A/N: Hello everyone. This is the next chapter of small steps. There is a fight scene in this chapter. I'm still not used to writing fight scenes, so please go easy on me.

Special thanks to Yukina Takanashi for allowing me to use her OC.

Somewhere around the forest near Mount Kamakura, a squirrel aradama peered out of her nest, before climbing out to get acorns from the top tree. When the squirrel was about to pick the biggest acorn from the tree, the acorn suddenly fell to the ground.

The squirrel didn't want to give up that big acorn, so she went down to get that acorn again to be brought back to her nest. Once she reached the ground, just as she lifted the acorn, she felt the ground begin to tremble. Sounds like big footsteps could be heard coming from the south. The squirrel-aradama began to feel insecure and worried about her safety. She quickly rushed up to her tree, heading back for her nest.

Then it came out, a large rhino-aradama appeared from behind a bush, running while breaking through everything in front of it. Behind the rhino, there was a group of Toji who chased after it. On the creature's back, there was an okatana stuck and Sana Nimi, who was desperately holding onto the hilt of her okatana.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEELLLP MMEEEEEE!" Sana yelled loudly.

Every stomp that the rhino took made the okatana stuck in its back stab deeper and deeper, making the creature roar in pain and annoyance. The rhino-aradama tried to let go of the sword stuck in its back by hitting it against the trees and stones in front of it, making Sana scream louder. Her grip on her okatana loosened from the shocks.

"Hang in there, Sana!" Yuzuki shouted to her friend. Not far from behind, Yoshino Iroha and Kagamishima Ema followed after her.

"Kuh, how could this happen?" Iroha spoke loudly.

Ema looked down while maintaining her speed, recalling the reason for this happening from ten minutes ago. The four of them, along with several Tojis under their leadership, were sent on a mission to inspect the new aradama that was sighted in the forest near Mount Kamakura.

At first the mission went smoothly, they found the aradama alone, eating grass in a closed forest about four miles ago. They surrounded the Aradama in silence before attacking simultaneously. However, in the middle of the battle, Sana tried to stab the creature from above. This made the rhino-aradama grow angry and full of rage, before running, crashing through everything in front of it.

"Somebody, please do something!" Sana screamed in exasperation as her pinky finger slipped from her okatana's grip.

"Hold on Sana! Don't let go!" Ema yelled loudly as she closed in from behind the rhino.

And here they were, chasing a rhino and Sana who's holding the okatana on its back like a waving flag.

'Wow, she's wearing pink today…' Iroha thought in her mind when she was right behind the rhino. She saw pink panties under Sana's skirt.

"We need to stop this thing now, before it crashes into any civilian!" Yuzuki yelled.

"How are we supposed to stop this thing without hurting Sana?" Iroha asked as she ran beside her.

"Any bright ideas anyone?" Ema asked loudly.

Yuzuki thought for a moment, before responding, "I got one…"

She averted her gaze to Ema before telling her plan. "Ema, can you keep running until you reach the rhino's front right leg?"

"Sure, I can. But for what?" she answered with a questioned look in her face.

"I want you to give that rhino a deep slice in its leg!" Yuzuki yelled.

Ema gave her a look of hesitation. "But wouldn't that hurt Sana?"

"Just trust me!" Yuzuki reassured her before turning her gaze to Iroha. "Iroha, get ready to catch Sana from behind that thing!"

"Roger that!" she answered before proceeding to her part of the plan.

The three of them ran towards three different positions around the speeding rhino. Ema positioned herself to the right side of the rhino, Yuzuki to the left side, and Iroha was right behind it.

"Sana! Prepare to let go of your grip!" Ema yelled to her friend, who was hanging on.

"What?!" To her shock, Sana didn't expect that kind of order in this situation.

"I said, prepare to let go-"

"Senpai, watch out!"

Before she could finish her words, the rhino let out a roar before crashing itself towards Yuzuki, who was nearly hit. Luckily, she managed to dodge it before it collided with her. The rhino crashed into a tree with a monstrous force, making it collapse to the ground while being trampled on by the rampaging creature.

"Tch, that almost got me.." she growled before continuing to run to the rhino's left side again.

"Guys! I can't hold on anymore longer!" Sana cried out in panic, as she felt her grip getting looser.

"Yuzuki, we need to stop this thing now!" Iroha tells her in worry after seeing Sana's condition.

"I know!" Yuzuki yelled before running ahead faster.

To everyone's surprise, Yuzuki ran closer to the rhino before hitting its head with her okatana. Although it was not very effective due to its hard skin, it was enough to make the rhino irritated to turn its gaze towards Yuzuki.

"Yuzuki-senpai, what are you doing?!" Sana was perplexed over what she just saw.

