Chapter 55: Maki VS Hakari.
"These juniors are really united and friendly, aren't they?"
Kirara Hoshi glanced at the group beside them. Honestly, their friendship made Kirara a bit envious, but only a little...
In the center of the field.
Zenin Maki stood before Kinji Hakari, holding her three-section staff, her face beaming with confident joy. She said, "My name is Zenin Maki."
"Zenin?"
Hearing this surname, Kinji Hakari instinctively associated it with the Zenin family and asked, "The Zenin from the Three Great Families?"
The three major jujutsu families in Japan are the Gojo family, the Kamo family, and the Zenin family. The Gojo family stands at the head of the three, with the most representative figure being Gojo Satoru, who holds the title of "The Strongest."
Although the other two families weren't as powerful as the Gojo family, as one of the Three Great Families, they were naturally not weak either. For ordinary sorcerers, it was a surname that carried a lot of pressure.
Of course, this was only for ordinary sorcerers. Kinji Hakari was merely curious, which is why he asked. It wouldn't affect how hard or soft he'd go on her later.
"Of course." Zenin Maki took her stance. "I am the future head of the Zenin family. Since you're done asking, shouldn't we begin?"
"Interesting!"
Kinji Hakari didn't care if she was the future head of the Zenin family or not. The passion had arrived, and it would be such a downer not to go all out. He slowly clenched his fists and said, "Let's start!"
The moment he finished speaking, he lunged forward with a powerful step, throwing a punch at Zenin Maki.
Clank—
The sound of colliding metal chains rang out. Knowing there was a significant difference in their physical builds and that she might be outmatched in strength, Maki didn't meet him head-on. Her three-section staff wrapped around Hakari's incoming right arm, while she aimed a kick at his groin.
"Damn! This junior girl plays dirty!"
Kinji Hakari looked down at the approaching right leg, greatly alarmed, and quickly brought his knees together.
Thwack—
A heavy, solid sound echoed in the ears of the onlookers.
Okkotsu Yuta's eyebrows twitched. "I've never seen Maki use this move in normal times..."
Panda explained, "That's because your close combat skills are too weak, Maki doesn't need to use it. It won't be long before she probably uses it on Tatsuro; after all, he trains so hard."
Inumaki Toge chimed in, "Salmon."
"No... I don't think I deserve to be 'treated' with this move yet." Tatsuro's voice was trembling as he spoke. Even though the kick didn't land, if it had...!
Uhh... he himself seemed to know this move too, but since Maki was a girl, he could never use it; you could call it an academic restraint. As for using it on Yuta... if Yuta ended up unable to have children, he himself would probably die on the spot.
This kind of "extreme one for a billion" trade-off was not worth it no matter how you looked at it.
Kinji Hakari hadn't been successfully ambushed, but he was still shaken. Seeing the smile at the corner of Zenin Maki's mouth, he knew he had been underestimated by his junior.
"Hee, this is really something."
Blue cursed energy instantly enveloped his entire body. Sensing the amplification of power within him, he kindly reminded her, "My next punches might hurt a bit."
"No problem! After all, I consider myself quite resilient."
Zenin Maki wasn't bragging. Due to her Heavenly Restriction, the cursed energy in her body was extremely scarce, no different from an ordinary person's. But unlike ordinary people, she had exchanged her innate cursed energy for physical strength.
Ordinary people inherently have a low upper limit for cursed energy because their parents' cursed energy was scarce and they didn't know jujutsu, so their children's inherent base wouldn't be too high either, though there's a chance they could become jujutsu sorcerers.
The so-called Heavenly Restriction is a binding forcibly imposed at birth, sacrificing certain innate conditions in exchange for powerful abilities in another aspect.
In terms of resilience, she was, in some ways, tougher than Panda!
Feeling her right arm, which was locked by the three-section staff, prepare to forcibly break free, Zenin Maki was determined to see this through today. Her arm muscles bulged, directly locking it down.
Her right foot was now firmly clamped by his knees. Only her left foot and head could move, but that was enough!
Her left foot shot up, kicking fiercely at his waist.
The moment her foot rose, Kinji Hakari released his clamped legs. Veins bulged on his right arm as he directly flung Zenin Maki away. He glanced up in his junior's direction, then pushed off with his legs and chased after her.
He shouted, "Passion... is burning! Hahaha!"
"Tch, an upperclassman is an upperclassman for a reason. Such strength."
Zenin Maki had just landed and steadied herself when she saw the charging senior. His sandbag-sized right fist came hurtling towards her. In an instant, he threw several punches. Though they were wild and easily dodged, the wind from his fists had a frictional quality.
It felt like being grazed by sandpaper, and this was just a graze, not a direct hit.
If she got hit directly, it would be disastrous!
"Maki's actually dodging. That's a rare sight." Panda looked at Zenin Maki retreating and circling in the field, somewhat surprised. After all, with Maki's strength, exorcising a second-grade Cursed Spirit wasn't difficult. It was only due to some special reasons that she was stuck as a fourth-grade sorcerer.
"Normal." Kirara Hoshi reminded them, "It hurts a lot when Kin-chan's fists land. If I had to describe the feeling, it's like being hit by a baseball bat wrapped in sandpaper. That junior girl probably realized this and doesn't dare to block it head-on."
"What's normal about that? Being able to describe the victim's feeling so calmly is even more absurd!" everyone shouted internally.
Tatsuro glanced at Kirara Hoshi and muttered to himself, "What's the relationship between these two seniors? Gay?... Hiss... forget it, forget it, better not think about it. This isn't something I should get involved in."
The situation in the field quickly became clear. Although Zenin Maki would counterattack from time to time, her blows were ineffective against Kinji Hakari, who was already in an excited state.
Conversely, the punches he threw made Zenin Maki afraid to block directly. The three-section staff she was using was for her usual training, not a cursed tool, so naturally, it wasn't as sturdy as one. After clashing with Kinji Hakari's fists a few times, cracks appeared on it.
This gave Zenin Maki a real headache, but she also knew that if this dragged on, she would definitely lose.
Looking at the crack in the middle of her three-section staff, Zenin Maki decided to go all out and broke it directly, gripping the broken ends in both hands. After taking a quick, deep breath, she launched a final onslaught against Kinji Hakari.
The nunchaku in Zenin Maki's hands seemed to come alive, like a swimming dragon, agile and swift. The whooshing sound of them cutting through the air echoed in their ears.
"If this attack doesn't work, it can only mean it's a problem with the weapon!" Zenin Maki shouted in her heart, her arms rapidly swinging the nunchaku to continuously accelerate them, aiming two strikes at Kinji Hakari's shoulder and waist.
As a senior, Kinji Hakari naturally had his pride. How could he dodge? Shouting the word "Passion," he extended his arms, ready to receive his junior's full-powered attack.
Clack! Crack—
The two sticks landed solidly, but unfortunately, they weren't sturdy enough and snapped.
Seeing this, Zenin Maki knew she had lost. She dropped the nunchaku in her hands to the ground, let out a heavy breath, and said:
"I lose."