Luo Mio rolled his eyes at Stella.
"Why else would I have called you all to the restaurant for lunch today?"
After hearing him, Stella's eyes continuously swept across the entire restaurant.
Luo Mio sighed and looked at Stella speechlessly. "You'll scare her away if you keep looking like that."
"Sit down. She's in the corner to our right."
After saying that, Stella and Shizuku discreetly looked in that direction.
They saw a furtive, long-haired figure secretly watching them.
"That person is wearing Hagun Academy's uniform too."
"Who is she?"
"Ayatsuji Ayase," Luo Mio said after taking a sip of soup.
Everyone was startled.
"Miohua, how do you know her name?" Ikki asked in surprise.
Luo Mio casually glanced at the figure in the corner. "I saw the information Aunt Kuro had compiled on the participating students when I was in the academy chairman's office before, so I took a few glances."
Stella broke into a cold sweat. "That's way beyond just taking a few glances."
"I remember..." Touka covertly glanced over several times. "She should be a student from Class 1, Year 3 at our academy."
"Then..." Stella had just started to rise when Luo Mio pulled her back.
"What?"
"I'm telling you, if you go over there like that, you'll scare her away, okay?" Luo Mio said helplessly.
"Then what should we do?" Stella pouted.
Luo Mio then looked at Touka. "Sis, I'll leave it to you."
Hearing Luo Mio's request, Touka smiled. "You really are... Fine. It concerns Ikki, after all."
Touka rose to her feet and walked straight over.
"This?" Stella watched in confusion.
Shizuku reminded her from the side, "Look carefully."
Ayatsuji Ayase, sitting in the corner, seemed completely unaware that Touka was walking toward her.
"This is..." Arisugawa narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw it.
"Drawing Foot." Ikki explained to Arisugawa from the side. "This technique of Touka's is called Drawing Foot. It combines the breathing methods and footwork of ancient martial arts."
"Then the principle behind this technique is..."
"As living creatures, humans can't distinguish everything they see and hear in detail the way machines can. Even if they see or hear something, their consciousness can't seriously identify it all. If the brain had to identify and analyze every single thing one by one, it wouldn't be able to bear the strain."
"Therefore, the human brain prioritizes stuffing unnecessary information into the 'unconscious.'"
"Touka's technique lets her slip her own existence into another person's 'unconscious,' evading their awareness. Even if she openly walks into someone's field of vision, they'll instinctively give up trying to identify her. That's why someone can stare right at her and still be unable to notice her."
While Ikki explained it to Arisugawa, Touka arrived before Ayatsuji Ayase.
"Excuse me, are you Ayatsuji Ayase?" Touka asked with a radiant smile.
"Eh?!" The other girl froze, then cried out in shock.
"Eek!!!" Touka's sudden appearance had clearly frightened her, and she scrambled to her feet in a panic.
The instant she stood up, perhaps because she was startled, her heel accidentally caught on the table and chair, and her body involuntarily fell backward.
Thud!
Ayatsuji Ayase fell to the floor, her head making a rather pleasant sound as it struck the ground.
Conversation and Kurashiki Kurato
"I'm terribly sorry for frightening you like that."
In the hotel's medical room, Touka looked apologetically at the pretty black-haired girl lying on the bed.
She hadn't expected that suddenly appearing before Ayatsuji Ayase would make her panic and trip over herself.
Seeing Hagun Academy's Student Council apologizing to her, Ayatsuji Ayase hurriedly waved her hands.
Lowering her head bashfully, she said, "N-No, it's nothing. I-I was the one who panicked."
Luo Mio, standing behind Touka, covered his mouth and quietly snickered.
"Like a ghost..."
Touka's forehead twitched.
As Luo Mio had said, using Drawing Foot in that situation had made her no different from a ghost.
It was just...
Touka turned her head and fiercely glared at Luo Mio with her amber eyes.
I'll settle this with you later!
Seeing the golden lightning flashing in Touka's eyes and her fierce gaze, Luo Mio coughed awkwardly and looked elsewhere.
Ikki, meanwhile, looked at Ayatsuji Ayase's terrified expression.
She didn't seem much like an upperclassman...
Still, he politely said, "Um, Ayatsuji-senpai..."
"Yes! W-What is it?"
Ayatsuji Ayase instantly answered upon hearing Ikki's voice.
But as she answered, she shifted her gaze elsewhere, turning her entire head and body away as well. Her flexibility was remarkably impressive.
"Um... Senpai?"
Ikki stared blankly after Ayatsuji Ayase turned away.
"Alright, Ikki." Luo Mio spoke to Ikki from behind him. "Can't you see that Ayatsuji-senpai's ears are red?"
Luo Mio's reminder made everyone realize it.
Beneath Ayatsuji Ayase's beautiful black hair, her ears were bright red.
