The next morning, as usual, Kazuma first walked Chiyoko to school.
All along the way, he was thinking about which dojo he should challenge next. Chiyoko glanced at him several times, noticing how serious he looked, clearly wanting to ask—but in the end, she kept her worries to herself and said nothing.
Before they knew it, they had arrived in front of Etsukawa Girls' Middle School.
There, Kazuma spotted a man in a kendo uniform standing at the school gate.
At first, Kazuma thought he might be a yakuza. But then he saw several girls walking ahead of them greet the man casually.
—Hm? Looks like he's the kendo club's teacher?
Kazuma immediately shifted his attention to the text floating above the man's head.
Sure enough: Style-less Lv8.
That seemed about the same level as Daimon Gorō.
Kazuma figured, as an older brother, he ought to introduce himself politely—maybe this teacher would look after his little sister a bit more.
Just then, Chiyoko spoke up. "Good morning, Head Coach Hiroshiro!"
"Good morning, Kiryu-san... Ah, pardon me—this must be your brother? So you're both Kiryu-san," the man replied with a smile.
Kazuma paused for a beat.
Head Coach...?
He glanced once more at the man's kendo level.
It really was the same as Daimon Gorō's.
Which struck him as odd. Etsukawa Girls' was a prestigious school, and its kendo club was considered one of the top girls' teams. Yet here their head coach was only on par with the coach of a regular public high school like Kitakatsushi. Something didn't add up.
Kitakatsushi High hadn't made it to the national tournament in two years.
Even at its peak, the school's kendo club had never been especially strong.
Otherwise, with Kazuma's true kendo skill, he wouldn't have gotten into Kitakatsushi so easily.
Kazuma quickly put on a polite smile. "Good morning, Head Coach. Thank you for taking care of my sister."
A bit of courtesy to lower the man's guard.
Head Coach Hiroshiro smiled back. "That's my job. Your sister is quite strong—she's one of our team captains this year. Whether we can make nationals depends a lot on her performance."
"You flatter her. Chiyoko has been improving so quickly—clearly a testament to your excellent teaching," Kazuma replied smoothly, then casually added, "As a practitioner of Rishin-ryū, I was curious—may I ask which style you specialize in, Head Coach?"
"Ah, I'm a menkyo kaiden of Kasumi-ryū."
Kazuma raised an eyebrow. In his past life, Kasumi-ryū was nearly extinct in modern times. It seemed things were a bit different here.
But that wasn't the real issue.
He glanced again at the man's status: clearly listed as Style-less.
Even if the man really practiced Kasumi-ryū, claiming to be menkyo kaiden at Level 8? Not a chance.
Kazuma remembered that Detective Shiratori had Shijō-ryū Lv15, yet wasn't a menkyo kaiden.
At Level 8? No way.
Honestly, a Style-less Lv8 might not even beat Kazuma in his current form. The only reason Daimon Gorō could fight him two-to-one was because after taking a Gatotsu, he'd entered a boosted state.
Without that sudden buff, Kazuma would've crushed Daimon easily.
And this guy? Unless he had some surprise buff, Kazuma could probably wipe the floor with him.
Kazuma couldn't figure out how someone like this had become head coach of a top girls' kendo team. He had a sneaking suspicion that Chiyoko's current Level 4 kendo skill might be this guy's fault.
—Time to expose your true colors!
Smiling brightly on the outside, Kazuma put on an expression worthy of an Oscar.
"A practitioner of Kasumi-ryū, really? That's so rare these days."
In truth, Kazuma wasn't sure how popular Kasumi-ryū was in this timeline—he was bluffing based on his past-life knowledge.
The man had likely relied on his Style-less Lv8 to fool people this long, so chances were he was very well-read in kendo theory. Kazuma's bluff carried some risk—what if Kasumi-ryū was actually thriving here?
The man chuckled. "Indeed. Very few practice it nowadays. As one of its heirs, the only place I can teach is here at a girls' school."
Kazuma continued, "I've never had the chance to spar with someone from Kasumi-ryū."
Another deliberate comment to lower the man's guard.
I've never faced your style—so I wouldn't know you're a fake.
And with a Level 8 rank, the man likely wouldn't worry much about an ordinary high schooler.
As for whether he'd heard about Kazuma beating up yakuza or his own school's kendo coach—Kazuma was betting he hadn't.
It was 1980, after all. News traveled slowly.
"Would you be willing to show me some of Kasumi-ryū's techniques, Head Coach?" Kazuma asked eagerly, playing the part of an obsessed martial arts kid.
At this point, he was deliberately imitating a certain famous manga protagonist—acting all innocent and earnest.
Chiyoko, standing beside him, looked at her brother in disbelief. In all her life, she'd never seen this side of him.
But she quickly masked her surprise, casting a thoughtful look at Head Coach Hiroshiro.
Right now, Chiyoko's trust in her brother was sky-high. They'd always been close, and after everything that had happened, and her lingering guilt about having opposed him on selling the dojo, her trust had only deepened.
Now, she was beginning to suspect there was something off about this coach—something her brother had noticed.
Hiroshiro, completely unaware he was walking into a trap, smiled. "Of course. It's still early, and I'm not in a hurry to monitor the gates. A little sparring sounds fun."
Since Kazuma had to drop Chiyoko off before heading to his own school, and to avoid being late to morning kendo practice, the siblings had left early that morning.
"The dojo's this way. Higashiyama-san, I'm taking this young Kiryu in for a bit of practice!" Hiroshiro called.
A burly security guard at the gate nodded. "Alright. With you there, Coach, this kid shouldn't be causing any trouble."
Kazuma frowned, sizing up Hiroshiro again. The man looked sturdy—probably hit hard.
And so, Kazuma and Chiyoko followed Hiroshiro into Etsukawa Girls' campus.
At this hour, the students arriving were mostly athletes—besides the kendo club, there were tennis players and others.
Soon, they passed a group of girls in tennis outfits.
The girls eyed Kazuma like hungry wolves.
In his past life, Kazuma had never been inside an actual girls' school—he'd only heard that girls at such schools tended to be pretty uninhibited.
Judging from these looks... the rumors seemed true.
Hiroshiro laughed. "First time in a girls' school? They're always like this here. Your sister's an exception—probably because she's got a brother close to her age at home."
That brother, of course, being Kiryu Kazuma.
Kazuma clicked his tongue. Don't tell me this coach wormed his way in here for... that kind of reason?
Suddenly, he remembered a certain famous mangaka from his past life—someone named something-something Mizuki, who had drawn a whole series set in a girls' school...
Kazuma thought grimly, Sorry, Coach. I may have only just met you today, but for my sister's safety at this school, I'm definitely going to beat you up.
—And hey, I'll get some experience points out of it too!
(End of Chapter)