At this moment, the stands were nearly full, and everyone watched the entrance expectantly.
It was time for the next group of competitors to take the field. The contestants in kyudo uniforms entered one after another. When one particular contestant stepped onto the stage, excitement appeared in the audience's eyes. His presence was so extraordinary that it completely overshadowed the other competitors.
Shirou, dressed in a white-and-black kyudo uniform, entered the arena carrying the bamboo bow he had made himself. He walked to his position and calmly nocked an arrow, as naturally as if he were simply walking or eating.
Everyone held their breath and watched every movement of the Youth who stood head and shoulders above the rest. The indoor venue became utterly silent.
A clear twang rang out. The arrow flew straight ahead, followed by a crisp sound as it struck the target.
The Youth calmly wound the bowstring around the outside of his elbow, placed both hands between his waist and hips, and stood where he was to wait for the second round.
Kyudo was the product of the fusion between archery and Confucian ritual and musical thought. Its core lay in "truth, goodness, and beauty." The process of reaching that core involved shooting technique, etiquette, and form. It pursued the most correct way of shooting: a proper shot would surely hit. During this process, one had to consider not only aim, but also muscular force and bodily coordination.
The correct way of shooting an arrow would certainly strike the target. It would never deceive you; that was truth. The correct way of shooting would surely bring one's body and mind in line with the standards of etiquette; that was goodness. The correct way of shooting would naturally produce a beautiful bearing and posture.
During preparation, the contestant sat formally in the dojo. After releasing an arrow, whether it hit or missed, he never showed joy or sorrow, maintaining the same calm throughout. The entire process was neither arrogant nor servile, solemn and dignified, like an elegant noble. This was the process of seeking truth.
Every release was a brand-new beginning.
Only by being sincere in one's heart and sincere toward the bow, reaching a state where person and bow became one, could one shoot the kindest and most beautiful arrow.
In all these aspects, Shirou was flawless.
Maintaining that momentum, he advanced all the way to the finals in the afternoon. With no suspense whatsoever, the Youth won the competition.
If he had not been so young, unaffiliated with any school, and unwilling to pursue it himself, he would already have attained a considerable rank.
Having taken first place, Shirou stepped down from the shooting range. The awards ceremony would be held on the third day of the tournament, so after a brief speech, the individual event came to an end.
At that moment, an old man in a kimono with a head full of white hair slowly approached from the stands, surrounded by a crowd.
Shirou also knew that the man was a highly respected elder of Japanese kyudo, an inheritor of ancient kyudo, and Kato Dan, a living national treasure. He might not have been among the martial artists who shot the most accurately or the fastest in the world, but he was absolutely among those with the deepest understanding of traditional kyudo.
"Watching how freely you moved, especially the way your hands controlled the bowstring so naturally—it was truly wonderful. Even Tawara Toda, who was said to have slain the rebel commander with a single arrow amid an army of ten thousand, might have been no better than this. Shirou-kun, would you be willing to study kyudo under me?" Kato Dan, the white-haired elder, looked at the Youth with great approval.
"Thank you for your kind regard, but kyudo is only a hobby for cultivating my body and mind. I do not intend to pursue it as a profession." Shirou politely declined the old man's offer.
"Is that so? That is fine as well. Whether it is kendo or kyudo, in the end, both are paths to cultivate body and mind. Before that come life and one's career, and sometimes one has no choice but to set them aside. Still, what a pity. Your hands clearly have the potential to become the golden hands of Kato Style." The old man sighed, turned around, and left.
The people around them looked at the Youth in confusion. That had been an invitation from one of the foremost figures in Japanese kyudo.
They merely assumed he was young and ignorant. One after another, they shook their heads and turned to follow the old man.
"Master, since you wanted to take that student as your disciple, why did you give up so easily?" one disciple asked in confusion.
"Because I saw the Youth's eyes," the old man said calmly.
"His eyes?" The disciples were even more puzzled.
"Those were not eyes willing to be content with the present. It would be too cruel to lock him indoors and have him perform kyudo. Those were the eyes of an eagle. He should soar freely through the skies like one, pursuing his incomparably lofty ideals," the old man said.
