opponent in the quarterfinals was Kota Fujinami from Fukuoka.

Fujinami has been famous since he was a junior high school student as a genius kendo player. Coupled with his good looks, you can now see his female fans at every venue. He is apparently also frequently interviewed in women's magazines. I've only ever seen him on TV and in magazines; he seems like a distant figure. With a face that good, I'm sure he'd be able to date a beautiful woman. Just imagining it makes me mad.

I've never had a girlfriend. I've gotten better at kendo, and I think my face isn't so bad. My maternal aunt and others always compliment me by saying, "You really have a good-looking face, Dai-chan." It's a shame that my aunt is the only one who compliments me, though.

Up until now, not a single girl had ever been attracted to me. I think I'm popular with my classmates and junior boys, but girls just don't approach me. I once took the plunge and asked a rare female friend, "What do girls think of me?" The girl, who resembled a mountain gorilla, glared at me.

"scared"

You shouldn't say that. I swallowed the words and simply replied, "I see."

Fujinami has been given the famous nickname "The Uncrowned Emperor." This is because he has advanced to the finals of the individual competition at the national tournament three times, but has lost each time and finished as runner-up. Last year, at the Inter-High School Championships, he was on the verge of reaching the finals for the fourth time, but was defeated by a senior and finished in third place.

Even though he can't win, Fujinami has always been at the forefront of his generation. Until Ishizaka won last year, he was said to be the strongest rider in his generation, and in fact, he is almost invincible in Kyushu.

In this tournament, he has not lost a single point in the four matches up to the quarterfinals. So far, the fans have been satisfied with the match results.

The next day, only the preliminary round for the men's team and the women's individual matches were held. Watanabe and I went to the venue to watch the matches. There were many spectators in uniform in the stands.

The students who came to this venue could be divided into three groups: those who were playing in the next day's match, those who had come to support the team from the beginning, and those who had lost the previous day's match.

"Ah, that."

When I instinctively called out, Watanabe turned to look in my direction. Two men of different ages were watching the match a short distance away.

"It's the Kikuchi family."

The father and son duo, Mamoru Kikuchi and Kensuke Kikuchi, from Kagoshima, were famous in the kendo world as a "father-son duo." Kensuke is arguably the second most powerful kendo player in Kyushu after Fujinami.

I casually asked Watanabe.

What do you think about your father being the coach?

"That must be annoying. You see each other at school and at home, right? I don't even like seeing each other at home."

Watanabe exaggeratedly raised both hands and made a gesture of surrender.

"Right."

He nodded in agreement, but at the same time, he was envious of his father who was so actively involved in kendo.

For a long time, my father had been indifferent to his two sons' futures. When my second son decided to go to Hokushin High School on a recommendation from his kendo instructor, and when my older brother quit university and became a part-time worker, it was only my mother who was worried. My father didn't seem to care, and it was clear that he thought he would provide the money, but that the rest was up to them to decide for themselves.

I remember bumping into Kensuke Kikuchi in the crowded gym during practice the day before. My knee collided with Kensuke's ankle, causing him to fall. At that moment, Kikuchi Mamoru glared at me from under his mask, his eyes filled with raw hostility.

It was the eyes of a parent bird, braving an enemy to protect its chicks. I wondered if my own father had ever looked at me like that. I thought about this as I watched the Kikuchi father and son watching the game side by side.

The main reason for coming to the venue that day was to watch the match of Joyo High School, the team captained by Kota Fujinami. Joyo High School is located in the fiercely competitive Fukuoka area, but is a school that regularly participates in national tournaments. The person who has developed Joyo High School into a school that regularly participates in national tournaments is a coach named Hirasawa.

The preliminary league was a round-robin tournament between three schools. Joyo High School's first opponent was a high school from Aomori. The first and second players won, while the middle and vice captains drew, so Joyo High School's victory was decided before Fujinami, the captain, even got to take the stage. Fujinami did not strike once during the four-minute match.

The second school was a high school in Nara, but with Joyo's first, second, and third teams all winning, Fujinami didn't have to compete in this match either. As expected, Joyo won the preliminary league by a landslide, allowing Fujinami to conserve his energy for the individual competition.

"That's strong."

I nod in response to Watanabe's murmur.

"The first three are too strong."

"In the end, I was barely able to observe Fujinami."

"Well, it can't be helped."

Originally, I wasn't really paying much attention to today's match. I'd already watched countless videos of Fujinami's matches in Sapporo and studied his style. I just wanted to see if his habits and attacking style had changed in today's team match.

Not just Fujinami, but all the other skaters he has a chance of facing in the tournament gather all the footage he can get his hands on, studying every last bit of it to think about their weaknesses and how to attack them. He was so focused on the competition right before it began that Watanabe, who was watching with him, complained, "That's enough." He watched the footage over and over again by himself until he could visualize himself winning. If he couldn't win, there was no point. It's that determination that has him standing on the national stage now.

"Minato-kun, can I have a moment?"

As I was absentmindedly watching the women's individual competition from the stands, someone called out to me. I turned around and saw Masuda-sensei with a troubled look on his face. Watanabe had disappeared just a few minutes earlier, saying he was going to watch the competition from another location. Masuda-sensei walked around to the front and sat down in the seat where Watanabe had been sitting.

"There's something I'd like to ask you."

"You mean Sansho Kakushi?"

I asked without looking at Professor Masuda's face.

"That's right. I want you to practice proper kendo in tomorrow's match. Minato-kun is the star of Hokkaido right now. Don't you think he should be aware of that?"

What a selfish thing to say, I replied in a cold tone.

"If I lose while practicing proper kendo, will Masuda Sensei take responsibility?"

In front of me, a tall female athlete was taking a kote-men from her opponent. Her strikes were powerful and fast. An average male athlete would not last even a minute.

"This is a problem that goes beyond the question of winning or losing."

"The purpose of kendo is to win. Even if you perform beautiful kendo, there's no point if you lose. Isn't that right?"

"Because we aim to win, we have to perform beautiful kendo."

I didn't want to argue any further, so I picked up my bag and got up from my seat.

"I don't understand."

"Hey, where are you going?"

"If you're upset, come back after you've trained a player who can play as well as me."

Maybe I was trying to look a little too cool, I thought to myself as I walked off into the hallway.

I had dinner with Watanabe at the hotel restaurant. I ordered a stir-fried vegetable set meal, and Watanabe said, "I'll have that too."

As I was eating at the counter, a group of young men walked past me. Their loud, chatty voices sounded like they were about my age. I turned around intrigued and saw that their polo shirts had "Joyo" printed in large letters on the back.

The Tokoyo group sat down at a table a short distance away. After they finished placing their orders, they began chatting. I unconsciously listened to their conversation.

"Kota, who's your opponent in tomorrow's quarterfinals?"

Someone said in a loud voice.

"Hokkaido Port"

Several people reacted to Fujinami's answer.

"Who's that? Has anyone seen the game?"

"I saw it. It was some kind of dirty kendo."

"He's the guy who beat Iwata, right? He only uses pulling techniques. If he plays normally, even I can't beat him."

"Don't say that, you lost in the internal selection."

Laughter broke out at the Tokoyo table. I bit my lip to contain the anger that was welling up inside me.

After finishing his meal, Watanabe immediately got up from his seat.

"They were doing it on purpose."

On the way back to his room, Watanabe said quietly.

"He's taking preemptive action like that because he's scared of Daigo. If he really thought it was no big deal, he wouldn't do something like that."

I got off the elevator and said goodbye to Watanabe. I was so glad that I brought him along.