Masaru's grin is fractionally wider. He's clearly getting into the swing of things now.

Koutarou's leg sweep isn't really an unexpected move; while not the only counter from this situation, it's certainly a logical one. So Masaru propelled himself into the air over the sweep, his feet just barely clearing the arc of Koutarou's attack.

This did leave him in a bit of a pickle with the elbow, though. He had no leverage of his own for those precious seconds in the air. And while it wouldn't draw blood, elbows bloody well stung when they hit you in the gut.

So instead of fighting the elbow strike, he used it. Masaru's free hand placed itself between his midsection and the elbow. As soon as their limbs touched, Masaru began pushing back. This left him in a position where he could not give a counter-strike, but he was perfectly capable of using this clash of muscle to push himself further into the air, this time at an angle to land several feet away.

When he stops, he takes a moment to roll his free arm's shoulder and shake out the hand a bit. Then he cracked his neck to the side and let that hand fall to his belt, to rest on the hilt of his wakizashi...

And suddenly he was moving at Koutarou with speed, the short blade being quick-drawn in a reverse grip slash that would take it almost horizontal across his collarbone area. The katana flashed out to swat the Vice-Captain's sword further away, leaving him more open and requiring him to either take the slash or back away.