Chapter 9: The JTCC Tournament

On the first Friday in November, Kel dashed straight from her last class to her room, grabbed her already packed bogu and overnight bags, and dashed again to the front of the school, dodging classmates the entire way. It never ceased to amaze her how many of her fellow students had their own cars; sure, most shared them with a sibling, but the fact remained. Even so, the kendo team fell short.

They had nineteen heading to Corus this weekend, with three cars among them: Emmett Fenrigh got keys for the Fenrigh car from his older brother, Dom had his own, and Vanget haMinch had swiped the family car from his cousin Padraig. However, with Raoul pulling strings and borrowing Jon De Conte's car for the weekend, they had just enough space for an extremely crowded three-hour drive to Corus. Kel found herself, in short order, squished between Alice Lee and Evelyn Tarell in the back of Dom's car, her overnight bag balanced on her lap. Seiji Nakamura, a third-year kendoka, had gotten lucky and claimed the front seat.

"Why can't I be driving four instead of five?" Dom complained, "I have the smallest car…"

"A fact which was taken into account by the fact you're driving the three smallest girls in the backseat and less equipment than the other cars," Evelyn retorted grouchily. "And you're not the one stuffed like sardines in the backseat of your disturbingly damaged car, so… let's just get where we're going, okay?"

"Raoul says we're stopping for dinner in Port Caynn, so we'll at least get a break there. At the Benny's on the first exit right after we turn off the A6 onto the A1," Seiji said, tapping on his phone. "I just got the text from Hae Min."

"Did they call ahead and make a reservation?" Alice asked, leaning forward. "We can't just surprise the Benny's with nineteen people…" It was common knowledge that Alice and Seiji were together, though Kel had only learned such at the Halloween Hop. They weren't demonstrative, so the only real hint was the fact that Alice, normally rather quiet and anxious, was calmer and more talkative when he was around.

"I'll ask," Seiji said, as Dom fiddled with the music controls and pulled out of the school onto the route to Blue Harbour.

"Rise Against?" he asked generally, to murmurs of assent from the others. "We'll have to make dinner quick, though – my parents are at a benefit concert tonight, so I have to get home first to let everyone in. At least you'll get pick of sleeping spots for the weekend."

They were staying the weekend in Corus – the JTCC tournament itself would be on Saturday, and there was a formal Tortallan Kendo Federation grading on Sunday in which several of their members would be trying for their next ranks. After that, there would be a godokeiko, a group practice with members from other dojos for anyone who wished to stay around. Raoul had said that they would stick around after the grading only for a few hours, given that they needed to make the three hour drive back to school and would probably be wiped anyway. Kel was glad she had gotten ahead of her work – at least she wouldn't need to take care of homework when they returned on Sunday. Dom and Cleon hadn't been so lucky – both had upcoming tests and had had to bring their textbooks with them.

Seiji's phone beeped, and he swiped it open. "No reservation, I guess when we get there we'll just sit at different tables if we need to. And Hae Min says their car will be stopping to pick up the beer."

Kel sighed and settled in for a long ride.

XXX

It was four and a half hours later when Kel finally tumbled out of Dom's car onto an expansive driveway. They had done two hours from the school to Port Caynn, Dom speeding most of the way (strangely, no one except Kel seemed to mind), and were first into the Benny's just off the A1; they didn't quite rush dinner, but they didn't linger either.

Looking up at the Masbolle residence, Kel was impressed despite herself. She had known that Masbolle was the primary Tortallan car manufacturer and the only internationally recognized Tortallan car brand, but somehow she hadn't connected it with the logical monetary conclusion. The Masbolle residence was, simply put, extravagant – it was huge, on a plot of land that, even in outer Corus, had to have gone for several million euros. Stylistically, the mansion was elegant, in an older fashion – perhaps Georgian? She wasn't sure. In either case, it was the sort of place where Kel could envision Dom's forebears hosting extravagant parties, with neat cars lining the drive and a view of perfectly sculpted lawns. Beside her, both Evelyn and Alice looked similarly impressed, though Seiji looked perfectly at ease.

"Stop gaping, Mindelan," Dom said, shoving her bogu bag into her hands. "All the Masbolle riches means is that we get a nice, spacious, free place to stay. It's a publicly traded company now, so it's the shareholders that get most of the Masbolle profits… and the house was passed down from my grandparents, so it's actually not quite as nice on the inside."

"Stop trying to be modest, Masbolle," Evelyn replied, smacking him on the side. "Your house is just obscenely large. As in, it could feasibly house four families in the Lower City, and how much of the company does the Masbolle family still own? Thirty percent? Twenty?"

"Twenty, but it's split between my dad's family and my uncle's," Dom shrugged. "It's not as much wealth as you would think. In any case, there are three extra bedrooms, and my room – my brother's moved out, so we can use his room, too. But a couple of the bedrooms are kind of cold, they're in the basement. And there's the den, too, and since we won't be using the formal dining room or the formal sitting room, we can sleep in there, too."

"I'm sure we'll all find somewhere," Seiji said, shaking his head. "Where did the team stay before you came around?"

On the inside, Kel could see what Dom had meant – although the house was certainly large and luxurious, most of the furnishings were faded and worn, and the room that Kel, Alice and Evelyn chose to stay in was dusty. The main areas were perfectly fine, but it was clear that many rooms were usually simply blocked off, unused, for most of the year. Their room featured a large double bed, done in an eye-smarting shade of pink ("So clearly we'll be the only ones to pick this room," Evelyn had said, satisfied), and enough floor space before the fireplace for a bedroll.

