Chapter 9: Brother and Sister
Editor: Atlas Studios
Kiryuu Kazuma had just finished his meal. He watched as his sister cleared the table.
In Japan, women had a lower status than men. As long as Kazuma did not request to wash the dishes, Chiyoko would never let him do it.
In his past life, Kazuma often heard the older generation say that they wanted to earn American wages, eat Chinese food, and marry a Japanese wife.
From the looks of it now, what the elders had said made some sense. Kazuma came from an era where he would often be challenged by feminists. Therefore, when he saw Chiyoko voluntarily clearing the table and washing the dishes, he felt that she was really cute.
After putting away the bowls and chopsticks, Chiyoko began to change the offerings in front of their parents' tablets.
After renewing the tribute, she clasped her hands together with a serious expression.
A few seconds later, Chiyoko was done with her prayer. She picked up the metal rod beside the memorial tablet and gently knocked on the small copper bowl to the left of the tablet. It was a Buddhist instrument in Japan.
A crisp "ding" echoed in the small dining room.
Kazuma leaned forward and pretended to be paying tribute as well.
Although he had inherited the original owner Kiryuu Kazuma's memories, his soul still belonged to the Chinese man, Wang Jian. He knew that those memories with the Kiryuu family were precious, but he would still put himself in the position of an outsider.
If he were the real Kiryuu Kazuma, he would probably have sided with his sister to protect this dojo that carried all those memories.
However, as the Chinese man Wang Jian, he only wanted to sell the dojo and use the money to kick-start his grand journey as a transmigrator.
Kazuma completely understood Chiyoko's anger. To Chiyoko, her "brother" was a traitor.
Kazuma looked at the photo of their parents in the shrine and said sincerely in his heart, "I want to sell the dojo so that my sister and I can live a happy life. I can also protect her better that way. I hope you won't blame me."
Before he was done praying, Chiyoko turned around to look at him. Then, she said, "Brother, I am sorry for getting mad at you in front of an outsider."
Kazuma was confused for a moment before he finally understood.
Right now, Kiryuu Kazuma, who was also Wang Jian, was the assistant coach of the dojo. He was also the head of the family. Any woman in the family, be it his sister or wife, must not disrespect him in front of outsiders.
Kazuma was in shock. Japan was indeed a country that discriminated against women.
"It's fine." Kazuma shook his head. "If possible, I also want to keep the dojo and the memories that came with it."
Of course, it was a lie. But sometimes, there was no harm in telling some white lies.
After all, Kazuma quite liked his sister.
Chiyoko fulfilled all of Kazuma's fantasies about a sister as long as the dojo was not concerned.
Chiyoko stared at Kazuma. Her straightforward gaze made Kazuma feel a little self-conscious.
"Big liar," Chiyoko whispered.
"Uh… W-Well…"
Kazuma wanted to explain himself, but he was interrupted by Chiyoko. "I know, selling it is the best way to go. I just… need a little more time."
Kazuma secretly felt relieved.
'Very good. At least now there's a glimmer of hope. Previously, Chiyoko did not want to sell it at all. She'd fly into a rage as soon as she heard the word "sell."'
Judging from the current situation, Kazuma felt that even if he had secretly signed the contract, Chiyoko would not jump down from the Tokyo Tower.
Therefore, Kazuma planned to secretly sign the agreement with Sumitomo Construction tomorrow…
Chiyoko went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
As Kazuma thought about it, he could not help but start to ponder how to deal with the huge sum of 70 million yen that he was about to receive—even though it was just Japanese yen.
This was right before the time when the Japanese economic bubble would burst. Any investment could bring about ten times the return.
While he was daydreaming about becoming the Prime Minister of Japan, Chiyoko came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes and stood in front of Kazuma.
"Come practice with me."
"Sure." Kazuma agreed without hesitation. Then, he remembered that he had not used his skill to check his sister's number.
He took a deep breath and focused his attention on Chiyoko.
Rishin Style 4.
Huh?
Kazuma confirmed his own number. That's right, Rishin Style 3. His Shinto Style abilities had been brought forward from his former life.
'Hold up! After all this, was Kiryuu Kazuma even weaker than his own sister, Kiryuu Chiyoko?'
'Then why did Kazuma inherit the dojo? Was it just because he was male?'
'No way!'
'In Rurouni Kenshin, Kaoru inherited the dojo even though she was a woman. Are comics full of lies?'
Kazuma was puzzled, but Chiyoko could not read his mind.
"Brother?" Chiyoko called out as Kazuma stood rooted to the ground. "Shouldn't we be heading to the dojo if we are going to practice? Why are you standing here?"
"Oh, right. Let's go to the dojo." Kazuma recovered from his shock and turned toward the dojo.
At the same time, he was thinking about the situation.
'No wonder Chiyoko was so surprised when she saw me use Tsuki. It turns out that she has always been stronger than her brother. Then, she was surprised to see her brother use a move that was not under the Rishin Style…'
That's indeed surprising.
Kazuma pondered as he opened the door of the dojo. He asked Chiyoko casually, "You said you were going to teach your club members how to perform Tsuki. Could they do it?"
