The Laughing Swordsman

A young girl practicing on her own in an empty section of the dojo suddenly stopped. She looked over to the man, then hurried over.

Once the girl reached, she bowed courteously.

"You called?"

The man nodded.

"Yes, Suki. This boy here is new to the dojo and wishes to spar against someone. Could you help with that?"

Suki smiled genuinely.

"Of course!"

The man cleared his throat, got closer to Suki, and muttered.

"Take it easy on him please."

Suki nodded, then turned to the person she was supposed to be sparing with.

"Hello! My name is Suki, what is yours?"

Apollo raised his bokken high up in the air and began waving it.

"Hi Suki! My name is Apollo!"

Suki giggled.

"That's a great name! Apollo, I heard you want to spar?"

Apollo nodded.

"Yeah!"

Suki brushed her long hair back.

"Alright then, follow me!"

She began walking over to an empty set of tatami mats, while Apollo and Eden followed. The man also kept watch from afar.

  It was a little different here because it was a rectangular tatami mat that was far larger than usual. Suki pointed to it.

"We will use this place as our stage. If someone steps out of the boundaries or gets hit by the other's wooden sword, they lose, so be careful when fighting!"

Apollo gasped.

"Ah, I see!"

Suki walked over to one side of the tatami mat. Then, she turned to face Apollo with her knees slightly bent and her wooden sword raised above her shoulder.

"I am ready when you are."

Apollo stepped onto the tatami mat. He casually had his bokken at his side, pointing towards the ground.

"Ready!"

Suki nodded.

"Then I will start."

She slowly walked over, taking deliberate steps forward. As for Apollo, he simply stood still, not even bothering to take on some sort of stance. Suki remembered the man's words, to take it easy on Apollo.

However, she did not know what to do if he simply stood there. Once Suki got into range, she hesitated slightly before sending her sword towards Apollo.

Finally, as though he woke up from a slumber, Apollo moved. He stepped backward leisurely and just barely dodged Suki's strike. The wooden sword was roughly a millimeter away from touching the tip of his nose.

Suki noticed that Apollo wasn't just going to stand there, so she decided to go a little faster. Suki took a small step forward and slashed horizontally.

Apollo took a step back, letting the wooden sword brush right by his stomach. Suki quickly followed up by taking another step forward, but this time it was a little bit of a longer step.

She whipped her wooden sword down upon Apollo. It looked fairly promising, but Apollo stepped to the side at the last moment, letting it brush past his shoulder.

Suki missed once more. However, she was not done yet. Suddenly speeding up, Suki lunged forward, letting her wooden sword shoot right towards Apollo's abdomen. As Suki let loose with this attack, she wondered if she overdid it.

Most people would not expect the change of pace and were at least caught off guard by these series of attacks.

However, Suki's worries ended up being needless.

Apollo didn't move from his spot. He turned to the side, just barely dodging the attack. At this point, Suki realized that Apollo wasn't a pushover. She didn't understand why he wasn't trying to attack, especially with how vulnerable she was in this position, but decided not to question it.

After fixing her posture, Suki decided to take it up a notch, but not all the way just in case that was somehow a fluke. She let out several strikes one after another. The way Suki fought was very structured, using various stances to give her certain advantages.

Her feet would slam against the ground with every attack while her arms would swiftly shift between different positions.

Suki clearly practiced before, able to execute stances with near perfection. Yet, she couldn't hit Apollo. Every time she would get unbelievably close, but end up missing all the same.

Initially, Suki took stances that allowed her to easily shift to defending or dodging, but quickly came to realize Apollo wasn't even trying to attack. His bokken remained at his side the entire time.

Although doing something like this could be considered offensive, Suki just saw it as Apollo trying to last without attacking.

And she was right.

Apollo wanted to learn how to dodge each attack with the least movement possible.

In the end, Suki unleashed all of her technique, sending out a series of swift and tricky attacks. As for Apollo, he matched her swiftness and trickiness by just barely dodging her attacks.

Apollo was essentially running around the stage in a circle while Suki was chasing him.

As the fight continued, Suki felt like she was fighting against an apparition. Each time, her attacks would only hit the air. Apollo would never parry, block, or attack. Only dodge.

That meant there was essentially no feedback from her strikes. It was as though Suki was practicing with herself, but that was most definitely not the case.

Their fight began to speed up and even ended up attracting some attention.

Suki gradually found herself in an extremely high state of focus. She found herself able to execute her technique more seamlessly and faster than ever. Her breaths were orderly, but also loud.

Suki's figure blurred several times one after another, as did Apollo's.

Her swings went faster than the speed of sound, making several clear whipping sounds ring out one after another. Unfortunately, the most they accomplished was blowing some wind onto Apollo's clothes or skin.

The man who initially set Suki against Apollo was staring with his eyes widened and his jaw agape. At first, he thought Apollo's dodges were a fluke but had to accept it wasn't now.

Eden clenched her fists, rooting for Apollo in her heart.

As for the other people in the dojo, just about everybody stopped to watch.