Tsurune Book 1 Chapter 3-Heart (Part 1)

Translation Notes: https://uppsalakyudo.se/english/information/glossary.html

1. Umanori hakama (lit. horse-riding hakama) is a type of hakama with divided legs like
trousers. Kaku obi is the traditional obi that many Japanese martial artists wear.

2. Rankings in kyudo are tested for in examinations called shinsa. Masa-san holds the fifth dan
rank, out of a total of ten. Think of it as similar to testing for a higher colored belt in karate.
Read more about it on wikipedia

3. The sanjuu juumonji refer to the three crosses of the “three crosses of the spine and
shoulders, the spine and waist, and the spine and the line of the feet on the ground“ (Source)

4. The original saying here is “ 一射絶命” (issha zetsumei), which literally means “one shot and
expire”.

5. Kaichuu means hitting the target every time.

6. Ryouhei kneels in the kiza position, which looks like this.

7. The yazurindou is a wrapping above the bow grip that protects the wearing of the bow from
the arrow

Could it be called a command of the gods?

Something occurred which might have been devised by someone else.

----------------------

“Minato, Seiya, let’s go!”

“Okay.”
Ryouhei came for them after school, and Minato headed for the kyudojo.

From the hallway windows, they saw a paddy field reflecting the sky that was beginning to
clear up. The treetops of the forest turned into new leaves and the wind grazed his cheeks, so
he took in a deep breath to not let them get away. Both the faces of his friends by his side, and
the profile of the archer seen in Yata no Mori, still seemed like dreams.

He was happy, but felt pained at same time.

By the time they were about to approach the new month, the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club
had been left with five boys and three girls, a total of eight members. The club president and
captain of the boys’ team was Seiya, and the captain of the girls’ team was Seo. Some people
had already quit as they were not able to draw the bow very much, but for Minato, who
mainly retrieved arrows and shouted out “Alright!” as his club activities during his first year in
middle school, and was only able to draw a bow in front of the targets in his second year, he
thought that the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club was blessed.

They used the waiting room to change clothes. The hakama used for kyudo was umanori
hakama and the obi was kaku obi. (1) For kyudo girls, there was the impression that they wore
“muneate” (breastplate) to protect their chests, but boys also used it when they were
beginners and didn’t wear kyudogi. Personal accessories like wristwatches, ribbons and
piercings were prohibited for safety purposes.

Ryouhei wasn’t used to hakama yet, so the string was sticking out from his side. As Minato was
helping him get his clothes straightened out, Nanao and the three girls came.

“Merha! Thanks for setting the targets up, Minato!”

“You’re welcome.”

“You’re so formal. Isn’t it good to be more cheerful and use words that only you use?
‘Pazhalooysta’ is how you say 'you’re welcome’ in Russian, so what do you think of saying
'Pazarinko’?”

“…Pah-what?”
When he was unable to respond to the meaningless words spoken by Nanao, Hanazawa and
Shiragiku spoke in his place.

“Narumiya-kun, it’s okay if you don’t talk to Kisaragi-kun,” Hanazawa said.

“There sure are a lot of tsundere kyudo girls. That’s still cute, though,” Nanao replied.

“That is absolutely wrong.”

“There is no one in this world greater than Seo,” Shiragiku said.

“That’s right, Seo is cooler than any boy. The reason why there are only three girls left was
because the people from the Nanao Fan Club were saying that we were getting a head start
and barging in, so we had to stop that because we can’t have that. The boys were acting like
boys and they seemed to have gotten spooked by Onogi-kun. Ah geez, even though Tomi-
sensei was teaching so carefully and politely, it really is too pitiful!”

“Kacchan’s thing is having an appearance overflowing with intensity, so it can’t be helped,

right? I am kind of a sinful man, after all!”

“Shut up, you meha pazarinko boy! Get burned in the fires of hell!”

When Nanao talked, it became a little uncertain if this was a kyudo club or a chatting club, but
everyone got along well even though it was a small number of people. It was probably also
great that Seo from the girls’ team and Seiya from the boys’ team got the trust of each
member. Minato was mostly greeted with a welcome mood, but there was one person who
displayed their disapproval openly.

Kaito stopped near Minato, at a place where their shoulders were just barely touching.

“You’re just nonchalantly joining the club around this time…I don’t know what the hell hayake
is, but we don’t need guys with no motivation.”

“I feel regretful about joining the club so late. But, I do have motivation.”
“How much motivation would a guy who was invited by Seiya and Ryouhei and reluctantly
joined the club have? And, you’re gonna do a tournament as soon as you joined? Are you guys
messing with us? If you’re playing at being friends then do it with something else.”

“I don’t care what you say about me, but don’t talk bad about Seiya and Ryouhei.”

“…I don’t like that kind of thing… Listen, you used the excuse of hayake to run away from
kyudo. I’m saying that I won’t acknowledge a guy like that as my comrade.”

“I’m not going to run away anymore. I don’t know when my hayake will start up again, but
even so I’m ready to hold it together. How can I get you to acknowledge me as a comrade?”

“Hah, you, my comrade? Don’t make me laugh. That day will never come.”

“As a member of the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club, I want to take things on as the five of
us.”

“Prattle on as much as you want.”

Kaito walked away with a sharp glint in his eyes.

When Seiya signalled them to gather, Tomi-sensei had a daring smile on his face.

“Golden Week is approaching, so the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club will be doing some
secret training.”

“Secret training!? Awesome!”

Since Ryouhei was innocently excited about it, Tomi-sensei, looking satisfied, continued on.

“It would be good if I could demonstrate for you all, but unfortunately I cannot draw a bow
due to back pain. On the other hand, if you just go to workshops and the like and be told this
and that, you will not understand the priority of improvement, and it might become a situation
where everything ends up half-done. So, I decided to invite our school’s specialist coach.”
When he saw where Tomi-sensei was looking, Minato’s mouth hung half-open.

“——Masa-san!?”

Someone else’s voice overlapped his.

When he looked for the owner of the voice, his eyes met Kaito’s. Why does Kaito know Masa-
san? The other person was having the same thoughts as he looked at Minato.

