"Thank you for the match, Chiba-san." Kyousuke removed his mask and bowed politely.
'Sorry, but my pride's on the line here. Even if I go easy on you, I still have to win.'
After all, if his subordinates saw him lose, they'd probably lose their minds.
Chiba Kenichi returned the bow stiffly, his mind still in chaos.
"This has to be a joke…"
Even Ishibashi Masahisa—the police officer acting as referee—froze in disbelief after signaling the result.
Normally, referees were far higher ranked than the competitors, but even so, human eyes couldn't match a high-speed camera.
If the attack was too fast, even an expert judge could only predict the outcome based on experience.
And just now, Ishibashi had raised his flag before Kyousuke's strike had fully landed.
The terrifying part? The two high schoolers watching beside him had done the same.
That meant in the eyes of all three, Chiba Kenichi had absolutely no way to block Kyousuke's blow.
Even a three-year-old knew to hide under a table during an earthquake—and even high schoolers could tell the Azabu police department's best swordsman was utterly outmatched.
"No way!? Kenichi lost!?" At the sidelines, Chief Arisugawa stared wide-eyed, half-rising from his seat in disbelief.
"The third-place winner of the National Police Kendo Tournament… lost to a first-year high schooler?" He muttered to himself.
The more he said it aloud, the more it sounded like hallucination.
His prized subordinate, the one expected to compete at Japan's highest-level arena this year, just lost—easily—to a teenager?
"Age can bring some advantages," the voice of Miyamizu-san echoed in the chief's mind, "but what's truly despairing is the difference in talent."
Only then did Chief Arisugawa realize—he had been the naive one.
"He actually won!" Arisugawa Ren jumped up, her voice full of glee.
Then she turned toward her father with a teasing grin.
"See, Dad? I told you I wasn't exaggerating! Hojou-kun's amazing— even your strongest officer couldn't beat him!"
Chief Arisugawa gave his daughter a stern look, his lifelong authority alone barely suppressing her gloating.
Himeno Seiko had prepared a whole list of comforting words but found them stuck in her throat.
Instead, she glanced toward Miyamizu Mitsuha, who still sat perfectly straight, a serene smile on her face, as if everything had gone exactly as expected.
'Damn it, we lost!'
We lost because I didn't spend enough time with Hojou-kun—because I didn't understand him as well as she does.
In the end, no amount of effort could make up for the difference in time and experience.
"Told you, our boss is unbeatable! Not just anyone can mess with him." Haitani Rindou exhaled proudly, his face glowing with smug satisfaction.
"Forget sixth dan—even if it's eighth, ninth, or tenth, Big Bro would still take them all down with one strike!"
Ignoring the shameless Haitani brothers, the rest of the Bousou Angels cheered wildly, joined by the girls from Kaihin High and the Roppongi princess gang, all screaming and clapping.
Before, when Kyousuke had singlehandedly fought a crowd, it might've seemed impressive because everyone else was weak.
But now he'd defeated Chiba Kenichi—a police officer with official accolades and years of experience.
That wasn't something that needed further explanation.
In the ring, Hojou Kyousuke looked at the silent Chiba Kenichi, a little sympathetic.
'Ah… guess I'm just too strong.'
After thinking for a moment, he said gently, "Chiba-san, you must've spent a lot of energy training the others earlier. I could feel your exhaustion. Otherwise, I doubt I'd have won."
"Yes, yes, that must be it!" Ishibashi nodded rapidly, eagerly handing his colleague a way out. "You were just too tired, Kenichi!"
'Tired? Really?'
Chiba's grip on his sword loosened, then tightened again.
"Y-Yeah… maybe I was," he muttered, forcing a weak smile.
"Haha! I knew it! No way you'd lose to a first-year otherwise!" Ishibashi laughed heartily, instantly feeling better.
"Haha, I think so too," Kyousuke replied cheerfully.
"Heh…heh…" Chiba's laugh sounded painfully strained.
