Ch.298Academy Festival (3)

Ichinose Sayaka. She was a second-year student and the captain of the Kendo Club. In other words, she was my senior.

‘Club activities…’

Naturally, since this game was themed around youth, club activities were available.

The clubs were broadly divided into cultural and sports categories. According to the game’s setting, you could join one cultural club and up to two sports clubs, for a total of two clubs.

I immediately ruled out sports clubs. Fortunately, Sasitsu had already maxed out the soccer club community at the beginning of the semester. That was a relief. It would have been awkward to suddenly join the soccer club at this late timing.

For cultural clubs, the settings allowed me to join either the Science Club or the Art Club.

‘Honestly… I’ve already missed the application deadline.’

Back then, I was focused on avoiding the inevitable death. Well, I had already thought of ways to raise my community stats separately, so it wasn’t a big problem.

Anyway, the available sports clubs were soccer and baseball. Both were youthful and nice.

But the Kendo Club wasn’t available in the game system. All the kendo-related community points had been claimed by Gonzaemon and Umi.

In other words, I didn’t know much about Ichinose Sayaka. I just now realized she was an incredible beauty.

“Um… what do you mean the club is about to collapse because of Kana and me?”

I asked Sayaka.

“You two!! You became stars overnight in the Divine Warrior Tournament!! Because of that, the image of formal kendo has been distorted!”

Sayaka shouted.

“Ah….”

Right. Kendo in the Divine Warrior Tournament was quite different from regular kendo.

The target areas were the same—head, wrist, torso, and thrust—but you could use any technique to hit them. Even weapons were unrestricted. Not just swords, but martial arts, firearms, anything was allowed. You could even use all sorts of flashy techniques.

“The Divine Warrior Tournament… it’s famous, huh.”

I muttered. Even at the game show last time, someone asked for my autograph.

“Yeah. It’s called ‘Tutaku.’ They say it’s a noble competition that spreads the spirit of the samurai, which has died out in Japan.”

Kana said.

“Anyway!! New club members are constantly getting disappointed with kendo! They say things like, ‘Ah… is kendo this plain?'”

Sayaka shouted.

“Ah… I understand, senpai.”

I looked at Sayaka.

“What are you understanding on your own?! That’s just her making excuses! Don’t accept it!!”

Kana shouted.

“I was introduced to martial arts through professional wrestling. Because of that, I find other martial arts boring.”

I recalled my past from my original world.

When I was younger, I secretly watched professional wrestling on TV at night, looking for the optimal technique to take down my father. I became a wrestling fan. As a result, I developed an interest in martial arts in general and started following UFC and boxing. However… I found them extremely boring.

They didn’t perform impractical but flashy moves like rolling sobats or somersault kicks, nor did they suddenly pull weapons from their waistbands or have big guys invade the ring. They didn’t hit people with chairs or spit poison from their mouths.

Just honest punching and kicking was too boring for me.

“You understand!! That’s exactly how it feels!!”

Sayaka immediately expressed intense sympathy and grabbed my hand.

“How dare you grab his hand!!”

Kana immediately slapped Sayaka’s hand away.

“Ah, yes… sorry…!”

Sayaka, suddenly realizing she had done something embarrassing, quickly pulled her hand back.

“The entertainment value of the Divine Warrior Tournament is certainly excellent.”

I said.

Transforming your body into mist or delivering blows powerful enough to break protective gear made it visually appealing. It was simply a different world altogether.

“Plus… there’s the charismatic Thumbs-up Man.”

The Undertaker of this Divine Warrior Tournament was Thumbs-up Man. His intimidation was on another level.

“No. Seriously, why does this guy like Thumbs-up Man so much…”

Kana said with a complicated expression.

“Anyway, our club members have lost motivation. I apologize for saying it was because of you two. But we’re in danger. I want to recruit lots of new members at the upcoming cultural festival, but it’s not looking good.”

Sayaka said.

“Hmph. So in the end, the formal kendo world wants to borrow the hands of us heretics. Have you no pride?”

Kana said with a sneering smile.

“Kana. Mind your language.”

I immediately punished her by kneading her chest. Kana speaking rudely to a senior means immediate chest-squeezing punishment.

“Hnngh…!”

Kana’s face turned bright red.

“Yes, I’ve swallowed my pride. That’s how serious I am about this club. The truth is… our new membership has been declining every year. Everyone who wants to learn kendo goes to the Kiryu Dojo instead.”

Sayaka said.

