Chapter 65 Part 1
Cheering for the Tournament (1) ~YELL!~
Thwack!
At the end of an attack and defense that seemed almost evenly matched, the tip of the shinai slipped through a momentary opening and beautifully struck the opponent’s face guard.
「MEN!」
The flag was raised and the referee’s voice rang out.
「「「Whoaaaaaa!」」」
「「「Aah!」」」
A mixture of cheers and screams echoed through the air.
It was the moment when the winner of the team competition, which had gone all the way to the Taisho match, was decided.
The venue was the Prefectural Budokan (martial arts stadium) in Ageyo City, located almost due east of the city of Saiou where Yuu and his family lived.
The high ceiling sported a large skylight, and sunlight poured in through the gaps in the timbers that had been assembled vertically and horizontally.
If you were to step into the unoccupied hall first thing in the morning, it would probably give off a serene atmosphere.
However, right now, the steps of the players in kendo gi (kendo uniform) were echoing as they ran around on the polished floor, and crowds of high school girls filling the surrounding spectator seats were cheering them on, intensifying the fervor even further.
◇ ◇ ◇
The prefectural budokan was a venue that was often used for martial arts-related tournaments in Saitama Prefecture, and spring tournaments had been held there since yesterday, just after the mid-term exams.
Yesterday was judo, kyudo (Japanese archery), and naginata.
Today was kendo and karate.
Due in part to Yuu’s suggestion and Sayaka’s determination in endorsing the policy, the student council of Sairyou Academy had decided to put effort into having boys participate in cheering for the athletic club activities at tournaments starting this school year.
The first step was an appeal by representatives of each club, beginning with an enthusiastic performance by Sayaka, the student council president, at the school assembly.
The newspaper club, which had received extra club funding, published a special issue before the spring tournament, and posters were put up at various places in the school.
Although he was a first-year student, Yuu himself went to the boys’ classrooms with the seniors, consisting of student council officers and representatives of the athletic clubs, to ask for their support directly.
It was just that, partly because there had been no school-wide attempts on such a level until last year, as it had only been done voluntarily, for personal reasons such as for their girlfriends, the response from the boys was weak.
However, thanks to the rising excitement when they announced the good results achieved by each club in the regional qualifying rounds, which started earlier, coupled with the players’ personal connections such as the boys with whom they had relationships, the mood of 「Shall we go and cheer them on?」 was growing among the 2nd and 3rd year boys.
Thus, perhaps thanks in part to the cheering from six male students, at yesterday’s Kyudo tournament, they were able to achieve a fourth-place finish, tied for the highest ever record.
Unfortunately, the judo club, which did not receive any cheering from boys, was eliminated in the second round.
Held at the main dojo today was the spring prefectural kendo tournament.
First and second place for the team competition and up to the third place for the individual competition, schools that made it that far would be able to participate in the Kanto tournament, which would be held next month.
Speaking of high school tournaments, the major one would be the Inter High School Sports Festival (Inter High) held in the summer, in which most athletic clubs participated.
Outside of summer, the tournaments were held in spring or fall, depending on the club’s activities, so the scale of the tournaments was not as large as the Inter High.
Even so, for martial arts clubs such as the kendo and judo clubs, this tournament, which was held at the beginning of the new school year, seemed to hold great significance.
The boys who announced their participation in cheering for the kendo club were five third-year students.
Having been promoting this campaign, Yuu, a member of the student council, was set to join them.
After gathering at the school first thing in the morning, all the students participating in the cheering took a bus to get there.
「Aww! That was so close… Just a bit more and we would have won~」
Eimi, who had been cheering so enthusiastically until just a moment ago, slumped down in her seat in disappointment.
「Really. If my memory serves me right, our opponent was the second seed, so… If we had won, the finals would have also been in sight, right~」
Yuu also muttered as he looked down at the tournament program that had been handed to him when they got there.
The close match that had been unfolding right in front of them until just a moment ago was the quarterfinals of the team competition.
The kendo club of Sairyou Academy High School fought almost evenly against Shuutoku High School, one of the favorites to win the tournament, but regrettably ended up losing the match.
Even so, the way they fought in the matches so far was so fascinating that even the amateur Yuu couldn’t help but become absorbed in it.
「Aah~. I am sure Saaya-senpai would have loved to watch that.」
「She used to be in the kendo club, after all.」
As Eimi muttered while looking at the venue, Yuu nodded in agreement.
Originally, the plan was for the three members of the student council to go with Yuu to cheer their players on.