"Hojou-kun even told you to rest earlier, but you wouldn't listen," Ishibashi scolded. "Don't push yourself like that again, Kenichi!"
"I was too arrogant…"
"Then go take a proper rest! Once you've recovered, you can show Hojou-kun what the pride of the Azabu Police really looks like!" Ishibashi said, patting his friend's shoulder with renewed enthusiasm.
"Uh… what?" Chiba blinked.
"What do you mean 'what'? You're a senior—you can't let a junior see you all depressed like this! Go rest up, then give him a real challenge next time!
You don't want to disgrace the Azabu station, do you, Kenichi?"
Chiba hesitated.
"Yeah, Kenichi," Chief Arisugawa added, now standing. "You learned that special technique from Master Konimoto, didn't you? Don't hold back in front of your junior!"
They were supposed to be instructors for this joint kendo camp—what did it look like if a student beat them easily?
"You should die like a warrior," Arisugawa's expression seemed to say. "If you don't fight to the end, what kind of swordsman are you?"
Chiba swallowed his words and turned to Hojou Kyousuke.
"My apologies, Hojou-kun. I've shamed your victory." He bowed deeply.
'Doesn't bother me at all,' Kyousuke thought. 'Winning's winning. If it came down to it, I wouldn't even mind having my crew gang up on you.'
He quickly shook his head and said humbly, "No, no—it's just that you had multiple sparring matches before me, so you were already tired. I just happened to get used to your rhythm."
"Hojou-kun… you didn't use your full strength earlier, did you?" Chiba cut through the pleasantries, his tone serious.
"Please allow me to rest a bit. After that, I'd like you to fight me again—with everything you've got. I want to see just how wide the gap truly is… between me and a real prodigy."
He wanted to die on his feet, like a warrior.
'Full strength?'
Kyousuke looked down at his own hand.
He wanted to ask, Are you sure about that?
Because that earlier strike had only been… thirty percent.
Not that he couldn't go all out—he just didn't dare to. Someone might die.
The spirited speech earned Chiba Kenichi a hearty round of shoulder slaps from Chief Arisugawa, as if the man were trying to inject him with courage through sheer force.
Kyousuke didn't have much to add, simply remarking that he was looking forward to seeing "Chiba-san at full power."
When the two returned to their seats, Hojou had barely sat down—hadn't even had the chance to talk to Mitsuha—before Arisugawa Ren and Himeno Seiko came bustling over, chattering excitedly about how cool and heroic he'd looked.
Meanwhile, Chiba Kenichi, the supposed star of the match, sat cross-legged off to the side, his face growing greener by the second.
Eventually, he shut his eyes and started meditating—or maybe just running mental simulations.
Trying to figure out how to deal with Hojou Kyousuke's overwhelming strength and speed.
But then, from the Arisugawa sisters' gossip, he picked up one particularly painful fact:
Before they even arrived, Hojou had already gone one-on-one against hundreds of people in the dojo and defeated them all.
In other words, the man's stamina should've been just as depleted as his own—
"Are you even human!?" Chiba screamed inwardly.
Eventually, Chief Arisugawa couldn't stand his daughter's shameless fawning anymore and ordered her to "zip it."
Only then did Miyamizu Mitsuha find an opening to finally talk to her boyfriend.
"Are you tired?" she asked softly.
"You really need to ask?" Kyousuke grinned.
No one on Earth knew this body's limits better than Mitsuha did.
"Then... wanna go shopping later?" Mitsuha asked hopefully, her true intention finally peeking through.
"Sure. Let's hit Itoya in Ginza," said Hojou, smiling—he'd already planned that the moment he saw her.
"Itoya!? That stationery store!?" Mitsuha's voice sparkled with excitement.
"Yeah. Let's spend the rest of the day there."
This was something Hojou had planned long ago—back before Itomori was ever turned into a crater by a comet.
"Yay! And for dinner, let's go for yakiniku! I didn't drink enough last time!"
A third voice butted in suddenly.
