Whatever efforts Alric takes to keep it civil, Hijikata's fully capable of reading between the lines. He wonders if he's naturally a very circuitous person, slightly disingenuous, or just one of those respectful of authority types-- well, time will tell.

And the boy isn't wrong, certainly. At least not on all points. "Modern kendo is sport-oriented, largely. Even in the modern version, certain limitations present in Western fencing don't exist -- the target area is limited to the armored areas in a proper match, but there's no pausing after a hit or an off-target to reset the starting positions. Movement isn't limited to a thin strip. It's more forceful, and more physically demanding.

"And..." He shrugged, very slightly. "The sport version isn't typically my concern. I teach it largely as a style of self-defense." And in that, he was open to adapting it away from the proper competition rules, though naturally he was as strict about safe training as any of the combat teachers