After hesitating for a while, she stuck her head over and used the water as a mirror to look at herself on the water.

I carefully checked several times that there were no stains on my face, and my hair, which was tied into a Shimada bun, was neat and not messy.

After carefully checking that there was nothing wrong with her appearance, Kinoshita Mai raised her left hand, pressed her plump breasts, took a deep breath, and then poked her little head outside the wall she was standing next to, toward the outside of the wall.

The streets kept looking around.

Finally - she found her target: Aoto who was walking home with Saito in tandem.

After accurately finding Qingden in the chaotic flow of people, Kinoshita Mai was startled, and then quickly retracted her head behind the wall.

"ha……"

Kinoshita Mai raised her hand to press her chest, let out a long sigh, held her breath, and then showed a resolute expression. Her white and tender feet without socks kicked the flat wooden clogs with red buttons, and she took long strides.

After walking out of the hiding wall, he walked towards Qingdeng.

"Huh? Tachibana-kun, Saito-kun? What a coincidence, I bumped into you here. Are you ready to go home now?"

"Miss Kinoshita?" Looking at Kinoshita Mai walking quickly towards them from the front, Qingto raised his eyebrows, then smiled and said, "What a coincidence, I didn't expect to meet you here."

"Yes, we are getting ready to go home. Are you here to buy dinner for today?"

Qingden glanced at the vegetable basket filled with fresh vegetables that Kinoshita Mai was holding in her hand.

"Well." Kinoshita Mai raised the vegetable basket in her hand in front of her face, "I want to eat roasted vegetables tonight, so I went to buy some fresh cabbage!"

Qingto, who was about to go back to the Imperial Guard Hall, and Mai Kinoshita, who was about to go back to Chishiya, happened to be walking the same way for a while.

Ever since - after a brief exchange of greetings with Aoden, Mai Kinoshita, whose cheeks were slightly red due to nervousness and other emotions, pretended to be casual about Aoden with a slightly stuttering tone.

Den made a suggestion: "Well, let's go back together."

Qingdeng, who only regarded this as an ordinary invitation between friends, nodded happily and accepted without thinking too much.

Men and women walking side by side chatted and chatted with each other at various times along the way.

"Tachibana-kun, I heard that you are planning to participate in the swordsmanship competition held by Lord Aizu in three days. Is this true?" Kinoshita Mai suddenly asked Ayoto.

"Huh? Yes." Qingdeng nodded, and then joked in a half-joking tone, "Ha, although there are still three days until the start of the competition, I have already begun to feel a little nervous involuntarily."

"Haha." Kinoshita Mai chuckled a few times and then asked, "Have you received any special training in swordsmanship recently for this upcoming competition?"

"No. Kondo-kun and others have taught me more strictly recently, but these are not special training. Now I mainly practice step by step and practice steadily. How I practiced swordsmanship before is how I practice swordsmanship now.

"

Hearing Qingden's answer, Kinoshita Mai's eyes rolled "tickly".

"Then...does that mean you still get up at eight o'clock in the evening (2 o'clock in the morning) every day and go to the dojo to practice swordsmanship as you did before?" Kinoshita Mai raised her head and winked at Qingden.

When Qingto was chatting with Kinoshita Mai before, he mentioned to her that he only sleeps for 2 hours a day and gets up at 2 a.m. every day to exercise.

"Yes." Qingdeng responded quickly without thinking.

"Isn't it true that you won't be exhausted?" Mai Kinoshita asked, "Aren't you very busy now in order to arrest the 'anti-barbarian' thugs who are rampant now? Is such a small amount of sleep really enough?"

"Don't worry." Qingdeng smiled and raised his hand to gently knock on his forehead, "I am the kind of person who only needs very little sleep to regain my energy. The sleep time is enough, so there is no need to worry."

"That's it..." Kinoshita Mai muttered, then smiled sweetly, "As long as you get enough sleep!"

"That's the case, I'm relieved!"

…

…

On the way home, I ran into Kinoshita Mai - in Qingteng's eyes, this was just a small episode in the day.

After chatting with Mai Kinoshita and walking together for a while, he waved goodbye to her.

After returning to the training hall, everything was the same as before - after dinner, I started to exercise my muscles.

When my muscles all over my body are sore and numb after practicing, I go to Chihiro House and take a comfortable soak in a hot bath which is good for soothing my muscles.

When the time came to 22 o'clock, he crawled into bed and went to sleep. Then, under the influence of the "Sleep God" talent, he woke up on time at 2 o'clock in the morning, quickly changed out of his pajamas, picked up his saber, and got ready.

Go down to the dojo and practice sword practice.

Saito and Kubei, who live in the "Dinner Room" with Aoto, are now completely accustomed to Aoto's routine of getting up at 2 a.m.

