Eve of the Finals

After Tatei Iwashi's match ended, several more Fist Group matches were held before that division concluded.

Of the thirty-three contestants, eleven stood out, directly eliminating two-thirds of the participants. The fist fighters gradually left the arena, and the Sword Group matches began.

With only twenty-two contestants, the matches were conducted as one-on-one duels.

However, a considerable amount of time had already passed, and it was nearly lunchtime, so two matches entered the arena at once each round.

In other words, the tournament would be divided into six rounds. Four people would fight in each of the first five rounds, producing two winners, while only the final round would consist of a single one-on-one match.

Since they were still worried that serious injuries might affect later performances, they continued using wooden swords.

With fewer rounds, Genma and Raidō would take the stage sooner. Before long, Raidō was the first to enter a match.

Raidō's opponent was a woman with delicate features. Once she picked up her wooden sword, she carried herself with a gallant air.

Not long into the fight, Raidō seemed like a different person. His originally fierce and aggressive fighting style turned as sticky and sluggish as porridge.

More precisely, he was somewhat stronger than his opponent, yet he simply refused to finish her quickly.

Watching him pester her like that, Genma and the others, as his teammates, could hardly stand it.

You could say the guy had fallen for her and wanted to flirt.

But what was the point of dragging things out like this?

Her face had gone dark, and her brows were tightly furrowed. Could this still be called flirting?

Was he flirting with her or being a hooligan?

Come to think of it, the smile on Raidō's face had never faded. He even seemed to think he looked particularly sunny and warm.

Still, he always wore that strange mask, which usually covered only his nose and part of his cheeks.

Perhaps he finally came back to his senses. Once the match beside them had produced a winner, Raidō swiftly dealt with his opponent in a few moves.

As a result, the female swordswoman was deeply resentful. Before leaving the arena, she shot Namiashi Raidō a vicious glare.

Looking at it that way, he really had been acting like a hooligan. As for why he kept smiling while pestering the girl, it could only be chalked up to him suddenly becoming sleazy.

It was probably because he had been given the Telescope. Looking upward from below, the spectator stands had some height to them, and the Telescope allowed him to clearly see distant scenery...

Ahem. Soon, it was Genma's turn to fight. Unfortunately, he still did not encounter Daido. It was already the fifth round, meaning Daido would be in the final match.

After quickly defeating his opponent, Genma urged everyone to leave.

It was already lunchtime. Genma could not be bothered with studying his opponent's abilities, and besides, he had made plans with Kurenai long ago.

Perhaps because everyone had performed well, they went to Kankanen, the famous Roasted Meat restaurant in the Land of This, for lunch.

Kamise Yushi was the one treating them. It seemed as though he had deliberately looked after Genma and Kurenai by ordering a table just for the two of them. To avoid making it seem too special, everyone else also ate two to a table.

The promised feeding naturally followed. Shiranui Genma patiently watched the Roasted Meat, blowing on it once it was cooked before slowly feeding it bit by bit into Kurenai's little mouth with great interest.

Such gentle and attentive treatment made Kurenai blush furiously. In the end, she did not even dare look Genma in the eye.

Genma quite liked seeing her like this. To keep the meal from becoming too awkward, he lowered his voice and said, "Say, Kurenai, if you're really that embarrassed, why don't you feed me too? If we feed each other, maybe you can share some of that embarrassment with me~"

"How could embarrassment possibly be shared with someone else?" Kurenai rolled her eyes at Genma, but still picked up a skewer of meat and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Mmm~ See? You did pretty well. Though that caught me a little off guard."

"Hmph. I heard you insisted on dueling that guy who defeated me?"

"Uh... how did you..."

Countless curses rose in Genma's heart. Come to think of it, Raidō should have known most clearly about this matter. As for how it got leaked, he could figure it out with his toes.

"How I know is none of your concern. Why didn't you properly learn about that guy before your duel, yet rushed to persuade everyone to come eat!?"

Kurenai's beautiful, gem-like eyes stayed fixed on Genma, making him immediately lose his nerve.

They said women became incredibly intelligent when men cheated, but he had not even cheated yet, and Kurenai already seemed wise as a demon.

Terrifying~

Thinking that Namiashi Raidō had probably honestly confessed everything, Genma no longer dared hide anything.

But just as he opened his mouth to explain, Kurenai stuffed another skewer of Roasted Meat into it.

"Mmm~"

"Enjoy this meal properly, then beat him up hard this afternoon!"

"Huh? You... mmm..."

Genma wanted to ask something else, but his mouth was plugged again. Still, that let him know that Kurenai probably did not intend to pursue this matter any further.

There was no tenderness or consideration in the way Kurenai fed him meat. The moment she saw that Genma's mouth was empty, she immediately stuffed in another skewer, as though venting the frustration in her heart.

Though he seemed a little overwhelmed, he ate his fill and was quite happy.

Meanwhile, Baiyun Yano, who was eating and drinking with his disciple, found himself in a difficult spot.

Ebisu had been the one to suggest that they sit together. At the time, Ebisu had looked exceptionally enthusiastic, and Yano had originally thought that eating with his disciple would let him eat more. But now, all sorts of questions that were difficult to answer kept being thrown at him, making his teeth ache.

