The sunlight illuminated the young man's calm face, his dark eyes showing not a ripple of emotion.
"Where did this pack of stray dogs come from, daring to bark in front of me?"
Pointing the tip of his blade toward Scarface, Suō Tsukasa spoke coldly.
"You're asking for death!"
Faced with such provocation, Scarface's anger flared. He roared and charged forward, swinging his short knife straight down.
However, Suō Tsukasa's movements were faster. Holding his blade, he struck first and true, the blade like a white ribbon accurately piercing the wrist of Scarface's knife-holding hand.
"Agh!"
Scarface cried out in pain. The searing, numbing agony made him lose his grip on the knife, which clattered to the ground.
Having succeeded with the first strike, Suō Tsukasa didn't pause. He lowered his wrist slightly, shifted the direction of his blade, and delivered a fierce inverted kesagiri slash from the upper left to the lower right, heavily impacting Scarface's right kneecap.
Crack—
"Aah aah aah—"
The crisp sound of bone cracking rang out, gratingly loud in the narrow alley. Scarface, hit by the powerful blow, let out a piercing shriek and instantly crumpled forward onto his knees.
Before the screams could subside, Suō Tsukasa's blade followed like a shadow, sweeping out horizontally and slamming hard into the side of Scarface's face. Blood mixed with broken teeth streaked across the air in a shocking crimson arc before splashing onto the ground.
Scarface, instantly losing consciousness from the impact, rolled off to the side of the road like a broken sack, falling silent.
The entire world went quiet.
The remaining four thugs watched the scene in disbelief. Everything had happened too fast; before they could even react, their boss had been kicked aside and seemingly killed like a stray dog on the street.
Their faces pale, the four men stared at Suō Tsukasa, who stood with the tip of his blade lowered, dripping blood, his expression indifferent. They nervously tried to retreat.
In their eyes, the young man was no longer a plump sheep to be fleeced, but a male lion, claws exposed, surveying his prey.
"Sir, please... please don't kill us!"
The intimidating gaze made the four remaining thugs shake so badly they couldn't stand straight, unable to flee even if they wanted to.
With terror filling their eyes, they collectively dropped to their knees before Suō Tsukasa, begging for mercy.
Suō Tsukasa remained unmoved by their pleas.
The wooden blade moved again, and in the blink of an eye, all four thugs were lying on the ground. Each had a hand and a foot broken, and they writhed and wailed in agony, their previous arrogance and swagger gone.
Wiping the blood from his wooden blade onto the clothing of the nearest thug, Suō Tsukasa sheathed the blade at his waist. He picked up his bundle and turned to leave without looking back.
The minor interruption on the way back was over. As he walked, Suō Tsukasa reviewed the one-sided annihilation that could barely be called a "battle."
In the world of Shinigami, Reiatsu (Spiritual Pressure) is everything. While that statement might be overly simplistic, it applies in most situations.
After his spiritual energy practice last night, he could vaguely sense the strength of souls. If most ordinary souls felt like a 1, a slightly more robust soul fluctuated between 1 and 1.5.
Based on his observations while shopping this morning, he noticed that some souls, despite looking young and having ordinary physiques, possessed a soul strength close to 2.
Given the massive population base in the Rukongai, souls with spiritual power aptitude were not numerous, but they were certainly not rare either.
His own strength, after training, was around 5. He had initially expected to take some effort to deal with a few thugs, but it ended very quickly.
Scarface was full of brute force but his movements were full of openings. All his power was wasted in his wild chops. Suō Tsukasa hadn't even needed to use spiritual power against him.
"My spiritual power is still too weak."
He felt a little disappointed that the thugs were able to remain conscious and actively kneel to beg for mercy under the influence of his Reiatsu.
His original thought was to directly knock them out or pin them down to prevent them from escaping, but he failed to fully achieve his desired effect.
He lightly clenched his fist, feeling the flow of spiritual power within his body. This level of strength was still far from what he needed.
...
Lost in thought, Suō Tsukasa quickly rounded the last corner, and the curtain of the Teradaya Inn came into view.
Just then, a supplier's assistant pushed a cart filled with ingredients to the front of the shop and was preparing to move the goods inside.
When Suō Tsukasa stepped into the shop, Miss Terada was checking and counting the delivery with the assistant, her finger tracing the items on the manifest.
"I'm back."
"Mhm, welcome back."
Hearing the movement at the door, Miss Terada looked up and replied. Her gaze briefly rested on him, then immediately returned to checking the accounts.
"These two fish don't count, they're too small."
"Right, right, no problem."
Miss Terada pointed out the subpar items in the fish basket, and the assistant quickly nodded in agreement. Their conversation returned to verifying the goods.
Seeing that she was busy, Suō Tsukasa didn't say much. He took the bundle and the wooden sword at his waist back up to his small room on the second floor to put them away, then quickly hurried back downstairs.
By now, Miss Terada had finished counting, and the assistant was lifting a basket of vegetables, preparing to move the goods into the back kitchen storage in batches.
Suō Tsukasa walked straight to the pile of goods, silently shouldering a heavy sack of rice and beginning to move the delivery with steady steps.
The two figures moved back and forth between the pile and the storage room. The mountain of goods quickly shrunk, leaving only a few scattered baskets.
Miss Terada sat behind the counter, manipulating the abacus, yet observing everything.
"You must be Suō Tsukasa. You're strong."
"I'm Kentarou from Kuramotoya. Thank you for your help today."
When the last basket of goods was organized, the assistant wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve and looked at the perfectly composed Suō Tsukasa with admiration as he thanked him.
In the past, he had moved a similar quantity of goods all by himself. Today, he had handled less than a third of the load. Of course he was grateful.
There was little entertainment in the Rukongai, and not much new happened. The news that the Teradaya Inn had hired a new cook quickly spread among the neighbors.
"It was no trouble at all."
Suō Tsukasa nodded slightly in reply.
It truly was a small matter for him. Finishing the moving sooner meant he could start preparation sooner, and the heavy labor also served as physical training for his body.
"I need to get back and report. I'll thank you again the next time I deliver!"
Folding the empty delivery baskets, Kentarou gave Suō Tsukasa a grateful smile, offered his thanks, and then hurried off.
Suō Tsukasa walked to the sink, scooped up a ladle of clear water, and washed the thin film of sweat from his face. The cold water droplets trickled down his jawline and back into the basin.
Returning to the main hall, Miss Terada was sitting by the window, sipping hot tea.
"Miss Terada, the goods are all sorted."
"Mhm, thank you for your work."
"This is a small snack I bought at the market today. The taste is quite good."
"That's thoughtful of you."
Suō Tsukasa stepped forward to report the completion of the work, placing the oil-paper package containing Moon Plum fruit in front of her.
"Have a seat."
Miss Terada took the package and nodded, picking up a cup to pour him some hot tea.
She casually untied the string, pushed the oil-paper package to the center of the table, and took a Moon Plum fruit to put in her mouth. A faint smile touched her eyes as she looked at Suō Tsukasa.
In just a day, the young man had undergone such a noticeable change. It wasn't in superficial things like clothing or appearance, but something deeper. This rapid, internal-to-external transformation intrigued her greatly.