"Not staying with Seiji?" Evelyn asked, once they had unpacked and settled in. "God, this room is going to stink of bogu before the end of the weekend. I almost feel bad…"

"We've only been seeing each other since the summer," Alice replied, coloring slightly. "And it's not appropriate at a tournament anyway… and don't you have a bar of soap in your bogu bag? Like Hae told us last year…"

"A takesumi bag works better," Kel added. She had come to know both girls well through their usual practice, though she was not as close to them as they were to each other. Evelyn usually spoke for the both of them, and the way she explained it, there were some things you couldn't come through without becoming close, and first year kendo was one of them.

"Unfortunately, it is absurdly difficult, even with the internet, to get them shipped in from Japan to Tortall," Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Shipping costs and all. Want to pick some up for us when you're next in Japan?"

Kel laughed. "I don't think I will be going back for a while – my parents were recalled to Corus over the summer. I heard last that they will be in Corus for about two years, then will be redeployed to Malaysia."

Evelyn sighed. "It was worth a shot. We may as well go down, I think I heard some voices – sounds like some of the others are here."

True to her word, when they reached the front lobby, both of the cars driven by Emmett Fenrigh and Vanget haMinch had come in and were unloading, with Dom "supervising". Both the cars looked as though they had it well in hand, though, and being upper-years none of them looked particularly surprised by Dom's house.

"Vanget and I will take the den again," Flynn said, as the girls approached. "It suited us well. Has the captain arrived yet?"

"No, they texted and said they were at the market, picking up snacks and beer," Dom replied. "They'll be here in an hour or so."

"Great," Aiden chipped in, hefting his bogu bag, a traditional cloth bag with string ties, over his shoulder and picking up a duffel bag in his other hand. "Where are we meeting after that?"

"Formal dining room," Dom replied, waving one hand. "It's big enough."

By the time Raoul's car made it in, snacks and alcohol in tow, most of the team had unpacked and was settled in the formal dining room. The room was a cavernous construction, clearly designed to be far more than just a formal dining room, but rather more like a small ballroom. The ceilings were high, vaulted, and Kel spotted a long balcony overlooking the room from the second level. In contrast to the balcony lining one side of the room, arched windows dotted the other half. At the head of the room hung a gilt portrait, done in oil, of a tall, imposing man with heavy brows, black eyes and black sideburns; at the other end, modern photographs lined the dark mahogany panelling. Kel could just spot a family portrait of Dom, a person who could only be Dom's older brother, and his parents. Even with most of the team already in the room, there was plenty of space. About half the team pulled chairs from the long dining table, while the rest of them had found places on the floor. A few team members had brought their sleeping rolls with them, turning them into comfortable places to sit.

"All right, guys," Raoul said, walking in and dumping two cases of beer onto the long dining room table. His load was quickly followed by six more cases, and Qasim began pulling out the beers and passing them around. He took a position in the middle of the floor, looked around, made eye contact with every member of the kendo team, and raised a hand to signal silence.

"You know the drill. This is how we won intercollegiates last year, but even with the beer boost, we probably won't polish off JTCC the same way. But that's no excuse not to do better than our best and to hold ourselves in the competition as long as we can. This is the biggest and baddest kendo tournament in Tortall; this is where they pick Team Tortall for 2018. We drink, and tomorrow we fight, and some months from now, our seniors become prospects for Team Tortall. Understood?"

Team members exchanged looks, some amused, others resigned, cracked open their drinks and started drinking.

XXX

Staggering into the Japanese Tortallan Cultural Centre the next morning, Kel reflected that, of all the traditions she wanted to put into her naginata team, drinking culture was definitely not one of them. Not that she had anything against alcohol in and of itself, but before a competition? It was a little much, and Kel didn't see how anyone could perform better when their mouth still tasted disgusting, even after a thorough brushing, their head pounded, and the lights were a little too bright. Looking at the other girls, Alice looked as though she would throw up (though Evelyn assured her that had nothing to do with the alcohol), and based on the way Hae was staring at the other teams, Kel guessed she was still slightly tipsy. Most of the rest of the team were in similar states of distress.

The tournament opened with the individual competitions, which were split into divisions by rank. The mudansha, beginner, division would be fought first, followed by the shodan and nidan, the journeyman, category, then the sandan and up, or advanced, category. The women's division was fought separately, between the journeyman and the advanced category, but Kel was interested to note that the women's division was not divided into ranks. None of the Crown Academy kendoka would be fighting in the sandan category, which at least gave them a long lunch. Kel herself had chosen not to compete in the individuals that morning – she was here for the team, but she had been in bogu matches for all of six weeks at this point and had no interest in humiliating herself further. Particularly given how she was feeling that morning, she was thankful she had chosen not to sign up for it.

The teams were played on a randomly generated direct elimination ladder, and would not be divided by ranks. The women would play first, then the men's. For the women's team, Kel would be playing sempo, first, position, and Alice and Evelyn were playing jiho and chuken, second and third, positions. Midori was playing fukusho, fourth, position and Hae would round out the team playing taisho, or captain. Based on the competition ladder that had been passed around earlier, the women's team competition would be small – only six teams in total. Crown hadn't pulled the lucky straw on either end, however, and would have to fight through three teams to take the first place trophy. According to Hae, though, the two teams that received byes to the semi-finals were probably the strongest women's teams in the country – one from the Lower City, the other from Port Caynn.

The men's team competition was substantially larger, with sixteen teams in total. Raoul had put together two teams among the boys, splitting the talent almost evenly across the board. Crown A, was formed of second-year Cleon Kennan, third year Seiji Nakamura, fourth-year Aiden Zhou, Flynn Whiteford, and Raoul himself as taisho. Crown B was formed of Dom, Lerant Eldorne, the fourth-years Qasim ibn Zirhud and Toshuro Akaneru, with Vanget haMinch as taisho. There were four boys that had been left out of teams, much to their disappointment, but they would still be competing individually.

