The mechanical system voice had just faded from Aoto’s mind when he immediately felt streams of warmth surging from within his eyeballs, quickly enveloping both of his eyes.

This warmth carried quite a stimulating sensation.

As his eyeballs became wrapped in this warmth, Aoto couldn’t help but tightly shut his eyes from the discomfort.

The warmth came suddenly and left just as abruptly.

Just as Aoto closed his eyes, the warmth began to slowly recede.

When Aoto reopened his eyes, he discovered with astonishment—the world before him… seemed somewhat changed.

His vision remained the same, yet he felt something was different.

At that moment, a fly happened to fly past before Aoto’s eyes.

Watching this fly pass before him, Aoto finally realized with shock what exactly had become different about the world through his eyes.

In the past, Aoto would only see a tiny black shadow flash before his eyes.

But now, Aoto could clearly track this fly’s flight path, see the fly’s face clearly, and discern the amplitude of its wing vibrations.

Excellent!

Another jackpot.

Dynamic vision far superior to others… this talent might not be very useful in daily life, but in combat, its usefulness would be enormous.

If he could see through enemy movements more clearly, he could anticipate opponents’ actions!

However, while feeling pleased, Aoto also felt somewhat astonished about this newly acquired powerful talent.

That Suzu possessed a talent actually aligned with Aoto’s expectations.

After all, this person was the third-generation headmaster of the Tennen Rishin-ryu main family.

For someone of his capability, having some special talent seemed quite normal.

What surprised Aoto was—the talent Suzu possessed turned out to be dynamic vision far superior to ordinary people…

A person with narrow eyes so small you couldn’t even tell if they were open, possessing a talent called “Hawk Eye”…

It gave off a rather strange feeling.

Like seeing a muscular man with biceps larger than a baby’s head possessing a “plentiful milk supply” talent…

Aoto couldn’t help but cast a surprised, bewildered gaze toward Suzu…

Noticing Aoto’s gaze, Suzu turned his face—which made you wonder if his eyes were even open—toward Aoto.

“Tachibana-kun, what’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Ah? Oh, nothing, nothing.”

Though puzzled about why Aoto had been looking at him that way, Suzu didn’t pursue the matter further.

Vigorously rubbing his right shoulder several times until the pain slightly subsided, Suzu smiled and placed both hands behind his back.

Then… he suddenly began circling around Aoto…

While circling Aoto, he reached out to touch here and pinch there on Aoto’s body…

While feeling and pinching various parts of Aoto’s body, he maintained a strange smile and murmured to himself:

“Hmm… body not particularly sturdy… but has considerable development potential…”

“Oh, the muscles here are quite firm though.”

“Fingers are long, quite slender…”

Watching Suzu press and knead his shoulders, waist, and other areas while continuously uttering strange remarks, Aoto’s expression unconsciously changed slightly, and he instinctively tightened his buttocks.

The surrounding Kondō and others were also stunned by Suzu’s bizarre behavior at this moment.

—This person… probably isn’t some old pervert, right?!

With chills continuously rising from the depths of his heart, Aoto retracted his neck slightly, as countless thoughts and fantasies uncontrollably began swirling through his mind…

…Those news stories from his previous life about teachers taking advantage of their position to bully students…

…Hey, come to my room tonight, I’ll teach you some secret techniques…

…What? Just getting into my futon, what’s there to be afraid of? I can only teach you these secret techniques after you lie down in my futon…

…My dear disciple, you still want to continue practicing swordsmanship, right? I’m quite frustrated right now, so please kneel down and help me…

These chaotic thoughts and fantasies only swirled in Aoto’s mind for a moment before dissipating.

Because just at that moment, Suzu suddenly asked Aoto a question that made him pause in surprise:

“Tachibana-kun, have you recently started exercising your body?”

“Huh?” Aoto stared blankly for a moment before quickly nodding, “Yes, I have.”

“Just as I thought.” Suzu grinned, “I can see traces of recent training in the muscles of your arms, legs, waist, and other areas.”

