Episode 21 - Gathering

Yukimura adjusted her glasses and began to tell her story. "So, my first year at Bosatsu, I started visiting the dueling team before the first tryouts of the year, watching the sparring and practice matches."

Ryoichi cut in. "Lots of people do that, but Yuki-chan... she'd show up every day, taking elaborate notes on every match."

"I needed to learn the lay of the land if I was to join the team. Not everyone can blithely ignore the existing power structures."

"Hah! Yes, that's you, always deferring to authority."

She narrowed her eyes at this, but continued. "I took notes on the team, on everyone's dueling styles. When the time came to try out for a spot, I used that information to win."

There was a brief pause, as Ryoichi waited for her to continue. "That... was terrible. Did a raconteur kill your parents or something? Just... just let me tell it." She shrugged. "So she shows up one day, when the team's duelists are going to spar. She comes up to us, the five slated for the championship, and she hands us each an envelope. Says nothing, she's cultivating an aura of mystique -" she rolled her eyes at this "- except that we're not supposed to open them until after the day's training. Most of the duelists didn't think much of it, forget about the envelopes. But as soon as we're done, I open mine."

He leaned forward, spreading his fingers. "It's a single sheet of paper. On it, she's written a series of throws. It takes me a moment to figure it out, but then I see it. From the start of that practice, through each of my duels in order, it's a series that would have beaten me. I go to the others to check, and it's the same with them - she'd figured out how to beat each of us before the matches even started. We tried to find her, but she'd already disappeared. Then, the next day, she shows up and joins in the practice, as though she'd been a member of the team for years."

He leaned back again. "She may not be able to tell a story, but don't let her fool you into thinking she doesn't have a sense for the dramatic. She's Bosatsu's 'mastermind'." He glanced at Jin. "She was the one who came up with the throw that Mizu-kun used against you that day on the tennis courts."

Jin blinked. There was so much he didn't know about his teammates. Why was that? Was it just that he hadn't asked ...?

"In fact, now that I think about it... it was Captain Umari Toshio's last year, and I was planning to succeed him the following year. I was popular with the first-year students, and Yuki-chan seemed to be on my side as well. But she convinced me to challenge him for the position before the championship started."

She looked away, spoke quietly. "I didn't see any point in delaying the inevitable. Ryoichi-san is right - Umari-san was a good duelist but a terrible captain, and the team wasn't going to go anywhere until Ryoichi took over."

"Well, I challenged him, and I had enough support with the rest of the team that he had to accept. Yuki-chan and I developed a cunning strategy, and I beat him. It... wasn't a graceful transfer of power. He quit the dueling team in a fit of rage, and I haven't heard of him since. But in the end, I was the captain, and the current age of Bosatsu dawned."

He looked over at Jihara, who was sitting still with folded hands. "And my first year as captain was the year we lost to the Shinku monastery."

Jihara nodded. "As Ryoichi-dono says, that was the first year we met. The Bosatsu dueling team progressed quite far in the championship that year, under Ryoichi-dono's peerless leadership. He helped them to unlock their potential, and they swept past many opponents that would have previously proved too capable. However, the ability that allowed them to progress that far placed them against an opponent they were completely unprepared to challenge. The Shinku monastery is an isolated community of duelists who follow a rigorous training regimen, honing their bodies to be capable of utilizing the monastery's signature technique, the Lord of Emptiness. This esoteric technique produces a state in which a sufficiently capable duelist may respond in the moment of an opponent's throw, countering them regardless of their strategy. It is an invin-"

The pause was momentary.

"In the proper hands, the technique is essentially invincible. The Bosatsu duelists faced a team of Shinku monastery's most highly trained monks, each a master of the Lord of Emptiness technique. The first two matches were decisive victories for Shinku. In the third match, Bosatsu's new captain dueled an initiate who had been raised in the monastery, but who was only that year allowed to duel in the championship. Myself. Ryoichi-dono was swift enough to last for several rounds, in which I was only able to force ties. I won the duel in the end, but the extended bout gave him enough time to observe me. He has peculiar insight, and he was able to discern what I had kept hidden from my fellow monks for years. In truth, I was dissatisfied with the only life I had ever known. I wished to discover the world that I had never been a part of. I felt that I was trapped within Shinku, but that I had no other options. After that round of the tournament, Ryoichi-dono came to speak with me privately. He offered to take me in and provide a place for me at Bosatsu. I had won the match, but the true victory was his. I took the chance he offered me, and have been a member of the Bosatsu dueling team ever since."

There was a drawn-out silence.

"Damn." Mizumigawa finally broke in. "I guess it's my turn next, but my story's not anywhere near that moving, and I didn't pull some ridiculous stunt like Ryo-kun or Yuki-chan. I just showed up, the next year, my first, at the tryouts. I dueled Ryo-kun and showed him I knew my stuff, so here I am!"

"Wellll... that's not quite all, is it?" Ryoichi arched an eyebrow at her.

"Uh?"

"You don't remember? When you were sparring with me? I could tell you had spirit, but I wasn't sure if you had the talent to back it up. But when I used the Rock-Crushing Strike... you blocked it effortlessly, but that wasn't the impressive part. What surprised me was how you used it on me yourself right afterward."

"Ah, well, it's not such a tough technique! I must've picked it up the last tournament season."

"Don't be so modest. What you used against me was a hand-crafted variation on the Rock-Crushing Strike that I had designed myself. It took me days to master it, and you learned it in the middle of a duel. You earned your spot on the team with that one throw."

"Ha! Haha! Uh, isn't it Kotei-kun's turn? Yeah?" Mizumigawa grinned in embarrassment.

Ryoichi smirked, but they turned towards Jin.

"Um. Well -"

Jin was cut off suddenly as the lights flashed on, blinding bright, and the elevator shuddered to life again. It accelerated, as though nothing had happened, towards the the three hundredth floor and the dueling arena.

"- I guess I can tell you later."