July 2, Saturday, a rare sunny day since the rainy season.

The sky after the rain is always filled with a special freshness. And this morning, the players from the Kyudo Club who came to participate in the qualifiers gathered together early.

Mr. Sakahara, the consultant teacher of the Kyudo Club, changed into sportswear and watched everyone get off the bus one by one.

"Everyone, slow down. The game doesn't start until nine o'clock. There's still time to take a break."

Team competition consists of 5 players and 1 substitute.

Single match for 8 people.

Mixed doubles match, 2 people.

These are all the players from the Kyūdo Club of Meitoku Junior High School competing in the Tokyo Division.

Seventy-five high schools, a total of 981 contestants. There are nearly a thousand people here. Only the top twenty high schools can enter the official competition and have a chance to qualify.

The preliminaries were held in the gymnasium of Tokyo Sport University. Before half past eight, the school was already crowded.

The bus filled the entire playground, and sports uniforms of various colors and 2-meter-long bow bags were intertwined among the figures.

"There are a lot of people coming this year."

"Isn't kyudo a niche hobby?" As the deputy minister, Masahiro Hata was the first to ask the question.

"Who told you?" Xiaolin Anzhai took out the longbow placed in the bus, walked over and said, "According to statistics from the National Kyudo Federation, there are many more registered Kyudo members than the Kendo next door."

"It's like this, what's the reason?"

"The reason should be that we have many female members here,"

Kobayashi Ansai looked at Amami Kuriuri who was standing under a tree in front of him with Sakakibara Raku, "No girl likes to swing a sword loudly in the summer covered in sweat. Kyudo should be relatively stable and calm."

"An Wen? Give me a break, senior. In the past month, I've almost lost my bow skills..."

"Too tired..."

"I don't know how many days I will be in pain when I practice archery every day. When I get home at night, I can't even hold a cup of tea."

"It hurts so much."

Several first-year students in the team competition complained.

"I said, how many of you are there?"

Kobayashi Ansai looked calm, holding a two-meter-long Japanese bow bag in his right hand, with his eyes closed and his face gloomy. He actually had a bit of Guan Gong's aura, "Can you learn from Sakakibara? He draws the bow 100 times a day, which is the basis of the basics."

, 5 bow strings were broken. How many times do you have every day? Do you have 70 times?"

"That's Reiwa's monster, Sakakibara!"

"I am accompanied by Minister Tianhai..."

"I'm so jealous..."

Several people looked forward at the same time, and Amami Kuruuri and Sakakihara Raku were standing under a tree at the entrance.

"Alas..."

They sighed in unison.

.....

"Brother, come on, don't be nervous." Tianhai Jiuri lowered his voice and said to Sakakihara Raku with a smile.

"Definitely."

"Everyone! Everyone from Mingde Elementary School! Come here!"

A senior from the Kyudo club called the contestants together.

"Although we are not participating in the competition, everyone in our Kyudo Club will still work hard to cheer for you! The entire Kyudo Club is here today just to cheer for you! Even in the qualifiers, we must go all out!

”

"Oh! No problem! Senior!"

"One thousand percent strength! Use all your strength!"

"Oh!"

Everyone wearing sportswear with [Mingtoku Elementary School Private High School] written on the back put their hands together.

"1,2,3!"

"Come on! Come on! Come on!!"

At 9 a.m., the three events will start shooting together.

Sakakihara Raku and Amami Kururi stand on the same platform as eight other high school boys and girls

The rules of the doubles competition are very simple. There are two rounds of shooting, a total of forty arrows, and the one with the highest score advances.

A total of 157 people (including substitutes) participated.

Sakakibara Raku and Amami Kuriuri will be among the top 20 among these 157 people and 75 colleges and universities.

After actually setting foot on the qualifiers site, being watched by various directors and referees of the Kyudo Association, and then standing on the same stage with several other schools that he didn't know at all, Sakakibara couldn't help but recall the first time he set foot in a formal competition.

The tension.

Now, he is still a little uncomfortable returning to the competition.

During the stay together, Jiuliuli's hit rate has always been 99%, and today she hit all 20 targets without any problem.

The key lies in yourself.

The first round of shooting begins, with the boys firing the bow first.

The difficulty of the mixed male and female competition compared to the singles competition is that it is not affected by the shooting team next to it.

You must draw the bow in rhythm with your partner.

When shooting with a partner, you must be prepared to draw the bow in advance.

As soon as your partner's arrow is fired, your own arrow must also be shot after the matching shooting action is completed.

Sakakihara took a deep breath, picked up two green arrows, spread his feet flat, and turned his body slightly sideways, looking at the bullseye in the distance.

Complete the eight sections of shooting one by one, aim at the target 28 meters away with the half-moon method, and hit (di) in one shot.

Tianhai Jiuliuli followed his movements and shot the second arrow grandly.

"yoshi!"

Everyone in the Kyudo club shouted enthusiastically in the audience.

But before they started shooting, the rest of the team had already opened their bows and started shooting the third arrow.

The vibration and sound caused by the bow string disturbed the minds of some players, causing them to lose sight of their aim and miss the target one after another.

In the entire A area, some people had one arrow, some had two arrows, and some had three arrows.

It is precisely maintaining the rhythm with your partner in this chaotic two-person match that is the highlight of this event.

"It was so fast just now, must it be from the martial arts system..."

Raku Sakakihara heard the male player from the high school team next door lowering his head and chattering, and he had just lost an arrow.

Boom...

Hearing the strings and the target sound of Amami Kuruli next to him, Sakakihara Raku also quickly recovered his mind and calmed down.

It’s time to get the bow.

He cleared his mind and blocked out the noise from other schools.

Pushing and pulling up the bow with both hands, the straight arrow feathers flew past the side of the face.

......

At the same time, Suzu Sakakihara eagerly sat down next to Nanami Nanami.

She is wearing a pink coat today

shirt

bow

The trendy combination of short skirts, sneakers, and the beret that Sakakihara Raku gave her before.

"Has it started? Has it started?"

Tianhai Qimingyue did not look at her, but stopped the note in her hand recording the target information, "Sister-chan, you are late again."

"I just slept a little longer!" Suzu Sakakihara took out the snacks she brought, "Look what I brought, it's a croquette! Do you want to take a bite."

"Eating too much will make you gain weight."

"What? How can I get fat?" Suzu Sakakihara took a big bite of the croquette in one bite.

"Glutty."

"What a hen..." Sakakibara Suzu-chan swallowed the croquette, "You don't know, when I was a child, I even cherished the tofu eaters, not like you, the eldest lady from a rich family!
To be continued...