Kami-e Is for Dodging Love

Under the dim starlight, the night was as black as thick, unspread ink.

Noah's face, however, was even darker than the night.

Being able to consistently rank in the top ten of the Elite Training Camp assessments was already an incredible achievement; as long as there were no mishaps upon graduation, he would likely start as at least a Lieutenant Commander at the commissioning ceremony.

As for his own mid-to-upper-tier level, if he didn't show any further improvement, he would likely cap out as a Captain in the main headquarters.

Damn it, this is just too ridiculous... It's one thing to have a stalker who's been following me for a whole year suddenly pop out, but why does she have to be so strong?

Noah really wanted to travel back in time and slap his ten-seconds-ago self, telling him to use his brain and come up with a better excuse for rejection.

"Ahem, Miss Shiya, assessment scores don't necessarily represent true combat ability. Only real combat can reflect that, you understand, right..."

He racked his brains, struggling for a long moment, until a flash of inspiration finally struck: "What I excel at is martial arts and swordsmanship, especially martial arts. What about you, Miss Shiya?"

"What a coincidence, that's what I'm best at too," Shiya said softly. "I've basically mastered Rankyaku and Shigan during this time."

"What about Soru?"

"Hmm, I know a little, but I'm not very proficient."

"Great, then let's make a bet. With a ten-minute limit, you can use any means necessary to attack me, while I will only block and dodge, never fighting back."

Noah felt a surge of joy in his heart as he pointed to his chest. "Within these ten minutes, as long as you can strike my chest even once, I will acknowledge that your strength surpasses mine and agree to let you pursue me formally from now on. Conversely, if you fail, please don't come to bother me again..."

"No problem." Shiya nodded without a moment's hesitation.

Her attitude was confident, her eyes shining, and the way she looked at Noah had clearly changed.

"..."

Noah, whose words had been cut off, felt a strange chill run down his spine.

He couldn't help but feel that the look in her eyes was like a predator staring at prey that already had one foot in a bear trap.

Whatever, think what you want. At least I've achieved my goal.

He had been worrying about who to find in the middle of the night to test the power of his Intermediate Kami-e. Now, not only was that problem perfectly solved, but he could also use this opportunity to shake off the stalker's pursuit.

Killing two birds with one stone—it was a genius plan.

Not far to the southeast of the training ground stood the headquarters clock tower. Even from several hundred meters away, the movement of the hour and minute hands was clearly visible.

Noah and Shiya stood a dozen meters apart. When the clock tower showed exactly nine o'clock, he raised his right hand to the girl opposite him, signaling that she could begin.

Whoosh!

Before he could even lower his hand, a sudden sound of wind breaking through the night air rushed straight toward his face.

It was a "Rankyaku" unleashed by Shiya.

The essence of "Rankyaku" was to kick at high speeds, compressing the air in front of the leg after breaking the sound barrier to create a "vacuum," thereby firing a sharp cutting wave.

For those who didn't know Busoshoku Haki or Tekkai, the lethality was not to be underestimated.

Noah didn't dare to be careless either.

He stared intently at the invisible shockwave tearing through the air. The moment before it reached him, his body twisted at an incredibly strange angle, as if he had merged with the airflow, easily dodging the Rankyaku.

Boom!

The shockwave of the Rankyaku passed Noah and exploded against a sandbag several meters behind him.

Dust splattered, swirling and filling the training ground.

The girl with long, waist-length blue hair paused slightly, a flash of surprise in her eyes, but she suppressed her emotions in an instant. She quickly brought down her raised right foot, stepping on the ground with a speed invisible to the naked eye.

Soru!

The light in the air seemed to distort, and Shiya's figure suddenly vanished. The next second, the girl appeared on Noah's right side, her gaze focused, all her strength channeled into her right finger as she suddenly thrust it toward Noah's chest.

Shigan!

This finger strike was sharp and domineering, its piercing power comparable to a high-speed bullet. But in Noah's eyes, even though the airflow it stirred was like a subtle ripple, it was still traceable.

And so, within that brief second or two, his body flowed like smooth silk into the subtle changes of the air currents, dodging the point-blank strike once again.

"Eh?"

Shiya's eyes widened suddenly. The speed of her Shigan had been personally praised by Zephyr himself; how could it be dodged so easily?

--She refused to believe it. With no intention of holding back any longer, she adjusted her breathing rhythm and activated Soru to constantly shift her position, while her Shigan strikes rained down like a storm, emerging from the night to pierce toward Noah.

However.

Even though Shiya had pushed her martial arts to the limit, Noah was still able to perfectly dodge every single attack from every direction.

As they continued to exchange blows, she could clearly feel that Noah's movements were becoming more and more effortless, his footwork as relaxed and comfortable as if he were strolling through his own garden.

How could this be?

Shiya finally wore an expression of disbelief.

In the entire headquarters Elite Training Camp, no one understood Noah better than she did. In her past observations, Noah's greatest strengths should have been his stamina and two-sword style swordsmanship. When had he practiced Kami-e to such a level?

The Rokushiki had only been officially taught by Zephyr two months ago. Even she had only barely mastered three of the techniques, and she was still in the initial stages of exploring Kami-e!

But the facts were right before her eyes, leaving no room for doubt.

As the time ticked closer and closer to the ten-minute limit, she hadn't even managed to graze Noah once, let alone land a strike on his chest. Watching Noah, who was beginning to show a hint of smugness, the young girl felt an inexplicable surge of grievance and heartache.

Was she really that bad? Even if he wouldn't accept her confession right away, did he have to extinguish any chance for her to keep pursuing him entirely, not giving her even a sliver of hope?

Noah's mood at this moment was the exact opposite; weaving through the various currents of her attacks, he was grinning so wide his mouth was practically splitting open.

This smile contained both the surprise of the Intermediate Kami-e skill exceeding his expectations, and the subtle, satisfying feeling of a plan coming together perfectly.

"If just the Intermediate Kami-e can achieve this level, then if I upgrade it to Advanced, I'd probably be on par with those guys from Cipher Pol, right?"

"These 1,000 points were well spent."

--That was roughly his train of thought.

Unfortunately, this feeling could only be understood intuitively and not expressed in words. Shiya, on the other side, naturally couldn't understand; she only assumed that seeing her fail repeatedly, Noah was smugly mocking her in his heart.

Shiya's sense of grievance deepened, and just at that moment, the ten-minute timer reached its end. She silently glanced at the clock tower, suddenly withdrew her hands, and stopped attacking.

Noah also ceased his dodging.

"Time's up!" He steadied his stance, a smile spreading across his face. "A bet is a bet, Miss Shiya. I won this time. According to our previous agreement, from now on..."

Noah's voice came to an abrupt halt.

Because as he looked up, he was stunned to find the blue-haired girl standing silently under the black streetlamp, tears streaming down her face.

"Shi... Shiya..."

Noah instantly began to stutter. Having no experience in comforting girls, he was at a loss for a moment, not knowing how to speak.

He had truly never encountered a situation like this—although back home in the East Blue, he would often annoy Bell-mère until she cried, she would usually retaliate in kind, paying him back just as fiercely as he had bullied her.

The end result was often the two of them brawling under the orange trees, oranges raining down everywhere, and when they were finally pulled apart, both would be bruised and battered, glaring at each other, neither willing to concede.

But Shiya, standing before him, clearly didn't have that kind of personality, not to mention that he wasn't even that close to her, having only been fellow recruits for less than a year...

First update~