Chapter 339: Chapter 337 Chitose: I’m Already Being Very Generous_1
It happened in the blink of an eye.
When the sound reverberated in the Guzheng Club, Summer Flower Yanagimachi couldn’t react in time and saw blood spurting from her wrist.
Her sluggish brain issued an instruction a second later, which her body quickly executed.
"Ah!"
A high-decibel shriek erupted from Summer Flower Yanagimachi, like a terrifying sonic weapon directly assaulting Hojo Shouko’s ears.
"Summer Flower, you’re too loud."
"Ah! My manga manuscript!"
Hojo Tetsuji also collapsed, screaming and holding his head.
The manga manuscript he had painstakingly drawn was now splattered with blood. He prayed it hadn’t dirtied the crucial frames.
Summer Flower Yanagimachi stopped screaming and couldn’t help but retort, "Hey, your sibling’s reactions are so weird. He’s bleeding! Bleeding!"
"It’s okay."
Peter showed no sign of pain. Instead, he smiled and said, "Sorry for scaring you. It’s just because I’m not as strong as Hojo that I ended up like this."
"Huh, am I the weird one?"
Summer Flower Yanagimachi looked around, realizing that among everyone present, she seemed to be the one acting most strangely.
Hojo Shouko nodded and said, "Your screaming was indeed exaggerated. It made me want to cover my ears."
"My manuscript!"
Hojo Tetsuji unfolded the manga, his eyes welling with tears as he saw that the area covered in blood was the frame with the most detail.
You see, to make Little Sayuri look even prettier, he had copied the clothing design from a fashion magazine’s cover.
He had even detailed the lines on the clothes.
Now, stained with blood, it was completely ruined.
"Damn it, get out of here now!"
If Hojo Tetsuji hadn’t promised the young lady not to injure the man so severely he’d have to be carried out, he would have done just that.
Peter stood up and said, "It seems I’ve caused you trouble, so consider the 100 million check as compensation."
"I’ve said I don’t need it."
Hojo Tetsuji tore up the check, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into Peter’s pocket.
"A talented person like you, I must have!"
Peter had always sought someone without vulgar desires for money, someone with genuine dreams. Only such a person could follow him to usher in a new era and empire.
"I won’t give up easily. Goodbye."
Peter didn’t linger. His right arm was completely broken, and with blood still flowing, the situation was dire.
The difference in strength between them was enormous. However, if it came down to skill in a real fight, Peter didn’t think he’d lose. But since the competition was about strength, he hadn’t used any techniques. A simple clash of brute force had led to this outcome.
"Brilliant High School really is full of talents."
Not only is there the young mistress of Phoenix Academy, but also a Sword Dao expert with unimaginable skill, and a charmer like Hojo Tetsuji, whose strength surpasses his own. Peter felt he had come to the right school, where he could build the wings of a king.
「In the evening, a light drizzle began to fall.」
Aozawa finished his conversations, swiped his card to enter the yard, and went inside.
He opened the door and shouted into the empty entryway, "I’m back, Chiyoda."
There was no response.
Such a big house really isn’t a good thing, Aozawa complained in his mind. He closed the door, took off his shoes, and placed them in the shoe cabinet.
He walked towards the living room.
The pass-through window for serving dishes was closed, with not a single dish laid out.
Aozawa went to the window, opened it, and asked, "Chiyoda, is dinner ready yet?"
"Not yet. There’s still a fish to pan-fry. You go ahead and set the table with the three dishes that are done," replied Morimoto Chiyoda. Her voice was soft and velvety, and the rich scent of cooking wafted towards him as he carried the dishes from the window and set them on the table.
The wait was brief, but dull.
He activated his Defense Barrier, sending an arm-like extension out from the villa. It shot straight into the sky, then randomly reached a tendril far into the distance.
Ever since his Defense Barrier had combined with Catalyst Induction, he enjoyed using this method to peek at distant scenes, not focusing on any one place specifically but treating it like opening a mystery box, randomly selecting locations. Sometimes it was mountains and rivers, other times cities. If he happened to see some hidden filth beneath the gloss, he’d clean it up on a whim. He relished the uncertainty of what might come into his mind, as well as the power to do anything he wished right from his home. This, combined with the mindset of using Catalyst Induction, felt like playing god.
"How was your mood today?"
The question drifted from the window.
Gazing at the distant forest, Aozawa replied, "Not bad. Maggie said she definitely won’t accept Peter. Just like Ayatsuki, they both want a one-on-one relationship and aren’t ready to accept you and Ayaka yet."
"Of course, they’d feel that way."
Morimoto Chiyoda responded, then quipped playfully, "I’d be surprised if she accepted it easily. There’ll come a time when you’ll be crying on my chest."
"Chiyoda, I’d only throw up on your chest," Aozawa retorted, then remembered the camping trip. "Saturday afternoon, I’m going camping with Ayaka, Maggie, Tetsuji, and others in Okutama Town Glacier Valley. We won’t be back in the evening, so you don’t have to cook dinner for me."
