Teaching Kendo in Tokyo 1980

Not long after seeing Nanjo off, Fujii Mikako's mother arrived in her car.

By the time Mikako had changed out of her uniform and come out, she spotted her mother and immediately ran over with a playful pout. "Mom, I really want to keep learning kendo here! I learned so much today!"

Fujii Keiko looked at her daughter with slight surprise, and in an instant, the two exchanged a subtle glance—an unspoken conversation flashing between mother and daughter.

Watching from the side, Kazuma could just imagine the gist of it: "That sly vixen is going to show up here every day."

"I know, Mom! Please help me out!"

Fujii Keiko turned to Kazuma. "Could I see the tuition rates for this dojo?"

Chiyoko immediately handed over the small booklet with the fee schedule. "Right here. There are three plans, but since my brother is now acting as shihan-dai, the rates my father set when he was alive no longer apply. You're welcome to choose the lowest plan."

Fujii Keiko studied the fee chart seriously for a few seconds, then let out a breath of relief. "Alright, I'll pay for it. Oh, by the way, does this cram school—"

"We're a dojo," Kazuma gently corrected her.

"Ah, right, right—the dojo. Does the tuition include other lessons? Kazuma-kun, your English is really good, right? Does that mean Mikako could maybe drop one of her English classes?"

Kazuma scratched his head. There was a certain down-to-earth quality to Fujii Keiko that he found endearing.

After all, in his past life he'd been an ordinary working-class man for thirty years—until everything collapsed...

He answered her honestly. "I wouldn't recommend counting on my help alone for English. Sophia University's English department has extremely high standards."

Fujii Keiko clicked her tongue. "I see. Good thing her father's getting promoted—otherwise we'd really have to tighten our belts."

"Mooom, don't talk about stuff like that in front of other people," Mikako whispered, embarrassed.

Kazuma smiled. "Don't worry. The economy's booming—everyone's income is going to skyrocket in the next few years."

After all, the bubble era was just around the corner.

That thought made Kazuma sigh inwardly. Given how broke he was now, it looked like he wouldn't be able to catch that wave and turn money into more money.

For him, getting into Todai was the only viable path.

Fujii Keiko opened her wallet and carefully counted out the first month's tuition, handing the crisp bills to Chiyoko.

Watching those ten-thousand yen bills, Kazuma's earlier sense of warmth toward her diminished slightly.

They weren't as wealthy as the Nanjo family, but clearly the Fujii family was doing well—much better than the Kiryus.

At the very least, they could count out a month's tuition in cash without making a trip to the bank.

Of course, tuition at the Kiryu dojo wasn't particularly high to begin with.

With only a third-year high school student serving as shihan-dai, they couldn't exactly charge premium rates.

And as for Kazuma's recent exploits dismantling a yakuza group... well, that wasn't exactly the kind of thing you could advertise to boost enrollment.

After paying, Fujii Keiko tugged Mikako along. "Come on, we've got a few cram schools to check out tonight."

"Okay." Mikako nodded obediently, letting her mom lead her to the car. As she fastened her seatbelt, she waved goodbye to Kazuma.

Kazuma stood at the entrance, watching their car pull away.

Just as he turned back, Chiyoko was gleefully waving the cash in her hand. "Bro, look! We actually have five ten-thousand yen bills at once!"

In that moment, Kazuma felt an overwhelming urge to hug his little sister and ruffle her hair.

And just like that, he finally understood how Jōtarō Kujo must have felt when someone ruined his twenty-thousand-yen jeans.

Chiyoko's eyes sparkled as she stared at the crisp bills. "If we charged a small fee for using the dojo's armor and bamboo swords, we could earn an extra thousand yen every practice!"

Kazuma flicked her forehead. "Stop that. We're not running a business. We need to be fair."

Chiyoko stuck out her tongue. "Hmph! Don't think I don't know—if they were guys, you'd totally charge them! And you'd probably tack on a fee for custom practice uniforms, too!"

Kazuma clapped his hands. "Now that's an idea! Custom dojo practice uniforms—kept here and washed by us. I like it!"

Chiyoko shot him a look of pure disdain. "Bro, you're definitely thinking dirty thoughts."

"I am not! Don't say things like that!" Kazuma said sternly. "Your brother is an upstanding man. I'd never think like that!"

"Really? I thought you'd be sneaking off to wash Nanjo-senpai's practice uniform and sniffing the ume scent on it... That was white plum blossom, right? How could you tell? You're not secretly working at a host club, are you?"

Kazuma was about to head back inside when her comment made him stumble, nearly faceplanting.

"Come on! Look at me—do I look like someone who could be a host?"

"I think you'd do fine. Lots of women like rugged types. You'd probably be a hit with Ken Takakura fans."

Kazuma was momentarily at a loss for words—because in his past life, he did know that Ken Takakura had captured the hearts of countless women in China with that one film.

While he didn't really resemble Ken Takakura, Kazuma did have a certain stoic aura now.

Probably thanks to that Lone Dragon trait. Other people couldn't see the trait itself, but they could sense something.

Chiyoko continued, "Nanjo-senpai and Mikako-senpai are both totally drawn to your pheromones. If you can attract them, you can definitely attract other women too."

Listening to his sister's endless chatter, Kazuma suddenly understood what she was getting at. He suppressed a laugh and said seriously, "Then maybe I should become a host—study for Todai during the day, host at night..."

"No way!" Chiyoko immediately panicked, waving her hands. "Absolutely not! You need to focus on your studies! And hosts have to drink alcohol, right? You're not even old enough to drink!"

"But weren't you just accusing me of secretly working at a host club to learn pickup skills?" Kazuma shot back smoothly.

Chiyoko froze, realizing he was teasing her. Puffing up her cheeks, she huffed, "I'm not talking to you anymore!"

With that, she stomped off, money in hand, back into the house.

Kazuma burst out laughing.

Once he'd had his fill of amusement, he took a deep breath and refocused.

It was time to study.

There was still a long road ahead if he wanted to get into Todai—first and foremost, he had to tackle his weakest subject: Japanese.

His past life experience was useless for Japanese language classes, and the original Kazuma had been terrible at it.

Dead last in the class, in fact.

Then there was history. The Todai entrance exam covered history in brutal detail, quizzing on the tiniest, most obscure facts. Memorizing all of it would be an enormous task.

And it was nothing like the history exams he'd taken in his previous life, which focused on key events and analyzing how economic foundations shaped political structures.

Kazuma returned to his room, pulled out his bag, and took out the reading list provided by the teachers.

He scanned the list and quickly confirmed: the Kiryu family didn't own a single one of these books.

After all, the original Kazuma had planned to use kendo to land a police recommendation and work his way up from the ranks.

Now that he was aiming for Todai, he needed to buy these reference books—textbooks alone wouldn't cut it.

Kazuma sighed. He wondered how much of their newly acquired cash would vanish in an instant.

Just then, Chiyoko knocked. "Bro? You in there?"

"Yeah, the door's open," Kazuma replied, glancing back just as Chiyoko, now dressed to go out, stepped inside.

"I didn't know if you might be... busy doing something private. It'd be awkward if I walked in on that. Is that the reading list?"

She craned her neck to peek at the papers in his hand.

"Yeah. The teachers put it together."

Chiyoko nodded. "Got it. Let's go."

"Huh? Go where?" Kazuma asked, surprised.

"To buy the books, of course! You can't start studying without them," Chiyoko said, pulling her worn little purse to the front and patting it. "I brought three ten-thousand yen bills. That should be enough for the essentials!"

(End of Chapter)