@Entryhazard
I don't think it
was that long ago. The loss could have been as recently as the last year of middle school.
She says they started as kids in the same dojo. "A kid" is like what, eight years old. They're sixteen now. If they did Judo together for three years and Nagatoro stopped at eleven, sure, she has no chance. But would she still be as hung up over it in that case?
But most importantly, Orihara herself clearly thinks that Nagatoro can still give her a good match. She wouldn't do that if their last match was five years ago and Nagatoro had no chance of winning whatsoever - that'd be like making fun of her. For someone who fought Nagatoro on a regular basis in the dojo, one year could easily qualify as "it's been a while". She doesn't even seem to be aware that Nagatoro basically quit Judo since then, and that definitely puts a limit on how long ago it could have been. There's no chance that Orihara had five years to get further ahead. Two years,
at most.
That means they did Judo together for far longer than they didn't, and it took
all of that time for Orihara to come close enough to Nagatoro in terms of technique to spot a weakness and win,
just once. Chances are at that point Nagatoro was actually still the better fighter in terms of technique! They just reached a point where their match-up had moved to 1-9 instead of 0-10. Sure, she hasn't competed for a while, and that likely tilts the scales in Orihara's favor. But there is no evidence to suggest that the matchup flipped all the way to 10-0 in the
other direction.
Don't drink Nagatoro's kool-aid. She's rationalized her way into believing it was hopeless after just
one loss and has been running ever since. Her thinking is driven by emotion, not reason. She is not a reliable source. Orihara's attitude is a far better indicator. If she thinks Nagatoro is still an exciting opponent, that's enough for me. Hell, Nagatoro is likely the entire reason she still bothers with the high school tournament.