Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

"It's that simple."

"Sugita-senpai."

Kai Uesugi greeted Sugita Sohei, who was wearing a white coat, politely.

Hanabi Hanamaru, who was standing next to him, also bowed her head slightly and said obediently, "Excuse me."

Sugita Sohei politely returned the greeting to the two men, only to realize that he did not recognize the girl standing next to Uesugi Kai.

He looked up and asked, "And who is this?"

"Fireworks are—"

Sugita Sakura interrupted Uesugi Kai, answering for him, "She is Uesugi-senpai's younger sister."

Hanabi Hanabi paused for a moment, then waved her hand and said, "No...no..."

She thought about it again, then realized something was amiss, and added, "It seems...that's true..."

No, and yes.

So is that right?

Sugita Sakura's mind was extremely quick and agile. She raised an eyebrow at Uesugi Kai: "Uesugi-senpai's adopted sister?"

Adopted sister?

Uesugi Kai thought back a little and realized that when they were in kindergarten, he used to feed Hanabi lunch, so he was like a half-older brother to her.

“That’s right.” He readily agreed.

Sugita Sakura's gaze toward him became somewhat strange.

"My name is Hanabi Hanamaru, nice to meet you." Hanabi Hanamaru clasped her hands together on her skirt, leaned forward about 15 degrees, and gave a very ordinary but cute greeting.

“Sugita Sakura.” She returned the greeting.

"Sutita Sohei, nice to meet you."

Compared to his younger sister, Sugita Sohei was more polite and well-mannered, and every movement he made felt natural and comfortable.

Kai Uesugi knew that this was the temperament he had developed from practicing archery for a long time; he seemed to have integrated the word "righteousness" into his life.

"Sakura, did you tell Uesugi-kun what we need?"

Sugita Sakura shrugged at her older brother: "Not yet."

Sugita Sohei did not speak.

As expected of siblings, she quickly understood what her older brother meant.

She pointed to the waiting area in the corner behind her and said to Hanabi, "Hanamaru-san, please sit there. There's morning tea and cookies."

Hanabi Hanabi looked in the direction she pointed and saw a clean coffee table and a beige sofa, all neat and tidy.

She nodded gently, her voice soft and sweet: "Thank you..."

Girls have their own topics of conversation. Seeing that Hanabi and Sugita Sakura were having a good chat, Uesugi Kai continued to choose her own yumi (Japanese bow).

Opening the glass display case, Sugita Sohei took out a sword that Uesugi Kai had just seen—the Sugita Seiya.

"As an archer, I still prefer the bamboo bow."

The bow was strung, and the vine-colored string was slightly offset to the right, not parallel to the bow shaft.

Although Uesugi Kai didn't understand the reason, based on his experience shooting so many arrows, he knew that a bowstring angled slightly to the right could improve shooting accuracy.

Holding a brightly colored bamboo bow that was seven feet three inches long in his left hand, Sugita Sohei continued to explain:

"Due to the material, bamboo bows are easily deformed and cracked by environmental and weather conditions. If not properly maintained, they have a short lifespan and are also quite expensive, making them not the best choice for beginners."

"No redeeming qualities?" Uesugi Kai asked.

"The advantages are that it is light and beautiful," Sugita Sohei explained succinctly. "These are the actual advantages. Compared with the fiberglass bows and carbon fiber bows that appeared later, the bamboo bow has more cultural significance, and the shooting pattern is more beautiful and aesthetically pleasing."

“A graceful shooting pattern is a very important point in the rank assessment. High-ranking priests and archers will not use non-bamboo bows.”

Uesugi Kai understood what he meant: "So, when it comes to taking the ranking exam, using a bamboo bow will be more favored?"

“Sort of, but what I value most is the archery skill of the person themselves,” Sugita Sohei handed the bamboo bow to Uesugi Kai. “I strung the string with special care, give it a try.”

Uesugi Kai took the bamboo bow, which was taller than him, and looked up at the end of the bow.

"So light." He kept looking at the bamboo bow, that was his first impression of it.

The bright-colored bamboo bow has a long, slender trunk, longer at the top and shorter at the bottom.

At about two-thirds of the way through, that is, at both ends of the bow, there are flax-colored ropes tied together. These two positions are called the vine head and the vine below the grip.

The entire bow is about 2.3 meters long, which is longer than the longbow that Uesugi Kai made contact with at the bow passage.

