I planted a sacred tree in Tokyo.

Chapter 74 Niugui
"Is this Zuigan-ji Temple?"

"It looks like an ordinary temple."

Sakuma Satoru's teacher persona kicked in in response to the girl's words.

"That's because the layout here is very 'classic,' a masterpiece that inherits the architectural style of Momoyama; many of the temples we usually see in TV, movies, and anime are based on it: that's why you think it's very ordinary."

The temple in front of me is neither magnificent nor tall, but it is filled with the unique aesthetics of 'emptiness, space, and tranquility' characteristic of island nations.

The ancient buildings with white walls and black tiles, the Tang-style layout with flying eaves and brackets, coupled with the quiet bamboo forest, winding stone paths, elegant willows, and swaying cherry blossoms; it is a temple that is deeply imitating the traditional architecture of the island nation. No, it should be said that countless traditional buildings of the island nation are vying to imitate this temple, which is regarded as a national treasure.

"Such a famous place, and the ticket is only 700 yen."

These words made Sakuma Satoru, the teacher, hesitate to speak. Fortunately, although there were many tourists in the temple, there were not many monks, otherwise he would have looked very uncomfortable.

"Hehehe~~"

"Are you thinking to yourself, 'I charge 2000 yen, and they look down on a national treasure?'"

"No,"

When faced with the smiling girl who turned around with her hands behind her back, the man, Sakuma Satoru, shook his head.

My motto is: Never pity yourself.

?

While the girl was still in a daze, the man spoke seriously.

"When you pity yourself, it's the same as giving up on yourself."

"Everyone will encounter difficulties and have painful times: movie plots and pop songs can't replace your life."

In movies, the protagonists always manage to escape danger, and popular songs always celebrate beauty and love; but those things are, in fact, unattainable dreams for ordinary people; real life is always full of various setbacks and troubles.

“That’s why—”

"Trust the people around you more, and at the same time believe in yourself."

Even in loneliness and pain, we must firmly believe that one day we will be able to feel from the bottom of our hearts: it is good to be alive.

"Really,"

"Sakuma-sensei, you're lecturing again."

The girl turned around, flicked her hair, and avoided the man's serious gaze.

"There's a vending machine over there, what would you like to drink?"

"Juice bar."

The girl ran quickly to the vending machine and bought two bottles of juice.

“I thought you drank alcohol—I saw you drinking at the beach before.”

"Oh, that was my first time."

"This is probably the last time I'll drink."

As he accepted the juice from the young girl, Sakuma Satoru, a middle-aged man, gave a shy smile.

"I can not drink."

"Not being able to drink is a good thing."

The girl named Aioi Aki opened the tab, took a sip of the juice in her hand, and spoke softly.

"My father was an alcoholic."

"I lost my job a few years ago due to company layoffs."

"Because of his age, he was unwilling to do hourly work. After repeatedly failing to find a job, he spent his days drinking heavily with his grandfather's pension."

In this situation, his family's persuasion sounds like 'coercion' to him; unwilling to admit his incompetence, he vents his anger on others instead—a bastard who dares not speak loudly outside, but acts like a demon in front of his wife and daughter, punching and kicking them while cursing them.

The grandfather was so angered by this unfilial son that he died, and the mother couldn't bear it and left home. The girl's life was eventually shattered and slid into the abyss.

"Domestic violence?"

Sakuma Satoru took a sip of juice and became serious.

"Leave it to me, I know the people in the 'Personal Safety Countermeasures Team' very well."

If you ask why, he has dealt with many domestic violence cases in his more than ten years as a teacher.

Not only students, but even domestic violence between students' parents, Satoru Sakuma would intervene to mediate and handle; contact administrative departments to provide living support, organize non-governmental organizations to provide shelter, and of course, ask the police to step in to stop the violence.

Delaying this will only distort the students' minds.

Early intervention is the only way to protect students' future.

The "Personal Safety Countermeasures Unit" is a subordinate agency of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, a special team dedicated to dealing with domestic violence incidents.