Ah… so that’s why our dojo has been getting more crowded lately… The kendo club is suffering indirect damage because of it.

“I’ll help you.”

I said calmly.

“Shota, are you crazy? Why are you getting involved in something that doesn’t concern you…”

Kana grumbled.

Of course, I wasn’t helping for free. I planned to use this opportunity to achieve the cultural club community points I hadn’t been able to get.

My goal was to catch the attention of Lei Lifeng, the head of the Art Club. She was a Chinese exchange student currently suffering from a creative slump. The condition for completing the community was to show her a magnificent sight that would stimulate her artistic soul. For that magnificent sight, I planned to make this event as grand as possible.

“The kendo club’s event is sparring, right? Let’s turn it into a show. We’ll create an arena and have lots of matches there. With freedom of weapons and techniques.”

I said.

“That’s not the way of formal kendo.”

Sayaka made a slightly displeased face.

“This is a cultural festival, isn’t it? How about breaking the mold for this occasion? It’s a festival for everyone to enjoy.”

I said with a bright smile.

“A festival…”

Sayaka thought for a moment, then nodded resolutely.

“You’re right. I’ll leave it to you.”

Sayaka said.

“This school also has a fencing club. Why not invite them for matches too? Eastern swordsmanship versus Western swordsmanship! It would make a great article for our newspaper club.”

At that moment, Kuwashiku Hanase, who was working nearby, offered a brilliant idea.

“Ooh… you’re quite capable!!”

I said to Hanase.

Pitting East versus West in any kind of battle always heats things up. Which is stronger, fencing or kendo? For laypeople, it’s a topic that generates good discussion. It’s the same principle as debates about Eastern versus Western performers in adult videos. Though that’s a bit of an odd example.

“Hmph. I know how to attract attention.”

Hanase said, pushing up her glasses. She was living up to her reputation as the ace of the newspaper club.

“Then… I’ll talk to the fencing club too.”

Sayaka seemed much more at ease now.

“Thank you, Shota. I heard rumors about you being a man of heroic character… they were true.”

Sayaka said with a smile.

What? That kind of cheesy rumor was going around?

Anyway, that’s how I ended up helping with the club exhibition.

———

The entire school was busy with exhibition preparations.

The mini-games for augmented reality were decided. A few simple shooting games and… a demo version of Kunami Company’s new release for promotional purposes.

It was none other than a demo of Todoki Hawado’s new game. A game about beating up zombies.

“Blood splattering everywhere… isn’t it too violent?”

Eri, true to her maternal nature, seemed concerned about that.

“Right. It’s not good for prenatal care.”

Umi, who was already confirmed to be pregnant, said while rubbing her belly. R=VD is no joke…

“We need to promote the new release for Kunami Company to support us…”

I explained the adult circumstances.

The coffee machine and various retort desserts were already fully sponsored by Kunami. Moreover, the school’s higher-ups were already thrilled. The major corporation Kunami was sponsoring a mere high school festival. Yes, we had already accepted their money. So we needed to do the promotion out of courtesy.

“Can’t argue with the money source.”

Taiga immediately understood.

“As expected of a former delinquent… calmly selling out once money is involved…”

I nodded in understanding while looking at Taiga.

“Former delinquent!!!”

Taiga immediately got angry.

Anyway, I had also test-played it. Maybe it was the augmented reality, but honestly, it was really fun. There was something satisfying about roaming around a zombie-filled city and beating them up with various weapons.

‘Todoki Hawado… he’s got skills.’

He was good at making games. This guy survived because of his skills; without them, he would have been finished long ago.

Anyway, the festival preparations were going smoothly.

———–

Since it was the festival period, we all decided to take a break from monster hunting at night until the October dungeon appeared.

The monster population had already dwindled, and everyone’s levels were approaching the endgame. There was no need to obsess over farming.

But I couldn’t skip the dream dungeon. It was virtually my only means of improving my specs.

Fwooosh-!!

I entered the daily dungeon.

“Ah. You’re here.”

My past self greeted me, holding the holy sword.

“Today I’m definitely going to land a hit on you.”

I picked up my sword with determination.

“Ha. Give it your best shot.”

My fucking doppelganger just held his sword, tipping the point slightly. He seemed relaxed enough to let me attack first. Well… he’s stronger than my current self.

“Hyaaah!!”

However, I couldn’t just submit completely. With the determination to land at least one hit, I closed the distance toward my doppelganger.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Our swords clashed in continued combat.