'Wait for it, wait for it…' Yuzuki threw herself in front of the rhino, as if she was showing it that she wanted to be attacked by the horned beast.

'Come and hit me again, you speedy freak!…' she yelled in her mind.

The rhino released an angry roar before chasing Yuzuki again to strike her with its horn. Realizing that she managed to grab the rhino's attention, Yuzuki then tried to run faster than the rhino.

"Ema, NOW!" Yuzuki shouted, giving her mark.

"Right!" Then with an amazing speed, Ema gave a deep slash to the rhino's right front foot. The slash was direct at the rhino's point blank; it made the creature lose its balance in its run.

"AHH!" Sana must let go of her grip due to the rough motion that the rhino made, resulting in a hard vibration on its waist. She closed her eyes waiting for the pain that came to her body when she was about to hit the ground.

She closed her eyes waiting for the pain to come to her body, when she was about to hit the ground. But instead of pain, she felt a comfortable pair of sensation that caught her, holding around her neck and knees.

Slowly she opened her eyes to meet Iroha's face, who was smiling kindly. A small wind had blown their hair apart for a moment. The silver-haired girl blushed slightly when she realized Iroha was carrying her princess-style.

"Are you all right, Sana-chan?" Iroha asked softly without changing her expression.

'A princess carry?! ...' Sana thought in her mind, a light blush appeared on her face. they remained like that for a while before Sana realized that they're currently on a mission. She nodded before Iroha slowly lowered her from her arms.

"Thank you, senpai," Sana thanked her with cheeks that were still rather pink.

"My pleasure," Iroha replied, giving her a sweet smile again.

They shifted their attention towards the rhino, when it let out a huge roar before it began to collapse on the ground. It crashed making a long-wide line, due to the body's impact and friction.

Yuzuki, who was at the front as a bait for the rhino, managed to avoid its large body using jin'i when it was about to fall on her. She panted for a few seconds while still focusing on the rhino. It couldn't stand up, perhaps falling down due to Ema's slash having twisted its left leg too.

"Everyone attack!" Realizing that the Rhino was at its weakest, Yuzuki shouted giving orders to her friends.

"Haah!" Ema exclaimed before cutting the rhino's stomach.

Iroha and Sana attacked its back, while Yuzuki stabbed its eye. The rhino-aradama roared in pain and suffering. It could be seen from its head moving around violently. Yuzuki then slit the aradama's neck causing noro to spurt out from the wound like a blood.

"Kuh! Can you just die !?" Sana said before giving another thrust to the chest, making the aradama roar in agony.

Finally aradama breathed its last. It looked at Yuzuki before giving the final roar of pain, making Yuzuki raise an eyebrow in surprise. Then the aradama slowly stopped moving and its head slammed to the ground while releasing its last breath.

"Alright, everyone, that's enough," Yuzuki said to her friends, who were still stabbing and cutting the aradama which lay on the ground. After hearing Yuzuki's words, the three of them stopped what they were doing and pulled back their okatana from the aradama's body.

"We did it…?" Sana wondered, seeing that the Aradama did not move anymore at all. A few moments after she said that, its body dissolved into noro. It gave a hissing sound and hot steam into the air.

"Yeah, we did it..." Ema closed her eyes, before exhaling from exhaustion.

"Haa ~~, that's a one chaotic hunt," Sana took a long breath while stretching her arms.

"To be honest, this is the first time we fought an aradama this strong," Iroha concluded while putting her hand on her chin. She looked around the place where the aradama just ran. Several trees had fallen due to its crash and the ground had been grazed from the aradama's fall.

"However, I hope this kind of aradama is only one in the face of the earth," Ema responded before sitting on the nearest big stone.

'Those aradama eyes ...' she thought first in her mind remembering the rhino's death, before its final moments. 'Why did it look at me with such eyes?'

"Iroha, call the others to immediately gather at our location, and also call the noro recovery team to gather these noro," Yuzuki ordered her.

Iroha nodded at her before she, along with the others let off some exhausted breaths, and finally relaxed their bodies by sitting on the rocks or trees around them. Sana started a small chat.

"Hey, isn't today the day for our juniors to test their okatana?" she asked them.

"Hmm? Well, that's right ..." Ema answered, remembering the event that was currently happening at the academy.

"Surely the academy is currently in a scene, they must be fighting with each other to train and test their ability to use okatana," Sana sighed before complaining, "Hah ~, I want to see it. I especially want to see what kind of fighting style Yukina and Konoka used when using their okatanas for the first time..."

"Well, I've sparred with Yukina before, and she used Chuujou-Ryu," Ema told her as she wiped a sweat on her forehead.