"No need, Sakuma-sensei."

"That bastard will never cause trouble again."

Aioi Aki shook her head, which only made Sakuma Satoru misunderstand.

"You are here."

"Running away from home?"

Sighing, Sakuma Satoru had guessed something from the other party's 'behavior'.

"Thus, we are classmates."

"Come back with me and stay at my house for now."

"During this time, I will help you apply for government subsidies and handle the transfer procedures; study hard, and life will get better once you have a stable job."

As for Sakuma Satoru himself, he didn't have much time left.

After fulfilling my childhood dream of 'traveling to an island nation',

No, perhaps it will happen along the way.
"Teacher, if I had met you sooner, my family might not have ended up like this."

The girl tilted her head back and drank the entire can of juice in one gulp, then wiped her cheeks.

"It's too late to say anything now, because..."

"Well, let's not talk about these unhappy things. Where are we going next?"

?

"Xiangsheng, your life..."

"I have a long life ahead of me!"

The girl waved her hand, interrupting Sakuma Satoru's earnest advice, and gave a sly smile.

"If the teacher wants to persuade me, won't there be plenty of opportunities along the way?"

".All right,"

On his final journey in life, Satoru Sakuma doesn't mind being a 'teacher' one last time.

If we can help Aioi Aki, who ran away from home, find a place to belong, then she can cross the Sanzu River with her head held high, right?
"Speaking of Sendai, the Date Masamune statue is definitely a must-see."

"Okay, let's go!"

---

'One-Eyed Dragon' Date Masamune

This is also a ruthless person who once said, "Our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents, and to damage or destroy them is to be unfilial," and who ate his own eyeballs when he was a child.

Of course, this is what he said himself; others believe it was an eye disease caused by smallpox. He was also a renowned figure during the Warring States period. If he had been born ten years earlier, it is hard to say who would have become a general. He was the lord of the Sendai Domain, and the founder of Sendai City on the island of Japan.

Such people naturally have statues erected in their honor.

In Aobayama Park in Sendai City, there is a bronze statue of Date Masamune riding a warhorse, wearing an exaggerated crescent-shaped helmet, and with a samurai sword hanging from his waist.

"Teacher, are you ready?"

The girl standing below the bronze statue made a horizontal "V" sign, while a middle-aged man could only act as a photographer with his phone: fortunately, his skills were not bad enough, so he didn't take any weird photos with "death angles".

"Let me see, let me see~~" Sakuma Satoru couldn't help but say helplessly as the girl snatched his phone away.

“This is my phone,”

Why not use your phone to take the picture?

"Of course I'll leave it for you as a souvenir; I don't need it myself."

The two chatted as they walked out, what should have been a peaceful vacation. Then, a sudden and unexpected change occurred—

Bang bang bang!
Gunshots rang out in the distance, startling all the visitors in the park.

what's the situation?
"Moo~~~~~!!!"

Before anyone could react, another siren-like roar came.

? !
"Could it be,"

His pale face tightened, and Sakuma Satoru, as the teacher, realized a possibility.

The economic situation that has emerged recently: extraordinary!
"No way!" x2
Sakuma Satoru and Aioi Aki exchanged a glance as they murmured to themselves.

"Walk,"

"Follow the new textbooks issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and get away from the target area as soon as possible."

It's too late.

A large group of tourists surged in from ahead, all seemingly fleeing for their lives.

Behind the tourists were more than a dozen police officers who were firing their guns backwards as they jogged back.

"We need support! We need support!"

"The goal is to be extraordinary—"

"Hurry!!"

The police officers retreated while shouting hoarsely into their walkie-talkies, because behind them were:
Boom~~
A 'clod of earth' as ​​big as a truck is rolling in.

Let alone a small pistol, even a rocket launcher would be helpless against such a massive volume of rock and soil: it's not a professional blasting device.

boom--

Amidst the horrified gazes of countless passersby, the massive rock suddenly 'floated' into the air.

