The fighting spirit started to fade from his eyes.
“You can’t lose, Maul!”
“Without you, the club’s doomed!”
“We’re gonna win nationals this year, remember?!”
Sensing that Maul was about to give in, the Judo Club members throughout the hall shouted their encouragement. As they did, the dying embers of his fighting spirit flared back to life.
“…We’re gonna…win nationals…! Haaaaargh!” Maul shouted.
He regained his balance, grabbed the sides of my collar with both hands, and fought with renewed vigor in our contest of strength. His spirit power was greater than it had been before, likely as a result of a fight-or-flight response.
…He’s strong. Maul was a formidable opponent, but unfortunately for him, the pure volume of his spirit power didn’t match the Thirteen Oracle Knights, let alone the Seven Holy Blades or Four Imperial Knights. I’m surprised he hasn’t gone down yet, but I can still overpower him without issue.
I started to up my strength but then caught a glimpse of Maul’s expression.
“Haaaaaaaaarrgghh!”
There was such desperation on his face. He was clearly going all out, and most importantly, he was fighting fair and square.
This match was between a swordsman and a judoka. Our paths were different, but we both strove for the same thing: to become the strongest.
…I can’t do that. As we grappled, I couldn’t help but feel that as the Student Council Vice President, it would be wrong to defeat Maul and crush the future of judo at Thousand Blade Academy.
So I came to a decision.
…Sometimes, it pays to hold back.
A thud sounded around the Judo Hall. Maul and I hit the floor at the exact same time, and a buzzer sounded to announce the end of the match.
A brief silence fell over the room.
“It’s a tie!” the official declared.
The time had run out without either of us scoring a point, meaning the match had ended in a stalemate.
“HELL YEAH! I TIED WITH THE FAMOUS ALLEN RODOL!” shouted Maul.
His fellow club members began to cheer.
“Whoa! No way…!”
“I’m crying, man. I almost fainted toward the end!”
“We can really do it this year! We can win nationals!”
A crowd of first years who’d been lured into the Judo Hall by all the commotion looked just as stunned.
“I know Allen didn’t use his Soul Attire, but tying with him is insane!”
“That was amazing… I don’t know what I just watched, but it was amazing!”
“Judo, huh…? I might as well at least give the trial membership a shot.”
Afterward, Maul and I bowed to one another, signaling the end of the match. A tie meant that Maul didn’t have to quit the club, but he also couldn’t harass new students. The Judo Club also came to the compromise that its members would follow the rules set down by the Student Council.
“Whew… I’m pooped,” I said, returning to Lia and Rose now that that unforeseen issue had been dealt with.
“Allen, why didn’t you overpower him at the end?” Lia asked.
“You could’ve easily forced him to the ground, right?” added Rose. “Why did you choose to draw?”
I may have been able to fool everyone else, but I couldn’t fool my two friends.
“Hmm, how should I put it…? I just felt like winning would be a mistake,” I said.
“Heh-heh, that sounds like something you’d do,” responded Lia.
“I really like that side of you,” said Rose.
I wasn’t sure why, but they both smiled happily.
“Well, then… I’m gonna go change,” I told them.
“Okay,” said Lia.
“We’ll wait outside,” added Rose.
“I’ll be quick.”
I went into the men’s locker room and started changing into my uniform. But just as I did, someone spoke to me from behind.
“Yo. That was a good match.”
“Oh, hey, Tessa.”
Tessa was wearing his judo uniform, and he tossed me a bottle.
“Here, it’s a sports drink.”
“Oh, thanks,” I responded. The match had made me thirsty, so I gladly accepted the drink. I took a sip; it tasted great after that workout.
“Maul’s a force to be reckoned with, isn’t he?” Tessa said.
“Yeah, he’s strong. Way stronger than I expected.”
“Heh, that’s kind of you.” After a short silence, Tessa scratched his head and said, “…Sorry for puttin’ you in a bit of an awkward spot.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Oh, don’t play dumb with me. I’ve spent the last year trying to catch up to you. There’s no way in hell you couldn’t have overpowered him at the end,” he said, giving me a gentle karate chop on the head.
“Y-yeah… I admit I went easy on him, but I didn’t mean it as an insult—”
“It’s fine. I know why you did it. So…thank you,” Tessa said.
“You do? Well, you’re welcome.”
“Heh. You’re a really simple guy, you know that?”
We shared an awkward yet friendly smile.
“…Maul’s a real taskmaster during practice and can get carried away sometimes…but he’s actually really kind. He always treats us to meals after practice, shares vegetables his family sends him, and gives the younger students advice. He’s just an all-around nice guy,” Tessa said.
“Huh, I didn’t know that.”
If his family sent him vegetables, did that mean they were farmers or something? That made me feel a certain affinity with him.
“I think he’s really worried about the Judo Club,” continued Tessa. “Our number of applicants has been decreasing every year, and the way things are going, the club could be disbanded in the near future… Maul tends to scare away new students he approaches, and the campaigns we’re running aren’t working. The Judo Club has had trouble attracting students for years, which is why we’ve had to recruit so aggressively. But you taught me something important today, Allen.”
Tessa pointed outside the men’s locker room to the Judo Hall. Club members were training a number of new students who’d been watching the match and must have decided to try it out.
At the same time, I heard a conversation from one side of the hall.
“Hmm… This new method might actually work.”
“If we hold a demonstration for new students to watch, they’ll gather out of curiosity and see how much fun judo is!”
“You know what they say—even the best products won’t sell without proper marketing… I like it! Let’s strike while the iron’s hot!”
It sounded like the Judo Club had found a new recruiting method.
“Thanks to your little performance, we had a chance to show people the appeal of judo. We’ve also found the right way to recruit new members. So…thank you,” Tessa said, bowing deeply.
“Don’t worry about it. I was only doing my job as Student Council Vice President.”
“…Do you have to be so serious all the time?” He smiled wryly and patted me on the back. “Let’s go out for food again sometime. My treat.”
“That sounds fun.”
After that, Lia, Rose, and I finished our patrol duty with no more major incidents.