Lost Echo

Kotetsu's schedule became jam packed since that day. There were many lessons he had to take in exchange of the permission to learn martial arts.

The basic academics include Japanese, English, French, Russian, Chinese, Math, Physics, Chemistry, History, Geography, and Social Science. The advanced lessons include etiquette, dancing, Calligraphy, Painting, and Music. The martial arts lessons were the Swift Wind Sword Style, Dual Fang Dagger Arts, Heaven Fist Style Martial Arts, Yaorozu Spearmanship, Tawara Archery, and Kogawara Axemanship.

Kotetsu doesn't know whether it was because he was young or he got learning perks as his cheat skill after reincarnation, but for some reason, all the lessons were easily absorbed by his brain.

Math lesson was pretty much very easy thanks to his knowledge as an adult from previous life since it was just primary to middle school level math. High school level math however slightly on the difficult side although he had managed to pass.

Linguistic-type lessons became easy moderate level. Kotetsu became fluent in speaking foreign languages in a year. By the third year, he even added Italian and Latin into his arsenal.

Physics and Chemistry are more or less within his arsenal since the law more or less the same as long as magic doesn't get involved. He had studied these for years so the lesson was a breeze even till the end of the fourth year.

History, Geography and Social Study was hard moderate level. Only these lesson were the one he almsot gain a red mark since the governmen structure and history completely different feom the past. This lasted for 4 years.

Basic of nobility study such as etiquette and dancing are rather medium easy as you start getting used to it. Kotetsu's dancing lesson partner was 90% paired with Megumi for some reason.

Caligraphy and painting was more or less within his grasp. As an otaku drawing is a basic while caligraphy need more refined touch on each stroke while the painting need precision and sense on the balance and coloring. The potrait sketch of Megumi that Kotetsu drew sometimes vanished after completion for some reason however.

The problem was music. He failed this lesson due to his lack of talent in this aspect. He was forced to abandon axemanship thanks to this lesson. He barely able to get a passing mark on piano and violin after 5 years of hard work.

Now move to the martial arts lesson.

In the first year he had some basic body strengthening and endurance training no matter which lesson to gain foundation. It includes weight lifting, push ups, sit ups, side stepping, squat, running and pull ups.

Swordsmanship lesson was learned starting secon year. The sword used was a single edged katana (replaced with bokuto) and western longsword. Swift wind sword style had mastery over swords regardless its shape so they sent different instructor for different weaponry expertise. By the end of the third year a new instructor who taught how to use rapier and an instructor for the usage of cutlass and talwar joined in making the swordsmanship lesson became even harsher.

Kotetsu gained 18 slashing scars since the fourth year in this lesson ever since they start to use real sword in the lesson.

Kotetsu who was an acute case of otaku also attempted to recreate 2 famed sword techniques, Tsubame Gaeshi and Mumyo, Sandandzuki. It wasn't perfect and it might be useless against real opponent.

Spearmanship had three types of mastery to learn from. The naginata style, polearm style and Halberd style. The spearmanship relies more on the weapon range advantage and swiftness. This lesson created 12 scars from the real combat experience from some hotheaded instructor of the halberd and polearms style.

The close quarter combat of the Heavenly Fist taught both hard fist that damage the outside and soft fist that damage the inside. It also use a type of energy channeled through physical contact for a further damage. Punch, kick, grapple, chop, and many martial arts moves mixed from kickboxing, judo, aikido, karate, and Taekwondo was applied for maximum damage. There were times when Tsubaki filed a formal complaint twice to the dojo when the instructor got too hotheaded and made Kotetsu got admitted in hospital for 4 months from bone fracture.

Next lesson was Archery. Tawara Archery not omly teach about how to shoot a bow but also train the presence detection art, tracking wind reading, and technology that used to shoot a curved arrow. The main aim of the archery dof this school was to shot 100 accurate shot from sniping distance silently using long bow.

Lastly the Dual Fang Dagger arts. This was the dagger arts that was learned and used by Underworld Queen in the story. Also, the Underworld Queen's left and right hand men also uses these dagger arts known as the villain Flash Reaper and Shadow Reaper each. It wasn't known who the two villain identities were but when the lesson start, their true identity revealed right away.

