Chapter Thirty-Two: The Implementation of Work

"Hey, kid, are you ready?" Chiba Masao’s boisterous voice rang out, the exasperation in his tone clear as he watched Ryuze Yue’s preparations.

"Yes, I’m ready!" Ryuze Yue solemnly picked up the wooden sword and nodded toward Masao Miyamoto.

"Well then, kid, here I come!" With thunderous force, Chiba Masao thrust out the tip of his sword, a sharp and overwhelming aura radiating from him as he lunged straight for Ryuze Yue.

Ryuze Yue reacted swiftly, blocking the attack. The shadows of their swords intertwined, and he faced Masao Miyamoto’s assault with a composed calm.

"This… how is this possible?" The students watching could hardly believe their eyes.

Ryuze Yue was actually handling the director’s offensive with such ease! Among all the students, even their most outstanding senior, Shuichi Nanano, could not withstand five moves from Chiba Masao.

Yet now, Ryuze Yue had already exchanged at least twenty blows with Chiba Masao.

"Go, Mr. Ryuze! Dad, you too—give it your all!" Cheered Chiba Tainan excitedly, rooting for both formidable men.

With a sudden "crack," the shadow of a sword flashed by, and Chiba Masao’s wooden sword snapped in two. Ryuze Yue’s sword remained perfectly intact, its blade resting at Chiba Masao’s throat.

"You’ve lost, Mr. Chiba." Ryuze Yue smiled—a smile that, to everyone else, seemed almost demonic.

Too strong! Far too strong! Not even thirty moves—he had defeated Chiba Masao in just over twenty exchanges.

Those students who had looked down on Ryuze Yue before now stood dumbstruck, especially their senior Shuichi Nanano, who stared in disbelief, his mouth agape.

"How could the director lose to someone like that!" Shuichi Nanano howled, "He must have used some underhanded trick!"

"Silence!" Chiba Masao roared at Shuichi Nanano, his anger not at his own defeat, but at Nanano’s petty, narrow-minded attitude.

Shuichi Nanano lowered his head in silence.

"You truly are remarkable," Chiba Masao said, looking at Ryuze Yue with a complicated expression. He bent down to pick up the broken halves of his wooden sword, staring at them in a daze.

"Is it really that my skills are too poor?" Chiba Masao sighed.

Ryuze Yue seemed to see through his thoughts, patting him on the shoulder. "It’s just that my sword style happens to counter yours."

And Ryuze Yue was right. The swordsmanship of Itada Inoryu perfectly countered the Hokushin Ittoryu school.

For the first twenty bouts, Ryuze Yue had focused on defense, studying his opponent’s form. From Chiba Masao’s first move, he sensed that the techniques passed to him by Inoryu might restrain Chiba Masao’s style.

After the twentieth exchange, Ryuze Yue confirmed that Inoryu’s swordsmanship could indeed overcome Hokushin Ittoryu, and so, within the next ten moves, he defeated Chiba Masao.

"Dad, Mr. Ryuze is really amazing!" Tainan ran over, giggling, and threw his arms around Chiba Masao’s thick, muscular arm.

"Ah, how did a man like me, Chiba Masao, end up with such a carefree son?" Chiba Masao shook his head with a wry smile, yet fondly patted Tainan’s head.

Ryuze Yue understood well that Chiba Masao was certainly a greater swordsman than Masao Miyamoto, who wielded only a single blade. But there was nothing to be done; Inoryu’s techniques simply countered Hokushin Ittoryu.

"Mr. Ryuze, are you interested in staying on as a coach at our kendo dojo?" Chiba Masao suddenly turned to Ryuze Yue with this surprising offer. At present, the Hokushin Ittoryu school truly needed a coach.

Just last night, the last remaining instructor had resigned—not to study dual-blade style, but simply because the pay was too low.

Chiba Masao’s original compensation was quite decent, but with the opening of the dual-blade dojo, the single-blade school’s fortunes declined, forcing him to repeatedly cut the coaches’ salaries.

"Uh… Will there be a salary?" Ryuze Yue scratched his head, asking with some embarrassment.

"Of course! Since when does a job not pay?" Chiba Masao replied, giving him a strange look.

"But… the pay might be a bit low…" Chiba Masao flushed, feeling self-conscious about offering someone of Ryuze Yue’s caliber less than the usual rate.

"I’d be willing to coach at your dojo! But I…" Ryuze Yue hesitated, his demeanor suddenly bashful, almost girlish.

"Pfft." Sonoko Aoki and another girl with a smattering of freckles on her nose burst out laughing. It was amusing to see such a formidable young man act so coy.

"If you want a raise, as soon as the dojo’s finances improve, I promise you’ll get one!" Chiba Masao hastily interjected before Ryuze Yue could finish, afraid this affordable expert might slip away.

"No, no, you misunderstand. It’s just… I don’t have proper registration…" Ryuze Yue admitted awkwardly, scratching his head.

The two female students laughed even harder, their bell-like laughter enchanting the male students around them.

"I thought you were going to say something serious!" Chiba Masao muttered, pressing a hand to his forehead, glad he hadn’t promised a specific salary after all!

Only Tainan knew his father could be terribly stingy…

And so, with everything settled, Ryuze Yue would begin work at the dojo the next day.

Bidding farewell to Chiba Masao, Ryuze Yue returned to the old woman’s house in high spirits.

By the time he arrived, it was already past ten. The old woman had long since risen, eaten the breakfast Ryuze Yue had prepared for her, and read the note he’d left behind.

"It looks like you’ve found a job?" Her gentle smile never left her face.

"Yes, I’ll be coaching at a kendo dojo. I start tomorrow!" Ryuze Yue informed her.

After chatting for a while in the living room, Ryuze Yue returned to his room, picked up his Cloud Cluster Sword, and sat cross-legged, silently studying the techniques of Inoryu in his mind.

Among them was a technique called "Quick Draw," one that even Itada Inoryu himself had never fully mastered. In the notes Inoryu left for Ryuze Yue, he repeatedly urged him to practice this move, for it was an exceptionally powerful sword art. Now, Ryuze Yue resolved to begin training in it.

Meanwhile, at the TPC Pacific Headquarters, in a dimly lit room, a lone figure sat before a computer, fingers flying over the keyboard.

Name: Ryuze Yue

Gender: Male

Background unknown. Preliminary assessment: suspected to be the human host of Black Ultraman.

Security Level: Top Secret

Ryuze Yue’s profile was displayed prominently on the shadowy screen, a slightly blurred ID photo in the upper left corner.

The empty, gloomy room fell silent as the clacking of keys ceased. The figure let out a cold, chilling laugh…