"You wish to hold the ’Red and White Battle’ with the Little Chiba Sword Dojo during the ’Plum Blossom Festival’?" Kiryu’s eyebrows showed a hint of surprise.
"Yes!" Chokata nodded vigorously. "The scheduled time is tentatively set for 8 a.m. (2 p.m.) on the day of the ’Plum Blossom Festival.’ The location has yet to be determined, but I guess it will be held in the open space at the northeast corner of Yudashima Tenman Temple."
"Mr. Kiryu, if you have the chance that day, you must come and watch!"
"The ’Plum Blossom Festival’..." Kiryu lowered his gaze, looking at the tatami before his knees, with a thoughtful expression on his face.
After a while, Kiryu slowly lifted his gaze and, with a barely noticeable small movement, glanced at Aoto...
"...Very well." Kiryu smiled gently, "If I have the time, I will definitely come and see."
At this moment—
Nagakura Shinpachi, with his left hand in his waistband and his right hand resting on his shoulder, was walking casually along the path underfoot toward the distant horizon.
When he reached a corner, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at the Thousand Affairs House, which was already about to disappear from his view.
"That Tachibana Aoto... looks much younger than I imagined... He should be a few years younger than me..."
Nagakura muttered to himself in a volume so low that only he could hear.
"At such a young age, he has already achieved remarkable accomplishments... Yet I am still accomplishing nothing..."
A hint of a bitter smile slowly crept onto Nagakura’s cheeks.
He gazed directly at the Thousand Affairs House with envious eyes.
After a long while, he slowly retracted his gaze, turned his body, and turned onto a small path to the right, where he could no longer see the Thousand Affairs House.
In the days that followed, Aoto’s life returned to peace.
Together with the Little Chiba Sword Dojo, holding a competition in the "Plum Blossom Festival" carried an important "political mission"—to promote the Natural Reasoning Heart Stream.
Therefore, to fulfill this task, only certain disciples within Shiwei Hall who were up to standard could participate in this event.
Aoto was very fortunate—he was successfully selected.
The reason Aoto could be selected was partly because, with the support of "Sword Genius," his skills had improved remarkably, making him capable of participating in this competition.
But the main reason... was still because there were too few apprentices at Shiwei Hall...
The regular visitors at Shiwei Hall, who were alive and counted, numbered less than thirty.
Excluding those who did not wish to participate, those unavailable on the day of the "Plum Blossom Festival," and those too weak... the total number eligible to participate barely reached fifteen...
Aoto was still very much looking forward to the competition against Little Chiba Sword Dojo that was about to commence.
For one, this "Red and White Battle" seemed very interesting to Aoto.
Trying to shatter the porcelain bowl on the head of the opposing grand general together with his companions... such strategic board games that require both wit and courage had always intrigued Aoto.
For another, participating in this competition would give Aoto the chance to copy the talents of the apprentices from the Little Chiba Sword Dojo.
The Little Chiba Sword Dojo was brimming with elites, so the chances of encountering someone with special talents in there must be very high.
The combination of these two reasons gave Aoto much anticipation for the competition.
To perform in his best state in the upcoming competition, Aoto had been intensively practicing swordsmanship every day during this period.
If there is anything noteworthy during the wait for the match to commence, it should be that the French Embassy sent someone specially to thank Aoto for "saving a merchant from their country."
The French Embassy, located in Yokohama, right next to Edo, after learning of Aoto’s feat of saving their nation’s merchant, had a discussion and dispatched a Japanese working at their embassy with a not-insignificant rank to Edo, bearing gifts of gratitude, to personally thank Aoto.
The French Embassy bestowed two items as a thank-you gift: a letter of appreciation written in French and 80 ryo of gold!
This 80 ryo of gold truly alleviated Aoto’s immediate financial woes.
Upon receiving this money, Aoto immediately allocated a portion to cover the past and future meal expenses and rent for himself, Saito, and Kyūbē, handing it over to Kondo.
Kondo initially claimed it was just a small amount and refused to accept it. However, after Aoto insisted, Kondo finally accepted the money.
Once Aoto had money and could afford the meal expenses and rent, he noticed that Abi’s attitude toward him, Saito, and Kyūbē became significantly more friendly.
