Kazuma eyed his little sister suspiciously. "Really?"
"Really." Chiyoko nodded solemnly, her chin brushing against the tip of Kazuma's bamboo sword.
"You're not going to change your mind?" Kazuma asked again for confirmation.
"Mm." Chiyoko nodded even more seriously.
Kazuma withdrew the bamboo sword and asked gravely, "Why?"
Chiyoko blinked in surprise. "You... you beat me up, and now you're asking why? You even made my hand swell!"
Kazuma glanced down at her hand. "You okay?"
"It's fine. Just a minor bruise." Chiyoko paused, looking at him. "Big Brother, it feels like... somehow, while I wasn't paying attention, you've gone even farther ahead."
—No, no. Your real brother isn't here anymore. I'm an imposter.
Kazuma forced a smile and deliberately changed the subject. "After we sign the contract tomorrow, let's think about where to buy a new house."
"A new house... If possible, I'd love a place with an ocean view…"
Chiyoko genuinely seemed to have accepted the idea of selling the dojo. She earnestly pondered his suggestion, a trace of longing on her face.
Kazuma clicked his tongue. "Places with ocean views aren't cheap, you know—unless you're talking about the port areas. And we'll have to pay taxes on the sale too. We can't afford anything too pricey. If you really want an ocean view, we'd probably have to look somewhere like Ōkura."
"Why Ōkura?" Chiyoko widened her eyes.
Kazuma was momentarily tongue-tied. He couldn't exactly admit that he barely knew any Tokyo place names—he only vaguely remembered that the heroine of Antiquarian Bookshop Biblia's Case Files had her bookstore in Ōkura, so he'd blurted it out.
He really liked the cozy atmosphere depicted in Biblia—it made him imagine living that kind of life himself.
Seeing him hesitate, Chiyoko pressed on, "But isn't Ōkura really far? It's out by Kamakura, right? That's already in Kanagawa Prefecture!"
"Y-Yeah, it's a bit far," Kazuma scratched his head. "But the scenery's great! We could buy on a hillside by the coastal road—far off in the distance, we'd see Etajima…"
"Etajima? That's by Kure Port, isn't it?"
"Enoshima! Enoshima!" Kazuma hurriedly corrected himself. He'd said Etajima because back in the day, the film Ah! Navy! had been a huge hit among kids from military families. It was set in Etajima.
Chiyoko gave him a dubious look but chose not to argue. She sighed softly. "Buying a house on the coast in Ōkura does sound nice. But if we really moved there, how would we get to school? We'd have to cross the entire Miura Peninsula! Back in the shogunate era, that was already territory ruled by a different daimyo!"
Kazuma scratched his head again. "I was just saying. Don't worry about it. After we sell the dojo, let's look for a place here in Kitakatsushi Ward. I kinda want to check out Shibamata."
"Why?"
"I wanna grow up drinking the waters of Taishakuten Temple." Kazuma grinned, taking on a playful tone.
Chiyoko burst out laughing.
Kazuma had just pulled a joke—a reference to the classic Japanese comedy film series It's Tough Being a Man (Otoko wa Tsurai yo), known in China as Tora-san's Story.
At the start of every movie, the protagonist Tora-san would narrate: "My name's Tora. Born in Shibamata, Tokyo's Kitakatsushi Ward. It's the water of Taishakuten Temple that raised me."
This series was the quintessential Japanese national film—far more iconic than Detective Conan or anything else. It ran for 26 years, 48 films total. Whenever a new installment was released, families all over Japan would flock to theaters.
Naturally, Chiyoko had watched it before, along with Kazuma and their family.
Of course, she understood the joke.
"Big Brother, you'd better not turn into someone like Tora."
"What's wrong with Tora? Didn't he bring laughter to all of Japan?" Kazuma teased.
"But he doesn't even have a proper job. He just wanders around all year, and whenever he does come home, he only causes trouble for his sister Sakura."
Kazuma gave an awkward chuckle and steered the conversation away. "Once we sell the dojo, we'll only be able to practice kendo at school."
"Mm… I guess we won't have these kinds of sparring matches anymore, huh?"
"If we really want to spar, we can go to the public center's community hall." Kazuma reached out and patted Chiyoko's head.
"Even though we've decided to sell, we're not moving out right away. Let's say a proper goodbye to the dojo in the meantime."
Chiyoko nodded. "Mm."
Seeing that everything was settled, Kazuma stretched. "I'll go check on the bath."
Normally, this would be a woman's chore, with the man just stepping into the bath once everything was ready.
But since Chiyoko had been so cooperative today, agreeing to sell the dojo, Kazuma didn't mind helping out with a bit of housework.
Just for today.
But Chiyoko stopped him. "Big Brother! How did you do that just now?"
"Do what?" Kazuma played dumb, though he knew perfectly well what she meant.
Chiyoko asked, "You know… putting your emotions and willpower into your sword technique. Dad used to talk about that…"
"No idea." Kazuma shrugged. "Was there something wrong with my technique just now?"
His counter-question made Chiyoko hesitate. "I'm not sure either. It just felt like… you had this really sharp aura. When you swung your sword—it's hard to explain—maybe like a tiger in motion?"
Kazuma raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean? I don't remember unleashing any Getsuga Tenshō or anything like that."
—Wait. Getsuga Tenshō doesn't show up in manga until decades later. I should've said Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki… no, that's 1990s too…
The more he thought about it, the more he realized—all the movies, anime, manga, and games he was familiar with hadn't even been created yet! He couldn't find the right words to describe "sword aura."
Chiyoko asked curiously, "What's Getsuga Tenshō?"
"It's a sword wave. You swing your blade, and it sends out an arc of energy that can cut targets at a distance." Kazuma explained with a dead-serious face.
Chiyoko responded with a skeptical stare.
"Big Brother, you've definitely been reading too many manga. Sword aura? Next you'll be saying if you cross two swords, you can fire an Ultra Beam like Ultraman."
Kazuma scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile.
Can't blame me for this. I have no idea what teenagers in 1980 are supposed to be watching.
Chiyoko sighed, picked up the bamboo sword Kazuma had knocked to the floor earlier, and tossed it to him. "You take care of the sword maintenance. I'll go run the bath."
"Sure." Kazuma agreed without hesitation.
Chiyoko skipped off toward the bathroom.
Kazuma sat down in the dojo's corner with the bamboo sword and began its maintenance.
Tomorrow we'll sell the dojo. Once I earn my first bucket of gold, I can finally put all my future knowledge to use—and start my climb to the top!
As he polished the sword, Kazuma happily pondered: Should I invest in Nintendo? Or buy Sony stock?
Hmm, Sony won't really boom until the '90s. Nintendo's about to release the revolutionary Famicom soon. That'd turn a profit faster.
The problem is… Nintendo's a family-owned business. Their shares aren't publicly traded—getting in would be complicated…
Even though none of this was certain yet, Kazuma was thoroughly enjoying the joys of being a transmigrator.
(End of Chapter)