The instructor for this dagger art was also the top disciple of the founder of this art, Amagi Ryoko. She was Kotetsu's teacher but also the teacher of two more people in the household. First she was also the teacher of Tsubaki. Second, she also taught Megumi the same style. The main reason why Tsubaki was alive during the tragedy was because she was absent from the event and was accompanied her teacher on a journey to the Country of the Sun to meet an old friend alongside with one more disciple who was also Tsubaki's rival.

"Hee... So this is your prided little brother, Tsubaki... Not bad... "

Ryoko's third disciple, Mikagami Shizuku, said while appraising Kotetsu's 8 years old body.

"Please stay away from Kotetsu-sama, you fixen. "

Megumi said with hostility.

According to Tsubaki, Shizuku was a shotacon and had slight muscle maniac. So, Kotetsu's well toned yet immature body was 100% her strike zone. Also, his wild look he inherited from his father was also a big plus in her opinion.

The maid and the shotacon had a brawl after their first meeting and git beatened up by Ryoko's fist right before the lesson start. It was a dagger art but it more looked like a assassination art instead. Stealth, ambush, parry, vital point strike and blood vessel lecture was introduced.

He secretly also played around by asking for a custom training weapon in the shape of kanshou and byakuya from fate series. He made few moves using them using the Dual fang dagger arts. It felt bit awkward since the dagger size and shape was different. He was however was discovered by Ryoko.

He was forced to train till completely mastered the dual dagger arts using replica kanshou and byakuya for month. This lesson generated 50 different scars on his body but Tsubaki didn't dare to complain as she was scared of her instructor too.

After three years of a jam-packed schedule of lessons, he finally get some free time for himself after some of the advanced classes ended. He was already 10 years old now and although there was still some childishness remained, his body now was solid and had developed some muscles. as a reward, Tsubaki had bought him a smartphone for personal use.

However, for security reason he can't leave the house premises yet. Although three years had passed, some paparazzi were still lurking around the neighborhood to interview Kotetsu. He might have learned some martial arts and build some muscles, however, the fact that he was still a child remained. That was why all his discussions and meeting with Ryuichi had to be online one through video calls.

'it has been a while since we can talk directly like this, isn't it?' Ryuichi said through the phone.

"Well, you know well how my Nee-san so overprotective to me. She was afraid that our call was wiretapped and those crazy paparazzi would come flocked into our busineess."

'Ah, they are still hasn't given up yet?'

"I really wish I can just tell them to shut up and don't bother me. Well, I doubt they'll listen though."

'Ahahaha... I can relate to that when it was found out that we were a pal during your admission in our hospital. How is it? are you going to break some bones again anytime soon?'

"Nah, the martial arts lesson is getting milder lately. I doubt I'll get bone fractures but new scars might increase if I let my guard down."

'Well, you're the craziest kid around that I have known to learn that many martial arts after all.'

"well, although I didn't remember it but somehow my body could recall the dread after all. I can't stay weak forever or a same thing would happen to my family again."

'Ah, that tragedy huh? Did you do some research yourself through the net?'

"Nah, I don't want to completely recall that event at all."

'Honestly, I was curious, is the thing that you have told me the other day through email real?'

"Which one?"

'That you have a flower in both hands.'

"You mean about Megumi and Shizuku? Megumi aside, I can introduce Shizuku to you later. Or rather, if possible I want you to take her from me."

'I'll refrain from that. I already had my own trouble handling my ladies.'

"I see... By the way, about my proposal on that matter, what do you think?"

'You mean the project thing? Is that a serious project?'

"Yeah, I'll send you some samples. If you're interested just tell me. Although many people doesn't like fantasy genres, at least they'll get hooked by the eye candies right?"

'But, don't you need to go out of your house to do that?'

"Now might be impossible but not for long."

'How?'

"Primary school need can be skipped through home tutoring but high society won't allow me to skip middle school and high school apparently."

'So, the first step is the Manga research club?'

"Either that or the Literature club."

'I see... I'm looking forward to your works.'

"Also, for the stage 2, we'll need a capital. A lot of it. I can do some basic operation with my phone. However, I can't do anything with no account or initial capital."

'Is the things about the stock market real? You're ain't kidding right?'

"I'm deadly serious."

'Hmm... I know it's risky but is 100,000 yen enough for initial?'

"Preferably, i want a million but that amount is enough.'

'Hmm... let me try to figure out things later from my side.'

"I'll send you my signed first work. If not mistaken you're interested in a character with bountiful asset right? I'll send the photos and if you're interested I can send one of the painted product to you by mail."

