The events of the Kaibara Festival have completely subsided after a week.

Although Nao told Natsuki and Shumi the truth, there were no other accidents except that the noisy Shumi got a Saotome brand headlet, but Natsuki's reaction was unexpectedly flat, but this made Nao, who was too mentally sensitive, very relieved. While the topic of the murder was occasionally brought up at lunchtime, the ensuing intense training prevented them from paying attention to anything that wasn't part of karate.

In a week's time, the regional trials for the National Middle School Girls' Karate League will officially begin.

In the past few days, Superintendent Mizushima, who is the coach of the women's department, has changed his usual style of ignoring and giving devilish guidance in the department every day with a bamboo sword, and the focus of the guidance is precisely Nao, Saotome, who is considered by the members of the department to be the No.1 in the women's department, and Sakamoto Shumi, who is second only to her. Mizushima's mutated style made Shumei, who had become accustomed to his posture of hanging a child, extremely uncomfortable, and was physically and mentally exhausted at the end of the day, and she didn't even have the strength to go home, but what made her even more uncomfortable was Nao's attitude of being subjected to the inhuman torture of the Mizushima overseer, and the kind of respectful respect for Mizushima overseer Cheng Dù was like a dead soldier under the daimyo-which made her puzzled.

"Are you alright, Nao?"

Shumi sat down on the stool in the changing room, looking at Nao's originally smooth back, which was now covered with patches of bruises, and showed a grinning expression as if she was suffering for her, "Uncle Mizushima seems to have taken the wrong medicine for the past two days, it's really ruthless...... Look, it's all green, don't you feel any pain at all?"

"Is it green?" Nao tilted his shoulders and looked at his back, then put on his uniform shirt indifferently, "This injury is not a big deal, it just looks a little strict, and it doesn't hurt." ”

"It's strange that it doesn't hurt to fight the bamboo sword with bare hands!" Shumei touched his elbow, which was also a little swollen, and the corners of her mouth twitched in pain, "What do you mean by his training method? The superintendent of the karate club doesn't use karate, but actually holds a bamboo sword to practice with us, does he think he is from the kendo club? That's bamboo! If you knock it on your body, it will be blue, and if it is heavier, it will be broken." ”

"That's your lack of training. Nao changed her clothes, took out the drink from the cabinet and took a big sip, and sat down next to Shumi, "The common denominator of martial arts is that they all need to challenge their own limits. In the face of seemingly too great a disparity in victory and defeat, in the face of an almost invincible strong enemy, it is possible to reach a higher level by breaking through one's limited five senses and exerting the energy in the body to the extreme, but if you fail to break through the bottom limit of the spirit, you are doomed to be beaten. Nao put his hand on Shumei's shoulder and said with a narrow smile, "A beginner who cultivates the 'Dao' like you, can't break through the limit without being beaten and screamed." ”

"What, isn't practicing karate the cultivation of 'Tao'?" Shumi pouted dissatisfiedly, sweeping away Nao's arm on her shoulder, "And you've been beaten a lot!

"You're a pig, didn't you watch Nao's training with the overseer?" Natsuki, who came from the third-year changing closet, slammed Shumi on the back of the head, "You've done your best just to block the attack with your arm, and your arm is still hurting, right?" Nao uses her arm to block attacks like you, but her limbs are used to being hit. Only her back, which is not often attacked, is bruised, and her limbs are probably as hard as an iron ruler. ”

"It's impossible! It's all meat on my arms!"

Shumi looked incredulous, and pulled Nao's right arm and pulled up the sleeve of her shirt, but what she saw forced her eyes to widen instantly.

"Really, really, eh!" she dragged Nao's arm and looked over and over again, her pretty blue eyes shining with adoration, "There really wasn't any injury at all, how did you do it?"

"How? I can do it after a few more beatings!" Nao bared his teeth at her.

"Hmph, that's right. Natsuki hugged his shoulders and laughed, "This training method of the superintendent is drawn from the kendo, the purpose is to train your reaction to powerful attacks and resistance to blows, and the training stage for you is only the beginning, and you will only enter the second stage after you are not afraid of the pain of the bamboo sword hitting your body, which is what Nao is doing now." ”

Nao carried out ...... Hit in the back by a bamboo sword?"

"I said you......" Natsuki pinched his eyebrows with a headache, "It's a real battle, a real battle!!There are many terrifying opponents in the national competition, and their momentum is like a samurai with a real sword." If you can't withstand the attack of the superintendent with the bamboo sword, going to the national competition is simply a fool's dream!"

