Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Kagome Asks for Advice
"National Middle School Kyudo Selection Competition, Tokyo Regional Preliminaries, Second Round, First Round. Hyotei Academy, Metasequoia School, and Mizubuchi School players, positions one, two, and three, please prepare!"
Saionji Yuon took a deep breath, cleared his mind, picked up his bow and arrow, saluted, walked to his designated position, knelt down and adjusted the bowstring and arrow.
Walking to her left, Hyotei's second and third positions for this match weren't played by Kyoko or Rika Goto, the team's second and third positions respectively. Instead, they were the reserve players from the original third position onwards. The club arranged this arrangement both to practice in the regional qualifiers, allowing everyone to experience the atmosphere of the competition, and to train new players, ready to fill in if the original first, second, and third positions were affected.
She is the insurance to ensure the results. As long as the results of the second and third positions are not too bad, there will be no problem in winning the overall team competition.
The day after the club's seminar last week, the National High School Kyudo Tournament opened. Tamane sat in the audience, watching Hyotei confidently advance through the first round of preliminary rounds, which featured Rika Goto, Kyoko Morimoto, and the top candidate. During the club's post-match review, everyone agreed on a training strategy: to prepare for the national tournament's strong opponents, Tamane Saionji would be the top pick, with the other members rotating in the other two positions.
There's nothing wrong with this strategy, except that she needs to play every time.
Saionji Gyoon raised objections, but was unable to refute them because of the boasts made at the funding seminar, and her objection was ineffective.
Well, it’s this world after all, and it’s our own youth, so let’s be youthful and passionate with them!
After determining her position and standing up, she turned her head to look at the target, nocked the arrow, and pulled the string to prepare the bow.
After slowly pulling the bowstring from a high position, choose the right moment and let go!
With a "whoosh", the arrow flew out of the bowstring and hit the bull's eye.
Saionji Tameon didn't even look at it, and had already picked up the second arrow and prepared it. She repeated the previous action neatly, and after the third position shot the first arrow, she pulled the bow again.
With a dull "swish" sound, the second arrow, like the first one, was inserted side by side in the center of the target.
"So handsome," a girl in a green and white sailor uniform in the audience couldn't help but exclaim, "And so accurate!"
She turned her gaze and scanned the row of targets. Undoubtedly, the number one player from Hyotei Academy had the best performance, with every arrow hitting the bull's eye.
"If I had her archery skills, I wouldn't have..." Thinking of that regretful incident, the girl still felt a sense of emotion and slammed her palms. "It's decided! I'll ask this contestant for advice later!"
*
"Please wait a moment!"
After the game, Yuyin just said goodbye to the other members and was about to go home when she heard a call from behind.
At first, she didn't realize it was her she was being called, until a girl from another school ran past her and stopped in front of her, gasping for breath and saying, "Y-You are Saionji, the number one student at Hyotei Academy, right? Hello!"
Yuyin's eyes fell on the girl, and she was a little surprised. A faint and inexplicably familiar feeling came over her.
She carefully examined the other person's school uniform, which was so lush green that it rivaled the one worn by Seishun Academy. "This uniform... are you from the Metasequoia School where we competed just now? What can I do for you?"
"Yes, I'm Kagome Higurashi, a third-year student at Metasequoia School. Sorry to bother you, but I just watched your match and it was really exciting. So, I have a favor to ask..."
Higurashi Kagome suddenly bowed deeply and said loudly, "Please teach me how to shoot the arrow more accurately, please!"
Thinking that the other party was just threatening or challenging him because he lost, Saionji Tamon's eyes widened: "Huh?"
*
"It's like, for some reason, you have to use archery in real life. If you miss the target, there will be serious consequences..."
In the coffee shop, Saionji Tamane sipped her milk tea, her eyes falling on Higurashi Kagome, summarizing what she had just said.
Spiritual power.
Since returning to this world, this was the first time she had encountered someone with such powerful spiritual power, practically on par with her unscrupulous senior brother, Chang Jingsi. In a world with vibrant spiritual energy, this child would have become a renowned miko.
So, what exactly was the situation she mentioned where archery had to be applied in real life? Yuyin wondered, could it be that there were still monsters in modern times?
"Yes, that's about right."
Kagome Higurashi smiled apologetically beside her. She treated herself to the milk tea as payment for asking for advice.
Yesterday, she had just experienced a terrifying day, where she and Inuyasha had barely escaped death from the hands of the shogi muro. Afterward, Kagome reflected that if her archery skills had been better, perhaps they wouldn't have been in such a difficult battle yesterday. To prevent such a situation from happening again, she went home to pick up her luggage and made a special trip to school today to ask her classmates in the Kyudo Club for archery lessons.
It just so happened that the Kyudo Club was having a competition today, so she came along. She didn't expect to see a master like Saionji at the competition venue, so she naturally couldn't miss the opportunity to ask for advice.
Yuyin could tell that there was probably some hidden story behind Higurashi Kagome's vague words. The two of them just met by chance, so she couldn't ask any more questions and say something like "Hello, are you going to deal with psychics/cursed spirits/sorcerers/monsters?" Besides, Kagome's eyes were sincere, and her spiritual power was clear and clean. She looked like a good child, so she didn't want to make things too difficult for her.
"I have no problem teaching you, but I have a question first." Saionji Yuon put down the straw and asked seriously, "Why did you shoot your arrow? Will it hurt others?"
Higurashi Kagome pondered for a moment.
"Protect!"
