Chapter 50: No More Dueling, Never Dueling Again
"You have no idea how brutal that flower-crazed tyrant was. I mean, what kind of decent person trains like that? She was one step away from shouting out move names for her punches..."
Haruto lay sprawled across Youmu's bedding, clutching the half-spirit in a display of theatrical grief. He continued to complain, his voice thick with indignation, about how Kazami Yuuka's methods had been utterly ruthless and how she had gradually lost all semblance of restraint.
Of course, he was mostly just venting.
Aside from the unfortunate side effect of Kazami Yuuka having the time of her life beating him to a pulp, the gains from a single day of her training were staggering. He could clearly feel that his physical strength had more than doubled in that short time.
However, despite the incredible results, Haruto was entirely unwilling to continue training with Kazami Yuuka.
It was just too terrifying.
She would genuinely break your arms and legs. Then—regardless of whether they were bent at a ninety-degree or a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree angle—she would forcefully snap them back into place with a sickening crack.
Worse still, under the deliberate strikes of her fists, which glowed with a verdant, life-aspected energy, his injuries would be healed even as they were being inflicted. No matter how much it hurt, it was impossible to faint. It was the purest form of torment: healing him just enough to keep him conscious for the next blow.
The lingering bruises that now painted his body weren't a sign that Kazami Yuuka couldn't heal them completely. She simply believed that blindly relying on healing magic was a poor strategy; Haruto also needed to learn how to recover on his own.
Watching Youmu carefully dabbing medicine onto his wounds, Haruto made a decisive choice.
"Youmu! Let's dual cultivate!"
The words hung in the air. Youmu froze for a moment, her hands stilling. Once the meaning registered, her youthful face turned a shade of crimson so deep it looked as if it might start dripping blood. She shot to her feet with a squeak, stumbling back several steps and nearly knocking over the basin of medicine.
"Du-du-du... Dual cultivate!? H-Haruto-sama! That kind of thing, you..."
She was completely incoherent, her eyes darting around the room in a frantic panic, unable to meet Haruto's gaze. After a long, sputtering pause, she finally managed to force out a few more words.
"I... I don't mind, but... but isn't it a bit too early! I..."
Images from a certain... technique manual she had accidentally glimpsed in the Human Village flashed uncontrollably through her mind. A wisp of steam began to curl up from the top of her head.
Haruto was stunned by her intense reaction. He blinked, then the realization dawned on him. He immediately crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive X.
"Stop, stop, stop! Youmu, where is your mind going!? When I say dual cultivate, I mean the two of us training together! Dual cultivation in the most literal sense—the fist-to-flesh, sparring kind! Not what you're thinking... Uh, anyway, not that kind."
After hearing Haruto's flustered explanation, Youmu froze solid.
Her previous mortified shyness instantly curdled into pure embarrassment. She didn't say a word, her gaze glued to the floorboards, her head bowed so low she seemed to be trying to bury her face in her own chest.
"Seriously," Haruto said, his tone sincere. He paused, a hint of sorrow creeping into his voice. "I feel like compared to Yuuka's style, yours might be more suitable for me right now. And..."
He looked up at her, his eyes pleading.
"And you definitely wouldn't be like her, right? You wouldn't actually break my limbs and then snap them back into place while smiling, would you?"
Youmu gradually calmed down. Looking at the still-vivid mix of blue and purple bruises covering Haruto's body, her embarrassment gave way to a quiet determination.
She knelt back down beside him and nodded firmly, though the tips of her ears were still tinged with a faint, delicate pink.
"Since Haruto-sama trusts me, I shall do my utmost to assist you."
She hesitated for a moment before adding a soft reminder, "It's just that... the term 'dual cultivation'... please use it with caution in the future, Haruto-sama. It really... is very easy to cause misunderstandings."
Three days later.
Haruto sat at the small stone table in the courtyard of the Yakumo residence, panting heavily, having successfully escaped from Hakugyokurou.
Sparring with Youmu was indeed an improvement over training with Kazami Yuuka—at least it wasn't nearly as brutal and was, by all accounts, relatively gentle. Plus, he got to sleep while hugging the fragrant and soft half-ghost at night.
But Youmu's schedule was far, far too disciplined.
Every single day, before the sky had even begun to turn a pale gray, Haruto would be woken up on the dot, forcefully dragged from the warmth of his covers, and made to train with her.
It could be said that aside from eating and sleeping, almost all of his time was spent training.
also... eating at Hakugyokurou was simply torture. If your hands were even a fraction of a second too slow, all the food on the table would vanish instantly. If he hadn't thought to store some snacks in his gaps, the dignified young master of the Yakumo family might have actually starved to death in Hakugyokurou.
It wasn't that Youmu prepared too little food for each meal; it was that Yuyuko was just too formidable an eater. The more you prepared, the faster she ate, truly embodying the phrase 'the slow get nothing.'
If Haruto weren't a Boundary Youkai himself, he would have suspected the Ghost Princess's stomach was directly connected to a gap.
He finally understood.
He understood why Youmu was always complaining about being poor and worrying all day about Hakugyokurou's monthly expenses.
At this thought, Haruto sighed. He wrote a quick letter, stuffed the pocket money he had saved for six months into a fuzzy ball-themed piggy bank, and tossed them both into a newly opened gap.
Meanwhile, at Hakugyokurou, Youmu was anxiously searching everywhere for Haruto.
Suddenly, a dark crack opened in the air before her.
A letter and a fuzzy piggy bank tumbled out, the latter landing with a crisp thud on the ground.
Youmu picked up the envelope, which was clearly addressed to her. She opened it in confusion.
[By the time you read this letter, I should have already returned to the Yakumo residence. I hope you can forgive me for leaving without saying goodbye. The time I spent training with you was wonderful, and the results were significant.]
[But... my heart aches for you, Youmu. I've seen it; you have to get up before dawn every day to clean the massive Hakugyokurou, prepare breakfast, and still find time to train with me. I don't want to be a burden to you anymore. I'll just go back to training with Yuuka.]
When she reached this part, Youmu's grip tightened on the corner of the envelope, a wave of guilt washing over her. She had thought Haruto-sama had run away because he couldn't stand waking up early, but she hadn't expected it was all out of consideration and care for her.
She took a deep breath and continued reading—
The letter ended abruptly right there.
Youmu stood frozen in place for a long while before her senses returned. She bent down to pick up the fuzzy piggy bank from the floor.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she lifted it, the piggy bank, which had cracked upon impact, split open.
A cascade of golden coins poured out onto the floor.
Looking at the glittering pile of money and thinking about how she had secretly suspected Haruto-sama had run away just to sleep in, Youmu's eyes suddenly welled with tears. Her voice trembled with uncontrollable self-reproach.
"I... I'm truly not human!"
At that moment, Haruto had arrived at the Sunflower Field again, but not for training.
Having just escaped the tiger's den, why would he voluntarily walk into the wolf's?
He once again slammed open the door of Mugenkan, the Mansion of Dreams. Then, under the surprised gazes of Kazami Yuuka and Alice Margatroid, he struck a dramatic pose and shouted sternly:
"Nobody move! This is a robbery!"
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]