The Master's Foolishness Is Sky-High (1)
The Master's Foolishness Is Sky-High (1)
Aika Ninomiya was a kendo prodigy.
Many people said so in unison.
Starting in elementary school, she swept every individual division at kendo tournaments.
All the way to her final victory in the individual kendo division at Japan's largest high school athletic meet, the so-called Inter-High.
The word "defeat" had never once existed in her kendo life, so it was only natural that she was called a genius.
Perhaps that was why.
Aika was the first awakener to manifest an EX-grade Innate Talent.
『Sword Saint (EX-grade) — Masters the principles of the sword.』
'I was an awakener... no, EX-rank?'
"Mama, Papa. My Innate Talent grade...."
"What are you saying? Becoming an awakener is impressive enough; you don't need to lie."
"That's right, Aika. Lying is wrong."
"......."
At first, even her own parents didn't believe her.
Over the roughly thirty years since awakenings began, the number of people who had proven themselves truly S-rank could be counted on one hand.
There were plenty who claimed to be SSS-rank or whatever, but once you opened them up, weren't awakeners worse than C-rank a dime a dozen?
So when a newly awakened twenty-year-old girl said it, there was no way anyone would believe her.
Even if she was a kendo prodigy, breaking thirty years of entrenched prejudice was no easy task.
"Um, my grade isn't listed among the options."
"Excuse me? D-rank through S-rank are all listed?"
"The thing is, my Innate Talent grade is EX."
"...Sigh. Ms. Ninomiya? I understand you're excited about becoming an awakener, but please stop joking around and fill it out properly."
"......I'll come back another time."
On top of that, Japan's stifling administrative system made even registering as an awakener a struggle.
And so, choosing what she saw as the lesser of two evils, she opted to go to Korea.
She thought a place where S-rank No. 3 Seol Hayeon resided might be able to accommodate her.
-Murmur, murmur.
"That was designed to break the graduates... and a newly awakened freshman cleared all of it?"
'So this was it. Disappointing.'
It couldn't accommodate her.
Her talent was beyond what even Korea, the strongest awakener nation, could handle.
Even as an awakener, she was a genius.
"Congratulations on graduating, Cadet Ninomiya... no. Aika Ninomiya, the top-ranked S-rank."
"Think nothing of it, Seol Hayeon, fourth among the S-ranks."
"......You've got some personality."
Thanks to that, she graduated early from Pentagon Academy.
It was thanks to the achievement of single-handedly closing an S-rank Gate that had happened to appear in Korea.
After that, truly unenjoyable years passed.
[Japan's Pride, the top-ranked S-rank! Holder of an EX-grade Innate Talent! We Celebrate the Return of Aika Ninomiya!]
'...You never even believed me.'
As soon as she returned home, she was treated as a walking cultural heritage site of Japan.
"Mama. I'm going to compete in the All-Japan Kendo Championship...."
"Aika, didn't you hear? Awakeners are now banned from competing in tournaments."
"......."
"Instead, they asked if you would please come as a judge. What do you think?"
"......Not interested."
Having become too strong, she was expelled from the kendo world she had been part of since childhood.
"From now on, I'm to conduct awakener activities while wearing a hakama?"
"Yes. There's a bill stating that an awakener representing Japan should appropriately do so...."
"......."
'This damn country, if it hadn't been for Mama and Papa, I'd have thrown it away ages ago. I swear.'
Even her attire was fixed to traditional clothing that was, by her standards, dowdy.
[Survival Rate of New Katana-Wielding Awakeners Plummets... Is Aika Ninomiya Not to Blame?]
"......Haah?"
Absurd articles and smear pieces about her became part of daily life.
Because of the unwelcome title of "Strongest," her disposition grew pricklier by the day.
"Say, Aika? You're also, you know, Thirty-Something now, aren't you? You should slowly start thinking about a man...."
"Mama, I told you I'll handle it myself!!"
'What was I supposed to do? There was no one who caught my eye!!'
......She got especially pricklier after hitting thirty. Anyway.
In the midst of spending her days like that.
"They're in an uproar right now because a Korean freshman beat the record Ms. Ninomiya set in Korea."
"Hoh?"
Suddenly, peculiar news reached Aika's ears.
An unprecedented, unparalleled achievement that only she had accomplished.
The final entrance exam had reached Stage 10.
News that someone had pulled it off again.
...She wasn't particularly interested.
She was more the type who couldn't understand the ones struggling because they couldn't manage that simple thing.
The only sentiment she had was, Oh, really? Finally someone decent showed up, I guess.
That changed only after she heard he was a man.
"And they say he's a male awakener, too."
"Hoh? Let's see."
'I hoped it was someone at least a bit decent, not like that bratty runt.'
Her age: before she knew it, thirty-two.
Wasn't she reaching an age when time was beginning to press her in several ways?
She denied it herself, but deep down, she was growing anxious without quite realizing it.
A man considered likely to reach S-rank had appeared.
It was only natural that she instinctively showed interest.
———However,
"Let's see... Hmm? What about this man's swordsmanship?"
The trajectory the katana drew. The natural footwork.
Seeing all of it, she was, unusually, shaken.
It wasn't because the swordsmanship was impressive.
Quite the opposite.
Yujin's cherished "Jaha Sword Art"...
She realized at a glance that it was only half-complete.
'What in the world was that sort of incomplete swordsmanship? Even a kendo 5th-dan could toy with it.'
Showy-looking movements?
To someone who had mastered the principles of the sword, the flaws were obvious.
Exquisite footwork?
He was merely moving because he knew where the opponent would attack next. It was not proper evasion.
There were various other issues besides, but...
In summary,
'No matter how domineering a katana was as a weapon, not even doing the basic parry was a bit much.'
It was a purely offensive sword art that disregarded defense altogether.