Looking around, Kel noticed that the JTCC was a lot more crowded than she was accustomed to. She had practiced out of the JTCC Naginata Club throughout the summer, but naginata practices were Wednesday nights and on Sunday afternoons – not busy days. She had never seen the centre so crowded – there were at least a hundred kendoka milling about, and she was sure there were more in Kawasaki Hall itself, where the actual tournament would be taking place. Nevertheless, the JTCC competition had taken over the whole centre; the front lobby was filled with tables, the Oak Room had been set aside as an equipment room, and the main hallway had been filled with exhibitors. The UK bogu suppliers, Nine Circles, had the pride of place, through Kel spotted a small booth run by All Japan Budogu, and a few others.

Kel was relieved, on reflection,that Raoul had forced them all to change into their gi and hakama at Dom's place. The others had team jackets to wear over their uniforms, in the school colours of blue and silver, but like the team flasks, they simply hadn't made hers yet. It didn't matter, in any case – in the tournament hall itself, no one would be wearing their jackets. At the moment, however, she spotted jackets in several colours. There was a group of girls dressed in red and white jackets, heads together, in one corner of the Oak Room; a group wearing a deep, royal blue with gold detailing that she recognized as being from Royal University; another group wearing light grey jackets with the words "The Lower City" emblazoned across their back.

"Lower City is probably the toughest dojo in Corus," Midori murmured in her ear, and when Kel turned to look at her, she flicked her eyes over to the group in light grey. She looked remarkably well-put together, even though Kel was sure she saw the girl put away four or five beers on her own last night. She put her bogu and shinai bags down in a mercifully empty corner, motioning the rest of the team to do the same. "They're a big group – three teams in men's, one in women's. And the red and white in the corner is from Mt Sarryn University, they just have the one team here. And that slate-gray with blue detailing over there is the Port Caynn College team. Grab one of your shinai – we'll find a clear space and call warmup."

Kel had been through a lot of warmups in her life – she had first picked up a naginata when she was five, had started competing in kid tournaments in Japan when she was eight. Competitions always started with warmup, usually with a larger group in naginata, though it varied. But this warmup… this one was worst Kel had ever experienced. Her stomach felt like it was bouncing, which she supposed it was, all throughout the hayasuburi exercise, but she felt like she was going to throw up. They were all moving a little slower than usual, and Raoul cut them off at a hundred strikes rather than the usual 120.

"Good job, team," he panted, which ought to have been a sign of the team's condition in and of itself. "We'll stop here today. Kel, you'll be a runner this morning – keep track of where everyone is supposed to be, make sure that absolutely none of us forfeits a match by accident. That goes for everyone else, too – if you're not competing, you're cheering or running, but you're not standing around. Today is about the team - whatever isn't kendo or isn't about the team, isn't what you do today."

For Kel, it felt like the morning flew by. Most of the team was competing in one of the three divisions – the other four girls were in the women's division, of course, and the rest of the second years and half of the third years were competing in the beginner category. Dom, Seiji, and all of the fourth and fifth years were competing in the journeyman category, and no one from Crown Academy was sufficiently experienced to compete in the advanced category.

Throughout the individual competitions, Kel could tell instantly that Raoul hadn't been making pleasantries the night before. The beginner category was huge, more than fifty competitors, and about half of the Crown Academy boys had been eliminated in their first matches. Only one, Cleon Kennan, made it to his third match, but he was eliminated by a tall, lanky youth from the University of Corus. In the journeyman category, similarly large, they fared little better – most of the team was eliminated by the second match. Dom made it to his fourth match, but was eliminated by a kendoka from the Lower City. Only Raoul made it to the semi-final, but lost there. Unusually for a kendo tournament, there was no play-off for third place.

The women's team fared better, though both of the second-year girls were eliminated straight off. Evelyn had an unlucky first match with a Corinne Kim, a stocky girl from The Lower City who went on to win the women's division generally; Dom whispered to Kel midway through the match that the girl had been on the 2015 national team. Alice was eliminated in a closely fought match with one of the girls from Mount Sarryn, one whom, according to Raoul, she really ought to have won against. The girl she had lost to was subsequently eliminated by Midori, who played through to the finals and placed second. Hae, unfortunately, faced off against Corinne in semi-finals and lost, tying third overall.

None of the Crown Academy team played in the advanced division. Tortallan Kendo Federation rules required that shodan candidates be at least thirteen years of age, meaning that even people like Midori and Hae, who had done kendo prior to coming to Crown, didn't have much of an advantage.

XXX

By the time the afternoon rolled around, Kel couldn't tell who was worse: Raoul, or Hae. Hae had spent most of the lunch hour emphasizing to the rest of the girls the need to win win win and hammering in strategy; even Midori, mild-mannered Midori, had eventually snapped and told her firmly to shut it, because couldn't she see that Alice was on the verge of a panic attack?

It was telling, Kel thought, pulling on her armour, that Midori had been the one to speak up rather than Raoul. Normally, Raoul kept good control over his team, but he had fallen quiet over the lunch hour, spending more and more of his time watching other teams. The rest of the team was reacting to the pressure in their own particular ways – some had parked themselves near the tournament brackets, debating with teammates over their chances, while others were examining their equipment for damages. A few had taken their shinai out for some more warmup – others were simply sitting, watching, chatting.

"We're up first against the University of Corus team," Hae said. Kel and Alice were the only ones who had to fully suit up when a team match began; the others would put on their men on when the match actually started, and only the captain would be wearing it when they bowed out. "U of C is all right, even though they're gaming the system."

