Chapter 3: The Preliminaries (II)
The 25th Day of October.
Deep within the Origami’s mountain shrine.
The mountains in the early morning in autumn are always coated with a dense layer of thick fog.
This morning was no different. However, there was one reason why this day stood out compared to other autumn mornings.
Within the shrine on the mountain, a woman dressed in traditional shrine maiden garb with the only difference being a green hakama compared to a normally red one stood praying. At her waist, two okatana were tied to her; they were given the names of Okanehina and Doujigiri Yasuzuki. She had just finished a ritual kagura, a dance that would calm the raging spirits. Finalizing her prayers, the woman turned around and headed back out. She walked out of the hall and into the cool open air, riddled with visible water vapor. She traversed through it and exited the torii gate, her feet now descending the stairs below her.
At the bottom of those stairs stood another gate, although this one was made of wood and can close completely. Standing in the gateway were four young girls, their ages ranging from sixteen years of age to twelve years of age. The oldest one, a girl with naturally auburn hair, said, “Welcome back from your duty of calming the souls, Nanae-sama.” The addressed woman, Nanae Origami, did not flinch despite being directly addressed and silently proceeded onward, exiting the second gate and further descending the mountain.
The auburn girl was undeterred and followed behind her with the other three girls following the auburn girl. She continued, “In terms of your schedule today, the Secretary of Defense, General Oda, has arrived. Likely, the discourse will take the rest of the morning. Following that, you will be observing the National Swordsmanship Tournament, albeit, only the final match. Suzuka, Yume, and I will provide security at the venue; Yomi will serve as your bodyguard. I swear to perfectly fulfill our duties as the Origami family’s Elite Guard.”
The Elite Guard of the Origami family—officially referred to as the Sword Administration Elite Guard—consists of four girls who have not yet completed their education in any one of the five schools but were handpicked by Nanae Origami, the head of the Origami family, to serve her family.
The eldest and First Seat, Maya Shidou, formerly a student of Heijou Institute.
The second eldest and Second Seat, Suzuka Konohana, formerly a student of Osafune Girls’ Academy.
The second youngest and Third Seat, Yomi Satsuki, formerly a student of Renpu Girls’ School.
The youngest and Fourth Seat, Yume Tsubakuro, formerly a student of Ayanokouji Martial Arts School.
These four sword maidens are the strongest student Toji of the current generation.
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That same day, a few hours later.
The ryokan Suzuran and Honami were staying in.
The rising sun had already burned away all signs of fog as Suzuran and Honami arose from their slumber and prepared themselves. With their uniforms smartly adorning their bodies, they made their way from the inn to the Origami family mansion, whose massive doors to the courtyard had been swung wide open to reveal an impeccably designed interior. A dueling circle had already been drawn on the grounds and seating areas were also neatly arranged.
“This is where the final match of today’s tournament would be held,” Honami said, reiterating what she had read earlier that morning in the informational message given to all tournament participants.
With all of her might, Suzuran tried to keep her face straight before turning to Honami and excitedly yelling, “Let's go, Honami!” They tore their gaze away from the final grounds and turned to their right, dashing toward one of the practice halls owned by the Origami family. It was today specifically set aside for the preliminary matches of the National Swordsmanship Tournament. Eagerly throwing open the doors, Suzuran stepped inside of the hall, followed by Honami. Before fully entering, however, the two girls lined up next to each other before bowing; this was simply proper behavior to perform upon entering a sacred place like this training hall. Upon raising her head, Suzuran scanned the entire arena.
The floor was, of course, made out of perfectly polished wood while the seating area were arranged on a mezzanine floor that circled the arena with the exception of the doors in which one would enter the building. In those stands stood students holding okatana: the other representatives of the schools. Like yesterday, Suzuran spotted the same students in uniform; first were Ayanokouji, second was Renpu, third was Minoseki, and last was Heijou. There were, of course, others—Suzuran assumed them to also be cheerleaders—who populated the stands and were nervously awaiting for the tournament to begin.
Upon further scanning the assembled crowd, she locked eyes with the Heijou representative she had met the previous day who did not hold the stare for a second longer; Suzuran noted that she was glaring around the complex herself but her stare most commonly fell on a certain part of the building. However, before she could check what the girl was looking at, Suzuran and Honami were made to jump out of their shoes when the girls from their school called on them.
“President! Honami!”
“Whoa!”
“You guys made it!”
Suzuran took off in the direction of the stands with Honami right behind her. She waved up at her friends. “I thought I told you guys to not call me ‘President’ off-campus!”
“Aw, but where’s the fun in that, Student Council President?” Reina chuckled from her resting position leaning against the wall.
“Shut it, Reina—or should I say, Head of the Disciplinary Committee?” At that, Reina immediately scowled and stormed off.
“That was a bit meanspirited, Suzu…”
“Ahaha, that’s what she gets for calling me that off-campus… You know how much I hate holding to ceremony when we don’t have to.”
“I guess…”
“Reina-chan will come back later,” one of them said, shrugging. “On that note though, do your best!”
Another asked, “Are you nervous?”
“Oh, yes, I’m totally nervous!”
“Say whaaaaat????” they all shouted.
However, before anyone could interrogate Suzuran, another girl in the stands pointed toward the other side. “Look, it’s Shidou-san! One of the elite guards!”
Suzuran and Honami turned to look and sure enough, the auburn Maya Shidou and the deep red Suzuka Konohana, stood in the stands. Still another girl squealed, “She’s the winner of last year’s tournament! I heard that Nanae-sama recruited her for that reason!”
“She’s a two-time champion of this tournament too!”
As she looked at the strongest student Toji, Suzuran’s gaze once again fell on to the Heijou representative. While she was of course unable to hear them, the girl next to her, Tomoe Ichihara, said, “Look, Hiiragi-san, it’s Shidou-senpai! I was lucky enough to have known her before she stopped properly coming to school after being selected for Nanae-sama’s royal guard.”
The girl remained silent, having heard her friend’s comment but ignoring it. … So only the Elite Guard is here? Tch. I see. It seems I will need to advance to the finals to see her.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone