Eh, This Is It?

Of course, Kazuma could check the combat power of these yakuza gangsters.

The gangster leader, also the only one among them who wore an emblem, had the strength of Judo 1.

By right, judo also had different styles. Kazuma did not know why he only saw Judo 1. Perhaps it was because his cheat could only differentiate between kendo styles, so the combat abilities in other forms of martial arts were only shown as a total number.

In any case, only the leader of the hooligans knew martial arts. The rest were just small fries.

Originally, Kazuma had planned to catch them off guard and take down two of them, and then join Fujii to fight off the other three.

There was nothing wrong with this idea. Fujii's kendo did not belong to any established styles, but her level of basic kendo techniques was at Rank 4. It was a piece of cake for her to defeat hooligans of this level.

It would have been even better if Fujii could have quickly finished off one of them.

Kazuma glanced at the unfortunate fellow who had a mark on his face thanks to Fujii.

The mark looked as if it was caused by a car bumper. It had turned deep red. Moreover, Fujii had hit his nose, which was now bleeding non-stop.

Fujii had indeed almost defeated him.

Usually, when Kazuma sparred with Fujii during club sessions, his ears would ring when she hit him on the helmet.

This girl was really strong.

She had lost today either because she was hungry and weak or because she had subconsciously held herself back as her opponents were not wearing a helmet.

Oh, right, her hand was injured. It must have affected her strength too.

No matter what, Kazuma's plan had failed. Now, it was one against three.

As the saying goes, two fists cannot defeat four hands, and a fierce tiger cannot defeat a pack of wolves. Even a fighter like Jackie Chan would have to use props when fighting against many.

In the more realistic Japanese war films, kendo masters would take advantage of their opponents' lack of protective gear to quickly finish them off.

After defeating a few of them, the other soldiers would be scared. Then, the protagonists could beat them one by one. Otherwise, it would have been hard to shoot the film.

Right now, the only weapon that Kazuma had was just a bamboo sword. Even if he were to use Tsuki to put down some of them, it would only be a temporary defeat.

It was impossible for him to knock someone down as if he was wielding a real blade.

Besides, he was holding Fujii.

Kazuma wanted to shift her to somewhere safe, but it appeared that the hooligans didn't intend to give him the chance.

They had already surrounded him while waving their baseball bats as "warm-up."

The gangster leader smiled and said, "Your girlfriend is quite cute. It'd be a pity to send her to the kabuki. How about this? We shall be nice to you. We won't be too harsh on you if you kneel down and kowtow to us. After my brothers have had their fun, we'll return your girl to you."

Kazuma really wanted to burst this fellow's front teeth using Tsuki right now.

But he was still holding Fujii.

Kazuma started to move backward. He wanted to retreat to the wall and let Fujii lean against it. This way, even if she slipped along the wall, she would not fall too hard.

However, the hooligans had attacked.

The gangster with the bumper mark on his face screamed and rushed forward.

Kazuma reacted quickly and stabbed his throat.

His movement was so smooth that even Kazuma was surprised.

The man lost his balance and collapsed to the ground, clutching his neck and wailing.

At this moment, Kazuma noticed a note over his enemies.

'Deterred?'

'Had I deterred them by putting one down quickly?'

Kazuma did not think too much about it. He took the opportunity and lowered Fujii onto the ground.

After that, he immediately stood up and held the sword with both hands.

At the same time, a hooligan with a black eye got up and raised his bat shakily.

It was still one against three. Nothing had changed.

But now, there was this deterrent effect on his enemies.

Kazuma did not know how long it would last.

The gangster leader spat and shouted, "What are you afraid of? Attack him! All of you!"

Then, he roared and charged toward Kazuma.

Seeing this, the two lackeys also rushed forward, but they were obviously slower than their boss.

Kazuma charged forward using Tsuki. In the next instant, he jumped out from the encirclement of the two lackeys. His bamboo sword hit the front teeth of the gangster leader.

The gangster leader fell backward, his broken front teeth flying out of his mouth, shining in the afternoon sun.

Kazuma immediately turned around and used another skill, "Upper Combo Slash."

He hit both of the hooligans' heads accurately.

Looking at the fallen gangsters, Kazuma, a meanie from the 21st century, felt an urge to mock. "This is it?"

It seemed that Shinto Style 6 was strong enough to crush his opponents.

In addition, not only could he check his opponents' level of proficiency with martial arts, but he could also see the buff on their mental state. That's very useful.

He wondered if he could see states like "shyness" when he flirted with girls.

Kazuma savored the sudden victory—it really came suddenly. Just a moment ago, he thought it certainly wouldn't end well.

At this moment, the gangster leader, who was the only one with a family emblem, said while still lying on the ground, "Do you know who we are?"

"I don't know," Kazuma said honestly. "Show me the emblem you're wearing. The base pattern is a papaya. Maybe you are from an amateur yakuza family from Hyogo?"

Kazuma used to play Nobunaga's Ambition and Taikō Risshiden, so he had some knowledge of the samurai families' emblems. The papaya patterns were mainly used by the Kusakabe clan from Tajima Province, and the most famous samurai family in that clan was the Asakura family.

