The setting of the sun and the coming of darkness finally brought a hint of coolness to Japan's largest city.

Occasionally, a wisp of breeze blows from the distant sky, with a refreshing and pleasant meaning in the wind.

The Chief Sitting cross-legged on the verandah adjacent to the courtyard of the Imperial Examination Hall, enjoying the cool evening breeze and reading the arithmetic book in his hand under the relatively bright sunset light.

In his spare time, the General Secretary often studied arithmetic books and studied arithmetic alone.

However, even though he studies arithmetic so diligently, Souji is still terrible at arithmetic - but that is another story.

I saw the chief executive facing the yard in front, sitting motionless with his legs crossed on the floor of the corridor, his head hanging on his chest. An open arithmetic book was spread out on his legs.

Although he looked like he was reading seriously with his head down, he was still not seen turning the pages of the book.

His motionless eyes, which seemed to have lost focus, seemed to have passed over the same page a hundred times.

His heart is already in a distant, unknown place.

At this time, someone's sudden call made the general manager's heart return from afar.

"Okita-kun!"

"Uh... um? Tachibana-kun?"

Souji, who was frightened by Qingtou's sudden call, shook slightly a few times, then quickly turned his head following the sound and looked at Qingtou who was striding towards him.

"Okita-kun, do you have time now? I have something I want to tell you."

Qingden asked the DG directly.

"Hmm? Something?"

Souji blinked hard with a confused look on his face.

"I have time now...what do you want to tell me?"

"As long as you have time."

Qingden looked around.

"Come with me, what I want to tell you...it's best not to let anyone know about it first."

"What on earth is going on? It's so mysterious."

"You will know when you come with me."

The General Secretary, who was confused, put away the arithmetic book in his hand and followed Qingteng to a very remote corner of the Trial Guard Hall.

Qingdeng stretched his neck and looked around, listened carefully with his ears raised, and after confirming that there were no outsiders around, he cleared his throat vigorously.

"Okita-kun, today... I met you and your eldest sister in the teahouse you often take me to."

The Souji's eyes suddenly widened.

"Tachibana-kun, were you in that tea house at that time?"

"Well, I was sitting not too far away from you. Then...I accidentally heard the conversation between you and your eldest sister."

Having said this, Qingdeng couldn't help but hesitate.

A trace of hesitation appeared in his brow at this moment.

The General Secretary can be regarded as the person who has the best relationship with Qingto in the whole imperial examination hall.

The best friend he talked to about everything was forced to give up swordsmanship by his own sister... Qingden really couldn't turn a blind eye to this kind of thing.

No matter what, the reason must be understood. Qingdeng, who had deepened his determination, took a deep breath after hesitating for a moment, and then said in one breath:

"Okita-kun, your eldest sister asked you to give up swordsmanship...what exactly is going on?"

"Well……!"

The director-general muttered in astonishment.

There is a height difference of 20cm between the two parties. You hold your head high, and I keep my head down; you look at me, and I look at you...

Under the silent gaze, time passed bit by bit.

Qingdeng was not in a hurry, and just kept looking at the DG in silence, waiting for the DG's response.

A long time passed before the look of shock on the Souji's face slowly melted away.

"How could it be such a coincidence..."

Souji smiled bitterly and reached behind his head, playing with the ponytail on the back of his head.

"You can actually hear the conversation between me and my sister..."

The director-general gave a short sigh of "Alas".

"All right……"

"Since you, Tachibana-kun, have heard the conversation between me and my sister... then I will tell you roughly the whole story."

"I went out with my sister to play and buy things today."

"On the way back to the imperial examination hall, I suddenly felt a little thirsty, so I took my sister to the tea house, and I also gave her a hand to recommend this shop that I like very much."

"But who would have thought that as soon as we sat down at the teahouse table, my sister started talking to me about the topic of 'giving up swordsmanship' that I least wanted to talk about... which made my good mood disappear."

The director-general sighed again.

"My eldest sister...has never supported me in learning swordsmanship..."

"Since many years ago, my sister has been trying different ways to persuade me to give up learning swordsmanship."

