I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"...Fourth cousin."

Suddenly, Sanako, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

Since just now, a look of hesitation has been on Sanako's face.

After struggling for a long time on Sanako's cheeks, those hints of hesitation finally "disappeared".

She glanced at Qing Deng a few times, and then, like Qing Deng, cast a stern look at Chiba Tamon Shiro.

“Kid Tachibana is right.”

"You really went too far just now. Shieikan shouldn't be slandered like that by you."

"Please retract your rude remarks."

Sanako's support—this surprised many people, including Aoto.

Aoto turned his gaze and looked at Sanako, who was speaking up for him, with surprise.

Noticing that Aoto was looking at her, Sanako nodded to Aoto, then continued to glare at Chiba Tamon Shiro.

Now, everyone's eyes are focused on Chiba Tamon Shiro.

They were all waiting for Chiba Tamon Shiro's response.

Under everyone's gaze, Chiba Tamon Shiro remained silent for a long time before gritting his teeth.

“...Alright, since you’ve said so, Sanako.”

Chiba Tamon Shiro took a deep breath, then half-closed his eyes and bowed slightly to Aoto and Okita.

"...I'm sorry...I spoke without thinking just now."

"I retract all my previous comments about Shieikan."

After quickly saying this, Chiba Tamon Shiro didn't even glance at Aoto and the others again. He hurriedly led his four companions away, not wanting to linger there any longer.

Chiba Tamon Shiro and his group moved very quickly, and in the blink of an eye, their figures disappeared into the crowd. Seeing that there was no excitement to be had, the onlookers gradually dispersed.

Some people actually left, but others pretended to leave. In reality, they stopped after walking a little distance away from Qing Deng and the others, continuing to "admire" Sanako, who was much prettier than Shirayuki in their eyes, or continuing to secretly observe Qing Deng, whose fame had recently spread to every street and alley in Edo.

After the crowd dispersed, the young priestesses who had been blocked from approaching were finally able to get close to Qing Deng.

Since Chiba Tamon Shiro had already gone far away, these shrine maidens could only reprimand Aoto and the others.

"These guests, arguing and fighting are strictly prohibited inside the shrine! If this continues, we will have to ask you to leave the shrine!"

"Ah, I'm sorry." Chiba Jutaro smiled apologetically at the angry young shrine maidens. "I'm very sorry for causing you trouble."

“We’ll be more careful from now on,” Qing Deng’s voice broke in. He took a step to the side and stood next to Chiba Jutaro.

Sanako then joined in the effort to dismiss the shrine maidens: "I'm so sorry for the trouble I've caused you."

While busy helping Chiba Jutaro and Sanako deal with the shrine maidens, Aoto didn't notice that Okita was staring wide-eyed at him, who had managed to get Chiba Tamon Shiro to retract his derogatory term for Shieikan and apologize with just a few words...

Chapter 95 Qing Deng flirted with three people at the same time

During festivals, the festival site is never short of all kinds of vendors.

Today, all around Yushima Tenmangu Shrine is filled with all sorts of stalls selling snacks, drinks, souvenirs, and more.

At this moment, Aoto, Okita, and Saito are sitting on a bench next to a dessert stall with Chiba Jutaro and Sanako.

“Miss Sanako.” Qing Deng picked up the bowl of sweet soup he had just bought and took a small sip. “So, Chiba Tamon Shiro came here specifically to persuade you to cancel today’s match.”

“Hmm.” Sanako nodded gently, then let out a silent sigh. “My fourth cousin… he’s always been like this.”

Even though Chiba Tamon Shiro had left and there was no more excitement to be had, many people still stayed in the same place or stood in the distance, constantly looking at the beautiful Sanako and the recent celebrity Aoto.

Not wanting to be "observed" like animals by so many people, Qing Deng and the others quickly left the "crime scene" after dismissing the shrine maidens who scolded them for "not arguing or fighting with people in the shrine."

Just now, Chiba Tamon Shiro kept repeating this sentence: Take on the responsibilities that your little Chiba Sword Hall should bear!