"Perhaps Konoka uses the same fighting style like her sister's," Iroha responded.

Sana raised her head towards the blue sky before sighing once more.

"Hah ~, I want to see it ..."

It took ten minutes for the Tojis under their leadership to regroup. Until the noro recovery team gathered the noro they got from the aradama, it would take around an hour before they could leave for the academy.

It had been two weeks since Konoka received Karazusa in her hands. She continued to train herself to be stronger, assisted by her sister Kagari. She practiced very earnestly and hard; Konoka wanted to make her mother and sister proud of her.

And here she was, watching the fight between two Tojis who were fighting with each other. Her gray eyes sparkled in awe as sparks of colliding blades, various martial techniques, and utsushi lit from the bodies of the Toji who were fighting in the arena under the stage.

Although this was the stadium where the Toji usually practiced, the atmosphere here felt like it was an ongoing tournament. Cheers from the spectators ranging from first graders to third graders, shouting to encourage fighters who were in action in the arena.

Konoka sat in the right corner of the topmost back row on the stage. No one wanted to sit on the left or in front of her. So the rows and columns in the seat were isolated.

"Hey, Noka," a familiar voice sounded as she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her neck from behind.

"Ah! Minato-senpai!" Konoka's cheeks blushed before looking out of the right corner of her right eye to see the purple haired girl she admired.

"I knew you would come." Minato stroked her hair before sitting beside her.

"Of course senpai, I also want to test the results of my training..." Konoka replied to Minato's words, still blushing.

"That's good, Noka!" Minato gave her a wide grin.

"By the way, where's Onee-chan?" Konoka wondered.

"Oh, Kagari was with Yukari to discuss something." Minato answered, as she looked towards the VIP room across the arena. "I don't really know what they are discussing, but maybe it won't take long."

Not long after, a loud alarm sounded indicating the battle was about to begin. When a fight was about to start, a loud alarm sounded and some letters would appear before changing randomly, then stopped suddenly so that a name appeared.

"Ah, the next match is about to begin," Minato exclaimed as her eyes beamed with excitement.

Konoka watched the words on the monitor change until it stopped showing the name of her best friend.

"NEXT MATCH : HATSUZUKI MAKO VS YUKINA TAKATSU"

"Ah its Yukina-chan!" Konoka exclaimed as she saw Yukina's name on the monitor.

Yukina Takatsu, who was sitting in a chair that was much different, was a little surprised and excited when her name appeared on the monitor screen. She clenched her fists nervously before rising from her chair, as she headed down the stairs to the battle arena.

Although she felt nervous, she also felt enthusiastic when she was about to fight. Maybe this was where she will show her decency to Yukari-sama. Taking the last step of the stairs, she walked to the center of the stage to meet the match referee and a long black-haired girl with brown eyes and a headband on her head.

"Anything to say to your opponents?" asked the referee to both girls.

"A-Ano, my name is Yukina Takatsu, nice to meet you" Yukina nervously introduced herself to her opponent.

"I'm Mako Hatsuzuki, nice to meet you too." The girl gave a smile, before replying, "Let's fight with all of our best, Yukina-san."

Yukina's eyes sparkled in happiness while responding with a smile of relief, "Hai!"

Then, the referee signaled to both parties to start the fight. They retreated until they stood in line starting with each of them. "Yukina-san, ready?" Yukina nodded her head. She wondered if Yukari-sama whom she admired was watching her fight right now.

"Mako-san, ready?" Mako nodded her head.

"Unsheath your okatana!" Both parties began to remove their okatanas from their sheath.

"Take your stances!" They both took their fighting postures.

"Utsushi!" They activated their utsushi, making a thin layer of white light cover their bodies.

"Fight!" That was when the two of them launched themselves quickly using jin'i before banging their okatanas against each other.

Mako tried to cut down from the top up in a barrage, through different directions. Either it was from the bottom left up, or down right up, it made it difficult for Yukina to fend off her okatana.

She deflected the slash from the right side of her head, then tried to make a swing forward aiming at her opponent's stomach. Her opponent barely noticed this so she was a little late avoiding the attack, so it gave a small scratch to the utsushi on her stomach.

Konoka saw the fight that her best friend was doing with glittering eyes filled with admiration. She thought in her mind that Yukina had become very strong.

"Yuki-chan is amazing..." said Konoka in a low voice.

"That's Chuujou-Ryu ..." Minato explained, while paying attention to Yukina's movements and stances.

"Yuki-chan is great, being able to master it." Konoka said in admiration.

Minato then turns her attention to Yukina's opponent, Mako. "While the fighting style that is used by her opponent ..."