Sugita Sohei: "This bamboo bow has a 'four-inch length' (approximately 233cm), a full draw distance of 97cm, a maximum draw weight of 21kg, relatively low vibration, and a moderate bow recovery speed."

"It was made by my grandfather not long ago."

21kg?

Upon hearing this, Uesugi Kai decisively abandoned the idea of ​​drawing the bowstring fully with bare hands.

This is much greater than the 14kg bow force he usually pulls.

However, he still tried to pull the open string slightly.

Gya——n

The sharp, low-pitched tone was different from the high-pitched tones he had encountered before.

Sugita Sohei: "The bowstring is a composite string called 'Heavenly Bow - Emerald,' which has a sharp tone, a flexible body, and is easy to string."

Uesugi Kai's action of pulling the string steadied him, and he said slowly:

"This bow is for you."

Stopping his bowstring-drawing motion, Uesugi Kai did not readily accept the offer, but instead asked, "Why?"

110,000 yen is enough for his food expenses for several months.

"An archer needs a good bow."

Sugita Sohei closed the glass of the booth. "Actually, you don't need too many requirements to choose a bow. You just need to know its characteristics, and if you like it, that's enough."

His tone was as composed as his demeanor.

"Fate is very important. As long as the archer holds the bow in his hand, he will adapt to it, feel it, and make it more suitable for the archer himself."

“But that doesn’t justify my accepting such a favor from my senior,” Uesugi Kai said.

"Because I admire you, Uesugi-kun."

Sugita Sohei looked at him and said, "Of course, I have my own reasons for giving you this bow. I heard from Masaya that you want to participate in the National Archery Championship."

"Then you should know about my performance in that national competition."

"do not know."

"..."

Uesugi Kai was telling the truth: "But I've only heard a little about it."

Chapter Ninety-Four: A Rainy Weekend

If the brief moment when rain falls from the sky is joy, then the moment it falls to the earth and flows into puddles is loss.

Although I couldn't discern anything unusual in Sugita Sohei's expression, his words still carried a sense of regret.

“Our family has a tradition of archery since the Edo period. This profession has been passed down through generations. My grandfather was an archer, my father was an archer, and as the eldest son, I must also inherit this tradition.”

“I have been exposed to archery since I was a child, and after practicing it for so long, I can say that I have achieved some success.”

"Because Sakura is a girl, she has a much more comfortable life than I do."

Sugita Sohei glanced at the two girls sitting next to each other at the waiting area, then continued speaking to Uesugi Kai:

"I won't go into the rest, but it's nothing more than my strict father demanding that I learn archery, which is all very normal."

Having heard about his senior's failure to even make it into the top ten nationwide, Uesugi Kai, whose intelligence was rated 8, began to deduce his senior's so-called selfish motives:

"Is it because you regret not being able to win the archery championship in the national tournament, and therefore need me to help you carry on this vision?"

He raised the elegant bamboo bow in his right hand.

"So you gave me this bamboo bow worth 110000 yen?"

Just as Sugita Sohei was about to continue speaking, he was interrupted by him. After patiently listening to what he had to say, he composed himself and asked:

Why would you think that?

"Isn't that how most plots develop?" Uesugi Kai countered.

"..."

"The dream of archery should not be inherited by others; it is something to strive for throughout one's life."

Sugita Sohei's expression remained unchanged, and he continued, "I can tell that you're not very interested in archery. I gave you the bamboo bow because I didn't want you to give up on archery training; it would be such a waste of your talent."

"..."

"I think I've worked pretty hard." It's tiring, but Uesugi Kai hasn't given up on learning archery yet, and drawing a bow and shooting arrows is still quite enjoyable.

"After completing the basic training, you just slack off every day, only occasionally shooting a couple of arrows when you want to relax. Compared to your peers, it's too easy for you."

Uesugi Kai sensed a hint of contempt in his words.

Sugita Sohei: "If it weren't for your rapid progress in archery, I would really like to drag you to the shooting position every day and have you shoot two hundred arrows before leaving."

Even if you shoot two hundred arrows, the bow will break and the arrow will break. Uesugi Kai knew that his senior was joking.

But he still had doubts and asked:

"What were you talking about just now, senior?"

"I'm participating in the national championships?"

Sugita Sohei explained, "That was to tell you that I have experience in this area, so you don't need to worry about participating in the competition, just practice your bow."

He then went on to explain: