An Unequal Fight

The gap between them was like that between a plain and a mountain; they were simply on different levels.

Beside him, Renji Abarai's face was bright red, and even Izuru Kira, his head lowered slightly, had his eyes glued to Rangiku Matsumoto.

They even felt that the air in the training ground had grown sweet.

Rangiku Matsumoto walked over to stand beside Teacher Ōu, put a hand on her hip, and surveyed the students.

When she looked toward the very front, her brow twitched. "Congratulations. You actually made it into the academy."

Her gaze had fallen on Tokoyo Misao. His nineteenth Rei'i Grade was indeed enough to pass the academy's test.

But the reason she suddenly said that was that she had seen Rukia and the others standing behind him.

It was clearly a small group of the kind commonly found at the academy, and those people all revolved around Tokoyo Misao.

Even that red baboon was standing three steps behind Tokoyo Misao, which said enough.

"Thank you for the directions last time, Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto," Tokoyo Misao replied with a gentle smile.

Seeing that Tokoyo Misao and the lieutenant seemed to know each other, the people around him wanted to say something more.

But Rangiku Matsumoto clapped her hands and called out, "To put it plainly, Zanjutsu is the art of fighting with a blade."

"Soul Reapers have to fight fallen souls—Hollows—and are often on the battlefield. You have to risk your lives to survive."

"So pick up your weapons, pair off, and fight. I'll watch and give you guidance."

With that, she turned and headed straight for the corridor. A small low table and a cushion had appeared there at some point, with a pot of hot tea on the table.

Rangiku Matsumoto walked over, sat on the cushion, poured herself a cup of tea, and leisurely watched the training ground.

She did not look as though she had come to teach at all, but to take a break.

After a sip of tea, she called out to the training ground, "What are you all standing around for? Get started."

Only then did the students go to the weapon racks at the side and pick out wooden weapons of all kinds.

Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, forks, three-section staffs—they had everything.

Renji Abarai rushed straight over, grabbed a wooden sword in each hand, and turned to walk toward Tokoyo Misao.

He held out the sword in his left hand, pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Let's spar."

"Renji, what are you trying to do?" Rukia hurriedly spoke up to stop him.

Renji had a lot of brute strength, and he had been fighting since he was little.

He had used a stick back then, but the wooden sword in his hand now was not much different from one.

The lieutenant who had come this time had not taught them anything before making everyone start combat training. Misao would be at a serious disadvantage.

Tokoyo Misao lowered his gaze and glanced at the wooden sword being offered, then looked back at Renji Abarai's face, frowning slightly.

"What? Don't tell me you're scared, Dead Last?" Renji Abarai pushed the wooden sword in his hand a little farther forward and spoke loudly.

His voice drew the attention of all the students around them.

After all, Tokoyo Misao had stood out too much in Kidō class.

They were also curious to see what his Zanjutsu was like.

"Hey, Dead Last, don't tell me you don't even have the courage to pick up a sword?" Renji Abarai shouted again at the top of his lungs.

Tokoyo Misao dug his little finger into his ear, then opened his mouth.

"Red-Haired Baboon, don't be so long-winded and loud."

He took his little finger out of his ear and held it in front of his mouth, blew on it gently, then reached out and took the wooden sword, continuing:

"It just makes you look weak."

Chapter 11: An unequal fight

Teacher Ōu fetched a round cushion and brought it to the corridor. He sat down beside the low table and looked out at the training ground.

The scene was very quiet now. All the students had made room in the center of their own accord.

They waited quietly for the fight between Tokoyo Misao and Renji Abarai.

Teacher Ōu said quietly, "Although Misao showed absolute talent in Kidō class, the greatest I've seen in my hundred years as a teacher,

he's rather thin and frail, and his skin is a little pale. He doesn't look like someone who spends much time in the sun, and his Rei'i Grade is only nineteen.

Renji Abarai, on the other hand—look at the calluses on his palms. You can tell the boy often handles weapons and has decent fighting experience.

Misao will lose this fight."

Rangiku Matsumoto listened quietly to Teacher Ōu's analysis, her eyes sweeping over the two of them. She set her teacup on the low table and said with a smile,

"How about we make a bet, then? If I win, you pay for my drinks tonight.

If I lose, you can make any request you like."

"What?" Teacher Ōu struggled to keep his eyes from looking over.

He stared wide-eyed at the two in the middle of the training ground, his eyes instantly becoming bloodshot.

"Any request I like?"

All kinds of images kept appearing in his mind. His hands, resting on his thighs, clenched abruptly, and he immediately replied,

"No problem. I think Renji Abarai will win."

"Then I'll pick Tokoyo Misao," Rangiku Matsumoto replied with a smile.

This instead struck Teacher Ōu as odd, and he asked, "Do you really think that highly of Misao's chances?"

Rangiku Matsumoto did not answer. Instead, she picked up her teacup again and took a sip.

In truth, she agreed with Teacher Ōu and also thought Tokoyo Misao had very little chance of winning.

It was just that if she did lose the bet, she could always refuse to honor it.

If she won, however, she would get a day's worth of drinking money. Either way, she had nothing to lose.

Teacher Ōu did not know that this bet had been unequal from the start.