She noticed the form of the movements and attacks carried out by her opponent, her eyes widened slightly in a small surprise and an expression of interest had appeared in her expression. "Ohh! That is Sekiguchi-ryu." Konoka tilted her head; it seemed like this battle impressed Minato.

"I hope Yuki-chan will succeed," konoka prayed in her heart.

The scene went back to Yukina and Mako who were still fighting in the middle of the arena. They both swung their swords between each other making a spark in their midst. When confronted, Yukina and Mako gave a satisfied look during the fight.

"You're pretty good, Yukina-san," praised her opponent while giving her a smile, then they both jumped back.

"You too, Mako-san," Yukina complimented her opponent. She then put herself back in stance, followed by Mako, who also put her stances together too. She smiled and nodded.

The two of them collided again, slamming their swords. Spectators who watched the battle became lively; they gave cheers to the fighters below who had entertained them with their actions.

This time, Mako tried to do a slash from above, aiming to give a slash to Yukina's head. She resisted her attack with her okatana horizontally before lowering herself the tip of her okatana down. Making her okatana fall slipped to the right and Yukina does an absolute slash from the right on the opponent's chest. The attack turned off Mako's utsushi, which meant that she had lost this fight.

"Enough!" the referee shouted to stop their fight.

Yukina released some exhausted breath, putting back her okatana into her sheath before walking towards her opponent.

"That was a good fight, Mako-san," Yukina said as she extended her hand to her defeated opponent.

Mako gave her a satisfied smile before taking her hand. "Yeah, that's right."

Yukina pulled Mako's body to stand. They stared at each other for a few moments before Mako turned and left the arena. Yukina remained there looking at her back for a while, as she climbed into the seats of the audience. A happy feeling enveloped her heart. Somehow she was glad that her opponent was a girl like mako.

Somewhere around the room, there was a room that was designed for VIP people. inside, there was a lady sitting on a sofa facing the window that showed the arena. She had shoulder-length red hair, tied up with a white and pink ribbon, along with a small ahoge. Her eyes were the same shade of red as her hair. She appeared to be in her late twenties and the president uniform she wore was a navy blue and light blue jacket and a skirt. She wore a white shirt with a violet ribbon under this outfit.

Not far beside her was Origami Yukari and Hiiragi Kagari, who had just finished watching the battle, with observative eyes.

"Yukina-chan is really trying hard," said the lady, turning her attention to Yukari.

"…" Yukari just kept quiet, with her usual placid expression.

"So how about it, Yukari-san? She might be able to be a good part of your team-" The lady's question was interrupted when Yukari suddenly cut her off.

"Chuujou-ryu might be able to help my squad in the battle field, but Yukina is still not able to get there," said Yukari firmly but in a slow voice.

"Why is that?" The lady raised her eyebrows.

"Yukina might have good skill, but she's not mentally ready to face a real aradama ..." explained Yukari.

"Is that so?" The woman turned her gaze to Yukina and Mako in the arena.

She watched Yukina climb into the row of the audience seats far above the back. Her attention was dragged when she saw a green-haired girl, similar to the girl sitting beside Yukari. Her lips formed a smile.

"I can't wait for the next battle."

"Hey Yukina! Over here!" Minato called out to her.

A bright expression appeared on her face as Yukina shifted her attention towards them. Her eyes focused on Minato who was waving her hand and Konoka with a satisfied look on her face. She walked towards them before greeting them.

"Minato-senpai, Noka-chan!"

"Yuki-chan, that was a great fight." Konoka softly praised her, before continuing, "Yukari-sama must have been impressed with your battle."

"Thank you, Noka-chan," Yukina answered, as she sat beside them. She wondered in her mind if Yukari-sama was watching her fight, what was her opinion? Did she manage to gain some of her attention?

"Oh, it's about to begin again."

However, her thought was interrupted, when an alarm sounded once again, indicating the next battle would start soon. Her attention immediately shifted to the monitor that was scrambling the name of the next person who would fight immediately.

"I wonder, who will fight next..." Minato was curious with enthusiasm.

Everyone only focused on the monitor screen, when one by one the letters began to stop. They waited in wonder to know who would be the two people to entertain them on. However, the names that appeared were not what any of them expected.

"NEXT MATCH : HIIRAGI KONOKA VS YANASE TOUKO"

There was a short moment of silence in an instant; all the people in the stadium became silent. Of all the female students in the first year, it was Konoka's name who appeared to be called down to fight.

"Eh, me?" Konoka's eyes widened.

"Noka, it's your turn," said Minato, who was sitting next to her.

To be honest, Konoka felt rather surprised when she knew that right now it was her next turn to go down the arena. But not this fast. Moreover, the person she was going to fight was someone she knew...or more like someone she hated.

