Chapter 642 - 5: Training in Iaido and the Demon Sword Vishnu

Chapter 642: Chapter 5: Training in Iaido and the Demon Sword Vishnu

After speaking, Aoto paused.

Then he took a deep breath and added:

"Just the two of us."

At the moment Aoto’s words fell, Mukiwa’s slender body noticeably stiffened.

She widened her beautiful eyes and stared at Aoto in surprise.

After blinking forcefully a few times, she gradually revealed an excited expression.

"Ah! Okay!"

The excitement on her pretty face turned into a fond smile as she nodded vigorously.

Aoto felt that Mukiwa’s smile was like the sun.

Just one glance and he felt warm all over.

At such close proximity, being smiled at like this, Aoto felt his cheeks growing hot.

"..." Aoto silently raised his teacup again, using the cup and his hand to cover his face.

The indescribable strange atmosphere between Aoto and Mukiwa suddenly dissipated.

Replacing it was a peculiar vibe where if a third person were present, they would surely want to quickly escape from Aoto and Mukiwa’s side.

Under the influence of this atmosphere, Aoto and Mukiwa both averted their gaze.

No longer... or perhaps dared not to look at each other again.

With a cautious expression, Aoto drank tea frantically, yet the tea in the cup didn’t decrease at all.

Mukiwa lowered her head and gaze, staring intently at the wooden corridor in front of her knees, occasionally glancing sidelong at Aoto.

Every time she looked at Aoto, a cute dimple appeared on Mukiwa’s face.

In just a moment, a radiant smile hung on Mukiwa’s face.

She giggled secretly, while cautiously moving her rounded knees closer to Aoto.

But just at this moment—

"...What are you two up to now?"

Whoosh...

The store door at Thousand Affairs House was slowly pushed open...

With a white towel wrapped around his head, wearing a short shirt suitable for labor, holding a large toolbox filled with hammers, nails, saws, etc., a complete carpenter’s outfit, Kiryu did not enter the store.

He stood outside the pushed-open shop door, pursing his lips tightly, sweeping a complex gaze over Aoto and Mukiwa inside the store.

The sudden appearance of Kiryu startled both Aoto and Mukiwa, their bodies simultaneously shuddered.

Mukiwa, who had attempted to get closer to Aoto earlier, reacted the most drastically.

She jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, maintaining a kneeling posture, her knees landing back onto the wooden corridor after hovering about 2 centimeters from the ground.

A seemingly similar scene...

But the situation this time was slightly different from last time.

In this era, for a single young man to invite a similarly single young woman to watch the fireworks festival together... such a thing was indeed difficult to mention to Kiryu, who had a relationship akin to "grandfather and granddaughter" with Mukiwa.

Feeling a nervousness born from a guilty conscience, Aoto’s body instantly tensed, his gaze wandering, not daring to look at Kiryu.

Along with the nervousness, Aoto also felt a bit shocked.

Even though he had the talent of enhanced hearing: "Wind Sensor", he hadn’t heard Kiryu’s approaching footsteps at all...

"Mr. Kiryu...!" Mukiwa hurriedly adjusted her sitting posture, asking Kiryu urgently, "When did you come back?"

"I came back right when you shouted ’Ah! Okay!’"

When mentioning "Ah! Okay!", Kiryu deliberately mimicked Mukiwa’s tone.

Kiryu’s imitating ability was unexpectedly strong!

Though he was already a 92-year-old elder, he could precisely grasp the voice and tone of a young girl’s speech.

Kiryu successfully mimicked Mukiwa’s sentence to an 80 or 90 percent similarity.

Kiryu’s vivid imitation... brought a strong mental shock to the thin-skinned Mukiwa.

Mukiwa froze for a moment, then her face turned extremely red, as if steam was rising from her forehead and the top of her head.

"So what are you up to this time?" Kiryu focused his gaze on Aoto.

There’s no hiding it, it’s impossible to hide from Kiryu... Might as well just say it all directly.

Having mentally prepared himself, Aoto cleared his throat forcefully.

"...Boss Kiryu."

He straightened his back forcefully and spoke to Kiryu with a serious tone.

"On the day of the fireworks festival, I want to take Awu to watch the fireworks."

"Fireworks festival? August 23rd?"

"Yes."

"...Just the two of you?"

"Hmm..." Aoto’s voice got stuck for a moment out of control, "Yes..."

"..."

Kiryu said nothing.

With deep eyes, he scanned back and forth between Aoto and Mukiwa, then sighed heavily..."

"Progress is too fast..."

After mumbling in a voice even wind sensor Aoto couldn’t hear clearly, Kiryu finally entered the door.

"...Thus, be safe. There will be a lot of people at the fireworks festival site. Don’t come back too late."

Kiryu agreed to let Mukiwa and Aoto go watch the fireworks festival together.

Mukiwa, still immersed in the mental shock Kiryu had given her just now, didn’t react.

Until a moment later, Mukiwa belatedly showed joy.

Aoto also showed a relieved and grateful expression almost simultaneously.

After entering the store, Kiryu casually placed the carpenter’s box by the shop door, tore off the white towel from his head, and quickly walked towards the counter.

"Mr. Tachibana."

Sitting at the counter with the "Manager of Thousand Affairs House" posture, Kiryu’s expression returned to normal, no longer staring at Aoto with an oppressive gaze.