Tokyo Swordmaster Online Dealer

Hearing these three familiar words, Uesugi Kiyoshi lowered his head slightly and replied "yes".

Chapter 17 Statue of Gods

When Uesugi Kiyoshi was trying hard to catch the train home carrying a large box of kendo books, Nohara Anko had just finished preparing dinner.

She lives with her uncle in Tokyo. Her uncle is called Yokotano, a financial officer who does a job similar to accounting. Her aunt, Mrs. Yokotano, is a full-time housewife.

Yokotano's income was not high, and in Tokyo, he was considered at the bottom of the middle class. However, because he and his wife had no children, they could save a lot of expenses, so their life was not particularly difficult.

In Tokyo, the most expensive expense is education. For example, the annual tuition of Kaijo Junior High School where Kiyoshi Uesugi is studying basically costs one-third of the annual salary of an ordinary middle-class person, not to mention additional textbook fees, tutoring fees and other miscellaneous expenses.

Raising children is really expensive.

It doesn't cost much to raise Nohara Anzi.

This little white rabbit was timid in character. She never asked for anything and seldom spoke at home, for fear of causing trouble to her uncle and aunt and being kicked out and becoming homeless. In addition, she had attended a public school with very cheap tuition before high school, so adopting Nohara Anko brought basically no financial pressure to the Yokota family.

After entering high school, she was even able to earn some scholarships to supplement the family income, but the money was usually taken away by her mean aunt. Fortunately, her uncle would also give her a few thousand yen in pocket money every month.

Nohara Anko is actually quite satisfied with this kind of life.

Mrs. Yokota was a bit mean. She liked to order her to do all kinds of housework and said sarcastic words from time to time. She didn't like anything about her. But she was living under someone else's roof, so it didn't matter if she was a little bit hard and tired.

Although Yokotano is a cowardly person, he is very kind to her. After all, he is her mother's younger brother. If he had not taken in Nohara Anko, she might have gone to an orphanage. Now at least she has a home.

But recently, Yokotano seems to have become a different person.

About three months ago, Yokotano came home from get off work one day and brought back a strange statue.

Despite his wife's objection, he threw the Buddha statue that was originally enshrined in the small shrine at home into the trash can, replaced it with the newly brought back statue, and worshipped it devoutly every day.

From that day on, Yokotano changed.

He was indifferent to family affairs and treated Nohara Kyoko and Mrs. Yokota coldly. Every day, except for work, he would kneel down in front of the statue when he returned home, like a devout believer.

In the past, Yokotano would give Nohara Anzu several thousand yen in pocket money every month, but ever since Yokotano's personality changed drastically, he has never spoken a word to Nohara Anzu again, and naturally there is no pocket money anymore, which is why she was chased by bad boys for debts.

Nohara Anzi has been very cautious at home recently. Her uncle and aunt are in a cold war. If she is not careful, she will become a punching bag and be scolded by her aunt.

But she still did something out of the ordinary today.

She was responsible for preparing dinner for the Yokota family, and today she secretly prepared an extra portion.

For some reason, she was uneasy all day. As long as she calmed down a little, the smiling profile of Uesugi Kiyoshi would always appear in her mind. She felt that it was a great feeling to be saved by Uesugi Kiyoshi at that time. That handsome profile had left an indelible mark in her mind.

Coupled with the gossip of her classmates, who were all speculating whether she was dating Uesugi Kiyoshi, she felt shy but also a little expectant - she had never had any close contact with a male of the same age in her life, and now that she was fifteen or sixteen years old and was beginning to fall in love, it was not outrageous for her to develop a vague affection for Uesugi Kiyoshi, who was already very outstanding and had saved her from suffering.

But Nohara Anko has very low self-esteem. What she is thinking is not "Can I date Uesugi-san?" but "Am I worthy of the excellent Uesugi-san?"

After much thought, she concluded that she was not worthy of him.

She didn't even dare to say thank you to Uesugi Kiyoshi.