'Somehow, i got a feeling that one of my girlfriend will slap me for this.'

"Then want me to use you girlfriend as a base for the art?"

'You can do that?'

"It should be possible. To be honest, I have made some artwork using Megumi and my Nee-san as a base. Though they tends to disappear before I can finish them. I can try using Ryoko-sensei or Shizuku as a base but my gut feeling tells me no. I don't want to be sacked this early."

'I-I see... By the way, since you can go out of that house soon, won't you be able to participate in the events at that time?'

"I don't know if I can as a junior high one but it should be possible on my high school. So around 5 to 6 years in the future I think."

'That would be too long. Can't you just sneak out from the school or something?'

"I probably can but I don't know what my Nee-san would do after that."

'Well, if it's for a greater good, it shouldn't be that bad right?'

"Maybe"

Kotetsu leaned to the wall and pondered. Ryuichi was right, if he couldn't find a way to get out of the house safely, the chance of awakening would diminish as well. He had to think a way to get out of this place without being noticed by the cameras.

Running away from home might be an option but Tsubaki would definitely make a fuss over it. He didn't want his face ended up on the morning news as missing person either.

"Say, Ryuichi. do you perhaps know a good apartment near the North Middle school?" Kotetsu asked through the phone.

'An apartment? Are you moving out?'

"No, I'm considering trying to live incognito for a while. I had a plan but I might need your help for a thing or two. " Kotetsu explained

'Apartment near that place huh? Not sure about that but if you wish for a decent one i don't think anywhere near that school is a good for recommendations. '

"Why?" Kotetsu asked curiously.

'Although North High was a good school, the area around it wasn't that good. Especially recently. In the last few years there have been numerous cases of disappearance. Even my neighbor was also went missing last week that made me want to move somewhere else. '

"Wait, you lives in that area?" Kotetsu was surprised with Ryuichi's answer.

'Yeah, I've been living in an apartment on the southern area of the North High since my high school days. Its close to the station so I have been living there since high school and communting my university and my internship from there. It's also cheap so I don't have to worry about my fund for the annual convention. ' Ryuichi explained.

Kotetsu went silent as he heard it. All his knowledge came from the novel he had read in his previous life. It was mentioned the time when Ryuichi awakened as a player but it didn't mention how he was awakened.

It was briefly mentioned that there were candidates in awakening trial in Ryuichi's era that was erased by Ryuichi during his trial clearing achievement that made the humanity awakening rate increased by dozen of times.

However, it didn't mention when the trial begin, What kind of trial it was, and How the trial started. After hearing Ryuichi's explanation earlier, Kotetsu's theory on the time of the awakening might have been a big misunderstanding.

The awakening trial had already started although it was still few years before the time mentioned in the story.

"Ryuichi-san, about the apartment tjing, is it alright if I check your place with my own eyes?" Kotetsu asked.

'I don't mind but are you sure? It's pretty much rundown and recently the reputation of the neighborhood is pretty much declining with the numerous reported disappearance. ' Ryuichi said in worried tone.

"It's alright. It's just a checking up the location. Knowing my sister, she will probably purchased the whole building and refurbished the whole facility to make it up to her standard later. "

'That's sounds scary but knowing your family background, it sounds plausible.'

"That's why i need an early survey so that my sister's unreasonable request for the renovation wouldn't trouble the neighborhood and the construction company due to the lack of time. "

'Now you've convinced me. Well, if you gonna stay at my apartment building and renovate it, can I have a special treatment in regards of the rent? ' Ryuichi asked.

"I'll try consulting it with my sister later. So, when are you free for the tour? " Kotetsu aksed.

'Next Sun day should be fine. I have a day off at that time and had no extra class to attend. We can have a whole day to spare.'

"Next Sun day it is then. I'll contact you again about the visit. " Kotetsu added.

'Yeah, see you then. '

Kotetsu sighed and ended the call. He walked toward the door came out of his room. Just as he had expected, Megumi was already standing in front of the door as if waiting for his arrival.

"Megumi, is my sister home yet? " Kotetsu asked.

"I'm afraid, Tsubaki-sama is going to be a bit late due to the summon from Her Highness Princess Kaguya. " Megumi said.

"Her Highness third Princess huh... Well, can't be helped then. Please call me when she come home. " Kotetsu said as he returned into the room that had been turned into his atelier.

