Chapter 131: Shovelers Unmatched / You Will Truly Adjus (2/2)

Whether that was effective or not could be determined by observing Tsukumo desperately dodging with a frantic expression.

The fragments of wall soon reached depletion, but the wall itself was still there.

Taiyou further hit the wall, proceeding to hurl what he demolished.

「Ohhh, impressive as always, Taiyou-chan.」

「I’m at a loss for words. This has got to be rubbish.」

「Youran-chan doesn’t like this sort of thing?」

「No, it’s effective so I think it’s fine. I’m saying this because that man’s been dodging in a strange manner since earlier.」

「Was it that weird?」

「That’s not Japanese martial arts. I think that it’s a variety that emerged from some country’s ritual dance. Which is why I think it looks weird.」

「Right; Youran is also a Japanese person after all.」

The exchange going on behind Taiyou didn’t enter his ears. Tsukumo, who would usually look puzzledly at Taiyou seemingly talking to himself, did not have that leisure.

Taiyou devotedly hurled the bigger fragments with Tsukumo panicking and dodging in a desperate attempt to evade.

Taiyou hit the wall a third time.

「This is――」

There was an open space beyond the crushed wall, in which various tools were left discarded in disarray.

It seemed to be a form of storehouse, and Taiyou found something in there.

「Oh, is that a shovel?」

Hera came next to him, talking with a smile.

Taiyou cleared off the dust that had gathered on the shovel, lifting it up.

「This feels really nice in my hands.」

That was a mere shovel. It was designed with wood with a triangular handle and an iron end; a shovel that you could find amongst the dirt-cheap overflowing shovels at your typical hardware store.

But Taiyou unintentionally muttered that, that it felt really nice in his hands.

「This reminds me of when I met Taiyou-chan.」

「What do you mean?」

Youran came next to Hera as she said that, asking with a dubious expression.

「When I met Taiyou-chan he was digging a hole with this; digging holes and filling holes, and then Taiyou-chan’s level rose and the harem became 65535.」

「I don’t really get it, but I guess it’s an article of your guys’ memories.」

「Yeah…so that’s why it feels nice, huh.」

Taiyou tried swinging the shovel around. Spinning it round and round, his actions were reminiscent of that of a bojutsu master that would appear in movies and the like.

「That’s amazing Taiyou-chan. You look like the world’s best shoveler.」

「I don’t even know if you’re complimenting me or disparaging me.」

Taiyou laughed strainedly.

「Shoveler is a word of compliment.」

「Is that right.」

Hera spoke with a full smile. Returning that with a smile, Taiyou began coming closer to Tsukumo with the shovel.

For some reason, confidence welled up. Confidence with no grounding that if he at least had this, he could even fight with Tsukumo.

「……What do you plan to do with that?」

「If I do you in with this then on the news they might say『with a bar-like thing』, or perhaps maybe they’d say『with a shovel-like thing』. What do you think?」

He said, contorting his mouth into a grin.

Taiyou, a fan of bluffing, did not miss his opponent’s discomposure, soon taking advantage of it.

Until now that had ended with a simple bluff, but now it was different.

Whirr!

He sweeped horizontally with the shovel. Along with the booming sound of the air being torn apart, the shovel tore the wall apart.

As if it were cut by a sharp blade, a fresh wound emerged from the wall.

Vestiges that one would never associate with the doing of a shovel.

The essence of a bluff was falsity, and Taiyou’s shovel was an intimidation with actual power.

「I’ll ask once more. Where is Aoba?」

「……」

「Alright.」

He approached Tsukumo.

「Whoa there. If you have something to ask then you can’t just kill him.」

「I know. I don’t get my objectives and methods confused.」

「Well then that’s good.」

Youran was satisfied. As long as her and Taiyou’s thinking patterns resembled each other closely, he would back down with the slightest warning.

If he intended to just not fess up, then they could just drop a finger or two. Doing so would probably make the other side feel like talking.

Thinking that, Taiyou raised the shovel overhead.