"A genius Youth with the Eyes of an Eagle?" the disciple muttered, half-understanding.
"If he truly completes the trials the world sets before his ideals, how high will his body, mind, and spirit rise after being tempered a thousand times? How strong will his kyudo become? It truly makes one yearn for it." The old man muttered to himself as he slowly walked outside.
"Master, where are you going? There are still other matches," the disciple caught up and asked.
"Home! There is nothing left worth watching. Kyudo is not made strong by physical strength, but by spiritual strength. If souls truly exist in this world, then through endless refinement, perhaps one may even reach the realm of a bow god." As he spoke, the old man walked out of the venue. This kyudo competition had already given him enough by allowing him to see that Youth.
All he asked was that, in his lifetime, he might glimpse through that Youth an arrow from the legendary god of kyudo.
"Hey, hey, isn't that way too wasteful? If he doesn't want to join Kato Dan's school, then let me take his place." A curly-haired boy from Kyoto's Number One Powerhouse School, Fuuma High School, who had watched everything from beside the field, spoke regretfully. To students who practiced kyudo, Kato Dan might not be the strongest in the country, but he was at least on the level of one of the Five Greats.
"Maybe because he doesn't need it." The black-haired man who had placed second in this competition spoke thoughtfully.
"What? I really don't understand how you geniuses think." The curly-haired boy looked at his school's ace and pursed his lips in displeasure.
"No, compared to him, I can't call myself a genius. With a Japanese bow, even including adults, there are probably only a few people in the entire country who could beat him. In fact, when I saw his shooting form just now, I felt as though I saw the shadow of those legendary ancient marksmen who could kill enemy generals from a hundred meters away without ever missing." The black-haired ace of Fuuma High School said.
"Captain! Are you just admitting defeat like this?" the curly-haired boy asked.
"No. The individual event is impossible, but I have no intention of handing over the team event!" the ace said.
"That's more like it! Even if he's so strong he barely seems human, all our hard work day and night hasn't been for nothing!" The curly-haired boy's fighting spirit also ignited.
After leaving the field and changing out of his kyudo uniform, Shirou had barely stepped out of the changing room when Shizuka Hiratsuka came looking for him.
"Good job! Shirou, your teacher is so touched! How are you feeling? Can you keep winning tomorrow?" Shizuka Hiratsuka laughed loudly and patted the Youth's back. She felt that next month's gacha funds had probably been secured.
"I'm doing alright. Tomorrow's team event will depend on everyone's performance," Shirou said.
The Beautiful Girl Marksman
The next morning, at the kyudo team event, the contestants walked into the arena in neat steps. The three members took their positions, with a target range twenty-eight meters ahead of them.
Because it was a team event, the participants were all schools from various regions, so there were fewer people than yesterday.
The team event consisted of groups of three, shooting ten arrows across three rounds, with victory determined by the total number of hits.
The contestants entered, spread their feet apart, raised their bows, and nocked their arrows.
Then Kyoto powerhouse Fuuma High School took the field. The black-haired man carried himself with remarkable poise, while the curly-haired boy also showed the solid foundation of years of training.
In the end, International High School placed third with seventeen hits, while Fuuma High School took first place with nineteen hits.
After the competition ended and the champion team finished speaking,
Shirou stepped down from the field and changed out of his kyudo uniform. Several girls also came down from the stands.
"Congratulations! You were really amazing. You almost got second place," Asuna said gently and thoughtfully.
"Thanks. This is already pretty good for a team event." Shirou smiled. At the very least, the president and vice president had still been joyfully talking in the changing room about receiving the school's prize money after they returned.
"I think that, when it comes to honor, individual performance is all that matters. Team events are merely compromises created so more people can participate in competitions," Yukino said from the side.
"Shirou! You looked so cool shooting arrows just now! So kyudo isn't that boring after all. Next time, I'll come to the Kyudo Club with Mash to watch you practice." Yuihama laughed as she praised him.
