Chapter 5 - Kantokan Style

We won unscathed. We had completely humiliated Manami, to the point that the entire school respects even me. Kirigaya and I reveled in the spoils of victory while Shigure grudgingly disbanded the Kendo club...

 ....was what I had daydreamed of, but the back of Kirigaya's hand quickly snapped me back to reality.

"Kirigaya-sama, I can't do this!"

"I won't give you what you want until you do this for me."

"I'll die!" I was on the verge of getting on my knees and begging for her to let me forfeit. I seriously didn't want to die today. I may not have a lot to live for, but there was so much manga and anime I didn't want to miss out on. The Kancolle anime adaptation comes out next year!

"Will you get it together!" She grabbed my shoulders and shoved me against the wall. "Look, if you don't help me out with this, I'll not only not give you what you need, but I'll also kick your ass so hard you'll taste my shoe in your mouth. Got it?"

I nodded meekly.

"Good."

A loud foot stomped on the floor, scaring the both of us. "Hurry it up already! I'm itching to get my sword stained with you losers' blood!" Manami barked.

I sighed. "Let's do our best." She quickly composed herself in front of the audience as we walked towards the center of the gym with our swords, fully armored. There was a small X mark and two lines of tape about a meter apart on either side.

"Finally!" Manami put on her helmet and spun her sword around. "This is gonna be so fun!"

"I'm going to enjoy watching you two get destroyed," Shigure mocked. "You're free to kill this little eye-sore over here but be sure to spare the President. While I don't mind sex with corpses I'd prefer this bitch to be alive when I rape her." The Kendo members snickered behind her and Manami smiled maliciously.

"Sure thing, Master. Just be sure to fuck me good after you're finished with her."

"You little whore..."

"Will you shitheads start the match already?!" Kirigaya shouted, getting impatient.

"You wanna get raped sooner? Sure thing. I need some refs out here!" Three students promptly stood up and picked up some red and white flags that were scattered on the floor. "Rules are simple. It will be a three-point match, so whoever scores two points first wins. Now we’ve never had a three-person kendo match before and I don’t believe it’s ever been done, but since Shichi and whatsherface are too weak to win against Manami individually, you two count as one competitor so you’ll both have a white ribbon attached to your armor. Manami has a red ribbon. If at least two of the refs agree that a strike is scorable, then they will raise the coloured flag that corresponds to the competitor that scored a point.

"Normally, in an official match a point is counted by the shinai making contact, your vigor and your mental awareness. However, I may have said that this was a real match but in no way is this conventionally practised. Or legal."

"Like that wasn't obvious!"

"Around here though, we don’t go by the rules. We do whatever the hell we want, so we have sword matches to settle social as well as school-related disputes. In these matches, a strike is counted if you are able to draw blood."

"HAH?!"

"Though, if you manage to sever a vital part of the body, for example, the head, then the match ends immediately."

"Well obviously since you'd be dea--"

"Now that that's out of the way, BEGIN!"

Manami stepped forward on the line of tape, prompting us to do the same. She then crouched down and stood back up, so we hesitantly followed what she did."I'll be rooting for you, Aki-chan," Sachiko encouraged. Her words reassured me. Surprisingly, my body wasn't shaking. My heart was racing, not with fear, but...

"MEN!" was what I heard when the top of my helmet was sliced down with expert precision, the edge of her sword grazing the top of my head.

"Shit," I said, clumsily backing up with the sword in my hands. Manami advanced at me without so much as a single breath, her mouth curled in a twisted smile.

"KOTE!" she shouted, her sword coming towards my hand. I yelled out in pain as it tore through my glove and slashed through my wrist. My hand fell to the floor in a bloody mess, leaving my katana in just my left hand. The refs raised red flags.

"Christ," tears threatened to spill down my cheeks as I realized my hand was actually gone. It would take a while for that damn thing to grow back. Shigure stepped in between us and had us walk back to our original positions. She smirked at me.Manami had her sword ready again, and while she was getting ready to strike again, I could see the hunger in her eyes, the same type of eyes dogs get when they become aggressive.

Once the second match started, Kirigaya raised her sword and sprinted as fast as she could towards Manami while I watched from the sidelines, frozen in place. Her inexperience was made clear when Manami easily sidestepped her and slashed her side. Kirigaya yelled out in pain and clutched her wound, but there was no blood visible. The blonde grinned wolfishly and stepped forward slowly, almost in a teasing sense. Kirigaya had look of absolute disgust and hate directed at her. They then thrust their swords at each other, only to clash the two blades together, brought face-to-face.

“You little piece of shit,” I heard Manami mutter, “thinking you can win against me. I murdered your mother, and you think I wouldn’t be able to take out a little half-blood like you?”

“Shut it, you dog. You were nothing but a sad, old mutt before I came along. And you still are. The only thing different is that you can talk.”

Manami growled deeply. “You made me starve and buried me under a street. Why should I feel grateful to you? You shouldn’t have been surprised when I ditched you for a new master.”

“Like I care. At least unlike you, I have a family. A real one. But you? You’re just a lonely old dog that got abandoned and left to rot. You think Shigure actually cares about you? She’ll just toss you aside like garbage once someone hotter, or cuter comes along. She doesn’t love you. No one loves you and no one ever will.”

Manami shouted out in rage and began to swing her sword erratically. Somehow, the President was able to block all her strikes and managed to kick her in the stomach, sending her back a few steps. In half a second, Kirigaya lunged at her and tore her sword into her shoulder. She wasn’t skillful enough to chop her entire arm off, but I could see that she cut in pretty deep. Manami dropped her sword and as she did so two refs raised their white flags.

