บท 24: Chapter – 24 The Hundredth Duel
Looking at the red mark on her underwear, Kuina spoke in a shaky and fearful voice, "This… this… this is…"
She did not need to ask anyone to know what the red mark was; it was blood, and it was not just anyone's blood—it was her blood that her underwear absorbed. It wasn't that Kuina was fearful of blood; no, the truth was far from it. However, the source of blood on her underwear was what made her afraid. She was scared to realize what the presence of blood on her underwear signifies.
There may have been a severe absence of older women in her life since her mother died when she was only a baby, and there are no women at the Isshin Dōjō other than her. Still, this doesn't stop her from understanding the basic biology and the functioning of a human's body, especially a woman, since her father has always tried to make her understand that.
For this reason, Kuina knew the implications of blood on her underwear and muttered in a horrified voice, "It's me… Menarche."
Menarche is the first period in women, marking the beginning of the menstrual cycle. It also signals the onset of puberty in women. The fact that she has just experienced her first period means that she has started to enter puberty. This is all the more evident from the signs of the development of secondary sexual characteristics in her body, especially the development of her breasts & nipples as well as the broadening of her hips and thickening of her thighs, in the past few months.
Since she has entered puberty, it implies that as time passes, her body will become more and more feminine until she becomes a full-fledged woman. This also means that she would move farther and farther from her dream. After all, she has always been told, 'It's extremely difficult for a woman to attain that level of strength in their lifetime!'
Kuina never believed in such a notion. After all, she had always been superior in terms of skills and strength compared to the boys around the same age as her in the Dōjō. Why would she believe in such a notion that women cannot be physically stronger than men? It appeared idiotic to her. However, this changed with the arrival of 'Roronoa Zoro' and 'Nakiri Ryuma' at the Isshin Dōjō.
Speaking of Zoro, he is a brat, no doubt about that. However, this very brat has a talent that is not inferior to hers. Kuina has felt this in the thousand duels the two of them have fought since he arrived at the Dōjō. Initially, Zoro was a moron when it came to the art of Swordplay. He had no knowledge of the intricacies of Kenjutsu. To Kuina, he was no different from any other disciple at the Dōjō, and defeating him was all the more proof that the notion—generally, women can't best men in physical abilities—was as stupid and false as she believed it to be.
However, a few hundred duels later, Kuina started to have doubts. But she brushed it off as Zoro just being an exceptionally talented and hardworking boy. After all, she personally saw how much hard work he was putting into learning Swordplay and becoming stronger. Watching him sparked a competitive fire within her, and she worked harder as well. No way she was going to let some Roronoa be the future Greatest Swordsman in the world.
It was fine until it was just Zoro. He had made significant progress, and truth be told, Kuina had already started to become frustrated because Zoro's progress was too fast. Such speed cannot only be attributed to effort; there was something else at play as well. When she questioned her father, she was told, 'It's because Zoro-kun is a boy; it will eventually happen.'
'Don't joke with me!' Kuina refused to accept such reasoning! Why would he be able to surpass her just because he is a boy?
But no matter how hard she tried to deny it, the reality was before her. With each duel, she could see Zoro coming closer and closer to catching up to her, and more and more, she realized that it wouldn't be too far in the future when he would surpass her. She would be left behind as nothing more than a steppingstone for him.
Her confidence had already started to crumble, and that's when her nightmare arrived at the Isshin Dōjō—when Nakiri Ryuma came. Her grandfather had accepted Ryuma as his disciple, and so he was also living at the Dōjō with her family. Kuina still remembers that day very vividly. He had wanted to test her skills, and she had accepted it as a trivial matter. 'Who would have thought that that would lead to such a situation?'
The two of them fought a duel under the full moon, and the result of the duel was something she had never imagined: her loss. To her, it happened too quickly, and she could not react to such an outcome. Initially, she doubted the result and thought that she was simply having a bad dream. However, it was not a dream, but she still refused to accept such a result. Attributing her loss to be the result of a fluke of Ryuma's luck, Kuina challenged him again; however, the result remained the same.
After dozens of duels with the same result, Kuina understood that it was not a fluke. The fact that she never once came close to landing a hit on him made her frustration grow. With each duel, with each defeat, she became more and more hopeless. Again, she questioned her father about why she had not been able to win. Along with a few other answers, she received the same response she had received earlier: 'It's because Ryuma-kun is a boy; something like this was bound to happen.'
This time, she could not deny her father's words. After children hit puberty, the secondary sexual characteristics in their bodies start to differentiate based on their biology: women become feminine, while men become masculine.
This is how God made them out to be, and there's no denying this. Since traditionally, men have always taken the role of the provider and protector of the family, while women have taken the role of makers and carers, it made sense. Such a thing had become clearer to her in the ninety-nine defeats she had suffered against Ryuma.
But even if she is willing to accept what's natural, what about her dream? What about her aspiration of becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman? Since the day she first held Shinai, she has had all but one dream, and that is to become the World's Greatest swordsman. But now she is forced to give up on her dreams.
What is a person without a dream? Can a human even be called a human if they do not have a dream? Is life even worth living if you are asked to give up on your dream? Wouldn't death be better?
