At the Shinomiya family home in Tokyo, Kaguya, having changed her clothes, sat on her bed and angrily pounded the mattress. "Why won't you let me go to Chiba Prefecture? Is there any problem with me watching Fujiwara-kun's preliminary match?"
Hayasaka, dressed in her maid uniform, stood quietly to the side. She lowered her head slightly and waited until Kaguya finished her outburst before saying, "Kaguya-sama, this is Oko-sama's decision. It's useless to take your anger out on me."
"No, Hayasaka, that's not what I meant. I wasn't taking my anger out on you."
"I know. I'm just suggesting that if you're dissatisfied, you should go to Oko-sama and ask him to agree to your request."
Kaguya hesitated. Although she did not like her three brothers at home, they had lectured her and pointed fingers at her since she was a child, which made her somewhat afraid of them.
She did not dare to really go reason with Oko.
Seeing Kaguya shrink back, Hayasaka sighed softly and said, "The Shinomiya family hasn't been doing well recently. Oko-sama doesn't want you going out and causing trouble."
"What trouble could I cause by going out? What do the family's affairs have to do with me?"
Kaguya walked to the window with a frustrated expression. Looking at the garden outside, she felt more and more disgusted with the family.
She really does have a young lady's temper.
Hayasaka muttered to herself inwardly.
"Although you can't go in person, you can still watch the live broadcast online and cheer for Young Master Fujiwara."
Kaguya, who had been in a bad mood, suddenly lit up. She grabbed Hayasaka's hand and quickly ran to the newly bought laptop beside her, urging, "Hayasaka, I don't know much about computers. Help me figure out how to watch the live broadcast."
Seeing Kaguya, who could not even use modern computer tools, Hayasaka's mouth twitched. She bent down to open the webpage for her and search for the livestream.
Ah, actually, I also wanted to go in person, but as Kaguya's maid, I got dragged down too.
...
The National Karate Tournament preliminary venue in Chiba Prefecture was bustling with activity. The entire arena, which could accommodate tens of thousands of people, was packed.
The venue was extremely lively, and from time to time people raised glow sticks and support banners, shouting loudly:
"Fujiwara-sama!"
"Fujiwara-sama!"
"Fujiwara-sama!"
"..."
The deafening noise nearly lifted the roof off the venue, making people involuntarily get swept up in the excitement.
Some of the participants in the preliminary rounds shrank their necks fearfully under this atmosphere and muttered, "They're all here for Fujiwara Toru."
Another participant beside him rolled his eyes and said, "What do you think? Could these spectators possibly be here for us?"
"But that's a good thing too. At our level, we probably won't make it into the finals anyway, so we won't get a chance to show ourselves in front of more spectators."
"This time, I finally have a chance to show my strength in front of so many spectators. I'm already excited."
Looking at the person beside him excitedly doing warm-up exercises, the complaining participant felt a little envious.
This was the advantage of extroverts. For an introvert like him, standing in front of so many spectators, he really did not know how much of his strength he could bring out.
In the stands, Iroha shouted "Fujiwara-sama" at the top of her lungs. She excitedly said to the girl beside her, "Yui-senpai, thank you for inviting me to watch Fujiwara-sama's match this time."
"The tickets for today sold out the moment they went on sale. I tried to buy them for a long time and still couldn't get any. The scalper prices online were ten times higher!"
"I thought that if I could see Fujiwara-sama again, even paying ten times the price would be acceptable, but I didn't have enough allowance."
Iroha hugged Yuigahama Yui's arm beside her and rubbed against it forcefully like a cat.
Yui chuckled awkwardly and said with a laugh, "These tickets aren't mine either. Hayato-kun gave them to me."
Hearing that, Iroha immediately looked at the handsome boy beside her and said warily, "Hayato-senpai, why did you give something to Yui-senpai? Do you like her?"
"Senpai, let me tell you, handsome senpai like this love deceiving people. Yui-senpai, you absolutely must not believe anything he says."
Hachiman, who had a pair of dead fish eyes, sat beside Hayama and could not help complaining, "Isn't Fujiwara Toru also very handsome?"
"Hey, you there with the dead fish eyes, how can you compare Hayato-senpai to Fujiwara-sama? Fujiwara-sama is different!"
Seeing Iroha acting like an angry cat, Hachiman repeatedly begged for mercy.
You really can't provoke women who are chasing idols.
The good-natured Hayama quickly stepped in to smooth things over and liven up the atmosphere. "Of course I can't compare with Mr. Fujiwara. Isshiki-kouhai, don't worry, I'm not interested in Yuigahama-san. I just had a lot of tickets, so I gave some to my classmates."
Hachiman lowered his eyelids and said, "Then why did you give some to me?"
"Haha, isn't it because I'm friends with Hikigaya!"
Hayama laughed.
The truth was that all the people asking him for tickets had been girls. He also did not want to go out alone with so many female classmates. Bringing Hachiman along was simply to add some masculine presence so his reputation would not get any worse.
As for his real reason for being here...
Hayama looked toward another section of the stands. The goddess in his heart was chatting and laughing with a group of young people.
Haruno, this older sister who was a few years older than him, had always been the object of Hayama's secret crush.