“Oh, do you two know him? This is the priest of Yata Shrine, Takigawa Masaki-san of the fifth
dan. (2) He is really amazing. He’s been holding a bow since he was three and has a kyudo
experience of twenty years at this young age, and furthermore, his hitting rate is ninety-six
percent. Because of that, you can absolutely expect to get better.”

“You are somewhat raising the bar for me. I’m Takigawa, nice to meet you all.”

Masa-san had shorter hair than when he had saw him at the Yata no Mori Kyudojo. As Minato
stared at him wondering if this was a dream, their eyes met and he grinned. That made his
cheeks relax, and he restrained his confused mouth.

When the introductions were over, Kaito was the first to run up to Masa-san.

“You being our sensei is really unexpected, Masa-san. You told me that you were going to take
a break from the bow for a while.”

“Oh, Kaito. You really did join the kyudo club in high school.”

“Of course. This time I’ll definitely win first place in individuals.”

“Is this Nanao?”

Nanao bowed his head slightly.

“Hey, nice to meet you. I heard about you from Kacchan, Masa-san.”

“Didn’t I tell you to stop calling me Kacchan?”

“Ehh, but isn’t Kacchan Kacchan? Masa-san, don’t you think so as well?”

Masa-san smiled meaningfully after seeing Kaito.

“That’s right, shall I’ll call you Kacchan from now on too?”

“Stop, Masa-san! I’ll kick you flying!”

“Heh, are you going to try it?”

Kaito recoiled.

Seeing Kaito of all people acting so obedient and familiar with Masa-san made Minato feel
mixed feelings. And then, Seiya went to Masa-san with an excessively polite greeting.

“Pleased to meet you, I am the club president, Takehaya Seiya. Thank you very much for
agreeing to be our coach at this time. I am sorry for this sudden rude question, but are you
keeping a pet bird, Takigawa-sensei?”

What is he asking? Minato turned pale in his mind. Was it unwise to hide Masa-san from
Seiya?

Masa-san answered him in his usual easygoing manner.

“No? I don’t have one. And, if possible I would like to keep things simple when addressing me.
You can call me anything other than 'sensei’ like Taki-san or Masa-san.”

“Then, may I call you Masa-san like Minato?”

“Oh, that’s fine, Seiya.”

Although the two of them were smiling, Minato felt like running away and quickly left that
situation.

Masa-san watched everyone’s shooting briefly, then went to stand by Ryouhei’s side. Masa-
san was even taller than Ryouhei, so when they stood in a line it created an illusion that one
had shrunk.

Ryouhei had the best physique among the club members, and his bow and arrows made longer
and more dynamic shots than anyone else’s. If he hit he would break into a sequence of hits,
but on days he didn’t hit he would never get one. He often hit the curtain. At the beginning he
drew his arrows with enough force to cause the shafts to bend, and the arrows he shot into
the makiwara broke. No one was ever heard to have broken as much makiwara arrows as
Ryouhei had.

Masa-san gently pushed Ryouhei’s elbow as he was in the midst of drawing, moving it around
to a back position.

“You’re breaking the vertical line because your right hand is too strong. Stretch your knees and
try to make your center of gravity stand a little closer to the front. Also, where do you think the
root of your arms are?”

“Um, the shoulders?”

“Actually, it’s more behind, at the shoulder blades. That’s why it’s said that the bow is drawn
with the back. Try thinking that the arms are growing from the shoulder blades and drawing.”

“Okay, thank you very much!”

Ryouhei’s eyes were teary. He felt like he understood it with his body.

Nanao himself requested guidance.

Nanao’s shots were very light. They were shots that seemed to appeal, “Look at me, look!”, the
direct opposite of fighting spirit and being awe-inspiring. Because his arrows flew without
much momentum, the duration of his shots felt much longer than other people’s.

“I guess it’s because I don’t have a bow as strong as a thirteen-kilogram one, that my arrows
easily go downwards. But on the other hand, Shiragiku-san’s bow is ten-kilograms, and she can
hit properly.”

“That’s right, everyone should come and watch as well. Ryouhei, who has a large body and
powerful shots, and Nanao, who shoots more gently compared to him. In fact, these two have
a common point that they should fix. Nanao, try and do 'douzukuri.’”

Asked to do it, Nanao placed the lower part of his bow on his left knee and placed his right
hand around his right hip. And then, he was completely pushed from behind. He stumbled
forwards a little.

“He wasn’t following the vertical line. Ryouhei’s body was tilting to the right, and Nanao’s
center of gravity was on his heels. Then, how do you place the center of gravity of your whole
body into the center of your back? Your popliteal space—the back of your knee joints, which
you stretch and stabilize your two feet, making the 'sanjuu juumonji.’” (3)

“The sanjuu juumonji is where the soles and back and shoulders are overlapping on top of
each other when seen from above, right?”

“Correct. Nanao, you’re really studying hard, aren’t you?”

“Heh heh, just leave it to me.”

“The sanjuu juumonji is a vertical axis required to configure the shape of the tateyoko
juumonji. Stretch your spine and nape straight and while exhaling, lower your shoulder blades
and gather your mentality to the 'dantian’ in the center of your belly, below your navel. Try
that.”

Once again, he was pushed on his back area from behind, but this time he didn’t wobble.
Nanao had a completely triumphant look on his face.
After that, everyone including Masa-san did about thirty shots. There were voices of
admiration for Masa-san’s shooting. At the end, Tomi-sensei spoke.

“I said I wanted you all to do yakazu, but it is by far better to shoot thirty carefully than to do
fifty crudely. Even when you are in good condition and hit ninety-nine of one hundred shots, it
is likely that that one missed shot could occur in an important scene. I want you all to treat
every single shot with great care and draw with the mental attitude of 'shoot every arrow as if
it were your last.’” (5)

“Yes sir, thank you very much.”

Everyone was exhausted after throwing themselves into practice, but they all felt satisfied.

On the way home, while fiddling with his glasses frames, Seiya spoke.