Since his meeting with Ryuichi was going to be much more earlier than expected, Kotetsu had to give it his all in the drawing he planned to show Ryuichi later.

Ryuichi used the masterpieces from his previous world as a base and drew them with generous amount of modification to respect the original creator.

He drew perspective sketches for numerous characters in his book and painted a full colored picture on a canvas to be shown to Ryuichi later. He made a painting of RPG full harem party character with the Paladin based on Ryuichi's appearance and the female Mage, Priest, Bard, Hunter, and Swordsman drawn using pure imagination without any real world reference.

By the time he was done drawing Ryuichi's painting, it was almost time for dinner. Kotetsu let the paint to dry in the atelier and headed out to have an early shower to clean the paint stuck on his body.

After he was done showering, he planned to lie around the lounge watching the TV in the entertainment room. Megumi however stopped him by saying that Tsubaki had returned and was waiting in the living room.

Kotetsu cancelled his plan to watch tv and headed straight to the living room. Since it was the living room, Kotetsu didn't bother to knock and opened the door right away.

In the living room he indeed found his sister there. However, there was several problems. First she wasn't alone. Second, Tsubaki was lying on the floor with a disheveled outfit and there was a girl with long hair in a pink kimono that was on the verge of slipping off her body sitting on Tsubaki's stomach to pin her down while holding a maid outfit in her right hand and a nurse outfit on her left. Not far from the two there was a woman in samurai outfit standing with solemn expression.

Seeing a Kotetsu entered the room, the three fliched and stopped moving. Kotetsu followed by Megumi also stopped on their track seeing the unexpected scene either.

"Pardon our intrusion. Please take your time. " Kotetsu said while retreating back to the outside.

"Yasaka, catch him!! " The lafy in kimono said to the samurai.

"Yes!! " The samurai said as she moved at high speed to the doorway.

"Ah! Damn!" Kotetsu cursed. He quickly used his trained physique and petite body to slip through Megumi and ran to the corridor to the back entrance.

Bang!

The samurai opened the door forcefully that the hinges gave up and tilted a little. She almost crashed into Megumi who was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of tge samurai. Megumi was surprised but as a trained combatant under Ryoko's tutelage she took a step back and drew a dagger from who know where.

The samurai girl unseathed her sword and swung at Megumi bit her slash was parried rather easily by the dagger. The samurai girl was surpised by this and withdrew a few steps back.

"Maid-chan, can you step aside for a bit? My master ordered me to bring back the kid who just fled earlier. " The samurai said.

"My apologies but it seems like my master doesn't desire for such thing. " Megumi said.

"Then, I need to knock you out first eh? Don't feel bad about it then if I do. " The samurai prepared her stance.

"Try it if you can" Megumi said poising her dagger to the samurai direction.

Meanwhile the two were confronting each other, Kotetsu wasn't running away because he was afraid or something. He was just taking a tactical retreat to pick up his personal weapon in his room.

"I should have listened to Ryoko-sensei to always keep a weapon on me. " Kotetsu grumbled as he entered his room.

He looked back to the corridor and saw that the samurai wasn't behind him.

"Ah, It seems like I accidentally passed my problem to Megumi. I'll thank her later. Perhaps I'll give her another painting later. " He said as he entered his room.

Kotetsu picked the weapon belt customized for him and put the katana on the back and the twin dagger on his waist. He also tied a spear on his back alongside an arrow quiver. He then put on a gauntlet to protect his arm and picked the bow that was specially designed for his stature.

"Man, I really wish I have an inventory right now. Having to bring these things around is a pain in the ass. " Kotetsu grumbled.

He walked out of his room after completely armed. At a glance he looked amateurish but this setup was intentional as his teachers had taught him to do it like this.

Kotetsu arrived at tge corridor where Megumi clashed with the samurai girl. Despite being a veteran in dagger arts, Megumi was completely suppressed. It was a good choice to retreat to get geared up properly than facing this lady unarmed.

Kotetsu took an arrow from the quiver and aimed. He lowered his presence and killi g intent as he drew the arrow from a distance. He waited for a while and when the samurai girl blade pushed Megumi back he released that arrow.

The samurai was almost caught off guard from the sudden arrow flying at her direction. The arrow however didn't reach its intended target. The samurai girl used her katana to parry the arrow just barely.

Megumi saw Kotetsu's arrival and slumped down from the fatigue. Her maid outfit was in a mess that almost turned into ribbons but there was almost no trace of blood on them.