"But isn't this a little too fast?" Konoka stuttered.

"It doesn't matter, Noka," Minato said. "It's your name that appeared in that monitor, so you're the one next who will fight."

She gently put her right hand on Konoka's back, before the latter gave her a light smirk and a nod. Konoka got up from her chair before taking Karazusa and went to the arena below.

Meanwhile, Yukina's attention was drawn to the name of the other girl.

"What's wrong, Yukina?" Minato called her.

"Minato senpai..." Her eyes were furrowed when she looked at her friend's opponent, who was waiting in the arena. "That girl…"

'Why her?' Konoka thought in her mind.

Of all the first year students who were in the stadium to practice, why did this girl have to be her opponent? As she walked down, she ignored all the whispers and the gazes that were directed at her. Reaching the stairs that connected the arena, she ventured herself.

And there she was, the girl who had long purple hair tied to the side in a ponytail that reached her shoulders, waiting for her while giving a cynical look. Taking some steps forward, Konoka tried her best to avoid eye contact with her bully.

"Anything to say to your opponents?" asked the referee.

"I-" When Konoka was about to open her mouth to speak, that girl immediately cut in.

"I will show you that you don't deserve to be a Toji," Touko said in her ordinary spiteful tone.

Konoka, behind her hair, was furrowing her eyebrows in silent anger. Then the referee signaled to both parties to start the fight. They took a few steps back until they stood on the starting line.

"Touko-san, ready?"

"Yea," Touko responded shortly.

"Konoka-san, ready?" Konoka only nodded curtly.

"Unsheath your okatanas!" Konoka took a deep breath before unsheathing Karasuza.

"Take your stances!" They both took their fighting poses. Konoka gripped the handle of Karasuza tightly.

"Utsushi!" They activated their utsushi.

"Fight!" Konoka immediately dashed forward using jin'i, trying to cut her Touko's right side.

"...!" When the battle immediately began, she could barely withstand the sudden attack that came to the right aiming for her neck.

However, when she saw Konoka's right eye, she could not hold the cold feeling that suddenly crawled behind her neck. That eye…it contained vengeance and great anger towards her.

'She's fast!' she thought in her mind before pushing Konoka's okatana with hers.

Konoka dashed backwards a few steps before dashing forward again using jin'i, repeatedly striking her. She relied on her speed to fight against Touko, making it difficult for her to deal with Konoka's rapid attacks.

'I'll make you sorry for looking with that eye!' Touko swore in her mind.

Touko had to admit the difficulty in fending off these quick attacks. It felt like you were thrown by a knife from a variety of different directions. It took high vigilance to anticipate the direction of the next attack. Right now, she was in a pinch-she had to get out of this situation. Gathering a little energy in her hand, she took a brief breath before Karazusa was about to crash to her chin.

"You're fast..." Konoka's eyes widened in shock, as Touko suddenly parried her okatama with hers, with swift movements and strong power. "But you're not strong!"

that reflection has made Konoka receive a strong force coming from her hand into her body. it Makes her stand unbalanced, after receiving a powerful blow from the deflection that she received. She was about to fix her stances, but her opponent didn't give her a chance as she tried to cut her neck with a powerful blow.

she could barely resist the strike, but it was enough to move the direction of the slash to hit the utsushi layer on her right cheek. Konoka had to think of a new way to fight her opponent, trying to put some distance between them, Konoka used jin'i to dash to the back and to the right.

"!..."

"I GOT YOU!" Konoka was stunned when Touko launched a fatal attack as she also used Jin'i to dash towards where Konoka stopped before giving a hard blow strike up to her head.

To avoid that strike, Konoka reflexively moved her body to roll to the left, making Touko's okatana hit the ground. However, even though she managed to avoid the strike, she received a kick that struck her stomach as she rolled, making herself fly around 5 feet from the one who kicked her.

"DEFEAT HER TOUKO!" a friend shouted, as the person enjoyed the show when she saw her kicking her opponent.

Gathering her breath, Touko raised her sword before putting the blade behind her head while looking at Konoka who was trying to stand up but still on her knees. When viewed from their condition, Touko's utsushi was still intact but she was quite exhausted from the deflection and the powerful strikes she did.

Whereas Konoka, she got a cut on her right cheek and her utsushi's layer condition was battered. She finally managed to get on her feet, before lifting Karasuza with both hands.

"You give me a quiet pleasure, Hiiragi," Touko said in a satisfied, yet mocking tone.

"..." Konoka didn't respond, she breathed heavily before clutching Karazusa tightly, preparing for the next attack.

"I will enjoy this." This time, it was Touko who dashed at her opponent using jin'i before clashing her okatana with Konoka's in strong force.

Kagari, who was watching the fight in the VIP room, could not stop worrying about her sister's condition. She knew about the skills mastered by her sister, after the two weeks of training her. The advantages of Konoka's skill of using okatana was using quick strikes. Konoka's movement was fast, but she could not fend off a hard attack.

This was proven, over the days when Kagari trained Konoka in the family house dojo. Konoka barely could resist the hard blow strike from her. She glared at the purple haired girl who was her sister's opponent in the arena with aversion. Kagari actually recognized that person.

"That person is Yanase Touko." Yukina had told her.

"Yanase Touko?" Kagari furrowed her brows. "You mean, the next heiress of the Yanase family?"

"That's right, senpai. She's the one ... " she corrected.

"Alright, Yukina, thank you-" Kagari was about to thank her before leaving, but the younger girl stopped her before she could finish. "Senpai, don't do what you want to do to her..."

With an infuriated gaze, she asked, "What do you mean?"

Yukina looked at Kagari, deep into her eyes. "Senpai, dealing with her will only worsen Konoka's problem..."

"But I can't let my sister continue to be treated badly like that by her!" Kagari refused.

"She's a Yanase, senpai, what if she uses her family's power to get you out of the academy?" she asked with concern in her eyes.

"...!" Kagari became silent then thought for a moment, The risk was so great, if she came to the girl and scolded her for what she had been doing to Konoka. Surely the girl would resist and would not accept it if Kagari scolded her. She would use her family's strength to expel her from the academy.

And if that happened…

"And if that happens, Konoka will be sad, right?" Yukina continued.

Kagari looked at the ground before, before imagining what would happen to Konoka if she was expelled from the academy. Even if it was for her sake, Konoka wouldn't want that to happen to her.

Yukina just let out a heavy sigh before giving her advice. "Senpai, I'm sorry. But I think it's best if you let Noka-chan take care of it herself."

Kagari hated it; she hated herself for not taking care of her sister. However, if she involved herself into this problem, things could get worse. Then all she could do was to watch how her younger sister faced her own problems.

But when she watched her sister's fight against the Yanase heiress. This aroused restless feelings from her heart. At first, she had no problem during the fight, but when she saw the kick incident, she snapped off and was about to go down to the arena. Unfortunately Yukari held her back, and told her that the battle was still not over.

If Konoka won, her bullying problem could be reduced and they would leave Konoka alone for a while. However, this time Konoka did not have any chance to perform any offensive. Her opponent already knew about her weakness. And defeat was imminent.

'Beat her Konoka.' She prayed in her heart.

Meanwhile Minato, along with Yukina, were still watching the fight. Minato couldn't look away from the battle, and Yukina could not stop worrying about her friend's sake during the match, as she held her own hands in her lap.

Before the match began, Yukina had also explained to Minato, everything about the identity of the girl who was Konoka's opponent. That she was the girl who had been bullying Konoka. After learning the truth about the girl, Minato immediately disliked that girl.

"I see…so she's the girl."

She also wanted to have a "small chat" with the girl once the fight ended, but Yukina warned Minato about the same consequences she also told Kagari. Therefore, she also decided to oversee this battle and stay away from this bullying problem for Konoka's sake.

Minato could not predict the outcome of this battle. At the beginning, Konoka was being offensive, but the situation was immediately reversed when Touko learned that Konoka could not blow a hard strike. However, she believed that Konoka wouldn't lose.

Back in the arena, Konoka did what she could to avoid direct attacks from her opponent. A swift cut almost hit her eye, but she managed to avoid it by stepping back, so it cut some of her hair.

"Don't just dodge! Face me like a true Toji!" Touko complained in annoyance.

So far all she could do was dodging all the strikes that came. There had been no strike Konoka could do at all ever since her opponent made repeated hard blows on each slash. Every time Konoka tried to attack Touko directly, she always deflected it with hard pressure.

'Not good, I haven't done a single attack and I'm running out of stamina.' Konoka thought in her mind.

Panting heavily, she kept her focus upon the person she was fighting, those hard blow deflections. Seeing from the strength everytime she deflected her quick strike, it seemed to take a lot of stamina. Konoka knew that she only needed one fatal slash to lose to Touko.

Fighting Touko here made her realize that this was one of the small steps that had to be done. She could not lose. All the words she'd been assaulted with before...she couldn't let them come true.

'Damn, her defenses are very strong! Might need something speedy like a bullet or-' Konoka thought in her mind as she realized something.

She thought again, thinking about a conclusion. From every deflection she received from her, it was very fast and strong. From that, she learned that Touko put a lot of power and breath into it. Every moment before she parried, her eyes only focused on her okatana that was about to attack her.