"In other words, Uncle Mizushima and Nao used all their strength to fight?" Shumi opened her mouth, "How is it possible...... Mizushima is an acting coach in our dojo, and his strength is also at the national level in the adult group!"

"That's right, Mizushima is very strong. Nao's eyes narrowed, "He asked me to fight with him after he first tried it, and I have never seen a second person except my grandmother." If I hadn't been doing anti-strike exercises before, I'm afraid I would have been in the hospital a long time ago. ”

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Shumi shouted, "I said, we are only participating in a competition for middle school students, and it is not an indiscriminate martial arts competition, is it necessary to do so?

"This is the case with Okinawa Ryukoku martial arts, especially the Jijin Ryūryu that I have practiced since I was a child. The purpose of the Gokushin Society is to defeat enemies quickly and kill them with a single hit, although it has changed a lot over the decades. Nao gently stroked his left forearm, which was covered by his shirt, and said with some nostalgia, "If you hone your mental power in the limit and exercise your skills in the natural environment, what you will ultimately achieve is the unity of heaven and man in the 'Dao'." Even if it's a competition for middle school students, you can't distort your genre. The training method selected by Mizushima Supervisor can be said to be the most suitable for me. ”

"I've heard of it before, but I still think it's incredible. Shumi looked at Nao, who didn't complain at all, and dragged her chin and muttered, "It seems that the ancient Jizhen Huiliu can not only chop trees with his bare hands, but also fight bears." If, as the minister said, there are horror guys of this genre in the national competition, we can only train in the way of Uncle Mizushima. Otherwise, when we actually meet, it will be like the first time I fought Nao...... It was a terrible feeling. ”

"Concession. Nao shook her hair proudly, "But I'd like to have a decent guy in the tournament." Even if we want to enter the whole country, it is very troublesome if the opponent is too weak. ”

"You can rest assured that there will definitely be the characters you want in the national competition. Natsuki patted Nao on the shoulder and sighed, "Osaka's Kayota Junior High School has won two national tournaments in a row, and all of their team members are masters who have been practicing karate since they were young - all Wado-ryu. At last year's awards ceremony, their lieutenants also performed the 'White Blade of the True Sword', which spread throughout the country for a while, and several newspapers interviewed them. ”

"And Dao Liu, the one who focuses on jiu-jitsu?" Shumi put on a disgusted expression, "I've seen the video of that genre, it's too difficult...... The kind of posture that can't be shaken off like a snake. ”

Listening to Shumi's words, both Natsuki and Nao were silent. The former was a little worried, while the latter was faintly excited.

For genres that he hasn't seen, Nao always has an almost conceited attitude. It's not that she looks down on other players, but she has absolute confidence in her skills. For a martial artist, this kind of psychology has an advantage in the game, but it is also quite dangerous - if you are caught off guard by the opponent's attack and lose your initial momentum, then it is an absolute fiasco.

It's not that she hasn't been defeated, and she was defeated badly when she was in Okinawa. But even if she fell to the ground countless times and failed many times, she couldn't change the strong self-confidence and desire to win that she had been entrenched in her heart all year round. Karate, or any sport that focuses on the practice of the Tao, is necessary for the cultivation of the mind, and when applied to Nao, it is transformed into an endless fighting spirit.

The more she practiced, the more she wanted to win.

"There's nothing to worry about, whether it's with Daoliu or from changing the middle school, it's not a problem. Nao curled the corners of her mouth, put her palm in front of her eyes and slammed it, her golden green eyes shining, "Now all we need to do is keep training, and then - use these hands to pull them off the throne of the national champion!"

"Yes, yes, isn't it decided a long time ago!" Shumei smiled brightly when she heard this, stretched out her bandaged fingers and patted Natsuki's shoulder, "This year, there are not only Nao and the minister, but also me, a master who is about to tie a black belt!

"You'd better get through the initial stage of training first, or I'll send you flying. Nao snorted lightly, but there was a happy look on his face, "When do you want to be the master, when can you let the Mizushima overseer use his real skills, and then I will recognize your strength." ”

"You just have to review your inch! Be careful that Uncle Mizushima won't let you play when the time comes, and you can't be a pioneer if you want to!"

Shumi wrinkled her nose and grimaced, finally making Natsuki, who had been gloomy during the past few days of training, laugh.