She was frowning, and for good reason. Even Midori had raised an eyebrow when she saw the U of C team. They only had four girls, for one – they were missing the taisho. Even though Crown would be walking in with at least on guaranteed victory, they had arranged their team to face the four weakest opponents of every other team, relying on three wins against the weaker members of other teams. But what had Hae so disgruntled wasn't merely the fact that she wouldn't get a fight; it was the fact that the U of C girls had reversed the traditional order.

Normally, a kendo team competition was arranged so that the weakest members of the team played first, and the strongest played last. There was a little room to move things around – at Crown, they had done it in order of seniority, so although Midori and Hae were about the same level (Dom had whispered that, in terms of tournaments, Midori had actually done better), Hae was a fifth-year while Midori was a fourth-year, so Hae took the taisho position.

U of C, however, had done the reverse. They were riding on wins in the first three matches to win them the match, and take them to the semi-final.

"Ok, so, Kel," Hae hissed, from down the line. Alice, sitting beside her, poked her in the side, and Kel pulled her stings on her men, her helmet, tight before her head to face the rest of the line. They were all kneeling in seiza, the formal kneeling position favoured by the Japanese and in budo, lining their side of the court. "She's tough, experienced – she's got her nidan already. Just keep her from scoring too many points on you – I won't be able to catch up on a two point loss."

Kel tilted her head in acknowledgement, her eyes moving towards the referees, who were moving into position. She stood up, jumping once or twice to make sure her bogu settled on her, working out extra nerves. She'd been in competitions before, she scolded herself silently. Why was she so nervous now? Kendo wasn't so different than naginata, except, well, pretty much everything on the physical side. But competitions were more about mental fortitude, so really, she shouldn't be nervous at all. Right? And maybe she couldn't really expect to score a point, but holding out for three minutes wouldn't be too bad. She could do that.

"Shiro - Mindelan-senshu!" the yobidashi called out.

"Hai!" Kel answered, thrusting her right arm into the air and entering the shiai-jo. She and her opponent both knelt, stiffly, drawing their shinai, and rose again, settling into the traditional guard.

"Hajime!" the chief judge called, lowering his flags, and Kel went flying.

In retrospect, she thought grimly, picking herself up, she had no idea why she had thought holding out for three minutes against the most skilled girl from the University of Corus wouldn't be too bad. She had been in bogu in kendo for all of a month; what was she expecting? Thankfully, she hadn't gone down outside the shiai-jo, so she wouldn't get a penalty for it, but her head was ringing, and from the perspective of dominance on the court, she was already lost. She set herself back into guard, this time slightly more prepared for the assault on her head.

The other girl, screaming, launched another attack and this time Kel stepped forward, meeting her in the strike and holding her ground. She pushed back, loosing a hiki-men, a head strike with a retreat backwards, but no point. She was too close to the edge of the shiai-jo. It was time to move around, get some more space for herself, but while she was thinking the other girl launched a third attack and this one landed true.

"Men-ari!" Kel saw the red flags flying up from the judges and followed the other girl back to the centre. She shook her head, slightly, not enough to be noticeable and just enough to try to shake the pain off. She guessed less than half a minute had passed. She would need to step up her game if she hoped to hold out for the next few minutes.

"Nihon-me!"

This time Kel took the offensive, and launched an attack. The other girl ducked back, dodging, and swung her shinai around, and while Kel's arms were up, landed a sharp blow on her do, her chest-plate.

"Do-ari!" Kel heard the second point called, and sighed softly. She had barely moved from the start position this time, and it was the work of a second for her to bow out of the ring.

"Sorry," she murmured, leaning down so that Evelyn, Midori and Hae could hear her. Alice was already being called into the dojo. She pulled off her helmet – it had only been a few seconds, less than a minute, but she was panting.

"Don't worry," Midori murmured back. "We didn't really expect you to hold out against her – I'll get you back."

Alice's match went better – it was clearly a closely matched game, and while the girl from the University of Corus scored first, Alice caught up with another minute of pitched fighting, and the match ended ikkiwake, tied. Alice came back, panting heavily, but looking very satisfied with herself. She patted Evelyn on the shoulder as the other girl went in.

Evelyn's match similarly ended in a tie, though Kel was summarily impressed by the other girl's sheer volume. Evelyn simply out-shouted the other girl; even if no points were awarded, she clearly dominated the match. Kel would have to reconsider her thoughts about kendo kiais; simply put, Evelyn was intimidating, and it did throw her opponent off her game. The match didn't end in a win only because Evelyn's form wasn't polished enough, but had the match gone to hantei, judges' decision, she thought they would have pulled a win out of it.

Hae had a slightly crazed grin on her face by the time Midori went into her match. "We've already won it," she whispered, as Evelyn knelt down and began pulling off her helmet. "There's no way Midori won't win this, and that means we'll move into the next round. Good job, both of you."

Kel was not a fan of counting her chickens before they had hatched, but she reluctantly admitted that Hae had a point. Midori, simply put, outmatched her opponent. She scored her first point, a quick wrist strike, almost at the second the match opened; her second point, a solid head strike, followed only three seconds later. Less than five seconds into the match, she had carried a win, and the Crown Academy girls' team was going to semi-finals.

Kendo was not a strategic sort of sport, Kel thought, so there was no reason why Hae had pulled them together for a "strategy meeting" while the Port Legann and Mt Sarryn University fought it out for the fourth spot in the semi-finals. The winner of the Legann/Sarryn match would be going up, much to Hae's relief, with The Lower City next, while they would be facing off against the highly skilled but slightly less intimidating Port Caynn Kendo Club team.