“Masa-san was really amazing. But when I looked him up, I couldn’t find any record of him
winning a tournament or something anywhere. Even if he simply has a principle of not doing
competitions, I don’t know why someone with that level of skill would be hiding.”

It appeared that he was filled with the desire to investigate. After Minato actually knew Masa-
san’s name, he did not feel like trying to research him online at all.

Because he had only been thinking about one thing—that he could draw a bow if he was in
Yata no Mori.

---------------------

Even though they had just parted from each other when practice ended not long ago, Nanao
was going to Kaito’s house.

Nanao and Kaito were cousins.

Their mothers, who were sisters, had a custom of gathering at Kaito’s house once a month for
dinner, along with their third sister. The fathers did not participate in this gathering. When
they put two folding tables in the living room and arranged on them their own prized home
cooking that they had brought with them as well as nine plates, it became a proper home
party. However, as four out of the six children were girls, when either Nanao or Kaito was
absent, it would be the other boy thrown into a group of girls, so getting a head start on each
other—in other words, escaping—was forbidden between the two of them.
After dinner, Nanao and Kaito stood side-by-side in the kitchen. It was a rule of this family that
the women prepared the food and the men tidied up. The two of them were used to it, and
they chose roles such as Kaito being the one to wash and Nanao being to one to wipe, and
then quickly cleaning the dirty dishes. After finishing their jobs, Kaito opened up the fridge and
looked inside. Nanao wondered if he still wanted to eat more.

They went upstairs to Kaito’s room.

Far from caring nothing about the girls who surrounded him, Nanao got more energetic and
high-spirited when he was able to show off without sparing any of his own charm, but for
Kaito, who was the youngest of three with two older sisters, it only seemed like a punishment.
Furthermore, it was Nanao’s existence that spurred him on.

From a young age, Nanao had been a free-wheeling, pompous prince. With his good looks and
charms he was the most popular with girls, but his trouble with them arose around the time of
kindergarten. Due to frequent occurrences of girls fighting for Nanao amongst themselves and
others aiming their anger at him due to the girls they liked being obsessed about him, the
three mothers thought up a secret plan called the “Kaito Barricade.”

Kaito, who from a young age had a fierce look and an unapproachable aura, was perfect for
intimidating anyone who went near Nanao. He was asked by the three mothers to “look out
for Nanao so he won’t get into any mischief,” and in elementary school that was a given, but
even when they went to different middle schools they still enrolled in extracurriculars and
cram school as a set. Because they were in the same school again for high school, Kaito was
still unable to end his role.

Nanao hijacked Kaito’s bed as though he was completely familiar with his room and took out
his phone. Currently he was hooked on a garden-type strategy game. The frog alarm clock
placed at the head of the bed was a replacement Nanao compensated him for, after he was
scolded by his mother for accidentally breaking the old one in elementary school when he was
jumping on the bed and playing. The frog shape happened to be the cheapest one.

At the feet of Kaito who was sitting at his desk was his cat Lucy, frolicking around. He usually
absorbed himself into a game on his phone, but today his behavior was different.

He turned his chair to his bed, and teared open a bag in his hand.
“Nanao, lift your left arm up.”

“Huh—, but I’m playing a game right now.”

“Didn’t your left arm get hit by the bowstring? So won’t it turn purple? Here, a wet compress.
My parents have a habit of putting them in the fridge, so it’s really cold.”

“Oh, I saw it when we were washing the dishes. I failed a bit when I was drawing, since it’s
been a while since I’ve done it.”

“You have whiter skin than me, so it’ll stand out. The girls will get scared if they see it, so heal
it quickly.”

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

After Kaito finished applying the compress, he got out his phone and roughly leaned back
against his chair.

“That guy is really irritating, ain’t he?”

“You mean Minato? Since he joined there won’t be any reason to drop any regulars, so we can
do individuals and team competitions.”

“I don’t wanna do team competitions with half-hearted feelings. Didn’t it seem like he’d been
practicing secretly? And I can’t understand the fact that he knows Masa-san. Since when they
knew each other?”

“Aren’t you Masa-san’s favorite among his acquaintances? Minato’s a genuine bow geek, so I
think he’ll unexpectedly be on the same wavelength as you, Kacchan.”

“We’re definitely not the same! And anyways, I don’t like that guy. There’s nothing decent
about guys with nice faces, including you.”

“Heh heh.”
Nanao responded indifferently.

Kaito rarely talked this badly about other people, so that was probably how interested he was.
It was just like Kaito to get fired up when it came to things relating to the bow.

“Oh, I ran out of time even though I had one more left.”

“Kacchan, you’re really bad at endgames.”

“Shut up. I got what I needed so it’s fine.”

“If you finished that, make me a cup of black tea. I’m thirsty since there was so much food with
strong flavors.”

“Can’t be helped, then.”

Kaito put his phone down on his bed and went downstairs. When he was gone, Lucy
disappeared as well, and Nanao put his phone away.

Kaito was quite a nice person. He couldn’t ignore it when he saw someone weak, and he even
went along with Nanao’s selfishness. There were those who looked nice on the surface, but
Kaito was probably someone who looked bad on the outside. Because he was always judged
by appearance, so he came to act exactly that way, and so perhaps he became established in
that role before he knew it. Nanao thought he was the disadvantaged type. That applied to
himself as well.

Does Kaito not know?

That Nanao didn’t join the kyudo club only because he longed to wear hakama.

——There’s absolutely no reason I can’t do what that weakling manservant Kacchan can,
right?
Nanao gently struck his palm on the compress atop his left arm. It was still cold.

He had almost never caught anything like a cold, but if he got a fever like Seiya had at that
time, would Kaito be worried? He felt like he would keep on scolding him like, since you push
me around everyday, this is your divine punishment. What a pain, he thought, laughing at his
delusions. In the first place, if he had to be nursed, a cute girl would be better. When he
sensed the signs of Kaito coming upstairs, he took his phone into his hand just as the door
opened.

“Okay, here’s the tea.”

“Did you add milk and sugar?”

“I didn’t add those things.”

