Episode 221

Miyamoto Tooru was the most outstanding young man of this generation of the Miyamoto family. Japan split their martial artists into three different levels – the warriors, the masters and the grandmasters. In general, talented martial artists needed to train for ten or so years to qualify as a warrior, while becoming a master would depend on how gifted they were and what sort of opportunities they had to develop further.

Those who had the gift and opportunity could be called masters after about 30 years or so, and becoming a grandmaster was even harder. One needed talent, hard work, opportunity, and excellent teachers, and yet, having all of these things still did not guarantee that one could become a grandmaster.

Miyamoto Tooru started his training since he was seven, and even though he hadn’t even trained for 20 years yet, he was already extremely formidable. Five years ago, he became master in kendo and was named the youngest master in Japan in the last century. He was also thought to be the one with the highest chance of becoming a grandmaster in kendo in the future.

The Miyamoto family’s status in Japan was extremely high as well. They did not dabble in business nor politics. The thing that allowed them to enjoy such high status was kendo. The Miyamoto family was also called the guardians of the country. They had defended the martial arts community of the country and were loved by all citizens.

Miyamoto Tooru was a kendo master as well as the brightest in his generation, so all attention had been on him since he was a child. He was their pride and joy and was well loved everywhere he went. That was also why Kano Mai’s grandfather had chosen him to become her future husband.

Kano Yuuko whispered, “Tooru-kun, perhaps I shouldn’t be saying this, but as my older sister’s future husband, I think it’s only right for you to help her deal with some of the troublemakers around her.”

Miyamoto Tooru nodded slightly and smiled. “Indeed. There are some situations that would be more appropriate for us men to handle.”

Kano Yuuko did not have any of the rudeness or unreasonableness she showed Su Jin earlier. Her smile was adorable and sweet, so nobody would ever think she had any ill intentions.

Miyamoto Tooru immediately headed straight for Su Jin, but Su Jin did not react at all. Su Jin had already overheard their entire conversation. Given his current levels of hearing, there was no way any conversation this close to him could escape his ears.

He knew that the young man was here to create trouble for him, but he wasn’t worried. This world valued strength and power. Once one had both, one became invincible.

Su Jin had strength, and now that he was part of the Department of Supernatural Affairs, he had power too. Or at least given the current political situation in this world, there were times when a Chinese government official’s words carried more weight than a Japanese government official’s.

Miyamoto Tooru stood in front of Su Jin and said arrogantly, “Hello, sir. I hear you’re Miss Mai’s friend.”

“I’m not her friend. I’m her boyfriend.” Su Jin did not go around making trouble, but he was certainly not afraid of trouble coming his way. Since this guy was here to bully him, he wasn’t going to back down without a fight. So, Su Jin decided to go on the offensive.

Just as he expected, Miyamoto Tooru’s expression fell immediately after Su Jin called himself Kano Mai’s boyfriend. He said in a frosty voice, “Humph! I’m Miss Mai’s boyfriend. Who do you think you are?”

“Your words alone don’t mean anything. Why don’t you ask Mai if she thinks you’re her boyfriend or if she thinks I’m her boyfriend?” said Su Jin with a smirk, as though he was looking at an idiot.

Miyamoto Tooru was angered by the look in Su Jin’s eyes, but he held his temper down. As a member of the Miyamoto family, he had to have the resilience of a fighter but also the aura of an aristocrat. After all, the family had taken several generations to go from being just a family of martial artists to becoming a family of high social standing.

“Like you said, your words alone don’t mean anything. I am the one chosen by the Kano family, so Miss Mai will only marry me in the future,” said Miyamoto Tooru frostily, while his eyes were on the verge of spewing flames.

Su Jin merely shrugged back at him. Just then, Kano Mai walked over. Miyamoto Tooru straightened his clothes and put on a warm smile.

But Kano Mai completely ignored him. She took a paper napkin and started helping Su Jin to wipe his mouth, then said gently, “Just look at you, eating so messily.”

Miyamoto Tooru felt like he had just been humiliated. His fiancée had actually helped another man to wipe his mouth during such a party. That was no different from catching her cheating on him.

“Psst! You’ve gone too far! This fellow is already on the verge of hacking me to pieces with his sword! What if your behavior agitates the wild beast inside him and he ends up slicing me into pieces?!” Su Jin used his psychokinesis to send a message to Kano Mai immediately. While Kano Mai was usually a sweet and considerate girl, she would never do something so intimate with Su Jin. She was clearly doing this to anger Miyamoto Tooru.

“Why does it matter? The only person in this universe who can defeat you is probably Xu Ran. He’s not crazy enough to come all the way here just to make life difficult for you,” replied Kano Mai.

