Hayato felt his heart pounding in his chest, faster every second. However, he didn't try to calm himself down. He let his strong heartbeat spread adrenaline across his body, sharpening his senses and hiding the little fatigue and pain that he felt. His hand squeezed tight the handle of the wooden sword.
"The look in your eyes..." Daichi said, which was a surprise for Hayato and even Hina herself. The latter trained with him at times, so she knew very well that Daichi wouldn't utter a word while he was serious.
Hearing Daichi's severe voice was quite disturbing for Hayato. Apparently, it was not only his expression that changed drastically when he was fighting.
"This expression tells me that you have a different resolve today. You seem to be in good shape, too", he analyzed.
After giving it some thought, Daichi changed his fighting stance to one that alluded to a more aggressive fighting style. Although only Hana could tell it from experience, Hayato figured it out just by looking. It was like he could feel that this style was more dangerous.
"Today, I won't hold back as much as I usually do, boy", Daichi said. His hoarse voice was as low as a mutter, but Hayato heard it clearly. "It will be like a battle to the death, so give it your all."
Hayato threatened to lower his head a little, maybe even give a step backward, but he bit his tongue not to do something so foolish. He couldn't show fear or hesitation. The moment he did it...
'Will be the moment I will die.'
Daichi kicked the ground, being the one taking the initiative for the first time after three months only staying passive.
Hayato's heart skipped a beat as he was caught by surprise by that sudden rush. He needed to calm himself down first before thinking about dodging. If he was not careful about his own anxiety, he might teleport unwillingly.
Daichi threw his signature blow at him, which Hayato could easily predict and avoid by dashing to the side. The vertical blow aimed at his head passed grazing the side of his head and shoulder, but only caught air.
The next attack came at full speed, this time horizontally.
'Wha-!?' Hayato nearly exclaimed out loud as he placed his sword beside his body and absorbed that attack.
A sound snap echoed across the place, which startled Hina who seemed to be watching the battle with a little bit of anxiety.
That sound came from Hayato's wrists. Although he held his sword with as much firmness as he could, specifically to prevent things like that from happening, Daichi's blow was still capable of causing harm to them.
Hayato dashed backward after defending the blow.
'I got frightened... Crap! How can his attacks have such short intervals between each other? He barely had finished his first attack, but the second was already coming. Or, at least, that's how it felt.'
Daichi didn't pursue him anymore. Instead, he cast a look at his wrists.
"Wanna put some tight bandaging there? I guess they are nearly broken."
Hayato let out a chuckle that made Daichi squeeze his eyes, wondering what was up with that boy.
'No more cowardice', Hayato recited in his mind like a mantra.
He looked at his hands, seeing that his wrists were getting slightly swallowed already. Nonetheless, he gritted his teeth and forced his fingers to close around the sword.
Hayato glared at Daichi.
"Isn't it a battle to the death? Why are you still talking, then?" he quipped.
Daichi's expression softened for a moment. The seriousness of his countenance got tinged with a slight amount of excitement.
This time, Hayato was the one moving forward first. Daichi, however, didn't wait for his arrival to exchange blows. As if anxious about what was coming, he dashed forward less than a second after Hayato did.
The sound of their swords colliding seemed to shake the ground. The impact reverberated across their bodies, but they didn't stop. Due to the strength behind the collision, their swords repelled each other, bouncing back in such a way that nearly threw the two fighters out of balance, especially Daichi who was not expecting this.
'This brat... I thought he would go easy not to mess even more with his wrists, but he went at full force!'
Hayato kept in mind that Daichi could do many devastating swings in a very short period of time, so he came with another attack as fast as possible.
As soon as he swung his sword again, Daichi had already started his motion as well. Both swords clashed again, with Hayato barely having the time to do it before getting hit. Indeed, he still couldn't match Daichi's speed when it came to combinations of blows. Soon or later, he would get hit before he was able to attack.
Once again, their swords deflected each other, but both fighters were expecting this, thus being able to recover way faster than before.
'I need to be sharper! I need to be quicker. I have to clean my attacks, taking off any unnecessary movements and even finding ways to shorten the motion so I can catch up to him! Besides...'
Hayato dashed to the right, circling Daichi and getting a new angle to attack. The latter only waited for him to land his feet on the ground before launching a new attack at the same time.
'If I cannot match his speed when attacking, I can manage it by using footwork. If I keep circling him and changing angles, I might be able to make it!'
However, Daichi wouldn't stay in the same place anymore, passively watching as Hayato danced around him. With similar footwork to Hayato's, as if he could copy him by only seeing him do it one time, Daichi moved along with him while attacking.
Now, both were dancing across the place while attacking, though Daichi did it with much more elegance and precision than Hayato did.
Finally, the huge gap between them in terms of skill and power showed. Daichi was the first one to land a blow, right on Hayato's left side. The latter felt it in his ribs and organs, but thankfully nothing broke there.
'If I wasn't moving around correctly, I would have taken the full blow. I am sure that my ribs would have been shattered as easily as glass.'
Hayato barely had time to think or recover after that blow because Daichi dashed toward him in a relentless assault. He really seemed like an enemy going for the kill, not a teacher in a practice match. This detail made Hayato's senses and instincts get even sharper. His body recognized that as a true life or death situation.
Hayato gritted his teeth so strongly that he felt pain in his jaw. He forced himself to ignore the pain in his wrists and close his hands tightly around the sword as he defended and dodged Daichi's consecutive attacks.
As their exchange got more intense, Hayato began to let some blows slip from his defense and land on him. Meanwhile, he couldn't even graze Daichi. Even when he was sure that his counterattacks would land, he somehow managed to dodge them.
'Damn it... Out of five attacks, at least one can go past my defenses... Even though he is always using the same pattern of attacks, I still can't keep up with his speed and strength. And now there is this annoying footwork, which I can barely keep up with.'
More and more, Hayato's body got beaten, thus making him increasingly weaker. He could bear the pain to some extent, but at some point, his own body stopped properly responding to his commands.
'It's a pity, boy. I really thought you had got it, but it looks like you need some more time to polish your skills. Your current level is not bad, but... something is missing here, I guess.'
Daichi felt pity and dissatisfaction for a moment, though he was still hopeful. Hayato had shown him potential, after all. Maybe not to the extent he wanted to, but it was still a lot of potential. Even if something was missing, they would be able to work on it in the future.
'Well, I guess this much is enough. You better go rest now. Your body is all beaten... up!' Daichi thought as he launched a parry to one of Hayato's attacks that pushed hard his weapon.
Hayato's hand moved upward together with the sword, not letting go of it. Even after such colossal parrying, he was still willing to continue. However, with absolutely no defense now, his hopes were futile.
Or so Daichi thought as he redirected his sword, then swung downward.
'It is still morning but... go to sleep, Hayato.'
Hina, who was watching everything and noticed Daichi's intentions closed her eyes for a moment.
Nonetheless, the sound that came was not that of a wooden sword hitting someone. No, it was a different thud. One that would only happen if two of them collided!
Hina opened her eyes wide, then came across Daichi's perplexed face as he looked at Hayato, who had just parried his attack so perfectly that his sword was sent flying.