"No, it would be better if you didn't come. You'd cause trouble for the other club members," Shirou said. Frequently bringing a group of delicate girls to the Kyudo Club without seriously practicing would make those who genuinely wanted to train complain.
"What?" Yuihama puffed out her cheeks unhappily.
"Senpai Yuigahama, I practice kyudo too," Mash corrected her unhappily. If she had not only started learning a few months ago, perhaps the teacher would have allowed her to compete as well.
"Mm, Mash, practice hard. If there's anything you don't understand, I'll teach you. Let's compete together next time." Shirou smiled.
"Okay! Shirou-senpai!" Mash nodded. Whether it was work, studies, or club activities, she wanted to do everything well.
"Damn it! Why? Why? We clearly won, so why can't I feel happy at all?!" The curly-haired boy from Kyoto kyudo powerhouse Fuuma High School had just walked outside when he saw Shirou surrounded by girls and grabbed at his hair.
During the team event, Shirou's rapid succession of hits had startled them, but there had been no real danger. The people who appeared later were fairly average, and they still won first place without issue.
He had originally come out in high spirits, intending to call his family and friends to brag a little. After all, he had beaten the "Genius with the Eyes of an Eagle" everyone had been talking about since yesterday. Sure, the other guy had hit ten out of ten, but his teammates had simply been too weak.
But a win was still a win.
When he had seen Shirou step down so calmly just now, he had thought the guy was putting on an act.
He had not expected that, the moment he walked outside, Shirou would be chatting so familiarly with a group of girls.
The curly-haired boy understood that he had truly lost. He might have won a competition, but he had lost his entire life.
"Don't be like that. For people like us who have dedicated our entire lives to kyudo, we should just treat victory as a bride price and marry our bows and arrows!" The black-haired ace did not care, his eyes filled with faith and deep affection for kyudo.
"I don't want that!" the curly-haired boy roared. His dream was to practice kyudo properly, become a professional athlete, and one day marry a virtuous wife who also loved kyudo.
Like this, he spent every day practicing and barely had time to grind FGO, but whenever there was an Archer, he would pull for them, alright?! Second Sister was already NP5! How far away could Tomoe Gozen be?
"Why do I feel that what you're thinking right now isn't actually much better than what I said?" The black-haired boy looked at his friend in confusion.
"Don't worry about it. Even wives from mobile games might jump out one day and come looking for you. Why don't you play FGO too? Those of us who practice bows have great compatibility with Archers," the curly-haired boy said.
"I do play, actually. I got Arjuna in one ten-pull!" The black-haired boy smiled.
Now that the kyudo competition had ended, they were completely free. After packing their bow equipment, they could sightsee around Tokyo, then return to their Kyoto school after the awards ceremony tomorrow.
After chatting with the girls for a while, Shirou had no choice but to put down his bamboo bow, pick up his competition recurve bow, and hurry toward the recurve competition grounds. There were still three or four matches waiting for him.
In the individual recurve event, contestants stood in a row and competed over six rounds of thirty-six arrows, with the highest total score taking first place.
The target at thirty meters was twice as large as the small kyudo target. The target at fifty meters was larger still, while the target at seventy meters had a diameter of 122 centimeters.
The target was divided into ten rings, with five colors: white, black, blue, red, and yellow. Hitting the innermost yellow ring earned the highest score of ten points.
Each contestant carved their own mark into their arrows. The range judges confirmed them one by one before recording the scores.
This was a competition where rings determined the hero. There was no need to say more about the result.
After just a few matches, however, everyone around him looked at him as though they were watching a monster.
"Go, Shirou~!" A girl behind him kept shouting his name.
The moment Shirou finished competing, he hurried outside. When the compound bow event began, he had to reach the grassy target range on the other side.
"Here, Senpai." Mash, his assistant, ran after him and handed the Youth the bow case he had entrusted to her earlier.
"Thanks." Shirou took the case, arrived at the preparation area for the compound bow event, and began adjusting his compound bow.
Unlike the previous competitions, this one was a friendly event. It felt more like a promotional performance than a contest. Any compound bow could be used, and outside, a shop set up in a large tent rented out mass-produced competition compound bows.