Kotetsu pulled another arrows and releassd them at the samurai girl in succession. The samurai girl managed to block each of them and dashed toward Kotetsu to shorten their distance.

Kotetsu kept firing at her with artows repeatedly until she was just a few steps away from his location. He threw his bow and quiver and pulled his spear out. He thrusted few times using the spear to keep himself outside her attack range using the spear range advantage.

The thust reached her but all of them was parried easily by her sword. The stalement lasted a few times begore it ended when Kotetsu was forced to block a vertical attack from the samurai and cut his spear half.

Kotetsu clicked his tongue and backed away as he changed his weapon to the dual dagger. The curved blades blocked the upcoming second slash from the samurai girl but he was still pushed back from their weight difference.

Kotetsu didn't get pushed back because he wasn't prepared or was caught off guard but he to put some distance away from her. Kotetsu felt his hand a bit numb from absorbing the impact. He put the daggers back into the scabbard and pulled out the katana next.

"Hou, are you looking down on me, boy? With that meager amount of skill in numerous weapons only make you jack of all trades but master of none. Yet you dare to challenge me on my expertise. I'm little offended here. " She said in irritated tone.

"It's not that I look down on anyone. I just want to hone my skill against someone stronger to overcone a bit of bottleneck here. " Kotetsu said poised his stance.

It was a basic stance that had some sign of rigidness and numerous flaws here an there in the samurai's eyes.

"Hou, let me see what you got, Boy. " The samurai said in amused tone. She relaxed her stance and raised her left hand while resting the back of her katana on her shoulder in challenging manner.

"Nameless Mixed Art Style, Tachibana Kotetsu, come forward! " Kotetsu declared.

Kotetsu stepped forward suing normal stride of a swordsman for few steps and attempted to slash at thr samurai.

"Naive!" The samurai said as she swung at kotetsu.

Kotetsu smirked seeing the wide swing of the samurai. In mid of the run, suddenly he changed his footwork from the close combatants crude swordsman to the ones belong to the agile assassin.

Clang!!

Metalic sound echoed from the clash of blades. Kotetsu who was skilled enough to chnage directory of the blade mid swing understood well that if he could do it, that there's no way a samurai who had better skill than him unable to do the same.

"Tch! It doesn't work as expected huh. " Kotetsu clicked his tongue.

"I didn't like gow you used cheap tricks to make me let off my guard a bit but I admit that was a close one. " The samurai said.

"But that won't work a second time. " She added.

"We'll see about that. " Kotetsu said.

Kotetsu attempted to strike again and again at the samurai but none of the attack connected. He who had learned numerous martial arts had numerous footwork techniques in his arsenal which allow him to change his combat tempo at will.

"Is that all you got boy? I'm starting getting disappointed here. " The samurai said.

Kotetsu was at a dilemma. He could switch to the dual blade style but that might aggravate her more due to his earlier declaration. Then he remembered a certain thing he had yet to show her but he wasn't sure it would satisfy her curiosity. Also, he had yet to be able to perfectly execute it as he had yet to show it to anyone else so he couldn't get any pointer or guidance about those moves.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to resolve himself.

'Please lend me your strength, Okita-san, Sasaki-san. '

He prayed inside his mind recalling a certain fictional character from his previous life.

"To be honest, I don't want to use imperfect move but now that I was cornered this far I can't afford to hold back either. " Kotetsu said while changing his stance to the initial stance of the fictional character he had seen numerous times in the previous life.

"Tennen Rishin-ryu, Are you ready..." Kotetsu muttered like a chant.

The samurai sensed a sudden change and felt a bit worried. After all the atmosphere of the naive looking boy changed almost 180 degrees for some reason. In her eyes, it was as if his little figure resonated with a master swordsman she didn't recognize.

Kotetsu held his sword hilt with one hand holding it with the blade faced upward while the othre hand traced the blunt edge slowly from the base toward the tip as if he was coating it with something.

The samurai let go of her aloof attitude and held her sword properly this time. She felt that his next attack might accidentally killed her if she wasn't prepared.

Kotetsu lowered his body for a second before leaping at the samurai at quick speed. Compared to his earlier pace, it wad the fastest of all. The samurai held her sword in front of her body to receive any kind aof attck approaching her.

"Mumyou, Sandandzuki! " Kotetsu declared as he struck.

Clang! Clank! Clank!

