They followed Ikeba Shizuka out of the courtyard gate.

The destination is Osaka Castle Park Monastery.

Practicing martial arts still requires a professional venue.

"Wow, so many people!"

Kazuha linked arms with Shizuka Ikenami, her gaze sweeping back and forth across the bustling dojo, her eyes filled with curiosity and excitement.

She used to practice Aikido in the school's facilities, and had never been to such a large venue before.

In just a short while, she saw many people wearing different training clothes and carrying different training equipment enter the training hall.

"Master, over here."

Yuzuru waved to the two of them from ahead.

He had someone book an empty venue in advance.

"That's a bit of a waste..."

Ikeba Shizuka walked in, looked at the empty, spotlessly clean venue, and muttered something softly.

"No waste, this is the right way to practice!"

As Yuzuru argued back, he closed the door, shutting out all the noise from outside.

Ikeba Shizuka paused for a moment.

She wasn't referring to wasting money, but rather that it was a real waste to use such a large venue just for her two clumsy students to practice.

However, considering that she didn't want to discourage the two of them, she chose to remain silent.

"Get ready to practice."

"yes!"

Kazuha put down the box in her hand and took out the song cards, arranging them one by one on the prop board.

The rules of competitive karuta are simple. There are two decks of cards, one hundred cards in each deck, each containing one hundred waka poems from Japanese history. The most common one is "Ogura Hyakunin Isshu".

At the start of the game, the referee takes away a deck of cards, and the two opponents each randomly take 25 cards from another shuffled deck and arrange them into five card spreads in front of them, which is called holding cards. The remaining 50 cards are discarded.

Next, there will be 15 minutes for memorization. When the time is up, the referee will draw a card from a complete deck and read it aloud. The two opponents need to determine the location of the card as soon as the reading ends. Whoever touches the designated card first will win the card.

When grabbing cards, players are allowed to sweep away other cards near the opponent's designated card. As long as the card is cleared, the player wins the card. Players are not allowed to touch other card arrays. The player who wins the card can send any card from their own array to the opponent's array.

Finally, the first person to clear all their own cards wins.