Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 5.1

Chapter V: The Yaegashi Family’s Secret

The day before Hajime remodeled the Nagumo household, he was walking stone-faced up to a residential district that sat next to the river. He wasn’t in a bad mood per se, but his steps were heavy as he thought about the destination he was heading toward. Though he’d visited this place many times in the past, he knew this visit would bring with it a storm of trouble.

“It was easier to walk into a labyrinth than it is to go here. Well, there’s nothing I can do but grit my teeth and bear it.”

Smiling stiffly, Hajime slapped his cheeks and strode forward. One way or another, this was a trial he’d have to overcome if he wished to grasp the future he desired.

He navigated his way through the residential district, making his way to a house with a large fence around it. Then, he followed along the edge of the fence until he reached the large wooden double doors that led inside.

The gate was open, revealing a large Japanese-style mansion within the grounds. It had the dignified aura of a place that made one instinctively straighten their back when they stepped inside. The nameplate out front read “Yaegashi.” There was also a large sign above the mansion that said “Yaegashi Dojo.”

There was a laminated placard that had the map of the entire grounds that neatly showed where the kendo classroom was. Oddly enough, the mere presence of the map made the place seem more inviting.

This was, of course, the house where Shizuku lived. He’d already contacted her family to let them know he was visiting, and they’d told him he was free to come inside. Despite that, Hajime had the strange sense that it would be dangerous to step through those open gates. And so, he instead pressed the intercom button attached to one of the pillars supporting the gates.

“Who is it?” a woman’s gentle voice called out almost immediately. It was one he recognized. Hajime had, of course, met Shizuku’s family at the big family meeting, but for various reasons, he’d been visiting the Yaegashi house more than anyone else’s place.

The woman who’d answered the doorbell was Kirino Yaegashi, Shizuku’s mother.

“It’s Hajime Nagumo.”

“My, you’re right on time, Hajime-san. Come on in. I told you before that you don’t need to ring the doorbell, remember?”

“You’re supposed to be polite even to people you’re close to, right?”

“Fu fu, if you insist.”

Hajime had a hard time dealing with Shizuku’s mom. Sighing, he stepped onto the manor grounds.

A second later, there was a whooshing noise and Hajime held a hand up in front of his forehead.

“I knew it...” he muttered, looking down at the three spherical objects he’d caught between his fingers. He squeezed on them a little, and they popped, spreading a yellow powder everywhere.

The powder smelled strongly of spice, so Hajime could tell it was tear gas. Had he been a normal person and had those spheres hit him directly, he would have been rolling on the ground in pain.

“We’re not in a ninja drama...but I guess in this house I may as well be.”

Over the past week or so, Hajime had learned much about the Yaegashi household. If this was their reaction to him telling them he was going to marry Shizuku, then so be it. But while Hajime was willing to accept his fate, he couldn’t help but shake his head slightly still. He’d been expecting to get punched, but the Yaegashi family had exceeded all expectations.

Hajime passed through the front entrance and stepped into a spacious inner garden. It wasn’t a full-on traditional Japanese garden, but it was still well-maintained. There were cobbled stone paths crisscrossing the garden, lanterns set at slightly irregular intervals, and plenty of big trees. To the left, there was even a small pond. Near the pond was a small building—the Yaegashi Dojo. But since today was a weekend there was no one training inside, so it was ominously quiet.

As Hajime walked past one of the trees, he suddenly sensed an intense bloodlust. He looked up and saw an old man leaping down from a branch, a wooden sword raised high above his head. It was clear that he intended to cleave Hajime in two with one clean stroke.

“Good afternoon, Shuzou-san,” Hajime said, blocking an attack that would have shattered a boulder with just one hand and bowing to the man who’d slashed at him.

The old man with white hair who looked like he was in his mid-eighties was the head instructor of the Yaegashi Dojo, as well as Shizuku’s grandfather. This was actually his third visit to the Yaegashi house today, and Shuzou had attacked him the previous two times as well, so he was used to this by now.

Indeed, the reason his footsteps had been so heavy on the way here was because he’d known he’d be attacked again.

“Well met, Hajime-kun. Make yourself at home.”

“Thank you very much.”

Despite his cordial tone, Shuzou continued to try to overpower Hajime, his wooden sword creaking from the strain. From an outsider’s perspective, he probably looked insane.

Shuzou and Hajime locked gazes for a few seconds, after which Shuzou finally relented and withdrew his sword. He then turned on his heel as if nothing had happened and said, “You haven’t had lunch yet, right? I’ll go prepare it. You can talk with Shizuku until then. She should be in her room.”

“Shouldn’t I deliver my report first?”

“I told you, make yourself at home. It seems you’ve been working quite hard the past few days, so you may as well rest.”

“Er, uhhh, thank you very—”

The moment Shuzou relaxed his bloodlust, Hajime sensed a new assailant. Hajime instinctively ducked, so the newcomer’s perfectly executed roundhouse kick whistled above his head.

Hajime saw the sleeves of the new attacker’s hakama flapping out of the corner of his eye and knew that a follow-up axe kick was coming. And so, he cartwheeled to the side to dodge out of the way and turned to face his attacker.

“Yo, Hajime-kun. Glad you made it. Make yourself at home,” the man who’d attacked Hajime said.

“Good afternoon, Toramasa-san. Thank you for having me.”

Toramasa Yaegashi, Shizuku’s father, was a master of the Yaegashi style. He had a claw-shaped scar on his cheek that Hajime wasn’t sure he wanted to know where he’d gotten, and generally looked like your average tough guy.

Toramasa said the same thing Shuzou had, also acting as if he’d just been greeting Hajime instead of trying to kill him.

A second later, a wooden sword came flying at Hajime’s face and he whipped his head to the side to dodge. He heard someone click their tongue from behind one of the nearby lanterns. Then, an old man jumped out of the pond and spat a dozen needles out of his mouth at Hajime. Hajime stepped away, but then realized the assault wasn’t over and did a backflip as well. A moment later, a young man popped out of the ground, stabbing up at where Hajime had been standing.

“Grr, missed my chance again!” the youngster shouted, covered in dirt and mud.

Hajime smiled slightly as he landed and held up his hand to grab another set of flying weapons. He then struck down another barrage coming from the opposite direction. This time instead of tear gas balls they’d all been arrows. Arrows with blunted, rubber-tipped heads, but arrows nonetheless. Looking up, Hajime saw a number of the students of the Yaegashi Dojo sitting on the rooftop of the main building, bows in hand. There was another group of students on the opposite rooftop as well.

Hajime nodded, then turned back to Toramasa.

“Toramasa-san, is the Yaegashi Dojo secretly a ninja training school?”

He was pretty sure that was the case.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Hajime-kun. Shinobi don’t exist in the modern era. You’ve been reading too much manga, and it’s messing with your imagination. We can’t have Shizuku’s husband failing to tell reality from fiction!”

“B-But those techniques...”

“Also, please don’t forget that we’re not ninjas, we’re shinobi. They’re not the same.”

“You just admitted it, didn’t you?!”

The old man who’d leaped out of the pond took off his white dojo clothes, revealing a black ninja suit underneath. Looking down, Hajime realized that some authentic shuriken that probably belonged in a museum had been mixed in with the arrows that had been fired at him. One of the students of the Yaegashi Dojo Naruto ran over to them and collected them before Hajime could take a closer look. Meanwhile, the people on the roof threw very ninja-esque grappling hooks down and rappelled into the garden.

Hajime turned back to grill Toramasa, but he was long gone. He hadn’t made any sound as he’d run away. In fact, Hajime just barely caught a glimpse of him retreating into the main building before he vanished from sight. They were all fast and silent.

Hajime sucked in a deep breath and held back his annoyance.

“Hajime! Welcome!”

Just then, Shizuku’s cheerful voice called out to him from the front porch of the main building and he turned to see her waving at him. He raised a hand in greeting and walked over to her. She was wearing a colorful kimono and had put on a little bit of makeup.