Three metalic sound from two blades clashing echoed in the corridor. The attack was blocked by the samurai but the expression showed on her face was not the earlier demeaning look but a pure shocked face. After all, in her eyes, the attack earlier was nothing but one piercing strike but the impact she received and the sound echoing upon their blade clashed was telling her that ut was three strikes.

She was taken aback that she let go of her guard for a second and lost sight of her opponent. By the time she realized it, Kotetsu was already changing his stance again. This time he held his sword with both hands preparing for a wide swing.

'Dangerous! ' she warned herself inside her head.

"Hiken - Tsubame Gaeshi! " Kotetsu declared.

Kotetsu made a wide swing to the left. But in a split second, he retracted his blade changing it into a downward choping slash before within one second later he retracted his blade and made a wide swing to the diagonally to the upper right.

The samurai braced herself and used her all trying to parry the mysterious sword techniques.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Three metalic clash sound echoed once again. Kotetsu took a wide back step and created some distance between them. He glanced at his sword. It almost unnoticed but it had numerous crack on them. He threw his sword away and pulled out his twin swords.

He was showing a fighting spirit but his breathing was so haggard that he looked like someone who was on the brink of losing consciousness.

"That was a good move kid, but unfortunately your blade never reach me. " The samurai said. She sounded confident but deep inside she was panicking.

'What was that?!! It was scary!! I was so lucky that his trajectory is predictable otherwise I would have been a dead meat by now! '

"As a reward, I'll knock you out using my signature move too. " She said.

She poised her stance. She was about to make a strong downward slashing filled with powerful momentum. Kotetsu felt weak but he put his daggers crossed above his head to block.

Gust of rind generated from the supersonic move. Kotetsu was blown by the wind and rolled on the floor few times while unconscious. His sword was knocked back and landed on the ground several meters away. However, the samurai was shocked. She didn't pay attention to the unconscious boy but stared at her weapon.

The previously beautiful blade in her hand now was missing leaving only the hilt. The blade base was shattered upon made a contact with the Kotetsu's crossed blade and was blown away from yhe momentum. If not that Kotetsu had fainted by the time impact was connected, it would definitely her loss.

"Gahahaha!!!! Interesting!! It seems like this boy had hidden his trump card so well all this time. " The samurai said. She approached Kotetsu and lifted him up and carried him over her shoulder like a sack before she approached Megumi and picked her up and carried her in the same way on the other shoulder.

She returned to the living room in a good mood before she saw something unbelievable. Tsubaki who was pinned down by the girl earlier was sitting with her hands folded looking ath the samurai in unamused way. The girl was now lying on the sofa with her body tied in turtle bondage using a rope with both of her wrist and legs were tied in a knot like a shrimp. That time she knew well that she had beed fucked up.

When he came to he fpund himself lying on Tsubaki's lap in the living room. He raised his body slowly and was a bit unstable from his fatigued body.

He felt so languid and tired after the earlier excessive combat after the long period of drawing session. However, all his tiredness and drowsiness was blown away in instant upon seeing the scene before him.

Megumi, the Samurai Girl and the girl who was pinning Tsubaki down earlier were lined up neatly on the floor tied in the turtle binding with their limbs tied behind their back like a shrimp. Except for Megumi they were blindfolded and gagged by using their sarashi and napkin.

"Nee-san, may I know who these unreasonable guests who got turned into this ridiculous entities are?" Kotetsu asked her sister without looking at her. His eyes were blanked out to process the whole situation.

"Etto, you might not remember her but the girl on the right is our childhood friend, Yamato Kaguya-chan. And the one next to her is her bodyguard, Yasaka Ayame-san. And next to them is our useless maid. " Tsubaki said.

"Wait, isn't Yamato surname belongs to the Royal family? "

"Yes, that's correct. "

"Then this messed up lady on the right is our country's princess right? Is it alright to treat her like this? "

"Well, to be honest its not alright. However... "

Tsubaki who was looking away from awkwardness turned her gaze to the tied up princess with cold stare.

The shrip bound princes somehow sensed the cold stare had a slight flushed face writhed a little in her place.

"As you can see, it was her hobby to get into this situation whenever we're alone. Or rather, she is the one who taught me to do the binding in the first place. " Tsubaki added.

"Is this country really alright with such girl as our princess? "

"I really wonder about that... "

"For now, let's untie them and have a proper conversation. " Kotetsu said in resignation.

