Koken smiled and clapped, praising, "A beautiful strike."
Yusei returned the sword in his hand to the maid and looked at Koken.
"So, the championship is mine for the taking. But honestly, dominating among a bunch of high schoolers isn't really that interesting."
"Is that so? I'm not so sure about that." Koken surprisingly played devil's advocate.
Yusei raised an eyebrow, "Are you talking about the competition rules? Even with those, it doesn't matter. My speed and insight guarantee they won't touch me, while I can hit them at will."
"Haha, you'll find out tomorrow during the actual competition, won't you? Alright, I've already had them prepare dinner. Stay and eat before you go back. I might even come watch in person tomorrow."
Yusei naturally wouldn't refuse staying for dinner. He had to admit, the food at Koken's place was truly excellent.
He had been craving it for a long time and always found a way to get a meal whenever he visited.
"Then I'll gladly accept your hospitality." Yusei smiled.
As for Koken suddenly wanting to watch the finals tomorrow, he just assumed it was on a whim.
It's normal for elderly people to suddenly want to find something to do, otherwise, they can easily fall into a loneliness crisis.
But come to think of it, in all this time, Yusei realized he had never met any of Koken's family.
However, since the other party didn't mention it, he felt it would be impolite to ask. What if it was a taboo subject?
…
The next day, Yusei arrived early at the Toyogasaki Academy's gate with Shiro. Not only was the school bus there, but more importantly, the beautiful Utaha was also there.
He was the only one from the Kendo Club who had signed up for the individual competition and successfully advanced to this stage.
The team battles had started yesterday, so in a way, he had the Kendo Club's bus all to himself today.
Utaha was wearing a white dress today, with, as always, black stockings on her legs, and a light blue thin jacket over her upper body, making her look youthful and bright.
When she saw Yusei arrive, she initially wanted to complain about him being late, but upon seeing him holding a little girl's hand, she swallowed her words.
"Yusei-kun."
Utaha greeted Yusei very politely and gently.
Yusei didn't notice any change and walked over with Shiro.
"Good morning, Senpai."
Then, he introduced the person beside him to Shiro.
"Shiro, this is my classmate. You can call her Utaha Onee-chan."
Shiro was always very obedient in front of Yusei. She looked deeply at Utaha for a moment but still behaved very well-behaved.
"Hello, Utaha Onee-chan."
"Shiro-chan is really so cute." Utaha put on a big sister act and even took a lollipop from her jacket pocket and offered it to Shiro.
Shiro looked at the lollipop in front of her, seeming somewhat at a loss, and didn't take it immediately.
For a moment, the air seemed filled with an atmosphere named 'awkwardness'.
Yusei laughed it off and took the lollipop for Shiro.
"You should say thank you when someone gives you a gift." Yusei instructed Shiro.
Shiro's cute little face remained completely placid. Only after hearing Yusei's words did she nod and say to Utaha, "Thank you, Utaha Onee-chan."
Yusei looked apologetically at Utaha, "Shiro's IQ is very high, so she acts a bit unlike a child."
The corner of Utaha's mouth twitched slightly, 'I think you can drop the 'a bit'.'
She thought this internally, but on the surface, she still smiled at Shiro.
"Shiro-chan is really amazing. It must be tiring taking care of a foolish big brother, right?"
"Nii is very observant of people." Shiro shook her head and said in a placid tone.
Hearing his little sister's evaluation of him, a gratified smile appeared on Yusei's face, 'My Imouto really cares about her big brother.'
But at the same time, he glared at the girl in front of him and retorted irritably.
"You're the foolish one."
Saying that in front of his adorable little sister was damaging his majestic image as her big brother, wasn't it?
In response to Yusei's rebuttal, Utaha showed no anger and just cast a faint sidelong glance at him.
"If I remember correctly, Kazami-kun was at the bottom of the class in last semester's finals, right?"
Hearing Utaha's words, Yusei's face stiffened as he suddenly recalled his predecessor's exam results.
637th place out of 700 students in the school… that was practically standing on the edge of a cliff...
But even if his grades were poor, he couldn't lose in terms of momentum.
Yusei cleared his throat lightly, "A person's intelligence isn't only reflected in academics… other areas are important too."
"Like what?" Utaha looked at him amusedly, curious to see what Yusei could come up with.
Yusei smiled slightly, "Like helping a certain future bestselling novelist construct her plot?"
Hearing this, Utaha was stunned, only then remembering that the first day they met and spoke was actually when she sought advice from Yusei.
If the person she sought advice from was a fool, then what did that make her? A fool even dumber than a fool?