Although her face still remained stern, her tone improved noticeably when talking to Aoto and the others.
Time passed—
Soon, February 25th, the day of the "Plum Blossom Festival," finally arrived.
February 25th, around 10 a.m.—
Edo, Yudashima Tenman Temple—
"Wow! How beautiful!" Chokata’s eyes shone as he looked at the scenery in front of him.
The competition was scheduled for the afternoon at 2 p.m. The venue was an open space at the northeast corner of Yudashima Tenman Temple.
But because of the need to set up the venue in advance, Aoto and the other apprentices, led by Zhouzhu and Kondo, headed to Yudashima Tenman Temple early around 9 a.m.
As soon as Aoto entered Yudashima Tenman Temple, like Chokata standing beside him, he was struck by the beauty in front of him, making him momentarily dazed.
The plum trees planted within Yudashima Tenman Temple were all white plum trees.
Now was the time when the plum blossoms were at their most beautiful and vivid.
After stepping into Yudashima Tenman Temple with Kondo and others, Aoto was greeted by a sight of brilliant and magnificent white plum trees.
Large clusters of white plum blossoms were in full bloom at the treetops, and when the occasional breeze passed through, a rain of blossoms fell like a shower.
Petals, each white with a hint of pink, floated along with the breeze, some drifting far away with the breeze, others falling into the snow under the trees, and some landing on the visitors standing beneath the trees enjoying the blossoms.
Today was a day blessed with glorious weather, a cloudless sunny day.
The warm sunlight streamed down through the gaps in the branches, casting a sacred aura over the white plums on the treetops.
The scenery was breathtaking beyond words.
This was Aoto’s first sighting of such a large and magnificent spectacle of blooming white plum trees, and he was inadvertently entranced.
"Let’s go." Kondo smiled at Aoto and the others. "Finish setting up the competition venue quickly, and you’ll have more time to enjoy the plum blossoms."
Although there was talk of preparing the competition venue, there wasn’t much to be done.
The rough work and hard labor, like cleaning the ground and preparing the porcelain bowls for the match, had already been taken care of by the witchs within Yudashima Tenman Temple.
All Aoto and the others had to do was negotiate with the priests of Yudashima Tenman Temple to confirm the day’s itinerary and arrangements.
After about half an hour, with nothing left in terms of venue preparation, Kondo smiled and told Aoto and the others: "There’s still nearly two hours before the competition starts. In the time waiting for the competition to begin, why don’t you go have fun first? My father and I will handle the final bits of venue preparation work."
Chokata had been waiting for Kondo to say this.
His mind was already captured by the sight of the clusters of white plums, so when he heard Kondo’s words, he immediately leapt up in excitement.
Kondo still had to stay back with Zhouzhu to handle some "loose ends" of the venue preparation and couldn’t accompany him, and going alone was too dull. Thus Chokata invited Aoto to join him in exploring this shrine so beautiful it seemed to ensnare one’s gaze.
Aoto, already inclined to explore Yudashima Tenman Temple after being captivated by the "splendid white plum blossom" scenery, readily accepted Chokata’s invitation.
So——Aoto, Chokata, and Aoto’s "spirit haunting": Saito, the three of them, bathed in fluttering petals and sunlight streaming through branches, ambled aimlessly while constantly glancing around to enjoy the scenery.
"It smells wonderful." Chokata took a deep breath.
Aoto was now walking with Chokata in a certain section of the plum forest.
Surrounded by the vibrant white plum trees, the air was filled with a refreshing plum blossom fragrance.
Quite fond of this scent, Aoto began sniffing the air intensively.
Faced with the beautiful scenery around them, both Aoto and Chokata couldn’t help feeling slightly intoxicated.
But at this moment—
"Why isn’t your Little Chiba Sword Dojo taking responsibility?!"
Not far away... came a series of angry shouts.
Aoto and the rest were startled by the shouts and quickly turned their heads toward the sound.
The moment Aoto turned his line of sight, he saw a familiar figure...
It was Chiba Sonako.
Asking for monthly votes! Asking for recommendation tickets! (Panther’s head crying.jpg)

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