Side: Taizou Motome
The wind blew against the cherry blossoms, scattering their petals, fluttering them through the breeze, and staining the sky in shades of pink.
"My..."
"T-This is... amazing..."
To me, this is a nostalgic sight, but for those girls, it must be their first time seeing it—a work of art woven by nature, perhaps.
Well, even as I thought that, I too couldn't take my eyes off the blizzard of cherry blossoms.
It had been a little over eight years, which shouldn't feel like that long compared to the total time I had lived, yet this scenery evoked a deep sense of nostalgia. Back then, whenever the cherry blossoms bloomed, everyone would always gather to make a racket.
"Everyone ready? Wait, Taizou, is that outfit fine for you? This is a sword duel, okay?"
Luna-dono was checking that both sides were prepared when she noticed my attire and called out to me.
My current attire was my usual military uniform. It was not Japanese traditional clothing.
"Jigen-ryu is a practical school, a realist school—one that ensures one can fight with a sword at any time and in any situation. Japanese clothing was merely the mainstream attire of that era; it is not the formal dress for holding a sword."
"Uh, so you're saying you're ready, then?"
"Yes, precisely."
There are many differences between Jigen-ryu and how the world perceives it.
First, the clothing—There is no such thing as a dogi—a uniform meant specifically for learning the sword. If someone wishes to beg for instruction, you teach them just as they are, in whatever they happen to be wearing. If you have a sword in hand, you can practice with it; I can think of no reason to go out of one's way to put on a training uniform.
The enemy will attack whenever they please, regardless of whether you are in formal attire or stark naked. In that case, one must possess the mindset to fight under any condition. In other words, the clothes you wear every day are the absolute best for training.
'If you have a sword in your hand, there is no need for formalities.'
In a fight where your life is on the line, there is no need for courtesy.
Even more so when holding lethal weapons like swords, which can easily claim another's life. If you do not survive, nothing else matters.
I am not saying pride is useless, but staying alive is far more important. That is simply how fierce the world used to be.
"It seems you understand that as well..."
And I was not the only one who knew this.
My distant blood relative, Taiki-kun, was also holding his sword in whatever clothes he happened to be wearing, just like me.
"Taizou-san, that's a different sword from the one you entrusted to Eoid, right?"
"Yes. The other one is the genuine article I had on me when I came here from Japan. I had this one made after arriving in this world. It's more suited to actual combat."
"...Isn't that fraud?"
"The fact that I handed over something precious to me doesn't change. I never said I would go unarmed, after all."
"Well, going up against a bare-handed opponent would feel wrong anyway, so I guess it's fine."
We traded a few lighthearted remarks as we naturally settled into our stances.
Strictly speaking, Jigen-ryu has no fixed stances.
Well, seigan (mid-level stance) is generally standard, but since it assumes real combat from the start, there won't necessarily be time to set up a neat stance. So you adopt whatever stance suits you.
Taiki took hasso (eight-aspect stance), while I took gyaku-kesa (reverse diagonal stance).
Neither of us broke eye contact for even a split second, staring intently at each other.
It felt as though time had come to a standstill.
Yet there was no hesitation in his eyes.
I couldn't tell whether this world had tempered him into the man he was now or whether he had always possessed that quality.
Either way, that was exactly the attitude he needed to take as my opponent.
...What he and Yuki-kun were proposing was probably the right answer when viewed as a whole. But, as I had told them before, their approach would leave behind troublesome consequences.
No, completely eliminating such consequences was probably impossible in the first place. In this context, the "troublesome remnants" referred to Hiffy-dono, Comet-dono, and their group. They had rebelled against the existing world with clear convictions and a definite goal.
Perhaps things could have been settled peacefully if we had met before they declared war... But apparently, the world wasn't that accommodating. They had already completed their preparations.
So even if the people telling them to stand down were technically their superiors, they couldn't simply accept the orders of someone who had been out of contact all this time and left the details entirely up to them. And then there was the special technology I had introduced, an outside element that had only made them more stubborn—or perhaps more convinced that they could accomplish their goal.
It is a common human trait.
People tend to believe that their opponents couldn't possibly be superior to them. I could understand that, too. How could anyone easily believe that boys younger than a middle-aged man like me could possess technology vastly superior to their own?
If we had been able to sit down and properly discuss our respective positions, we might have resolved the problem.
But that was no longer possible.
Even if their superiors ordered them to withdraw and claimed that the other side was superior, they had no way of knowing how much of that was true.
Personally, I believed that Yuki-kun and Taiki-kun really were superior to us... But that alone wasn't enough. Even if I were the only one who acknowledged their superiority, those girls wouldn't abandon their convictions.
In the end, even after this duel, resentment would remain. At worst, things could descend into internal betrayal and civil war... With the weapons I had left behind being used in the process... That was why I had to stay on this side. To the very end, I had to stand by their side to restrict the indiscriminate use of technology in war.
It would be ideal if her superior, Luna-dono, put a stop to it, but judging by this duel, if those girls still insisted on fighting, she wouldn't stop them... I suppose that, too, was part of managing the world.
If Hiffy-dono was not convinced by this duel, it would turn into a bloody conflict... And if that happened, I would have to minimize the damage as much as possible and help bring forward the day when the younger generation could seize their own future.
That was my responsibility for creating weapons in this world and sanctioning them.
As those thoughts crossed my mind, a cherry blossom petal gently fell before my eyes.
"Now then, I hereby commence the duel. Begin!!"
Luna-dono raised her voice.
With just that, we both stepped forward simultaneously.
Taiki's sharp gaze pierced right through me—a fine expression.
Show me.
Show me a future that can satisfy those girls and surpass me.
Display it, and prove that my anxieties and interventions were nothing more than unnecessary meddling—an old man's foolish overexertion. Child of the future!
