After school, the rhythmic sound of bamboo swords striking each other echoed from the kendo room.
Inside the training hall, many of the students were already beginning to disperse, but in the center of the floor, two figures still stood facing one another.
Both of them wore full kendo gear.
Dark blue training robes were covered by black armor, their arms and torsos firmly protected, while the black kendo helmets covered them from the head down to the shoulders, leaving only their bearing and the pressure emanating from them visible.
Saionji Kana stood holding her shinai with a steady posture.
Across from her was Nanakusa Mayumi.
The two stepped toward each other and stopped at the perfect distance.
The tips of their shinai pointed toward one another, perfectly still in midair.
Kurosawa looked back and forth between them for a moment before raising one hand slightly as a signal.
"Begin."
Saionji moved first.
She rushed at the other girl with firm footwork, raising her shinai high before bringing it down toward the head without hesitation.
The sound of bamboo striking bamboo rang out immediately as Nanakusa raised her shinai and received it perfectly.
Saionji did not allow the rhythm to break.
She changed the angle of her strikes rapidly, pressing her opponent with a continuous assault.
Yet every time, Nanakusa either blocked with precise accuracy or moved just enough to let the shinai miss.
The sound of footsteps scraping the floor mixed continuously with the sound of wooden swords colliding.
At last, Saionji decided to accelerate and launch a full offensive.
She stepped in deeper than before.
Pressing down on the other girl's shinai, she brought her strike straight down once again.
But Nanakusa shook her shinai free from the pressure and countered in the same instant.
The tip of her shinai stopped right in front of Saionji's mask.
The room fell silent for a moment.
Kurosawa watched the scene for a short while before lowering his hand and speaking.
"That's enough."
Saionji lowered her shinai, though clearly unwillingly.
Both she and Nanakusa slowly raised their hands and removed their kendo helmets, revealing the faces that had been hidden beneath the black armor throughout the match.
Off to the side, Kurosawa and Tanaka had gone quieter than usual.
Tanaka in particular.
Her eyes were fixed on Nanakusa with obvious seriousness.
Her gaze remained locked on Nanakusa.
"Nanakusa... is it possible that you've practiced kendo before?"
Nanakusa tilted her head slightly before replying in her usual polite tone.
"About half a year."
That answer made the entire room fall silent once more.
Tanaka and Kurosawa exchanged looks for a moment, while Saionji's frown deepened even further.
"But please don't expect too much from me. It's already been two or three years since then."
Nanakusa continued with a smile.
Tanaka let out a sigh before laughing softly.
Saionji herself seemed startled as well.
She had never expected Nanakusa to have had prior experience.
After a short silence, the tension in her expression eased a little.
At the very least, losing to someone who had trained before sounded better than losing to a complete beginner.
...
The sound of rain fell from outside.
After changing back into her school uniform, Nanakusa did not see Saionji again.
She merely bowed her head politely to the two upperclassmen, said her farewell, and left the kendo club room.
The moment she slid the door open, the sound of rain became louder.
Rain was falling steadily, dampening the outdoor walkways.
Nanakusa quietly opened her umbrella and walked through the rain along the connecting corridor.
Along the way, many students who had not brought umbrellas were still waiting under the eaves. Some looked up at the sky helplessly, while others had taken out their phones.
Amid that scene, Nanakusa kept walking without hurrying. The dark umbrella in her hand shielded her perfectly from the rain, while the sound of droplets pattering against the fabric echoed above her head.
On the way to the convenience store, Nanakusa spotted two familiar figures standing beneath the awning out front.
Riko and Kuroi.
Riko held a small plastic bag in her hand, while Kuroi stood beside her with an umbrella, her expression as calm and cautious as ever.
It looked like the two of them had just come out of the store.
Riko noticed Nanakusa first.
"Oh, Nanakusa-san."
She called out brightly, so brightly that not even the sound of the rain could drown it out.
Nanakusa paused slightly before turning toward them.
"Good evening."
Kuroi bowed politely.
"What a coincidence."
Riko lifted the bag in her hand a little, looking cheerful.
"I just came out to buy a few sweets."
When she finished speaking, she laughed, even though the bag was stuffed nearly full with snacks, drinks, and ice cream.
Kuroi let out a faint sigh at her side, but said nothing to stop her.
Nanakusa looked at the two of them for a moment before asking calmly,
"Are you two heading back now?"