"Camping?!"
Morimoto Chiyoda turned her head to look at Aozawa in the living room, her curiosity piqued. "Won’t they fight if they get together?"
"Hopefully not."
Aozawa wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing to have the two together, but for him, it was an unchangeable fact.
Morimoto Chiyoda chuckled. Her eyes shifted, and she couldn’t help but entertain a mischievous thought: Should she join in the fun? After some consideration, she decided against it.
She had just become a leader. Slacking off at work and then taking a day off would greatly affect the project team’s morale. Ugh, trying to slack off legitimately as a leader really isn’t easy. Everyone was watching her.
"You better be careful and try to keep them away from knives, to prevent accidents."
"It can’t be that serious, can it?"
Aozawa wasn’t so sure. He judged Ayaka’s offensive power to be low, but Maggie’s was difficult to predict.
When the young lady got angry, she might do something irrational. But an accident was unlikely. With a Defense Barrier protecting both of them, he was more worried their relationship might deteriorate further.
Aozawa furrowed his eyebrows slightly, retracted the Defense Barrier from afar, and deactivated his Catalyst sensing ability.
"Chiyoda, do you think I should take this opportunity to improve their relationship?"
"Don’t ask me about these things. I’m just waiting for the day you come crying to my shoulder," Morimoto Chiyoda refused to strategize about his love life.
Aozawa looked towards the window and smiled. "Chiyoda, as the legitimate wife, you should be more magnanimous."
"I’m already magnanimous enough. Someone else would have slapped you in the face by now," Morimoto Chiyoda retorted, bending over to appear in the square window. She placed the pan-fried fish on the table, glaring as she said, "Serve the dish."
She didn’t actually need to bend over. However, Morimoto Chiyoda knew that bending this way could offer a glimpse of the scenery beyond, and since she liked giving Aozawa a little thrill, she chose this method to pass the dishes.
「In the Setagaya District, at the Phoenix Academy residence.」
In the dining room, a crystal chandelier hung above, its soft light spilling over the exquisitely prepared dinner.
Phoenix Academy Maggie sat cutting her steak, listening as Miwa Kazuki reported on the day’s company matters and the outcomes of various meetings: which proposals had passed, which hadn’t, any unexpected issues encountered, how managers had resolved them, and whether further instructions were needed.
This was especially true for the strategy to corner the Takizawa Group. The opposition wouldn’t just stand by and let the five major consortiums and Phoenix Academy besiege them; they would naturally retaliate.
Phoenix Academy Maggie wasn’t in charge of leadership matters, but her judgment was very important. It helped her share some of her mother’s corporate responsibilities from the United States.
After they finished discussing company matters, dessert was served with fresh fruit.
Phoenix Academy Maggie stirred her coffee with a silver spoon. Her thoughts were not on company affairs, but on how to sneak away to Okutama Town for the camping trip without Miwa Kazuki and her mother finding out.
After some consideration, Phoenix Academy Maggie still lacked the courage to speak directly to her mother about such matters. She decided on a more tactful approach: conveying her intentions through Miwa Kazuki.
She stopped stirring her coffee and looked up. "Miwa."
"Yes, Young Miss?" Miwa Kazuki responded respectfully. "What can I do for you?"
Phoenix Academy Maggie tried to keep her tone calm. "Cancel my schedule for this weekend. I have other plans."
Miwa Kazuki’s face flashed with surprise. "Young Miss, that’s not something I can decide. You’ll need your mother’s approval for any plans."
"My club is going camping, staying overnight in Okutama Town Glacier Valley."
Phoenix Academy Maggie paused, then continued, "It’s an opportunity to rally support. There’s a boy named Hojo Tetsuji in the club who is very strong. Without any training, his strength has surpassed most martial artists. At this time, recruiting such a person to our side would be very advantageous."
Miwa Kazuki looked enlightened. "I see. I will convey your intentions to your mother."
"Mm."
Phoenix Academy Maggie nodded slightly and took a sip of her coffee. The sweet taste spread from her tongue to her brain, slightly easing her worries.
She knew her mother would likely approve this excuse. Times had changed. Martial artists were now globally recognized as the humans most likely, and closest, to being Superpower Users. Recent human experiments had even begun to overlook ordinary people, instead targeting powerful martial artists. The pretext of recruiting Hojo Tetsuji should be enough to get her mother’s permission to go. As for explaining later whether she actually recruited Hojo Tetsuji... that was a problem for later. Right now, she just wanted to go camping with Aozawa and confront Ayatsuki Ayaka. That woman was getting increasingly audacious.
Phoenix Academy Maggie thought of the Hot Girl who had flaunted herself in front of her that morning, struggling to contain her anger.
Miwa Kazuki watched the Young Miss exude a strong presence, musing to himself that she was increasingly resembling her mother.
Given that determination, he believed she would surely subjugate the boy named Hojo Tetsuji.