Chapter 141: A Cute Tiger

"Yes, I'm familiar," said Harunaka shyly. "I already memorized all the acupoints of the human body two years ago, when I was in middle school. I also practiced with others so I could hit the right acupoints during actual combat."

Harunaka had already known about the dangers of hitting the human body's acupoints when she was still doing research on it and knew that a single act of carelessness could very well cost someone their life. So to avoid any accidents, she had committed the human body's acupoints to memory a long time ago.

Furthermore, she had ordered a dummy to be used for the constant practice of hitting the acupoints at home. When the dummy was left in the living room or the balcony, it looked incredibly creepy at night and had once scared Natsui, who had gone into the living room for water. Since then, she put the dummy in her own room because her room was spacious anyway.

"Not bad," praised Kimura Kazuki.

In his eyes, Harunaka was already better at this than Yagyu Shizuka.

Since Harunaka was already able to hit the pointed spots in actual combat, a much-appreciated skill that Yagyu Shizuka had yet to achieve. This had nothing to do with talent, but rather hard work and training over a long time.

Yagyu Shizuka was very talented and had been able to understand sword power when she was only 14, but her sword style was still very rough and crude.

He had asked Yagyu Kenichiro about it before, and Kenichiro had told him very clearly that he taught his daughter only the basics, allowing his daughter to figure out the rest on her own. Of course, every year during the Asahi Kendo Competition, he would ask someone to get a copy of the competition recording for his daughter to observe and digest in detail.

Yagyu Kenichiro learned only one style in his entire life, which was the Yagyu Sword Drawing Skill. He knew of other forms as well, but he was not entirely familiar with them.

However, when Yagyu Shizuka began showing stronger talent as she grew up, Yagyu Kenichiro started looking forward to whether or not his daughter would be able to create her own style of Kendo based on her own understanding.

Of course, now that he saw the Yagyu Flying Sword Style, he naturally hoped that his daughter would be able to learn the Yagyu Flying Sword Style. After all, this was the long lost sword style of their family, and it was a powerful one. Kimura Kazuki led Harunaka to a corner where he then sat down cross-legged. Seeing him do so, Harunaka mimicked his actions.

What Kimura Kazuki was going to teach Harunaka was the 'Rainstorm Style'. Only with the 'Rainstorm Style' would she be able to learn the Drizzle Style and the Vibrative Style.

Of course, although Harunaka already knew the 'Vibrative Style', it was still in very crude form, so Kimura Kazuki wanted her to start from the very beginning.

He did not demonstrate it through practice, but instead taught her about the 'Rainstorm Style' orally. He explained the style in minute details, not because he thought that she was stupid, but because sword styles were delicate matters in itself. Although most ordinary people saw powerful sword styles as all about cut-offs, low slashes, horizontal strikes, and other simple moves of the sort, it was not as simple as they thought it was.

After talking for half an hour, Kimura Kazuki took a glance at the time. It was already past four o'clock, and he still had to go over to the Yagyu Kendo Gym to guide Yagyu Shizuka at 4.30pm.

As a last point, he picked up the shinai and demonstrated the 'Rainstorm Style' once for Harunaka. The other members had also gathered around them to watch which Kimura Kazuki did not mind because he knew that it was impossible to learn the style just by looking at it once. If that were possible, then the 'Rainstorm Style' would not have been one of the three elementary forms of the Yagyu Flying Sword Style.

He demonstrated very slowly so that Harunaka would be able to see the footwork of the 'Rainstorm Style' clearly with all its main features.

Only with a rigid memorization of the 'Rainstorm Style' together with a lot of hard work and practice could the 'Rainstorm Style' be used freely during actual fights, making the 'Rainstorm Style' come alive with ferocity in utilization and making it hard to defend against.

After Kimura Kazuki had left, everyone's face became displays of reluctance. Although they could not understand the 'Rainstorm Style', but they had witnessed the power of the Yagyu Flying Sword Style, which they felt made them lucky enough. While Harunaka felt somewhat joyous when she felt the envy present in everyone, her mood immediately dimmed once she thought of the dream she had last night.

Should I... improve my grades?

Kimura Kazuki reached the Akira District very soon and came to the familiar Yagyu Kendo Gym.

Yet as soon as he reached the Yagyu Kendo Gym, he saw Yagyu Shizuka chasing a man out fiercely as she said glaringly, "Reporters are not welcomed at the Yagyu Kendo Gym, and we have no story to tell. There's a Hokushin Kendo Gym on the next street, you can piss off and take a look there! Believe me when I say I'll beat you up!" With her delicate face paired with her little canine teeth, she radiated an unspeakable adorableness, just like a cute tiger.

She had initially thought that he was there to register for Kendo lessons. After chatting with him, he had started asking her questions and even flashed his press card at her, claiming that he could help promote the Yagyu Kendo Gym as long as she answered some of his questions.

In that precise moment, Yagyu Shizuka blew up in anger. If it was not for the fact that she knew that her power was too strong, she would have hit him already and let him have a taste of the Yagyu Flying Fist Style.

The young man had a friendly face and was not mad even after being chased out, he merely felt regretful because he had not thought that this little one disliked reporters so much. He thought that since the Yagyu Kendo Gym was very desolate with not many students, his identity as a reporter would have made her happy instead. After all, if he reported about the Yagyu Kendo Gym, there would be more business for the gym.

As he thought about it, he smiled wryly, "Yagyu-san, I'm really here to interview the Yagyu family. By the time the TV station broadcasts this, you'll have more business too, am I right?"

"The Yagyu Gym does not need your crooked ways to get popular," said Yagyu Shizuka angrily. "Piss off!"

At this point, Yagyu Kenichiro had heard the argument outside and walked out to understand what exactly was happening. Somewhat thoughtfully, he said, "I've been running the Yagyu Kendo Gym for tens of years, why didn't I see you all come and interview us back then? Why are you here now?"

Seeing Yagyu Kenichiro come outside, Minami Matsunaga heaved a sigh of relief. He really did not like to communicate with kids. Yagyu Shizuka was obviously at a rebellious age, and he would never get through this kind of person. Now that the adult was here, he quickly explained to him.

Minami Matsunaga was actually a reporter of the NHK TV station. Since the Jade Dragon Flag Competition was nearing, NHK plans to do an informative program on the styles of Kendo.

All the past Kendo competitions had been broadcasted by them. This included the Jade Dragon Flag, the Koshien Stadium, the IH Tournament, and so on. NHK was involved in all of the broadcasting for them.

Minami Matsunaga was here because he had seen the videos on the NICONICO website. He was actually searching for that Thunder Master. However, after contacting some people from Seikisha, he realized they did not know the Thunder Master at all, with Manager Muraoka also refusing to tell him the real identity of the Thunder Master, which was quite discouraging.

Mr. Muraoka was helpless too... He thought that Kimura Kazuki was a worthy person to keep in contact with, so without his permission, he would naturally not simply tell anyone about how to contact him. Previously, when his father-in-law had forcefully gotten his contact information, he had even called Kimura Kazuki to inform him.

Finally, Minami Matsunaga had found out from the comments on the NICONICO website that the Thunder Master was using the Yagyu Flying Sword Style, which was a long lost powerful sword style. With this point as the origin, he traced the information to find the Yagyu Kendo Gym.

Yet before he could even ask questions, he was chased out.

He did not know the fact that for all the years, the Yagyu Kendo Gym had been in operation, newly opened Kendo gyms on the same street or the next street over would find reporters to smear Yagyu Kendo Gym's name on the internet. It was the same for the Hokushin Kendo Gym, and these past couple of days, Yagyu Shizuka had once again seen reporters with press cards smearing Yagyu Kendo Gym's name.

When she argued with others, she was then attacked by hundreds of keyboard warriors online. In the end, she could not stand it anymore, so she ranted angrily online.

As soon as she ranted online, she was subjected to a losing battle. So now, Yagyu Shizuka hated reporters the most.

"I'm so sorry, but the Yagyu Gym does not welcome reporters, and I don't know anything about any Thunder Master as well." When Yagyu Kenichiro finished listening, he clamped up too. Still, as soon as he finished his sentence, he saw a familiar figure from the corner of his eye and glanced over unconsciously.

Minami Matsunaga saw this and followed his gaze.

When he saw Kimura Kazuki, his eyes shone.