Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Brian and Carlo eventually stood up to steal some hits but Tatiana and I continued to talk some more. I would just yell out the corrections everyone else needed from the benches but Kaley, Rin, and Cynthia approached us.

Rin instantly went up in Tatiana's face, "Hey! Who told you that you could slump down?! You should keep a proper posture at all times, right?! Right?!"

Tatiana exasperatedly exhaled, "Do you even see me wincing? My ribs are fine, it's this hand I'm worried about..."

Kaley sat next to me, "Don't worry, Tatiana… It's gonna heal in a month or two, right?"

Tatiana shook her head, "That's the thing, it's gonna take too long… All I could do for exercise is walk around all day and have a meaningless talk with everyone I bump to. I'm fucking sure I'm gonna gain a few pounds and I'd have to work extra hard when I'm healed..."

Cynthia nodded and faintly smiled, "You'll be fine~ Oh! Didn't they say that a broken bone will be stronger once it--"

I cut Cynthia off, "Actually~ It would actually be stronger in the few weeks when it's healing but over time, it'll just be at the same strength as the rest of the bones in our bodies. I think it's just something people say to keep a healthy mind about-- Ah... I shouldn't have said that..."

Tatiana looked irritated once more, "Thanks? At least the cut on my cheek healed fast..."

Kaley started chuckling as she turned to me, "Of course, you do that now. Well~ gaining a few pounds might be beneficial… in some ways… you know… more surface area or something..."

Cynthia chuckled as well, "Is that what they call being dummy thi--"

Tatiana started to smile cheekily, "Now that's something to look forward to. As long as it's in the right areas… I wonder what you'd do to me if I have Kaley's bo--"

I waved them off as I shook my head, "Okay~ Okay~ Why aren't you three participating? You could--"

"Hate the spotlight. Maybe later when there are fewer people..."

"My rapier isn't for those kinds of cuts."

"My staff too..."

"I could actually try with my left--"

The three of them exclaimed, "NO!"

They kept holding Tatiana down but I eventually had to leave them and go to the place I was earlier since we just ran out of usable tatami mats. And for the most part, almost everyone did good and the ones who made a lot of mistakes were the people that weren't using sharp blades on a daily basis.

But that could be fixed with regular training and actually applying it outside.

With that said, they were more excited for the next part of our class because we had more resources to work with. The people who easily cut the tatami mats in half were exuding confidence but they had no idea about the jump in difficulty between tatami mats and green bamboo.

And we haven't even gotten to the part where we line them up side by side.

I said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Okay, let's do a bit of a recap. What does cutting through tatami mats emulate?"

Mostly everyone said in unison, "Flesh."

I nodded approvingly, "So, can anyone tell me what cutting through green bamboo emulates?"

Chris raised his hand from the side of the gym, "Y-You haven't told us yet, right?"

"Yeah, I haven't. Can anyone guess though? What does… cutting through green bamboo emulate? We already covered flesh, what does-- Yes! Allan! You raised your hand, right?"

Allan shouted confidently, "Wood!"

I almost banged my head against the wall, "Goddamit, Allan!"

Allan never looked so surprised, "It's wrong? Huh."

"It is! Yes! Bing!"

"May I use the restroom?"

"What?!"

"I wanna use the restroom a-and I don't wanna miss a detail..."

"FUCKING HOLD IT IN! ONE MORE GUESS! YES! WAI-- Russel, if you follow after these two--"

Russel was smiling confidently, "I'm not! The answer is it emulates bone! Dad told me about that a few weeks ago."

"Fucking, FINALLY! GREAT! THE ANSWER IS BONE! CUTTING THROUGH GREEN BAMBOO EMULATES CUTTING THROUGH BONE! Good job, man! You get first try too, if you want."

Russel revealed an excited expression, "R-Really?! Fuck yeah!"

Everything was going smoothly but I almost went crazy when he used his goedendag instead of his machete. The whole gym was fucking quiet for a minute but it just erupted in laughter. Even I couldn't help but laugh maniacally because even if the three stooges continued to be… themselves, they took the edge off of everyone and made us laugh.

With that said, once Russel swung his machete at the green bamboo I put up, he easily lopped it off as he did with his tatami mat. As soon as the upper half fell on the floor, everyone revealed surprised expressions.