When he first moved into the Kaiwei Hall, Saito would follow Aoto when Aoto got up and went to the dojo to practice swordsmanship on the grounds that "it would be convenient for him to wake up in time and show up to protect Aoto in case of any emergency."

Go to the dojo together and sleep on the edge of the dojo.

Aoto felt that this was too inconvenient for Saito's daily rest, and he felt that he did not need to be so vigilant in the trial gym, so he strongly requested Saito not to go to such trouble, and that he no longer needed to follow him during his "morning exercises"

By your side, stay in the "diners room" and sleep well.

Being asked by Aoto, Saito had the obligation to "obey his employer's orders" and could only obediently do so. Therefore, he would no longer accompany Aoto who was doing morning exercises to the dojo in the early morning as before.

After changing his clothes, Qingdeng strode down to the first floor and arrived at the silent dojo because he had the "cat's eyes" that allowed him to see at night, so he didn't need to operate in the dark.

Qingdeng was not in a hurry to pick up the bamboo sword immediately.

When exercising, you must pay attention to warming up - this is a habit that Qingdeng has always adhered to.

He stood in a corner of the dojo, put the Jingkijin and Wakizashi that had been sent for training a while ago to his feet, lowered his center of gravity, stretched the muscles of his legs, and warmed up meticulously.

It was quiet at night and people were doing this monotonous and boring warm-up exercise. Qingdeng's mind became active unconsciously:

——The swordsmanship competition between Lord Aizu...will begin the day after tomorrow.

——I don’t know if any powerful opponents will appear...

This is the first time Qingden has encountered this kind of traditional one-on-one swordsmanship match with others since he traveled to this era.

While I felt a little bit of anticipation in my heart, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Qingdeng didn't know what level his current strength was compared to the newcomers in other sword halls.

If he had a very bad performance in the game, such as being defeated in the first round... Even if others would not look at him differently, Qingden himself would feel quite ashamed.

Moreover, if the extremely embarrassing situation of being eliminated in the first round occurs, it will not be conducive for him to collect talents from all the participating players.

Therefore, in order to avoid such a thing from happening, Qingdeng practiced a lot harder during this period and tried his best to squeeze out more time for training, hoping to further improve his swordsmanship before the competition started.

After completing a full set of warm-up moves in a proper manner, Qingden let out a thin layer of sweat on his skin, and then went to the sword bucket next to him to get a bamboo sword.

Start today’s morning exercise.

But at this time——

Click, click...

Qingdeng suddenly heard a small, strange noise coming from the ceiling above his head.

"Huh?" Qingden paused, frowned and looked at the ceiling above his head.

——Is it a mouse?

Qingden subconsciously thought it was mice running on the ceiling.

But as soon as this idea popped into his mind, he rejected it himself.

Kondo and the others have always paid great attention to the hygiene of the test hall.

The ashram and the mansion where they lived were always kept clean.

Qingdeng has never seen a mouse in the Imperial Guard Hall for so long...

Click!

Suddenly! A grid on the ceiling behind Qingden was moved away, creating a gap for an adult to enter and exit.

Then, a petite black shadow jumped down along the gap and settled steadily behind Qingdeng.

The moment his feet touched the floor, the black shadow spread his two palms flat, palms facing up... He seemed to be trying to make some strange posture.

But Qingdeng didn't give this person any chance to assume his posture.

Qingdeng's nerves during this period... were actually in a tense and alert state all the time.

After further offending the anti-barbarian group, it is not impossible that the anti-barbarian group would adopt a rather radical method to retaliate against Qingdeng based on their reckless behavior.

So, after hearing a strange noise coming from behind him and turning around to see a black shadow jumping from the ceiling behind him... Qingdeng barely hesitated at all——

"who?!"

Qingdeng roared loudly, and then swooped towards the black shadow like a sharp arrow that came off its string!

"Orange..." The black shadow opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something to Qingdeng.

But before he could utter a word with specific meaning, he was thrown to the ground by Qingdeng who didn't notice that the black shadow was about to speak...

Aintome originally planned to draw the sword directly, but because both Dingikigami and Wakizashi were resting at his feet, it would be too busy to bend down to pick up the sword, so he simply pounced on it and used the unarmed fighting technique that he was also good at.

It will save time and effort to put down this uninvited guest.

"Uh-huh——!" The black shadow let out a scream, and then twisted its body like a loach, trying to break free from Qingdeng's "embrace".

Qingdeng discovered that this black figure also had two brushes, and he actually knew how to break free from the control of others. He was unable to completely control him for a while.

There was no other way, Qingdeng could only increase his strength, and at the same time struggled to grab the black shadow's arms, preparing to use the grappling skills of his previous life to completely subdue this person.
To be continued...