I woke up after half an hour; my teacher was reading a book, sitting in a chair, while the man lost consciousness again, and I was lying where I stood before.
I slowly got up and stood. He saw me standing and said, "Come here and take the slip joint pliers and start by plucking his nails."
He said, looking in his book with a cool composure.
I said, "You saw what happened to me when you cut off his ear, right? I have 'HEMOPHOBIA'. I can't stand the sight of blood, and I lose consciousness when I see blood, so I can't do it."
"I know, your grandfather told me about you and your problem. It seems it was the reason you can't use a sword in real fights, so he came up with this idea of making you to getting used to the sight of blood," he replied.
"Does this even work?" I asked.
"Don't know, you are the first one I am seeing according to my knowledge."
"Oh, so is this also part of the training?" I asked him.
"Yes, we'll be doing this until you get used to seeing blood, so get started," he said.
I said, "Okay," and went to where the tools are kept and saw all kinds of tools, but I don't know what a slip joint plier is and stood there watching them with focus.
He saw me and said, "You don't know what a slip joint plier is, right?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Take the tool with two handles at one end and two hard, flat, metal parts at the other," he answered.
I took the tool that he mentioned and went near the man and caught his right index finger nail and closed my eyes and plucked his nail.
"No, you are doing it wrong," he said.
"Wrong? Why? I plucked it as you asked, right?" I spoke.
"Yes, you did the plucking part right, but you didn't watch it," he replied.
"But I can't do it," I said.
"That's why you're here doing this, so open your eyes while doing your job so you can leave fast."
"So how many hours should I do this?" I asked him.
"One hour daily if you do it properly or else the time increases depending on the time you waste."
"How much time is left?"
"One hour, because you were unconscious for thirty minutes. So, work hard," he said and started reading his book again.
This time I caught his right middle finger and plucked his nail with my eyes open, and he screamed loudly, and blood spilled on me, and I lost consciousness again.
When I woke up, the man's fingers were covered with bandages.
I stood up again and went near him; it seems this time I was out for only twenty-five minutes, and again I started to pluck his finger nails again, and I lost consciousness again.
This happened two more times, and when I went for his left-hand fingers, I didn't faint when I plucked his nail out.
Then my teacher said, "This is enough for today, you may leave and your sword and ki training starts at half past eight tomorrow morning in the training grounds, don't be late."
"Okay," I replied and left the room and changed my clothes and washed my face in the washroom and left the headquarters.
As I went out, there was a man standing beside a car; he came to me and said, "Your grandfather asked me to leave you at the Minka, so please follow me."
I followed him and got into the car, and he took me and dropped me at the Minka and said that he would be back here at seven in the morning to take me to the training grounds and asked me to be ready by that time and dropped me off, and he left.
Ha... this is so peaceful, I can now play VALORANT before sleeping.
Now I can't wait until tomorrow to see their faces when they lose to me, hee-hee.
"Ew, your smile is creeping me out, stop smiling like that," a voice came out suddenly.
"Wah!" I shouted out of fear.
"Hahaha, are you still afraid of ghosts?" Kenji came out laughing, holding his stomach.
"Shut up, you don't get it, and why are you here? Didn't you go home?" I asked.
"No, it seems your grandpa ordered us all to stay in the Minka till we all get the license."
"Oh, so how is your training going?" I asked.
"Dude, you are rushing too fast, our training starts tomorrow, and we have our duel tomorrow, I hope you didn't forget it."
"No way, man, I am going to make you taste defeat," 'yawn', "tomorrow."
"I think you are tired, so have a bath and sleep."
"No, I will play VALORANT, wanna join?"
"Nah, I will go to sleep."
"Your bad, and where are the girls staying?"
"They are also staying here with us."
"Oh, okay."
I said it and went to the second floor where my room is and threw my bag on the bed and played VALORANT until two AM and slept.
"Toru... Satoru, wake up, the driver is going to arrive at any minute; at this rate we are going to be late for the training."