What does "the responsibility that Chiba Kenkan should bear" mean? Aoto, who was a little confused about the content and meaning of this sentence, asked Chiba Jutaro and Sanako about this issue when they left the "crime scene" together.

After hearing the siblings' explanation, Aoto finally understood what they meant, and also learned the detailed story of "Sanako being harassed by Chiba Tamon Shiro"—

……

Like their Shieikan, the Chiba Kendo Hall also went to Yushima Tenmangu Shrine early this morning to prepare the competition venue.

Because the Chiba Sword Hall arrived earlier than the Shiei Hall, they had already completed their part of the venue preparation work before the Shiei Hall.

Having done everything they needed to do, the members of the Chiba Kendo Club, with nothing else to do, decided to temporarily disband and find ways to pass the time while waiting for the competition to officially begin.

Chiba Jutaro and Sanako both wanted to appreciate the white plum blossoms that bloom only once a year, so the brother and sister took a walk together in the plum grove of Yushima Tenmangu Shrine.

Halfway through their stroll, Chiba Jutaro suddenly felt a craving for grilled squid and asked Sanako to stay where she was and wait for him while he went to a nearby grilled squid stand to buy some.

As Sanako quietly waited for her brother to return... Chiba Tamon Shiro arrived.

The legendary swordsman Chiba Shusaku, the uncle of Sanako and the founder of the Hokushin Itto-ryu school and the Genbukan in Edo, passed away 5 years ago.

Chiba Shusaku had four sons.

The eldest son, Chiba Kisutaro, had already passed away.

The second son, Chiba Eijiro, entered the service of the Mito Domain in 1853 and no longer resided in Edo.

With the eldest son deceased and the second son having entered into another family's service, the position of the second head of the Hokushin Itto-ryu main family and the head of the Genbukan was inherited by his third son, Chiba Dozaburo, after Chiba Shusaku's passing.

His fourth son, Chiba Tamonshiro, succeeded him as the acting instructor of the Genbukan.

Although Chiba Michizaburo did not have a very good relationship with Shieikan like Sanako and her brother, he never showed any obvious malice towards Shieikan.

But Chiba Tamon Shiro was different.

For a long time, he had shown a very clear aversion to the Shie-gwan... to put it bluntly.

He firmly believed that exchanging sword techniques with such a weak sword school as Shieikan was completely pointless.

If you want to exchange sword techniques, you should go to the training hall of the Shinto Munen-ryu school or the Shigakukan of the Kyōshin Meichi-ryu school, which are at the same level as them.

Practicing swordsmanship at a weak swordsmanship school like Shieikan? That's a complete waste of time!

It is the responsibility of a sword-making school to devote its time to carefully instructing its disciples, rather than wasting time playing games with the Shieikan, which is extremely irresponsible towards the future of its disciples—this is a concept that Chiba Tamon Shiro has always adhered to.

Influenced by this idea, Chiba Tamon Shiro has never stopped opposing the "exchange of swordsmanship with the Shieikan" over the years.

Chiba Tamon Shiro went on a long trip some time ago and only returned to Edo yesterday evening.

Upon returning home to the Edo Genbukan, he learned that the Chiba Kenkan would be competing against the Shieikan during the "Plum Blossom Festival".

Not wanting to see the Chiba Kendo Gym causing trouble again, he dragged several companions to Yushima Tenmangu Shrine early this morning, intending to persuade the Chiba Kendo Gym to withdraw from the competition and stop engaging in such flashy and time-wasting activities with the Shieikan.

He had just led his men to Yushima Tenmangu Shrine when, by sheer coincidence, they ran into Sanako, who was standing under a plum tree waiting for Chiba Jutaro to return with grilled squid.

Since I've run into my cousin who's always been very supportive of exchanging sword techniques with the Shieikan... I might as well take this opportunity to reason with her!

So, he led his companions to surround Sanako in a menacing manner and began to righteously "explain the greater good" to her.

What happened next... Qing Deng and the others already know, so there's no need to elaborate further.

