He had always woken up late; however, this would change starting from now, now that he had gained his memories of his previous life. Takashi wanted to be strong, strong enough so that he could protect his wife.
Then Ishihara looked at his waist where the katana was strapped:
"Husband, are you going to train?"
"Yeah, it has been a long time since I flexed my muscles, and I feel like I should do it now." He crouched low on the ground, stretching his legs.
Ishihara became silent. She walked up to him, and in his stunned eyes, touched his head with the back of her palm, then touched her own forehead:
"You don't seem to be sick, husband."
"..." Takashi looked at her, utterly stunned and speechless. He stood up, firmly held her shoulder, and spoke sternly:
"Wife, do you not think of me as a capable man?"
Ishihara looked at him with wide eyes before starting to laugh and chuckle:
"Husband, why are you acting funny?"
"I am not acting funny, I am serious," Takashi spoke sternly. "In the future, if something happens to you, know that I will be there to protect you through it all."
Hearing the grave tone of Takashi, Ishihara also grew serious and nodded her head, muttering in a hushed tone: "Okay, husband."
"Mhm." Takashi nodded in satisfaction.
Then he walked to the open ground under her curious stare, just standing tall and proud with one hand tightly clutching the katana strapped to his waist, eyes closed.
At this moment, he was trying to bring back the feeling he had felt when he was drawing upon the katana to fight his opponent previously, that feeling of his muscles moving instinctively and his spiritual Qi circulating on its own.
Then, with a deep breath, Takashi drew upon his katana, his pupils focused as he hoisted it forward.
The shimmering image formed again of a circle with two small lines in the middle. It was extremely faint, and one wouldn't even be able to discern it if they didn't look closely or if they were colorblind.
Then Takashi moved his katana with fluid grace, rotating and twisting it in seamless succession.
The blade danced. It turned aside the incoming strike, curved around the second, and with a final whirl, redirected the force and carved forward.
It didn't feel like Takashi was attacking; it felt like he was dancing.
This was the true essence of the [Dance of the Radiant Moon], first stage, the technique that directly allowed him to reach the [Steel Edge] realm.
Beautiful but deadly, with the combination of defense which turns into offense by converting the momentum of the opponent, like the moonlight itself.
While he was in the midst of his training, Takashi curiously tried to pour his spiritual Qi into the hilt of his blade.
The movement of spiritual Qi around his body felt strange, like it was tickling him, like feathers. It was strange, and Takashi couldn't exactly describe this feeling very well.
Anyway, it took only a moment for him to pour his spiritual Qi into the hilt of the blade.
The effect?
It almost felt like there was none; he still moved with the same grace.
Just then, a leaf detached from the tree, drifting slowly into his range.
Swish!
In an instant, it was sliced in two clean halves beneath the edge of his blade.
A faint pulse echoed through him. He felt his Spiritual Qi drain, just slightly.
[Spiritual Qi: 9]
Curious, Takashi ceased channeling his spiritual Qi and resumed his practice, eyes following another drifting leaf.
As the next leaf hovered within reach, he struck again, graceful, but something felt off.
His motion wasn't as smooth. It snagged, just slightly.
The leaf parted, but not as cleanly. A rough edge clung to one side of the cut.
'So that is the case,' he thought in his heart with eyes gleaming in calculation.
After an hour of practice, Takashi finally halted, breathing out a breath of hot air.
Ishihara clapped from the side, her eyes filled with confusion. She wanted to say something but halted. 'If he has some secrets, then I shouldn't pry,' she thought in her heart.
After all, Takashi spent their childhood together so she knew his strength very intently and absolutely knew that he wasn't this powerful.
Takashi looked at her amused for a moment as he snapped his fingers. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Ishihara was startled; her face blushed like a watermelon.
"Really?" Takashi walked up to her step by step, each step causing her to blush more.
"Yeah, really." She barely managed to whisper out; she avoided eye contact with Takashi as much as she could.
"Okay, good then." Takashi nodded as if he understood her words, and a knowing smile curled the corner of his lips.
'This life really is not bad.'
Just then, a loud voice came from outside the mansion:
"The prince has been summoned upon his victory over Yamamoto. Your second match is starting soon."
'Oh, the second match?'