Young Samurai_ The Way of the Sword - Chris Bradford [66]
To Jack’s surprise, he noticed Kazuki’s two hulking cousins among the group. Raiden and Toru were the twin brothers who had attacked Jack at the hanami party the previous year. Not only did it appear that Kazuki was recruiting Scorpion Gang members from the rival school, but he was bold enough to invite such students into the grounds of the Niten Ichi Ryū in broad daylight.
‘Kazuki, you’ve dropped your inro,’ said Tadashi casually, while reaching behind to scrape off a layer of snow from a higher step and compacting it into a ball behind his back.
Without thinking, Kazuki glanced down to look for his wooden carrying case. On looking up, he realized too late that he’d been tricked. Tadashi’s snowball struck him square in the face. He yowled in surprise as half of it disappeared into his mouth.
Tadashi gave Jack a sly grin and they both burst into laughter. Everyone else joined in, even Kazuki’s friends.
‘Attack! Attack!’ spluttered Kazuki, spitting out snow.
Spurred into action, the Scorpion Gang hurled their snowballs as hard as they could. Jack and Tadashi attempted to evade the barrage, but it was useless. They were completely exposed and several hit home.
Other students from the Niten Ichi Ryū, seeing the snowball fight start, began to congregate in the courtyard.
‘Look, we’ve got spectators!’ said Kazuki, a genuine smile spreading across his face. ‘Let’s have a game of Yuki Gassen?’
‘You’re on!’ shouted Tadashi, gathering more snow.
There was a murmur of excitement from the gathering crowd, whose numbers swelled as word of a snowball contest spread. Even the men working on the Hall of the Hawk downed tools to watch.
‘How do you play Yuki Gassen?’ Jack asked, seeing several groups of students start to build waist-high walls of snow across the courtyard.
‘The aim is to capture the other team’s bokken,’ explained Yamato as Tadashi began to kick snow into a large pile a couple of paces in front of the Butsuden’s steps. ‘Each team is allowed ninety balls. You can hide behind the snow walls, but if you get hit by a snowball, you’re out.’
Tadashi removed his bokken and thrust it vertically into their mound like a flagless standard at the start of a battle. At the other end of the courtyard Kazuki did the same, then selected five of his friends to form his team. They huddled under the snow-laden eaves of the Hall of the Hawk’s nearly completed roof.
‘So who’s going to be in our team?’ asked Tadashi.
‘You can count me out,’ said Kiku immediately, hurrying over to the sidelines.
‘Well, that leaves six,’ he said, looking at Akiko, Yori, Saburo, Jack and Yamato. ‘We have our team.’
They all began to build up their arsenal of snowballs. Soon they had six equal stacks around their bokken.
‘Ready?’ shouted Tadashi to Kazuki.
‘Hang on,’ replied Kazuki, poking his head up from his team huddle. ‘We’re discussing team tactics.’
‘What are our tactics?’ asked Yori, in a timorous voice.
Tadashi studied the layout of the battle area. At the centre of the rectangular courtyard was a waist-high wall of snow. Set back on either side were two shorter snow-wall shelters, then a couple of sloping mounds and finally a waist-high semi-circular wall around each team’s bokken.
Tadashi frowned. ‘Kazuki’s clever, he’s pitched his bokken right next to the Hall of the Hawk and the building work stops us approaching from behind.’
The team glanced at their own bokken, which was dangerously exposed to attack from the rear.
‘OK, here’s the plan. Yori and Yamato, you stay back to defend the bokken.’ Yamato was about to protest, but Tadashi continued. ‘We need strength at the back and Yamato, you look to be the best thrower among us. Saburo and Akiko, you take the middle ground to cover Jack and me, while we launch the attack.’
They all nodded