If Only Miyauchi Hikari Were the Mysterious Person / A Late-Night Talk with Tohru

"I feel that this sword technique is quite different from the Breathing Technique I'm currently using. If I rely solely on the existing Breathing Technique, although I can indeed fully unleash the power of the sword technique if my physical fitness is up to standard, I feel that I haven't reached the limit of the Breathing Technique."

If the original Breathing Technique and the Breathing Technique that accompany them were developed by Tsugikuni Yoriichi and passed down from generation to generation, and the compatibility between the two is at least 90%, then the combination of Ripple Breathing and these sword techniques is probably just barely passing.

After all, the main focus of Ripple Breathing is comprehensiveness. When Ripple Breathing is improved, it improves the overall physical condition. Even if there is a deficiency, the degree of deficiency is not significant.

However, the degree of specialization in Breathing Technique is much greater.

Thunder Breathing Wind Breathing both require speed, Stone Breathing and Flame Breathing both require power. They are slightly inferior in other aspects. The main point is that everyone can have Breathing Technique that suits them, and if they don't have one, they can improve it themselves.

This results in a situation where, even when Ripple Breathing meets the minimum requirements for a certain attribute of Breathing Swordsmanship, there is still a considerable surplus of other physical enhancements from Ripple Breathing, making it impossible to unleash its maximum output.

Of course, Miyauchi Hiyage only studied it for a short while before finding a solution.

That is the Sun Breathing.

Sun Breathing and its accompanying swordsmanship should be the closest to the hexagonal Breathing Technique of Ripple Breathing. Practicing it does not require much adjustment to Ripple Breathing.

Of course, the Sun Breathing and its accompanying sword techniques are also among Shinomiya Kaguya's collections.

It must have been before the Demon Slayer Corps disbanded that Tanjiro handed over this Breathing Technique, which had been lost within the Demon Slayer Corps for hundreds of years due to Muzan's targeting, back to the Demon Slayer Corps.

However, due to the high requirements of the Sun Breathing, and the fact that apart from Tsugikuni Yoriichi, the chosen one, no other Special Class Superhumans have appeared in the Demon Slayer Corps for many years, this has continued for many years.

It is difficult to learn and it is also difficult to produce a super-level extraordinary system, so it is naturally not a top-level system. In comparison, it is not as good as the Shinkage Style Sword Technique, which is easy to learn. With just a small restraint, one can spend a few years to master the Simple Domain and even exchange blows with level one or even super-level opponents.

So apart from Tsugikuni Yoriichi and Tanjiro's family, no one else has been able to master this sword technique over the years.

However, this is not a big problem for him.

Seeing Miyauchi Hiyage already deep in thought, seemingly figuring out how to adjust his breathing rhythm, Shinomiya Kaguya was filled with emotion.

Are you going to copy it?

What an enviable talent!

Despite various mistakes and errors, the opponent still managed to execute the entire set of Breathing Swordsmanship.

Although she had studied archery since childhood, she also had some basic swordsmanship. However, it was only after studying the sword techniques that came with these Breathing Techniques for a long time, and using her Reading Points as an aid, that she was able to barely master the Water Breathing has the lowest difficulty level for beginners.

Seeing that Miyauchi Hiyage's research in less than an hour was equivalent to several days of her own effort and the consumption of several Reading Points, Shinomiya Kaguya's gaze towards Miyauchi Hiyage became even more determined.

She definitely needs to hold onto such a genius tightly and maintain closer contact with him so that she can rely on this relationship to get Miyauchi Hiyage to help her with any troublesome requests in the future.

Fortunately, before this trip to Asahigaoka, she had already told the people from the Shinomiya Conglomerate that this cooperation with Asahigaoka should be done with the utmost sincerity, even if it resulted in losses.

The people in charge at Asahigaoka are probably still a bit confused, thinking that the Shinomiya Conglomerate is here to do charity.

Shinomiya Kaguya's answer was that she was there to do charity work.

If necessary, she could even help Miyauchi Hiyage transform the entire Asahigaoka into a massive film and television city.

Because she could tell from the information that Miyauchi Hiyage cared about Asahigaoka.

If Asahigaoka can be tied to the Shinomiya Conglomerate, then Miyauchi Hiyage can naturally become one of their own.

In this situation...

Whether Miyauchi Hiyage is a super genius supporting character in a manga, or there's an extremely low probability that he might be a You Know Who has never shown his face in public, it doesn't matter to her.

What she cared about was whether she could rely on the power of Miyauchi Hiyage to help the Shinomiya Family gain a firm foothold in the Reverse Side World.

Even at that moment, a strange thought arose in her mind.

If there is even a tiny possibility that the Miyauchi Hiyage is the You Know Who, it seems like a good thing.

Chapter 218: If only the Miyauchi Hiyage were You Know Who.

The You Know Who is indeed very mysterious.

So far, the only breakthrough the girls in the group have found is that Jerry from another world.

It was a reward the You Know Who received, and also an entity that the You Know Who actively sent out to interact with them.

As expected, at the very beginning of the Golden Week, Jerry was the one who delivered all those comics and novels to them in one night.

