Uesugi Tetsu shook his head inwardly and asked the resolute-looking Akechi Yuya,
"How do you want to compete?"
Akechi Yuya was slightly taken aback by this. To Uesugi Tetsu's surprise, he fell into deep thought with an unusually serious expression.
Only after quite some time did he look Uesugi Tetsu straight in the eye and say,
"Uesugi-kun, to minimize the possibility of injury as much as possible, how about we decide the winner by whoever first 'slaps the other's back' or 'grabs the other's wrist'?"
No drawing swords—not even a real fight.
Instead, it was as healthy and harmless as a little game played to aid digestion after a meal.
This was probably a rule Akechi Yuya had devised to prevent both sides from suffering serious injuries due to their similar strength, which might affect the True Sword Match afterward.
So.
Uesugi Tetsu scratched his head.
This kid really thinks he can beat me and then take my place in the match at full strength?
"Of course."
With that, Uesugi Tetsu stood up.
He turned to the boy who was taking deep breaths and had placed the sword at his waist here and asked, "Come to think of it, I haven't asked your name yet."
"Akechi Yuya."
Akechi Yuya stood ramrod straight and bowed slightly to Uesugi Tetsu. "I'll see you at the small training ground at the end of the corridor after turning right outside. Please guide me, Uesugi-kun."
He was actually surnamed Akechi...
Perhaps he was being overly sensitive, but the first person he thought of was immediately Akechi Mitsuhide.
Still, there were probably quite a few people surnamed Akechi in this era.
Uesugi Tetsu did not dwell on it. He simply glanced around and confirmed that only Hattori Saiko and three burly, sunglasses-wearing men in Special Affairs