"Alright, it's not too early. Natsuki looked at the locker room where only the three of them were left, clapped his hands and stood up, "It's our first battle in a week, and the group list is estimated to be in the next two days." Let's go back early and recharge our batteries and get ready for the regional tryouts!"

The three girls looked at each other and smiled, and walked out of the locker room door with their school bags.

The summer sunset was still a little hot, and the slightly hot sun stretched the shadows of the three of them long. The clubs in the school have basically finished today's activities, but there are still occasional shouts from the men's department next door. Natsuki turned his head to look at the closed door of the men's department, and lowered his eyelashes to reveal a faint expression of envy.

National champion, behind this resounding name is countless sweat and hard training. But even so, they yearn for the thin but glorious air at the top. The women's division has less than fifteen members, and until this year it was a ridiculous team similar to the men's cheerleaders, but since Nao and Shumi joined, the atmosphere of the department has slowly but unmistakably changed - the eight members of the third-year division, the remaining two second-year members in addition to Nao and Shumi, the strong and the weak, are all training as hard as they can, fighting for the real karate club.

It's such a small team, but now she has a huge dream of entering the whole country - this dream that Natsuki has dreamed of since joining the ministry but cannot realize it, and it is finally about to start in the last year of her middle school career.

All her hopes, all her hopes, were planted like a seed in this last year. And this qiē was brought by the two girls next to her who were only in the first grade. One of them is as straightforward as a sword, the other is as warm and shining as light, and when combined, the two are like a burning match. If the Kyogoku of the men's division is really the orange flame of the high temperature at the top of the raging fire, then Nao and Shumi are the sparks that can make their women's division burn.

She has always envied the aura of the men's department and the glory of the men's department, but this year, she has been looking up to the men's department to create a brilliant women's department with her own hands. One day, one day, the women's karate club will be like the men's club, and the flames of the red dress of the uniform will be burned to the podium of the national competition.

"I'm sure I'll be able to see it with my own eyes, the national competition. ”

Nao listened to the whispers of the wind and narrowed her eyes at the sun.

(Werewolf-san, the incident of the Umihara Festival didn't affect you, did you?Did you get watched by worshippers during training?--ByNao)

(One qiē is normal, no one guessed it was us except for Yukimura in the ministry.) It's not uncommon to be watched or something during training.,But it's not me who is the protagonist! The champion of the Kanto Tournament for more than ten years, there are as many people as the mountains every day to scout. ――ByMasa）

(The Kanto Grand Prix champion sounds pretty powerful.) However, you haven't even won a national tournament, and your tennis club is too content with the status quo. ――ByNao）

(Poof, that's sad...) But that's in the past, and this year's national winner must be our Lihaida. A few first-graders in the ministry are simply messy, and the third-year seniors who have won the Kanto championship are completely inadequate. But speaking of which, it seems that your karate club is a bit too miserable, does it really matter if this year's tournament is going on?--ByMasa)

(Are you doubting my strength? We will not only make it to this year's national competition, but we will also win the championship!--ByNao)

(I'm confident, he's a good boy.) But Rome wasn't built in a day, and being too impatient and careful backfired. ――ByMasa）

(Each other, each other.) But I'll give it back to you, the championship of thousands of high schools in the country is not so good!—ByNao)

(Hmm...) After a lot of reasoning, I found out that Miss Detective, you are also very contradictory. While saying that he would win the championship, he also told me that the national competition was not easy to mix, and I still had a sense of insecurity in my subconscious. ――ByMasa）

(Psychology again...) But it seems that you are just like me, are you 'also' insecure?—ByNao)

(Fight back against Nice!, but the two of you should feel safer combined.) Cheer each other on?—ByMasa)

(Cheer each other on...) It's good. Let's go to the national competition, Werewolf San?--ByNao)

(Let's go to the national contest, Miss Detective.) ――ByMasa）

(Say yes!—ByNao)

It doesn't matter if you're weak, you can work hard to become stronger, and it's okay to be low, just climb to the top. Every strong person has a time when they are trampled underfoot, and every strong person also has the possibility of being pulled down from the top at any time, and their formal training from this year is to push the strong person at the top off the cliff, and they will also get up from the feet of others to climb to the top.

Nao opened her slightly closed eyes, pulled the hair hanging from her ears, and smiled at her firmly. The orange sunset was reflected in her eyes, as if a fire was beating.

"National competition, surely. ”