Tsubaki and Kotetsu released the three. Tsubaki of course warned them to not do anything funny either.

After getting freed from the embarrassing state, Kaguya and Ayame sat straight on the sofa as if nothing had happened. If not for her earlier state, nobody had never thought that this prim amd proper looking lady was a bit rotten on the inside.

"Ehem, please pardon for our unsightly appearance earlier, Kotetsu-sama. We might have been acquainted for quite some time but since I heard you suffered memory loss, let me introduce myself properly. I am your childhood friend, Kaguya. Please call me Kaguya-onee-chan like in the past, Kotetsu sama. " Kaguya said.

"Please stop joking aside Kaguya. You know well that Kotetsu was traumatized by your outrageous act of trying to teach him to become an S. Well, thanks to your education, he managed to get this rotten yet useful maid over here though. " Tsubaki refuted her.

"Why you have to crush my chance to get close to Kotetsu-kun, Tsubaki-nee-sama?!! " Kaguya protested with teary eyes.

"Because your rottenness is contagious. " Tsubaki said coldly.

"Please don't be too harsh on Kaguya-hime-sama. Although she is like this, she is still a princess of our country. " Ayame interjected.

"Shut up, you battle freak. I know you volunteered to become Kaguya-sama's bodyguard after you heard about that he was a genius martial artist right? Don't think I don't know about that!! " Tsubaki scolded.

Ayame flinched when it was pointed out.

"Well, please don't be so harsh on them, Nee-san."

"Why are you forgiving them, Kotetsu? "

"Because they are the rotten type that got excited by harsh words and scolding. " Kotetsu said with blank eyes that looked into the distance to give up on the current reality.

"Ah, I forgot about that. " Tsubaki said while holding her head.

"By the way, I heard from Megumi that you had something to ask from me. What is it? " Tsubaki changed the topic.

"Is it alright to discuss it here? "

"It's alright, just think these two as air and continue. They won't have guts to blabber things about us. After all, I have declared if they crossed the line I would take you out of this country and changed our citizenship and nationality altogether. "

"Ah, that might be the best option currently. " Kotetsu said while looking at the princess of the country.

Kaguya flinched and looked away shyly feom Kotetsu's cold gaze.

"Jokes aside, what is it you want to ask? "

"Ah, I think I would like to live alone incognito starting my junior high."

Tsubaki tensed up upon hearing it. She went pale and panicked hearing that Kotetsu was leaving the home.

"Why? Is the reporters bothered you again? Should I send special force to wipe the out? Or did Megumi do something that disgust you? "

"Its not like that, Nee-san. You know that I can't be home tutored forever. I need to get to know how to socialize with others at some points. Living alone incognito would allow me to live in peace without getting hounded by reporters. Also, I might gain some friends who had more normal tendency than our current one. " Kotetsu said.

"A normal friend huh... If not for my status as temporary family head, I might be doing that at some point. " Tsubaki added.

"Then do you have an idea about where you're going to live?"

"I plan to live in an apartment or a boarding house. I heard from Ryuichi-san that there was a cheap apartment located right in front of the school so the commuting to school was relatively safe even when I was by myself. "

"Cheap apartment means it's rundown or has a lot of demerits right? Forget it. I won't allow you to live in the environment of that standard. "

"If it's not up to the standard, you just need to upgrade it don't you think? It's still 2 years in the future that I starting attending high school. We can use the time to purchase the neighborhood and made it up to our standard. However you need to do it on several places as camouflage. Just say that Tachibana family is investing in the livelihood of the area where the students live if the reporter come to sniff things around. "

"But, how about your livelihood? I can't let you live alone unattended. "

"Turn the rundown apartment into a boarding house and send Megumi as the caretaker. That way the livelihood and security is guaranteed right? If you're worried about the other tenants, just make it an elite boarding house with advanced facilities that only accept tenant who haf pass the screening background check. You can ask the school to declare that I am on a special scholarship with a sponsor that guarantee my identity and credibility to stay in that boarding house."

"Sometimes I was wondering how could you think about things like that. Maybe if you are taking the role of the family head, we'll be able to revive our prestige in no time. "

"Please don't say that, Nee-san. Nobody want to be led by a child. You take the helms in the family matter till I graduated from college and we can talk about the succession later. That's what we have agreed right? "

"Alright, you win. " Tsubaki said while sighing after hearing how stubborn her brother was.