So at that moment, her arm joints only did one directional movement. Which meant to break through that defense, Konoka needed one fast and powerful strike like a bullet. But how should it be done? How could she do such a strike?

'...!' Konoka was surprised when her back touched the arena wall. A blade almost pierced her right eye, as she saw Touko thrust her okatana towards Konoka's head. Luckily she managed to dodge, so it only stuck into the wall that was behind her.

"Come on, Hiiragi! I'm getting bored with this fight!" Touko complained, before pulling her okatana out from the wall.

'Well, I'm sorry to have bored you,' Konoka thought in her mind. She dodged by rolling to the right side and using jin'i to dash backward to reach the middle of the arena, putting a safe distance from Touko. She looked towards the wall where Touko pulled back her okatana that was stuck.

'That's right! The wall!' An idea came to mind, she dashed back using Jin'i so that she reached her back and finally touched the arena wall behind her.

"Tch! Stop running away! Accept the reality," said Touko annoyed when she saw how quickly Konoka dashed using jin'i.

"This will do..." Konoka thought in her mind as she stood back to the arena wall.

"Let's finish this, Hiiragi!" Touko yelled before raising her okatana, and preparing her stances.

"Alright ..." Konoka answered briefly before raising her okatana as well.

This was it-this was the climax of their battle. The atmosphere of the stadium became quiet. No one dared to make any sound when the fighters below took their stances, preparing to deliver their final blow.

"…."

"…."

Konoka and Touko looked into each other's eyes. Neither of them started the first move to carry out the attack. Even so, this was exactly what Konoka thought. She knew that Touko would definitely wait for her to make the first move.

Closing her eyes before taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again to see her opponent's position. The attack she was about to do was an attack she'd never done before and it was going to be very difficult. So she needed the perfect focus to do it.

And with a fierce blow, she kicked the wall behind her using her right foot to exert great pressure to make herself dash at a speed that was like a passing wind.

'SO FAST!' Touko shouted in her mind. It was difficult to guess the shape of the attack and where the attack was coming from. The only thing she could see was Konoka dashing towards her like she was going to carry out a piercing attack on her chest. So again, with all her strength, Touko tried to do a hard deflect by carrying out a horizontal slash from the left to the right intending to stop her.

'That's it! She fell into it!' Konoka thought, once she saw Touko about to carry out her defence move. However, in the middle of the road before Konoka would collide with Touko, there was something odd about the direction where she was dashing.

The direction line where Konoka dashed in was a little bit to the right. In the middle of the dash right before the moment when Konoka was about to cross path with her, she tilted her okatana from straight tilted to her left.

'What ?!' Right before Touko knew it, Konoka had already passed through her followed by a strong gust of wind and a sharp slash felt on her stomach as her utsushi body was split in two.

The pressure she received from the strike has made her fall strongly with her back being the first to hit the ground. However, Konoka who after performing the slash, collapsed on her knees before plugging Karazusa to the ground with her right hand.

"What just ... happened? ..." Touko's mind couldn't accept the process of what just happened, about a few seconds ago she was trying to give a deflecting slash to Konoka. And now she was lying on the ground with her eyes facing the ceiling of the stadium.

"You lost ..." she heard the voice of her opponent, who approached her after pulling back her okatana from the ground.

Right after Konoka carried out that very fast attack, she exhaled the breath she was holding in her lungs. She could feel her heartbeat beating faster than its normal limit.

She walked up to the front of her opponent who was lying on the ground before reaching out her hand with a scolding expression to her.

"That's not for you, to determine someone's destiny ..." Konoka said assertively.

"TCH!" Touko furiously slapped Konoka's hand away, before standing and walking away from the field. Konoka watched her back with eyes furrowed. The referee was still silent on the spot because she was amazed at the fight, and so almost forgot to announce the winner of this fight.

"W-Winner: Hiiragi Konoka!"

However, there was no audience to cheer for Konoka's victory. Instead, they just remained quiet and started talking to each other about the move she just did during the match. Some gave looks of spite, some gave unexpected looks, but some of them...gave looks of astonishment.

And that alone had made Konoka more than satisfied from the results of her battle. To be honest, making her mother, sister, and friends proud was enough to just make her feel happy. But getting these expressions of amazement from some people was a new positive pleasure for Konoka. That made her unable to restrain herself from forming a small, proud smile on her lips before walking out of the arena.

Back to the VIP room, Kagari who had just watched the battle couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Actually the last seconds when the final blow would occur, she worried that her sister's attack would fail, but the opposite happened.

"Looks like your sister is following your steps, Kagari-chan." The red haired lady said to her in a tone that was like a felicitation.