"Yes."
Kuroi was the one who answered.
"We were originally planning to return immediately, but the young lady wanted to stop by the convenience store first."
"Well, when it's raining like this, a place like this is just too tempting."
Riko protested immediately, sounding completely serious.
"Perfect timing!"
Riko suddenly exclaimed in a relieved tone.
She then pulled a small envelope from Kuroi's pocket and held it out.
"I prepared this to pay you back for the money from before."
Nanakusa looked at the envelope for a moment before accepting it without haste.
"Thank you."
Riko smiled in obvious relief.
"I was thinking of returning it during the weekend, but since you're here now, Nanakusa-san..."
With that, she held the envelope out to me without hesitation.
"I'm so glad. I finally got to return it."
After saying that, she looked up at the rain-filled sky before turning back to Nanakusa.
"By the way, where are you headed next, Nanakusa-san?"
"I'm just going into the convenience store to buy something."
"Oh..."
Riko nodded and shifted a little closer to Kuroi.
Kuroi bowed once again.
"In that case, we should be going now."
...
At that moment, the atmosphere suddenly grew quieter than it should have been.
Nanakusa sensed cursed energy.
...
Even though they were still in the city, because the rain showed no sign of stopping, most people had already hurried home or taken shelter beneath roofs and awnings, leaving only a few scattered pedestrians in front of the store.
In that silence, several men in black suits, spread out a short distance away, began moving closer.
One of them had a knife hidden beneath the hem of his suit, and slowly raised it into view.
The blade flashed briefly in the store's lights.
His gaze shifted between Riko and Nanakusa.
The atmosphere immediately turned tense.
Kuroi stepped in front of Riko slightly and asked in a cold, guarded tone,
"Who are you people?"
No one answered her.
In the next instant, the nearest man in a black suit lunged forward.
Without hesitation, Kuroi moved to shield Riko and raised her arm to receive the attack from the short knife in his hand.
At the same time, two more men in black moved in from the sides, clearly intending to pressure them and leave them no room to escape.
If it had been a one-on-one fight, Kuroi clearly had enough skill to deal with it.
The problem was that this time the enemy had not come alone.
They closed in from multiple directions, giving her no chance to properly regain her footing or get Riko away.
The outcome of the fight gradually became more obvious.
Even though Kuroi was still holding her ground, the larger number of attackers was steadily forcing her back.
Riko stood behind her, visibly pale.
At that moment, Nanakusa spoke calmly.
"If you don't stop now, I'll call the police."
But no one paid attention to her warning.
One of the men in black seized the opening and rushed around Kuroi from the side, aiming directly for Riko.
Kuroi turned to intercept, but two others cut her off from the front, preventing her from breaking free in time.
"My lady!"
Riko stumbled back a step in panic.
And in that very instant, Nanakusa moved.
She folded up the umbrella in her hand in one motion and gripped it in a way not unlike holding a shinai.
With only a single step, she slipped into the space between the man in black and Riko.
The tip of the umbrella shot forward, striking the man's wrist so sharply that the hand holding the knife instantly weakened.
Then Nanakusa twisted the umbrella upward in a diagonal sweep and brought it crashing down accurately onto the man's shoulder.
A dull impact sounded.
His body staggered off to the side at once.
But she still did not stop.
As he tried to force himself back into position, Nanakusa rotated the tip of the umbrella upward and brought it down right onto the center of his head, as though executing a men strike in the kendo room.
The man in black collapsed unconscious onto the ground.
Everything happened so quickly.
Kuroi froze slightly.
Riko's eyes widened.
The remaining men in black all stopped and stared at the scene before them.
In the midst of that silence, one stray thought surfaced in Nanakusa's mind.
This umbrella was sturdier than she had expected.
Nanakusa simply stood there, vaguely looking at the umbrella in her hand, still pointed slightly downward.
Then she lifted her gaze to the remaining men in black and spoke again in the same polite tone.
"I did warn you."
1
After that, everything ended quickly.
With my help, Kuroi was able to keep the situation under control until the others collapsed one by one.
The sound of sirens came not long after, and before long a police car arrived in front of the convenience store through the rain.
The unconscious men in black were handcuffed and taken away quickly.
It had to be admitted that thanks to Kuroi's handling of the matter, the police barely questioned me at all.
"Thank you very much, Nanakusa-san. If you had not helped us, the young lady might have been hurt."
