Chapter 10: The Paper-Wielding Swordswoman Appears Again
While Hikigaya was in the shop, obsessively suspecting that Kyotaro was the true culprit behind the Kyoto murder case, a girl carrying a sword bag arrived at the entrance of Hinata Village.
The girl had a slender figure, wore a black dress, and a red headscarf. She was very cute, yet her brows and eyes radiated a certain heroic aura.
She clearly knew Hinata Manor well, whistling as she entered the gate and climbed the stairs.
Then she noticed a pair of small legs tightly wrapped in jeans—someone was coming down the stairs.
Because the staircase wasn't wide, the two naturally turned their bodies aside as they passed each other, and in that instant their eyes met, clearly seeing each other's faces.
"Who are you?" Both said the same thing simultaneously, which stunned them for a moment. Then, they said at the same time: "Are you a new resident?"
Seeing such perfect synchronization, they both laughed awkwardly.
"Hello, my name is Aoyama Kyoko. I live on the third floor," said the heroic-looking girl carrying the sword bag, introducing herself first.
"Hello, I'm Hikigaya Komachi, and I also live on the third floor," said the girl coming down the stairs.
"Hikigaya?" Kyoko Aoyama remembered what her mother had told her before leaving for Tokyo and quickly asked, "Could it be… your brother is Hikigaya Hachiman?"
"Huh? Kyoko knows my brother?"
"I do," Kyoko Aoyama said, recalling the time she accidentally collided while practicing Onmyou techniques. Her cheeks flushed. "I've met your brother before when I lived in our old home in Kyoto."
Since then, she had given up studying Onmyou techniques. As her mother said, she really wasn't cut out for it… Why couldn't Onmyou techniques be as easy to learn as swordsmanship? So strange!
"I see…" Komachi's eyes quickly scanned Kyoko. "Have you lived here for a long time?"
Seeing her blush earlier… could she be her brother's "darling"!?
Although she didn't know why her brother suddenly seemed like such an impressive person, Komachi had heard that rich men tend to go bad and find multiple girlfriends.
Since she came home early today, she had planned to secretly check her brother's shop to see if he had a girlfriend.
What luck! Before even reaching the shop, a beautiful girl was moving in. Sure enough! That useless brother of hers had gone bad! He'd secretly found another girlfriend behind Hina's back!
"Yes, I was studying in Tokyo before," Kyoko said cheerfully, completely unaware of what Komachi was thinking. "If you want, I can be your guide… Oh, sorry, I have some things to do first. Let's hang out in the evening."
"Sure, sure."
And so, the two girls, having met for the first time, parted ways—but with very different moods. Kyoko Aoyama treated it simply as making a friend and returned to her room with a clear mind.
Her room had a large poster with the character for "Martial," a sword rack, and a stand for scrolls—it looked nothing like a typical girl's room.
Kyoko Aoyama set down her sword bag, took out the katana, carefully placed it back on the rack, and then… collapsed onto the tatami, lifting the hem of her dress to reveal her shapely legs.
"I'm so bored…" Turning over on the tatami, Kyoko remembered her mother's instructions before she left.
She quickly got up, opened her bag, and found the sealed letter—her mother, Motoko Aoyama, had asked her to deliver it to Hikigaya Hachiman, who was to pass it on to his father.
Kyoko really wanted to open it and see what was written, since her mother's way of writing letters seemed odd, but she knew her mother would be upset if she peeked, calling her a bad kid. So she resisted her curiosity.
She decided to deliver the letter to Hachiman as soon as possible.
But where did that troublemaker live? And he even had such a cute little sister!
"I'll ask Maeda-senpai," she muttered, dialing Maeda Kaima's phone.
Unfortunately, it was busy, and she hung up disappointedly, sending a text message instead.
After a while, she finally got a reply, but the content surprised her.
"Opening a shop?"
The girl, who had originally aimed to be the strongest Onmyou master but now aimed to be the strongest swordswoman, was puzzled. That troublemaker was so strong—why would he think of opening a general store? Such a strange guy!
Kyoko thought for a moment, returned to the sword rack, picked up her sword, and then jumped out the window.
After a beautiful mid-air flip, she landed on a tree branch and, pushing off lightly, glided down to the front gate.
Jumping out the window was still the best! Too bad she couldn't do this at her old home in Kyoto—it would get her scolded.
She cheerfully headed toward the old Hinata Café, descending the long steps. She saw the back building as she hoped, though for some reason it felt slightly different from before.
Maybe it had been renovated? she thought.
Then she noticed the back building's door was locked—so stingy! Before, it was never locked.
But that was no problem for her. She lightly jumped onto the roof and carefully leapt toward the back building.
She felt so happy—she really loved Tokyo, with days when no one bossed her around.
However, is the Godslayer's rooftop really so easy to walk on?
As Kyoko approached the Yorozuya, Hikigaya noticed someone arriving. He was wondering who would sneak in through the back when, before he could open the door, the person was already on the roof.
So he activated the Yorozuya's automatic defenses. After doing so, he realized he should check who dared to step on his roof.
But once he looked, he was stunned.
Wasn't this the paper-wielding swordswoman from Kyoto? How did she get here so fast? He had only restarted the computer twice since receiving the message.
He hurriedly deactivated the automatic defenses—otherwise, Kyoko would have experienced stepping on a trap…
At the same time, he rose from the roof in front of Kyoko.
"Aha! You troublemaker!"
Just as she landed on the roof, Kyoko looked at him and laughed with delight. Knowing that Motoko Aoyama had asked him to look after her, Hikigaya felt a pang in his chest.
"Why take the roof instead of the door?" Hikigaya appeared directly in front of Kyoko, startling her mid-jump. She patted her chest with a "that was close" expression.
Hikigaya glanced at her with no emotion. No high mountain, no foolish man—he thought to himself that she should drink more milk and get massages.
"Here, my mom asked me to give this to you. She said it's for your father." Kyoko handed the letter to Hikigaya, still not thinking too much, and curiously asked, "Why is my mom being so mysterious? What's her relationship with your dad?"
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" Hikigaya snapped, putting the letter away. Then he grabbed Kyoko and jumped down to the ground with her.
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