Mika and Saori-chan stood there, clutching their backs where Hiiragi-san and I had just slapped them. They glared at us with teary, accusatory eyes, but it didn't matter how they looked at me; leaving an opening like that was their own fault.
"Listen, even if this is just a mock battle, you don't just charge head-on at a clearly superior opponent without a plan. More than that, leaving yourself completely exposed as if you never considered the possibility of being dodged is out of the question."
"I agree. That was a poor showing, you two," Hiiragi-san added, her brow furrowed. "Even if you're charging from the front just to see how your opponent reacts, you have to at least throw in a feint. And to expose your backs so defenselessly because you didn't think about what to do after the attack missed..."
"If we’d been holding weapons just now, you both would have been skewered. You should always consider your next move in case you're blocked or parried before you ever commit to an attack."
As we lectured them, Mika and Saori-chan looked away with sheepish, awkward expressions. It seemed they finally understood that their last move had been a failure.
"Sigh. Like I said before we started, I won't strike unless you show a major opening, but if you keep launching reckless, thoughtless attacks like that, I'm not going to hold back."
"We’ll make it hurt a little," Hiiragi-san warned gently. "So if you don't want to be in pain, try not to leave such glaring openings, all right?"
We both let out small sighs as we reiterated the rules. Tension returned to the girls' faces. They took a small, sharp breath and nodded with newfound seriousness.
"I understand. I'll think more before I move," Mika said.
"I'll give it my best," Saori-chan added.
They let go of their backs and began to adjust their distance, steadying their breathing. This time, they didn't rush in blindly. They watched us cautiously, looking for any gap in our defenses.
Of course, we weren't exactly in a formal combat stance, but we weren't leaving any obvious openings either. Eventually, they would have to be the ones to close in and force an opening of their own.
"Yah!"
Realizing we weren't going to give them anything for free, Mika and Saori-chan steeled their expressions and charged again.
Now then, let's see how they connect their attacks based on what they just learned.
"Ei! Yah!"
Mika threw a punch at my face. When I dodged it, she didn't just sail past me like last time; she threw on the brakes and immediately followed up with an elbow strike aimed at my chest. Her transitions were still clumsy, but the fact that she wasn't leaving herself wide open just because the first strike missed was a definite improvement.
I evaded the elbow with a quick backstep. Mika didn't let up, kicking off the ground to close the distance and throwing her weight into a horizontal right-leg kick aimed at my stomach.
"Immediate follow-up after a miss—not a bad reaction. But it's too telegraphed."
"Kya?!"
I intercepted her horizontal kick by lightly tapping the tip of her foot with my right palm. The small amount of force was enough to redirect her momentum.
Because she had been forcing her follow-up, she couldn't compensate for the sudden lateral shift. She spun halfway around on her left pivot leg and went tumbling across the ground.
"You should only use big moves that leave you vulnerable after you've used smaller techniques to break your opponent's posture. Otherwise, you'll be intercepted as easily as that, and you'll be the one left with a fatal opening."
Mika scrambled up immediately. She looked like she wanted to argue, but she was clearly taking my advice to heart. I had rolled her gently so she wouldn't get hurt, so she shouldn't be feeling any actual pain.
"All right, this time, focus on connecting your moves and hold back on the reckless power-strikes."
"Got it."
Mika lightly brushed the dirt off her clothes, her expression pensive as she took her stance again.
Meanwhile, over where Hiiragi-san was facing Saori-chan...
"Ha! Ei! Yah!"
Saori-chan was focusing on tight, compact punches, making sure she didn't leave any openings for Hiiragi-san to exploit. However, because she was so focused on being safe, her strikes lacked reach. Hiiragi-san was able to evade everything by a hair's breadth without ever losing her balance or showing a single gap.
If you can't break your opponent's guard, you can't land a deciding blow. Against a weaker or equal opponent, a long battle might eventually lead to an opening caused by fatigue or a lapse in concentration. But against a superior foe, trying to win a war of attrition is a losing strategy because of the gap in basic specs.
"Saori-chan, it's important to keep your guard up, but sometimes you have to take a risk to force your opponent into an opening. If you stay this passive, you'll be the only one who gets worn out."
"Huff... huff... You're... right."
Realizing she couldn't keep going like this, Saori-chan pulled back to catch her breath.
This applied to Mika too, but both of them were clearly lacking the "breaking" techniques required for interpersonal combat. They could execute the forms they'd practiced during shadow swinging, but they didn't know how to actually land a hit on a skilled opponent. They'd been getting by against monsters thanks to their level-up modifiers, but they were struggling against anyone with actual martial arts training.
"Try to be conscious of the difference between strikes meant to harass and prevent the opponent from attacking, strikes meant to break their posture, and strikes meant to finish the fight. But no matter which one you use, never forget to have a plan for how to react if the opponent counters."
"Huff... huff... Yes!"
"Well then, shall we continue?"
It seemed Hiiragi-san's instruction was going well. Mika had apparently finished her internal monologue and was heading my way again, so I prepared to put in a little more work.
Ten minutes passed. Both Mika and Saori-chan were gasping for air, their movements starting to dull significantly compared to when we started. Yuji, who had been acting as the referee, finally stepped in.
"That's enough!"
The moment he gave the signal, Mika and Saori-chan collapsed to the ground, exhaling deeply. Even with the enhanced physical capabilities of an explorer, moving non-stop like that took its toll—especially when the mental strain of fighting a superior opponent was factored in.
"How were they?" Yuji asked.