“Tachibana-kun, you really are… quite bold.” Sitting opposite Aoto, Chiba Jutaro took a big gulp of the sugar water in his bowl, then grinned and gave Aoto a smile with complicated emotions. “Just now, when I heard you make the usually arrogant Domon take back what he just said, I was so shocked that I didn’t know what to do with my hands and feet.”

"Weren't you afraid that Brother Domen would scoff at your request or do something humiliating to you?"

“To be honest, I was worried.” Qing Deng gave a bitter smile. “But in front of so many people, he slandered Shiwei Hall, which had been kind to me. No matter what, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t hear what he said.”

Putting aside the "master-disciple relationship" of carefully teaching him swordsmanship, the kindness of Kondo and the others in providing timely assistance to him and Saito when they were homeless, allowing them to stay temporarily at the Shieikan, was enough to make Aoto resolutely uphold the dignity of the Shieikan.

“When I told him to ‘wait a minute,’ I was actually prepared for a very unpleasant argument with him… even to the point of drawing my sword against him.”

"But fortunately—that person wasn't completely unyielding."

Aoto attributed the main reason why Chiba Tamon Shiro had just given in to the fact that he was a reasonable person and not someone who could not be persuaded.

Persuading Chiba Tamon Shiro went surprisingly smoothly.

Qing Deng had prepared for all sorts of worst-case scenarios, so being able to persuade Chiba Tamon Shiro to admit his mistake so easily was an unexpected surprise.

After hearing Aoto's words that "the Shieikan has been slandered and cannot be ignored," Chiba Jutaro was stunned for a moment, and then a hint of admiration slowly appeared in his eyes as he looked at Aoto.

There was another person whose expression changed after hearing what Qing Deng had just said—Okita, who was sitting behind Qing Deng, holding a bowl in both hands and silently drinking sweet soup, now looked gloomy…

"...Tachibana-kun, Souji, I'm really sorry about what happened earlier."

At this moment, Sanako suddenly stood up, bowed slightly to Aoto, and a faint look of shame appeared on her cheeks.

“When my fourth cousin spoke rudely to the Imperial Examination Hall, my brother and I should have immediately spoken up to stop him and made him retract his rude remarks.”

"I am truly sorry for the unpleasant experience you had."

Seeing Sanako suddenly stand up and apologize to Aoto and the others, Chiba Jutaro, who was sitting next to her, was stunned for a moment. Then, belatedly, he put down the sugar water in his hand, stood up, and bowed to Aoto and the others along with Sanako.

Looking at the two siblings standing side by side in front of him, apologizing to him and Okita, Aoto smiled helplessly: "Don't be like that, please sit down."

"Chiba Tamon Shiro has retracted his statement and apologized to us."

"The matter is over, so let's stop apologizing."

After some strong persuasion from Aoto, Chiba Jutaro and Sanako finally sat back down on the bench.

Because they had been talking about Chiba Tamon Shiro, the atmosphere around them was heavy.

To dispel the heavy, uncomfortable atmosphere, Qingdeng took the initiative to bring up a new topic:

"Miss Sanako." Qing Deng looked at Sanako's rather practical kendo uniform. "Are you... also participating in this afternoon's competition?"

"Hahaha." Chiba Jutaro chuckled. "Tachibana-kun, don't you know? Sanako really loves 'battle games'."

"She never misses any 'battle game' that she can participate in."

“When she was very young, she would often take me and a few of my cousins ​​and the neighborhood kids to play ‘battle games’ in the yard behind our house.”

"Zanako is very competitive."

"Once they lose, they cry and insist on fighting again until they win."

“Brother.” Sanako suddenly turned her eyes to the side and glared at Chiba Jutaro with a sharp look.

She warned Chiba Jutaro with her actions and eyes: he was not allowed to talk about her embarrassing past anymore.

After receiving Sanako's silent warning, Chiba Jutaro's lips twitched subconsciously, and he awkwardly tried to change the subject while chuckling awkwardly...

……