"Perhaps it's because I'm getting older, and it will be too late if I don't switch careers and learn other skills... In short, since last year, my sister's frequency of persuading me to give up swordsmanship has become much higher."

"Now, sister, she is trying to persuade me at every opportunity."

"As soon as I get a chance, my sister will definitely rush over to me and give me a lecture... which makes me a little annoyed..."

Qingteng, who had been listening quietly to the DG's explanation, finally couldn't help but say:

"Okita-kun, why is your sister so opposed to you learning the sword? This doesn't make sense."

"Your swordsmanship is so high. Instead of learning swordsmanship, you should learn something else... This is simply a waste of resources."

"According to what I heard today, your eldest sister stopped you from learning the sword because she felt that there were very few people who could make a living through swordsmanship... Admittedly, her view is not wrong. Anyone who can make a living through swordsmanship is not wrong.

It is true that people are rare, but I always feel that it is too far-fetched to use this reason to prevent you, who is extremely talented, from learning the sword."

Anyone who has had some contact with Souji knows: Souji is an undoubted swordsman wizard!

Not only does he have swordsmanship skills far beyond ordinary people, but he also has innate excellent physical talents.

He is extremely talented and good at practicing swordsmanship, and his whole person seems to be born specifically for the sword...

Such a genius actually forced him to change careers and prevented him from giving full play to his talent in the field he was good at. It was like God chasing him and stuffing food into his mouth... Qingdeng really couldn't understand such an operation.

"Ah ha ha ha ha..."

The general manager laughed a few times and slightly increased the force of his fingers playing with his ponytail.

"Actually... worrying that I won't be able to support myself with swordsmanship in the future is just a secondary reason why my sister objects to me learning swordsmanship."

"Secondary reason?" Qingdeng was stunned, "Then what is the main reason?"

"Uh...well..."

The general manager's eyes suddenly wandered, his mouth started to falter, and he was unable to formulate a single sentence.

Qingdeng waited for a long time before he received a vague response from the Director-General:

"What is the main reason... I am not comfortable saying it. Mr. Ju, if I have a chance later, I will tell you..."

After saying that, Souji closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

After exhaling all the air he had inhaled into his lungs, Souji opened his eyes.

At the moment when he opened his eyes, his bright eyes were filled with the lively light and cheerful smile that Qingdeng was familiar with.

"Jijun, don't worry about me."

With a smile on his face, Souji put his left hand on his hips and patted his flat chest with his right hand with neither light nor heavy force.

"The Trial Guard Hall is my second home. Natural Rishin-ryu is my second life to me. No matter what my sister says, I will never leave the Trial Guard Hall and give up my swordsmanship."

"I will properly handle these trivial matters between my sister and I, so Tachibana-kun, just relax!"

Looking at the smile on the chief executive's face, Qingteng couldn't help but also smile slightly.

Since the Souji didn't want to elaborate on his sister's reasons for objecting to him learning the sword, it was inconvenient for Qingto to ask more questions on this issue.

After all, this matter is someone else's private matter. Since the director-general has made it clear that it is up to him to resolve it, it is better to respect other people's wishes as much as possible.

"...Okay then. If you don't want to give up learning swordsmanship, then you need to have a good communication with your sister."

"of course."

The Souji nodded vigorously without thinking.

At this time, the director seemed startled as if he had recalled something, and then said quickly:

"That's right, Tachibana-kun."

"I have never told anyone including my master, Brother Kondo, and Mr. Hijikata that my sister asked me to give up learning swordsmanship."

"So please help me keep it a secret and don't tell anyone about this matter."

"Why didn't you tell them?" Qingdeng asked in confusion.

"I don't want them to worry." Souji smiled shyly, "If I tell them that I was forced by my sister to stop learning swordsmanship... they will definitely be like you and won't sit idly by."

"This matter is not a big deal worth fighting."

"I can solve it slowly by myself."

"Can you promise me not to tell anyone about this?"

The general manager raised his eyes, blinked like a puppy, and cast a pleading look at Qingden.
To be continued...