"Not bad," I replied. "They improved as they went, but the lack of experience is obvious. Their basic movements are decent thanks to their training, but the transitions are clumsy. A seasoned explorer would pick them apart."
"Same here," Hiiragi-san said. "Her ability to break a guard is poor. Against monsters or weaker opponents, she could probably just wait for them to mess up, but the risk of taking unnecessary damage is too high. She needs to learn how to create her own openings."
Our evaluation was the same: they both lacked experience in interpersonal combat. Of course, that was exactly what this training was for, so it wasn't an unexpected problem.
"I see. I felt the same watching from the side. I guess the only cure for that is more experience."
"Yeah," I agreed. "The best way is to have them experience all the common tactics assailants might use and then just pile up the mock battles."
"And once they have enough experience, we move on to real combat..." Hiiragi-san paused. "Though ideally, they should never have to experience a real fight like that."
She was right. The best-case scenario was that they would never encounter a situation where they were attacked by other people. But assuming it would never happen and failing to prepare was its own kind of danger.
"True. Though, once they have some experience, we could have them fight humanoid monsters—orcs or minotaurs? They don't have martial arts techniques, but they're good for practicing against humanoid targets."
"Yeah... I guess that's better than nothing," Yuji mused. "But those guys mostly just rely on brute force."
They were powerful, but their movements were fundamentally sloppy. We could provide the technical training; the monsters would be for building combat experience and courage.
"That's the plan. Though, if we attacked general explorers just for the experience, we'd be the criminals. I could have them spar with the disciples at my dojo who are explorers, but there's a big gap in technique between the people in Mika-chan's level range and the girls themselves. Ideally, it's better to fight people of similar level and skill to gain the right kind of experience... well, experience is experience, so I'll think about it."
"What about an inter-style exchange match with Genya-san's place...?" I started, then immediately reconsidered. "Actually, let's not."
"Probably for the best," Yuji said with a grimace. "If they heard the girls were our juniors, they'd probably give them a 'warm welcome' that would be too gruesome to watch."
I could almost see it—Mika and Saori-chan coming back from Genya-san's place with the hollow, thousand-yard stare of battle-hardened veterans. Yeah, I’d feel too guilty throwing them into that meat grinder. We were only able to survive that because of our ultra-high levels; that kind of training was impossible for normal high schoolers. He probably only did it back then because he knew we could take it.
"You're making some very ominous suggestions," Hiiragi-san said, sounding worried. "I'll definitely oppose it if you're thinking of sending them there."
"No, no, we won't. Seriously."
"Yeah," Yuji added, "if someone told me I had to do that again, I'd run for the hills."
Yuji and I both turned a bit pale as we recalled the training we'd received from Genya-san. We only put up with it because we didn't know any better at the time, but we would never agree to a second round.
Having finally caught their breath, Mika and Saori-chan stood up and walked over to us.
"Um, Onii-chan? I’m getting a really scary vibe from this conversation. Is it just me?"
"Why are you all so pale? I'm starting to get really worried..."
Noticing our grim expressions, Mika and Saori-chan asked what we were talking about. I debated how much to say, then gave them a brief, sanitized version of the training Genya-san had put us through.
"..."
"..."
They both stood there in stunned silence, looks of pure disbelief on their faces. It was a natural reaction. Even after we'd finished it, we had wondered if it was really necessary to go that far. Though, to be fair, that training did help us immensely in the dungeons later on.
"W-will we have to do that too?" Mika asked, her voice trembling.
"It's impossible!" Saori-chan cried.
"No, no, we aren't going to make you do that. Besides, setting up that kind of training takes a ridiculous amount of money and effort... It’s not something you can just do on a whim."
"Exactly," Yuji said. "We only got to do that because we were lucky and the other side did it as a favor. Even if we asked again, it would be hard to replicate."
It had happened because we coincidentally had something they wanted and had provided it smoothly. Back then, high-grade recovery potions were in such short supply that even money and connections couldn't always get them. Because of that, we’d unintentionally put them in our debt and built a powerful connection.
"Whew..."
Mika and Saori-chan both let out massive sighs of relief, glad they wouldn't have to face the training that made even us turn pale. But Yuji didn't let their relief last for long.
"I hate to burst your bubble, but you're still going to be doing mock battles to get that interpersonal combat experience. It’s not official yet, but I’m planning to talk to the Old Man about having you spar with some of our disciples who are explorers."
"Their explorer levels might be low, but their skill as martial artists is the real deal," I added. "Against someone in your own level range, you wouldn't be able to match their technique or experience."
"If you only fight us, your combat style will become too rigid," Hiiragi-san explained. "To get a broader range of experience, it's better to have help from the people at Hirose-kun's place."
We weren't exactly average explorers. If they only trained against us, it could lead to a dangerous misunderstanding—specifically, they wouldn't learn how to properly "hold back." They might get so used to hitting us with everything they had—relying on their level-up modifiers—only to see us walk it off without a scratch. If they took that mindset into a real fight against an assailant and counterattacked with that same full-power blow...
It might even be deemed excessive force, and there’s a chance self-defense wouldn't be recognized.
"For a while, you'll be getting plenty of experience through mock battles with us and the disciples. Just be prepared for that."
"Y-yes."
"Don't worry. Your basics are solid. You'll get better as you get more reps in, so let's keep at it."
"Yes!"
The girls looked somewhat relieved that their future training would consist of "normal" mock battles.
I wondered if this was one of those psychological tricks—setting a terrifyingly high bar first so that the actual, difficult task seems easy by comparison.
Well, for an explorer who mostly deals with monsters, interpersonal combat is a rare enough thing that they might as well get used to it now.