Chokata pointed to a simple house behind the dojo that was connected to the dojo.
"Our Chokata family and the Kondo family are very close, almost like one family."
"To facilitate my swordsmanship practice, not long after I joined Shiwei Hall, I moved here to live with Brother Kondo and the others."
"Moving directly into the Sword Dojo, huh... That is indeed very convenient." Aoto sincerely remarked.
In his past life, when he was in middle school, Aoto most envied those who lived really close to the school.
He belonged to the kind of student whose home was a bit far from the school.
Every day he had to pedal his bike furiously for half an hour to get to school.
Whenever Aoto recalled this time of having to pedal like a cyclist every day, he would feel a chill rise from the bottom of his heart...
"I remember Mr. Kondo telling me that both his father and mother happened to be out today." Aoto then switched to a semi-joking tone, "And Mr. Kondo is also temporarily out due to some business."
"So it turns out, today you're the only one staying in such a big place?"
"Yeah..." Chokata smiled helplessly, "Tonight, I'll have to handle everything myself, from cooking to heating bathwater..."
"I'm too lazy to cook tonight as well, so I'll just eat something casual."
"Ah, speaking of Mr. Kondo..." Aoto suddenly seemed to remember something and hesitated, "Mr. Chokata, may I ask a question about Mr. Kondo?"
"Hmm? What do you want to ask?"
"I heard from Mr. Suzuki today that our master is already 68 years old this year." Aoto slowly said, "I'm a bit curious... The age difference between Master and Mr. Kondo seems quite large. Is Mr. Kondo his adopted son?"
Today, while Mr. Suzuki was introducing the "Five Great Vajras" of Shiwei Hall, Aoto became quite concerned about the age gap between Kondo Sr. and Jr.
According to Mr. Suzuki, their master Kondo Shuuzo is already 68 years old this year.
But Kondo Isami, the son of Kondo Shuuzo, looks only about 25 years old.
A forty-something-year age gap... It doesn't seem like a normal parent-child age difference.
"Oh, that..." Chokata's expression turned slightly strange, as he raised his hand to toy with the slender ponytail at the back of his head, "You're right."
"Brother Kondo is indeed Master's adopted son."
"Brother Kondo was originally the son of a wealthy farmer in Tama, with the original name 'Katsu Gorō'."
"Our Master never had children of his own, and by a very rare chance, he met Brother Kondo."
"Master was very fond of Brother Kondo's character, and the swordsmanship talent that Brother Kondo displayed made Master quite delighted."
"Thus, when Brother Kondo was 16, he was officially taken in as the adopted son of the Kondo family by the Master."
At this point, Chokata let out a long sigh.
A hint of sadness emerged between his brows.
"Being a 'former farmer' and an adopted son, the pressure on Brother Kondo has always been immense."
"To not disgrace the names of 'Kondo' and 'Natural Reasoning Heart Stream', he has always worked harder than anyone."
"But even with such effort, there are still many annoying people who cling to Brother Kondo's 'former farmer' identity..."
"Even Brother Kondo's own mother..."
At this point, Chokata abruptly stopped speaking, clamped his mouth shut, and then shook his head vigorously, causing the slender ponytail at the back of his head to sway.
"Forget it, forget it! Let's not talk about these depressing things!"
Seeing that Chokata seemed unwilling to discuss this topic further, Aoto wisely kept silent, not delving deeper into the previous topic.
"Alright then, let's leave it at that for now. You should hurry home."
Chokata waved at Aoto.
"The sky is almost completely dark, and given the current state of the world, it's better to avoid traveling at night."
"Remember to come here often for sword practice. There's no other way in swordsmanship, only one path — diligent practice."
"If I could, I'd wish to come here to practice every day..." Aoto smiled helplessly this time, "However, my current circumstances don't allow it. Starting tomorrow, I have to go to work... Ah no, to serve. Only when I get a day off again will I have the time to continue practicing."
...
...
After chatting idly with Chokata for a bit more, Aoto finally patted the sword on his left waist and quickly headed home.
Chokata stood in place, silently watching Aoto's departure.
It wasn't until Aoto's figure completely disappeared from view that Chokata turned back to the hall.
As Chokata closed the dojo's main door from the inside, he murmured in a slightly proud tone:
"Next time we compete with those people from Xuanwu Hall and Little Chiba Sword Dojo... we finally have a chance to get back at those scoundrels...!"
...
...
As Aoto walked down the road heading home, a gentle breeze brushing against his face, he couldn't help but reveal a faint smile.
The significant gains from today made it impossible for Aoto to suppress the upward curl of his lips.
"Sword Genius" — this strong talent, like a powerful calming pill, greatly settled Aoto's anxious heart troubled by the Anti-foreigner Faction's death threats and the Yakuza's financial threats.
Today, aside from practicing swordsmanship, Aoto kept casually chatting with Chokata and the others from time to time.
During these casual chats, Aoto gained a much deeper understanding of the Sword Dojo he had currently joined.
According to Chokata: Shiwei Hall currently has 43 apprentices in total.
That number of apprentices... can only be described as dismal.
Just from the number of apprentices, Shiwei Hall is a very typical small to medium-sized sword dojo, with fewer apprentices than a fraction of the numbers at larger dojos like Xuanwu Hall, Little Chiba Sword Dojo, and the Training Hall.