My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 385 - 145: Chokata Is So Cute and the Man Who Bears the Dragon’s Name

At present, it’s one of the busiest times in the bathhouse, with nearly eighty percent of the large bath pool occupied by people, making Aoto, who is soaking in a corner of the pool, feel somewhat cramped.

After today’s three rounds of fierce elimination matches, only a dozen or so contestants remain.

These last dozen contestants will start the final three rounds of matches tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow’s fourth round of matches can already be understood as the "pre-quarterfinals," the fifth round is the "semifinals," and the final sixth round will decide the champion of this tournament!

Although his body wasn’t very tired, Aoto, holding the mindset that "I’ve paid to enter this bathhouse, so I should soak for a while," closed his eyes, submerging everything below his chin into the comfortably warm pool water.

—Among the remaining contestants... the one worth paying attention to, and who most likely has exceptional talent, should be Niitsuma Kan from the Training Hall.

Aoto initially wanted to clear his mind, but his thoughts uncontrollably drifted to tomorrow’s matches.

According to Aoto’s own observations, among the remaining dozen opponents, the only one worth noting is the last of the "Three Heroes" he hasn’t faced yet: Niitsuma Kan from the Training Hall.

Apart from Niitsuma Kan, the other contestants... frankly speaking, Aoto could easily defeat them one-handed.

Aoto believes that, if nothing unexpected happens, he will inevitably have a match with Niitsuma Kan tomorrow!

Niitsuma Kan’s strength surpasses the other contestants by a large margin; besides Aoto, none of the remaining contestants are a match for Niitsuma Kan.

In other words—if in tomorrow’s fourth and fifth rounds, Aoto doesn’t go up against Niitsuma Kan, then the two contestants participating in the final sixth round will be him and Niitsuma Kan!

Based on Aoto’s observations in today’s matches, Niitsuma Kan’s strength... should be slightly stronger than Morioka and Tsuzaki, whom Aoto defeated with one strike.

In short—even though Niitsuma Kan was listed as the opponent to watch out for most in tomorrow’s matches, his strength still has a significant gap compared to Aoto’s current level.

However, Aoto did not let this instill any sense of arrogance or disdain towards Niitsuma Kan.

Aoto inherently disliked and found it hard to be conceited, even though his strength surpassed the other contestants by a lot; he still wanted to approach each remaining match with complete seriousness and dedication.

While Aoto’s mind was still on tomorrow’s matches, he suddenly heard Zhouzhu speaking to Kondo across from him:

"Oh, right, Yong. Just now, Toshisuke asked me to, on my way home after the bath, take a detour to that confectionery that stays open late, the Flower Sugar House, to help him buy two packs of gold flat sugar."

"I’ll leave this task of buying sweets for Toshisuke to you. Remember to help him buy the sweets after you’ve finished bathing."

"The Flower Sugar House, huh... alright, I understand."

Chokata... Hearing Kondo and them mentioning Chokata in their conversation, Aoto couldn’t help but open his eyes, recalling something related to Chokata, and then he interjected into Kondo and Zhouzhu’s conversation.

"Mr. Kondo, speaking of Mr. Chokata... I have a question related to Mr. Chokata, if I may ask?"

"A question about Chokata?" Kondo blinked his eyes, then lifted his chin towards Aoto, gesturing for Aoto to ask.

Seeing this, Aoto didn’t hesitate any longer.

"Mr. Kondo, since I started staying at Shiwei Hall, I’ve never seen any of Mr. Chokata’s family come looking for him."

"And Mr. Chokata has always been staying at Shiwei Hall; I’ve never seen him leave temporarily to stay at any other relatives’ homes."

"So I wanted to ask: do none of Mr. Chokata’s family live in Edo?"

"Oh, you’re asking about that..." Hearing Aoto’s question, Kondo raised an eyebrow, pursed his lips, as if contemplating his words.

A moment later, he slowly said:

"Hmm. Toshisuke indeed doesn’t have any relatives living in Edo. Other than Shiwei Hall, he doesn’t have any other place to go in Edo, so he’s naturally always staying at Shiwei Hall."

Having said this, Kondo leaned to the side, changing to a more comfortable sitting position, then continued:

"Toshisuke lost his parents at a young age."

"The only close relatives he has left are his two sisters, who are both married."

"The eldest sister, Chokata Mitsuo, married a samurai who took the name Chokata Rintaro after becoming a part of the Chokata family, and now they live at Hino Inn in the northern part of Edo."

"The second sister, Chokata Jin, also married far away."

"Toshisuke has a good relationship with his sisters, but since Chokata Mitsuo and Chokata Jin don’t live in Edo, he doesn’t get to see them very often now."

"Mr. Chokata has sisters, huh..." Aoto muttered.

That Chokata has two sisters—this was the first time Aoto learned of it.

"Both of Toshisuke’s sisters are real beauties." Kondo continued.

"Because Toshisuke’s second sister, Chokata Jin, married far away, she rarely has the chance to return to Edo."

"But the Hino Inn, where the eldest sister, Chokata Mitsuo, currently lives, isn’t very far from Edo, so she occasionally visits Toshisuke in Edo during holidays."