Chapter 7: Standing

Everyone in the Isles stood still for a moment. They had all felt the tremendous shock that came from Willow's Shikoashi. After she landed, Miyuki had no words in her to describe or even react to what she was seeing.

In an instant, their battlefield was surrounded by massive trees.

In an instant, she had turned an open street into a massive and dense forest with a clearing in the center. As if the impurities of a modern society had been swept away by her shikoashi, and only the purity of a big forest that sprung back from the ground. It was said that the shiko of a rikkishi had the power to cleanse the land of bad spirits and purify it, it was hard to believe, but it was hard to deny upon looking at what just happened.

In an instant, all of the people watching the fight were rejected, forced to look from the outside at the match that was taking place.

It was then that Miyuki realized what this was.

It was then that she sheathed her blade and stood her ground.

It was then that she stopped talking and braced herself.

It was then that she came to understand that the woman in front of her was, in fact, a true and proper rikkishi. One that stood in mighty and ready for anything. One that was ready to bear any strike, even one from a blade. One that would not defend or evade, but rather charge head on, for that is what a tachiai was.

For the ground they were standing on

Had become a dohyo.

What happened next was described as follows by one of the people witnessing the fight, a respected rikkishi of the modern era: The oozeki, Kyohei.

"I mean; I have done a number of crazy things in my carrer as a rikkishi. I went against a martial art so mysterious it looked like magic. But going up against a samurai? I'm not crazy enough for that!"

"Hm? What? Yes, I did call her a samurai."

"Ah, you weren't there, so you probably think it's inappropriate to call a yakuza woman such a thing. Listen, if you were there, you would only be able to see her as a samurai. That stance did not say "I am ready to fight", it said "I am ready to kill, I am ready to die". Only a samurai, that knows of nothing but death in the battlefield, could possibly stand like that…"

"Y'know… maybe the yakuza are the only ones that can claim to have inherited the soul of the samurai. I mean, who else faces death in the battlefield every day like they did?"

"And the other girl was quite impressive too. Her form was crude, but unwavering. It felt like I was watching the ancient times of sumo, when they were death matches where everything except for weapons was allowed. She was steadfast and ready to strike. She was so bold, you would have thought she was a rikkishi with a thousand fights under her belt….."

"…"

"… If she weren't a woman…. Then…."

Kyohei had a face of sorrow and regret.

"…..I suppose there is nothing to be done about that. If I had it in me to confront the association like that, I would have done it a long time ago… In a sense, I am glad monsters like her are not something I have to face in the dohyo. I would be utterly humiliated!... It is a shame for sumo, but the sport that refused to change for centuries will not do so now."

"Hm? Oh, the first attack? It came from the rikkishi of course! Who else would be the one to start this fight head on? And against a samurai of all things!"

"But that tachiai was truly shocking. I mean, I have seen the earth buckle under the power of many warriors, myself included. But have you ever seen it bend to their will? The ground literally sprouted wood trunks under her feet! And the moment she lept forward, those trunks twisted her forwards. She was perfectly horizontal for her tachiai! And then she blasted off at an unbelievable speed, and hit her opponent at full force with a tackle that would have made ME fall to the ground (unprepared of course)."

"Can you imagine if we could do that? Getting hit by that must feel like getting blasted by a missile or something! …"

"It has been said that sumo has not changed in hundreds of years because it hasn't needed to. That any and all opponent that stood in front would be crushed anyway, and so sumo had no reason to adapt to the times… Maybe we got that wrong. Maybe it's not that sumo didn't need to evolve, but that it couldn't. Maybe the people sumo needed to evolve hadn't been born yet…"

"That day, sumo evolved to an inhuman level thanks to a magic that could warp the land. It was a new brand of sumo never seen before."

"… How would I call it?... Well… if it were me, I would probably call it:"

"Jukai Sumo"

Willow had crashed into Miyuki at an insane speed, and she had smashed her into the tree right behind her. Miyuki could feel the several ribs that had cracked and broken just from that one hit.