She said firmly, "My arrows are shot to protect others!"
"Very good!" Yuyin picked up the Kyudo bag, "Come with me!"
*
Since there was no archery school at home, Yuyin took Kagome Higurashi to the Hyotei Academy Archery Club.
As a special member of the Kyudo Club, Anzi forced a key to the venue on her after the regional preliminaries began, but she never came here outside of club hours.
Yuyin roughly measured the length of Kagome's arm and selected a bow and arrow of appropriate specifications for her: "Take this first, remember the model, and go back to prepare it according to this size."
"Okay, thank you!" Kagome responded obediently.
She held Kagome's hand again, and could clearly see the tiny cuts on her fingers. As she put leather gloves on her, she said with concern, "I can see that you didn't wear any protection when shooting arrows, and you got cut by the arrow feathers and bowstring. If you don't wear leather gloves when shooting arrows, at least prepare a jade ring. Girls' hands are not meant to be ruined."
"I understand..." Kagome responded with a blush. The situation was urgent at the time, so she didn't think much about it and didn't care whether she would get cut or not.
"Try it first, I'll see what level you are at now."
After saying that, Yuyin stood aside and let Kagome do her thing.
Kagome took a deep breath and recalled the archery key points that the Kyudo Club members and Grandma Kaede had told her before. She imitated standing in the archery position, pulling the string, and letting go.
The arrow flew past and landed below the target.
Kagome exhaled and fired her second arrow, this time it missed to the left.
“Okay!”
Only after Kagome had shot five arrows did Yuyin call for a stop.
She glanced at the target from a distance and saw that except for the fourth arrow which hit the edge of the target, the others all missed the target.
"I can see you haven't learned this before."
Kagome lowered her head in embarrassment when she heard that.
"But for a beginner, this result is already very good."
Yuyin offered a sweet treat before beginning a personalized analysis: "Just now I heard you say that your archery skills are meant to be used in real life, which means it's more of a martial test. Kyudo archery is more of a literary test, emphasizing etiquette and cultivating the unity of mind and martial arts. While it's fine to slowly perform those etiquette exercises during normal training, I doubt you'd be able to complete all the preparations in real combat, would you?"
Kagome nodded vigorously. Yes, she didn't have time to be so particular when the monster came.
"Then you must learn to eliminate the dross and retain the essence. Etiquette is only superficial. What you need to do is to quickly adjust to the state of archery in the short time without the need for etiquette preparation. Learn how to eliminate distracting thoughts when aiming. Calming your mind is your top priority."
"I see." Kagome took out her little notebook and immediately memorized the key points.
"The second thing is your physical strength." Yuyin looked at the little girl, "If I'm not mistaken, you haven't done any systematic physical training before."
Kagome rubbed her head and said embarrassedly, "Actually, my physical test results are okay..."
"Your physical test scores are okay, which means you have good basic fitness," Yuyin commented. "But if you want to truly master archery, you need to improve your physical fitness. Archery requires not only a steady hand but also arm strength to draw the bow. If you're aiming for a moving target, you'll need to run with it, so you can't neglect arm muscle training and long and short sprinting skills."
"Ah..." Kagome made a bitter face. Did archery require so much attention? But thinking of those vicious enemies, she patted her cheek and said seriously, "I understand! I will add these practices!"
Next time I go to the Warring States Period, I'll bring my bike with me. Cycling should be considered a form of physical exercise. _(:з」∠)_
"It's okay to take it slow," Yuyin said harshly, then softened her tone and smiled. "You have great potential. Believe in yourself. Practice with the static target first, then move on to the moving target. You'll gradually improve."
"Thank you, Saionji-san, for your guidance!" Kagome bowed.
"Hey, no need to be so formal," Yuyin waved her hand, "Just call me Yuyin. Can I call you Kagome?"
"Okay, okay." Kagome also breathed a sigh of relief. During the competition, Saionji-san had a stern temperament, like an unreachable snow mountain. She mustered up the courage to come up and talk to him. She didn't expect him to be so approachable in real life.
Yuyin thought for a moment and asked, "By the way, Kagome, are you in the school's Kyudo club? Do you have a place to practice? Do you need me to recommend a venue?"
Just now, Kagome seemed to be talking about asking the Kyudo Club members for advice temporarily. If they were not members of the Kyudo Club, there would be a high probability that they would not be able to find a place to practice.
Kagome waved her hand and said, "I didn't join the Kyudo Club," she thought awkwardly. Now she had to travel back and forth to the Warring States to look for the Four Souls Jade. She even had problems with her class attendance, so how could she have the time to join a club? If she wanted to practice... "I can ask Grandpa to set up a target in the shrine for me to practice." As for practicing in the Warring States, it would be even more convenient. She just had to tell Grandma Kaede.
"Shrine?" Yuyin pricked up her ears when she heard the key words.
Kagome explained, "Ah, my family owns an ancient shrine passed down from my ancestors. It's in Tokyo, called Higurashi Shrine."
A family shrine, it seems that the spiritual power may have been inherited from ancestors, Yuyin thought.
"That's a coincidence. My house is also a shrine."
"The Gyomon family is also a shrine, is it in Tokyo?"
"No, my family is in Kyoto. I came to Tokyo to settle down with my parents..."
The author has something to say:
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The translated version I read was about Kagome. This was the day after the incident. She went home to get her things (she was in a hurry and didn't bring much luggage with her). By the way, she went to the school Kyudo club to ask how to shoot arrows. Because there happened to be a competition, she came to watch it.
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