Chapter 172: Ikioi Ito

Although the crowd surrounded the students, they did not cause chaos but were instead giving them support. The audience had good manners.

From the way they looked at Kimura Kazuki, they were craving to convert their expectations into reality.

Kimura Kazuki stayed silent. He would never make any promises regardless of fans or himself.

They were surrounded for around 10 minutes before the fans were willing to disperse. Mr. Matsamura finally had a chance to take a breath and wiped off his cold sweat. He almost got a shock from the disturbance. As a teacher, he would be in massive trouble if something happened.

"Enter the Budo Gym now."

Mr. Matsamura led the students into the building silently.

The competition started at nine-thirty sharp.

After a few days of competing, there were a total of 16 teams from both the Men's and Women's Teams and 100 contestants for the individual category remaining.

Students from Sakura Kyu gathered at the main venue after they put on their Kendo suit. They looked up and realized that the auditorium was dense with humans, all the seats were already taken.

Some students with weaker mentalities already had sweaty palms. It was the first time they experienced such spectacle even for Iwai Hokuto, the Head of the Department of the Kendo Association.

Although he was on-site last year, he was only sitting and spectating from the auditorium. He did not understand how it felt to be a participant. He could now feel it... He almost got suffocated by the anxiety.

He looked at Kimura Kazuki subconsciously and noticed that Kimura Kazuki was resting calmly and silently at the back row. That moment, he really respected Kimura-san as he knew that people were commenting about him on the internet. He also knew that those from Tokyo had placed their expectations on him.

Kimura-san was still undisturbed even under such tremendous pressure. It was no wonder that he had great fame.

The first match was between Aoe High School and Iku Aoi High School. The crowd turned silent immediately when the judge announced that the game had started. Everyone was gazing at the huge screen when it showed that the pioneers of both high schools were getting onto the field.

The commentators had been chattering on and on even before the competition started. Of course, the commentators were only talking for the audience of the live broadcast since the spectators could not hear them.

"Oh, oh, oh... Aoe High School is first, it looks like it's going to be an interesting match."

"According to my observation, Aoe High School's captain is no worse than Sakura Kyu's. Even though their fame is incomparable, there are still a bunch of fans supporting Aoe High School..."

"The first to have a match is Nobi from Aoe High School and Mitsuhashi from Iku Aoi High School."

"Aoe High School is the top in District E while Iku Aoi High School is the second in District C. The competency gap is quite obvious just from the ranking. However, Kendo itself has many uncertainties. As long as it's a competitive sport, the condition at present will be essential in winning."

"Oh... Mitsuhashi from Iku Aoi High School has initiated an attack, but Nobi seems like he's not responding to it? He made a lethal mistake of zoning out during the match!"

"He must be really nervous."

Despite anything, the crowd broke into a big applause when the match ended.

Those from Aoe High School calmed themselves down after the lesson from Nobi's loss. However, it was quite astonishing that the Kendo Association of Aoe High School could be the top in District E with such strength.

The next match was taken over by Ikioi Ito, the captain of the Kendo Association of Aoe High School.

"Things are getting interesting." Iwai, the commentator, was no longer calm, excitement apparent in his face.

"Iwai-san, looks like your confidence toward Aoe High School comes from this student named Ito."

"Absolutely. Ikioi Ito was the main reason Aoe High School became the overlord in District E, defeating me. Sure, Kimura-san from Sakura Kyu High School is also excellent, I've analyzed his videos for over ten times. But, I still think that Ikioi Ito will be the champion for the Tokyo District Qualifiers this time around!"

Ito, who was beside him, was shocked, "How can you be so sure?"

"That's because Ikioi Ito is a member of the Ito family."

"The Ito family?" Ito was confused then he thought of something. "Could it be that Ito family who created the Ito Advantaging Style?" Ito exclaimed in surprise.

"You're right."

Aside from being a commentator, Ito was also a 6-dan Kendo player. It was only natural for him to know about the Big Eight of Japan Kendo... However, these families never allowed their members or students to participate in any competition in the past.

He never expected that Ikioi Ito was one of the Ito family.

Ito Advantaging Style was also known as the Ito Replication Style. The sword styles of the Ito family were unpredictable as they were taught to replicate others' moves in their family.

They could replicate one's move in just a blink of an eye, which was incredible.

When Ikioi Ito entered the dojo, he was not looking at the Chuuken but was instead searching for someone else. The moment when he saw a sign with the name of Sakura Kyu High School written on it, his eyes shone. He then saw Kimura Kazuki, who was sitting and having a rest. For him, it was a waste that he did not get to fight against Sakura Kyu during the first match. He would like to prove that he was the only hope for Tokyo to win the Jade Dragon Flag National Competition!

Of course, Kimura-san was tough too. At that moment, Ikioi Ito was already thinking about what should be their group name if he teamed up with Kimura-san to form an idol group.

Both of them bowed at each other as the judge announced that the game had started.

"Men!" After the bowing ceremony, Ikioi Ito held the shinai and shouted. The next second, his shinai was already swinging toward Iku Aoi High School's Chuuken with high speed.

The Chuuken from Iku Aoi High School responded by blocking using his hands. However, it was too late...

Wham! A loud noise spread across the dojo, it was a successful strike on the opponent's Men. The judge raised the white flag, indicating that the hit was effective.

Kageyama Kuro from Yuki Gyo High School, who was spectating from the audience seat, stood up with an awful expression, "Kageyama Kiai Style? How is this possible!?" Although Ikioi Ito's Kageyama Kiai Style was not that smooth, it was still the Kageyama Kiai Style. Kageyama Kuro could not be mistaken about that as he had been practicing it since a young age.

The reason why Ikioi Ito used Kageyama Kiai Style was that it could end a Kendo match in the shortest time by deterring the opponent using Kiai, which would give him advantages in all aspects.

Of course, Ikioi Ito was aware that the Kageyama Kiai Style would be ineffective on Kimura Kazuki. He also used that style because he did not want to expose any of his skills yet. As the Kageyama Kiai Style was comprehended by Kimura Kazuki, he would not use any other skills than that before fighting Kimura Kazuki.

Iku Aoi High School was just another ordinary high school, and it entered the finals with just a runner-up, but their comprehensive strength was still good, obtaining a good ranking in last year's competition.

It was unfortunate for them to fight against Ikioi Ito, a genius who already had a robust foundation.

Therefore, regardless of who was going to fight next, they could not stand any chance of winning against Ikioi Ito.

"The winner is Ikioi Ito, the captain of Aoe High School. I now declare that the first high school to proceed to the quarter-finals is Aoe High School."

The crowd gave a huge applause as the commentator's voice dropped. Ikioi Ito stood on the stage while he enjoyed the crowd's emotions and applause for him.

Ikioi Ito remained on stage even after the applause had stopped.

Right when the audience and judges were confused by his act, pointing at Kimura Kazuki with his bamboo sword, he shouted, "Kimura-san, I hope that you won't get defeated by the others before you face Aoe! Only I, Ikioi Ito, can defeat you! I will stand upon all the corpse and glory of all the high schools from Tokyo to fight in the Jade Dragon Flag National Competition and win the championship!"