The Master's Foolishness Is Sky-High (4)
The Master's Foolishness Is Sky-High (4)
After much thought, Yujin offered an excuse that was not entirely an excuse.
His Jaha Sword Art was something he'd learned inside a dream.
The person who taught him was... his wife.
Aika's eyes flew wide open.
"......!!!"
'Could that even be...? No, he did say his Innate Talent was EX-grade like mine. In that case, it was possible.'
Yujin had merely tossed out any old excuse, but she'd undergone a similar experience herself.
That similar experience: dreams in which she crossed blades with the great swordsmen recorded in history.
A desperate measure she had devised to enjoy sparring even inside her Mental World, back when she could find no opponent in the modern day.
Within those dreams, she had traded blades with warriors of global renown.
Japan's legendary swordsman and founder of Niten Ichi-ryū, Miyamoto Musashi, was a given.
Honda Tadakatsu. Richard the Lionheart. Samyoari. Cheok Jun-gyeong. Xiang Yu. And so on.
Inside the unconscious realm of dreams, she had engaged in live-blade contests against commanders who had inscribed their names into history.
She had abandoned the practice once her skill reached a certain plateau, deeming it meaningless, but...
At least during the early days of her awakening, that imaginative sparring had been a tremendous help to her.
Perhaps because of her EX-grade Innate Talent, every one of them had displayed swordsmanship so vivid that she could hardly believe they were products of her imagination.
Thanks to that, her experience had shot up enormously.
Naturally, with considerable time having passed since her awakening, it had been a forgotten memory, but...
'So the boy has had an experience similar to mine. No—since his ability is mental-type, he might have experienced it even more vividly than I did.'
At Yujin's words, Aika naturally recalled her own experience.
To her, Yujin's words were never some kind of absurd falsehood.
Rather, they were the truth without an inch of deception.
Just as she had, he too must have hungered for learning inside his dreams—she could believe nothing else.
"Does that really make sense?"
"Haha..."
'Well... it was technically a lie.'
...For his own part, Yujin knew it was a total lie.
The obsession to swing a sword even in his dreams had never been part of him. Anyway.
Aika's cheeks grew steadily hotter.
'A sword art that couldn't be complete without me, taught to him by his wife in a dream? Could that truly be a coincidence?'
Though Yujin hadn't known it even during the First Round, the Jaha Sword Art was a collaborative style that Aika had created in order to lift him up.
It was a martial art that was difficult to wield with such power without her assistance.
Yet he claimed to have learned that very sword art in a dream—and from his wife.
It was far too perfect to dismiss as coincidence.
'It was as though I really taught him in his dreams... Could it be!?'
A startling realization flashed through Aika's mind.
She, at least, had no rival in the modern era, so she had fought great men of the past even in her dreams.
But what about that earnest young man?
As a master—he must have already known the one superior to all others, the mightiest of this era. Wasn't that right?
The top-ranked S-rank. The Sword Saint. Aika Ninomiya.
Within his dreams, he must have subconsciously chosen her as his master.
That was Aika's conclusion.
'I see. Then that half-complete sword art made sense too. If I, his master, would always stand beside him, half a style was all he needed.'
Only then did everything become clear.
Why he wielded a sword art that was only half complete without her.
How he, who must have led an ordinary life unlike herself—the genius of kendo—handled a katana so well.
Why, from their very first meeting, she had felt such familiarity with him.
All of it was because...
Inside Yujin's dreams, Aika had been his master.
Her cheeks reddened further.
'L-leaving that aside... Why his wife? It was only a dream, but still...'
The "master" part was fine—honestly, it even made her happy.
But she'd been his wife in the dream?
A dream was a Mental World that reflected the unconscious directly.
Making someone his wife in such a place...
didn't that mean he wanted the same thing in reality?
For Aika, there was no avoiding the embarrassment.
What the young man had said so casually sounded like a confession that he yearned for her even in his dreams.
To her ears, it sounded like a proposal—that he wanted to marry her.
[Aika? Isn't it time you started considering a man...?]
'Mama...! What should I do!? Was I supposed to accept!?'
She was confounded.
Hadn't she not once in her life had any romantic experience whatsoever?
Now a young man who seemed to want to marry her had appeared out of nowhere.
He was twelve years younger, handsome, capable, earnest, and kind.
For a pure-hearted maiden like her, bewilderment was the only possible response.
—Hesitate.
'W-well, it isn't as if I find it unpleasant or anything....'
Of course, she didn't find it unpleasant.
She was thirty-two, old enough for impatience to begin setting in.
If she found this unpleasant, it wouldn't just be ungrateful—her conscience would burst.
And so, she sank into serious deliberation.
———Specifically, whether the sheath called Aika could contain Yujindo, which she had glimpsed through her ability earlier.
—Glance.
'W-well... It was awfully... big....'
Had Alice or Sia known, they would have been horrified by thoughts that were not merely sleazy but downright obscene.
She denied seeing it so emphatically, yet in private she's thinking things like that?
Whoa, so people get like that when they're old. I must never become that way.
No one could have blamed them for clicking their tongues and saying as much.
But for her, it was simply unavoidable.
She'd used her ability only to check for internal bleeding.
She had merely meant to see where the bandage needed to apply pressure.
And since, as it happened, all the blood had rushed to one spot.
It was only natural to observe closely, wondering if something was wrong or whether it was her fault.
