Chapter 228: Individual Competition

On the fifth day of the Jade Dragon Flag National Competition was the individual tournament.

There were 470 people who participated in the individual tournament and had come from all over the country.

Today was long awaited by the audience.

Ikioi Ito sat on his seat at the resting area and yawned, but his sight was full of expectations on the competition. He was disqualified from the group competition but still qualified for the individual competition. He looked at the side to Sakura Kyu High School and hoped that he would not meet Kimura Kazuki. He did not wish to meet him as he had been traumatized by his previous encounters with Kimura Kazuki.

This guy was considered as the favourite of the Jade Dragon Flag Competition, sweeping away all his opponents. He knew this better than anyone here and he even felt devastated about it. He knew that he had no chance to become the champion and could only fight for the first or second runner-up.

Thinking of that, his sight which was full of interest was aimed at Katsuki Sugawara from Akijou High School. He had surely lost hope for love right now and was not interested in falling in love.

He was more interested in and looked forward to what would happen when Katsuki Sugawara meets Kimura Kazuki.

Last night, in Shiraki Karaoke, Mizuki Sugawara and Tomoya Saito invited a few people from the school to organize a party. But of course he knew their motive. Both of them held the party for Yayoi Momoi and Katsuki Sugawara respectively.

However, Katsuki Sugawara confronted Kimura Katsuki in the karaoke room, and challenged him bluntly.

Kimura Kazuki himself was not interested in karaoke. His main aim was to accompany Kumoko. After all, in Kumoko's memory, he has been accompanying her on her night walks for many years.

For sure, the main reason Kimura Kazuki followed was to ensure the safety of Kumoko. After all, Kumoko was a demi-ghost and many people did not know about her specialty. If she were to meet a cultivator, she would encounter some unpleasant events.

Ikioi Ito was shocked when he met Kumoko before. After Kimura Kazuki's explanation, he could only barely accept it, and even felt more pitiful toward Kumoko.

Kimura Katsuki naturally ignored the challenge mentioned by Katsuki Sugawara. However, in order to deal with Sugawara's pestering, he bluntly said that if they were lucky enough to meet each other during the competition, he will take the challenge. Only then could he shake off Katsuki Sugawara.

He could see the emotion displayed inside Sugawara's eyes. She apparently had no intention to take the women category competition seriously. This was a kind of confidence in her own ability.

Obviously, even if Harunaka had defeated Yayoi Momoi, she still thinks that the former would not be able to win against her when they are to face each other in battle.

Kimura Kazuki felt that way too, but no battles were predetermined, unless one had absolute strength. Obviously, Katsuki Sugawara was not strong enough to knock out Harunaka, so Harunaka still had the opportunity to defeat her.

It was already nine o'clock in the morning. Shu Nakajima, the president of the Kyushu Kendo Alliance solemnly announced the start of the competition. The audience roared and cheered once again.

The Men's and Women's Team competition had ended and now the audience was familiar with some of the seeded players. The men's category favourites were Kimura Kazuki, Mizuki Sugawara, and Asuka Saito. While for the Women's Team, there were Katsuki Sugawara, Furuhashi Harunaka, and Yayoi Momoi.

Even though Yayoi Momoi was disqualified from the group tournament, the elegance and beauty of her swordsmanship had left a deep impression on the audience. She was even known as the Sword Princess by the audience. Although she lost the competition yesterday, her popularity did not decrease and even exceeded that of Katsuki Sugawara. After all, Katsuki Sugawara showed an apathetic face all the time, as if turning everyone away, causing many to keep their distance.

At ten past nine, the competition officially began.

As they used an electronic random selection, there were no seeded players in the competition. All of them were making their way to the championship with their own strength. Few years ago, there was no first and second runner up in the Jade Dragon Flag National competition, there was only the honor of the champion. It was only later that the Kendo Association felt that this was not a professional game after all and it was too cruel that only the champion was honored, thus the organizer added on the honor of first and second runner-up.

Therefore, many who followed the individual competition closely online only acknowledged the champion of the competition, but not the first and second runner-up.

The players who participated in the individual competition and advanced to the National Competition all eyed the position of champion, and there was enthusiasm in their eyes. Only Ikioi Ito was like a salted fish, without big ambition, only hoping to be the first or second runner-up.

Around ten o'clock, Kimura Kazuki was chosen to enter the competition stage. Sadly, his opponent was no skillful player and was defeated by him in just one strike. As it was a best-of-three match, Kimura Kazuki obtained the two marks in the blink of an eye and won the game.

From the second round in the afternoon, 117 people will advance out of 234.

Due to the huge number of participants, there would be a lucky one who would not be matched at every two rounds of competitions. But obviously, Kimura Kazuki had no such luck.

In the second round during the afternoon, his opponent was Yayoi Momoi.

When both of them appeared on the match screen, all of the audience cheered in excitement. It was a battle between two popular players. Although most of them knew that it was difficult for Yayoi Momoi to defeat Kimura Kazuki, a battle between them was more than enough for everyone to look forward to.

Yayoi Momoi was stunned, for she did not expect Kimura Kazuki would be her opponent.

Thinking about her conversation with Harunaka in the karaoke yesterday, after she knew that all of Harunaka's sword skills were taught by Kimura Kazuki, she could not help feeling discouraged. Now that Kimura Kazuki was set to be her opponent, she was clearly looking discouraged. However, since this was a competition, Yayoi Momoi went up to the stage very quickly.

Both of them stood opposite of each other. Before the referee announced the beginning of the competition, Kimura Kazuki felt something. He frowned his eyebrows slightly, and said unenthusiastically, "Along the journey of Kendo, there are a lot of obstacles to overcome, we must have an unyielding heart."

He could feel that Yayoi Momoi had no desire to win from her eyes. Kimura did not mind waking her up, but he could only touch on without overdoing it. After all, she wasn't Harunaka and he was not familiar with her. Of course, he had his motive when he reminded his rival. He wanted to see the 'position' of the Momoi family, which was their territory.

Most of the family members of the Momoi family were solitary practitioners and rarely any of them would leave the mountain before they could master their sword style. There was even a time when the Momoi family disappeared, and most thought that the Kyoshin Meichi-Ryu was gone for good. It could be seen how reclusive were the Momoi family.

When Yayoi Momoi heard that, she was deeply shocked. Clearly, her mentality had changed just moments ago. If it was not for the reminder from Kimura Kazuki, she could have lost her will to wield her sword. If that happened, it would be an absolute despair.

"Thank you!" Yayoi Momoi bowed to Kimura Kazuki before the referee announced the start of the competition. The audience was confused about what had happened.

However, the referee at the side heard everything clearly, and he couldn't help but look at Kimura Kazuki with eyes full of praise.