Su Jin laughed sadly. It was true that there weren’t many in his universe who could compare to him in terms of strength, but he didn’t dare to claim that Xu Ran was the only one who could defeat him. There were some people who liked training themselves up in secret, and the Handbook had been grouping them with owners from the same part of the world as them. There were definitely owners in other parts of the world, and he had no idea what their situation was like.

“Miss Mai, please watch your behavior. What you are doing now will damage the reputation’s of both the Miyamotos and the Kanos,” said Miyamoto Tooru in a grim voice.

“He’s right, Sis! You’re Tooru-kun’s future wife, so how could you behave like that around another man?” Kano Yuuko chimed in.

Kano Mai glared at both of them frostily, then focused her gaze on Kano Yuuko. “Yuuko, back then, you felt that my presence here was affecting your development and blocking your spotlight. To repay Grandpa for bringing me up, I chose to move to China. Do not take my tolerance as fear. The Kano family grew to what it is today in my hands, so I can make it fall the way I made it succeed.”

Kano Yuuko was stunned for a moment before a look of anger glinted in her eyes. Just like what Kano Mai said, Kano Mai had been the brightest star in Japan and everyone only had eyes for her. That hurt Kano Yuuko deeply. She wasn’t any less than Kano Mai. Why was everyone’s attention only on her sister?

The aggrieved Kano Yuuko had challenged and antagonized her older sister several times, and as the older one, Kano Mai knew what was making her younger sister so angry. So, she chose to take a step back and moved quietly to China so that the spotlight on her in Japan would dim quickly. That way, Kano Yuuko would become the new star in the eyes of high society like she wanted.

But while it was true that humans were often forgetful and shifted their attention easily, some people and their achievements were simply too outstanding for them to forget completely. Even though they had turned their attention to something else while this person was away, their return would trigger something in their hearts and they would become obsessed with this person again.

Kano Mai was one of those people. Her glorious achievements and aura were deeply embedded in the heads of the members of high society, so even though they had forgotten her temporarily while she was away, she instantly attracted attention upon her return.

Kano Yuuko felt rage and indignation inside, but she froze when she heard Kano Mai talk about how the family had succeeded because of what she had done.

Why was Kano Mai always in the spotlight? Was it because she was pretty? But beauty faded with time. What made everyone focus on her was her capabilities, the way she worked.

The Kano family was actually a third-rate family that barely made it as part of high society, and they were nearly chased out at one point in time. But all of this changed after Kano Mai came of age.

After coming of age, Kano Mai was put in charge of one of the Kano family’s companies by the head of the family back then, which was Kano Mai’s grandfather. That company’s sales shot up like a rocket within half a year.

Kano Mai’s head for business starting garnering attention. The head of the family slowly passed more and more businesses to Kano Mai, and in the end, regardless of the type of business, its performance would be outstanding as long as she was in charge. This made her the most powerful member of the family besides the head himself.

As the family’s status and position in society began to rise, Kano Mai’s own status as the princess of the family also rose and she soon turned into the brightest star of the country. Moreover, she was very pretty, so there were a ton of men from rich and powerful families who wanted to become her partner. But because she was in a position of power in the family, she also had the right to choose her marriage partner. As long as she did not give anybody the green light, nobody could force her to do otherwise.

This time, even though it was her grandfather who decided on this marriage just before passing away, it was actually only a suggestion. But her grandfather had passed away a little too suddenly, so his children’s generation became very anxious to make this happen.

At the same time, Kano Mai also understood where her family was coming from. A family of high standing needed not only money and influence, but they also needed fighting prowess to protect their family. In other words, they needed fighters like Miyamoto Tooru to keep anybody with ill intentions at bay.

Every top family in the country had sufficient martial artists working for them, and having a kendo master was a must. Besides, if Kano Mai and Miyamoto Tooru really got married, then the Kano family would not only get a kendo master, but several other high level martial artists from the Miyamoto family, including a kendo grandmaster. If that happened, the Kano family would truly become the greatest family in the country.

Kano Mai was well aware of all this and she wasn’t angry about it. She was just disappointed. The generation above her was really not as good as her grandfather. What did they think was at the root of the Kano family’s success? Those businesses? Of course not. It was her. If the Kano family wanted to maintain their current position, what they needed wasn’t Miyamoto Tooru. It was Kano Mai herself.

At this point, Miyamoto Tooru suddenly withdrew the wooden sword on his belt and said to Su Jin, “Sir, martial artists in this country value the path of an individual and strength. I don’t care what sort of relationship you have with my fiancée, but you have insulted my path today, so… I will use my strength to take revenge. You shall pay for your arrogance with your blood!”