"Take this!"
At Toto General Hospital, Kawakami Tomie walked into the ward and forcefully threw two large bags onto the hospital bed, smashing them right onto Amamiya Rin's body.
"Could you be a little more polite?"
Amamiya Rin sat up straight. While roasting Kawakami Tomie, he took the items out of the bags.
Sandpaper and cotton cloth for sharpening the wooden sword, and black coffee to refresh the mind. The necessary items were, for the time being, complete.
Wearing a sour face, Kawakami Tomie rolled her eyes at Amamiya Rin and extended her right hand toward him.
"Hmm?"
Amamiya Rin revealed a confused expression.
"Don't play dumb! You fake nice guy. Since you aren't willing to let us fish money out of men's pockets, at least reimburse me for the money spent on fitness and shopping, as well as my daily expenses!"
Kawakami Tomie crossed her arms over her chest, sneering as she looked down at him from a haughty angle.
Amamiya Rin gave a sheepish smile, took his wallet out of the bedside table, extracted a few bills, and handed them to Kawakami Tomie.
"The fitness expenses are used on your own body; is this money really necessary?"
"You really are stingy. I advise you not to stick to that little bottom line of yours. If you want to implement your plan, let alone one billion, even ten billion US dollars wouldn't be enough."
Kawakami Tomie unceremoniously took the bills and put them into her own wallet.
"Well, as for things like a bottom line, it's best not to break through them casually."
Amamiya Rin shrugged. Worldly affairs are unpredictable; he might one day break through his bottom line, but he was far from reaching that stage right now.
"Boring fellow."
Kawakami Tomie clicked her tongue. Her eyes rotated, and a wicked smile curled up on her lips.
"If you're short on money, I have a method. Want to hear it?"
Before Kawakami Tomie's voice had even faded, Amamiya Rin revealed a thoughtful expression.
"That, huh? That could count as executing justice, right?"
Kawakami Tomie's thoughts had already informed Amamiya Rin of everything.
A certain Kawakami Tomie... could practically be called Number Zero, right?
Why call her that? Because she was the Kawakami Tomie who grew from the internal organ transplanted into Mitsuo Yukiko, and also the Kawakami Tomie that Amamiya Rin had once killed.
Although he hadn't seen her again since leaving Morita Hospital, the Number Zero Kawakami Tomie had been active all along.
"Teacher Takagi—you should know him, right? From our memories."
Amamiya Rin nodded.
The Teacher Takagi in Kawakami Tomie's mouth was likely the man who had dismembered Kawakami Tomie two years ago. The reason was that Kawakami Tomie claimed to be pregnant with Teacher Takagi's child and demanded that Teacher Takagi divorce his wife.
"Teacher Takagi seems to have always wanted to research where my charm comes from, you know? The kidney transplanted into Mitsuo Yukiko back then was donated to Mitsuo Yukiko by Teacher Takagi using my father's name. He used the hands of the doctors at Morita Hospital to study my body, but the result was only the discovery that gamma rays could enhance my regeneration ability."
Kawakami Tomie's eyes narrowed into a bewitching and slender shape. Her fingertips curled around a lock of black hair hanging from the side of her face, revealing a slightly mocking smile.
"After leaving Morita Hospital, Teacher Takagi didn't stop his plan either. That guy, taking the imposters with him, seized a family's luxury mansion and even turned the women inside into monsters. That was a hideous monster made of a pile of imposters' heads. Burning that monster to ashes and rescuing the imprisoned owner of the mansion should earn quite a bit of reward, right?"
"Deal!"
Amamiya Rin agreed without a second thought.
Whether he could get a reward or not didn't matter. He could plunder spoils of war from the culprit, and furthermore, he could remove a harm for the people.
After telling the news to Amamiya Rin, Kawakami Tomie walked out of the ward.
Crossing the hospital corridor, just as she was about to turn toward the elevator hall, Kawakami Tomie's brow furrowed.
She smelled a strange odor.
At the same time, accompanied by the rapid sound of rolling wheels, two nursing assistants pushed a stretcher bed toward her from the direction of the elevator hall. Their pace was hurried, and they looked very anxious.
Kawakami Tomie stepped out of the way and subconsciously glanced over. Lying on the stretcher was a man—a very disgusting man. His eyes were wide open, and a white, viscous substance resembling tofu dregs was constantly oozing from his eye sockets, nostrils, corners of his mouth, and ear canals, emitting an indescribably fishy stench.
"Tsk!"
Tomie revealed a look of disgust without concealment. She immediately quickened her pace, fleeing far away from that patient as if escaping.
Inside the ward, Amamiya Rin was doing preparation work.
He took out the sandpaper and cotton cloth Tomie had brought. Using different grades of sandpaper, he gradually polished the edge of the wooden sword.
Wood shavings fell with a rustle, and the originally rounded edge gradually revealed sharp lines.
This task took up the better part of Amamiya Rin's night.
By the time he used the cotton cloth to wipe the blade body and remove all the wooden splinters, the first rays of morning sunlight had already penetrated the window and landed on Amamiya Rin's face.
At this moment, the curve of the wooden sword had already become sharp. When Amamiya Rin's finger brushed past the newly polished edge, he could feel a subtle cutting sensation.
Although it was far inferior to a real sword, he currently had no way to obtain a real sword. While a sharpened wooden sword was also prohibited, it wasn't as sensitive as a real sword. No one would ask him to draw the wooden sword from its sheath to check.
Putting the wooden sword into its sheath and placing it in the sword bag, Amamiya Rin moved his somewhat stiff shoulders, then picked up the black coffee on the bedside table and took a large gulp.
The bitter taste refreshed his spirit, and the fatigue of a busy night seemed to recede a bit.
After the routine rounds and breakfast ended, Amamiya Rin leaned on his cane, carried the wooden sword on his back, took the elevator to the top floor, and then walked up the stairs to the open rooftop.
Gazing at the clouds on the horizon and the morning sun, Amamiya Rin took a deep breath of the cool air. He leaned his cane against the water tower, took out the wooden sword, held it with both hands, closed his eyes, and gradually entered the realm of the [Gate of Contemplation], meticulously sensing every condition of his own body.
Then, he moved.
At first, it was just the most basic suburi. The movements were slow and stable. Every swing sought precision. The wooden sword cut through the air, emitting a dull whistle.
Soon, sweat soaked his back, and his muscles began to issue protests of soreness.
However, Amamiya Rin did not stop. The Breathing Technique operated naturally. The foundational mode of the Crimson Lotus Breathing supported his physical stamina, improving the efficiency of oxygen utilization, allowing his movements to remain stable amidst exhaustion.
Next, footwork practice was also added. Amamiya Rin dragged his legs, moving across the rooftop with short and rapid steps.
Without the cane in hand, balancing his body became difficult. Several times, he nearly stumbled and fell, only steadying his form by tapping the ground with the wooden sword.
Afterwards came the Iaido drawing technique named Suigetsu, the miraculous sword of empty and real variations, the fast, accurate, and ruthless Gatotsu... Amamiya Rin squeezed the stamina out of his body, forcing himself to adapt to the high-intensity rhythm, and letting his body familiarize itself with the Shinkage-ryu that he had only practiced in his dreams.
____
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