After digging around in Kazuma's ears, Nanjo left with a deeply satisfied look on her face, following Butler Suzuki back home.
Kazuma glanced at Ikeda Shigeru, still curled up in a corner of the dojo. The boy had clearly given up trying to understand how words could hold any power and had returned to his memorization with single-minded focus.
"Hey, Shigeru, not heading home?" Kazuma called out.
"My dad's bringing a woman over tonight," Ikeda replied instantly. "Told me ahead of time to stay out for the night. Is the dojo closing? I'll get going, then."
"You got somewhere to go?"
"No big deal. Happens a lot. I can crash at Asano's place."
Kazuma raised a brow. "Asano? Wasn't he one of your old delinquent buddies? Don't tell me he's turned over a new leaf too?"
"Doubt it. I actually stopped him from mugging some underclassmen just a while back," Ikeda said, scratching his head. "Wait, maybe going to him right now isn't the best idea. Guess I'll tough it out in the park tonight."
Kazuma shook his head and clapped him on the shoulder. "Nah, our place is big. We've got a spare room. Chiyoko, we still have any extra bedding?"
"There's some left, but it hasn't been aired out in a while. Might smell funky," she replied.
"Doesn't matter. We're men—we don't sweat the small stuff."
That was true. In his past life, Kazuma had lived alone and long embraced the art of being shameless at home. He knew all too well just how high a guy's tolerance for mess could go.
Sure enough, Ikeda nodded earnestly. "Totally fine. My futon at home hasn't been aired or folded in months. I sleep through the moldy smell just fine."
Kazuma blinked. "You… still sleep under it even when it smells like mildew?"
He suddenly realized he may have underestimated the upper limits of male filth tolerance.
Chiyoko instinctively took a step back from Ikeda.
"Anyway, you can sleep in the small room next to our genkan tonight. It's got all the basics."
"Thanks, Master," Ikeda said, bowing deeply.
Kazuma waved him off and returned to his cushion to meditate. He wanted to check if that mouth-off session from earlier had triggered any buffs.
Seeing Kazuma enter his meditation pose, both Ikeda and Chiyoko went quiet.
Chiyoko gestured with her hands, roughly meaning, "I'll grab the futon; you know where the room is, right?" Ikeda nodded in understanding.
As Kazuma meditated and accessed his status screen, he found a new time-limited status tag waiting for him:
"Scaling the Mountain Pass, Starting Anew"
Effect: Everything feels conquerable. No challenge is too big.
Remaining time: 21 hours.
The moment he read that, Kazuma snapped his eyes open and shouted, "Chiyoko! Bring me my Japanese lit textbook! And those pocket study notebooks the class rep made—grab them all!"
Time was money! This buff looked absolutely cracked, and he was going to milk every second of it.
Chiyoko responded from the next room, and within seconds, appeared hugging his schoolbag. "What's going on?! Why the sudden frenzy?"
"Don't ask! Also, give Shigeru some cash and have him sprint to the nearest 24-hour convenience store for energy drinks!"
"Got it, Master! I'm on it!"
"Wait—hold it! I haven't given you the money yet! Get back here!"
The usually calm Kiryu dojo was suddenly thrown into chaos.
The old cherry tree in the courtyard stood in silent witness.
Jingūji Tamamo arrived at the Kiryu dojo gate earlier than usual that morning.
To her surprise, the gate was already open. She frowned slightly and stepped inside, closing the gate behind her.
Traditional Japanese courtyards often had low walls—not for security, but to encourage neighborly chatter during morning watering or evening strolls.
Building tall walls, on the other hand, sent the opposite message—like you were shutting yourself off from the world.
Tamamo circled the yard with practiced familiarity, passing the cherry tree now stripped of blossoms, and made her way to the side entrance of the dojo.
She took off her shoes, stepped onto the engawa, then turned around to neatly line up her footwear.
That done, she entered the dojo—and immediately frowned at the sight before her.
In the center of the room was a square table. Kazuma sat at it, hunched over, devouring the text in front of him. Scattered around him were empty energy drink bottles.
Chiyoko lay curled up on the floor, using a cushion as a pillow and snoozing peacefully.
Ikeda Shigeru, the only other male student, sat across from Kazuma, clearly losing the battle with sleep. His head drooped, eyes half-lidded, but he was still stubbornly reciting something under his breath.
Tamamo listened carefully and caught the words: Run, Melos.
She made a brief hand gesture, her eyes sweeping the dojo.
A bell tied to her wrist jingled softly.
A breeze slipped through the open doors, freshening the air inside.
Then Tamamo tilted her head, puzzled.
"What's going on in here?" she asked. "For a second, I thought you guys were possessed by evil spirits."
Kazuma looked up and spotted her hand gesture. "Wait… is that a spiritual seal?"
"Yeah. A paranormal magazine said it's effective against possession. If you're headed somewhere spooky, you might want to memorize it too."
"I thought you were learning from NARU—uh, never mind that." He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I've definitely been possessed. By the ghost of 'suspend yourself from the beam and stab your thigh' study methods!"
The class rep glanced up at the ceiling. "So… a hanging ghost? Should I scatter some salt?"
"No, no—it's a metaphor! Wait, class rep, you seriously don't know that one? Ugh, never mind. More importantly—I memorized all the test notes you made for me!"
Kazuma shoved a thick stack of study booklets across the table. "Here! Test me!"
She raised a skeptical brow, pushed Ikeda out of the way, and sat across from him.
Ikeda collapsed to the floor with a snore, clearly at his limit.
"Alright, let's see…" the class rep began firing off questions like a machine gun.
She didn't even glance at her notebooks—clearly, the contents were etched into her brain.
Kazuma fired back answers just as rapidly.
After fifteen minutes, she finally asked, "How are you doing this? Especially this one—I only gave it to you yesterday!"
She pulled out a specific notebook and flipped through it. "If your memory is this good, I wouldn't have wasted time making these in the first place. They're supposed to help you review during short breaks..."
"Don't stop! Please keep making them!" Kazuma said. "This kind of memory only lasts for today."
She stared at him, baffled. "I really don't get what's going on with you."
"It's like… I just suddenly felt like I could do it, and somehow—I could."
The class rep studied him for a moment longer, then gave up trying to figure it out. "Fine. I'll make two new notebooks for you tonight."
"Perfect! Thank you so much!" Kazuma beamed. "I'm going to keep reviewing. I think I'll skip school today and memorize the entire Japanese lit textbook."
"I wouldn't recommend that," she replied flatly. "Studying needs to be paced. Cramming too much at once is pointless. Don't worry—we have time. You'll be fine."
"Oh… alright. Since you say so, I'll go to class then."
"And no more staying up all night," she scolded. "I'll tell Chiyoko too. From now on, you sleep at midnight—no later. If you're tired in class, just sleep. Don't force yourself to stay awake just to look hardworking.
"Ignore Yamada Yōichi if he tries to pick a fight. Let him talk."
Kazuma nodded. "Okay. Got it. Are you… mad?"
"I'm not. Actually, I'm glad. It's great to see you this motivated. Just… be smarter about how you go about it."
She clearly intended to keep lecturing, but at that moment, the doorbell rang.
(End of Chapter)