But Jerry is just a normal-sized rat. Even if he tries to find surveillance cameras, the other party can easily bypass them and move and travel through the pipes under Tokyo. There is no way that normal investigation methods can find out the You Know Who's hiding place.

Moreover, the You Know Who has indeed not harmed them in the diary so far. The person simply writes the diary, and they can get Reading Points as a reward after reading it.

That is, the entrustment function of the Diary will cause some embarrassing failure penalties if the entrustment fails or is taken by someone else.

Although Shinomiya Kaguya still considers the things she did after having her commission stolen a great disgrace, once she calms down, she still knows very clearly that if she wants to lead the Shinomiya Family to gain a foothold in the Reverse Side World, or even achieve the same status the Shinomiya Family has in the Front World, then she must achieve her goal.

She is now absolutely unable to live without the Diary or the help of the You Know Who.

Therefore, her attitude towards the You Know Who was indeed somewhat complicated.

Keep doing this: read the other person's diary every day to get rewards for bragging, and then use those rewards to improve your own strength, complete those commissions to get more rewards, and gradually become stronger.

That's really good.

But her inner curiosity about the unknown still makes her ponder the You Know Who's true identity and makes her want to meet him.

Even though she herself hadn't figured out what to do after learning the You Know Who's identity.

Even Kasumigaoka Utaha, who was the most vocal in the group chat, insisting on finding out the You Know Who's true identity, probably didn't think about how to "teach" the You Know Who a lesson after finding them.

After all, the You Know Who gets a chance to win a prize every day after writing a diary entry.

So far, they've drawn at least thirty or forty prizes. Apart from a bunch of comics and novels, nobody knows what other abilities they've drawn.

But with all those rewards added up, who knows how many cards the other side has up their sleeve now?

With her current strength barely reaching level four, what can she do even if she finds the You Know Who's true identity?

She even thought that even if Kasumigaoka Utaha eventually found out the You Know Who's identity and angrily went to confront him, she would probably end up being easily defeated by him.

After much thought, she realized that her best option was to pretend she knew nothing, that only she knew the You Know Who's identity, and use that knowledge to secretly make a deal with the You Know Who was unwilling to reveal his identity.

Only in this situation might the You Know Who prefers to stay behind the scenes offer her more benefits in exchange for keeping the secret.

This idea had been in Shinomiya Kaguya's mind for some time.

Perhaps others in the group have had the same thought.

Although her grades consistently rank among the top 20 high school students in Japan, she never felt that she was the only smart person in the group.

Although Yukinoshita, who doesn't usually talk much in the group, is still a bit naive, she actually wants to find some so-called "real thing" in this era and even created a Service Club.

But she is indeed a very intelligent woman.

And then there's Aoi Hinata, who's number one in the whole school, among the top 100 in the country, and has national-level skills in many sports. In the popular battle game she plays, she's ranked second in the country (she's already number one in the country thanks to the enhancement of Ripple Breathing).

Even Doma Umaru, who always stirs up trouble and criticizes others in the group, is a genius and beautiful girl with excellent grades. When she gets serious, her mind is definitely not bad either.

Assuming that everyone else might think the same way, and that even if they knew the You Know Who's identity, they would deliberately hide it to gain more benefits, this is the main reason why Shinomiya Kaguya still harbors a 5% suspicion towards Miyauchi Hiyage.

Let's take a look at the three women who had dealings with Miyauchi Hiyage and who possessed Diary.

Shiina Mashiro, a world-class painter and a genius of Ripple Breathing, has also completed many low-difficulty commissions with the help of Miyauchi Hiyage. She is currently the strongest girl in the group in terms of apparent ability.

Honma Meiko had been frail and bedridden for several years.

As a result, after only a few days of returning from her vacation, Miyauchi Hiyage not only resolved the cause of her illness but also completed several challenging tasks. She was also noticed by a top-ranking shrine maiden from Chichibu Shrine and taken in as a disciple, making her the girl with the greatest potential for future development among the group's members.

As for Kasumigaoka Utaha...

Well, it was because of Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression of intense hatred for the You Know Who in the group chat that at least 10% lowered Shinomiya Kaguya Miyauchi Hiyage.

Even if Miyauchi Hiyage is truly You Know Who, Kasumigaoka Utaha must have never doubted Miyauchi Hiyage at all, otherwise her overflowing emotions would not have been something she could have acted out.

In short, considering only Shiina Mashiro and Honma Meiko's behavior before and after meeting Miyauchi Hiyage, it increases the suspicion that Miyauchi Hiyage is the You Know Who.

Moreover, both of them are the kind of girls who are rather naive or innocent, in other words, the kind who seem easy to control.

Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the other party's statements in the group were controlled by You Know Who.

However, verifying this is quite simple; all you need to do is have her go behind Miyauchi Hiyage and ask those two girls a few questions in person.

After all, the You Know Who couldn't stay by the two girls' side forever.

She didn't believe that these two naive girls wouldn't slip up when she questioned them face-to-face.

Only then could she be completely certain whether Miyauchi Hiyage was indeed the You Know Who.

