5. Doji Ren

Cleaning up the Ronin

Every tournament contestant is facing a Ronin now, I quickly grab a sake glass of the table and try to hit my opponent. I miss, but luckily he's distracted enough for me to hit him with my bokken. Somehow the Ronin manage to floor both Yoshi and Takuya like they are mere children on a playground playing tag.

Masako is the first to dispatch of her adversary, followed by Kyo. Aki gets hit in the nose. Her opponent then quickly runs of to one of the fallen Ronin and tries to drag him outside. Takuya stands up and gets hit hard again, but in retaliation he knocks his opponent out.

Meanwhile Yoshi somersaulted back on his feet and helps out Hitoshi helped by Masako. Aki helps me to take care of the Ronin facing me, but this takes his toll as she collapses in front of me, I comfort and thank her.

The still standing Ronin flee, trying to take with them as many of their fallen comrades as possible. Takuya grabs one of the fallen Ronin and tries to get some answers why they crashed our party, until all of a sudden a couple of Samurai of the Kakita academy march in, asking him what the hell he is doing! They pick him up and tell him his behaviour is not worthy a Samurai. Auch...

When everything has settled down, I notice both Kyo and Mei Lin are missing.

Test 6 - Weaponry

The next day is a beautiful spring day. People frown somewhat when Aki and me appear from the same room. But we are met with a grateful Hitoshi who has slept a lot better than last night.

Then it is time to head back to the academy for the second day of trials to pass our Gempuku. First up is weaponry, not something I like, but I've been taught enough, so I should be able to pass this. We have to pick our weapon of choice from a spear, sword, club or staff. And we have to show we know how to wield and use it. Two judges will score this event and explain they are looking for good footwork. I pick the sword and swirl it in a graceful manner landing me one point in this event. My opponent Yasuki doesn't fare so well and doesn't get any points.

Test 7 - Poetry

Next up is something I should be able to manage well. I'm paired against Hitoshi, and on our way to the garden I remind him of our conversation we had yesterday evening about the songs he's used to sing on the Mantis ships. Three judges will give us a subject and judge us on how well and how fast we manage to create a poem, in which we have to consider "It's not us who are the poets, it's the universe".

Our subject is cherry blossom and I quickly think up a Haiku:

cherry trees in bloom–
warmed by a brazier
blossom-gazing

Both Hitoshi and me pass the test. He didn't use my advise but he still comes up with something decent. Not as good as my result as I manage to win this event!

It's not even lunchtime yet today but the Crane are exactly where they are supposed to be, solidly at the top of the tournament leaderboard!