"All right, so I know that most of us didn't pull off a win in the last match," she said, particularly glaring at Alice and Evelyn, "but forget about it. Midori and I will take you apart over it in practice later, so right now, time to get your head in the game. Evelyn, I've told you time and time again to watch your distance – you had good hits with great seme, but you were too close for them to count as points. Alice, great point, just carry it through and pull a second one next time. Your only problem is confidence. You made a good comeback last time, but it came a little too late – there was a huge difference between how you played before your point and how you played after. Play with confidence, and the points will come. Kel, it was your first match, and it was against the top girl from U of C, so well done – but try not to get so many points on you in the next one."

"Hai, hai," Evelyn replied, resigned, as Kel and Alice nodded.

Walking into the shiai-jo for the second time, Kel eyed her opponent thoughtfully. The girl was smaller than her, but almost certainly more experienced. However, she was still very much an unknown quantity. She was overmatched the last time, but with less than thirty seconds of play, there wouldn't have been time for a thorough analysis of her ability. A match was as much a head game as it was a physical game, and if she kept it together, maybe she wouldn't pull a win out of it but she could certainly put her opponent off her game enough to do better.

This time when the start was called, Kel was ready. She launched her first attack right away, aiming for a wrist strike followed by a head strike, but the other girl blocked. Nevertheless, Kel followed up on her advantage, aggressively pushing the other girl backwards. Through the bars on her helmet, she could see the other girl's eyes, sea-green, widen in surprise. Kel slammed forward to meet the other girl in taiatari, body-to-body, which she knew would put her size advantage to best use, then shoved the other girl back. She stumbled, then took one step back – one step too far.

"Yame!" Kel heard the referees call, and she let up, retreating to the centre of the shiai-jo again. The head judged waved the red flag down at the other girl, signing the hansoku, the penalty. The other girl acknowledged the penalty with a nod.

It wasn't a point, unless she shoved the other girl out of the ring a second time, but it was a start.

The second time the match started, the other girl was ready for Kel's charge, swinging around and meeting her in pressure. She growled something meaningless, and Kel found herself growling back in challenge, pushing the other girl. They stood there, glaring, pushing a few moments, when the other girl moved for a head strike moving backwards. Kel saw it coming, though and followed through, trying for body strike, but her aim was a bit off – the sound wasn't right. She turned neatly, ready for a second attempt, but the other girl had already launched her own attack. Kel intercepted her, trying a head block followed by another body strike, but no luck.

They were both panting, by this point. Kel watched the other girl carefully, seeing the girl's eyes furrowing, sizing her up. It was a lull in the match, a moment where the players stepped back and took stock of the situation. Kel's head was spinning, just a little – she had noticed that kendoka put more of their arms into their strikes, unlike naginataka who were expected to use their whole bodies. The result was harder strikes, but less control. It ached, just a little, but not enough to be a true distraction.

The moment lasted, it felt, like only a few seconds before the other girl threw herself into a new attack. Kel pushed forward, having no intention of being backed out of the ring as she had the other girl, and found herself body-to-body again, their guards locked. Kel pushed hard, putting the pressure on, when the other girl suddenly disengaged, throwing a second hiki-men, head strike moving backwards, as Kel stumbled forward.

"Men-ari!" Kel heard the call. She grimaced, slightly, but it was only one point, and she could catch up on that if her opponent got another penalty.

The second the flags dropped, Kel went for a head strike. She had to catch up before time was called, or they would lose the match. She had no idea how much time was left, but certainly less than half – they had spent some time, she thought, pushing each other around in the middle. The girl blocked, and went for a body strike, but Kel could tell from the snap that it hadn't connected properly. She turned, trying for a wrist strike as the other girl followed through, but no point.

"JIKAN-DESU!" The girl, a beginner from Royal University, shouted, thrusting a yellow flag in the air. Kel let out the breath that she didn't realize she was holding, and solemnly bowed out of the ring. It was a win for the other side, but as a one-point win, it was still helpful for her teammates. One point was easy to catch up on.

"Good job," Evelyn whispered to her as Kel knelt into seiza to pull off her helmet.

"Thanks," Kel shot her teammate a quick smile.

Alice tied again, putting up a long and persistent fight. Her opponent was very aggressive – she was pushed out of the ring once, and pushed to the ground six or seven times, but got up each time to continue fighting. Despite having been downed several times, her opponent never actually managed to score a point on her. By the time she staggered out of the ring, collapsing onto the ground rather than kneeling gracefully to pull off her helmet, Kel was thoroughly impressed. Midori leaned over and patted her sympathetically on the shoulder.

Evelyn had worse luck – she lost her match, by a single point. She bowed politely to her opponent, but exchanged a slight scowl with Hae, out of sight of the judges. Still, even with two losses and a tie, they were only actually down two points. She glanced down and to her right – Alice had her eyes shut, still panting slightly, and Evelyn was frowning. Hae's dark brown eyes were sharp, her lips pursed slightly, glancing repeatedly between Midori, who was taking the opportunity to stretch out, and her opponent, and short, stocky girl whose name-tag read "Ikeda". Looking carefully at Midori, she could just make out the older girl's expression of polite disinterest under the bars of the helmet.

When the start was called, both girls immediately charged and collided with a crash, screaming. Midori was a pinch louder, Kel thought, though that might have more to do with her pitch rather than volume – Ikeda's voice was a little lower than Midori's, letting Midori's note cut through like glass. They were too close for a true point to be scored, and struggled for a moment, two, in close-range combat before Midori pulled out and hit a head strike moving backwards. Flags flew up, red, and Kel caught the look of pleased satisfaction on Midori's face as the point was formally awarded.