Thanks to that, its offensive power alone was outstanding, but it was a martial art that was nothing more than that.
...For Aika, it was dumbfounding.
The principles behind his attacks were refined enough to impress her, yet the art had no defense at all?
Could such an extreme martial art truly exist?
It was absurd.
It was almost...
'Like a paired combat art... Hmm?'
—Flinch.
The term "combination arts" that had flashed through her mind for an instant.
A notion that had never even occurred to her, since she was the strongest all on her own.
As if possessed, she rewound the footage.
To etch his fighting style into her memory.
"......I see."
She watched the battle that had seemed riddled with openings again.
The movements that had seemed showy yet riddled with openings.
They were domineering attacks swung with absolute faith in the comrade at his back.
He fought at an absurdly close distance from the enemy.
He simply pressed the attack while his comrade kept the enemy pinned down.
It was an all-out offensive sword art without even a single defensive measure.
It was an expression of trust that his comrade would protect his life.
It truly was only half a sword art.
One that would become a complete whole if the other half were combined.
'I see. If someone moved like this beside him...'
Beside him, she saw the faint image of someone.
Someone who fought in perfect coordination with him.
Despite possessing tremendous skill, the comrade who took on the defense so that he could shine.
Someone who knew every tiny habit and detail of the other's fighting style.
A true soulmate.
She could only marvel.
'Huh. Where did he learn a sword art like that? It was almost as though someone devoted to him had created it specifically for him... Wait. Hmm?'
—Stare.
"...Huh?"
But that was only for a moment.
She burst out with a question.
The missing half that should have stood at his side.
The afterimage that had appeared so blurry...
Before she knew it, that indistinct figure had become her.
'That was... me?'
Beside him, she was standing together with him.
She rushed to block whenever he was in danger.
She kept the opponent in check so he could shine.
Aika Ninomiya, moving solely for his sake.
The moment she placed herself into the missing half of his incomplete sword art, everything fit perfectly.
That martial art had been created on the assumption that he would fight alongside her.
'A coincidence...? There was no way this was a coincidence!'
"Book me a plane ticket to Korea. As fast as possible."
She decided to go to Korea immediately.
"What!? You probably can't leave the country without a legitimate reason..."
"Võ Chí Công is going too, so I'll find a way to tag along. Keep it from the bureaucrats."
"...Honestly, if we get caught, I wash my hands of this."
Lightly disregarding her travel ban.
"Võ Chí Công. I'll conceal my identity and observe him, so don't reveal who I am."
"Ms. Ninomiya? I know you're feeling desperate now that you're over thirty, but a twelve-year age gap is still a little criminal."
-Whack!
"......Guhk!!?"
"Runt, were you never taught that it's rude to discuss a woman's age? And that isn't why, so shut up."
"Ugh... You could have just said so, you gorilla."
"Talk back one more time and I'll turn you into a woman."
"......Sorry."
She even threatened the innocent Công into accompanying her.
As a result, she managed to meet Yujin in complete secrecy.
-Ba-dump, ba-dump.
'This should have been our first meeting, so why did he feel so familiar? And why was my heart racing...?'
Yujin was different in person from what she had imagined.
She'd already known from the footage that he was handsome.
But seeing him in person made her heart race on its own.
It was almost like love at first sight.
There was also the familiarity of having known him for decades.
And a longing like seeing a lover after a long separation.
-Grind.
'And the women beside him were pissing me off.'
She even felt inexplicably jealous of Sia and Alice.
Aika reached one conclusion.
'He used some kind of sorcery. I heard he was a hypnotist, and he really was as underhanded as they came.'
She believed he had done something to her.
...It would have felt unfair to Yujin if he knew.
Even at his peak before regression, he had never been able to hypnotize his master while she was in her right mind.
In the first place, she appeared as the "hidden heroine immune to hypnosis" even in the game.
Meaning he was falsely accused of using hypnosis that couldn't be used on her, and which he hadn't used.
But that was what Aika believed.
A woman who knew nothing but the sword could hardly reach any other conclusion.
'I don't know what trick you used, but it won't work on me.'
-Wham!!
That was why she kicked Yujin the moment she revealed herself.
In her mind, he was a lecher who had tried something on her.
There was no reason for her to treat him gently.
"Guhk!!?"
"......."
-Startled, startled.
'What was I doing...? No. Even this aching feeling was false. Don't be swayed, Aika.'
Yet she hadn't put any real strength into the kick.
And when Yujin was flustered, she was sorry to death over it.
Even though she wanted to hold him right then and say sorry, to soothe him with "did it hurt a lot,"
Anyway, she held it in.
And then,
"Your swordsmanship. From whom, exactly, did you learn it."
'And why did you wield a path so perfectly suited to the partner heaven had given me?'
"Lie to me, and I will cut you down."
'But if you tell me the truth... I might let it slide.'
Intense questioning.
Though she performed her most ferocious expression, the probing that followed was inwardly softer than it appeared.
Under that interrogation, Yujin's lips moved several times...
"Well, you see. The truth is... Guhk!?"
-Patter.
———He coughed up blood.
Aika's vision abruptly narrowed.
".........Haah?"
'Huh? Why was he coughing up blood...?'
-Slump....
'Why was he collapsing? Huh?'
What she saw was his form, strength leaving his pupils as he began to crumble.
A few drops of blood scattered through the air as he coughed them up.
And lastly...
Without realizing it—without caring that her clothes were falling out of place or what happened to her dignity—she thrust out a hand in panic.
"Wait..."
-Collapse.
"...a moment."
But before she could finish asking him to wait,
Yujin lost all strength and collapsed completely.
"———Ah, aah."
"......."
"Ah, ah... Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"
Her grief-stricken scream shattered the silence a moment too late.