Jack’s hands were slippery with sweat. He tried to remember the moves: the footwork, the parry, the block, the strike. He readied himself, but Yamato struck first. He knocked Jack’s bokken aside and slammed his own down on to Jack’s exposed fingers. Jack cried out in shock and pain, dropping his bokken.

‘Too slow,’ said Yamato, a sadistic smile spreading across his face. ‘I could see you thinking the move before you made it.’

Jack bent to pick up his weapon. His fingers throbbed and he had difficulty closing his hand round the bokken. He gritted his teeth and lined up his kissaki again.

This time, he saw Yamato’s bokken twitch and instinctively stepped backwards to evade the first cut. Yamato brought his bokken round for a second time and Jack, more by luck than design, blocked his strike. This infuriated Yamato who piled in with a vicious thrust, which Jack only managed to avoid by twisting away. Yamato hit Jack hard across the back. The blow sent Jack to his knees, his kidneys flaring up in pain and his lungs feeling like they had collapsed.

‘Two–nothing,’ gloated Yamato as Jack writhed on the ground in agony. ‘A bit of advice. Never turn your back on your opponent.’

‘Enough, Yamato,’ broke in Akiko. ‘He doesn’t know how to fight with a bokken yet. He cannot defend himself!’

Winded and stiff with pain, Jack dragged himself to his feet, using the bokken as a crutch. He refused to give in. This was the actual moment he had to prove himself. He’d always known he wouldn’t win, but he had to draw the line for when they stopped, not Yamato. With an effort, he raised his sword.

Yamato looked dumbfounded.

‘Don’t be stupid. Best out of three. I won.’

‘What? Scared I might beat you?’

The direct challenge spurred Yamato into action and he instantly fell into guard.

Knowing Yamato was watching for telltale signs of his first move, Jack feigned a strike to the left like he had seen the warrior Godai do with the nodachi on the beach. Yamato went to block it and Jack switched offensive, bringing his bokken round hard to the right.

Yamato was thrown off-guard and had to block awkwardly, so much so that Jack’s sword cut across his right hand. Inflamed by the unexpected contact, Yamato retaliated with a flurry of blows. They rained down on Jack, who managed to avoid the first two and miraculously block the third, but the fourth cracked Jack across the face.

It was as if someone had cut the connection between his brain and the rest of his body. His legs crumpled and he collapsed to the floor. His head rang in agony and little flashes of light sparked across his eyes.