Edo, Little Ishikawa Hoshimura Willow Street——
——Is this... the Shiwei Hall?
Aoto regarded the modest-looking building in the distance with a suspicious glance.
Outside the seemingly average-sized residence, there hung a sign inscribed with the characters "Natural Reasoning Heart Stream Shiwei Hall."
——Why can't I hear any sword practice sounds?
Inside the Shiwei Hall, it was eerily silent...
There was no sound of bamboo swords clashing, making it seem as if there wasn't a single person inside the Shiwei Hall...
Carrying this doubt, Aoto slowly approached the Shiwei Hall.
Just after taking a few steps forward, Aoto suddenly noticed a tall and robust young man stepping out of the hall, holding a bucket and a cloth.
This young man walked over to where the sign saying "Natural Reasoning Heart Stream Shiwei Hall" was hanging—he probably intended to clean the sign.
At that moment, the young man noticed Aoto approaching the sword dojo.
Aoto and the young man's gazes collided mid-air.
Then——
Thud.
The sound of the bucket and cloth hitting the ground was heard.
The young man directly and steadily dropped the bucket and cloth on the ground, then appeared in front of Aoto with lightning speed.
"Good morning! May I ask if you are here to learn swordsmanship at our Shiwei Hall?"
The young man suddenly appearing before him startled Aoto, who instinctively stepped back two paces.
Watching Aoto quickly retreat, the young man first froze, and then his face showed an expression of guilt.
"Sorry, sorry, I was too hasty; I sincerely apologize for startling you."
After saying this, the young man cleared his throat and then showed Aoto a slightly goofy smile:
"I am Kondo Isami! I serve as the deputy master of this Shiwei Hall! May I know who you are?"
[Note: "Deputy Master" can be understood as an assistant teacher who helps the master of the sword dojo with teaching duties.]
After Kondo Isami finished his self-introduction, Aoto hastily and politely introduced himself and briefly explained his purpose:
"I am Tachibana Aoto. I heard that your dojo is one known for excellent martial virtue, hence I wish to join and study swordsmanship."
While introducing himself, Aoto scrutinized Kondo Isami's appearance.
The first impression Kondo Isami gave Aoto was... very spirited.
With thick eyebrows, big sparkling eyes, and a tall, robust frame of about 1.8 meters, he looked quite spirited.
The feature that left the deepest impression on Aoto was Kondo's mouth.
His mouth was very large.
It seemed like it could easily engulf a fist without any trouble.
However, despite his large mouth, it didn't negatively affect his appearance too much; his whole face was quite handsome in a rugged way.
The only downside was... he sported a Tsukushi haircut.
This incredibly unsightly hairstyle immediately halved Kondo's attractiveness.
The Tsukushi haircut was the most popular hairstyle during the Edo Era in Japan, without exception. About nine out of ten men sported this style.
Its general look... could be understood as a variation of the "Mediterranean style."
All the hair on top of the head is shaved clean, leaving only the hair on the back of the head and the sides, which is tied into a topknot on the shaven crown——this is the Tsukushi haircut.
This hairstyle, being cool and convenient for wearing helmets, and with no worries about hair falling over the eyes during fights, first became popular among the Samurai class, eventually spreading to commoners.
Seeing Kondo's Tsukushi haircut, Aoto couldn't help but touch his own hair, feeling very thankful that he had a Topknot Hairstyle, not a Tsukushi cut.
The so-called Topknot retains the hair on the top of the head, simply tying it into a topknot.
Although Aoto also thought this hairstyle was ugly, no matter how ugly, it was a thousand times better than the Tsukushi cut.
"Oh! So you really are here to learn swordsmanship!"
Kondo's smile instantly became much warmer.
However, in the next instant, Kondo's smile suddenly froze, turning into an awkward expression.
"Ah... I almost forgot... Our master just happens not to be at the dojo today... If you want to apprentice, the earliest will be tomorrow..."
"Tomorrow?" Aoto's eyes widened.
Japan also highly values the concept of "respecting teachers and valuing their teachings."
To learn swordsmanship at a dojo, one typically has to perform an apprenticeship ceremony for the dojo master, followed by a bunch of other formalities, before officially starting lessons.
Therefore——if the dojo master happens not to be present, it usually means no new apprentices are accepted during their absence.
"I'm very sorry..." Kondo's face was full of apologies, "But our master indeed isn't here today... If you wish to join, please choose another day."
The "Radical Anti-foreigner Faction" loomed over Aoto like the Sword of Damocles, and in his current situation, he didn't want to waste a single day. He wanted to learn swordsmanship as soon as possible and replicate his abilities quickly, so asking him to come another day was out of the question.
"I don't have time tomorrow! Do I really have to wait for your master to return before I can start learning swordsmanship?"
Once his current day off ended, Aoto would have to return to work at the Magistrate's Office, and it would take at least two days before he could have another day off.
"This..." Kondo showed a troubled expression.
Seeing Kondo's troubled expression, Aoto suddenly remembered the "new customer benefit" Boss Kiryu had just given him.
Aoto took out the paper with the words "Kiryu Kazuma" written on it, which Boss Kiryu had given him earlier, from his pocket.