“Huh, but I felt like drinking something sweet. You aren’t thoughtful at all, Kacchan.”

“If you want that then go add them yourself.”

“Well, I’ll forgive you this time. Hmm, it’s so-so.”

“What a spoiled little prince.”

“By the way, Tomi-sensei told us that since we’re doing strengthening practice during Golden
Week, we should leave our schedules open. If we win at prefecturals, I’ll become cooler and
cooler.”

“Say whatever you want. Oh, I don’t wanna go out to team competitions with this lineup.”

“Then you should have gone to a school where kyudo is popular.”

“Isn’t a situation where the weak school defeats the champion-holding school great though? I
wonder if somehow we can just do individuals.”
“No way.”

Sorry, but I’m supporting Minato.

I want to go to prefecturals together.

Nanao poked the head of the frog next to him.

---------------------

The next day, Tomi-sensei unveiled the schedule for the holiday week.

“I was thinking that we should try doing a training camp. We will stay at Yata Shrine and
practice at the Yata no Mori Kyudojo for three days and two nights. As Masa-san is the chief
priest there, I will have everyone help out with tasks around the shrine. After that we will do
extra-hard special training.”

“Eh!? Really?”

As usual, Ryouhei had a huge reaction, but Minato had the same feelings without showing
them on his face.

Masa-san took over for Tomi-sensei.

“Close to forty schools will be participating in the team competition at the prefectural
tournament, and the top-ranked teams with the highest total hits in the first two rounds will
advance to the finals. In other words, five people will shoot four shots in two rounds,
competing with a total of forty shots. When I look at the past results, the championship
victories are between thirty to thirty-five hits, so the matter is whether or not we can just
barely pass through with twenty hits.”

“I heard that the champion school is a regular, though.”

“Ah, you’re talking about Kirisaki High School? They seem to be a powerhouse school with
multiple kaichuu (4) archers. Let’s aim for 'hawake’ first. Hawake means a fifty percent hitting
rate, and if we hit half, then passing the preliminaries will be in sight for us.”
“Let’s defeat 'Kirisaki!’”

“Let’s!”

Contrasting Ryouhei and Nanao who cannot help but be excited, Minato and Seiya fell silent. It
was reasonable that Ryouhei wouldn’t know since he joined kyudo club in high school, but it
was a well-known fact among the kyudo club members who lived in this district that it would
not be easy to defeat Kirisaki High School.

Practice was doing yakazu, so they were mostly standing while shooting up, but the first hitote
was done in sitting form. Ryouhei knelt (6) at the shooting line and began doing the yatsugae
(nocking) movements.

He stood his bow at the center of his body and quickly returned his bowstring to its original
position. Arrow nocking was joining together the borderline between the grip of the bow and
the yazuridou (7) with the line beneath the arrow, and then from that position one wedged the
nock at the place that touched the drawn line approximately at a right angle facing the
bowstring. After nocking the first arrow, one drove the feathers of the second arrow in
between the fingers of one’s left hand that was facing the target, so that one would be holding
the two arrows in parallel. After finishing yugamae he lifted his bow up, but there was a
rattling sound as he did that.

“Oh no, I dropped the arrow.”

“That’s 'hazukobore.’ If you’re not experienced at it, you might drop your nocked arrow. You
have to make a proper nakajikake, and lightly hold down the arrow with your right index finger
so it won’t fall.”

“Yes, thank you very much!”

When shooting was finished, Seiya and Kaito went to collect the arrows.

After making sure that there was no one raising their bow, they put out a red flag, declared
aloud, “I am entering,” and then entered the azuchi. After pulling the arrows out, they
returned to the target viewing area and pulled down the red flag. While they were removing
the dirt from the arrows with a towel, the next group’s shooting began.
Kaito returned the towels back to their original place after they finished wiping the arrows.

“Seiya, aren’t you making too much of Narumiya? Look, didn’t he only get one hit out of four
shots?”

“He still hasn’t sprung back yet, but Minato’s shooting is really beautiful.”

“Your attitude towards him is straight-out different compared to towards the others. Like, you
come off like an overprotective dad.”

“Is that so? This is the first time that I am told such a thing. Besides, I don’t remember having a
child at the age of zero.”

“Uhh… I don’t even know where to start, but oh well.”

Kaito scratched the back of his head. He hadn’t planned on getting brushed off here and having
the talk interrupted.

“Your good point where you kindly take care of everyone–it seems like it’s because you’re
following the rules. Like, you’re going at the green light and stopping at the red light because
you were taught to do that. However, you’re different towards Narumiya. You’re doing what
you really want to do. But I’m not saying that you’re black-hearted. Your good quality is
fairness because you have enough brains and ability to take action to properly make use of
what you’ve learned. There are a lot of people relying on you. It’s due to you, the club
president, getting so engrossed into one person that it misled your guiding principles. I mean,
you shouldn’t have forced everyone to go out for team competitions for this time.”

“…Heh, you’re amazing, Kaito. You’re really good at observing people.”

Seiya grasped his right hand tightly, and the aluminum arrow made a cold rattling sound.

“If you have the time to observe me, then you better practice more. The 'Young Lord’ is at
Kirisaki after all.”

“Are you exaggerating stuff again? Somehow, a lot of the things you say sound fishy.”
“Kaito, I just want Minato to draw the bow——. That’s all.”

After saying that, Seiya quickly returned on the arrow-collecting path (yatorimichi).

A certain suspicion arose in Kaito.

Judging by that sudden change in topic, Seiya might not have been saying his true motive.

——What happened with those two besides their defeat at the prefecturals in middle school?

In Kaito’s hand, Seiya’s long-used arrow remained.

Tsurune Book 1 Chapter 3-Heart (Part 2)

Translation Notes

1. A tachi is a group of archers, usually five people.

2. The original Japanese for this kyudo saying in the book is “正射正中” (seisha seichuu).This
seems to be a variant of “正射必中“ (seisha hitchuu) which basically means the same thing.
Edit 8/14/18: Actually, seisha hitchuu means “correct shooting makes for true hitting”, which
has a different meaning, I think, since it implies that you will inevitably hit the target if you
shoot correctly.