The match was over almost the second the flags went down to signal the start. Midori darted in, less aggressively than the first time, and landed a wrist strike before Ikeda had even managed to raise her shinai for her own strike.

"And that's how a Team Tortall prospect does it," Kel heard Evelyn whisper in Alice's ear. Both of the second-years were wide-eyed, and Alice's mouth was hanging agape. "And now we're tied on score, so as long as Hae wins…"

"It's all on you," Midori murmured, clapping Hae on the shoulder as they passed each other, Midori to sit back down in the team line-up and Hae to her position on deck. "Ganbatte."

Hae nodded, and let out a long breath she had been holding. "Thanks," she replied. Looking over to the competition, a girl with a name-tag reading "Lee", Kel guessed that, size-wise at least, the two team captains were about evenly matched. The other team, too, had put their heads together and were talking quietly – no doubt about how Midori had effectively evened up the score, though Hae could not afford to lose. If their captain won or even tied, the other team would win with two wins over one – but if Hae pulled out with a win, they would tie on wins and it would fall to individual points scored, putting Crown in the lead.

The second the flags dropped, both captains charged. The other girl was fast, faster than Hae, going for the traditional head strike; but Hae twisted and turned at the last second, reversing the direction of her blade and swiping savagely at the other girl's torso. The snap was solid, echoing underneath her kiai, and Kel could tell from the sharp intake of breath around her, not least the red flags flying upwards, that the point was a good one.

"Great timing," Midori whispered down to them. "And notice how she stepped out enough to make contact at the right distance – this technique is difficult because you get so close that the distancing is hard to do right."

The other captain was shifting uncomfortably into position, looking distinctly disgruntled. The challenge was, of course, that since Hae had scored so early, there was almost three minutes for the other girl to even the score. While Kel would have been inclined to come out of the gate the moment the match started, and make the most out of the next three minutes, the other captain simply… waited.

"Don't go for it, don't go for it, don't go for it," Midori was chanting under her breath, staring at Hae as if she could transmit the message with the power of her glare alone. "Don't you dare go for it… wait her out, if you're patient for just once in your entire life let it be now…"

She sucked in her breath, as Hae slid in threateningly, sliding her shinai in for a wrist strike, but let it out again when the other captain smacked the strike away and Hae backed off. The next minute was slow – Kel realized perhaps half a minute in that Hae had no intention of truly going for any strikes, and that her priority was defense. The other team's captain realized it soon after, becoming more aggressive, and by the time the second minute had slipped away, Hae was entirely on the defensive, letting the other girl take the centre. But by this time, Lee was getting desperate, and with desperation came sloppiness, and Kel could tell the moment that Hae found a second opening.

It wasn't a big move, a showy move, or even a difficult move that Hae used to get her second point. It was the basic strike, a simple head-strike, the one that most kendoka opened with. The Port Caynn captain had dropped her guard, just a split second, but that was all Hae needed to pull out the oldest and most basic trick in the book, land a head-strike on her, and finish with a smooth zanshin back into guard. It was a solid strike, and the judges duly awarded it to her while Hae, quite obviously, held her breath to keep from bursting into cheers right away. Kel, Alice, Evelyn and Midori exchanged a series of excited, bemused, curious and excited looks, and stood to join her in the ring for the traditional salute.

Just like that, they were in the final.

XXX

The tournament organizers had, rather oddly, chosen to leave off the final match of the women's team competition until after most of the men's team matches. The men would play through their ladders to the final match, which would then be left off for the women's team final, followed by the men's team final. There was no surprise on either Hae or Midori's faces when they went to view who had won the other side of the women's ladder and saw that the Lower City had taken the competition with a four out of five match win against the Port Legann team, which had previously eliminated the Mt. Sarryn University team. Midori shrugged and seemed to think nothing more of it; Hae glared at the dark red marker linking the code "LCG" to the final match against "CAG" as if it had personally offended her.

Perhaps it was nerves, perhaps it was that she wasn't personally invested, or perhaps it was just that it actually wasn't as interesting, but somehow Kel couldn't bring herself to pay very much attention to the men's matches. Of the two teams, Crown A did better and made it to the semi-final, where they were promptly eliminated by Royal University A, a team including several Crown alumni; Crown B had a good first round, but were eliminated in quarter-finals by Port Caynn B.

By the time Hae called all the girls together for warm-up, Kel was beginning to feel the stiffness from a long day on her feet and was wishing they had just gotten the final match over with when the rest of the matches happened. She hadn't bothered pulling off most of her armour, and even though the tournament officials had thrown open all of the doors to the competition hall, it was sweltering. She shifted, hating the feeling of the heavy, sweaty gi on her back.

"All right, girls," Hae said, panting slightly after the short, but intense round of hayasuburi. "Last match. Make it count!"

Kel shook her head as she pulled on her helmet for the last time. She had exchanged her sweaty tenugui, head towel, with a fresh one, but she couldn't say she enjoyed the feeling of dampness on her chin and cheeks either. The rest of the Crown Academy team was assembling behind her – since it was the final match, both delegations would be sitting behind the lines on their respective sides to cheer on their competitor. She tugged the himo, strings, of her helmet tight, letting them fall neatly down her back as she had done so often in Japan.

She had been so focused on getting her helmet on, tight, that she hadn't been paying attention to the Lower City side. When she finally focused and looked over, she flinched – they were a big team. Most of the other teams had sent one to two teams, sometimes a third girls' team, a few individuals and a few beginners, but the Lower City had sent over thirty kendoka, most of them imposing and more than one on Team Tortall, to the JTCC Taikai. The mass on the other side was… intimidating, to say the least.

