Meanwhile, back at Kazuma's place.
After more than an hour of sparring, Kazuma raised his hand. "Alright, that's enough for today."
Chiyoko let out a breath of relief, then gave a formal bow according to kendo etiquette. "Thank you for the lesson, Sensei!"
In Japan, sensei was a weighty title—not only schoolteachers, but also many respected figures in society were addressed this way.
Chiyoko calling him Sensei now was clearly her way of showing respect.
But as soon as she finished the bow, she switched back to her usual tone. "Bro, when you attack, you always miss the proper target areas! Look—my arms are all bruised!"
Kazuma replied coolly, quoting the founder of Delta Force: "The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle."
He said it in English, of course.
Chiyoko tilted her head, then her eyes lit up. "Oh! That makes sense! More sweat, less blood!"
Kazuma was honestly impressed. Wow, she understood that? Not bad, little sis.
Suddenly, he realized something. The dynamic between the body's original owner and Chiyoko reminded him a lot of My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute. In that story, the little sister, Kirino Kōsaka, was a star athlete and top student, while the protagonist, her brother Kyōsuke, was pretty mediocre...
But now that I'm here, everything's changed.
Chiyoko stretched. "I'm going to run the bath. You didn't wear armor, so you didn't sweat as much. I'll go first."
Kazuma smirked. "Are you sure? Won't it be embarrassing if I soak in your bath water afterward?"
"What's there to be embarrassed about?" Chiyoko said casually.
In most Japanese households, it was common to fill the bathtub once, and family members took turns soaking.
Of course, before getting into the tub, Japanese people would wash thoroughly—rinsing, soaping up, and rinsing again. Only after this was considered clean would they enter the bath to soak.
Still, something about it felt... a little awkward to Kazuma.
But since it was just him and Chiyoko at home now, it wasn't a big deal.
Soaking in her bath water? I'll just pretend it's a romantic mixed bath, he thought wickedly.
Seeing Chiyoko so unfazed, Kazuma teased, "I might drink the bath water, you know."
"Ew!" Chiyoko frowned and playfully punched him. "You're disgusting!"
She didn't hit hard. After a few light punches, she picked up her armor and headed to the storage room next to the dojo, clearly done entertaining her pervy brother.
Kazuma shrugged, then sat cross-legged in the center of the dojo, facing the garden. He began meditating.
He wanted to see if today's efforts had yielded any progress.
First, he focused on what mattered most: Had any new traits related to experience appeared?
Sadly, no such luck.
Thinking it over, none of today's activities—whether the bout with Daimon Gorō, thrashing the other kendo club members, or teaching Mikako kendo—came close to the life-or-death fight he'd had with Nishiyama Heita the day before.
And since even defeating Nishiyama hadn't earned him a battle-related buff, today's events probably wouldn't either.
Tch. What a lame cheat system. If this were a proper game, defeating Nishiyama Heita would've at least unlocked some cool "Demon Mask" buff or let me steal his skills.
Kazuma checked his "Combat" skills—no changes. Then he looked at his "Kendo" skills.
Wait—hold on!
He suddenly noticed that when he focused on a specific style, a progress bar appeared at the bottom of the skill description.
It looked like... an experience bar?
Kazuma was sure this hadn't been there yesterday.
Even defeating Nishiyama Heita hadn't caused his kendo styles to gain any visible experience.
Maybe... life-or-death combat only adds to combat proficiency, while kendo skills require regular training?
But he'd practiced both at school and at home before and hadn't seen this experience bar.
Judging by how little progress was visible on the bar, it was possible that when he had just hit "Shintō-ryū 6," any extra experience had been zero or nearly so—meaning the bar didn't appear.
Until today.
Since today's training suddenly showed progress, it was obvious. If he just thought back to what he'd done differently today, he could probably figure out how to level up his kendo skills properly.
Kazuma reflected.
No doubt about it—it must've been the spar with Daimon Gorō.
He'd never sparred with Daimon before, whereas the club members he'd beaten today were familiar opponents.
Therefore, he guessed that it was sparring against stronger opponents that yielded skill experience.
But then... why hadn't the fight with Nishiyama boosted my kendo skills? I clearly used plenty of Shintō-ryū and Rishin-ryū techniques against him...
There had to be some fundamental difference between that fight and the spar with Daimon Gorō.
After thinking it over, Kazuma realized: Nishiyama's a street brawler—his kendo was worse than mine.
Whereas Daimon's pure kendo skill was superior in raw stats.
So, to gain kendo experience, I need to fight proper kendo masters. If I want to learn judo, I should spar with judo experts...
This discovery excited Kazuma. It meant that as long as he fought the right "monsters," he could level up.
Until now, he'd been stumped on how to improve his kendo level.
No matter how much he practiced alone, it didn't seem to help.
Now at least there was a path forward.
And "grinding monsters" was a simple, straightforward way to get stronger.
Way better than pondering the meaning of life or chasing some mystical sense of ceremony!
Of course, philosophical insights and proper mindset were still valuable—Kazuma wasn't about to ignore any path to self-improvement.
Might as well take Chiyoko dojo-hopping tomorrow and challenge other dojos.
After all, dojo challenges weren't fatal. At worst, he'd get beaten up a bit—while wearing armor.
Excellent plan. Let's do it.
Kazuma finished his meditation, gazing at the cherry tree outside the garden gate with a smile.
Then he remembered something Nishiyama Heita had said: Tsuda-gumi wouldn't officially take over the mission to evict the Kiryu family until after some upcoming meeting.
He didn't know exactly when that meeting would be, but he figured Golden Week would give him some time to grind.
Now... which local dojos should I visit first...?
(End of Chapter)