Chapter 6: Fight!
A few days later, the weekend came and Taiga and Shirou were still at odds. At least, that's what it seemed like to most people. Hiro had invited Shirou out to play on the weekend, but right at that moment, Taiga had shown up and abducted Shirou back home, leaving Hiro endlessly confused.
Only Shirou knew that Taiga's favourability rating had risen dramatically after their numerous interactions. While it was not to the point where they could be intimate, it was at least the point of good friends.
However, it seemed like Taiga's crush on Kiritsugu had a much larger impact on her feelings towards her potential 'rival'.
A couple of days ago, the three of them – Taiga, Shirou and Kiritsugu – had discussed the date for the 'challenge'.
Although Kiritsugu and Shirou did not want to make it happen, Taiga would visit almost every day and make a big fuss about it.
"Kiritsugu-san, let me fight Shirou-kun!"
"No, Taiga. I won't let you fight him!"
"Come on, please?"
"No means no. Both of you are important to me, so I don't want anyone hurt."
"Old man, just let her fight me. I don't want her bothering us every day."
For some reason, Kiritsugu teared up a little bit when he heard Shirou. Taiga was rather stunned, but Shirou had a good guess about why. It was because this was the first time he had said 'us'.
Before, it had always been 'me' and 'him' or 'old man'. Since he had used 'us', Kiritsugu thought that Shirou had finally accepted him as his father. Of course, Shirou was doing it on purpose.
With his DS system, there was always one option that guaranteed the best outcome. Sometimes it was blatant, and sometimes it was rather vague. However, Shirou had played his fair share of dating sims in his past life, so he was no stranger to them.
Every single choice until now were either optimal choices or slightly less than optimal. There were no bad choices.
Even now, Shirou was almost certain that this was the correct choice. After all, the other two options were [A. Ignore them.] and [C. Get the hell out of here, hag.].
Shirou was assuming that his DS system was leading him towards a new feature or something. Something that he could gain out of fighting with Taiga, who was a master in kendo…
The answer seemed obvious. There was no way Shirou was going to pass up on something like this.
"A-Alright then, you two can have a kendo match. But no fouls, and don't go at it seriously, alright?"
"Alright."
"You bet."
The Emiya residence's kendo dojo was extremely spacious. It had the capacity to house an entire class of kendo practitioners, let alone just three people.
Naturally, it was enough for Shirou's and Taiga's duel. The dojo already had some shinai present, so Shirou went ahead and picked one up. Swinging it around to get a feel for its weight and behaviour, a new section of his DS system appeared.
[Swordsmanship:
Kendo: 0%
Kenjutsu: Locked
Niten Ichi-ryu: Locked
Instant Shadowless Sword: Locked
…
Actions:
Practice Kendo
Duel
Practice Kenjutsu (Locked)
Practice Niten Ichi-ryu (Locked)
…]
This new feature was obviously because he had picked up a shinai. Although Shinais are only used in kendo, kendo itself has a basis in swordsmanship. Therefore, by learning kendo, one learns how to wield a sword.
Naturally, in a more 'artistic' way, and much more subdued. However, the essence still existed. Therefore, Shirou thought that it was natural for actual sword styles to appear as well.
Meanwhile, Taiga had already retrieved her beloved Tora-Shinai and was getting her equipment on.
Kendo equipment could be considered bulky and something that hinders movement, but Taiga made it look like an extension of her skin. The way she moved around showed that she had plenty of experience in the gear, and would be able to move like she wasn't wearing it.
As for Shirou, he was a bit clumsier. Although his Physical ability was around 22 right now and the fact that he had perfect control over his body, there was still a need for technique. Simply moving around like normal without taking into account the armor would be detrimental to his capabilities.
Surprisingly, Shirou felt a bit of familiarity with the kendo equipment. His past life had been part of the kendo club when he was in high school, but such a long time had passed that he had forgotten all about it.
Now that he was picking it back up, Shirou assumed that the muscle memory was coming back.
Little did he know that within a certain barren landscape, two shinais appeared, buried to the hilt; one plain, and one with a tiger keychain on it…
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Soon, both Shirou and Taiga had completed their preparations. The duel was set to commence at any moment.
Kiritsugu would be the judge. Whoever can deal a 'fatal' blow to their opponent would win. As for what one gets when they win, there was nothing except the other's acknowledgement.
"Ready? Start!"
Taiga immediately assumed her chuudan, the most basic stance in kendo. As for Shirou, he simply activated the action 'Duel' in his Swordsmanship module.
As such, Shirou too, assumed a chuudan, albeit with a little bit less finesse than Taiga.
Kiritsugu and Taiga did not pay attention to it, as they assumed that he was simply trying to copy Taiga. As far as Kiritsugu knew, Shirou had not touched kendo before.
However, Shirou himself knew what was going on. The 'Duel' action would raise his proficiency in kendo, much like how the 'practice kendo' action would.
Just by assuming the chuudan, his kendo had already reached 0.5% proficiency.
"Here I come!"
Taiga started taking the offensive. When it came to kendo, Taiga would turn into a different person. Without even a moment's hesitation on Shirou's health and wellbeing, she lunged at him with an overhead strike.
In normal cases, this strike would prove fatal for an 8-year-old trying to compete in kendo. However, Shirou was not a normal 8-year-old. He had more than twice the physical abilities of a grown man, and thus much more than Taiga herself.
Shirou clumsily deflected Taiga's attack, only for her to resume from a different angle. Once again, Shirou was forced onto the back foot. His lack of experience in kendo compared to Taiga easily outshone the difference in physical ability.
However, after a few more strikes, Shirou was slowly getting more and more proficient. His kendo had risen to 2%, and was still rising. Although nowhere near Taiga, at least he was able to barely keep up with her.
A couple more minutes later, there was still no conclusion yet. Shirou's proficiency was ever increasing, yet he was always still on the back foot.
Yet suddenly, Shirou felt something tremble within his soul. Without time to inspect, Shirou's body moved automatically and parried Taiga's latest strike. In an instant, he redirected the momentum of both shinai and swung at Taiga's neck.
Victory and defeat were decided at this moment.
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A/N:
An explanation on the Physical ability stat. Every 10 points in Physical ability is equal to 1 point in Heroic Spirit Parameters. Right now, Shirou would have 2 points in STR, AGI, END. By the way, Berserker has A+ in STR, meaning 100 points! That's equal to 1,000 Physical ability.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SSBGoditz
SSBGoditz Am I finally writing again?! Here's the sixth chapter.
The sudden change in the fight will be explained in the next chapter! Some of you might already be able to guess it though.
Thanks for reading!
Please review, comment and vote.
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