He was now staring fixedly at Renji Abarai, calling out in his heart, Come on, you have to win.

In the center of the training ground, Renji Abarai gripped the hilt of his wooden sword in his right hand and raised it high.

He looked at Tokoyo Misao across from him, who held his wooden sword loosely at his side, hanging naturally, and frowned. "Are you ready or not?"

Tokoyo Misao replied in a slightly surprised tone:

"Do I need to prepare to fight you? Come on and attack. Anytime you like."

As he spoke, he tilted his body slightly to the right and shifted his right foot a little.

"Dead Last, you're too arrogant!" Renji Abarai roared and charged at him with his wooden sword.

In a few steps, he reached Tokoyo Misao. He stomped his right foot forward, turned his body sideways, and put his waist into the motion as he swung his wooden sword in a horizontal slash with his right hand.

The wooden sword sliced through the air with a whoosh.

Tokoyo Misao lightly pushed off the ground with his left foot and hopped two steps diagonally backward, easily avoiding the heavy blow.

Then his body leaned back slightly, as though he were a little unsteady.

Renji Abarai seized the opportunity at once. Gripping the hilt in both hands, he pushed off with his legs and leaped at Tokoyo Misao.

He raised his wooden sword high, opened his mouth wide in midair, and roared, "Aah!!!"

Danger.

Every student present immediately came to that conclusion.

The corners of Teacher Ōu's mouth immediately curled up on the corridor.

In the training ground now, Tokoyo Misao was unsteady on his feet, and Renji Abarai had seized the opportunity with great speed and launched a leaping slash. This blow was certain to hit.

He opened his mouth in excitement, saliva involuntarily collecting and sliding down from the corner of his mouth.

He was already prepared to announce Renji Abarai's victory.

But Tokoyo Misao, who seemed unsteady, suddenly thrust his wooden sword into the air.

The thrust came at just the right moment, when his opponent was at the highest point of his leap and starting to fall.

With a dull thud, the wooden sword struck Renji Abarai squarely in the chest while he was still in midair.

It was a highly dangerous spot, less than a centimeter from the Saketsu in the very center.

If his Saketsu had been struck, he would at least have been seriously injured.

Renji Abarai's pupils dilated instantly. Intense pain shot through his chest, nearly making him let go with both hands.

But he had grown up fighting since childhood and had a high tolerance for pain.

He clenched his teeth, endured the pain in his chest, and swung his sword down.

At the same time, Tokoyo Misao, his body looking slightly unsteady, kept his right hand braced against Renji Abarai's chest and spun in place, using the motion to guide him to the side.

Renji Abarai's descending wooden sword lost its target, and his body was also pulled off course by the force. He crashed to the ground, sending dust flying.

"Cough, cough, cough!" Dust rushed into his nose. He immediately braced both hands on the ground and coughed several times in quick succession. As he turned his head, a streak of red blood flew off.

He wiped his nose with his hand and felt something sticky. He raised the back of his hand and saw the bright red smear.

He stood up again and tightened both hands around the hilt once more. Without saying a word, he stared at Tokoyo Misao three meters away.

"Not bad. You've got some tenacity, at least."

Tokoyo Misao nodded and casually swung the wooden sword in his right hand twice to the side.

"Come on. I won't dodge this time."

As soon as he said that, the students around them cried out in surprise.

The series of exchanges just now had already left them somewhat unable to follow what was happening.

Now Tokoyo Misao was actually declaring that he would not dodge and would face the attack head-on.

Could his frail body really withstand Renji Abarai, who was like a mad dog?

"Ooooh!" Renji Abarai roared, unleashing all the Reishi in his body. The air in the training ground instantly grew heavy.

Veins bulged on his forehead, and the blood vessels on his forearms stood out beneath his skin, giving him a ferocious appearance.

He stomped his right foot forward and charged, spiderweb cracks spreading across the ground beneath his steps.

Gripping the hilt tightly with both hands, he swung down and forward with all his might.

At the same moment Renji charged up to him and raised his sword, Tokoyo Misao extended his right hand and thrust the tip of his sword at the blade of the descending wooden sword.

A crack and a bang rang out.

A section of the wooden blade spun into the sky, flew more than ten meters, and plunged straight into the ground of the training field.

"Just now, Abarai's Rei'i made my whole body feel heavy, but why?"

"Did any of you see what happened? What exactly was that?"

"That shouldn't have happened. Why did it turn out like this?"

The students cried out in shock. A scene completely different from what they had expected had unfolded before them.

Rukia, too, stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide as she stared blankly at the two in the center of the field, completely unable to speak.

"Misao is really amazing," Momo Hinamori murmured.

"Yes, I have no idea how Brother Misao did it," Izuru Kira said, looking at Renji Abarai.

His gaze passed over Renji's face and finally fell on the broken sword gripped tightly in both his hands.

The wooden sword had broken cleanly, as though it had been cut through in a single stroke by a real blade, without a single splinter.

He somewhat regretted not trying to talk Renji out of it, and raised his gaze.

Renji Abarai's face was pale now, his mouth hanging open as sweat streamed from his forehead down his cheeks and dripped onto the ground.

Izuru Kira sighed inwardly. Just as I thought, Brother Misao is strong in Zanjutsu too.