His body fell toward the stone ground. His bones would surely break!
The air froze. The women shut their eyes.
But the sound that followed was quieter than expected. Something had slowed Tatsu’s fall. With nearly superhuman speed, Shirô had put his foot between Tatsu and the stone ground, thereby cushioning his fall. It was only because of Shirô that Tatsu landed on the ground so gently.
“Whoa!” exclaimed the biggest yakuza admiringly.
Then a different man darted out toward Shirô. His right hand was cocked at his hip. A blade gleamed in the sunlight.
“You damned idiot!” yelled the biggest yakuza.
But Shirô had already moved to the side with unbelievable quickness. The yakuza would have succeeded only in stabbing Shirô’s shadow.
The momentum carried the yakuza forward, and he yelped as he ended up on the ground next to Tatsu.
Even then, he managed to regain his feet almost immediately, burning to get revenge for the humiliation.
Shirô grimaced. “Bastard.”
The yakuza charged again, and in the next instant, he spun a tight circle in the air and fell to the ground on his back. This time, there was an unpleasant sound.
Tatsu grabbed the small blade from the yakuza, who was silently writhing in pain, then hid it in his sleeve and bowed his head to Shirô.
“Sorry.” It had been Tatsu who had the thrown the yakuza. “He thought we’d lose face as businessmen. Give him a break.”
“Of course,” Shirô answered cheerfully.
“You’re a pretty understanding kid, but I guess that’s to be expected from Saigô Shirô of the Kôdôkan dojo,” said the biggest yakuza.
“Hey.” He motioned for another man to help the fallen yakuza up. “Out of respect to you, we’ll leave for today. But this isn’t over. If you can’t pay off your debt, then you or someone else in the family has to work it off. That’s just the way the world works. Isn’t that right, Tetsugorô?”
Tetsugorô, who held his daughter in his arms, was speechless.
“We’ll be back tomorrow. So get it figured out. Let’s go.” The big man turned to go.
“Hey,” said Tatsu.
Everyone, including the onlookers, turned to see what Tatsu was staring at. It was Daigo, who was standing among the group of women.,
“You must be that young swordsman. I heard you beat up some of our men a while ago. No hard feelings, really. You broke a man’s bones with a bamboo sword… impressive. Plus I heard you were protecting a young lady. You’re quite the samurai.” Tatsu flashed an intimidating grin. “I’ll see you around.”
With that, he followed the other men, who’d already gone.
Shirô relaxed into his natural stance. The expressions of Tatsu and the others, who were clearly impressed by his abilities, were indelibly etched in his mind.
When the four men were out of sight, everyone clamored around Shirô.
“You’re something else!”
“First time I’ve ever seen that. There is a God!”
Daigo also came to Shirô’s side and said, “That was well done. Was that yama arashi?”[12] He still gripped the wooden sword, which he had planned to use if Shirô was in danger.
“No, that was just a shoulder throw.”
“Whatever it was, it was amazing. I was prepared to step in at the first sign of trouble, but you could probably toss ten, twenty guys like that pretty easily.”
“Stop, please. I’m embarrassed,” Shirô protested earnestly. He watched the father and daughter bowing repeatedly in his direction as they retreated into their house. “I should be going now.”
“You tea is ready.”
“No, now that I’m back in the mood, I should really get back to training. I shouldn’t slack off. I must go.”
“Okay.” Daigo made no attempt to stop him.
Judo and kendo—different martial arts, but both boys were prodigies in their discipline. Daigo knew what Shirô was feeling.
After seeing Shirô off, Daigo went back home.
When he reported what had happened, at first, a sad expression came over Sayo’s face.
“That sounds like Shirô-san. It’s further proof that the martial arts are not dead in this country,” she said, getting over her sadness. “How are you feeling?” Her mood darkened again.
“I feel good today.”
“Is that so…” Her voice sounded relieved, but the way she continued to look at her son revealed an unshakable fear. “I understand your training is important to you, but please don’t overdo it.”
“Don’t worry.”
After he and his mother finished eating breakfast together, Daigo said, “I’m going to the dojo.”
Daigo was the head instructor at Renbei-jyuku[6] in neighboring Kanda Ward on Minami Kôga-chô.
“You didn’t eat very much. Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”
“Don’t worry about me, please.”
For a while, Sayo stared at the door, after it had closed behind him.
Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.
The pain felt as though her insides were being wrung out of her. She fell to her knees and tried to endure it. Finally, the pain subsided.
Her beautiful face was dripping with sweat.
What will happen to us now?
She could not help but utter the words her son had insisted time and again she never say. “If only your father were here.”
“Iyyehh! Tsuahh! Toahh!”
It was the sound of kiai. This primal yell would make most men tremble, especially coming from a large, hairy man in his thirties who was brimming with energy and spirit. However, his opponent, who was standing in seigan[10] stance a mere two ken[7] from him, did not even flinch.
It was Daigo. Although he could not be considered slender by any standard, his kendo uniform made him look lithe and fast.
Three minutes had passed since face-off. In that time, Otsuka Seiji, also known as one of the school’s Shitennô,[11] could only kiai—he had not made a single move.