The next day, on the practice grounds…
Kuon lay flat on his back.
“You’ve got a lot to work on.” Headmaster Kaede said.
“Yeah.” Practicing with his Master for the first time in a while, he suspected he might be getting punished for using the ultimate art during the Mid-Blue battle. Punishment or no, he was getting thrashed.
He had a wooden sword. She was unarmed. Yet no matter what angle he approached from, he ended up being sent flying. It doesn’t make sense, Kuon thought. I’m better at Fencing than I was in my previous life, but…
He heard her voice from above. “You’ve been training for nineteen years, right?”
“This is my twentieth.”
She nodded. “Good a number as any. Spend the next twenty years learning to Fence without a sword.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means if you’re relying on your weapon, you’ve got a long way to go.”
But…“Fencing” implies the use of swords. “But you’ve taught me the ultimate move,” he protested.
“And something that risky shouldn’t be used willy-nilly. That’s also just the surface!”
“Surface…?”
“Shichisei Kenbu has depth! The Eight Hidden Forms you’re about to start learning include arts that can only be learned with the right type of magic.”
“So…these’ll be as hard as a Division 1?”
“Not necessarily. It isn’t the amount of magic but the characteristics of it. I’m a Division 4, but I was only the right fit for four of them. Okegawa Kuon…over the next twenty years, you should aim to surpass me.”
“Master…how old are you, rea—guh!”
She stomped on him.
In the car on the way home, his master broke her sullen silence to ask, “What’s up with Hanabi? You two doing well?”
Lately Kaede had started driving Kuon home after practice. Kuon liked her aircar; it was a little white round retro number. Despite its size, she’d somehow stuck a pre-electric V8 engine in the thing, and the unexpected power was so her. The lack of interior space was a small price to pay.
Kuon realized that he’d actually known Nanahoshi Kaede longer than his own mother.
That was all the more reason why this sudden personal question raised his hackles. He and his Master had never once talked about his personal life before, and she never even mentioned his relationship with Hanabi until now. He chose his words carefully. “Um…yes. We get along…”
“No problems?”
“Not none, but…”
“Oh? What’s the problem? Spit it out.”
“Well…” Watching his Master’s face carefully, Kuon admitted they hadn’t seen much of each other.
Kaede kept her eyes on the road. Safe driving was a priority. “Hmm. I see. You’ve got a team meeting Wednesday?”
“Um, where’d you hear—”
“I’ll drop you off. It’s a remote location; hard to get to without a car.”
“Uh, thanks…”
“Don’t be late.” She nodded, but there was a worried look in her eyes.
✦ ✦ ✦
That Wednesday evening, as dusk began descending…
On the outskirts of town was a large mountain, upon which was perched a mansion seemingly larger than their school. It had a massive front gate. Everything about it screamed “military stronghold”…or possibly “yakuza lair.” It was the home of the Motegi family, the most powerful on the Jogen Islands.
A ridiculously beautiful girl stood outside the entrance. Wearing a pink yukata, her long black hair tied up, she kept touching the back of her head, as if this whole look was embarrassing her. Her chest had been forced into the yukata somehow, but it definitely called attention to itself, and the curve of her backside was also all too prominent.
“Nnnnghh…”
She was, of course, Suzuka Hanabi. She stared at her geta, red-faced. Imperial Summer had belatedly reached the Fuji Squad, and Hanabi was pacing nervously outside the manor, waiting for Kuon.
She hadn’t been back here in ages. When her stepmother heard the news from Rin, she went wild and turned Hanabi into her own personal dress-up doll. Cloth was bound around and around Hanabi’s chest and stomach, one yukata after another was put on and off, and her stepmother was never satisfied until Hanabi promised to wear it again next year. Ultimately, Hanabi managed to get her settled on a safe option. Even this one went for three times the average Jogen monthly income, so she wasn’t really sure it qualified as “safe.” Did it even count as a yukata anymore?
“Nnnnghh…”
But the thing she was least sure about was whether it looked good in the first place. Her stepmother and Rin approved of the outfit, and she was grateful, but since they both doted on her, she couldn’t really trust their opinions. If she was wearing an expensive yukata that didn’t even look good, Kuon-kun would think she was nuts.
That was all Hanabi could think about, so it never occurred to her to wonder what Kuon might be wearing.
“Senpai.”
“Ku…Kuon-kun??”
When had he arrived? She’d been too busy staring at her feet and hadn’t even noticed. She looked up when she heard his voice and was blown away.
“Sorry I’m late…” he said, embarrassed.
She’d just assumed he would be in normal clothes, maybe a yukata. He was not. He was in a hakama, with a haori over the top. Stunned, she managed to splutter, “D-don’t worry about it…”
Why was he wearing that?
“Master put this on me. She said I should look the part if I was visiting the Motegi manor. And well…I’m the same height as her now, so…” He turned, showing her his back. The haori had a fan and seven stars on it—a family crest. “Apparently this is the Nanahoshi crest…”
Nanahoshi…the clan that had created the Shichisei Kenbu. “That’s amazing!”
“It’s a heavy burden on so many levels, and I feel like I’m cosplaying as a rakugo performer.”
“Not at all! You look like a samurai! It’s…” Cool, she started to say but was too embarrassed to get it out.
Kuon, however, had no such problems. He gave her a bashful smile and said, “Hanabi-senpai, that yukata looks amazing. You’re beautiful.”
She stared at her feet again.