3. Hakiya is an arrow that scrapes along the ground before hitting the target.

4. These are what Inverness capes look like. I hope they show up in the anime as well because
they look pretty neat.

5. In the edition I have (first) Kabashima is called a third-year, but according to this notice on
the book’s website, Kabashima is actually supposed to be a second-year, and is referred to as
such in the second book, and is changed in later editions. This makes the whole conversation
between him and Shuu pretty strange then. I don’t know if it’s changed in later editions, but
since I don’t live in Japan it’s hard to check easily.

6. No idea what Sase is saying after this (”ごひほーはん”) so I had to leave it out. I think he’s
slurring with the food in his mouth though. Full sentence is “ひゃあ、美味ひね。 ごひほー
はん”) Edit 11/09/2018: So he’s actually saying “gochisousan” which means thank you for the
meal! Thanks to @parentingmoments for helping me out!

7. The Japanese Imperial Guard protects the Emperor and his family, as well as the palaces and
other imperial complexes.

8. A kaizoe is a helper to an archer who is performing ceremonial shooting.

Kirisaki High School was a private integrated middle and high school.

Advocating for accomplishment in both the literary and martial arts, the school building was
divided into the integrated section and the high school section, but the student council and
club activities were done jointly. Sports facilities such as the gymnasium and the sports
grounds were boasted as the best in the prefecture, and among them the kyudojo deserved a
special mention. In addition to its width, which could accommodate a tachi (1) of ten people, it
was fully furnished with things like window shutters for snow accumulation in winter, so that it
could be comfortably used throughout the year.

There were about ninety boys and girls in the kyudo club. The first years were divided into
beginners and experienced people, the former mainly collecting arrows until the third years
retired in the summer, and they did not stand before the targets. Every day the results were
recorded, and the names of the top-ten for boys and girls separately were put up on the dojo’s
wall each month. For the oomae, a video camera was set up so that they could check their
shooting posture after they finished shooting.

In the midst of a bustling crowd, there was a boy with a distinctive appearance. He was a first
year, with a tall, slender build and long limbs. His un-Japanese, finely chiseled features and
elegant appearance brought forth an air of exoticism, as though he was a young noble lord.

In spite of how much attention from people he gathered, Fujiwara Shuu was calm.
The gazes from others were natural for him, and he had no strong feelings for those who were
only interested in his appearance. He could not be satisfied with what was given to him by
nature and felt joy at showing off what he had acquired in life.

Kyudo was the best gift for him to fill the Japanese-styled piece missing within him. The bow
itself was undeniably beautiful. Shuu thought that the unfolding act of the bow and person
becoming one was an art worthy of offering up to the gods. For that reason, he pondered on
the ideal shot in his mind, and spared no effort on realizing it until he reached the limits of his
body. Thus, he himself did not call it effort.

It was the duty of those beloved by the god of the bow.

Shuu’s movements had a style that was uncharacteristic of a high school student. Lucky shots
could happen to anyone, but the quality of shooting (shakaku) was only born through daily
practicing. By repeating the same things, the skills were polished and the depth was increased.

He lifted his bow like he was holding up his beloved. The lawn that spread out before his eyes,
and the small target beyond that. He handed over initiative from his right hand to his left,
spreading his chest. What he heard was the whisper of his yugake. He listened carefully and
waited for the moment to let go. The arrows, released from the readied bow, was sucked into
the target. A sigh enveloped the dojo.

Meanwhile, there were other people who stood out in a different way than Shuu.

Sugawara Senichi and Manji—twin brothers.

For most people, they were so similar it was hard to tell which one was which, and the only
way to tell was that Senichi was the one with his bangs parted to the left, and Manji was the
one with his bangs to the right.

Like Shuu, they were also first years. Shuu was from the group that moved up from the middle
school section, but the twins enrolled into the high school section directly. Kirisaki’s school of
shooting was the minority bushakei (traditional shooting). If Shuu could be likened to a noble
with a proper pedigree, then the twins were sons of a merchant who build up his fortune in
one generation. Although they seemed like well-behaved young men if they kept silent, there
were many who doubted their own eyes when faced with their speech and conduct.
In front of their targets, Senichi and Manji were standing side-by-side, but the arrow Manji
shot pierced into Senichi’s target.

“Oops, my bad.”

“Heeey, Manji, don’t aim at my target.”

“My hands just slipped.”

And then, for his next shot, Senichi hit Manji’s target.
“Ah, Sen-nii. You hit my target.”
“That’s weird, I wonder if I pushed my left hand too hard.”

“No waaaay, that’s definitely not it.”

Whispering before the targets was prohibited. Of course, acts such as intentionally hitting each
other’s targets were inexcusable, and the seniors could not let that pass by.

“You there, twins! Stop messing around! If you do it again next time you won’t be allowed to
stand in front of the targets!”

“Okaay, we’re soooorry. We’ll be more caaaaareful.”

When they finished exiting the dojo, they poked each other with their elbows.

“Hey, wasn’t it your fault, Sen-nii, that we got yelled at?”

“Weren’t you the one who did it first, Manji? Putting that aside, did you see that senpai’s
face?”

“Like a red hippo.”

They covered their mouths with their hands and giggled at the exact same time.

In kyudo, where etiquette was esteemed, the existence of those two was obviously out of
place. The reason why the advisor did not warn them strictly was because their hitting rates
were high. Hitting targets other than one’s own was a technique that couldn’t be had unless
one was skilled.

The shooting of the Sugawara brothers was exactly like as one would expect from twins.
Although it was said that about forty-five degrees was the best angle for uchiokoshi, they
raised their bows slightly higher, fixed their left hands and shot their arrows all at once.

And then, in the end their movements were quick. From daisan to hikiwake was a matter of
course, and even kai was short. It wasn’t a zero-second kai like with hayake, but it was about
two seconds long. Because the two of them finished quickly even though everyone stood at
the shai at the same time, it left a feeling like one had to draw quickly. Even for their
opponents in competitions, they were archers who were the hard-to-handle type once they
stood somewhere that entered their field of vision.