However, yesterday, they were suddenly summoned by the board chairman, and today both Sayaka, the president, and Riko, the vice president, were absent, leaving only Eimi to accompany Yuu.
Now that the match was over, the players participating in the team competition lined up and bowed in their direction simultaneously, so Yuu and the others applauded and cheered for them in appreciation of their hard work.
The boys who had been cheering on the team competition were Yuu and two third-year boys.
Even though there were only three of them, the boys’ cheering voices seemed to stand out.
After all, as far as they could see around the cheering seats, all they could see were high school girls.
They could see a few boys from other co-ed schools here and there, but there seemed to be no mistake that more than 90% of the venue was occupied by girls.
Suddenly coming to his senses, Yuu realized that they were attracting attention.
However, there were about 20 girls from the same school strictly guarding the area around Yuu and the other boys, so there should be nothing to worry about.
Then a female student wearing the same uniform came running over.
「Big news! Big news! Hayase-senpai won and advanced to the next round! Next is the semifinals!」
「For real?!」
「Then, let’s go!」
「「「Oh!」」」
According to her, they had three students participating in the individual competition, in which one of them lost in the second round and the other lost in the third round, but it seemed that the ace of the kendo club, Hayase, a third-year student, had achieved victory in the quarterfinals.
Yuu and the others, surrounded by the girls, decided to move to the cheering seats on the opposite side where the individual matches were being held.
As they did so, when he held the hand Eimi had casually extended to him, she smiled happily.
Meeting up with the students from Sairyou Academy who had gone to watch the individual matches earlier, Yuu called out to one of the boys there.
「Ichijou-senpai! How is it going?」
「The match is about to start. The opponent is from… Eiko.」
「Eiko… Moreover, she is the second seed, is she not?」
「Yes. But if we win this game, we will be able to secure a place in the Kanto tournament. This is a critical moment for Mika.」
「Yes.」
He was Ichijou Kouki, a third-year student.
Sporting longish black hair that fell almost to his eyes and a sharp face, he was a good-looking boy just as his name suggested.
Moreover, he had been dating Hayase Mika, who was about to engage in a match in front of them, since they were in second year.
As Kouki had announced before anyone else that he would come to cheer on the kendo club, including those who were similarly in close relationships with the members of the kendo club, a number of boys had gathered in numbers to cheer for them.
While talking with them on the bus on the way to the budokan, Yuu found out that Kouki was dating not only Mika but also Ishima Mariko, who was also a third-year student.
When Kouki showed him their photo that he had been keeping, he found that Mika, who was in her school uniform, was a beautiful girl with awe-inspiring air, very much the epitome of a kendo girl. On the other hand, Mariko looked childish at a glance, but she was a beautiful girl with big, bright eyes.
In fact, Mariko had just made her debut as a singer this year under the stage name Mimei Rin, and it seemed that she was unable to come to cheer Mika on today because she had to perform somewhere else.
If it were the Yuu from before his rebirth, he would have thought, 「Blow up and die, you handsome normie」, but since Yuu himself had formed a deep relationship with the three members of the student council, he had some leeway in his heart.
In the hall below, the two players, whose names had been called, were already standing facing each other, waiting for the match to begin.
The one standing in front of them, wearing a white kendo gi with her long dark brown hair tied in a single bundle hanging down from the rear side of her mask, was probably Mika. Just now, he could see the name of their school and 『Hayase』 embroidered on her maedare (an oblong cloth with a string attached to the upper part to tie around the hips).
The player she was facing on the opposite side was wearing a blackish kendo gi.
They called it Eiko for short, but the private Saitama Eiko High School was a school that was known in Saitama Prefecture for its strength in sports in general, and the name of their player was Kuroda.
Yuu and Kouki were about the same height, and from the photo that was shown to him earlier, Mika was about the same height as them, but player Kuroda was definitely taller.
Just when it seemed that the match was about to begin, Kouki stood up, holding both hands like a megaphone.
「Mika! You can do it! You must win!」
At a glance, Kouki looked like a cool boy, but he cheered on her in a loud voice with no regard to appearances.
The cheering seemed to have reached the other party without fail.
Turning around and looking up in their direction, Mika gave a small nod toward Kouki.
Not to be outdone, Yuu and the others cheered as well.
「Hayase-senpai! You can do it!」
「You can do it, senpai!」
「Let’s win and go to the Kanto tournament!」
The opposing player was also getting cheered on, but if there was something to point at, it was the fact that her eyes seemed to be filled with hostility and jealousy toward her opponent who was getting cheered on by boys.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
Reborn In A World of Chastity Reversal
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 70 hours
enemy’s team: Normies should blow up and die!