After a short rest, Kensei stepped up for the final match of the live-blade tournament.
"Kensei-nii, you have to win!"
Just as Kensei was about to step onto the platform, he heard the call and turned toward the audience.
It was a young boy, probably there with family to watch the match.
Kensei's performance had made quite the impression. He'd clearly won over the crowd.
'There's already someone cheering for me? Then I definitely can't lose. Sorry, Shinji—but I'm winning this one!'
He waved to the boy.
"Don't worry. I've got this. Hirako Shinji's swordsmanship is still half-baked. Won't take long to beat him."
The boy lit up and shouted, "Go, Kensei-nii!"
Kensei gave him a thumbs-up and turned back toward the stage.
"Tch—what's with all the fuss? I thought you'd chickened out and wouldn't show." Hirako Shinji smirked.
"I'm not like you, loner. I was saying hi to someone who actually came to cheer me on." Kensei said smugly.
"Like I care." Shinji rolled his eyes and drew his Zanpakutō.
"Collapse, Sakanade!"
Hooking his index finger through the large ring on the hilt, the blade spun along his fingers with a whirling gleam.
Kensei hurried to release his own Zanpakutō.
"Blow It Away, Tachikaze!"
As he swung his dagger, two sharp wind lines surged forward, cutting through the air toward Shinji.
But Shinji didn't move. The wind lines suddenly began to curve and spasm midair, as if writhing on their own.
"Your Zanpakutō really is a pain," Kensei frowned. He'd already expected a tricky ability and had been tracking Shinji with both his eyes and his Reiatsu perception—yet his sense of direction had still been flipped.
Realizing the inversion, Kensei attempted to reverse-control the wind lines—but Shinji immediately twisted the orientation again.
Their back-and-forth caused the wind lines to repeatedly snap and recoil midair.
"So, what are you gonna do about it?" Shinji suddenly appeared behind Kensei and slashed.
Kensei reacted fast and dodged, but his sense of direction flipped again—causing him to dive right into Shinji's blade.
Slash—
A gash opened across Kensei's chest.
"Damn it… there's barely any time to react to that!" Kensei realized how dangerous the situation was. If he hadn't shifted directions just in time, that blow could've seriously injured him.
He knew he couldn't afford to stall. Reiatsu surged in his body.
"Then try this!"
His dagger flared with green light as he slashed, sending out six wind lines at once.
"Pointless. You could send ten at me, and it'd still be the same." Shinji grinned and continued disorienting Kensei's vision.
The six wind lines twitched and coiled in the air, unable to land a hit.
Shinji had now fully grasped Sakanade's ability. Even with six attacks, Kensei couldn't break through.
"It's over." Shinji smiled faintly, pressing his Zanpakutō against Kensei's back—aimed precisely at his heart.
"What?!" Kensei finally realized he'd walked right into Shinji's trap.
He had been so focused on controlling the six wind lines that he hadn't even noticed Shinji approaching.
With the blade at a vital point, he had no choice.
"I give up… Your ability is just unbeatable!"
In a fight between evenly matched Reiatsu, there weren't many who could handle Hirako Shinji.
"Hirako Shinji wins! Congratulations on taking first place!" Katori Nanatsuki announced the result.
It was exactly what Nanatsuki had expected.
Sakanade's power was formidable. Against someone of equal skill, it was hard to break free from its disorienting effect.
Unless someone had the reaction speed to perfectly keep pace with Shinji and counteract his inverted movements, there was no way to cancel out Sakanade.
Alternatively, a wide-range attack might offer a chance to land a hit.
But Muguruma Kensei's reaction speed was only about equal to Shinji's. He couldn't overcome the inversion interference—and lacked the kind of area-of-effect moves that could compensate.
Defeat was inevitable.
After the match, Kensei and Shinji walked off the stage together.
Kensei spotted the boy who'd cheered for him earlier running over.
"Ah… Sorry, kid. Couldn't grab first place." Kensei scratched the back of his head, feeling like he'd let the boy down.
But the boy ran right past him—
Straight toward Hirako Shinji, pulling a handful of candy from his pocket.
"Shinji-nii, you were amazing! This is for you!"
Kensei froze mid-step.
"Thanks, I'll gladly take it," Shinji beamed.
"Train hard, and you'll be just as strong as me someday."
"When I grow up, I'll go to the Spiritual Arts Academy too! I wanna be just like Shinji-nii~" The boy nodded vigorously and ran off.
"You little brat… That's so two-faced!" A vein popped on Kensei's forehead.
He turned to Shinji. "Weren't you just acting all uninterested? Now look at that smile!"
"If you ask nicely, I might share a few." Shinji offered some candy, pretending to be generous.
"Just wait—one day I'll beat you!"
After the match, Nanatsuki received a stream of reward notifications:
[Swordsmanship Assessment Complete. Class Performance Significantly Increased. Reward Settlement Initiated.]
[Gained 30,000 General Ability EXP.]
[Assessment Complete. Disciple Azashiro Kana reached Top Four. Reward Settled.]
[Gained 5,000 General Ability EXP.]
[Random Skill Proficiency +1.]
[Assessment Complete. Disciple Kobane Jin'emon reached Top Four. Reward Settled.]
[Gained 5,000 General Ability EXP.]
[Random Skill Proficiency +1.]
[Assessment Complete. Disciple Muguruma Kensei reached the finals. Reward Settled.]
[Gained 10,000 General Ability EXP.]
[Random Skill Proficiency +1] x2
[Assessment Complete. Disciple Hirako Shinji took first place. Reward Settled.]
[Gained 20,000 General Ability EXP.]
[Random Skill Proficiency +1] x3
[Gained 1 Additional Disciple Binding Slot (Each student can only receive this reward once per cohort)]
With Shinji taking the top spot, Nanatsuki was awarded an extra Disciple Binding Slot!
His previous slots had already been filled after taking in Azashiro Sōya and Aizen Sōsuke.
Until now, there had been no way to bind more disciples.
This reward, however, offered a repeatable way to earn new binding slots outside of teaching the advanced class.