Translator: Reflet

  Editor: ryunakama

  Akiha stared astonished, at the katana.

  “This is…?”


  “The proof…of acceptance.”


  “And this is a real katana?”


  “Mhm…it’s real.”


  Akiha unsheathed the katana partway.

  The blade reflected the light, glittering in the night.

  The cold light accompanied by the air felt like it blew against her face at that moment.

  A real katana—-a real sword.

  Akiha gulped, swallowing her saliva.

  “Amazing…”


  “And so now…you have been initiated.”


  “But is it really okay? I mean yes, I’m quite happy about this, but I wasn’t able to even touch you, let alone make you budge. Heck, I’ve never even accomplished that before.”


  “So what…would you prefer?”


  “Eh? Prefer…uhh…”


  (Well, what would I prefer?) Akiha pondered.

  This result was what she had always wanted, nothing less.

  On top of that, she now had an emblem—-a license that came in the form of a katana. How could she have any sort of problem with this?

  “Okay…how about this.”


  “Eh?”


  “You kill your master…and take on her name.”


  “No no no…”


  “You would like to bring me down with your deadly fist…and pass on the legend?”


  “No way! Taiyou would be sad if you died.”


  “Mm…good.”


  Ruri was visibly relieved.

  “It would have been bad…if you wanted that.”


  “I won’t try anything, don’t worry.”


  “Then…what will you do?”


  “…Thank you very much.”


  Akiha hugged her katana to her chest, bowing her head.

  “I will gladly receive this, Master.”


  “Mm…good.”


  Ruri said, putting away her katana in her skirt.

  “Ah, you still haven’t taught me that.”


  “What would…that be?”


  “You know, that thing you just did with hiding the katana in your skirt. It’s totally invisible.”


  Akiha flipped Ruri’s skirt up.

  All she could see was white underwear and thighs, with the katana nowhere to be seen.

  “Stop…it.”


  “Ah, sorry sorry.”


  Ruri was slightly perturbed. Her face was a bit red.

  Akiha apologized and stopped touching her.

  “I know I said sorry, but at least tell me about that, Master. I just gotta know.”


  “Mm…okay.”


  Ruri nodded, taking the katana back out of her skirt.

  Then she showed Akiha how to put the katana in and take it out.

  If there were a third person here, they probably would have found this scene and the explanations rather unusual, thinking “the heck is that?” in their heads repeatedly.

  But Akiha understood.

  After all, nearly everything Ruri had taught her up until now had been more unclear than the skirt procedure.

  Compared to that, this was relatively easy to understand and easy to accomplish, thought Akiha.

  “Now we just need…to practice.”


  “How long until I can master it?”


  “That depends…on your capacity.”


  “Whaaa, that’s the most amazing, most terrible answer, Master. By the way, how many tries would it take for a fast learner?”


  “One…try.”


  “And slow learners?”


  “As many as…a hundred years.”


  “They’d be dead by that time!”


  Akiha burst out in objection.

  “Isn’t there a trick to it?”


  “I showed you everything…just now.”


  “Oh…”


  “No complaining or nitpicking…just do it.”


  “You got a point.”


  Akiha nodded, bringing the sheathed katana into her skirt.

  She looked down nonchalantly.

  “…This doesn’t look right.”


  “That’s only because…you have an impure heart.”


  “No c’mon, that can’t be it. This is seriously weird.”


  “Then…it’s because you have love.”


  “That’s way different from what you said earlier! And it’s still questionable…”


  Akiha said as she released her hands.

  And then the katana disappeared into her skirt.

  “Oh, oooh, oooooh!”


  It had completely settled inside her skirt.

  It wasn’t falling, even with her hands away from it.

  She pinched the ends of her skirt, fluttering it around.

  All that she could see was black underwear and healthy-looking thighs, with no katana in sight.

  “That’s crazy, it’s really in the skirt! Following your instructions helped me to do it, and it only took one try.”


  “Mhm…you did it.”


  “Isn’t this great? Isn’t it?”


  “Yeah…your heart is definitely defiled.”


  “That has something to do with it!? No, but wait, you were able to do that before getting close with Taiyou!”


  “Even then…my heart was pure black.”


  “Oh, that’s what you meant! Although that’s still shocking to hear.”


  Every so often, Ruri would mention that, but now it was more of a joke than anything.

  Her heart—-and hands—-were dirty; soiled with fresh blood.

  “It’s fine…let’s get dirty together.”


  “Hm, well sure, conditionally.”


  Akiha said, bringing out the katana and putting it back.

  Both the katana and the technique had been entrusted to her by Ruri.

  It would have been a very surreal sight for anyone watching.

  Akiha, a high school girl, was reaching her hand into her skirt, pulling out a long thing from it.

  “Yeah, think I got it down pat.”


  “That’s…good.”


  “Then while we’re at it, I’d like you to tell me one more thing.”


  “How greedy of you…what is it?”


  But Ruri’s face looked somehow happy when she said that.

  Her disciple was achieving great results, eager for more, which was what a disciple was supposed to be like.

  It was only natural for Ruri to be happy about this.

  “Well, how should I say it…the thing you do to change your body?”


  “Change my…body.”


  “Yeah. See, I always wanted to try getting small.”


  Akiha grinned.

  Snap!

  Suddenly, it felt like the air had frozen solid.