“Is this physical training something you just started?”

“Yes,” Aoto replied, “I think to master swordsmanship well, a strong physique is quite necessary, so I’ve been consciously exercising recently.”

“Hohoho… well said.”

Suzu’s smile gained a bit more excitement and warmth.

“To master swordsmanship well, a strong physique is indeed essential.”

“Since you’re training your muscles… that’s good.”

“Keep exercising properly, maintain your training regimen, don’t be inconsistent.”

Suzu stood on tiptoe and patted Aoto’s shoulders—20cm taller than himself.

“Don’t waste such a tall frame with long arms and legs.”

Suzu didn’t offer any comments about his earlier match with Aoto.

After only touching Aoto all over with a strange smile and then inexplicably telling Aoto to “maintain your training,” he raised his head and scanned the circle of Kondō and others gathered around him.

“Alright, everyone stop gathering here…”

“I’m back!”

Before Suzu could finish speaking, a suddenly appearing energetic voice abruptly cut him off.

Hearing this familiar, pleasant voice, Aoto raised his eyebrows and looked toward the source—at the dojo entrance, a slender high ponytail bounced up and down.

Kondō: “Soji? You’re back. Why so late? Did you go playing somewhere again?”

Okita strolled leisurely through the dojo entrance, walking slowly into the training hall.

He held a bag of konpeitō in one hand while stuffing large handfuls of candy from the bag into his mouth with the other.

“I didn’t go playing!” Okita said with displeased pursed lips, his words somewhat unclear due to his mouth being full of konpeitō, “Today was unlucky—when I got to the sweets shop, I found out they’d already sold out of konpeitō.”

“Brother Kondō, you know I only like the konpeitō from that particular shop.”

“So I had no choice but to slowly wait for them to bake new candy.”

Having said this, Okita swept a puzzled gaze over the circle of Kondō and others gathered around Suzu.

“What’s going on? Why are you all gathered together? Are you discussing something… Huh?”

At that moment, Okita’s gaze suddenly fixed.

Among the crowd gathered around Suzu… he spotted a certain someone’s figure.

After staring blankly at Aoto for a moment, Okita’s eyes lit up, his face flushed, and he took small, quick steps, pattering rapidly toward Aoto.

“Tachibana-kun! You came to practice swordsmanship today?”

“Ah? Yes, I did. Why?” Looking at Okita, who for some reason had suddenly become extremely excited, Aoto couldn’t help showing puzzlement.

“I heard about your exploits while buying konpeitō at the sweets shop just now!” Okita, for some reason quite excited and agitated, slightly stood on tiptoe, his two hands held before his chest tightly clenched into fists.

Exploits?

Oh… you mean that case I solved in Kiyayanagi Town the day before yesterday…

Yesterday, when he accidentally encountered Kinoshita Mai on patrol duty, Aoto had learned from her that his “solving the case in one hour” exploit had already spread among the common people.

As a member of the “Three Squads,” Aoto naturally had Edo’s map memorized by heart.

The location of the murder case from the day before yesterday: Kiyayanagi Town, was quite far from Koishikawa Hinode Yanagicho where Shieikan was located.

Ha, my exploits have actually spread all the way to Koishikawa Hinode Yanagicho… As expected of a densely populated major city, news doesn’t travel too slowly.

Aoto wasn’t a particularly ambitious person.

But having his great achievements spread wider and wider, known by more and more people, still gave him a small thrill of excitement and agitation.

Just as the corners of Aoto’s mouth began to lift slightly from this small excitement—

“For that murder case in Kiyayanagi Town the day before yesterday, you didn’t even enter the crime scene! You simply listened to the jishinban officers report the case details, then like Zhuge Kongming performing finger calculation techniques, you calculated with your fingers and deduced who the culprit was! Is this true?”

Aoto: “………………Huh?”

*******

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New book setting sail!

Today, updating three chapters after a long time!

Seeking monthly tickets! Seeking recommendations! Seeking monthly tickets! Seeking collections!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep