Summertime of the Dead by Gregory Hughes

Author:Gregory Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quercus Publishing
Published: 2012-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

10

The dojo became loud with screams and shouts and the sound of bamboo cracking against bamboo. I watched Akeno closely. He was very slowly inching to my left. So slowly, in fact, that you could hardly see him move. And then he screamed, ‘men!’ to indicate he was going to strike my head, and stamping his foot on the floor he struck. I blocked the blow and tried to counter but he was too fast. He attacked again. Our shinais rose and pushed against each other and then we pushed away. I tried to strike his men as he was going back but I barely caught his shoulder. Then we both struck at the same time. Our shinais cracked with such force that a section of bamboo broke off.

We stopped and circled each other. Without thinking I jumped forward and struck his right kote. It was a perfect strike and Sensei Kubo raised his hand to indicate a point. Akeno came again and I struck his torso, or do. But I was off balance and so there wasn’t enough power to score a point. Then with two lightning strikes he struck my do and men. They were so fast I never saw either. He wasn’t national champion for nothing. He made another forward thrust to my throat, but I dodged it. I caught his kote as he backed away, but it didn’t count. Then we both leaped forward at the same time. I made a perfect strike to his do, but screaming, ‘Men!’ he struck my head.

‘Enough!’ said Sensei Kubo. ‘Well done, you two.’

My final blow had been good, but he was the winner overall. That said, I’d never done so well against him. We knelt on the wooden floor and bowed to each other. Then taking off my men and head towel I stood up.

‘Well done, Yukio,’ said Akeno. ‘Your skill is really starting to show.’

‘Thank you, Akeno.’ I was so happy to hear him say this I bowed again.

He left to fight Alex the Austrian, and Sensei Kubo came and stood next to me. He didn’t say anything, but he had a satisfied look on his face, proud that his protégé was doing well.

We watched the Lump fight G.I. Joe on the other side of the dojo. She looked funny in her kendo armour, like a miniature warrior. And what made her funnier was how aggressive she was. She screamed and attacked like a demon and she was so quick on her feet! She scurried around in circles so fast that G.I. Joe looked under pressure. I mean, he was only joking, but I could tell he was finding it difficult to line her up. Then she dropped on to one knee and struck his ankle. He pretended to be angry and complained to Anna, who was refereeing the bout. And so Anna explained the rules to the Lump. But the Lump kept peering around her shoulder; she was dying to attack G.I. Joe. And as soon as Anna was out of the way, she did.

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