I am in Mihua, and the ladies all like me

"C-Cold?"

Xiaolan, who didn't have a cold at all but just felt body aches, was stunned for a moment, then she blinked and quickly reacted.

"Oh, yes, the cold... the cold is basically gone, there's no problem now."

"Really."

Since the other party said that there was no problem, Sera Masumi didn't ask any more questions.

At an angle that no one else could see, Xiaolan blushed slightly as she put her hands behind her back, and intentionally or unintentionally covered the lower center of the round curve outlined by the beige hip-hugging sweater.

It’s all Sera’s fault. He said that proper exercise can speed up lactic acid metabolism, which made her feel weird when she got up in the morning to go to the bathroom these two days.

Although it does have some effect www.

Chapter 582: Fighting Mrs. Suzuki for a man

The competition starts at 9:00 a.m. Spectators can enter half an hour in advance, while contestants can enter ten minutes in advance.

From the first elimination round to the semi-finals before the finals, all were held in the palace halfway up the mountain.

Although it is called a palace, it actually only looks like a palace in appearance. The interior is similar to the Naniwa Gymnasium where Serabelle and others went during the winter vacation to watch Hattori Heiji's kendo competition.

There are stepped viewing platforms on all four sides, and the competition venue is in the middle below.

Cheers and encouragement came from all directions like a mountain torrent and tsunami, and the huge venue was extremely lively.

"Next, please invite the contestants to enter in an orderly manner!"

On the podium, the host in charge of reading the words announced loudly.

As these words resounded throughout the stadium, the gate to the contestant entrance below the audience seats slowly opened to both sides, and hundreds of karuta players in kimono slowly poured out of it. After exiting the passage, they quickly dispersed in all directions, looking for the competition venue they had selected by lottery before.

“He Ye…He Ye…Ah, I got it!”

Hattori Heiji stretched his neck and looked down, trying to find his childhood sweetheart in the crowd.

Of course, he found her, but when he saw the image of Kazuha in the crowd, Hattori Heiji almost vomited blood on the spot.

There is no other reason.

Like other contestants, they all entered the venue wearing kimonos, which they either brought from home or rented at the competition venue.

Only Kazuha...went up directly wearing a set of Aikido training clothes!

Is he planning to put psychological pressure on his opponent by showing that he is a martial artist?

Yes, after all, there are many joint techniques in Aikido, such as the small hand return. This training suit is equivalent to directly warning the opponent that if he grabs the cards and engages in close combat, he will directly break the opponent's wrist.

May I ask, do you want this card or your wrist?

This is scary...

"He Ye! Come on!"

Meimoto Mirai, who also saw her friend appear below, waved her unbroken arm and cheered loudly.

The voice rolled down from the audience seats. The Osaka girl, who had already arrived at the designated competition location in the center of the competition venue, heard the familiar voice coming from behind her and subconsciously looked back in the direction.

The moment he glanced at his friend, although he had some complaints about the high-intensity training in the past few days, he still smiled and waved in response.

So soon the first round of the competition began.

Then the first round was over.

The result ended with He Ye easily killing his opponent in seconds.

"Oh my, what a scary woman..."

In the audience, Hattori Heiji, who watched the entire first round of his childhood sweetheart's competition without blinking, couldn't help but let a drop of cold sweat fall on his forehead.

Because he practiced kendo, his eyesight was better than that of ordinary people, so he could see everything clearly from the high place just now.

He Ye was so ruthless during the competition, his moves were quick, accurate and fierce, and he used all his strength. When he was grabbing the cards, his slap almost drowned out the sounds of all the other groups in the venue. His opponent, who was planning to fight back, was so scared that he subconsciously retracted his claws for fear of being kissed by the hydraulic press.

Then came the second round, the third round...

The morning schedule lasted until the fourth round of eliminations, with each round lasting half an hour. At exactly 11 o'clock in the morning, the elimination rounds, which originally had 400 people, were finally reduced to only 25 people.

Despite several twists and turns along the way, He Ye has survived so far.

The afternoon competition does not start until one o'clock, and the two hours in between are enough for the contestants and spectators to go down the mountain to eat and take a rest.

The view turns to the gate of the palace where the knockout rounds are held.

In the midday sun, Hattori Heiji looked at the crowd in the square in front of the palace rushing down the mountain, then turned and waved his finger at Serabelle and others behind him.

"Okay, let's go down the mountain and eat."

"Let's go..."

Serabelle naturally had no objection and nodded, about to agree.

But at this moment, the familiar voice of the Kyoto girl suddenly came from not far to the side.

"Please stay."

"Eh? Is that... Miss Ooka?"

Looking back, they saw that it was Ooka Momiji who called them, and behind her was the stern-looking butler Iori Muga.

"it's me."

Smiling politely at the others, Ooka Momiji ignored Sera Masumi's vigilant gaze as if she was a little tiger protecting its food and Ran's suppressed look of displeasure behind her, and walked straight to Serabelle.

"Considering today's busy schedule, there will probably be no time for us to meet after the elimination rounds in the afternoon. There is something I want to say here first."

"what?"

"You two days ago asked me about the cause of Mr. Nagoro's disappearance and the discrepancy between what President Achiba said and what I heard. After the finals, I will personally confront President Achiba about it."

"Is this convenient?" Serabel wondered.

"Well~ After all, the finals will be held at Gaoyue Hall on this mountain. President Achiba will read the cards on site, and there will be cameras broadcasting the entire process, so it will be very convenient as long as we can make it to the finals."

Ooka Hongye raised the corners of her lips slightly.

“It may not be easy for other players to get into the finals, but for me… it’s not difficult.”

"Really? Then I'll leave it to you, Ms. Ooka!"

After all, it was something he wanted to know, so without waiting for Serabell to speak, Hattori Heiji took the initiative to step forward and thank her.

Ooka Hongye covered her mouth and chuckled: "Nothing, now that we have said everything, I will leave now."

After saying that, she turned around and left with Iori Muga.

Seeing that the other party left so decisively, Hattori Heiji was so stunned that he patted Serabel's shoulder beside him.

"Hey, Sera, were you dumped by that young lady?"

“…What are you talking about?”

"No, that's not what I meant. I just think that given Miss Ooka's aggressive nature, shouldn't she just take you out to eat alone at this time?"

"...Don't ask me."

Feeling the increasingly fierce murderous aura coming from the two women behind her, Serabell quickly cut off the topic.

On the other side, Iori Muga, who had not yet walked far away and was following Ooka Momiji, heard faint conversations behind him and coughed softly.

"Miss, you haven't confirmed that matter with him yet?"

"Well, not yet."

Ooka Momiji looked straight ahead with a smile on her face.

"Although you already know the answer without asking me. After all, when I mentioned Miss Suzuki, Sera-kun directly gave a negative answer. You have to know that the Suzuki Group is not a charity scouting organization. If you really don't have a close enough relationship with them, how could you publish relevant information in the newspaper so loudly before? Isn't it just giving people gossip for nothing?"

"So after thinking about it, there is only one answer."

"It can't be with that Mrs. Suzuki..."

Having said that, a look of slight surprise appeared on Iori Muga's usually stern face.

"Well."

Ooka Hongye waved her hand to stop him from continuing.

"I will pretend I don't know about this matter. Let's talk about it after everything is over. For now, my focus still has to be on the competition."

Chapter 583: After All, There Was No Way to Escape the Bomb

After lunch, the afternoon games continued as normal.

Since there were 25 players who entered the sixth round of eliminations in the morning, it meant that there would be one player who would be given a bye in every round from the sixth round onwards until the semi-finals.

Unfortunately, He Ye did not get a bye in the first round in the afternoon.

"Then the sixth round of the Gaoyue Cup elimination match begins!"

As the referee's voice came through the radio in the palace, the first round of the afternoon's competition officially began.

After five consecutive rounds of high-intensity elimination matches in the morning, most of the less powerful contestants among the 400 people who had originally registered for the competition were eliminated, and almost all those who are still standing on the field are qualified to advance to the finals without exception.

This put a lot of pressure on He Ye.

Compared with other contestants, she is at best a latecomer. Although karuta is still popular in Kyoto and Osaka, ten years ago, almost every child in every household knew a little bit about it.

But she only knew "a little bit". If she hadn't been given special training by Mirai in the past three days, she might not have been able to last even the five rounds of eliminations in the morning and would have finished directly.

Fortunately, He Ye still has the advantage at the moment.

Because her greatest reliance is her reaction ability and physical fitness developed from years of practicing Aikido.

To put it simply, those who have a better foundation in karuta than her are not as fast as her. It is very likely that just when their eyes fall on the correct karuta and are about to make a move, they find that a claw in the training suit has flashed by and knocked the karuta away right under their noses.

As for those with faster hands than her... well, at the moment, no one can be faster than her.

This is how we got through the sixth round of eliminations, then the seventh, eighth, and ninth rounds...

As if by a miracle, including a bye in the eighth round, He Ye managed to hold on.

Just like a small boat in a storm at sea, it seemed that it could be destroyed and sunk by a wave at any time, but she finally made it to the finals.

By the time the semi-finals ended, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon.

At this time, there were only two people left on the field who had not been eliminated. One of them was Kazuha, and the other one was, without a doubt, Ooka Koye.

After defeating the opponents they met in the semi-finals, the two walked into the exits in different directions and left.

The referee's voice once again spread throughout the stadium through the radio.

"Then the final will be held in an hour, and the entire process will be broadcast live on the big screen here. Please take a break."

This one-hour break is more for the contestants than for the audience.

After all, they had played nine elimination matches in a row, and even the most skilled karuta players could not ignore the physical drain.

It is not a big deal to leave an hour before the final to whet the audience's appetite, but it would be funny if the players were forced to start the competition immediately for the sake of a tight rhythm, and then due to physical problems, the most anticipated final battle became like a friendly match in a nursing home.

……

It was 3:30 in the afternoon. As it was still early spring and the daytime was not that long, the sun was already setting in the west, bringing with it a hint of red that was unique to dusk.

Right behind the palace where the elimination tournament was held, next to a green waterfall lake, a hand-rowed wooden boat was quietly parked at the dock.

Standing on the boat holding a wooden paddle is President Achiba, who has changed into a black kimono.

He looked at the two girls who had successfully advanced to the finals and were being brought here by the referee not far from the pier, and smiled.

"Okay, come on up, we'll be heading to the finals venue next."

"The final venue..."

Kazuha followed closely behind Ooka Momiji, carefully walked down the pier and stepped into the wooden boat. She used one hand to block out the setting sun from the horizon, and looked up at the waterfall hanging upside down from the cliff at the end of the lake in the distance, and the towering buildings standing still side by side.

"Could it be there?"

"Yeah, that's right there."

Seeing that the two girls were seated, President Achiba nodded to the referee on the shore, then put the paddle into the water and paddled gently.

He explained as he rowed.