----------------------

The deadline for the prefectural tournament applications was the approaching holiday.

For the Kirisaki High School Kyudo Club, the school’s selections for the participating team
would take place.

The team competitions had seven boys and seven girls, of which five were starting members.
In actual competitions it was four shots in two sets for a total of eight shots, but here at
Kirisaki High School, they adopted their own customary selection method.

“Excluding the beginners, everyone will be shooting ten times. The way this will happen is that
we will have five people at a time, shooting a hitote in zasha, with this competition method—
raise your bow at the tsurune of the person before you, and the oomae will ready their second
arrow when the ochi’s tsurune sounds. Next, shooting four arrows in rissha in two sets. Here
you may shorten the breaks between each shot as long as you do not disturb the jundachi
(shooting order). Regardless of grade level, the seven with the most hits will be chosen by
gender, and these results will be referenced when making decisions regarding the individual
competitions. I want people who will win the competition. We don’t need unskilled or unlucky
people.”

The advisor’s words took the gathered club members’ breaths away.

As there were many people who started kyudo in high school, unless it was a new club, it was
extremely rare for first-years to take part in the prefecturals, which were the preliminaries for
Inter-High. And from a career perspective, there was also the fact that first-years were not
likely to win. Choosing based on ability might seem like how a powerhouse school did things,
but there was the opinion that if one was unskilled, that would make the upper-years lose
face, which for martial arts might be something that was impolite and decorum-lacking.

Shuu’s advisor in middle school was the type to esteem decorum and gave priority to those
who were older rather than basing it on hitting rates. However, his current advisor paid no
consideration to things like age and etiquette, valuing hits over everything else. Although it
was said that being moderate rather than being at both extremes was better, it was natural
that teaching differed depending on the kyudo school and the teacher, and there were only
the means that either did or did not suit oneself.
A path was something made to be traveled along by humans and beasts. Whether you walked
on the path of “shooting to win” or “shooting to pursue true beauty,” Shuu believed that the
point that one arrived at in the end was “correct shooting, correct hitting.” (2)

He, who walked both paths, was someone who walked at the head of those in his generation.
Everyone was enchanted by his shooting, and everyone wanted his words.

“Hey, hey, Shuu. How were my shots in front of the makiwara? My hits were a bit too up.”

“Sen, your arrows were a bit lower than kuchiwari. There’s no problem if it’s slightly higher,
but it’s easier for the arrow to go up if it’s lower. Man might have the same tendency as well.”

Kuchiwari referred to the shaft of the arrow coming to the seam of the mouth when one
finished drawing the bow at kai.

“I seeeee.”

“Next time, you should ask Sensei to come and watch you.”

“Huuuuuh? Your advice is easier to understand than being taught by Sensei. We wanna shoot
like you, Shuu.”

“Do you two like going against Sensei’s coaching?”

“It’s not like that. We just do what we want to do.”

“Oh, I see.”

Listening next to them, Manji interjected.

“Shuu will definitely get kaichuu.”

“That’ll be nice, I can’t stand the upper-years kicking the first-years around.” Shuu answered
the twins, who argued vehemently whenever they pleased, with a smile.
The in-school selections began.

There was a total of fifty-nine participants, thirty boys and twenty-nine girls. Separated into
two shajos, the zasha shooting was carried out. In the beginning there were many misses,
perhaps from nerves, but when someone landed a hit there were shouts of “Alright!” from the
stands. Cheering in kyudo was not allowed except for uttering “Alright!” and clapping, and
instructions on shooting technique were prohibited.

On the bulletin board next to the target-viewing area, displayed marks indicating hits and
misses, and the record keeper copied them down on document paper. A red flag was put out
when the shootings in the first and second shajo were over. The person in charge of target-
viewing went to the azuchi and got into the work of confirming and checking everything.
Hakiya (3) that bounced once before hitting the target, and arrows that pierced through to the
inside of the target frame from the outside of it were counted as “misses.”

The target checker read out the results.

“For the first shajo, one hit for the first target, none for the second, two hits for the third, one
hit for the fourth, and none for the fifth.” In response to those words, they all went to collect
their arrows at once. The next group waited for their turn in the kiza position at the honza
(preparation line), bowed a yuu bow and stood up at the last tsurune of the previous group,
and were already progressing to shoot at the shai. They shot in this way so as to not drag it
out.

The first round was over. There were twelve who had no misses, five girls and seven boys. And,
there was a total of ten boys and girls who did not hit at all.

The second round was the four arrow rissha shooting.

Shuu was the oomae, and he along with Senichi, Manji, and two others entered the shajo at
the second tsurune of the fourth shooting and waited one step before the honza. They
proceeded to the honza at the last tsurune of the previous group and bowed a yuu bow all
together before going to the shai. They placed their four arrows at their feet, and then took
their two arrows.
Shuu did “tsurushirabe” (string checking) and “noshirabe” (arrow checking) during yugamae.
He passed his gaze over from the nock of his arrow to up and down his bowstring, and then
over to the shaft of his arrow and to the target, before returning to the nock again.

After finishing yugamae, he slowly raised his bow.

Coupled with his un-Japanese appearance was his gorgeous shooting. The Kyudo Textbook had
a description of the manner of performing a shooting: “Men are properly dignified, unaffected
and sincere with fortitude and vigor, and have a composed elegance.” Shuu’s shooting seemed
perfectly composed and elegant. It had a calm stability, as well as a refined grace.

The twins’ shots that followed were those of a schemer. They shot their arrows with a vigor
like they were launching a surprise attack in a battle. Manji went after his brother Senichi, and
he set a time difference attack in order to imitate his movements.

The boys who completed six shots of the first half by hitting with all their arrows were a total
of ten, with four third-years, three second-years, and the first-years Shuu, Senichi and Manji.

--------------------

At break time, they had lunch in the school’s courtyard.

Because it was still a bit chilly even though it was April, Shuu, Senichi and Manji put on their
Inverness capes (4) and sat at the back. It was also because the Kirisaki High building was made
of red brick, but the three of them being there made it look like a scene from a film
overflowing with Taisho-era romanticism. With full-blooming flowers in the background, the
gentlemen were having an elegant afternoon.

