Deceived, Kaigaku lost his temper completely.
Like a wounded beast, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Shut up!
Aaaaaaaagh!”
The audacity!
Damn it!
He had the nerve to look down on him!
Did Hajime even know who he was dealing with?
This bastard!
Kaigaku never knew his parents.
He had been a homeless orphan since childhood, surviving by drinking muddy water and stealing scraps.
Before becoming Jigoro’s disciple, a blind monk had taken him in and brought him back to the temple.
Despite losing his sight and being painfully thin, the monk took in as many orphans as he could, children who had lost their families for various tragic reasons.
Taken in, Kaigaku lived in the temple alongside the rest.
During that brief time, Kaigaku temporarily acted like a normal child.
But this life did not last long.
One day, unable to kick his old habits, Kaigaku stole money.
The other children expelled him from the temple behind the blind monk’s back.
That very night, Kaigaku encountered a demon on the mountain.
To save his own life, and to exact revenge on the other children, he struck a deal with the monster.
He told it about the temple on the mountain, where eight children and one adult remained.
As part of the bargain, he led the demon straight to the temple.
Because rumors of demons had always haunted the mountains, the blind monk lit Wisteria Incense Burners around the grounds every night to ward them off.
Kaigaku led the demon to the steps.
He extinguished the burners, letting the creature inside, and seized the chance to escape into the dark.
As for what would happen to the blind monk and the children after he fled, Kaigaku knew perfectly well.
But what did that have to do with him?
Every man for himself!
To ensure his own survival, Kaigaku would sell out others without blinking an eye.
For all these years, he had lived without a shred of guilt or remorse, going about his business, eating well, and sleeping soundly.
Such unbreakable mental fortitude, could the other children ever measure up to that?
Now, this so-called Senpai had the audacity to deceive him, to belittle him?
He had made up his mind.
He would strike now and kill him, without waiting for the demon to make a move.
Once he killed him, the position of Thunder Hashira would remain vacant until he claimed it himself.
His foolish Senpai had left his pigeon in the town anyway.
Perfect.
No one would know if he killed him out here.
Mind made up, Kaigaku shouted a challenge.
“If you’re a real man, no Breathing, no Sword Forms.
Just our fists, a duel between men.
Well?
Do you have the guts?”
Kaigaku was sinister, ruthless, and cunning, but he was not dumb.
His nominal senior had joined the dojo two years earlier and had mastered Total Concentration Breathing and all the Sword Forms of Thunder Breathing.
In a proper duel, Kaigaku would only die.
That was exactly why he proposed a fistfight.
Swordsmen could enhance their cardiopulmonary functions through Breathing techniques and temporarily boost their physique, but humans still had limits.
They could never possess a demon’s unnatural biology.
Slash a Hashira’s neck or pierce their heart, and they’d die just the same.
Kaigaku’s plan was simple.
He still had a tanto hidden on him.
As long as Hajime discarded his Nichirin blade and closed the distance, he would drive the short blade straight into Hajime’s heart.
“A duel between men?
Sure.”
Delight flashed across Kaigaku’s face the instant Hajime agreed.
But the smile barely formed before the boy vanished from sight.
A sharp blade sliced through flesh.
Kaigaku froze.
His hand shot up to his neck on sheer instinct.
He stared down at the warm blood coating his fingers.
‘What…
what happened?’
‘Did my neck, but-‘
His mind went blank.
His legs buckled beneath him.
He crumpled to the ground, his body writhing and convulsing like a broken puppet.
Then he went perfectly still, drowning in the blood pouring from his throat.
Hajime looked down coldly as the light faded from Kaigaku’s eyes.
He hadn’t used a single Sword Form.
Having learnt Total Concentration Breathing, Hajime could elevate his physique to match a demon’s the instant he activated his Breathing.
With his body momentarily enhanced, he simply closed the distance in a flash and,
Drew his sword, slashed, flicked off the blood, and sheathed it.
That was it.
No techniques.
Nothing but raw speed.
As for Kaigaku’s grand proposition of “no weapons, a duel between men”, Hajime had indeed agreed.
It’s just…
hard to believe, but the sword moved entirely on its own.
Hajime had no idea how it happened.
The blade had “controlled” his body and sliced off Kaigaku’s head.
When in doubt, blame Quantum Mechanics.
So this was definitely Quantum Mechanics fault.
Kaigaku’s bad karma drew wrath from Quantum Mechanics.
Kaigaku’s corpse lay right where it fell.
No need to bother with it.
Hajime had absolutely no intention of returning to Mt.
Momoyama.
On one hand, he was already planning to leave and begin new training elsewhere.
On the other, going back meant explaining things to his master, and that was a headache he didn’t need.
He was no good at spinning lies.
And while his master looked like a frail old man, anyone who mistook him for a fool was the real fool.
So be it.
Gripping his Nichirin blade, Hajime strode forward into the rising sun.
After leaving Mt.
Momoyama, Hajime pushed on toward Tokyo Prefecture.
A carrier pigeon bearing word of demons in some godforsaken area took priority above all else.
A true man never feared demons.
He only asked two questions: where, and how many.
That pigeon kept its distance ever since Hajime had plied it with sake.
It followed from afar, never quite willing to get close again.
Beyond demon hunting and walking the road, Hajime devoted most of his time to Total Concentration Breathing, trying to extend how long he could hold it.
He wanted to reach Total Concentration: Constant as soon as possible.
It was brutal, punishing work.
Even pushing his breathing technique a moment longer made him feel like his lungs would burst.
His ears rang loudly.
His vision swam.
If he remembered correctly, the main trio in the anime learned Total Concentration: Constant during their recovery periods at the Butterfly Mansion.
Main characters, through and through.
Cheaters blessed by the author, with progression that defied reason.
Hajime had no room for envy, though.
He had his own cheat.
The System logged everything he did without fail.
As long as he kept pushing his limits, his growth would know no end.
Train hard enough, and Total Concentration: Constant would naturally come.
Half traveling, half wandering, Hajime finally reached Tokyo Prefecture three months later.
Tokyo had once been Edo, a name taken from Edo Castle, built in 1457.
Tokugawa Ieyasu ended the chaos of the Sengoku Period and established the Tokugawa Shogunate there, making Edo Castle its seat of absolute power.
Centuries passed.
The shogunate fell.
Edo became Tokyo, and the prefectural system took hold.
While remote towns still lived as they had for centuries, the capital had modernized beyond recognition.
Western influence saturated everything.
Gone were the low wooden houses of the Edo period.
Tall western buildings rose in their place.
On the streets, pedestrians wore a mix of kimonos and western clothes.
The crowd bustled and hummed with vibrant life.
*Ding ding ding~*
A tram clattered loudly along its steel tracks.
Hajime asked a passerby for directions to a handicraft shop, then followed the way to a store specializing in handcrafted goods.
The shopkeeper was a short, wiry man in a traditional kimono, a western bowler hat, and a wooden walking stick.
The combination looked peculiar, but in this era, it was entirely common.
Hajime made his request.
Nothing complicated, just a custom order for gourds made from exceptionally hard materials.
Everything else was negotiable.
Hardness was the strict priority.
They had to be harder than a trophy.
Hard enough that biting into one wouldn’t crack your teeth.
The reason was obvious.
Hajime planned to use them for Total Concentration: Constant practice.
The shopkeeper thought the request strange, but the customer was always right.
He agreed without hesitation, took the deposit, and saw the young man out with a polite bow.
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