Chapter 137: The Kyudo Club, as calm as ever.

Words : 1283 Updated : Sep 30th, 2025

Chapter 137: Chapter 137: The Kyudo Club, as calm as ever.The gust of wind stirred the raindrops, making the area pierced by the arrows seem as if it had been punctured for a moment. A series of bullseyes. Everyone finally relaxed from their tense state. Sakurai Fumiko held up the scoreboard, smiling as she raised her hand, "Hey~ 44 hits, good work everyone." Uesugi Sakura sat directly on the resting seat at the back, leaning the bamboo bow against the stand beside him. On the shooting line, Sugita Shuhei placed down the bamboo bow with his right hand, turned, and said, "Everyone’s breath synchronization still has some issues." "Breath synchronization (Iki-ai)" — refers to the coordination of breathing between archers, used to maintain the rhythm of shooting. "It’s probably because we’re too tired; after all, we just shot 100 arrows," Hirata Masanobu spoke in a rather exhausted tone. Hearing the number 100, Uesugi Sakura instinctively rotated his shoulders to ease the soreness. He couldn’t bear this level of exhaustion every day. "No," Sugita Shuhei shook his head, "it’s that everyone hasn’t fully mastered the breathing method that Mr. Ogasawara mentioned." "The body hasn’t displayed the expected Juojumonji, meaning everyone hasn’t learned stretch and merge yet." "Juojumonji" — the feet, spine, and back form a vertical line, which intersects perpendicularly with the horizontal line of the shoulders and elbows, a necessary foundational condition for learning stretch and merge. Above that are more difficult techniques, the "Triple Cross," and the "Five-layered Cross." "Sigh~ let’s put in more effort," Hirata Masanobu felt overwhelmed hearing these things. "Let me teach you a small technique," Sugita Shuhei lifted the bow again, placing his left hand on the bow grip, "with the left hand, hook the thumb and middle finger around the bow, while keeping the middle finger perpendicular to the bow." "Don’t apply force with your palm, just brace against the bow grip." He raised his hands above his head, mimicking the action of drawing the bowstring with his right hand, gently pushing the bamboo bow. "Exert force with both arms and shoulders simultaneously, and pull down to open it." After completing this set of actions, he lowered the bow. "The aim is for archers to focus not on gripping the bow with the left hand during practice, but on pushing it forward." "Gripping the bow, pushing the bow, drawing the string, stretching and merging, breathing, rhythm, team rhythm... these are all points to pay attention to in archery. At the same time, you must also adjust your position, trying as much as possible to maintain hand tremors to ensure your arrows hit the target." "There’s just too much to pay attention to, this small technique can save quite a bit of effort to ensure you’re not overly fatigued from long periods of drawing the bow." "Got it." Afterwards, except for Uesugi Sakura who was resting and slacking off, everyone else started training again. Chitose Mai walked into the dojo carrying many drinks, with her jet-black hair still covered in several sparkling droplets. "This rain is so annoying, it keeps falling." "Why’d you go outside in your Kyudo uniform, aren’t you afraid of dirtying your hakama?" Sakurai Fumiko took a few bottles of the drinks she bought that were about to slip from her hands. "Ah?" Chitose Mai tilted her head to look at the black hakama, which indeed was quite wet, "It really got dirty!" "Then you’ll have to go back and wash it," Sakurai Fumiko chuckled. "Can’t I wash it in a machine?" "Not recommended." "Hand washing is so troublesome~" Uesugi Sakura, who was napping and slacking off, suddenly remembered that his Kyudo uniform was always hand-washed by little Hanabi. She said that although she wasn’t a member of the Kyudo Club and couldn’t always watch over Sakura-kun, she could help him wash his clothes. And then came another odd segment of her lacking self-confidence. Most of the time, it was when he went to find her in the morning that she would hand over the neatly folded Kyudo uniform to him. She was too... virtuous... so virtuous it didn’t seem like she was a girlfriend. Should he give her a gift or something? Uesugi Sakura thought of that plush toy in the mall. "Senpai, what would you like to drink?" Chitose Mai asked him while holding a few bottles of drinks. "Thanks," Uesugi Sakura took a bottled coffee, "Did you pay for this?" "Of course not!" Chitose Mai handed out the remaining bottles to everyone, then turned back to him and said, "I’m so broke I have to work part-time at a convenience store, I don’t have the money to pay for all the seniors’ drinks." She pointed at Seisuke Yooya. "The club president paid for it all." "I thought you hadn’t been working lately." Uesugi Sakura grabbed the bottle with his left hand and opened the cap with his right hand. "Wait!" Chitose Mai suddenly shouted. Uesugi’s movement paused, "What is it?" "What’s that you’re wearing on your left hand?" "An engagement ring," he said casually, continuing to twist open the cap and took a sip of the bottled coffee that completely lacked bitterness. "Senpai, are you not going to be with the adorable Hanabi-chan anymore!?" "It’s for her." "Senpai, you’re engaged to Hanabi-chan!?" Chitose Mai seemed disordered in surprise. Everyone training turned to look at Uesugi Sakura. "Is it that astonishing?" he didn’t understand why everyone had such expressions today. "Not being surprised is the surprising part here," Chitose Mai blinked while looking at his shiny ring, the diamond... was kind of large. "I think not being surprised is the surprising thing that’s not surprising at all," Uesugi Sakura didn’t deliberately avoid the topic. "But it’s been less than two months since you and Hanabi-chan started dating, right? And now... you’re engaged?" "Counting from before, it’s been 12 years," Uesugi Sakura raised his brow at her, "How do you know that?" "Hanabi-chan told me, she said when you confessed to her, she was so happy she couldn’t sleep at night, just lying there hugging a pillow in a daze." No wonder Hanabi seemed listless for those few days. "Hmm, I got it." "By the way, what does senpai like about Hanabi-chan?" "Why are you asking this?" "Just curious~ I can tell senpai what Hanabi-chan likes about you." "You and she are already that familiar with each other?" Uesugi Sakura couldn’t believe girls could talk about just anything with each other. "Hanabi-chan is very easy to talk to. If you ask her a bit more, she’ll tell you," Chitose Mai smiled. She’s easy to talk to, and you’re pretty gossipy. Uesugi also wanted to know what Hanabi liked about him. If he asked her herself, she’d probably be too embarrassed to say. "Firstly, she’s cute, the whole of her looks very delicate, and even her walk has a kind of quiet ethereal feeling." "And then? And then?" "Then it’s her face, soft and easy to blush. Her hands are also soft, basically everything feels very gentle." On the other side, Sakurai Fumiko was also quietly listening in. ——Curiosity is human nature, especially for women. "Then, then!" Chitose Mai excitedly pressed on. "Why are you asking so much?" Uesugi Sakura was about to mention the waist, legs, and feet too. "To understand guys’ peculiar... uh... preferences." Chitose Mai smiled, "Actually, Hanabi-chan really likes the brotherly side of senpai." "Brotherly side?" Uesugi Sakura roughly understood a bit. "As for the specifics, I couldn’t really figure it out. Mainly, Hanabi-chan couldn’t articulate it either." "..." "Is that all the information you’ve got?" Chitose Mai was not stupid, showing a smart smile, "That’s enough for senpai, right?"

Chapter 137: The Kyudo Club, as calm as ever.

Comments (0)