The ancient Tajima Province was in today's Hyogo Prefecture.

The gangster leader immediately roared, "Damn you! This is our Tsuda Family's…"

Kazuma knocked him out with a single hit of his bamboo sword.

So they were from the Tsuda Family. Kazuma took a mental note.

However, judging from the emblem, it was not the same group as the one who came to hang the dead chicken outside Kazuma's house this morning.

However, it was possible that they were a syndicate group under a large yakuza organization.

The yakuza had a similar structure to that of warlords during wartimes. There were five elders and five commissioners in each family, and each elder had his own subordinates, who again had subordinates under their own command…

Kazuma decided to ignore these complicated things for now.

In any case, once he sold the dojo, he would have nothing to do with the yakuza. The key was to convince his sister.

He kicked a hooligan on the ground who was pretending to have fainted. "Hey! Get up and carry your boss away!"

It was only then that the fellows who had fallen to the ground got up obediently—it turned out that all four of them were actually awake.

Kazuma kept his distance and kept his guard up as he watched them carry their unconscious boss and run away.

'They did not even say anything harsh. Those small fry villains are not doing their job properly,' Kazuma grumbled to himself.

He turned around to check on Fujii and saw that she was sitting up with her hands covering her head.

"I feel dizzy…" she said blankly.

"Maybe you have a slight concussion." Kazuma bit his lips. Then, he teased her. "You may find yourself in love with me all of a sudden because you aren't thinking straight right now."

"Gross, go to hell!" Fujii struggled to stand up and looked around, confused. "Where are the hooligans?"

The owner of the snack shop replied, "Your boyfriend fought them off."

Fujii stared at Kazuma suspiciously. "Really?"

"It's true. But did you notice that… there was something wrong with what the lady said just now?"

It was only then that Fujii realized that her question had implicitly confirmed that Kazuma was her "boyfriend."

She blushed.

"No, ma'am! We're not…"

The lady had already returned to her shop to clean up the mess. She took out a broom and swept away the broken pieces of glass on the floor. Then, she pointed at the snacks in the smashed jars on the shelves and said, "You can take the snacks if you want. Be careful not to get cut by the glass."

Kazuma exchanged glances with Fujii. Then, Fujii said, "There's no need. You've lost so much…"

The woman laughed. Although she was laughing, Kazuma felt a little sorrowful.

"Just take it. There are some unbroken jars of candies and snacks inside the shop too. You can take them if you want. I've thought it through." The woman stopped smiling and looked at Kazuma and Fujii. "The business has indeed been declining recently. Children all want to eat McDonald's. Popsicles are not as easy to sell as ice creams… And I'm tired, really tired."

After that, she took a handful of snacks and stuffed them into Fujii's hands.

"There's a cafe near the station. The owner there buys most of her snacks from the same sources as me. After my shop is closed, you will have to go there for your dates."

Fujii was at a loss for words. She was stunned for a few seconds before realizing that she should retort. "No! We are not…"

"You two come to my shop every day to eat popsicles and snacks, yet you are not dating?" the woman asked in surprise.

"We came to eat snacks together because…"

"Here, some daifuku. Please take it." The auntie had interrupted Mikako by stuffing the paper-wrapped daifuku into her hands.

After that, the lady turned around and returned to the snack shop, leaving Kazuma and Fujii looking at each other.

"Do you want to eat daifuku?" Fujii handed the snack to Kazuma.

Kazuma accepted it. He had always liked sweet food. As a person from Guangdong, he quite liked daifuku's red bean paste filling.

The sweet taste of red bean paste spread in his mouth, but Kazuma felt a little bitter.

Fujii sighed. "The snack shop will be closed soon."

Kazuma felt a little emotional too. He had grown up when his country was undergoing rapid development. When he was young, he could still see people cooking with coal stoves when he went to his classmates' houses. But when he grew up, there were no longer such things as a coal stove in the entire southern part of China.

He remembered that there was a big flashlight at his grandfather's house. It was longer than a 500-milliliter bottle of Coca-Cola. He had to use this flashlight when he went out at night. Otherwise, it would be pitch-black everywhere.

Once he was in high school, it had become bright no matter where he went at night. He would only need to use his phone to light up the dark corners occasionally.

Many of the scenes in Kazuma's memory disappeared with the tide of development.

Just as Kazuma was indulging in his memories, the owner of the snack shop came out and took off the curtain hanging over the door.

All the old Japanese stores had a curtain like that. It was hung over the lintel of the door with a single pole. When it was put away, it would be taken down along with the pole.

The curtains were usually printed with the shop name or logo. When the logo was showing, it meant the shop was open.

The lady held the cloth curtain and gently touched the logo on it. She looked like she was immersed in beautiful memories.

Suddenly, she said, "If I don't move away, they might smash this curtain and other valuable things. I should really stop here."

Kazuma licked his lips. He believed that his sister Chiyoko would resonate with her.

Even though he was a transmigrator, a fool—no, a passerby who did not belong to this era, he still felt heavy at this moment.

Fujii Mikako reached out and pulled at Kazuma's sleeve. "Let's go. We should give her some time alone."