Riko hurriedly nodded along.
"That's right, thank you so much, Nanakusa-san."
Riko looked from the umbrella in my hand to my face, then continued in a sincerely admiring tone,
"What is your umbrella made of? It actually knocked someone unconscious."
She paused slightly, as though just realizing something, then asked with obvious curiosity,
"And the way you moved looked like you've had experience with kendo too, right?"
I nodded before replying politely,
"I've practiced a little."
I paused for a moment, then looked at the umbrella in my hand.
"As for this umbrella... it was specially prepared for me by my family."
I continued speaking with almost no change in expression.
"You could say it's something for self-defense."
Then I added,
"That's why I'm able to go out here and there with a fair amount of freedom, without always needing maids to follow me around the way you do, Riko."
Riko blinked, then glanced toward Kuroi for a moment.
"I see."
She nodded, as though finally understanding.
I observed the reactions of the two of them for a moment before choosing to ask what had been on my mind.
"By the way... why are there people trying to hurt you, Riko?"
That question immediately caused the atmosphere to fall silent.
Riko froze slightly, her expression turning hesitant as though unsure how to answer.
Her lips moved faintly, as though trying to say something, but in the end she chose to remain silent.
"That matter... is somewhat an internal issue on our side."
Kuroi spoke up in her place, politely.
She spoke gently.
"It would not be very convenient for us to explain it right now."
I looked at her for a moment, then gave a small nod as if understanding.
"In that case, I won't ask about it any further."
I pulled out my phone to check the time.
Oh. It was already almost seven.
I still needed to set aside some time to study the cursed tools I had obtained.
"I should be going now. I hope I'll see you both again."
Riko immediately raised a hand and waved.
"Yes. See you again, Nanakusa-san."
Kuroi bowed once again politely.
"Thank you again for today."
I gave a small nod in return before turning and walking away through the rain that still showed no sign of stopping.
...
When I got back to my room, I took off my shoes and sat down on the sofa.
I loosened my necktie and tossed the bow aside, and my white hair returned once more.
I had no need to worry about my cursed energy attracting jujutsu sorcerers, since this room was already set up to contain cursed pressure and sorcery within it.
The room was completely silent, with only the sound of rain still drifting in faintly from outside.
I reached down to touch the artificial shadow beneath me and began pulling items out one by one.
But what I got was more disappointing than I had expected.
An old pocket watch that had long since stopped working.
A rusted folding knife.
Cheap jewelry.
And all kinds of odds and ends that were, no matter how I looked at them, nothing more than ordinary junk.
It really did seem that the owner of that shop had mixed everything together.
After sorting through the pile for a while, I finally found something that could be called a cursed tool.
It was a silver ring.
Its surface was so smooth that there was barely any visible pattern, and no matter how long I held it, I could not sense any cursed energy from it at all.
But the moment I put it on my finger, the cursed pressure around my body was immediately suppressed.
Oh.
So this one is the type used to conceal power.
I took it off at once.
I already had the bow right now, and I had no idea whether the two would interfere with one another.
The next item was a small brass bell.
I still could not sense any cursed energy from it either.
I gave it a light shake.
The bell rang.
In the next instant, the artificial shadow I had created with the Command of Shadows technique twisted slightly.
I paused for a moment before shaking it again.
The bell rang once more, this time for longer.
The moment the sound rang out, the artificial shadow I had created gradually dissolved away.
But as soon as the ringing stopped, the shadows returned once more.
Now I was certain that this item could interfere with cursed energy.
If used at the right moment, it could give me quite a significant advantage.
And if my guess was right, it might even be useful against Gojo's Limitless.
I set it down beside the ring, then reached into the shadow again.
This time, what I pulled out was a pen.
Its black body looked surprisingly ordinary, and even when I held it in my hand, I still could not sense any cursed energy from it.
I turned it over in my hand for a while, then tried channeling cursed energy into it.
Suddenly, the body of the pen lengthened and expanded with great speed.
Within moments, what was in my hand was no longer a pen.
It had become a Japanese naginata.
Its shaft was long and slender, the curved blade sharp and elegant, and the proportions of the whole weapon were surprisingly well balanced.
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
I gripped it tightly and gave it a single swing.
When I withdrew my cursed energy, the naginata shrank down again, returning to its original form as a pen.
Easy to carry, and easy to conceal as well.
Not bad at all.