The two froze for a moment, then their eyes went wide at the same time.
Why had Big Brother/Boss suddenly come to Tokyo?
He had given them no warning at all!
Meanwhile, Xia Xi was still banging on the door.
"Open up! I brought an old acquaintance along, too."
Back when Xia Xi had still been a rank-and-file swordsman.
He had needed to submit a letter of introduction and a formal request to visit before coming here, carefully observing every courtesy.
Now...
The Dawn Hashira simply banged away at the door.
The servants in the courtyard were already jogging over to open the gate.
The two brothers also put down their bokken and broom and ran over happily.
"Coming, coming, my lord..."
The servants, who had been won over by Xia Xi's cooking before, naturally recognized the voice of the god of cooking they had missed so dearly.
They would get to taste those supreme delicacies again.
The elderly servant opening the gate thought this with delight.
But the instant he pushed it open, an enormous shadow enveloped him.
The rest of his words caught in his throat.
W-when had the Dawn Hashira grown so tall and broad? He was practically a bear standing on its hind legs...
"Oh? You again."
Xia Xi recognized the old man who had nearly barred him from entering back then.
Only then did the man recover and notice Xia Xi standing beside Gyomei.
Although he had grown quite a bit taller himself, he was clearly nowhere near as imposing as the burly man beside him, who stood some two meters twenty or thirty tall.
"For the Dawn Hashira to remember a lowly old servant like me, I must have been blessed over three lifetimes."
The old servant hastily bowed, then looked cautiously toward Gyomei.