Of course, if an enthusiast had brought a high-poundage hunting compound bow, they were free to use it so long as they followed the basic rules and accepted responsibility for any damaged arrows.
The other contestants entered as well. At that moment, a boy wearing a hat walked over carrying a purple compound bow and entered the lane beside Shirou.
The other person seemed to notice Shirou's gaze and glared fiercely at him, as though she had encountered the enemy of her life.
"?" Shirou felt that he should not have offended her.
"Erina-chan! Go for it~! Ah, Brother, you should go for it too, I guess!" Komachi's voice called out from this direction.
Shirou turned around and, sure enough, saw his younger sister waving and shouting at them.
Looking again at the Youth beside him, her brows and eyes were filled with the pride of a Young Lady. Looking more closely, golden strands of long hair protruded from behind her hat. It seemed she had pinned up her long hair before putting on the hat.
"Mm?" Shirou strangely sensed the presence of magical energy from the girl, like the feeling of a Pseudo-Servant summon.
"You're Komachi's Brother, right?! Fight me!" The girl in the hat looked over with sharp eyes.
The Tsundere Girl's Challenge
The compound bow friendly event, a competition intended as an activity to promote archery among enthusiasts, was currently in full swing.
Because the rules here were unrestricted, all kinds of compound bows and all kinds of participants appeared.
There were students who had only just begun learning archery, as well as ordinary adult male enthusiasts.
There were soldiers in military uniforms, holding compound bows as though they were weapons and staring at the targets as though they were prey.
There were also people in hunting clothes who appeared to be professionals, regularly wielding compound hunting bows. Their arrowheads seemed to glimmer red with blood from wild boars and black bears.
It was not difficult to understand why such a somewhat reckless event was being held. After all, for a sport that wanted to attract more attention, standardized, mass-produced recurve bows and compound bows were indeed more suitable for promotion and attracting sponsorship.
Traditional bows were difficult to learn. In this restless age, few people had the conditions to settle down and study them patiently.
There were also countless varieties. In the Chinese cultural sphere alone, there were Japanese bows, Qing bows, Han bows, and Mongolian bows, each with different crafting techniques.
Bows made by master craftsmen known as "national treasures" or Crafting God-level figures were entirely different from those made by ordinary bowyers.
Like people, these handmade bows were one of a kind. Every bow differed, whether in the feel of gripping it or the sound of its bowstring when drawn. Using them in competitions made fairness difficult to guarantee.
In fact, in modern times, even with a compound bow and without assistance from equipment such as sights, being able to consistently hit within the nine ring at seventy meters already qualified someone as a contemporary master marksman.
If Shirou wanted to display his true strength, even shooting flying discs would not be enough. At the very least, he needed a sharpshooter skilled in wilderness combat as his target.
At this moment, the girl who had suddenly challenged Shirou also displayed strength beyond the norm.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The girl fired six times in swift, decisive succession.
Every arrow struck the bullseye!
The immense force made a completely different sound from the surrounding shots the instant each arrow hit the target. If the arrows fired earlier had been bullets, then these were cannon shells.
Judging from her shooting posture, although it fit the rules for compound bow archery, compared to the standard posture of modern competitive archery, it resembled a killing technique tempered on the battlefield. Perhaps even on horseback, she could draw her bow and strike the bullseye just as decisively.
The reason Shirou had looked at her a few more times earlier was that he recognized the eighty-five-pound, purple-painted monster safari in her hands. Without relying on sights, stabilizers, or other auxiliary equipment, it possessed a clean decisiveness and the aesthetic beauty of a modern steel beast combined with the streamlined form of a bow continuously refined over thousands of years.
A compound bow used pulley wheels on its string, making it easier to hold than other types of bows. However, what it saved was the force needed to maintain the draw after pulling it open. The wrist and arm strength required to draw it was actually about the same as with a traditional straight-draw bow.
An eighty-five-pound bow required nearly forty kilograms of draw force. It was a vicious weapon that even an adult strong man would struggle to draw fully.
Before you continue