The Journey thus far

Daniel:" Okay how about....we take a break....for a short while..."

I uttered those words while panting incessantly after another rigorous sparring match with Lisa. Around 3 weeks had passed and we were making decent progress. I was no longer scared of the wooden sword but was beginning to grasp the basic moves Lisa taught me.

Lisa:" Well I guess we did do quite a bit today huh?"

As the two of us sat down at the sides of the dojo within the kendo club's premises. I had asked her how the qualifiers were going. From what I heard, everything was well and most of the clubs in our school were doing well. Although some had already lost in the qualifiers. I had paid those clubs a visit, encouraging them and thanking them for their support and enthusiastically participating in the competition. They had that bitter-sweet look you normally see on the face of people who had lost a match. The best I could offer was my encouragement.