-final- -aokumashii- | Buchikome High Kick-

"No more rules," Kenji thought. "No more honor. Just end it."

"The Final Buchikome High Kick. No audience. No referees. No ambulances. The Pulverizer vs. The Ghost of Akari. Warehouse 13, Docks. Midnight. Come to die."

Not away. Not to the side. Into the kick. Buchikome High kick- -Final- -Aokumashii-

Pain. White-hot, electric. But Kenji had trained for this. Every day since Akari fell, he had kicked a steel-reinforced tire wrapped in sandpaper until his shins bled, then kept kicking until the blood turned to callus, and the callus turned to bone.

He lunged. A massive front kick to the chest. Kenji couldn’t dodge. He crossed his forearms and took it. "No more rules," Kenji thought

Akari smiled. It was a small, fragile thing. But it was real.

Kenji picked up a single, dented shinai (bamboo sword) from the wreckage. It was the only thing intact. He snapped it over his knee. No audience

He rolled forward, under the arc of Goro’s leg, and used the giant’s own momentum to spring upward. His broken ribs screamed. His lung burned. But his legs—his beautiful, ruined, tire-kicked, sandpaper-shinned legs—were still alive.