"It sure took you a while, didn't it?" Daichi said as he watched Hayato approach him with careful but firm steps.
Hayato nodded his head while spinning his previously dislocated shoulder.
"Well, true. I think that's just fair, though. I mean, you did dislocate my shoulder, after all. These things take time to heal. And it's not even healed completely. I am coming here out of stubbornness."
Daichi nodded, seeming satisfied.
"I thought you had gotten traumatized. If that were the case, I wouldn't even bother training you anymore. Anyway, since we are here, let's not prolong our conversation."
Daichi threw a wooden sword near Hayato's feet. Now, his expression changed entirely. While his face was much more relaxed and his voice, casual, now he had the same sharp look as before.
Seeing him like this still sent chills down Hayato's spine. He hesitated before grabbing his sword as he felt a stinging pain in his shoulder.
'Saying that this shoulder is not healed completely is like fogging the severity of my condition. It's been only four days since it got dislocated, after all. However, I was letting my doubt and frustrations eat me inside out. To be honest, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to stand in front of him again if I rested for all the weeks I had to.'
Hayato bit his lower lip, feeling helpless.
'I am still a coward in most things and I am prone to run away from the things that hurt me. That's why I couldn't let myself rest for so long.
'After everything that he said to me while beating me, I could barely sleep at night, despite being hurt and exhausted. I really want to change myself. I want to be strong, but I know I need to prioritize strengthening my mind before my body. That should be my priority above all else. With a strong mind, I can do whatever I wish and pursue more power despite any obstacles.
'I think the beating I got the last time we fought was the most important and necessary one of my life.'
With a last impulse of a mixing of boldness and courage, Hayato picked up the wooden sword and stared at Daichi, who waited patiently for his initiative.
Hayato took several breaths and swallowed audibly. He was not trying to hide his fear in the least. Even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to. He knew better than to spend his mental energy in a useless effort to look tough.
Without warning, he kicked the ground, dashing toward Daichi as fast as he could.
First, only the sound of his heavy yet swift steps could be heard crushing the grass. Afterward, two wooden swords collided.
Differently from his previous attempts, Hayato's attack was now sharper and quicker, but lacked strength. The strong echo of the collision was not due to the power of his attack, but solely the power of Daichi's parrying, which nearly made the boy lose grip on his weapon.
'How can he parry like this!? It looked like my whole body got deflected along with the sword.'
Hayato stood his ground, though. Just by looking at Daichi's eyes and how his body moved, he knew that the old man was not going serious with him.
'If I can't take this much, I might as well end dead before even getting the hang of this type of training. Even if it hurts like hell, I have to keep pushing forward!'
Hayato gritted his teeth as he struggled to both hold his sword and maintain his balance. Meanwhile, Daichi mercilessly counterattacked.
For a second, Hayato felt like everything around him froze. He could notice the way Daichi pulled his sword and the possible course it would make.
Hayato knew what he needed to do in order to get away unscathed. He fought against the will of his cowardly mind and body to freeze completely in place and not react. A flash crossed his mind, reminding him of an important detail in his previous battles against his master.
He dashed to the side, a little bit desperately and clumsily, but swiftly enough to avoid the vertical attack aimed at him.
'That's it! Just like I thought, he is aiming at my head again. The same attack I received the first time I sparred with him, which is also the same I could deflect on a whim but that ended up dislocating my shoulder. He is intently repeating the same pattern.'
Daichi didn't show any hint of approval or satisfaction after Hayato's feat, though. It looked like he was fighting the instinct of pursuing Hayato and going for the kill. Ending that battle too quickly was not his objective, after all. Thus, he hesitated and backed away instead of unleashing a flurry of blows.
"That's how you want to teach me, huh? Just like those people who throw someone in the water, so they struggle and, out of despair and pure instinct, learn how to swim by themselves."
Daichi didn't reply.
'Well, there is nothing else that comes to mind. I think I hit on the spot.'
Hayato looked at the sun. He still had many, many hours ahead...
****
Daichi stared at Hayato for a while. His eyes were nonchalant, edging mercilessness. He looked like a cold-blooded assassin waiting for the last breath of yet another victim.
The only difference with this comparison was that Daichi did not intend to kill anyone, or at least that's how it should be.
'I have my doubts, however', Hayato meditated.
One of his eyes was so swallowed that he couldn't open it anymore. His clothes were drenched in sweat, blood and covered in dirt. His wooden sword was all dented due to all the attacks he defended and parried.
Since the start of the morning, he had great progress regarding his defense. Before, all he could do was run away and avoid Daichi's attacks. Aside from his now predictable vertical counterattack that always aimed at Hayato's head, the boy couldn't predict the others, so he had a very hard time.
During his exchange with Daichi, he focused on finding more patterns in his counterattacks and, after getting beaten nearly to death, he was able to figure out a lot more. Slowly, he was able to defend them with his sword and dodge when possible.
During their several hours of sparring, Hayato often times needed to rest. Thankfully for him, Daichi would stop to attack as soon as he let go of his sword. Then, his master would sit on the ground and stare at the sun, waiting patiently.
At the end of the afternoon, Daichi intensified his counterattacks and acted more offensively during their sparring instead of waiting for Hayato's initiative. With so much pressure, Hayato received many more blows.
Finally, it got to the current stage, where he could barely move without feeling pain.
"I am dying..." Hayato muttered.
Daichi seemed not to care. He held his sword with no concerns, staring at his disciple and glancing at the sun from time to time.
'As long as I grab this sword and take a fighting stance, he little cares about my condition. He will keep pushing until I lose consciousness or just throw away my weapon.'
Hayato decided that he suffered enough for the day and did not dare to take that cursed sword again.
"I won't come back, ok?" He assured Daichi, who shrugged and threw away his sword, too.
"The sun is nearly setting, so whatever. I must remind you to not hurry too much, though. We sparred the entire day and you didn't take a break to eat. You only rested and went to the bathroom. That's not really productive when it comes to building strength, y'know?"
Hayato gasped once he realized how careless he was.
'You idiot... Of course, you need to feed yourself to make this training durable! If you had eaten properly, you would have the energy to absorb more attacks.'
Hayato got so engrossed in what he was doing that hunger barely ever came to mind. He didn't even notice as time passed. It was a shock once he realized just how far the sun had moved into the sky.
"Well, it's not like hunger is the only thing I neglected today..." he muttered as he glanced at his own shoulder.
Due to the adrenaline, it didn't get in his way during the battle. However, after a few seconds of resting, letting his blood get colder, the pain returned two times worse than before the sparring.
"This type of contusion could bother you for two or three weeks if you had your arm mobilized. Since you don't seem willing to take care of it properly, it's hard to tell if it will ever heal. Depends on how tough you are."
"I got beaten many times, often still bruised from other beatings, and I always recovered in the end. I guess that's just routine at this point."
Daichi chuckled.
"That's good, but it's very strange to see someone so confident about such a pathetic thing."
Both of them laughed together. It didn't even seem like they were having a bloody battle just a few seconds ago.
"Let's go have dinner. That girl will probably poison anything she makes to me, so I thought I might as well take care of the food we will eat."
"Yeah, you better."