Kel took a deep breath. I am a lake, she told herself, focusing on the judges entering the shiai-jo. They bowed, first to shomen, the front of the room where the chief referee sat, then to each other, and unfurled the flags.A lake, she thought, cool and placid and calm. Intimidation is the first step to loss, and as terrifying as the Lower City was, she could not afford fear. She took another breath, held it for two counts, and let it out again, rising to her feet to stand with the rest of her team at the edge of the shiai-jo.

"This is the final match of the women's team competition," the announcer, a petite brunette beginner from Royal University, said. "In red, Crown Academy Girls' Team. In white, the Lower City Girls' Team."

When their team was called, they stepped into the shiai-jo as one, walking to the centre. The Lower City followed a breath after, and together both teams bowed once to the chief referee and once to each other, before the latter four turned and walked out. Kel felt a couple pats on her shoulder, one from Alice and the other from Midori, she thought, before she slipped into guard.

The flags dropped, and the other girl, with the name-tag Lin, was on her. Kel pushed in, making the first blow too short to count, turning around to face Lin again. There wasn't time for Kel to launch her own attack, because the girl was on her again, aiming for a wrist strike. Kel blocked, stumbled backwards – giving just the right distance for Lin to land the hit aimed at her head.

"Men-ari!"

The point called, Kel shook her head slightly – the blow had been solid, and within the first fifteen, twenty seconds of play? And the way Lin moved, Kel could tell that she was skilled, far more skilled that Kel herself. All she could do was put up the best fight she could.

Kel took initiative when the flags dropped a second time, but without any luck – the hit collided, but was off-side, and the only good result out of it was that Lin's hit was too close to count as a point. Kel whirled, inadvertently blocking a second strike, feeling herself inexorably being pushed back. There was something beautiful about being overwhelmed and overmatched – it made her want to work harder, do better, do something. She yelled out, something meaningless, back to her and shoved back, just in time; she was nearing the boundaries of the ring. Lin stumbled back, and Kel took the opportunity to go for her wrist. She missed, but expected to – she followed it up immediately with a head strike.

She half-expected it to be called – she saw a flag go up in the corner of her eye – but no point. A disappointment, but that was the nature of budo. But at least she had taken back the centre, shifting onto offense instead of simply defending. She launched another attack, not really intended to win a point through a strike, but hoping maybe to push her out of the ring. The other girl blocked, tried for a torso strike, but she was too close to connect properly. They both backed off, breathing heavily.

Kel circled the other girl, Lin, whose intense brown eyes she could make out through the bars of the helmet. She feinted once, twice – and, then, crucially, hesitated just one second too long before going in for her strike. It was all the other girl needed, and Kel fell the dull thud on her wrist and heard the call before she landed her own.

"Kote-ari!" It wasn't a bad fight, overall, though it was a two-point loss. Kel sighed internally as she bowed out of the shiai-jo, clapping Alice on the shoulder as she went.

"Not bad, really," Evelyn leaned over to whisper, picking up her own helmet. "You're doing really well for someone new to kendo. Good work."

Kel nodded awkwardly while working off her helmet and shot Evelyn a quick smile of thanks. Pulling the cumbersome thing off, she finally registered the chatter and cheers around her. A quick glance behind her revealed that both Raoul and Vanget were actively coaching from the sidelines, even if Kel hadn't been paying attention enough to notice. She would have to keep that in mind in the future, she thought regrettably – it would have been good to know some of the strategies they were shouting, even if most of it was simply orders to be patient and wait for the openings.

Alice was… different, in this match, or so Kel thought, from her previous matches. Normally, Alice was a nervous fighter – she was a little unpredictable, which meant that it was often hard for people to successfully score hits against her, and she had good instincts, but something about the very way she moved leaked timidity. It wasn't that the way she moved changed, exactly – she had never been particularly aggressive, especially compared to Evelyn and Hae, but somehow, this time, she exuded calm. Control.

When the match started, Alice hadn't moved. She stood her ground, waiting. Her opponent yelled something at her, but she didn't react, didn't respond at all. Her opponent poked at her, feinted, but Alice stayed still, reacting only to flick the other girl's blade away and otherwise holding her defensive position. A minute ticked away, Kel thought, with very little action – then the other girl struck. Somehow, Alice was able to distinguish the true attack, because her shinai slipped forward, a slight movement soundly tapping the other girl's wrist a split second before the other girl's strike hit true. One flag went up, white – but the other two were red.

"Kote-ari!"

The second half of the match was far faster paced than the first – the other girl knew that time was draining away, and she was intent on catching up and claiming the victory for herself. The yelling from the sidelines, if anything, intensified; the Lower City was shouting for their jiho, a girl with the name-tag "Presser"to push forward, attack, take the offensive, while Raoul and Vanget were shouting at Alice to stay calm, stay in control, push back. Alice pushed forward into every one of Presser's attacks, fortunately making any hits scored on her too close to count, but unfortunately putting herself in a position where none of her points would count either. Time ticked down, and Kel could feel the palpable relief streaming off her teammates when time was called and Alice took the match.

They didn't celebrate, though Kel saw Seiji and Raoul give Alice resounding pats on the back when she walked out, looking exhausted but thrilled. "My first win," she whispered into Kel's ear. Kel shot her a congratulatory smile as Evelyn bowed into the shiai-jo.

Evelyn didn't have the luck that Alice did, though she, too, played far better than she had in previous matches. Naturally, Evelyn's style being quite different, she attacked right away, pushing her opponent back towards the edges of the shiai-jo. Despite furious attacks by both girls, and one time where Evelyn managed to push the other girl out of the ring for a penalty, the match finished ikkiwake, tied, leaving both Crown and Lower City tied. Evelyn merely shook her head, coming out of the ring – evidently a tough match, she was breathing heavily, and when Vanget asked her something, she merely shook her head.

Midori's match, on the other hand, was short. Kel had come to realize that, mild-mannered or not, Midori was singularly focused when it came to kendo. She had been nominated as a prospect for Team Tortall during the last Worlds in 2015, even though she was too young to actually play; instead, she had been permitted to attend national team practices. Midori played much like Alice did, holding back early on – but her opponent was strong, but aggressive, and not careful enough. Like Alice, Midori's first point was a wrist strike, and her second, which followed mere seconds later, was hiki-men.

By the time Midori walked out, looking pleasantly satisfied, Alice was gripping Kel and Evelyn's hands, practically ready to squeal in excitement. With Midori's win, they had pulled into the lead, two wins to one – and with only one match remaining, so long as Hae tied or better, they would take the title. Hae, too, was looking confident walking into the ring.

There was no surprise when Corinne Kim walked in as taisho for the Lower City. Despite her two point loss to Kim in individuals, Hae's guard was still and stable, and the second the flags dropped, Kel could tell that Hae, again, planned on playing it defensively this round. They were ahead – there was no reason for Hae to risk losing their lead with risky actions. Kim, on the other hand, clearly knew full well that her team was behind, and opened aggressively with a hit aimed at Hae's head.

Hae deflected the strike to one side savagely, taking the opportunity to go for Kim's torso, but no luck – she was too close for a good strike, and she backed off in guard again to wait for the next attack. Kim followed up on her attack with another one, right after – this time, Hae surged forward to meet her, body to body.

"Always a good time-waster," Alice muttered softly in her ear. "She just needs to wait it out, wait it out…"

True to her word, Hae didn't make an effort to disengage, instead staying body-to-body as long as possible and keeping the other girl close. Kel held her breath – there was always a risk with this strategy, being that kendo was about attacking, about having the intent to attack. Hae would have to look, to the judges, like she was intending on attacking, or they would order them apart and restart. The only advantage of that was that time wouldn't stop running if they were ordered apart.

Unlike with the other matches, both teams were silent. Kel glanced over at the Lower City team – they were all in seiza as a sign of respect for their taisho, staring intently. Two of the girls on their team were biting their lips, and Kel spotted a third gripping her hands in her lap. She peeked over at her teammates – of the three sitting beside her, Alice and Evelyn had gripped hands, and only Midori looked truly calm. Then again, as Kel noted, there was very little that fazed her.

"Wakare!" The head judge finally stepped in, drawing his flags to chest level and waved them apart, once, sharply. Hae was a little slow to obey the order, grappling another second before she let up, moving a little slower than she would normally to return to her start position. Overall, Kel guessed that Hae had wasted two minutes out of three so far, and she couldn't help but catch her breath.

"Hajime!"

Again, Kim came barrelling out, aiming for a wrist strike followed by a head strike, but Hae deflected the first attack and spun her head, turning the head strike off-side. Kel winced – it must have hurt, but Hae showed no sign of it. Hae pushed back, trying to get body-to-body again, but without success – Kim backed off, staying within the ring. There was a breath, two, in which Kel could hear panting from both players, then Kim screamed and went in for another strike.

Hae leapt back from the strike, a big step – Kel sucked in her breath, because one normally stepped into the strike to make it too close to count, but in this case it was a good call. Either Kim was tired, or she had calculated on Hae stepping into the strike, because it fell short. She followed it up, though, with another strike, which again missed as Hae stepped back again, turning. Time was counting down, and Kim knew it – she was desperate, continuing to push forward, but the clock was counting down, and the room was utterly silent as most of the two teams held their collective breaths until….

"JIKAN-DESU!" the time-keeper screamed out, raising the yellow triangle – and nothing could stop the wide, excited smiles that burst onto Alice's and Evelyn's faces, nor the small grin on Midori's. She couldn't turn around to look at the rest of the team, but she heard the rustle of movement and could tell they were equally excited.

She didn't remember, later, getting to her feet with the rest of the team and bowing out, nor the men's finals, nor the closing ceremonies, nor even the celebration party Dom threw at the house. But she remembered that moment, that moment when they all, collectively, realized that Crown had taken the gold in women's team, and she remembered the feeling of her first gold medal in kendo dropping on her chest.

XXX

So a brief glossary of kendo terms – I've exchanged with the English equivalents for the most part, but here is a quick reference in case:

Shiai-jo: the combat arena. In kendo, this is 9m x 9m; in naginata, 12m x 12m.

Bogu: kendo or naginata armour. Examples can be seen by searching google for images of bogu.

Men, Kote, Do, Sune: Head, wrist, torso and shins. Sune strikes are permitted in naginata but not in kendo. When –ari is attached, it signifies the point scored.

Sempo, jiho, chuken, fukusho, taisho: positions on a kendo team, first through captain. Traditionally set up as weakest to strongest, though some teams do vary somewhat. In a naginata team, there are only 3 positions, being sempo, chuken, and taisho.

Hajime: Start

Nihon-me: Start after one point has been scored.

Shobu: Start if the scores are tied 1-1

Shobu-ari: Win.

Ippongachi: One-point win (i.e. score is 1-0 at the end of the match)

Ikkiwake: Tie

Wakare: An order for the contestants to split apart and return to the start position. Unlike a scored point, wakare doesn't stop the time, hence Hae uses it to delay.

I hope this is still interesting for the lot of you, and next time I'm bringing everyone back to Crown for more drama, midterm exams, preparations for the Midwinter Ball, etc… And there will be more Aly. And after that will be Side Story 2, with Daran!