As willow slowly backed off from her, Miyuki took her opening, and in a split second drew her blade and tried to cut Willow down. Willow reacted just fast enough to avoid a lethal cut, but not to avoid a cut to her chest. Miyuki then drew her second blade and swung, aiming at Willow's side, which she failed to dodge fully and received a nasty gash as a result.

Without missing a beat, Miyuki drove her right knee into Willow's ribcage, breaking a few ribs of her own and driving her backwards a couple of feet. She then took her stance with her two blades. The classic stance of the Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, with her right hand holding her Wakizashi straight up and her left holding her Tachi perfectly horizontal above her head.

Despite the brutal clash, neither had fallen to the ground.

Willow then started to bend back down, getting ready for another Tachiai. Miyuki was always ready.

Then, one of Tokugawa's referees stepped into the arena, confusing everyone for a second before making his intentions clear with his words:

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

As anyone who knows sumo knows, this meant "Get ready! Get ready! Hands down! The wait is over! START!"

He was declaring himself the arbiter of this match. And as he was the one that would declare the winner anyway, no one had any issues with it.

Willow charged forward with the same perfectly horizontal charge that would later become the signature move of Jukai Sumo. Miyuki was ready for it this time, and while she did not have time to react perfectly, she did swing the handle of her blade into Willow's face, breaking her glasses and sending them flying off.

But Willow was a rikkishi ready to bear a strike, so this did not stop her, as her open hand smashed into miyuki´s face in a devastating harite that sent her flying backwards.

Despite the brutal clash, neither had fallen to the ground.

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

The next clash, Willow lowered herself as much as possible, aiming for Miyuki's legs. Miyuki leapt and tried to slash Willow on her way down, but she had already turned around and used the trees in the border to charge back at her.

Miyuki slashed Willow's shoulder, but her surprisingly thick muscles tanked most of the cut and saved her bones and ligaments from the blade. Miyuki was sent flying once more.

Despite the brutal clash, neither had fallen to the ground.

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

They were both bleeding from the nose and mouth. Willow had some bad cuts in her chest, side and shoulder. Miyuki had more broken ribs than Willow did, and she had a hard time breathing.

When was the last time Miyuki had fought this hard against one person?

…..

Oh yeah.

Him.

….

She lost that one, didn't she?

…..

But then again

…..

How could you be expected to win against that temple of muscle and resolve?

…

That tattoo on his back… the standing man, was it? It was true to himself. Unawavering, unstoppable, full of cuts and wounds.

A tattoo that perfectly embodied the spirit of the one and only Kaoru Hanayama.

Despite Miyuki being a woman a third his size, he fought with everything he had.

Her blade cut his skin, but his body and spirit were made of some type of tempered iron no human could ever hope to replicate.

He never defended, only attacked. And even if she evaded most of his punches, after 3 hits she was defeated.

Yakuza vs yakuza, one stood and one fell. But he helped her back up, praised her, and even asked her to join the Hanayama group. He never asked anyone to join his group, not even the strongest monsters that he was friends with. He said she had the "true spirit of bushido only a yakuza can have".

She was flattered, but had to decline.

….

This girl was like him. Maybe this was fate, a yakuza samurai vs a new age rikkishi.

They both struck again, Willow at her face with a tsuppari, Miyuki at her chest with a horizontal slash.

Despite the brutal clash, neither had fallen to the ground.

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

How many times had they clashed? Who knows.

How many times would they clash? Until one falls.

Why did neither defend? What a dumb question.

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

Would you ask the river why it flows?

Would you ask the tiger why it hunts?

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

Maybe they didn't say it, but they were as happy as a warrior could be. To be faced at full force, with no regrets, no backing down. The land of Japan was a strange place, were countless legends were born. And when those legends clash, beautiful things happen, things you can miss if you choose to keep your eyes away from them.

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

But both of them faced a cruel reality, and undeniable reality.

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

That the land of the rising sun would reject them, refute them, push them away.

"Hikimasuyo! Hikimasuyo! Te o tsuite!Matta nashi! Hakke-YOI!"

Honestly…

What a tragedy.