Utaha was wearing some light makeup, though 'light' really just meant a bit of lipstick. Her already pretty features looked even more radiant.
"Good morning. So, what's happening here today?" Yusei asked, looking at the people coming and going.
"Making space for the competitions, of course. After all, the Literature Club is hosting events related to literature, including on-the-spot... well, writing famous phrases or poems."
Yusei nodded, not asking for more details.
"It's good you came today. I was originally planning to sign you up at the Kendo Club myself, but now it seems the participant can go himself," Utaha said.
"Sounds good. Want to come along?"
"Of course. The current Kendo Club's president is Okita Souji, your final opponent from the Kendo Tournament back then. Remember? A very cute girl."
"I know."
Yusei certainly remembered Souji, as he'd exchanged a few words with her not long ago.
"Well, you should be careful this time. She's become much stronger than she was during the tournament. Rumor has it no one in the Kendo Club can withstand a single strike from her now."
Hearing Utaha's words, Yusei just shrugged indifferently. He hadn't met the Kendo Club's members, but he estimated they were generally at a casual, 'for fun' level.
Real Kendo could involve projecting sword aura. He guessed Souji had probably reached a proficient level in Sword Intent by now. Unfortunately, the gap was still vast.
Not even considering Yusei's [God of Sword] Authority, just based on his Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu alone, Souji stood no chance of defeating him.
Yusei and Utaha headed for the Kendo Club.
At Tokyo University, the Kendo Club was one of the university's flagship clubs. It had a very large practice area, ample funding, and many students were interested, so the club had a lot of members.
But those were mostly peripheral members… interested, but without a Kendo foundation.
The ones who had a real foundation, who had practiced since childhood, were considered full members.
And the core members, the ones ultimately responsible for the daily training of the peripheral members, were a select group.
As for the 'ultimate' Kendo Club's president, Okita Souji, she was in a monster class of her own.
Despite her incredibly cute appearance, during matches she was like a force of nature, seemingly ready to tear her opponent apart.
When they arrived at the Kendo Club's practice hall, there weren't many people there to sign up.
For a skill like Kendo that required a foundation, it was better for the club to keep that 'first place' within its own ranks.
No, perhaps in their view, first place already belonged to Souji. Because every Kendo Club's member who had sparred with her knew she was monstrously strong.
Even though they all internally agreed first place would definitely be Souji's, they still had a registration desk set up at the entrance. It's just that the sign-up sheet was almost blank.
When Yusei and Utaha arrived at the Kendo Club, the member at the registration desk was momentarily stunned by Utaha's beauty. Then he saw Yusei and roughly understood the situation.
"Here to sign up for the Kendo Tournament?"
"Yep, sign me up."
"Alright. Student ID, name."
The staff member at the registration desk followed the procedure, and soon Yusei's information was recorded.
Since it was a round robin format, there was really only one person waiting to be challenged: Souji.
But not just anyone could challenge her directly, and there was a preliminary elimination round first.
The rule Souji had set was that you had to defeat one of their Kendo Club's members to earn the right to challenge her.
However, this staff member didn't mention that to Yusei.
"You know, if you're really confident, you could challenge Okita-senpai right now. No need to wait," The staff member at the registration desk said 'helpfully' to Yusei.
"Challenge her directly? So if I beat Okita Souji just like that, I'd be the Kendo Tournament's champion and get the credits straight away?"
"Uh, not exactly. If you defeat President Okita, you'd still need to hold the title for three days. If no one challenges you during those three days, or if you defeat all challengers, then you get the full year's credits."
"Today is the first day," Utaha whispered a reminder from beside Yusei, leaning close to his ear.
Seeing this, the staff member at the registration desk felt even more displeased, a mix of envy and jealousy.
'To have such a beautiful girlfriend, who even accompanies her boyfriend to something like a Kendo Tournament... and she's so attentive? Especially those legs in black stockings... what a waste.'
Actually, the reason this staff member had 'helpfully' reminded Yusei was precisely because he wanted Yusei to challenge Souji right away, hoping to make this 'winner at life' lose his dignity in front of his girlfriend.
That was his petty little scheme.
What he didn't expect was that his words actually served as a useful reminder for Yusei.
After all, it's not a bad rule, being able to challenge immediately.
Even though there was that three-day defense period afterwards, that was just trivial stuff. He could just use his Rinnegan's ability and send his Rinnegan's clone to handle it.
The clone was like a physical entity, capable of using all the original's abilities at half power.
He could control it freely within a certain range, and if the main body suffered damage, he could also transfer the injury to the clone.
If the clone received a fatal wound, it required a twenty-four hour cooldown before it could be used again.
Currently, Yusei only had one clone, but that was enough. The distance between Tokyo University and his home was close enough for him to lie in bed at home and control the clone.
It would be like playing a game, a first-person perspective real-life game.
"In that case, let's go challenge her now. That's fine, right?" Yusei looked at the staff member.
"Of course, no problem at all!" The staff member smiled. He was hoping for exactly this, 'This guy is about to be embarrassed in front of his girlfriend.'
He was one hundred percent confident in Souji's skills. After all, how can a non-club member defeat their club's president.
Inside the Kendo Club's dojo, the sounds of bamboo swords clashing could be heard intermittently.
Clang!
Many members were wearing kendo gear, either sparring with each other or practicing alone. But at a glance, none were using real swords.
Yusei asked the staff member curiously, "You guys don't use real swords at all?"
The staff member rolled his eyes dramatically, with a 'are you kidding me' expression.
"What if someone gets hurt?!"