016 When in doubt, just wing it

In the Strange Tale World that seemed to have a netherworld filter applied,

Kamiyagawa rose up beside the wooden Divine Cabinet amidst the fluorescent light dance.

"Let's go hunt those headless high school students together!"

This was a quest for revenge.

And the first target of revenge was naturally the headless high school girl who sobbed and sniveled in the cherry blossom forest, and who had once taken Kamiyagawa's 'first blood.'

"Whimper, whimper..."

The mournful cries of a young girl brought by the chilly wind indicated that the headless high school girl had started again.

Kamiyagawa's lips curled up confidently as he headed towards the cherry blossom forest, following the cries just like the first time he logged into the game.

But he stopped after just a few steps.

A serious problem suddenly occurred to him.

"Uh, I learned a swordsmanship called the Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style from Coach Red Oni, right?"

So where is my sword?

This brings us to the game mechanics of Strange Tales.

As far as we know, items acquired in the game can travel freely between the two worlds, but it seems that items purely from the real world cannot be brought into this world.

That includes the clothes on Kamiyagawa's body as well.

Once entering the Strange Tale World, his outfit would automatically change. His student uniform would transform into shabby and thin azabu shorts and shirt.

A classic start with absolutely nothing.

Right now, the only equipment he had was the Mirage Pouch.

Inside the little pouch were the fragmented scrolls of The Five Thunderbolt Method, Thousand Silver Needles, and two pieces of dried salty fish, nothing more.

"Damn it, I was careless," Kamiyagawa said, placing his hand on his forehead.

A swordsman without a sword is just as screwed as a student showing up to an exam without a pen.

So, Kamiyagawa cautiously stepped away from the weeping and left the cherry blossom forest, putting the revenge on hold for the moment; he needed to procure a weapon for himself first.

If he remembered correctly, Coach Red Oni seemed to have a tachi beside him.

He wondered if that was up for grabs.

...

Sword Dao Dojo.

After a round of thrilling parkour, Kamiyagawa, just before being tackled by the eager dwarf children, successfully made it to the dojo's entrance.

"Start...swordsmanship...training?"

Seeing Kamiyagawa rolling in from the door, the brawny Red Oni with the Great Sword stood up in the center of the dojo.

His voice was still deep and bell-like, intimidating as ever.

[Do you want to begin swordsmanship training with Red Oni?]

[Yes/No]

"Wow, Coach Red Oni is really conscientious. Those 100 Soul Crystals seem to be a lifetime tuition fee, with subsequent training sessions free to attend as I please," Kamiyagawa thankfully glanced at his non-human swordsmanship coach, then resolutely clicked [No].

The last time we practiced sword-fighting, my sphincter still aches.

I'd rather use the techniques and postures I learned from you, Coach, to give those headless high school girls outside a good thrashing first. If I still can't beat them, I'll come back to keep you company!

"Ahem," Kamiyagawa cleared his throat, "Coach, could I borrow your tachi for a while?"

"Start...swordsmanship...training?"

Red Oni glanced at Kamiyagawa but repeated the same phrase.

Alright.

It was still impossible to communicate with him.

Kamiyagawa had no choice but to try something else.

He first approached Red Oni, pointed at the tachi in his hand, and then pointed at himself.

No response.

Then Kamiyagawa reached out directly, attempting to touch the tachi, but Red Oni simply lifted his robust arm agilely, shaking Kamiyagawa past him.

"Start...swordsmanship...training?"

Kamiyagawa didn't give up immediately and tried a few more times.

But he was far from getting it; he couldn't even manage to touch the tachi in Red Oni's hand.

It seems that getting a weapon from the teacher will be impossible.

"By the way, if I take down Red Ogre Teacher, would that Tachi possibly drop as loot?" Kamiyagawa suddenly had a bold idea.

But with his current level, he knew without thinking that he couldn't beat the Red Ogre.

Unless he resorted to some underhanded tricks.

"Sigh, but let's forget about it," Kamiyagawa shook his head.

After experiencing the incident with the Drowned Ghost Sachiko Kuriyama, he had gained some understanding of the true nature of this so-called "game world."

Even if this wasn't reality, there were some bad things that he could do without pressure in computer games, but here he wouldn't do them.

At the very least, he still believed in honoring his teacher and respecting the way.

"Start... swordsmanship... training?" Once the mountainous figure of the Red Ogre caught Kamiyagawa's gaze, it would repeat the question, never tiring of asking.

[Do you want to start swordsmanship training with the Red Ogre?]

[Yes/No]

This time, Kamiyagawa clicked [Yes].

The swordsmanship idle training began, everything turned black before Kamiyagawa's eyes, and his consciousness returned to reality.

[Swordsmanship training has started, log in to the game again to end the training.]

[Log in to the game]

[Confirm]

After a series of operations, Kamiyagawa returned to the game world, and his spawning point was still beside the Divine Cabinet in the Sakura woods.

"Just as expected. Manually ending the idle session, the paper doll from that session wouldn't be considered dead, and I would log back in next to the Divine Cabinet," he muttered to himself.

This was a manipulation of the game mechanics, allowing him to teleport directly back to the bonfire from a specific location.

He saved a Substitute Paper Person and avoided a twelve-hour cooldown.

And since the idle action only lasted a few seconds, the negligible benefits upon logging in were hardly worth noting, and his body did not feel any burden.

The game continued.

"Woooo..."

Once again, the sound of the wind carried the crying of the headless JK through the forest.

"No help for it, when in doubt, go all out. I can't waste the swordsmanship I've just learned," he resolved.

Giving himself a quick mental pep talk, Kamiyagawa braced himself and broke off a straight branch from a nearby Sakura tree.

Having failed to find a proper weapon, he had to make do with what was available.

A finely honed Tachi and a straight tree branch, well... it's almost the same, they're about the same length anyway.

If he used the techniques from the Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style, who knows, he might actually win?

He braced himself for action.

Following the crying sounds for a while, Kamiyagawa spotted the one who had taken his "first time."

A sailor uniform, pleated skirt, black knee-high socks, flat leather shoes, fair and smooth arms and legs, and a developing chest adorned with a neatly tied ribbon bow.

Cutesy and adorable, without a head.

"Giggle giggle giggle..."

Similar to their first encounter, after sensing Kamiyagawa's approach, the JK in the woods stopped crying and started emitting a delightful, bell-like chuckle before charging towards him.

But this time Kamiyagawa wouldn't run.

He started with the Dragonfly Stance.

Both hands raised the Sakura wood branch above his head.

Moving his feet as if they were the vibrating wings of a dragonfly.

Then he struck down from above with all his might!

Bang!

The Sakura wood branch, accompanied by the whistling wind, slammed into the shoulder of the headless JK. The strike was fierce and decisive!

He had succeeded with the wooden stick Kesa-Giri!

The headless JK fell to the ground from the impact.

If it were an average person taking such a hit from Kamiyagawa, they would be seriously injured and incapacitated.

The gloomy Sakura petals on the ground were whisked into a whirl by the cold wind.

Kamiyagawa stood in silence, holding the starting pose of the Self-Manifestation Style, his gaze cold and vigilant over the twitching headless JK on the ground.

He felt incredibly cool at that moment!