At that time, perhaps the You Know Who can help me complete a few challenging tasks.

Thinking about it this way, it would be quite nice if Miyauchi Hiyage really was You Know Who.

She thought about these things in her mind, while carefully observing the reaction on Miyauchi Hiyage's face.

The other person's face remained unchanged; he was simply looking intently at the Breathing Swordsmanship, seemingly unable to detect any flaws.

So, was the other person's near-mind-reading ability not used, or was it due to the Diary's shielding effect that these thoughts weren't read, or was the other person You Know Who, after knowing their inner thoughts, was still able to remain calm and collected?

Shinomiya Kaguya Miyauchi Hiyage, who had done nothing in front of her and did not possess the ability to read minds.

Sitting opposite her, Miyauchi Hiyage was still considering whether she should Shuichi Akai talent with Sun Breathing in front of her later.

He had just taken a look at the Sun Breathing technique. Although it was much more complex than the Water Breathing, the Sun Breathing was the sword technique that best suited his Pure Yang Body. Miyauchi Hiyage was confident that he could perform it completely.

However, if he performs too well, Shinomiya Kaguya, with her twisted personality, shouldn't be able to inexplicably win him over in her mind, right?

Even though the other person has bypassed the original story and moved towards a new future, the "goofy" and "love-obsessed" side of her still exists in her heart, only it has been suppressed to a deeper level.

So, to avoid making a performance too amazing and causing the other person to never be able to let go of him for the rest of their life, he should tone it down a bit.

Therefore, Miyauchi Hiyage coughed lightly and then told Shinomiya Kaguya his thoughts on the relationship between Breathing Swordsmanship and Ripple Breathing.

When Miyauchi Hiyage Hikage heard that the compatibility between Ripple Breathing and Sun Breathing was the highest, Shinomiya Kaguya was still having an internal monologue, paused for a moment.

It seems that Miyauchi Hiyage was genuinely studying the Breathing Swordsmanship and didn't use his mind-reading ability on her.

She quickly suppressed her increasingly scattered thoughts and listened attentively to the other person's explanation.

"I carefully reviewed all these sword techniques, and then roughly simulated how they would be wielded in my mind. I found that the Sun Sword Technique is the most comprehensive and flawless sword technique. However, it seems to be very difficult to learn. With my current strength, I may not be able to fully execute it."

"Let me try it out at the speed I can maintain right now," Miyauchi Hiyage, maintaining Ripple Breathing, and then used a slow version of the earlier forms of Sun Breathing while maintaining the speed of Water Breathing.

Even at a slow speed, after using a few moves, he still stopped with a strange expression on his face.

He deliberately let some sweat appear on his forehead.

"It's indeed quite difficult. Although I can roughly match the breathing rhythm, I can't do it if I slow down. It requires a lot of physical strength. I estimate it will take one or two weeks to fully master it."

He added, "After awakening to transcendence, my Breathing Technique training speed has increased significantly, and my physical fitness has also been improving. Otherwise, with normal training, it would probably take at least six months."

Is it only for a week or two?

Even so, it's already amazing enough.

After all, she had invested nearly ten points of Reading Points in the Breathing Swordsmanship, and she had only barely mastered the Water Breathing, still far from the threshold of the Sun Breathing.

Awakening to the extraordinary... I wonder when I'll be able to take that step.

Shinomiya Kaguya, who was still just an ordinary mortal and had only entered that world through Breathing Technique and money, sighed with emotion.

Shinomiya Kaguya shook her head, suppressing the slight jealousy that had arisen in her heart.

With her Diary, achieving transcendence was only a matter of time for her.

Let's continue to strengthen our relationship with Miyauchi Hiyage.

Chapter 219: A Night Talk with Tohru

Because of Shinomiya Kaguya, the Shinomiya Conglomerate's investment plan for Asahigaoka Media was finalized with very little effort.

However, a contract cannot be signed in just one day. The Shinomiya Conglomerate is not here to do charity. They will continue to send more professional people to conduct detailed calculations.

Shinomiya Kaguya chose to stay in Asahigaoka temporarily in order to build a good relationship with Miyauchi Hiyage and have him guide her in Breathing Technique.

According to her own account, she planned to stay here until the end of her vacation, and then return to Tokyo with Miyauchi Hiyage.

"After all, I am a student at Tokyo Sorcery High. Even if you don't plan to join any other forces for the time being, I should at least take you to the Jujutsu High to familiarize yourself with the place."

As for Shinomiya Kaguya Miyauchi Hiyage, the girls in the village couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of hostility.

Beautiful, cunning, the heiress of the Shinomiya Conglomerate, she has feelings for Miyauchi Hiyage.

Putting these four terms together already put Kaede Kagayama under immense pressure, not to mention that this woman had been dominating the Miyauchi Hiyage from this afternoon until tonight.

Although I don't know what they were talking about, they seemed to be having a good time from a distance.

As for Fujimiya Miki, although she had a more intimate assessment of Shinomiya Kaguya, such as "she might become classmates with Miyauchi Hiyage the Jujutsu High in the future," she herself did not harbor any hostility towards Shinomiya Kaguya.