Chapter 9: The Fight

At the Matsuda dojo, Takeru and Mamoru prepare a formal duel with steel katana. Misaki, barred from the floor but alarmed by Takeru’s deadly aura, watches from the doorway. Takeru attacks hard, exploiting Mamoru’s tension and poor defense, striking him repeatedly and pressing the advantage even after disarming him.

When Mamoru traps and flings away Takeru’s sword with ice, Takeru escalates to his Whispering Blade and demands a jiya-to-jiya fight. Mamoru’s creative shields and techniques cannot hold; Takeru shatters Mamoru’s ice sword, floors him, and pins him. Instead of stabbing, Takeru collapses his blade to water and refreezes it on his knuckles to punch, drawing blood. Misaki instinctively steps onto the floor with ice forming at her nails before stopping. Takeru condemns yielding and family “weakness.”

Setsuko arrives with a reminder of a meeting, breaking the moment. Takeru orders Mamoru to clean the dojo and practice until he returns, then tells Misaki to “fix” whatever weakness caused Mamoru’s challenge. After Takeru leaves, Mamoru apologizes, then uses subtle blood manipulation to draw out his blood and scab his split lip, cleans the ice, and resumes katas.

Observing flaws in Mamoru’s form, Misaki begins to coach him—reducing wasted tension, relying on angle over brute force, and leveraging speed. Crossing the taboo threshold, she examines the sword rack but ultimately chooses wooden swords. Determined to help him close the gap with Takeru by playing to his advantages, Misaki readies to spar and train her son herself.