Chapter 35: This Man, Raijuuta

Raijuuta: Isuruji Raijuuta... I want a match!

Maekawa (watching him calmly and thinking): His eyes are too muddied to reveal their secrets... but he's strong!

Student: Get... get out of here! This dojo won't accept challenges from other schools--

Maekawa (standing up): Wait! As you say, Raijuuta. We will have a match. As in a normal training match, two out of three hits win. Good luck.

Kenshin: Mr. Maekawa.

Maekawa: I know. He's no ordinary man. But I'm becoming arrogant. So it's time to test my strength once again. I may be old, but I am still Maekawa Miyauchi of the Edo 20th. (picking up a shinai) I won't lose easily.

Raijuuta: A shinai? I said nothing of this.

Maekawa: What?

(The hooded figure appears at the door. He is a boy, about Yahiko's age, with blond hair and large eyes.)

Raijuuta: Yutarou, you're late.

Yutarou: I couldn't help it. Your legs are longer than mine. I ran as fast as I could. Well, never mind that, you have a match to fight. Which will it be, the real sword or the bokutou?

Raijuuta: A shinai.

Yutarou: A shinai. A SHINAI? You're fighting with those toys? And you call this a dojo!

Yahiko (kicking him): Shut up. Who do you think you are, anyway?

Yutarou: What was that for, you brat?

Yahiko: You're the brat!

Kaoru: You too, though.

Yahiko: I'm the best student of the Kamiya Kasshin school, Myoujin Yahiko! Remember that!

Yutarou: Well, I'm Raijuuta-sensei's best pupil, Tsukayama Yutarou! And that kick is going to cost you!

Raijuuta: Shut up and stay quiet.

Yutarou (silenced): Grr...

Yahiko: Ha!

Raijuuta: Unfortunately I don't have a shinai. I'll borrow one. It doesn't matter--choose whichever you want, but afterwards the shinai will be worse for wear.

Kenshin (thinking):... Now a win will be difficult for Mr. Maekawa. They'll each score a point, but who will take the final blow...

Kaoru (between the combatants): Well, for the sake of fairness, the judge will be from another school, the unworthy Kamiya Kaoru. First round!

(Maekawa gives his battle cry.)

Students: Wow, what a kiah!

Maekawa: Come. I'll teach you what you thought was beneath your notice!

Raijuuta: I already know it all. When you made it a three-stroke match with shinai, it became beneath my notice!

Kenshin: No! Run, Mr. Mae--

(Raijuuta smashes Maekawa across the shoulder. As he is immobilized, Raijuuta strikes him again to the head.)

Kaoru (thinking): I didn't see the jump at all. That terrible speed...

Raijuuta: Was that an illegal stroke?

Kaoru: Str... stroke to the head. First point!

Yahiko: Wow... it missed, but the first blow had incredible power behind it.

Yutarou: That was no miss. The stroke to the crown of the head is a round bone, so there's a possibility that the sword can slip. So for a downward stroke, always aim for the shoulder. A standard tactic of old-style kenjutsu. Look at the old man. He's pretty much on his way to the next world.

Kaoru: You can't do this. The bone is cracked! We'll have to get a doctor--

Maekawa (getting to his feet): Wait! The match is still on. As a swordsman, I have no reason to pull out. Second round! (glancing back at Kenshin) Himura... stay out of this. The match is still on. Second round!!

Raijuuta: Ridiculous! That first blow didn't kill you?!

(Another lightning-fast blow to the head.)

Kaoru: Second point! The match is over!

(Raijuuta picks up Maekawa by the front of the shirt.)

Kaoru: Wait! What are you--

Raijuuta: You can't even see that you've failed! You fool!!

(He draws back the shinai, ready to jam the handle into his throat. In an instant, the point of Kenshin's sword is at his own.)

Kenshin: You've won two strokes of the match. Do you mean to kill him?

Raijuuta: Certainly. A person's life counts as one. (releasing Maekawa) This is a three stroke match. It needs one more stroke to finish it. If it kills him, it kills him. After Edo times, kenjutsu has flourished with the introduction of the shinai. But we have lost the great strength of the old style. Kenjutsu has become weak. And so it continues to weaken. In these deplorable times, those fools who play with shinais have no capacity with the sword. This will be mean one less... !