"Ah, by the way, I plan to survey the site on next Sun Day. Ryuichi-san was introducing a potential place with strategic location for the prospect boarding house. "

"You're still keep in contact with that quack doctor?!! How many times I had to say that nothing good would come when befriending a playboy like that lazybones!! You need to find a better friend. "

"You know that telling me to find a better friend yourself is an irony, Nee-san. Just think your circle of friendship again and tried to compare to mine. He might be an otaku and a bit lazy but at least he is not a sexual deviant like your circle. "

"... " Tsubaki when silent when she really thought of her circle of friends.

"Well, I'll vring Megumi with me so there shouldn't be a problem right? "

"No, that's not enough. I'm also coming with you. " Tsubaki declared.

"Uh... Aren't you busy for the next few days? "

"This is related to our future business investment. I need to do an on site survey myself. " She added.

Hearing her determination Kotetsu had nothing but a bad feeling about this. As a precaution, before Kaguya went home, Kotetsu called out to Ayame.

"Yasaka-san, can I have a minute?"

"What is it boy?"

"It's about the last two moves that I used, what do you think about them? "

"They are indeed amazing move but it put too much burden on your current self. Now that you mention it, why did you develop those two moves in the first place? "

"This is a secret from my sister and everyone else. Actually, ever since I woke up from my vegetative state, I got anhunch something dangerous was approaching. At first i think it was just my imagination but it was going stronger and stronger as the time passed. And when I heard Nee-san is coming with me to inspect the site, i sensed the strongest omen i had ever feel. For that, can I ask you a favor? "

"Hmm... Depends on the favor... "

"In case of me and my sister disappeared together at some point, please deliver the letter i'll write to Kaguya-sama and Ryoko-sensei."

"What kind of letter are you going to send them, Boy? "

"Something like a temporary will in case we were late to come back. I don't want to end up homeless when we come back home after all. "

"I see... In that case, let me ask you this. Can your gut feeling be trusted?"

"I'm currently think that it has around 80 to 90% credibility in my opinion. "

"80% huh... Well, I'll do it. But in exchange, teach me the two moves you used on me earlier when you return"

"Alright"

With that Kotetsu first arrangement was cleared. He was actually worried about how he's going to send the message if he and his sister disappeared into the awakening trial dimension to prevent the Tachibana family got dissolved but thankfully the arrival of Princess Kaguya and her bodyguard had come to the rescue.

Kotetsu quickly took a pen and paper and began writing the letters directed to Kaguya-sama and Ryoko-sensei signed with his signature and stamped with his thumbprint for authenticity. With these two letters it ahould be enough to prevent Tachibana family completely dissolved for a while. Well, he need to survive the trial to reclaim it first though.

On the next Sun Day, Kotetsu's group headed to Ryuichi's place. It took some drastic meusure to prevent the mass media to sniff Kotetsu's outing but they somehow managed to leave the home undetected.

They arrived safely at the site. Kotetsu was a vit shocked when they arrived. The location was indeed strategic as it was literally located in front of the school however, the condition of the building was too far from decent to be called a housing.

The state of the building was quite abandoned with mosses growing on the wall. It also had dark gray color of the natural unpainted concrete. Overall, it was more proper to be called a haunted mansion than an apartment building. At this rate this building would receive a complete overhaul by Tsubaki's command.

As the group went to Ryuichi's room, they saw several doors were blocked by police lines. Kotetsu who had a hunch of the things happening in this building felt that the time for the next player awakening candidate selection was coming closer. While for the rest they felt an incredible unease as if they had come to the site of a serial murder case.

"Welcome, Kotetsu, ah, Onee-san too... It has been a while."

Ryuichi greeted warmly.

Kotetsu, Tsubaki and Megumi stepped into Ryuichi's apartment to inspect the interior of the apartment. However as soon as they enetered a strange even occured. Everything on their sight turned ashen grey as if being petrified before it shattered into polygons revealing a weird space with floating bookshelves around them.

Four figures floating in the air slowly descended and greeted them.

"Welcome to the tutorial zone, O seed of the challengers."

One of the figures said. She had the appearance of an angel but for some reason her expression told Kotetsu that she wasn't as graceful as she looked.

But, Kotetsu had anticipated getting dragged into this mess. After all, ever since he had woken up from the comatose state, he had been preparing himself to directly get involved in this trial in the first place.