May 18th, Saturday.
As the alarm clock rang, the sleeping Chiba Shiori made a meaningless sound. She picked up her phone and looked at the time. It was already seven in the morning. She wanted to take a nap, but when she thought about today, she couldn't help but cheer up.
She stood up and looked at Yuriko who was lying on the table without disturbing him.
After getting out of bed and washing up, I came to the living room.
Chiba Qiuzi was startled when she saw her daughter getting up so early, "It's the weekend today, why are you getting up so early?"
"The Yulong Banner Tokyo Prefecture qualifiers are about to start. I want to go and see them."
Qianba Qiuzi was stunned, and then she glanced at her daughter suspiciously, "Is the person you like in the kendo club?"
Chiba Shiori was drinking milk and almost choked when asked this question. After she finished drinking, she took a piece of bread, shook her head and said, "No! I'm just interested in kendo recently. I'll leave first."
After saying that, he quickly walked towards Mingxiu High School regardless of his mother's doubts.
When Chiba Shiori arrived at the school gate, it was already half past seven. A large number of people have gathered in front of the school. In addition to the IH conference, the Yulong Banner is the most important competition for high school kendo departments across the country. As long as the number of students reaches the standard, schools will usually sign up. If you can't win the championship, it's okay to go see the world.
"Shiori, here!" Yuzi couldn't help shouting when she saw Chiba Shiori.
In school, Chiba Shiori has almost no friends, except Tamako. Unlike Chiba Shiori, Tamako has many friends. Many close friends will ask her privately, Chiba Shiori is so beautiful, doesn't she feel ashamed next to her? You know, Yuzi is also a very beautiful girl.
Yuzi said frankly that only in front of the most beautiful flowers can she maintain a good attitude. Chiba Shiori is number one in terms of both appearance and academics. The other party is not arrogant and complacent, so she naturally wants to learn from the other party.
The more Tamako gets along with Chiba Shiori, the more she likes each other.
Following Yuzi's exclamation, the students at the school gate all looked at Chiba Shiori. Many boys had hot faces. Especially the members of the kendo club. Today is the start of the prefectural qualifiers. Chiba Shiori must have come to cheer them on.
"I'm not late." Chiba Shiori smiled gently.
The leading teacher's surname was Morishita. He smiled and said, "No..." He looked at the time and said, "We'll just wait for Yamashita and Nakata."
Five minutes later, Yamashita and Nakata arrived at the school gate. After chatting and laughing for a while, everyone set off. Instead of taking the train, they chartered a car to the Tachibana Budokan.
Tachibana Budokan is the third largest Budokan in Tokyo, after Nagura Budokan and Tokyo Budokan.
At 8:20, students from Mingxiu High School arrived outside the Tachibana Budokan. Unlike gyms in other areas, the Japanese Budokan has always maintained a simple style. From a distance, it has a heavy historical atmosphere.
The Budokan is used for judo, kendo, karate, martial arts, as well as dance, band, martial arts performances, etc. It is widely used as a venue for concerts and fighting skills, and as a venue for large-scale entrance ceremonies and graduation ceremonies at universities. At the same time, Budokan has increasingly become a sacred place for famous singers from Europe, America and East Asia to hold concerts. Being able to hold concerts at Budokan is a symbol of the depth of their artistic attainments.
It was the first time for many students to come to Tachibana Budokan, and they were all very excited. Teacher Morishita quickly led the students to enter from the east area entrance. Then he led the students of the Mingxiu Kendo Club towards the second floor, and asked Yuzi to lead the other students to sit down and wait in the first area of the venue.
Chiba Shiori found a place to sit down, and she found that there were already people around her. Obviously they are all here to watch the game.
Although it is only the county qualifiers of Yulong Banner, this is Tokyo after all.
Tokyo has the largest number of high schools and is also the most competitive. According to Mr. Morishita, there are 101 schools in Tokyo that have signed up for the competition this year. The average number of participating schools in other counties is about forty-five.
According to the most basic school, there are five men's team and five women's team. That’s just over a thousand people, not counting substitute players. In addition, every school must have students who come to cheer, and this word count becomes even more unstoppable. In addition, there must be many adults who are interested in kendo, and since today is the weekend, they are basically on holiday, so there are even more people.
Even if you need to buy tickets to watch the game, the people present, Chiba Shiori, scanned around and knew that the tickets had already exceeded 10,000. And the number of people is still increasing. I heard that it is now difficult to get a ticket.
At nine o'clock, the Tokyo Prefectural Qualifiers entered the official stage.
Since it is not an official Jade Dragon Flag competition, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is not eligible to hold the opening ceremony. However, people from the All Japan Kendo Federation still sent an eighth-dan director to give a speech and explain the rules and systems of the Yulong Banner competition.
The team competition rules of this year's Jade Dragon Flag Competition are knockout formats, with a winner-take-all system. The so-called win-lose system means that as long as you score one point in the competition, it is considered a victory. There is also a special rule for the team competition, which is the death match system.
In general team competitions, each school is composed of five players: the vanguard, the secondary vanguard, the middle, the deputy general, and the general. The deathmatch system of the team competition is similar to the King of Fighters game. If one person wins, he or she can stay on the field until they lose. If the vanguard is strong enough, it can completely shave off the heads of enemy schools in 1V5.
The individual competition is a three-book winning or losing system, and the individual competition is not divided into male and female groups.
In the past, the individual competition was divided into male and female groups, but due to some special organizations and public opinion for special reasons, the individual competition is no longer divided into male and female groups.
At nine-thirty, each major high school in Tokyo sent a male and a female representative to draw lots. Draw the area first, then draw the numbers. The main venue of the Tachibana Budokan is used to host the finals, and with more than a hundred schools, it is naturally impossible for all of them to compete in the main venue.
After all, after the team competition, there is still the individual competition. Therefore, the prefectural qualifiers in Tokyo usually take about a week.
The team competition ends in four days and the individual competition ends in three days.
After each school is drawn, the host will report the competition area and word count. As for the individual competition, electronic draws will be the main method.
"Mingxiu Comprehensive High School, boys' group, District A, No. 15. Girls' group, District D, No. 8."
When she heard about her school, Chiba Shiori looked up and saw that the classmates next to her were getting excited and she was speechless.
It's just a draw, what's there to be excited about.
After a few more minutes...
"Yingjiu Private High School, boys' group, District A, No. 1. Women's group, District B, No. 14."
Chiba Shizhi's eyes lit up, her mood suddenly became high, and she thought silently in her heart.
The arena in Area C seems to be the entrance to the northeast area of the Budokan. She turned to look at Yuzi and said, "Yuzi, let's go to area A to get a seat first."
"Oh, I thought you would watch the women's match... I didn't expect you, Shiori, to watch the men's match. Does it mean, Shiori, that someone you like is in the kendo club?"
When Chiba Shiori heard this, she was confused for a moment, and then she realized that it seemed that the boys' team of her school was also in Area A... thinking about it, she rolled her eyes at Yuzi and said nothing more.
(End of chapter)