She was very dissatisfied with her own incompetence. She struggled all the way home from school. She finally decided that she must find Uesugi Kiyoshi when she went to school tomorrow and say "Thank you for saving me".

She had originally planned to buy some small gifts as presents, but she was really short of money and didn't know what Uesugi Kiyoshi would like, so she thought of an idea. She planned to make some extra food for dinner, secretly hide it in a lunch box, and bring it to school tomorrow as a thank-you gift to Uesugi Kiyoshi.

She had observed that Uesugi Kiyoshi always bought bread for lunch and had no habit of bringing a lunch box.

After preparing dinner, she placed some croquettes, fried chicken nuggets, octopus sausages and two exquisite rice balls neatly in the lunch box. A faint smile appeared on Nohara Anko's lips. She was quite confident in her cooking skills and hoped that the taste of these dishes would suit Uesugi's taste.

Japanese bento is like this. The side dishes are usually convenient, ready-to-eat dishes that are not bad even if eaten cold, but the specific taste also depends on the cooking skills of the cook.

After covering the lunch box and hiding it in the cupboard, Nohara Anzi suppressed her smile and began to serve the dishes.

She didn't dare do these things in front of her aunt. Mrs. Yokota was mean and petty. If she knew about this, she would most likely lose the lunch box, not to mention whether she would be scolded.

She decided to hide the lunch box first, and then go to the kitchen to get it late at night. Anyway, she was responsible for all the cooking and washing dishes, and no one came to the kitchen except her, so it was relatively safe here.

They finished their dinner in a silent and depressing atmosphere. At the table, both Nohara and Mrs. Yokota looked cold and frosty, like strangers instead of a couple who had been together for more than ten years. Nohara Anko was walking on thin ice cautiously, fearing that she would displease her uncle and aunt and get into trouble.

Fortunately, she has always been a cowardly person, so Mrs. Yokota only occasionally glanced at her with a cold and disgusted expression and didn't say much.

After dinner, after clearing away the dishes, Nohara Anko returned to her own little house - the Yokota family's house was not big, a shabby two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. The room she lived in was converted from a storage room, with only a narrow tatami mat and a desk, but it was her only remaining private space.

After returning to her little room and finishing her homework, she kept her ears open to listen to the noise outside.

My aunt had been watching the 8 o'clock TV series in the living room, and my uncle was silent. I knew without hesitation that he was worshiping that strange statue.

Time passed by little by little, and in the blink of an eye it was late at night. Nohara Anko clearly heard two door closing sounds - her uncle and aunt went back to their room.

Ever since my uncle's temperament changed drastically, he and his wife have been sleeping in separate rooms.

To be on the safe side, Nohara Anko waited patiently for another half an hour before she tiptoed to open the door. She looked around and found that the living room was dark and there was no one there.

Then, she tiptoed like a thief, preparing to sneak to the kitchen to get the lunch box prepared for Uesugi Kiyoshi.

After groping her way to the kitchen in the dark and taking out the lunch box that she had hidden earlier, Nohara Anko felt slightly delighted. The task was accomplished, and she prepared to go back to her room to sleep.

Just as she turned around, a creaking sound of a door being pushed open rang in her ears.

She was startled, covered her mouth, and squatted down hurriedly. She was short and her figure was blocked by the stove, so she should not be visible from outside the kitchen.

She turned sideways so that she could see what was happening in the living room.

It was her uncle's door that opened.

Some stiff footsteps were heard, and in the darkness, Nohara Anko saw a hazy figure staggering to the shrine in the living room and kneeling down with a thud.

That was her uncle, Yokotano.

Yokotano just knelt in front of the shrine, bowing continuously, his figure rising and falling, but without making any sound. It seemed extremely strange in the quiet night, which brought great panic to Nohara Anko.

In a panic, Nohara Anko's eyes met the statue in the shrine.

The upper body of the statue is naked, and the lower body is wrapped in a half-removed kimono. The statue has a dissolute appearance and is obviously a male, but without a head.

