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The hall echoed with noise, as Yuta ducked under Maki’s swipe to land a cut to the inside of her ribs. Both combatants stared at each other for a second, frozen in the instant of the blow landing, while the small crowd cheered in glee for Yuta’s point.
From outside the painted circle that defined their battleground, the ref called the score. “13 all.”
Under the mask, Yuta couldn’t gauge Maki’s reaction. She had been distant for a few days now, supposedly thinking things over. Part of him had considered either not showing up to today’s competition, or throwing a match to get knocked out early, but he more than knew that would not do him any favours with Maki.
So here he was, tied with her for first in the final bout. Both of them knew the other too well - they had practised each of these blows a thousand times with each other for the last year - which meant each clash of blades was coming down to split-second decisions.
Maki thrived in that chaos. Yuta knew that. She always seemed to arrive at the worst possible position for him, and he never managed a counter. It was one of the many things he had come to admire about her.
Pulling out of the strange embrace they held each other in, Yuta turned and walked back to his starting zone. Opposite Maki, and a small, chalked ring, inside the overlarge sports hall. The small crowd of friends and smatterings of family stood watching. Geto hadn’t managed to make it today, but Yuta didn’t mind too much. He knew his father was busy.
Toge handed Yuta a bottle of water, before patting him encouragingly on the arm. Pulling off the mesh mask, Yuta beamed at his boyfriend, before downing half the bottle. “She’s as good as ever.”
The nod Toge gave him wasn’t exactly reassuring, but Yuta decided to take it as encouragement anyway. “You’re right. I’ve got this.” He pulled back on his mask and signalled ready to the ref.
“Begin!”
Slowly, the pair began to circle. Trapped in lockstep, they moved closer and closer. By the time Maki had her back to Toge, they had fallen inside each other measure. Maki hit first, with a swift blow aimed for Yuta’s head. The parry jolted into his wrists. His reprisal swept towards her ribs. She deftly deflected. They disengaged.
Yuta knew he was ruffled. He could feel his breathing as it gasped out of him, and his steps didn’t have their usual measured confidence. Maki had spooked him, or he had spooked himself. As it was, he needed to throw her off as well, to stand any chance at beating her.
She was in front of him. Her swipe aimed at an overextended wrist. Gambling, Yuta swept his blade around in a tight arc. Clashing wood echoed like drums. He saw Maki’s eyes widen through the mask. She jumped back.
Chasing, he stuck again. She parried, staggering slightly. He’d managed to catch her by surprise, and the realisation split his face into a feral grin. Ducking low, Yuta slid his blade through her parry. Point first, his practice blade cracked into the bottom of her mask.
“14 Okkotsu, 13 Blue Zenin.” The ref called, and he saw the furrow trace itself into Maki’s brow. Something in his gut sank at the expression, but he stiffened his resolve. The doubts, however, remained.
Behind him, the crowd began to pull in. He could feel their eyes, as they assessed his chances, and found that he didn’t much care for the attention. Maki was an opponent he needed his full attention for, and the sudden influx of focused noise sapped at that focus in a way he couldn’t afford. That last bout had been decided by very little more than luck, as he couldn’t quite tell why Maki hadn’t anticipated his reprisal.
As he walked back to his side, he saw Toge giving him a thumbs up, but the sense of dread remained somewhat. Waving away the water, Yuta turned to look back at Maki, as she scooped up her bottle and drained it in a smooth motion. As she drank, he saw the tension bleed out of her. Even from across the hall, he knew exactly what he would be facing next. Memories of her at her most focused filled his mind, and he felt his own blood begin to roar in acceptance of the challenge.
Around him, the hall melted away. Intently, he watched Maki’s now savage grin hide itself inside the metal cage of her mask, while his own began to etch itself onto his face. Inside his chest, a war drum beat began to echo out from his heart, as he readied himself to their next exchange.
Unbidden, thoughts of the coffee shop began to invade his mind and interrupt his focus.
“I need time to think about this.”
The feel of Toge’s disappointed hand in his. The lead weight it had placed in his stomach. The sadness that had filled his eyes with tears while she walked away without looking back.
Inside his grip, his wooden practice blade creaked with the sudden force. The sound dragged him back to reality, just in time for the match to resume.
Maki’s steps lacked any hesitance, and he could feel his return. Her first strike nearly ended the bout there and then, but Yuta managed to slip around it. However, his clumsy counter may as well have been through honey. He watched as she effortlessly deflected it before once again he was desperately defending.
