In the brightly colored autumn day, we leave the cafe. Stepping on the fallen leaves, we go towards the eastern-section of the school. Around here, there are gyms, piano rooms, public rooms and other recreational rooms. The basketball court is filled with passion with countless boys’ bare arms dribbling while they sweat like it’s raining. Of course, there are groups of girls on the side checking out the boys’ bodies. Their eyes are drawn towards them; they may even be having dirty thoughts… That rings a bell: If you want to pick up girls, then play a sport. It has to be basketball though, soccer won’t do…
In the fencing department, I can hear the clashing of swords from far away. After entering, there are indeed dozens of people facing each other and attacking with bamboo swords. They are all practicing Japanese sword styles. Among the people, a woman wearing white sportswear is holding a bamboo sword. Looking at her, without a doubt she is the legendary Wang Ran.
“Senior~~” Wan Er yells from afar.
Wang Ran quickly spins around and instantly her face is filled with smiles, “Oh, our guest is here! Wan Er, you finally came to visit my department…”
Wan Er smiles, “Mm, but I brought two friends too. Is that okay?”
“It’s fine…”
Wang Ran smiles politely. At the same time, she looks at the male students behind her and yells, “Stop staring at the beauties and continue practicing! Get your act together!”
With bangs and clangs, the group of males fight with even more effort as they see the legendary #1 beauty of Liu Hua University. Wan Er comes in wearing the latest fashion and although she is lacking a bit of fighting spirit compared to Wang Ran, she makes up for it with her charm. Wan Er’s looks also win by a chunk, so she, of course, grabs quite a bit of attention.
……
I stand next to Wan Er and say nothing as I look at the male students putting effort into their training.
Bang!
The bamboo sword strikes and it slices through the air in an arc. I couldn’t help but exclaim, “Kasaya strike…”
Kasaya strike, one of the 9 battle strikes in Japanese Kendo.
Wang Ran says surprisingly, “This student, you also know swordplay?”
I’m caught off guard, “Uh…I know a bit…”
Cheng Yue looks at me, “I think that Xiao Yao is quite good with a sword…”
Instantly, a male student behind Wang Ran speaks up. He picks up his bamboo sword, walks towards me and arrogantly says, “What are you called?”
“Li Xiao Yao, what do you want…”
That student proudly raises his bamboo sword and says, “I’m called Zhao Mu, Mu with 3 dots. I am the vice leader of the Swordplay department and my style is the North Star Style, how about we spar a bit?!”
I hold my cup of tea and say, “I’ve only heard of Zhao Mu, with “herd” as the Mu…”
TL: In Chinese, there can be different words of the same pronunciation. The Mu in Zhao Mu means to cleanse but Mu can also mean to graze or herd and a lot of other meanings.