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This was a matter of pride for her, a competition of skill instead of just power. It didn't matter if the man before her also was holding back something if both were fighting on the same level while still being able to keep up.
There was a silent agreement between each other; the winner will be the most skilled.
The crowd was astounded, more than once they thought the fight was coming to an end only for the opposite to happen. Setsuna already built a reputation during the day by defeating any challenger with minimum effort in many different forms of competition. She could run faster than a sprinter, knew martial arts and was stronger than any other girl of the same build and most men to the point she had won most matches without beating a sweat.
However she was not the only one being watched in admiration. The unknown redhead for many was supposed to be the 'ace' of the kendo club and he was proving it being true as the only one that lasted more than a minute or two against the woman who was one shotting everyone before.
There were some who knew partially what was happening, they had pins that most of the population of Kuoh couldn't see.
But even the citizens of the moonlit world could see that the 'fight', even as an act, was using lots of energy and concentration to not break the basic rules, both from kendo and the preservation of the secrets of the world alike.
Once Shirou pushes himself back up Setsuna had to retreat or risk the reveal, their movements were fast but not superhuman and were few among the spectators that didn't feel some admiration for the two shows of restraint.
The woman knew when she was supposed to lose a competition of strength, the man knew when he shouldn't be able to keep his assault going. The stalemate was not artificial, both were fighting by the rules and following it in both letter and spirit.
Those that liked to compete wanted to join, those that knew exactly what Setsuna was were admired by her control but none knew what Shirou was. They were paying close attention to any moves he made, ready to call foul in case he threw away honor for victory.
He didn't, neither fighter wanted the fight to end with anything other than a fair victory, either by pride or a sense of fair play. Both swords kept hitting each other for a few more minutes, the excitement didn't die down because of the maneuvers that both did to avoid a blow.
Shirou rolled to the side, redirecting an attack with the handle, getting on his feet he faints an overhead strike to only change course and go for a disarm that the woman parries. Setsuna doesn't miss a beat and stabs at Shirou repeatedly, doing her best to get the face or chest of her opponent. Both did every trick they could think of while keeping the swords on their hands and not using anything else on the offensive.
Sooner or later, one of them was going to make a mistake. In a fast and high tense match like that it was just a matter of time, it was inevitable especially when both sides couldn't go all out and always had a metaphorical foot back and avoided anything 'flashy'.
Shirou tried to go for a low strike to the side, it was choreographed, open, obvious and Setsuna jumped on it to hit him on the arm, victory in her sights. Then the redhead relaxes his legs while spinning with his body, sword aiming for her face.
Both weapons collided with their targets and no one knew for certain who managed to hit their opponent first, the sounds of the shinais loud enough to silence the crowd.
Loud cheers followed. "NICE GOING SHIROU!" "GREAT FIGHT!" "SETSUNA-SAMA!"
Shirou didn't get up feeling tired after all the exercise and almost yelped when a hand showed up to help him. "Good fight." Setsuna said with a small smile and wounded chin.
"Right back to you." Shirou takes the hand to get up and it becomes a shake, he notices that she was not looking as ragged as he was. Even if most of the effort was in holding back they still fought constantly for a good couple of minutes. "Looks like you have a fan club now." He tried to joke but she just sighed.
"I hope to God that I don't. That would be a hassle." The way she spoke confirmed she wasn't a devil at least.
"Shirou!" Someone jumped on his back and he recognized the voice.
"Tiger, I'm tired, please get out of my back." He felt her arms starting to hold him by the neck.
"Not until you explain since when you are so good!" The woman demanded.
"Yes! You have some explaining to do! Shirou-san!" There were at least eight people from his old kendo club… he really didn't want this conversation. Katase continued. "Why can you move like that? And so fast? Why have you never done anything like that before?"
"You could have competed for the male nationals, we would have won two trophies." Once everyone present nodded at the affirmation Shirou fought off the hold from their teacher and stepped back to Setsuna's side.
"To be fair we weren't fighting formal kendo for the most part of the whole thing." Or the whole thing in general.
"Still…" Katase looked pissed. "You moved so fast, I barely kept up." There were people still around but most were leaving since the show was already over, of the ones that stayed there was his friend Issei, some members of other clubs who were overhearing the conversation and others who looked to be just admiring the whole thing.
"It's because just fighting kendo is restrictive, there are a lot of rules that would stop me from doing most of what I did here." Not surprisingly it was his teacher who was nodding at his argument.
"If that is the case then join our club!" He didn't know who the girl who screamed was but she was dressed in a kimono that could be either karate, judo or something similar.
"No way! They should join ours!" A guy dressed similarly also joined the conversation.
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