Ayatsuji Ayase slowly turned her flushed face back and murmured with her head lowered, "T-Talking to an unfamiliar man, and having to look him in the eyes... it makes me feel very embarrassed."
Ikki and the others behind him didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Using Lightning Eye, Touka observed that Ayatsuji Ayase's shyness was not an act. She really was embarrassed to speak to and make eye contact with unfamiliar men.
Understanding that, Touka stepped forward in Ikki's place and asked, "Then, Ayatsuji, why were you secretly following Ikki?"
Only after hearing a girl speak to her did Ayatsuji Ayase dare look at Touka. "W-Well, I... I..."
I?
As if gathering all her courage, Ayatsuji Ayase looked at Ikki with a red face and said, "I want to ask Kurogane to guide me in swordsmanship!"
Eh?
Ikki was stunned when he heard that, then stared at Ayatsuji Ayase in thought.
Swordsmanship... The surname Ayatsuji...
Ayatsuji Ayase also lowered her head shyly under Ikki's fixed stare.
Meanwhile, Stella looked at him with a touch of jealousy.
"Ikki..."
Hearing the jealousy in Stella's voice, Ikki realized that he had been rudely staring at the girl.
After apologizing to Ayatsuji Ayase, he asked, "Could it be that Ayatsuji-senpai is Ayatsuji Kaito's daughter or relative?"
"Yes, I'm Ayatsuji Kaito's daughter."
"Who is Ayatsuji Kaito?" Stella asked quietly in confusion.
"I don't know," Arisugawa said, shaking his head.
Luo Mio spoke from the side. "Ayatsuji Kaito is the swordsman people call the 'Last Samurai.'"
"You haven't heard of him because he isn't a Blazer, and most Blazers aren't interested in martial arts. But anyone who has come into contact with swordsmanship knows him."
"The Imperial Heavenly Dragon Tournament, the East-West Unification War, the Musashi Cup, the Tenth Dan Tournament... He participated in and won every major tournament in the swordsmanship world."
"During his prime, he even subdued countless criminal Blazers despite not being a Blazer himself."
After hearing that, Stella asked in confusion, "Then why would Ayatsuji-senpai, the Last Samurai's daughter, ask Ikki to guide her swordsmanship?"
Hearing Stella's question, Luo Mio looked at Ikki and Ayatsuji Ayase, who were talking, and said, "Ayatsuji Kaito had an accident two years ago and was hospitalized."
"My father was hospitalized because of an accident." Ayatsuji Ayase's expression darkened as she spoke softly.
"Ever since Father was hospitalized, I've been practicing Ayatsuji Ittō-ryū alone. But recently, I encountered a bottleneck that kept me from making any progress. Then I watched Ikki's match and learned that you were one of Hagun's rare swordsmanship experts, so I wanted to ask for your advice."
"But I had no idea how to start a conversation with an unfamiliar man, so..."
So she had followed Ikki around for an entire week.
Everyone was speechless.
Still, Ikki looked at Ayatsuji Ayase gently and said, "Of course I can grant Ayatsuji-senpai's request. Since we're both swordsmen, sparring with each other might help you too, Senpai."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Just as Ikki and Ayatsuji Ayase were discussing swordsmanship...
"Ayase, I heard you got hurt and came to the medical room. I came to see you."
The door to the medical room opened, and a rough voice rang out.
Upon hearing that voice, Ayatsuji Ayase's eyes instantly filled with rage and hatred that came infinitely close to murderous intent.
Luo Mio and the others looked toward the entrance of the medical room.
A tall, dyed-haired man about 180 centimeters in height stood there. Behind his sunglasses, his sanpaku eyes were filled with ferocity and brutality. A rouge-colored shirt hung loosely over him, its open chest revealing a skull tattoo.
"Oh? Ayase actually has friends?" the man teased in a rough voice.
Touka's eyes narrowed slightly.
I remember this guy is...
Ikki also looked at the man.
With such a conspicuous appearance and aura, I remember him as...
The man briefly swept his gaze over everyone in the medical room, lingering for a few extra moments on Ikki and Touka before saying, "Since you have friends, I won't disturb you."
He then roughly slammed the medical room door shut.
Stella looked at the door in confusion and asked, "Who was that? Ayatsuji-senpai's friend?"
"No, he isn't." A hoarse voice slowly came from Ayatsuji Ayase's mouth.
Luo Mio glanced at the medical room door and slowly said to Stella, "Stella, I don't think I've told you yet."
"Hm?"
"Why Ayatsuji Kaito, the Last Samurai, was hospitalized two years ago."
"Eh?"
"He was challenged at his dojo and knocked to the ground by that man just now, Kurashiki Kurato, the Sword Eater."
"!"
"Kurashiki Kurato, the Sword Eater..."
A Week
Before you continue