No, it wasn't floating: rather, below it, a half-human, half-bull monster was lifting up this huge rock.

Earth Release: Earth Mound Dumpling
He used earth-style chakra to enhance his power and dug out a huge rock. Then he lifted the huge rock from the ground and smashed it at the enemy.

It sounds similar to hitting someone with a brick, but when that brick is as big as a house, then...
"It's sorcery! Everyone, retreat!"

Seeing the 'demon' lift up a huge, house-sized boulder, the police officers forgot to fire their guns and scattered in all directions, shouting as they fled.

As for ordinary tourists, they only wished they had two more legs, and like ants being scalded with boiling water, they instantly fled in all directions: whether they could escape or not was up to fate.

Wow, are there really that many extraordinary beings?
The girl, who was feeling unhappy, had just raised her hand when the man next to her grabbed her wrist.

"Come on!"

Sakuma Satoru grabbed her, and with Aioi Aki's power, she could easily break free; but for some reason, she let him pull her away and run away.

call out----

With a powerful throw from both arms, the bull demon...
The massive clod of earth, accompanied by a muffled whistle, traced an arc in the air, and then:

Boom! ! !

It landed suddenly, the earth trembled, and the soil and rocks exploded.

It was like a child throwing a clump of dirt, but unfortunately, almost everyone present was just an ant.

The giant rock hit the ground, and those struck instantly became works of art; at the same time, countless head-sized boulders and pebbles flew out, scattering like cannonballs.

"Danger--"

He tackled the girl to the ground, and a flurry of dirt and stones hit the man's back.

puff,

Fresh blood was vomited.

It landed next to the girl's face, and the warm liquid splashed onto her dazed face.

"What are you doing, teacher?"

"Get up! Stop spacing out!"

However, with blood dripping from his mouth and nose, Sakuma Satoru had no time to listen to the girl beneath him.

"Run! Get out of here!"

"Teacher, what about you?"

She was facing the man who pulled her up and then turned away.

Aioi Aki already knew what he was going to do, but she couldn't help asking.

"This isn't the time to talk about this, let's go!!"

dong dong dong dong!

The 'demon' that threw the giant rock on the other side had already kicked off and was charging towards us.

Although the few remaining police officers kept firing, the bullets could only break the skin of the man's muscular, dark body.

This only made the bull demon even angrier!
"Moo~~~"

With a roar, the Wagyu—no, the bull demon—rushed out of the slaughterhouse, its arms outstretched and head tilted back, its hooves, as big as casserole dishes, easily tearing flesh apart, its sharp horns instantly piercing its chest.

"I'm a teacher."

"How can I run away before the students are safe?"

With no sound coming from behind, Sakuma Satoru, whose mouth and nose were bleeding, turned around in anger.

"you--?!"

His tie was pulled down, and soft lips silenced his remaining words.

At the same time, a strange power surged into his body from his mouth, suddenly filling the man's body, which was tormented by illness, with boundless power!

???

"White teeth, this young man."

An elderly tourist who had just gotten up instinctively exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

Even at this point, they're still being so romantic?
Faced with a life-or-death crisis, the two people still embracing each other made the old man instantly feel that there was no need to run away.

"Stop chewing, let's go!"

"I'll distract them."

Snapped,
After the long kiss, the girl Aioi Aki collapsed to the ground.

Her face was flushed and her chest heaved unnaturally, like a shy young girl; in fact, it was just a side effect of losing a large amount of chakra in a short period of time.

In contrast, the middle-aged man, Sakuma Satoru, stared dumbfounded at his own hands.

He felt like he could kill a bull with a single punch!

"Teacher, go ahead."

"Go do what you want to do, I believe in you!"

No, no, no, I can't believe myself. Turning to look at the 'Oni' that was rampaging through the crowd, Sakuma Satoru clenched his fist, pushed off with his foot, and flew towards that direction like a cannonball.

"Oh oh oh!!"

"Stop it right now!!"

(End of this chapter)