This is a headless statue.

But in a trance, Nohara Anko felt that the headless statue seemed to be smiling at her.

How can a headless statue smile?

she does not know.

But

It's laughing!

Chapter 18 Mirage

The moonlight was dim, and the endless darkness swallowed up Nohara Anko's sanity.

In the living room, there was the strange figure of my uncle who kept kneeling mechanically, and the headless statue gave off a bizarre and captivating smile.

They are all heavy stones weighing on her heart.

A cold wind blew in through the windows of the living room, making a shrill howling sound, like an evil ghost wailing.

Her breathing paused and her heart seemed to stop beating.

She was timid to begin with, so at this moment she could only cover her mouth tightly to prevent herself from screaming out.

She turned her head desperately, hugged her knees and huddled under the stove in the small kitchen, trying to keep her breathing as quiet as possible for fear of being discovered by her uncle in the living room.

Although she didn't know what had happened, her sixth sense told her that it would be better not to alarm her uncle at this time.

Time passed bit by bit, and Nohara Anko felt like each day was a year long. The fear in her heart grew infinitely, but she couldn't think of any solution.

She was scared, sleepy, and a little cold - she was only wearing a thin nightgown and the kitchen tiles were still cold, but all of this was not as scary as the strange things happening in the living room.

What happened to my uncle?!

Why did the uncle who used to be so gentle and kind become like this!

Becoming so numb that you are only devout to a headless statue?

What on earth is that strange statue?

Nohara Anzi's mind was in a tangled mess, and the smiling profile of Uesugi Kiyoshi suddenly emerged in her mind uncontrollably - when people are afraid, they will always subconsciously think of something that will make them feel at ease.

For Nohara Anzi now, nothing can make her feel more secure than the back of Uesugi Kiyoshi.

I was in a daze and didn't know how much time had passed.

The hazy morning light was already shining through the living room window.

It's daybreak.

Nohara Anko's thoughts suddenly woke up from the chaos. She secretly glanced into the living room and found that her uncle had disappeared long ago.

The small door of the shrine was tightly closed. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this, and with strong willpower, she pushed her frozen and numb legs and hurried back to her hut.

She closed the door tightly, holding the lunch box prepared for Uesugi Kiyoshi, and finally breathed a sigh of relief in her dim little nest.

What she didn't know was that the second after she walked in.

The door of Yokotano's room opened a crack.

A pair of eyes stared at Nohara Anko's door through the crack in the door.

These eyes were bloodshot, filled with malice and resentment, and had a strange smile. They didn't look like human eyes, but more like the pupils of an evil spirit.

Today is Wednesday, the weather is a bit gloomy and it looks like it is going to rain.

It is the beginning of April now, and high school has just started. It is the beginning of spring after winter, and the temperature is not very high, but it is the season when cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

Uesugi Kiyoshi was not in the mood to appreciate the cherry blossoms.

He looked as bad as he did yesterday - his master gave him a box of sword-fighting books, and he went back last night and quickly glanced through them.

As a result, he was fascinated at the first sight, and when he came to his senses, it was already past ten o'clock in the evening. He still had to practice "no sword taking" in the Mirage Tower, which put him under a lot of mental pressure.

He was indeed quite interested in this "no-knife" move.

After all, it is the secret technique of the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu. Although it looks like just an ordinary bare-handed sword fight, it still has many details to it.

His master had already given him the seal of approval for the Shinkage-ryu Menkyo Kaiden. If he didn't learn the skills well and embarrassed his master when he went to the Dongwen Association, he wouldn't be able to explain to his master - he was a very strong-willed person, and if he did that he wouldn't even be able to get past himself.

It is not easy to take it without a knife, but it is not difficult either.

It is clearly written in “The Three Forces of Sword-Seizing Technique” that there are three key points in learning the technique of sword-seizing without a sword.

First, you must have the courage to face your opponent’s sword. If you are afraid when you see your opponent chopping at you with a sword, don’t even think about snatching the sword. Just run for your life.