Yukari who also watched the battle just put on a stoic expression, she stood up from her seat and was about to leave the room. However, before she left the room she stopped beside Kagari before speaking in a low voice.

"She can also be a great toji like you."

Kagari was honored to hear those words.

"Thank you, Yukari-sama," she said with a bow as Yukari walked out of the room. Then she returned her gaze to the arena to see her sister who was walking towards where Minato and Yukina were sitting.

Walking back to her previous sitting position, some people still kept their gaze on Konoka. However, she walked with her head down, until she heard two familiar sounds.

"That's a very nice fight, Noka!" Minato praised her as she sat next right to her.

She gave Konoka a pat on her head making herself blush once again, "Thank you, Minato-senpai."

"Noka-chan! You did it! You defeated Yanase-san!" said Yukina happily for the victory her friend had achieved.

She couldn't hold a smile exposed on her face, when she saw their proud faces.

"Yeah…"

Later that day, the three of them walked home together from the academy. Konoka couldn't wait to tell about the day's events to her sister and mother.

"Hey Noka-chan, how did you do a jin'i that fast?" Yukina wondered.

Konoka thought for a moment before answering, "Well, I guess you just have to focus on the place where you will dash next..."

"Just that?" Yukina was curious at that time, when she saw Konoka carry out a very fast attack like a shooting bullet.

She thought again while remembering the moment when she fought again using her jin'i. "I think the kind of focus you must have is the focus that is really focused. Even in the midst of battle you have to do a perfect focus to do a jin'i that fast."

"As expected of my kouhai." Minato embraced her, before pulling her to her chest. "So smart".

"Woah, Minato-senpai!" Konoka stuttered when she felt her cheeks grow red again.

As they walked together, Konoka's eyes lit up when she saw her sister standing with a warm expression on her face, as she waited for her at the academy's entrance.

"Ah Onee-chan!" Minato let go of her embrace before giving Konoka a pat on the back. Konoka rushed quickly to her sister until she stood right in front of her. "Onee-chan, you see, you see, today I did my first training battle-"

Not yet finished talking but Kagari has cut her off. "Yes, I know." She stopped for a moment before giving her a proud smile then stroking her hair. "I saw it, and I'm very proud of you, Konoka."

"Onee-chan..." she whispered.

"Well then, let's go home." Konoka nodded in enthusiasm before leaving through the gate followed by the others.

As they walked together, Kagari and Minato walked from behind, from here they saw the two younger girls, chatting together with warm expressions on their faces. Those girls had done something that could make them proud of themselves.

"Hey Kagari…" Minato started talking.

"What is it?" Kagari looked at her before responding.

"It was her doing, isn't it?" Minato guessed. Kagari slightly raised her eyebrows before lowering her head.

It was rather strange, when Konoka's turn to fight was earlier at the stadium. Then against Yanase Touko in the training match...all of that might not be a coincidence.

"Yeah." Kagari uttered in a low voice.

"Do you regret it?..." Minato asked her again.

Kagari became silent; there was a noticeable silence between them. Minato sighed in defeat before raising her hands behind her head while looking towards the orange sky.

Meanwhile in the office of the Renpu Academy president, the red haired lady was still sitting in her chair with her legs crossed. While watching the video of the previous battle using her computer. Many battles were fought by other girls, but it was Konoka's battle that impressed her the most.

"That was a hell of a battle," she said to herself.

She repeated the part when Konoka did the final strike with a bullet like speed, until a knock on the door was heard. She paused the video on her computer before giving permission for the person outside to enter.

"Come in."

Not long a girl from the student council came in, carrying a file in her hand.

"President Takashima. This is the profile of the student that you requested. "

"Ah, thank you." She took the document, before gesturing for the girl to leave.

"I wonder what will happen if I send you to the battlefield," she said gently before lifting Konoka's image with her right hand.

A/N: Finally, the third chapter is finished! Homework from campus is piling up so I have to finish them first before continuing Konoka's tale. Alright in the next chapter, Konoka is gonna be called by the President of the Academy to discuss something. so the next chapter might be a little short.

I have to tell you that some of the OCs that I just appeared in this chapter are based on some certain characters from various anime.

President Takishima Yuuna – Takashima Yuuna(Yuuki Yuuna Wa Yuusha De Aru).

I made her a lady in her mid-twenties in this story.

Hatsuzuki Mako – Reizei Mako(Girls Und Panzer).

Instead of being moody, sometimes seem expressionless, I will make her a bit cheerful.

Some of you may be wondering, why did I make Mai's mother an antagonistic character? I will tell you the reason, in the future chapters. So please be patient until that chapter arrives. If it offended you, I'm sorry, alright?