I glanced over at Shigure, who now had an eyebrow raised. At first she looked fairly confident that we would lose, but something seemed to have peaked her interest.

“YOU BITCH!” Manami snarled, picking up her sword. We took our respective places and awaited Shigure to begin the final match.

"Right now, it's a tie. Whoever wins this match or survives it wins." We nodded. Shigure turned to Manami. “I thought you could do better than this.” She yelled out and started us off.

For whatever reason, Manami put all her attention into Kirigaya and I was stuck in the same position as before. The two had their swords up against each other, one of them occasionally lashing out only to be swiftly blocked by the other.

I decided to take the opportunity and attempt to try to take on Manami while she was occupied. I took a deep breath and cautiously made my way to her, deathly afraid she would break her focus and direct her attention at me.

I was about half a meter behind her, and I was able to see her shoulders trembling. She was struggling against Kirigaya. Slowly, but surely, I got closer and closer, aiming the tip of my katana..."NRAAGGHH!" Kirigaya cried out, collapsing to the floor with a thud. My eyes widened when I saw a large gash bleeding around her abdomen.

Whistles blew and I turned my head back to see the refs with their red flags raised. Oddly, Shigure only looked mildly impressed.Manami jumped up and down in glee and cheered. "Yay! I win!"

"Kirigaya-sama!" I rushed to her side, panicking. "Are you alright?"

For a few seconds, she didn't move but then I heard her groan out irritably. "Fuck... it hurts."

"Kirigaya-sama... I need to take you to the nurse!"

"Hey you!" Manami called from behind me. I turned.

"You know, I'm not usually into pathetic weaklings like you, but I'm feeling pretty pumped from my easy victory, so..." her surprisingly strong hands roughly pulled me away from Kirigaya's side, bringing me over to the back of the gym. I grunted when the wall hit my back.

Before I knew it, her lips were upon mine and she wasted no time in sticking her long tongue into my mouth. I froze. My first kiss... was with a dog?!

"Hehe," she giggled. She looked back, "this girl's really cute... you don't mind if I borrow her for a while, do you, Mistress Kirigaya?" And with that, she was making out with me again, and I was becoming shamefully aroused.

I heard a battle-cry of fury and heavy footsteps then Manami screamed into my mouth. Soon, her entire voice echoed throughout the gym. I glanced down and found Kirigaya, her teeth sunk into her leg.

Everyone in the gym stared back in horror as Manami continued to scream until she fainted. Kirigaya got up, limping slightly. She placed her hands on my shoulders.

"Don't you ever let that happen again."

"What just happened?!" Did Manami just go unconscious from a bite?

"You remember how my mother turns into a serpent when she's angry?"

"Uh huh."

"Do I need to explain it to you?! Snakes have venom, idiot, and I'm her daughter."

"S-so then...."

"Well, well, well!" Shigure crossed over to us, shoved me away, and grabbed Kirigaya by her hair. "That was sexy as all hell, baby."

Hah?

You don't care that I just killed your girlfriend?"

"Care? That Manami was only ever good for bending over and making me sandwiches. Now I remember why I chose you before..." Shigure leaned in to kiss her.

Kirigaya pushed her face away. "Asshole. You're nothing but a pig."

"Hmph. Playing hard to get, are you? That's fine. Well, Shichi, you proved to me that you actually can win a kendo match. Even if you did cheat at the end."

"What's your point?"

"I'll let you go for now. After all, it would only be fair, right? Technically you did lose, but I'm sparing you. You won't be disbanding this club anytime soon. Just know that if I ever see your face around here again, I'll rape you for real."

"How touching. Get away from me."

"Kiss me first."

The president slammed their lips together in an unexpected, passionate kiss. When she released her, Shigure was speechless.

"Fuck you," Kirigaya spat, walking back to my side.

"That's why I love this woman."

The kendo club members left the bleachers and went to congratulate Shigure, and a few of them taunted Kirigaya.

"Oh uh, one more thing Shichi: you may be President, head bitch, whatever of this school... make no mistake. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, messes with the Kendo Club. Not even you. Now get the fuck out." The students jeered at us.We ignored them and used the back door to head outside.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm telling you, I'm fine. And um, that thing you need… I have it if you want it now."

“You can save it for later.”

"No, I have it with me, right here." She took away the blue flower from her hair and placed it in my hands.

I stuffed the flower in my pocket. "Do you wanna stay over, Kirigaya-sama? You're still injured."

"They're healing."

"Not quick enough. Come with me."

"But--"

"It's fine. I'll cook for you and everything. Just rest up."She gave me a glare that I knew all too well. "Don't tell me what to do. Besides, you're probably just doing this so you can have your way with me."

"T-that's not it!"

"So you're saying you don't want to?"

"I do!" I blurted. "I really do want to have sex with you! You're gorgeous and I would love to lose my virginity to you!"

Her eyes went wide and her entire face flushed deeply. "Y-you idiot...."

I buried my face into my palm. My head must've been steaming like a hot spring. "Sorry."

Kirigaya diverted her gaze away from me and folded her arms. "So um... thanks."

Did I really just hear what I just heard? "What?"

"God, don't make me repeat it will you!" she began smacking my chest. "I said thank you, so quit your gloating already!"

I laughed and took hold of her wrists to stop her blows. "You're welcome."

"Good job, Aki-chan," Sachiko spoke.

"You're in my head now?"

"I don't want to ruin the moment. But I am getting a little jealous, you know."

"Jealous? Why?"

"Don't make me come out and hit you."
 