She'd stared for nearly thirty seconds, and might have continued even longer if Yujin hadn't moved.
At least, that was what she told herself.
—Mutter, mutter.
"Would that even fit...?"
Aika's hand drifted toward her lower abdomen.
She spread both hands to match the length of what she'd seen.
The sight of her doing so without a care for anyone's eyes was beyond what mere foolishness could describe.
Even when it came to shameless behavior, the top-ranked S-rank was the strongest in the world.
"......?"
'What was she doing? Did she need the bathroom?'
'What was wrong with Aika now?'
Fortunately. Aika's actions, at least outwardly, didn't appear that sleazy.
The robes were voluminous, so it looked merely like she was fiddling with her own clothes.
Yujin and Sia didn't find it particularly odd either.
———However, tragically enough.
Present in this place was one maiden who had awakened an "Eye."
".........!!!!!!?"
'I-I had seen that before! It was the thing they did in erotic comics to measure the length!'
Alice instantly caught on to her sleazy intentions.
It took one to know one.
'That lecher! Kicking Yujin was not enough—she used her ability to stare directly at that! Now she was even simulating how far it'd go inside her!'
Alice was appalled.
Fine. Violence at their first meeting was one thing.
The top-ranked S-rank's violent temper was common knowledge.
But using her ability to stare at his... thing?
Then measuring it against her lower abdomen?
Was this truly a human being?
No. She was an animal in heat.
'But...'
—Gulp.
'Th-that was Yujin's length...? At least eight inches? Then even that thing from the comics—and the other thing—might be possible!'
By the time her heated imagination made her clothes damp with sweat, Alice was hardly in a position to criticize anyone.
Because of this, Alice was beside herself.
'A-anyway, I had to protect Yujin from that indecent woman! A thirty-two-year-old hag who did not know her place!'
"......?"
'What was with Alice now? Was she still hung up on that ridiculous see-through-vision accusation?'
Thus began a battle of indecent thoughts that an upstanding young man could never have imagined.
* * *
My master and Alice had both gone rather red in the face somehow, but anyway.
After explaining the Jaha Sword Art, I quietly awaited my judgment.
'Wonder if she'll buy it... I don't mind being called a pervert or anything, I just hope she'll believe it.'
I'd already braced myself to be called a pervert who spent his dreams thinking about women.
To that me, my master...
"A-ahem. Ahem. Your master in that dream taught you rather well. You also trained diligently. Your skill is difficult to believe in someone who only recently began."
"Y-yes! Thank you!"
"However, it's still lacking. Judging from your stance alone, you're at best around seventh dan—far from being qualified to serve as an example to others."
"......?"
Contrary to my expectations, she showered me with praise.
At a first listen it might sound like a scolding, but in kendo, even 6th dan is considered world-class.
From 7th dan on, even those with the skill can't earn it while young due to age restrictions.
In other words, my master, who lived and breathed the sword, telling me I was 7th dan was practically the highest praise—that I was world-tournament level.
The corners of my mouth rose on their own.
"Thank you for thinking so highly of—"
"That wasn't praise. In my judgment, you can climb much higher."
"......Ah."
Corners of mouth: back to default.
But I'd already been swinging a sword for more than ten years.
I wasn't some prodigy.
"That's, you're mistak—"
"Then I will make you an offer. Become my disciple!"
"......!!!!!?"
My master continued without concern.
The lines were similar to those from the First Round.
But she delivered them with noticeably more passion.
"This is absolutely not because I harbor any improper motives. I simply cannot bear to see your talent wasted. Yes. There is no strange meaning behind this whatsoever."
"M-my god..."
Sia's mouth fell open.
A reaction born of knowing all too well my master's stature.
Alice, meanwhile...
"W-well? This would hardly be a bad offer for you either—"
—Whisper, whisper.
"Yujin, don't trust her. This woman only wants to do indecent things with you."
"......?"
She launched her habitual surprise slander.
...Was she really that upset that my master had kicked me?
Upset enough to invent such an absurd accusation?
As expected of my wife. So kind. I loved her.
'Still, this is what you'd call a smear campaign.'
"It's fine. She isn't that kind of person."
"...Yujin, you're far too innocent."
After gently nudging my kind Alice aside,
I bowed with a little more confidence than I had in the First Round.
"From now on, I'll call you Master. Master Ninomiya."
'In the First Round, I'd stammered before finally bowing.'
"Master, you say...? Ahem. Very well. You may address me that way in public."
My master welcomed me more warmly than she had in the First Round.
Back then, she'd smacked my back and told me that someone about to become her disciple should not bow his shoulders so meekly. This time, she was gentle.
"Then first... Is a Training Room available?"
"Yes."
"Let us go there. Before I teach you, I will assess how far you have trained."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Grinning from ear to ear, I headed to the Training Room with my master.
Sia followed, muttering, 'This was going far too smoothly. Could it be tampering...?'
—Mutter, mutter.
"At this rate, that old hag will devour Yujin before long...! I-I have to stop her somehow...!"
...Alice, who had been whispering to herself about something for a while now.
And then—
—Burst open.
"Oh? Haru?"
"Daddy. Who is that woman?"
"...! Haru, listen! That woman..."
"She hit Daddy?"
—KA-BOOOOOM!!!!!
"Dye."
"...Haru!?"
A battle began between the near-S-rank Haru and the world's top-ranked S-rank.