I woke up hearing Kenji's voice and the banging on the door he was making from the outside.
I got up and said, "Give me ten minutes and I'll be out."
"Okay, and everyone is out and ready to leave, so hurry up," he said and left.
I got up and went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and took a shower, got dressed and got out of my room and went to the hall where everyone is.
The mood between the three of them feels different today.
Kenji and Akiko, who used to be smiling and energetic, have a serious look on their face, and Keiko has always been like that, but today she has an aura that tells she is serious about something; it's unexpected of them.
I think their grandpas asked them to take their one-week training serious; if they pass, a nice custom-made sword will be given as a reward, and should they fail, a nice punishment of the same level of the reward would be waiting for them.
I walked to Kenji, who is sitting on the sofa with a dead serious look on his face, and sat beside him and said, "Why are you all serious? Don't take what your grandpas said seriously, no one would punish you if you fail the exam."
"Who said that we were worrying about the exam? We were thinking about our match with you," Kenji replied with a little anxiety.
"Don't worry, I will go easy on you all, so change your face expressions."
"Who would want you to go easy on us? Even kids could be able to defeat you, you are underestimating the three of us and you will regret it if you think like that," Keiko said it in a ferocious and threatening way; even I got the chills from just hearing her say those words.
They are that determined on defeating me, so I can't just play with them; now I got to show them my real power and the gap between us in 'technique' and 'tactics' with all the info I have on them.
I am seeing them for the last seven years, Kenji would practice with Keiko from time-to-time.
Keiko and Akiko would participate in tourneys to improve themselves.
And they don't know about me, how I use a sword or anything. This gives me an upper hand.
You know what elders say, the one with info always wins. This is my complete victory.
"Okay, I hope you won't regret saying those words. As you asked, I will go all out, so brace yourselves."
I don't know what happened to Akiko, but she was silent this whole morning; I guess her grandpa was strict with her.
But I have never heard that her grandpa was harsh with her; he loves his granddaughter more than his daughter.
That's what Kenji said; well, this is about the license, so maybe he was harsh with her cause a single mistake can cost you your life.
And in the meantime, the car came and we all got in.
All three of them are still maintaining the atmosphere from the Minka even in the car.
Whatever, I am going to take a nap till the training grounds arrive.
"Hey dumbass, get up, we've arrived. Why do you fall asleep whenever you get the chance, and how are you able to sleep when you have a fight? You are something else," Kenji complained his opinion on me.
I got up and got out of the car; I had a good nap, I feel so refreshed.
Then we went into the training grounds; this is the JSA training grounds.
This can be used by the vice captains and captains and the persons who got their permissions, and by the working members but family members cannot use it, only the association members can.
As we are going to take the test, we're given permission, as the association's best agents are going to train us, but there's still one hour left before they come.
So, we can have our little fight.
We headed into the training ground to warm up before the match, and we started warming up.
This stadium is the second largest in the country after the "TOKYO DOME", and it is named after the sword and thunder god called the TAKEMIKAZUKI stadium.
This is also used for national kendo competitions.
As we were warming ourselves up, all of our grandpas came with juices and popcorns in their hands, as if they were coming to watch a movie.
The other three were not distracted by their sudden appearance, as if they knew it beforehand.
Hah, I fucking hate when they keep such things secret from me; maybe this is the reason why they were in a bad mood this morning.
How did they even find out about this?
These old fools, can't they sleep in their houses? What's so fun in watching a training match?
I think they all placed bets on who's going to win.
Let me guess, it's Kenji.
Sorry, old farts, but it's going to be me.
We finished our warm-ups, and a referee walked up.
They even brought a referee for a small match like this, aren't they overreacting for some kids' play?
Well, it's their grandchildren, so I think they are excited or are just crazy.
Well, what can I say, they are going to be disappointed after this match.
All of us geared up and took our swords and stood.
I stood facing them as they stood facing me.
The referee gave us the signal.
And the match started.