In his eyes, Haruno was gentle and considerate, beautiful and approachable, and every time he talked to her, she made him feel comfortable.
Since he was very young, Haruno had been the goddess in Hayama's heart.
However, she was now among that group of Tokyo University students. Looking at this group of Japan's most outstanding young generation, Hayama felt inferior and did not dare to go over to greet Haruno.
He could only watch secretly from here, full of longing and admiration.
In the VIP stands, Ran excitedly pulled Sonoko and said, "Sonoko, it's amazing that you were able to get tickets for Fujiwara-kun's match this time!"
"Haha, Ran, who do you think I am? I'm Sonoko!"
Sonoko said proudly with her hands on her hips.
Then she stared at Ran warily. "Ran, could it be that you're interested in Fujiwara-sama too?"
Ran blushed and pushed Sonoko, saying, "What are you talking about, Sonoko! I also signed up for the women's division of the National Karate Tournament. Fujiwara-kun's strength is obvious, so I want to learn by watching on site."
"Phew, that's good. I thought you were going to compete with me for Fujiwara-sama. Sigh, that little kid who's always following you around isn't here? That's great."
"You mean Conan? His relatives had something to do, so he couldn't come. Sonoko, why do you say that's great?"
"Ran, haven't you noticed? Whenever we go out with that little kid, we're bound to run into all kinds of dangerous things, either murder cases or terrorist attacks. I'm scared whenever I see him now. Since he's not here this time, we're finally safe."
Ran hesitated. "Sonoko, you're overthinking it. Conan shouldn't be..."
But thinking about the few times she had been in danger, maybe Sonoko was right?
"Stop talking, it's Fujiwara-sama, Fujiwara-sama is here, Fujiwara-sama, Fujiwara-sama!"
Sonoko raised her arms and cheered loudly.
At the competition venue, the Governor of Chiba Prefecture personally attended and gave the opening speech for this preliminary match, making the entire event grand.
This was not even the final, only a preliminary match. In past preliminary rounds in Chiba Prefecture, the governor would never attend.
And today, he had actively come to give a speech. Everyone knew who he had come for.
Governor Morita gave some routine opening remarks, then returned the microphone to the live announcer.
"The National Karate Tournament, Chiba Prefecture preliminary match, is about to begin. First up is the highly anticipated participant, the recipient of Japan's highest honor, Fujiwara Toru!"
Toru, dressed in his competition uniform, walked onto the stage in high spirits.
His appearance instantly sent the venue into a frenzy.
People shouted his name loudly, and the screams of girls pierced through everyone's eardrums.
After the atmosphere at the venue had calmed down a little, the host continued, "And Toru's opponent is the contestant known as Chiba's Tiger, Konno Daisuke."
"Konno Daisuke is the pride of our Chiba Prefecture. His best result was reaching the top eight in the National Tournament."
"In his first appearance, he made it into the top eight of the finals, but unfortunately he met that year's champion and was eliminated."
"In the second year, which was the year before last, he again reached the top eight, but that year he ran into the suddenly rising Makoto Kyogoku and was once again unfortunately defeated."
"And last year, he unfortunately met Makoto Kyogoku again in the round of sixteen and was eliminated once more, but people still believe that Konno Daisuke has the strength to make the top four, and if he hadn't met the champion every year, his results definitely would have been better!"
There was a chorus of complaints in the stands.
"What kind of luck is that, running into the champion every year? How is he supposed to fight?"
"Top eight every year, and top sixteen last year, is this the pride of our Chiba? Can you stop bragging already?"
"Last year he got knocked out in the round of sixteen, and this year he ran into Fujiwara-sama in the preliminary round. This guy is really unlucky."
"..."
On the field, Konno Daisuke felt like crying.
He really wanted to say that this had to be rigged, this had to be a fixed match. Otherwise, how could he be so unlucky as to run into Fujiwara Toru among so many participants?
This had to be because the organizers wanted to maximize the attention on the match, so they arranged for a strong participant like him to face Toru.
But what could he do? He could only grit his teeth and fight.
Konno Daisuke bowed. "Please enlighten me, Mr. Fujiwara!"
Toru returned the bow. Seeing his opponent's serious attitude, he thought to himself, this is a master with top-four strength, I have to go all out!
Toru took the opening stance of Uechi-ryu.
As the referee announced the start of the match, Toru's eyes widened, and he charged toward Konno Daisuke like a fierce tiger descending the mountain!
Konno Daisuke's expression changed drastically. He had not expected Toru, who was tall and powerfully built, to be so surprisingly fast.
At this point, he had already lost the initiative, so he could only cross his arms in front of himself, hoping to block Toru's kick, which looked more like Jeet Kune Do than karate, and then find an opportunity to counterattack.
"Bang!"
Konno Daisuke only felt a huge force slam into him, as if he were not blocking a person's kick at all, but facing a heavy truck head-on.
His standard defensive stance was useless, and his guard was blasted open in the middle.
And Toru's kick was actually a two-hit combo. After kicking open his opponent's defense, he turned his ankle downward and struck Konno Daisuke in the chest again, sending him flying straight out.
One move, instant kill!
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
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