Hurried steps echoed on the floor as Yuta evaded Maki’s swings. Around him, he felt the crowd pull in, and he could feel their eyes as they watched him run before the expert foe. Whispers echoed inside his mind, which he couldn’t make out, but knew must be mocking him.
Again, Maki trapped him. Forced to go blade against blade, Yuta found himself straining to even follow her lightning motions. Each time she struck, it leeched some more will out of Yuta’s arms until they felt dead even as he forced them to continue to battle.
Mercifully, Maki ended the bout. One staggering overextension from Yuta, and she almost contemptuously disarmed him. Silence fell once again, as they watched the blade bounce and clatter to land next to Maki’s water bottle.
“14 All!” The ref said. It echoed inside Yuta’s mind, sounding in time with the twin calls of wood on metal, and of Maki’s voice.
Heat bloomed across Yuta’s face, as he rushed to grab the fallen blade. Strong hands tugged him back, forcing him upright as Maki surged past him. Ducking down, she dropped her own blade and picked up Yuta’s, before tugging off her mask and turning to face him.
Emotion was written into every line on Maki’s face, but not any of the ones he would expect. Instead of contempt, he saw a deep compassion. Anger was replaced with concern. Dismissal was absent and replaced with regret.
She presented his blade, laid perpendicular to her forearms. Looking her in the eye, he didn’t make any move to take it.
A beat passed.
“Stop being stupid, Yuta.” She hissed before she grinned. “You owe me a final bout.” She said.
The battle lust he had lost roared to life.
Grin firmly in place, Yuta pulled his blade from Maki’s hands. Almost instinctively, he saluted her, and she returned the gesture.
Turning, he walked back and locked eyes with Toge. Pulling his mask free, Yuta accepted the profiled water bottle, from which he drained the last few drops. The water washed away the last tinges of bitterness that had been flavouring his mouth, and he handed it back with a grin.
Returning the smile, Toge slapped him on the shoulder, before playfully pushing him back towards the ring. The meaning couldn’t have been clearer, which only added more fuel to the reignited inferno inside his chest.
“Begin.” The ref called.
The bounding beat of his heart drowned out the buzz of the crowd. Maki’s spotlight bright gaze drew him in until he couldn’t see their faces anymore. The thrum of the battle drowned out even the sense of the other people in the room. Everything dropped away, and in its wake were only Maki and him, standing just a hair outside each other measure.
Dancing to the same song, they acted on the same beats. The second of silence was replaced with the crashing harmony of the melody being beaten out between their blades. Inside of a handful of heartbeats, the two exchanged a half dozen strikes and parries.
Somehow, the battle fervour dragged them to even greater speed. Maki nearly grazed Yuta’s wrist in one moment, while Yuta nearly caught her thigh with a riposte inside the next. Time had stopped existing while they fought.
Maki hit her limit first. Tired and panting slightly, she disengaged away from Yuta. Her steps took her outside his reach, and he let her go. The salted of beaded sweat inside his mask told Yuta he wasn’t in much better shape than her, and he too took the time to recenter himself. His breaths fell into a measured pace, and he felt his heart rate begin to lessen.
His eyes opened wide in shock, before he rocketed towards Maki. However, that only played into her plan further, as she effortlessly parried. Once again, Yuta scrambled to retreat, but she wasn’t nearly as mercifully as him.
Flashes of her blade seemed to appear all around Yuta, as she drove him before her like a boat before a storm, and much like that fragile boat, Yuta was running out of space. Instead of the harsh rocks below a cliff, Yuta had to stop himself from being knocked out of the ring by Maki.
Desperately, Yuta reversed his momentum and lunged forward. His wild swing swept towards Maki’s face.
In one single motion, Maki struck Yuta’s exposed leg and parried his final attempt before it came anywhere near her.
The hall exploded into cheers, as both of them stood up, panting with effort. Yuta grinned up at Maki, ecstatic with the match, and from behind the mesh he could see her smiling back down with equal joy. Something clicked into place inside him, and he barreled into her in a hug, which she returned with gusto.
Her words were lost, as she muttered something into his ear, but he let her go anyway when she pulled away. Her look didn’t change from unabashed joy after she pulled her mask off, and Yuta couldn’t take his eyes off her face.
From behind him, he felt a poke. Turning, he looked over at Toge, who gave him a double thumbs up.
“Well done!“ He signed.
Yuta grinned back, before looking over to Maki. She smirked slightly. “Nearly. Coffee shop?“ She signed.
Nodding back, Yuta grinned and scooped up his mask and water bottle. “Let’s leave her sometime in the limelight. I wanna grab a shower, wait for me outside.”
Toge nodded, and they headed out of the hall.