As the twins were downing their pork-cutlet sandwiches and were about to eat dessert, two
male students approached them. One of them was the second-year (5) Kabashima, who had
given the twins the warning the other day.

“Do you guys have a minute?”

“Yes? What do you need?”

Shuu curtly answered the other person, who had been talking with his chin raised.
“You guys don’t seem to know the meaning of the word ‘tact.’”

“Do you want us to eat more in the corner?”

“I’m talking that match just now. For the third-years, their last official high school tournament
is hanging in the balance. Can’t you just be a little more tactful?”

“Are you telling us to take that into consideration? Wouldn’t that actually be rude to our
senpais instead?”

“First-years who just joined should not give advice to third-years! Aren’t you guys getting cocky
in the first place? You there, listen when people talk!”

Getting angry at the twins who were continuing to eat as though this had nothing to them,
Kabashima grabbed Manji’s shoulder. That momentum caused the fruit that he was about to
eat to tumble down to the ground.

“Aaaaaah! My precious strawberry has fallen down!”

“Hmph.”

“Apologize, red hippo!”

“It’s Kabashima! You two are as rude as ever.”

Kabashima scowled at the twins.

“All you twins do is just fooling around! You’re probably the shame of Kirisaki High School.
Fujiwara, you too. Giving advice to guys like this. If you’d just ignore these twins then they
would have been gone long time ago!”

Before the red-faced Kabashima, Shuu sighed and stood up.

“Certainly, those two cannot be said to have excellent behavior. However, they have never
skipped club activities, and they do things like preparations properly. For me, I think that
senpais who encourage something akin to match-fixing not only lower the dignity of Kirisaki
High School, but of kyudo as well.”

“Anyways, in the future, don’t disregard your sensei and senpais and give advice to others! It’s
impudent, got it!”

Seeming to have finished saying what they wanted to say, Kabashima and his companion went
back to the kyudojo. Senichi spoke as he watched them go.

“What was that all about?”

“He’s just venting his anger. So far Kabashima-senpai has missed one shot.”

Shuu thought that those who disrupted their presence of mind themselves, even though the
competition was still ongoing, were vulgar. He worried about this within himself. But, he
quickly switched heads. There was also the possibility that this was a psychological warfare
tactic from his opponent before the competition. There was no need to get taken in by the
schemes of his rivals.

The second half began. Because victory or defeat was decided by the remaining four shots,
everyone waited for their turn with a tense face.

Because they were first-years, Shuu and the twins were early in the shooting order. Not
intending on missing the group of three, who were expected to hit all ten of their targets, the
club members in the stands leaned forward.

Shuu, in order to make the second arrow he held between the fingers of his left hand parallel
to his nocked first arrow, finished drawing out the second arrow with his right ring and pinky
fingers (toriya), and then performed yugamae. After raising his bow up, he carefully followed
the Shahou Hassetsu. Hikiwake, kai, hanare, zanshin—. Shouts of “Yes!” came at the same time
as the matooto.

His next two shots also hit the target. They were so flawlessly accurate that if images of the
first and second shots were overlapped on top of each other, they would be perfectly aligned.
Meanwhile, the twins were also fighting bravely, and similarly they also landed their two
arrows on the target. When Shuu finished his pair of arrows, he took the two arrows placed at
his feet and went through with douzukuri again.

He also hit for his third shot, not having missed so far. Even the club members who were
watching this trend felt that their palms were sweating. Watching the moment where a
kaichuu might happen was also nerve-wracking.

For Shuu, the more attention he had on him, the more mentally alone he became. Once one
stood at the shai, one could not turn back nor get advice.

There was only one enemy—himself. He will defeat himself.

From uchiokoshi to daisan, he followed the exact tsurumichi. What he could hear was the
sound of his yugake.

Scrape, scrape…

After kai was entered, the yugake stopped making sounds. It closed its mouth.

Well then, I shall speak in your place——.

Shuu’s tsurune dashed through the earth.

When he finished lowering his bow, he was engulfed in thunderous applause. After leaving the
shajo he got praise from everyone, and he thanked them all.

Senichi, who left the shajo after Shuu, shook his shoulder.

“Shuu, I knew you were incredible! At the end, you hit it right in the center!”

“Rather than talking about me, what about you and Man?”
“I had nine hits, and Man got eight. After that, depending on how much the second- and third-
years would increase their scores, whether or not we’ll be on the team will be decided. I
wonder if we will be on it…”

The always confident Senichi seemed uncertain, perhaps because he didn’t know how his
brother Manji would do.

The second- and third-years also couldn’t keep from being defeated. As Kabashima also said,
what was at stake for the third-years was whether or not they will be able to go out to the
prefectural tournament, their last high school competition.

However, the goddess of victory was unfeeling. The results for the boys were as followed.

The first-year Shuu and third-years Motomura and Sase got ten hits.

The second-year Kabashima and the first-year Senichi got nine hits.

The second-year Yushima and the first-year Manji got eight hits.

With these results, the seven who will take part in the prefecturals preliminaries were decided.

----------------------------

Shuu and the twins were invited by the club president Motomura Hiroki and the vice president
Sase Daigo to take dinner together. They were at a restaurant purveyed by generations of
kyudo club members, the interior filled with items such as Art Nouveau-style furniture and
dome lamps. It was also supposed to be a friendly get-together for the representative archers,
but the second-years Kabashima and Yushima did not join them.

Sase looked around at the arranged dishes and snatched a piece from Senichi’s ordered dish.

“Hyah, so tasty. Thanks for the food.” (6)

“Sase-senpai! I was going to save that for laaaaaast. You’re so cruuuuuel. President Motomura,
please say something to him.”

Motomura took his hand away from his glasses frames and answered with a smile.
“Sase, it’s impolite to grab food with your hands.”

“Okaaaay.”

“No, no, more than impolite, isn’t it bad to eat other people’s food without permission?
Wouldn’t Noririn hate that?”