He closed the distance at an astonishing speed. He certainly hadn't raised his level in this world for nothing.
However, he wasn't the only one.
"!?"
A look of surprise crossed his face.
Did you think I couldn't produce this level of speed?
If that was all I had, replacing Lady Hify and her group would be utterly impossible.
...I have only to strike you down with a single blow!
"CHESTOOOO!!"
Exploiting a fleeting opening, I stepped deep into Taiki's guard in a single stride, bellowing from the bottom of my lungs as I swung my sword upward from the reverse diagonal stance.
However, there was no feedback; the blade sliced emptily through the air.
Hmm, he disengaged in a single step, did he?
Yet, seeing my missed swing and the opening it created, he didn't blindly step in—meaning he hadn't merely learned a superficial version of Jigen-ryu.
With literature becoming widespread in recent times, a certain narrative has led to the misconception that Jigen-ryu users are no better than amateurs once you dodge their first strike.
This misconception is often attributed to the words of Kondo Isami, Commander of the Shinsengumi during the late Edo period: "When fighting a man of Satsuma, evade the first strike."
However, neither Kondo nor the Shinsengumi warriors held such a misunderstanding.
Jigen-ryu is a technique adapted for live combat. In other words, there are plenty of follow-up attacks beyond the first strike.
Most likely, Kondo was advising not to try to match the blazing speed of that initial strike. He meant one should bring the fight into their own rhythm.
From that, I understood Taiki-kun hadn't learned the sword half-heartedly. And he had cleanly dodged a strike that caught him off guard, moving outside the range of any follow-up attacks as well. Which meant his physical capabilities were overwhelmingly superior to mine.
Clack.
Only the sound of both of us returning to our stances echoed through the swirling cherry blossoms.
Now then, judging from his body movement just now, I felt my swordsmanship was superior, while Taiki-kun overwhelmingly outmatched me in physical stats.
At this rate, I would eventually be taken down by the disparity in physical ability...
That might be fine in its own right, but what needed to be demonstrated now was the total picture; there was no meaning unless he showed that he surpassed us in technique as well. Therefore, just as he did, I would show him the power I had cultivated in this world.
"...Huh? Wait, wha-hold on!? T-This is bad, the mana inside my body is dropping rapidly!? Hiffy, give me magic power!! At this rate, I'll turn back into a corpse!?"
"I-I can't!? M-My internal maana is also rapidly..."
"Now, now. Learn to defend against something like this. There. Don't leave that spot. Still, I suppose that's what you'd expect from someone who was transported here from Japan. I never imagined he'd be able to seal off the skills of this world itself. More precisely, he's interfering with them, isn't he?"
Hoh, as expected of the person who claims to be above Hiffy-dono.
She so easily blocked the disruption of magic power binding.
However, it causes collateral damage to allies. It cannot be used recklessly without discretion. It seems further refinements are still required.
"...Jamming, huh?"
"I believe that's a term meaning interference. So our world has concepts related to this, too?"
"It does. But I never thought you'd use MCM—Magic Countermeasures—instead of ECM... To think you could seal all skills entirely, let alone physical enhancement."
"I've done a great deal of work since arriving here. We haven't made much progress in understanding mana itself, but I've achieved a number of results through my own research. Now, let's begin the real match."
Unlike the others, he calmly accepted the anomaly in his own body and reached the answer.
Even if someone had already conceived of the same idea, it was impressive that he could remain so composed when experiencing it firsthand.
His courage, his intelligence... They deserved my admiration.
"You've lost your advantage. Do you still wish to continue?"
"Yes. If I backed down here, I wouldn't be a Satsuma warrior, nor a true son of Yamato."
Within this force field, the concepts of levels and magic had been erased.
It was truly a world governed solely by natural science. What would be demonstrated here was nothing more than the culmination of one's own training. It was a realm where only those who believed in themselves could stand and face each other.
Step.
Both of us took deep stances.
The next exchange would likely be the end—Both Taiki-kun and I understood this.
A sword is inherently a single-strike kill weapon; if blades clash like in some stage-combat sword fight, the sword breaks immediately.
It was simply a matter of whether the blade reached the opponent or not.
Fwhoosh...
A gust of wind blew, sending the cherry blossoms resting on the ground fluttering back up into the air.
In that instant, our view of each other was obscured, and both Taiki-kun and I stepped forward.
Without the assistance of physical enhancement from earlier, we poured all our past training into moving forward.
It was by no means as fast as before. Yet, the aura radiating from each of us surged so intensely it could be felt even at a distance.
A sword thrust out through the wall of cherry blossoms...
CLANG!!
He parried it!?
He prioritized knocking my blade aside...!
Thump!
A heavy kick slammed into my abdomen.
Unable to withstand it, I was pushed backward. And as if he had been waiting for that exact moment, Taiki-kun leaped out from behind the wall of cherry blossoms.
So that was his plan!
If you're at a disadvantage in swordsmanship, there's no need to fight with swordsmanship. Simply fight in a range where swords cannot be used—In short, hand-to-hand combat.
Taiki-kun intended to shift his blade to defense, dive into my guard, and strike.
In that case...!
CLANG!! THUD!!
"Ghh...!"
Clatter, clatter...
Echoing with those sounds, both our swords left our hands.
It was a gamble, but by throwing my sword and taking advantage of the moment Taiki-kun shifted to defense, I succeeded in knocking his blade away. However, he had brilliantly taken the initiative.
To think I had grown arrogant, believing I was superior in swordsmanship... That's right. Jigen-ryu had countless unarmed techniques, too...
I had let my thinking become rigid.
"Here I come!!"
"Right!!"
All that was left was to turn our own bodies into weapons!!
Jigen-ryu means facing reality with everything you have.
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