"Don't mention it. Your Tsuki move is so hard to learn. I didn't know it until I taught the others. If you are not careful enough, you will trip on your other foot as you charge forward. Today, Mie fell just like that. It made her nose bleed."
"I see." Kazuma took a bamboo sword from the rack on the side of the dojo and threw it to Chiyoko. He then drew one for himself too.
Although there were no students at the dojo now, Chiyoko had been maintaining the communal bamboo swords.
The first time Kazuma met Chiyoko after his transmigration was at this very dojo. At that time, she was applying oil to the communal bamboo swords.
At that time, Kazuma had not yet fully received the original owner's memories and did not know that she was his sister. So, he'd looked at Chiyoko's beautiful side profile and indulged in his fantasies for a long time.
Kazuma sized up the bamboo sword. It was in perfect condition, which clearly showed that a lot of effort had been put into maintaining it.
This was all done by Chiyoko.
Chiyoko was also looking at the bamboo sword that Kazuma had passed to her, looking like she was reminiscing about the past. Suddenly, she said, "Do you still remember the first time I dismantled a bamboo sword?"
Kazuma immediately found the corresponding memories in his mind. It could only be said that he "found" the memories instead of "recalled" them, because he still felt detached from his past. It felt more like he was "reading" it as if he was flipping through an old book with yellowed pages.
"Are you talking about the time when you were cut by the sharp bamboo pieces after you dissembled the sword?"
"Yes, that time. Then, I lost my temper and wanted to break the sword. In the end, I hit my knee and it swelled up. Dad heard my cries and rushed in. He thought that you were bullying me and slapped you without asking anything…"
Kazuma smiled. Although this was not his memory, he could still feel the residual emotions from "looking back."
Chiyoko stared at the bamboo sword for a few seconds. Then, she took a deep breath and a serious expression appeared on her face.
She stared straight at Kazuma. "I feel that my brother has changed. It's as if you are a different person now."
"Maybe it's because the price offered by Sumitomo Construction is too high," Kazuma replied. He had already thought of an excuse for that question. It was normal for his sister, who had been spending time with him day and night, to notice that there was something different about her brother.
Kazuma attributed the "change" to money. This should be the most acceptable explanation at this stage.
"I wanted to say, 'How can my feelings for the dojo be measured by money? You are insulting me.' But their offer is really irresistible," Kazuma added. That's a line from the comic Baki the Grappler.
Speaking of which, it was 1980, and the author of Baki the Grappler, Keisuke Itagaki, was probably still a tank driver in the infantry…
Chiyoko smiled.
"I didn't know that you had a greedy side to you."
Chiyoko held up the bamboo sword and bowed to Kazuma. Then, she got into position and put the sword at her waist level.
"Come at me, Brother. I want to vent all the unhappiness I've accumulated today!"
Kazuma frowned. "By beating up your brother?"
"If I were to beat you up with you not fighting back, it would only give me more stress." Chiyoko smiled. "Please spar with me, Brother."
Kazuma shrugged, then bowed to Chiyoko. Theoretically, both parties should bow to each other at the same time, but private practice was not an official competition, so there was no need to pay attention to such details.
Kazuma got into the starting position too.
In fact, he preferred
However, before he had transmigrated, his Shinto master Hasegawa Masato once said about his strength, "If you want to learn iaido, I'm afraid you'll have to practice for another five years."
Now that he had a cheat, he wondered when he would be able to learn the iaido skills.
Master Hasegawa had once demonstrated the Shinto Style's iaido. It was extremely fast. Kazuma remembered that there were two styles that were faster than the Shinto Style, and they were the Muso Style and…
Kazuma suddenly forgot the name of the other style.
Just as Kazuma was trying hard to recall, he suddenly noticed that Chiyoko had a note on her.
The words were red and burning like fire.
"Solitude and determination."
It looked like a positive buff.
Soon after, Kazuma realized that staring at the note with full attention would reveal more detailed explanations.
The explanation for the burning note on Chiyoko went, "Determined to show all her abilities, no longer hiding her strength. Even if it means embarrassing her brother, she wants to protect those precious memories."
'F*ck, didn't you say that you only needed some time to think it through?'
Kazuma understood that if he lost to her today, he would never be able to persuade her to sell the dojo. He might have to spend years dealing with the yakuza in the future.
On second thought, Kazuma felt that this was not a bad idea. It would be a good opportunity for him to see how much this determination buff could affect her strength.
Based on the numbers alone, Kazuma was Rishin Style 3 and Shinto Style 6, while Chiyoko was Rishin Style 4. In theory, Kazuma would have no problem defeating Chiyoko.
The note on her seemed to be a positive buff. It was a good opportunity for Kazuma to see how much enhancement it could bring.
Kiryuu Kazuma took another deep breath and straightened his face. He was prepared to go all out to beat up his sister.
He decided to attack first. In the next second, he took a step forward and swung his arms. It was another skill out of the three that he had obtained from the cheat—the Upper Combo Slash!
-- Gift
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