"Sensei, was the spectator stand fun?"

"Sensei, don't try to fool me. I saw pretty young ladies in kimonos in the stands, and the sash hanging down their backs was so long. Don't tell me you didn't, hehehe?"

Ebisu raised his brows as he questioned him, making Yano's stomach stiffen. The meat he ate felt like stones going down his throat.

He wanted to flee immediately, but running away would do nothing to stop the child's curiosity. Besides, the guy before him clearly knew far too much—he could not be judged by ordinary standards at all.

"It's... nothing. The sash is long because that's a special style in the Land of This. There's nothing particularly special about it. They just think longer sashes look prettier~"

After thinking for ages, Yano painfully squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth. But Ebisu's gaze seemed capable of seeing through people's hearts, and his expression was downright disdainful. It was as though the words "I've read plenty; a trick like this can't fool me" were written across his face.

Seeing Yano keep his mouth shut with his head lowered, Ebisu grinned. "Teacher, by the way, when you came back, there was a sweet scent on your neck. As far as I know, Teacher has never had that kind of smell on him before. So if it wasn't yours, could it have belonged to someone else?"

"Hey, hey, don't go too far. I know you've read a lot, but you can't maliciously speculate about your teacher like that..." The words reached Yano's lips before he suddenly realized something was wrong and immediately changed his tune. "Ahem, well... that was just because I got bitten by a few mosquitoes, so I put on some ointment~"

"Ah, Teacher, why bother? I haven't gone around telling anyone about your hobby, have I? If I'd pointed it out then and there, who knows how the others would have looked at you~ Just share it with your disciple. I promise I won't tell anyone else~"

Not wanting to point out the flaw in mosquitoes appearing during winter, Ebisu crossed his arms before his chest and went straight to the point. He even seemed rather pleased with himself, the very picture of a little rascal.

With Ebisu gradually hinting at it and now outright threatening him, Baiyun Yano found himself unable to hold out any longer.

He kept sighing inwardly about how stupid and pathetic he was. He should have wiped away the evidence sooner. Now, not only had he fallen into his disciple's trap, but he was being threatened as well. The more he thought about it, the more dejected he became.

He had thought that having a clever child on the team would help them discuss strategies in ordinary times. Now he realized that a slightly dumber child would have been cuter. This disciple of his, clever enough to be full of bad ideas, was simply too unlovable!

"Fine, come closer so I can whisper it to you. But you have to promise me you won't go to the stands! Otherwise, even if you expose my embarrassing past, I'll report you to your parents!"

Even a clay figure had its limits. Having his weakness seized by his own disciple and being threatened again and again, Baiyun Yano finally let his anger burst forth in full.

Caught off guard by Yano's warning, Ebisu could only grin and nod.

You won't let me go now, but can you stop me from going later? Who gets the final say in the future isn't certain yet~

After grumbling inwardly for a moment, Ebisu immediately scampered over to Yano's side to listen to his senior's valuable experience.

After hearing Yano's experience, Ebisu's face turned red, as though he had swallowed a handful of chili peppers. Even the breath he exhaled came out in long streams, white as mist.

Seeing Ebisu like this, Baiyun Yano felt an even deeper chill in his heart. Such a good child had actually become like this under his guidance.

What he had not expected, however, was that without this experience, Ebisu might have become an "elite teacher" who appeared upright on the surface while being secretly lewd inside.

Being secretly lewd meant being somewhat timid, after all. The future Ebisu would only become braver.

Everyone more or less happily finished lunch, then returned to the competition grounds.

Before long, spectators and contestants began entering one after another. Compared with the waiting area's previous sea of people, only a scattered few remained on the grounds now, making the place seem rather desolate.

Still, every contestant kept a certain distance from the others, looking quite like masters.

Meanwhile, Genma's group remained clustered together, gathered in a huddle as they discussed something.

The matter they discussed had actually been brought up once before the competition. But at the time, everything had been unknown, so it had been difficult to say much. Now that the road ahead had become clear and they knew most of their opponents' strength, they returned to the question of "when to throw the match."

This was different from an ordinary fixed match. There was no benefit in it whatsoever, and it was something they had to do out of helplessness.

After all, none of them were from the Land of This, so they could not claim any placement in the competition. Therefore, they needed to calculate in advance when they should throw matches.

Both groups had eleven people remaining, so the situation could be treated as the same.

Since the number was odd, someone was bound to receive a bye, though it was also possible that one person would have to fight twice.

If they calculated based on the bye arrangement, six people would advance. They could then arrange one-on-one duels, leaving three people to compete for the championship in the end.

That was a very ideal arrangement. If the matches proceeded that way, they would need to start throwing matches in the second round that afternoon—when only six people remained.

The other method was more troublesome. If the eleven people fought with one of them participating in two matches, five people would advance. At that point, having one person fight twice would become problematic, so they could only give one person a bye while the other four decided two winners. Those two, together with the person who received the bye, would then compete for the championship.

By that calculation, they would have to throw matches in the first round. But this awkward format was less likely, so no one paid it much attention.