…
At the top of the hill, Midnight
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," apologized Ryuma as he arrived at the Hilltop. By the time he got here, Kuina had already been waiting for him with her sword.
The dark blue-haired girl shook her head, "Don't worry about it. I am the one who issued this challenge. Moreover, I did not have to wait for too long. Thank you for accepting this duel and coming here at such an uncomfortable time."
Ryuma smiled and said, "Then, shall we start?"
Kuina nodded lightly, "Yes!" and unsheathed her Katana. Unsurprisingly, she was wielding Wado Ichimonji, one of the twenty-one great-grade swords and the heirloom of her family that she is supposed to inherit from her father.
In response to Kuina drawing her blade, Ryuma too drew his sword. Unlike Kuina, who was using a named sword, Ryuma was using an unnamed steel sword that he had smithed personally for the duel. So far, this is his best work, and he hopes to see how good it is in comparison to one of the twenty-one great-grade swords.
After drawing out their respective weapons, the two took their stances.
Neither of them bothered to waste any time on words, nor was there any need to speak pointless things. Both understood the purpose of coming to the hilltop and wanted to get straight to it.
As Ryuma and Kuina stood a few meters apart, a gust of cold breeze blew past them, brushing their skin and fluttering their clothes and hair. The gust also carried a few fallen leaves in the air. Under the wind's power, the leaves danced in the air, and as the gust went away, the leaves started to fall back to the ground.
With simple eye contact, both Ryuma and Kuina reached an agreement that the moment the first leaf would touch the ground, they would start their duel. That's exactly what the two did. The moment the first leaf touched the ground, the duel started.
Hiiyyyyaaaaa!
Without wasting any time, Kuina immediately dashed toward Ryuma, intending to make the first strike. Based on the ninety-nine losses she had suffered against him in the past few months, Kuina understood very well that if she were to allow Ryuma to make the first strike, the duel would end in a single breath, and she wouldn't be able to do anything. Therefore, if she wants to win, she has to be the one to strike first!
As Kuina arrived closer to Ryuma with a long stride and attacked him with her Wado Ichimonji, Ryuma defended against her incoming attack with his unnamed sword.
Clang!
A metallic symphony echoed in the surroundings upon the collision of two blades. Kuina did not try to overpower Ryuma; she knew she was at a serious disadvantage in that respect and had to play it smartly, get creative, and plan out the battle with her skills and techniques if she hoped to win. Hence, she tilted her sword at an angle that made Ryuma's sword slide, disrupting his center of gravity. Using that brief moment, she closed the gap between the two of them and slashed her katana at Ryuma's neck, only to fail as Ryuma managed to avoid the blade by ducking in the nick of time and followed her attack with an attack of his own.
Unlike Ryuma, Kuina wasn't fast enough to dodge, so she had to defend against his slash by blocking it with her katana.
Clang!
Another sound of metallic collision echoed in the surroundings, and unlike last time when Ryuma had defended against her attack, this time the sound of collision was much louder. Moreover, the extent of physical strength Ryuma seemed to have applied in his attack was too much and made her hands numb, as well as her teeth clatter. But Kuina gritted her teeth and used all the strength she could muster to fight back, only to fail as she was thrown off balance and ended up stumbling on her feet.
Ryuma looked at the fallen Kuina, and upon noting that she still had the will to fight, he took a step backward and gave her a chance to get on her feet once again. Kuina accepted the chance, and after taking a deep breath, she resumed the battle.
For the next few minutes, Ryuma and Kuina fought a few rounds back and forth. Although the duel progressed, its flow did not change much. Time and time again, for one reason or another, Kuina would either fall or the Wado Ichimonji would slip from her grasp. Ryuma would then take a step backward and give her a chance to get back on her feet once again, only for the cycle to continue.
Such a cycle continued as if in a loop until Kuina was completely exhausted, out of breath, covered in sweat, and could no longer continue. Seeing that she was tired, Ryuma understood that there was no longer any need to continue the duel. He muttered, "It's time to end this," and deftly attacked her in the gut with the hilt of his unnamed steel sword, causing her to cough out saliva and blood before collapsing on the ground.
This time, she did not get up. Ryuma crouched beside her, and while pointing the sharp end of his unnamed blade at her throat, he said, "I guess this settles our hundredth duel, huh?"
"That's it, this is the end," muttered Kuina in response. She wasn't looking at him or at the blade pointed at her throat. Instead, she was looking at the full moon hanging in the sky with a dazed expression as a single thought replayed again and again in her mind, 'I couldn't defeat Ryuma-kun. Let alone defeat him, I couldn't even graze him with my katana. Otou-sama was right all along; I was the foolish one who couldn't see the true picture.'
"Grown women truly cannot match men in terms of strength," Kuina finally accepted the notion and realized that her dream was foolish. An indifferent chuckle escaped her mouth. Soon, she got up, not caring about the pain in her gut and the exhaustion she was feeling. She lightly bowed, "Ryuma-kun, thank you for accompanying me through a hundred duels. I created a lot of trouble for you because of my selfishness; please forgive me." After that, she did not wait for his reply and picked up the Wado Ichimonji, sheathed it, and then left the hilltop.
Watching Kuina leave, Ryuma scratched his cheek with a helpless expression.
.
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