Russel turned to me with a surprised expression as well, "Wait, it's that easy? You said it was hard, right?"

I chuckled before I put up two bamboos at the stand, "Sure, it's easy. Try again."

"Bro, wait a--"

"It's easy, right? Try again."

Slowly but surely, the jolly atmosphere from earlier dissipated and they were once more watching with solemn and curious expressions. Everyone was watching what Russel would do next and once he swung his machete for the second time, everyone had mixed feelings about the result.

Fail.

Russel managed to cut through the first bamboo I put up but his machete stopped midway through the second one. Furthermore, the angle he came in for the second one deviated after he cut through the first one easily. After that, he quickly pulled his machete off the place it was stuck in before he turned to me.

"Bro..."

"Wanna try again?"

"Yeah! I just slipped... I think..."

"Roight~ Roight~ You got two more tries though..."

"One more is enough, bro!"

"Go ahead. Everyone else, just watch closely."

It didn't take long before Russel swung another time and this time, he almost made it through two pieces of green bamboo. It was only an inch away from fully cutting through both of them but like the last time, the angle it came in for the second one deviated. He was starting to look a little bit frustrated but I bumped the challenge to three pieces of green bamboo instead of two.

"Bro, what the fu--"

"You're really~ close. Come down harder but keep your angles tight. Make sure you make contact with the wider part of your blade too."

Instead of questioning my actions even more, Russel just nodded a few times before taking a deep breath. He even practiced the angle he would come in before following through and once he felt he was ready, he just came in with the perfect angle.

Motherfucking success.

Russel just went straight to three pieces of green bamboo at a 40-degree angle, stopping at the fourth wooden peg on the wooden stand. Furthermore, the angle he came in was consistent with each piece and I couldn't help but chuckle from the way he was smiling like an idiot.

"I DID IT, BRO! FUCK YEAH!"

"Heh. Good job, next!"

"Wait, what? B-But I… C'mon, bro! Don't be like-- Praise me some more, dammit!"

Russel slumped to the side but he was now the record holder. It lit a fire in everyone's ass and he was lucky he didn't get trampled when the mob rushed in to take their turn. It became another round of people testing their own capabilities in a safe environment and it took a while before Russel's record was tied.

Brian was the first one who succeeded in tying with Russel's score and Chris was a close second. He would've cut through three pieces of bamboo himself but he just made the mistake of leaning more on technique. To be fair, Brian exerted himself a bit more on his last try but it made him one of the frontrunners.

However, the elite crew just had to participate.

'They should've gone last… I guess they're excited too...'

Without even a smidgen of overexertion, Bogdan easily cut through three pieces of bamboo and set a new record of cutting through four and a half pieces. Marina tied his score while Katya got to five, but the whole gym became fucking quiet when Mikhail finally stood up.

He used his old machete when cutting through the tatami mats earlier but this time, he was using his huge fucking ass of a weapon. He was still carrying it with one hand and everyone just made way for him. Furthermore, instead of trying to match Katya's record of five bamboo pieces, he went ahead and placed seven pieces right from the get-go.

There were still two more pegs where he could put nine pieces all-in-all but he figured he'd be more 'conservative'.

It would've been difficult to use a normal axe with test-cutting but the sheer size and shape of his weapon might just make it possible.

Mikhail was about to wind up and swing his weapon, but someone just fucking ruined it.

Bing shouted at the top of his lungs, "STOP! DON'T DO IT YET! I CAN'T HOLD IT IN ANYMORE! I GOTTA PEE SO BAD!"

"YOU'RE STILL HOLDING IT IN?!"

"I--"

It didn't take long before Bing was almost beaten to death while Mikhail had to do the same entrance he did to restore the lost hype.

However, you could hear a pin drop when Mikhail wound his axe around a single revolution before swinging it violently. Furthermore, he used both hands to swing it, adding more force to the swing itself. It just sliced through the air as if it wasn't heavy at all and it came in horizontally, one of the most difficult cuts to perform in test-cutting bamboo.

Long story short, we just had a new record holder.

However, I cut off their celebrations short, "Good job, now do it again."

Mikhail turned to me with a questioning gaze, "What? Again?"

"Yeah, same pieces and same cut. You set the record for most pieces cut, now set the record for the most times doing it successfully. At your level, it's not about succeeding once anymore."