Hearing the name Noririn, Sase bent forward.

“That’s impossible. Noririn will forgive me. Noririn is god!”

As he had completely entered his own world, everyone got a distant look in their eyes.

Even though Sase looked like a refreshing athlete at first glance, it was well-known within the
club that he was actually an idol otaku. Girls called him “disappointingly handsome,” but he
himself did not care at all.

Sase continued the conversation.

“Even though it was just an in-school competition, you twins are shooting too quickly. If you’re
too fast, the guys behind you won’t be able to keep up. I think Sensei will decide the shooting
order from now on, but if Kabashima ended up going after you guys, he’ll get really pissed off.”

“If we do it slowly, we won’t be able to hit,” Senichi said.

“I just copy what Sen-nii does,” Manji said.

“Since it’s a habit it might not be fixed soon, but that’s one step short of hayake. Are you two
the types where the difference between your good and bad conditions appears obvious?”

“If you say such a thing, then doesn’t that apply to you as well, Sase-senpai? You’re not like
that during practice, but at competitions you shoot like crazy. That’s so sneaky.”
“It’s bad to not hit during practice.”

Sase was the type who was strong during tournaments, someone who for some reason hits
frequently when it was competition time. When their advisor was talking about “we don’t
need unlucky people,” from another perspective he meant “We will use very lucky people,”
which was referring to Sase.

On the other hand, the president Motomura was a young man who normally boasted a high
hitting rate to rival that of Shuu’s, and spoke politely even to his juniors. Everyone loved him
because he was always smiling gently. Sase, who spoke passionately about idols, and
Motomura, who listened to him mellowly, had the air of close friends who were inseparably
stuck together, and in this way they were the specialty of the Kirisaki High School Kyudo Club.

“When three first-years go out to a competition, they will be resented by the other club
members. I will also back you all up, so let’s strive to practice harder than ever before.”

“Yes, President. We are in your hands!”

“We are!”

After the twins responded energetically, Motomura turned his face to Shuu.

“Fujiwara-kun, as you are now you are far from having any problems, and even I want to follow
your example. You started kyudo in middle school, correct?”

“No, since I was in fifth grade. I fell in love at first sight with kyudo when I saw it at the
prefectural budokan. Since elementary schoolers could not join kyudo classes, my father asked
a favor for me, and so I received personal instruction from a kyudo teacher for the Imperial
Guards who was also a former Imperial Guard (7) . As he was elderly, it was for three years.”

Shuu suddenly felt nostalgic.

When they were borrowing a municipal kyudojo for private coaching, a boy the same age as
him often came to peek. That annoyance, when during sixth grade he unexpectedly stopped
showing up after a certain day, even though they were being taught together while keeping it
a secret from his father and others, and then meeting again in middle school. Who are you to
do things like irritating me? What are you doing now?
——There is another man loved by the god of the bow.

Without noticing the subdued flames dwelling in Shuu’s eyes, Motomura spoke, seeming to be
impressed.

“It’s no wonder your shooting is so elegant. That must be the reason why you are so skilled,
Fujiwara-kun.”

“No, not at all. Perhaps the biggest reason for why I improve my shooting skills is that—there is
someone who wants to shoot through my heart.”

The twins whistled.

“So mysterious~. Does that mean there’s someone who was charmed by you that much? No
way, could it be that whole 'the greatest hate springs from the greatest love’ thing?”

“Well, I wonder.”

Shuu smiled daringly.

---------------

At the Kazemai High School kyudojo, Seiya was holding a huge package.

Within the cardboard box was a total of ten pieces of white kyudogi for the eight club
members plus the advisor and coach. The words “Kazemai High School Kyudo Club” was
embroidered on one sleeve of the kyudogi. He took them out of the box and handed them out
to everyone.

“Okay, here’s Minato’s.”

“Eh, I get one too? Even though I just joined?”

On both sides of Minato, Ryouhei and Nanao squished him between them.
“Of course? I, Nanao-sama, made the smart move of ordering it for you. With this, you can’t
quit the club anymore. Right, Ryouhei?”

“That’s right, you can’t escape. We five will be going to the competition. Look, this is so
awesome! Hey hey, don’t we get a headband or anything?”

“Oh, good idea. I want to make matching headbands too. Minato, do you want to as well?”

“Eh, yeah, sure.”

“Right? We shouldn’t have the same colors as the other schools.”

Minato was being pushed from both sides, not being able to move with his body squeezed. As
usual he wasn’t able to keep up with Nanao’s and Ryouhei’s energy, but he was oddly happy
with his kyudogi with the school’s name on it, and his face unconsciously softened.

With a sidelong glance towards his enlivened fellow club member, Kaito approached Seiya.

“Seiya, you really didn’t enter the individual tournaments. Why would you do such a wasteful
thing? I guess it’s because you won’t be able to match with Narumiya, huh.”

Seiya ignored Kaito’s words and went to the waiting room after handing out the clothes. Kaito
threw what he had received into a corner of the dojo.

Minato had accidentally witnessed their exchange, and Kaito, aware of his gaze, turned his
sharp eyes to him.

“Oi, Narumiya, don’t just stand there and stare. Shouldn’t you be collecting the arrows? You’re
the newest person here. Rookies should take initiative and go collect the arrows.”

“I don’t remember skipping arrow-collecting.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Kaito and Minato sat at a distance from each other and put on their yugake in silence. With
their bows and arrows in hand, they stood in front of the targets. After that, Masa-san came
and coached each person one-by-one.

When practice was over, Masa-san spoke.

“Is there anyone here who has done kaizoe (8) work before?”

Seo, Seiya, Minato and Kaito raised their hands.

“Since the two captains have other jobs as well, I’ll ask Minato and Kaito.”

Kaito looked dissatisfied.

“Masa-san, I did it, but I might not remember it properly.”

“Sorry, Masa-san, but me too.”

“Well then, can the two of you come an hour before the meeting time? Let’s practice it a
little.”

“What!?”

“Wow, you guys harmonized together perfectly. The archer is me, I’m counting on you guys.”

The spring training camp started tomorrow.