“I’ve finished loading everything.”
“Thanks, Airi.”
The handcart was piled high with belongings, some large and some small.
And I loaded almost all of them by myself.
Impressive, right?
I had something else to do today, so I’d taken a break from my usual independent training.
An acquaintance of the couple who ran the izakaya had found a new home, and I’d been helping them move since this morning.
In modern Japan, you could just hire a moving company and be done with it.
But there aren’t any of those in the Rukon District.
You have to load all your belongings—cooking pots, chests of drawers and everything else—onto a handcart yourself, then haul the whole lot by hand.
It would have been much easier if we’d had an ox to pull it.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t arrange one, so we’d have to pull it ourselves from here.
“Still, I can’t believe you managed to load almost all of this on your own.”
“Well, I am training to become a Soul Reaper.”
I puffed out my chest, feeling just a little proud of the praise.
The stronger your spiritual power becomes, the stronger and more active your body gets, too.
All that training hasn’t been for nothing.
I’m stronger than the average man these days.
That’s what you call results!
You might think it’s a bit odd for a woman to boast about her strength, but I’m much taller than most men around here anyway.
Being strong doesn’t look particularly out of place on me.
“That’s true…
So, do you think Danzomaru will finally give you a passing mark this year?”
“N-next year for sure…”
At the owner’s question, I looked away.
“How many years has it been now?”
“T-ten…
years…”
“…Well, I hope you pass.”
“Yes…”
…That’s right.
Ten years.
TEN WHOLE YEARS!!
And I’m still training under my master.
People keep telling me things like, “Wouldn’t it be better to give up?” and “Why not just take over the izakaya instead?”
I hear it all the time.
So often, in fact, that I’ve even started considering it myself.
But I’ve learnt how to use a sword, and he’s teaching me how to fight bare-handed.
I’ve had lessons in footwork, too, and my Kidō is…
passable…
…Yes!
It’s passable now, all right!!
I can fire several Cero shots, and I’m even starting to get something resembling Blut to manifest, little by little.
And pushing that Blut-like technique harder to put my body under strain and make my training more efficient—does that actually work, I wonder…?—is bound to pay off one day.
I haven’t even reached the starting line yet!
I can’t give up when I’ve only come this far!
“Well, let’s put the question of passing aside for now.
Shall we get going?”
“Yes, let’s.
I’ll start pulling, then.”
I grabbed the handles and pulled with all my might.
Slowly, the handcart began to move.
Remember what I said earlier?
An ox would have made this easier, but we couldn’t get one.
So I’m pulling it instead.
This enormous load!
Me!
Pulling it!
With my own hands!
All the way to the new house!
On foot!
Fine.
Whatever.
I’ve spent ten years getting nowhere fast, so you might as well put me to work.
“Airi can move that thing all by herself…?”
“Honestly, I wish she’d forget about becoming a Soul Reaper and just stay at our shop forever…”
I decided to pretend I hadn’t heard the owner and his friend sounding equal parts impressed and exasperated.
“Ma’am, the extra dishes are ready.”
“Right you are.
I’ll take these out, so go and get the order from that table over there, would you?”
“Will do!”
I’d spent the day helping with the move, but there was still work to do at the izakaya that evening.
No slacking off here, either.
If there’s one good thing to come out of these ten years, it’s that they’ve taught me how to cook.
I used to do little more than take orders, serve food, clear tables and handle the bills.
Now I can make pretty much everything on the menu.
I’ve been trained well enough that I could just about keep the place running even without the owner and his wife.
If only my Soul Reaper training had progressed that smoothly…
“What can I get you?”
“Let’s see…”
While pretending to think about his order, the customer slowly reached a hand towards my backside.
I gave the wandering hand a sharp slap and knocked it away.
“Ah-ah.
No touching, remember?”
“Tch!
You’ve got sharp instincts lately, Airi…”
He’d probably assumed I wouldn’t notice because his hand was coming from almost directly behind me.
Now he was rubbing the hand I’d slapped and trying to laugh it off.
“Well, can’t be helped.
Give me my usual, and add some simmered fish as an apology.”
“Of course!
Thank you very much!”
Apparently, the regulars had recently come up with a little rule among themselves: see if you can touch me without my noticing, and if I catch you, you have to order an extra dish.
Nobody had asked for my agreement.
In fact, nobody had even told me about it.
“What, you got caught too?”
“Honestly.
Things were better in the old days.”
“But how did she notice?
There’s no way she could’ve seen that.”
Heh heh.
Puzzled, are we?
I haven’t spent ten years fending off drunken customers’ wandering hands for nothing.
Believe it or not, I’ve started learning to sense things through spiritual pressure!
I can pick up on people even in my blind spots now.
It’s still far from perfect, and I can only manage it with easy targets like drunks.
Looks like it’ll be a long time before I can use it in a real fight…
But my skills as an anma practitioner have been improving by leaps and bounds.
These days, word has spread, and people from the neighbourhood have even started coming to see me.
I’m quite popular, you know!
If only I could make progress as a Soul Reaper that steadily…