Without even turning around, Mitsuha clenched her fist and slammed it backward.
With a pained yell, Eikichi Onizuka rolled across the floor clutching his stomach.
"Heh... I was wondering when you'd finally take me there," Mitsuha said, tilting her head up at Hojou with a goofy grin.
Itoya! Ever since middle school, she'd seen it in magazines and online—an eighteen-floor paradise of stationery and art supplies.
A true heaven for people who could happily spend an entire day surrounded by notebooks, pens, and pretty paper.
And Miyamizu Mitsuha was exactly that kind of stationery addict.
The shrine maiden inside her had lost count of how many times she'd held herself back from visiting Itoya before.
'You said you wanted to go there with Hojou! So wait a little longer, okay? He won't forget you!'
She still remembered how, back when they were body-swapped, Hojou had thrown out her little bear-shaped pen, calling it "childish," only to promise he'd send her something trendy from Tokyo.
(Of course, that plan fell through thanks to the meddling gods.)
Even later, when Mitsuha went shopping with her university friends and passed by big stationery stores.
She'd often stop at the entrance, one foot already inside, before forcing herself to turn back.
When her friends asked what was wrong, she'd said, "You're not the person I want to go stationery shopping with."
Her friends had been livid.
"For dinner," Hojou suggested, "how about robatayaki? My dad said there's a great place in Ginza."
His father, of course, had been living his best life lately.
Aside from being dragged back home once to work as a "transport assistant" by his grandfather.
He'd been spending most of his days hanging out with old Tokyo buddies, only coming home to check in with his wife and daughter before heading out again like a man escaping domestic peace.
Apparently, as spiritually cleansing as shoveling cow dung in Hokkaido had been, the bright lights of Tokyo still had their charm.
"Do they have venison!?" Mitsuha asked eagerly.
"…Yeah. Freshly flown in from Hokkaido. Real Ezo deer. They've got Nara venison too," Kyousuke said, twitching his mouth.
"Then both, obviously!"
The shrine maiden's logic was flawless: shop at her beloved stationery paradise.
Eat her beloved venison afterward, then maybe go back to Itoya again—how could life get any better?
"Should we invite Yotsuba too?" Hojou asked.
"No!" Mitsuha shot back instantly.
Then, after a pause—perhaps realizing she was getting too happy and might need to do a small good deed to balance it out—she sighed and added, "…We can at least bring her something to eat. As long as Yotsuba has food, she's content."
A foolish little sister, and a kind—if slightly petty—big sister.
Hojou just smiled silently and told Kisaki to make dinner reservations and order a luxury takeout box for Yotsuba.
Mitsuha might call herself a "bad sister," but she wasn't wrong about Yotsuba—give that girl good food, and she'd forgive anything.
Kyousuke knew this firsthand; after all, it was his cooking that had once earned Mitsuha's trust in the first place—back when she'd almost exorcised him as an evil spirit.
The two were happily planning their evening, already itching to change clothes and head out.
Meanwhile, Chiba Kenichi sat nearby with a stormy face, feeling completely ignored.
But the one even more frustrated was Himeno Seiko, who kept stealing glances their way.
'I want to go eat robatayaki with Hojou-kun too!'
She even briefly wondered if she could just buy out the whole restaurant, then post a sign outside reading: "This establishment serves only the Hojou and Himeno families."
After a moment of consideration.
She sighed and gave up—not because it was impossible, but because she knew that kind of stunt would make Hojou hate her.
'Sigh…'
A little later, Hojou Kyousuke and Chiba Kenichi stepped back into the ring.
"Crush him!"
"Still don't get the difference in level!?"
"…"
The members of the Rampaging Angels—who had been so disciplined earlier—suddenly erupted again, emboldened after realizing their boss could easily flatten the other side.
So what if we can't beat you? Our boss is invincible!
Chiba clenched his teeth.
"Please, Hojou-kun… use your full strength!"
Kyousuke didn't answer and just gave a troubled smile.
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