Since crossing over, Aoto had constantly thought about “trying his luck” on the people around him.
Maybe soone among his friends and family hid a powerful talent.
But because he never had the right opportunity or ti, among that circle Aoto had only managed to try on Kyūbei so far.
The night before last, Aoto had made up an excuse to spar with Kyūbei.
As Aoto expected, the seemingly ordinary old retainer had no talent at all.
Now that the household had a new mber, how could Aoto not be curious to see whether he carried any special talent inside?
Aoto had already spent the day practicing swordwork at Shieikan and really couldn’t summon the energy or mood to spar seriously with soone else.
But fortunately — copying a talent from soone didn’t necessarily require an official, proper duel.
When he copied “Sword Prodigy” from Okita, it had already proven that using so less-than-straightforward thods could still copy a talent from another person.
"……" Seeing the hemp rope in Aoto’s hand, Saitō’s brow twitched slightly.
At Saitō’s frown, Aoto suddenly realized — this seed to be the first ti he’d ever seen Saitō show any expression other than "expressionless."
“Don’t worry. It’ll be quick.” To persuade Saitō to let him bind him… uh, to persuade Saitō to help him "test" hits, Aoto hurried on, “You just need to trade one exchange with .”
“……What do you want
to do?” Saitō asked.
“You don’t need to do anything special. Just pretend to be a resisting suspect and hit
with fists and kicks.”
“I don’t practice unard techniques.”
“That’s fine. Just swing at
however you like.”
“……Understood. I’ll spar with you for a short while.”
When Saitō finally nodded agreent, Aoto’s face lit up. “Then co with
to the courtyard.”
Their sixty-tsubo courtyard had more than enough room for two people to spar and trade blows.
Saitō removed the worn sword at his right waist, stood facing Aoto, and adopted a stance that looked very much like an amateur’s fighting posture.
Watching Saitō’s stance, Aoto thought to himself:
—Left-handed fighting stance really is completely different from a right-hander’s…
In both his previous life and this one, Aoto had never seen a left-handed martial practitioner before.
Seeing a lefty for the first ti made Aoto study Saitō with curious eyes.
—I wonder if I’ll be able to copy a talent that makes soone left-handed…
With that thought in his head, Aoto tightened the hemp rope in his hand.
“Alright. Saitō, you can co at .”
Saitō nodded and launched a punch toward Aoto’s chest.
From Saitō’s movent it was obvious — he wasn’t taking this very seriously.
He gave off a “just go through the motions” attitude.
That actually worked in Aoto’s favor.
—3……4……5……6……
Aoto dodged Saitō’s incoming punches while silently counting in his head.
Copying a talent required striking the target for ten seconds, so Aoto couldn’t imdiately subdue Saitō.
After counting to ten, Aoto inhaled sharply, slipped another attack from Saitō, lunged forward, and threw the hemp rope around Saitō’s body.
Saitō was committed to slacking off; when Aoto lunged, he didn’t struggle much and allowed Aoto to bind him tightly.
[Ding! Talent scanned]
[Successfully copied talent: "Left-Handed"]
[Talent description: The left half of the body becos more agile]
—So I actually copied a talent that makes you left-handed…
Aoto blinked hard, surprised that his guess about the copied talent had been correct.
Warm waves flowed out from his dantian at that mont, enveloping the left side of his body.
When the warmth faded, Aoto clenched his left palm a few tis.
It was still the sa hand, still the sa foot.
But he clearly felt the left half of his body had beco much more nimble.
—Have I beco ambidextrous…
Aoto chuckled softly.
Having the left side beco as agile as the right was a useful talent.
Being effectively ambidextrous would be advantageous in daily life and even more so in combat.
If both hands were equally dexterous, his fighting options and techniques would multiply.
By now Aoto had grown used to the system’s existence; after being repeatedly struck by high-tier talents like “Sword Prodigy” and “Sleep God,” a talent like “Left-Handed,” which wasn’t especially flashy, no longer stirred much excitent in him.
After calming himself, Aoto thanked Saitō for the spar and loosened his bindings.
……
……
A new mber had joined the household — but Aoto’s ho didn’t beco any livelier for it.
From the first ti Aoto saw Saitō, he’d known the youth never joked around.
He hadn’t expected Saitō to be this extre about it…
If you didn’t speak to him, he would never speak first.
Even when he spoke, he would express himself with four words if four words sufficed, never five.
At dinner he ate silently by himself and didn’t join Aoto and Kyūbei’s conversation.
By the way — although Saitō was very tall, his appetite was surprisingly small.
Aoto estimated Saitō ate about half as much as he did.
After finishing his al, Saitō hugged his worn sword and sat by the door, keeping watch for Aoto.
From finishing dinner until going to bed, Saitō had initiated only one sentence with Aoto.
When he saw Aoto exercising, he asked: “What are you doing?”
After Aoto answered, “I’m training my body,” Saitō fell silent and resud guarding the door.
“Sleep God” ant Aoto now only needed four hours of sleep to be fully rested and skip afternoon naps.
Aoto’s routine was now to sleep at 22:00 and rise at 02:00, then head out to the courtyard to continue sword practice or training.
At 02:00, refreshed, Aoto picked up his worn sword and eagerly went down to the courtyard for his morning practice.
As he set up his stance to begin —
“……What are you doing up so late and not sleeping?” Saitō’s voice suddenly sounded beside Aoto.
“Hm?” At Saitō’s question, Aoto quickly turned his head toward the voice.
Saitō stood on the covered walkway connecting the house to the courtyard, clutching his worn sword.
His face was still expressionless, but Aoto could faintly detect so puzzlent in his brow.
“Ah, did I wake you?”
Saitō didn’t sleep inside a room for duty reasons; he slept by the door, leaning against the corner while hugging his sword.
“If you couldn’t wake at the slightest noise, you wouldn’t be fit as a bodyguard,” Saitō said flatly. “Do you have the habit of getting up at muro-hachi (02:00) to practice swordwork?”
That was the longest sentence Saitō had spoken to Aoto so far.
“Um…sort of.” Aoto smiled. “I only need two watches of sleep to feel rested.”
“So I usually get up at muro-hachi and train in the courtyard until dawn.”
“……You don’t need long sleep…that’s a convenient talent.”
Saitō hugged his worn sword to his chest, sat cross-legged, leaned back against the wall, and closed his eyes.
“Are you going to sleep here?” Aoto was taken aback.
“My duty is to protect you.” Saitō said without lifting his eyelids. “So wherever you go, I go.”
“Don’t worry about .”
“You do your training.”
Since Saitō had said that, Aoto no longer bothered him.
He focused fully on his morning practice.
……
……
The next day —
Ansei 7 (1860), January 17 —
Saitō, who had officially started as Aoto’s bodyguard yesterday, naturally accompanied Aoto to "work."
However, because he wasn’t an officer in the Magistrate’s Office, he couldn’t freely enter and exit, so after accompanying Aoto to Kita Bansho, he stood alone against a brick wall opposite the office and waited quietly outside.
Aoto didn’t run into Butagaya or Ushiyama on the way to Arima’s office this ti.
Arriving alone at Arima’s, after reporting in, Aoto heard Arima say to him seriously:
“Tachibana-kun, you ca early today.”
“But that’s fine.”
“You have a new assignnt, Tachibana-kun.”
“Go ho and prepare imdiately.”
“Sothing happened at Fujisawa-shuku on the Tōkaidō.”
“You must go to Fujisawa-shuku on assignnt.”
“Fujisawa-shuku…?” Aoto’s brow twitched.
—Isn’t that the place where Kinoshita Mai is going to et her friend…?
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