After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

Chapter 49 Ryusongan

Indeed, as a millennium-old capital, once they got off the train, Kagura Hikaru and the others could feel the difference between the Capital City and Tokyo.

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For example, Tokyo has lots of colorful and dense advertisements that can become quite annoying after a while.

But the Capital City is different; it seems that their local government had passed a law to reduce the posting of advertisements.

Those huge advertisements that you often see above the office buildings in Tokyo are completely absent in the Capital City.

Moreover, they do not use neon lights, and the shop signs by the door are styled like those from the early twentieth century - simple and substantial.

After leaving the station, Kagura Hikaru and his companions took a bus to the vicinity of the pre-arranged inn and walked to their destination.

The inn was a traditional Japanese-style house called 'Ryusongan,' not ideally located since it was quite far from the city center, but this made reservations easier to secure.

Every year, a continuous stream of domestic and international tourists visit Capital City, and if it weren't the off-season for tourism, even the more distant, modest inns would be hard to book.

Walking on a cobblestone path through the main gate of the inn, to the right, they saw a small courtyard and a fish pond, but no fish could be seen - probably hiding because of the cold weather.

Pulling open the sliding side door to enter the inn, a woman dressed in a dark blue kimono was already waiting for them, bowing deeply, "Welcome to Ryusongan."

"Welcome!"

A little girl in simple work clothes next to her also bowed deeply, her manners impeccable; she seemed to be the woman's daughter.

Advisor Teacher Yamazaki followed the innkeeper to the counter to pay and collect the room keys.

Speaking of which, it seems that traditional inns in the Island Nation are managed by women, and there's a special term for them - Warrior Matriarch.

Apparently, the kimono-clad woman must be the Warrior Matriarch of this inn.

Having completed the check-in procedures, the innkeeper's daughter eagerly ran over to help with the luggage, and Kagura Hikaru and Hosaka Yui stepped forward to assist, carrying everyone's luggage into the second-floor rooms.

The guest rooms inside the inn were also in traditional Japanese style, with tatami floor mats, a low table and cushions in the center, and a small balcony facing the sun.

No electrical appliances could be seen in the room, not even a television, but there were sockets, so charging should be ensured.

The little girl pointed cutely towards a big wardrobe in the corner and said, "Inside is the bedding, there are four sets, please feel free to use them."

She suggested that if Kagura Hikaru and the others needed, they could now take out the bedding to lay it out, but everyone said they didn't need to.

After the girl left, Teacher Yamazaki handed a key to Ayakoji Chiyoko, "This is the key to the girls' room, keep it safe and don't lose it."

Ayakogi Chiyoko took the key carefully, turned to the boys and said, "Sort out your luggage, take a rest, and meet downstairs in fifteen minutes."

After that, she dragged her suitcase to the adjacent girls' room, and Hosaka Yui also said goodbye and followed her.

As soon as the two girls in the group left, the atmosphere in the room inexplicably became more relaxed.

Five boys and one teacher looked at each other, contemplating who should be the first to speak to bridge the distance between them.

That's when Kagura Hikaru said, "Speaking of which, there are only four sets of bedding in the wardrobe, but there are six of us, what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, the boys started to think...

After a while, Kagura Hikaru came back from the girls' room next door, carrying two sets of bedding.

"Sorry, Kagura, for making you do this," Teacher Yamazaki said apologetically.

Everyone recognized the problem, yet no one had the courage to knock on the girls' door and ask for help.

If it were only Hosaka Yui, it would have been fine, but the formidable Ayakoji Chiyoko, known to stop babies from crying, was also inside.

Whether it was members of the Kendo Club or the Disciplinary Committee, facing her made everyone nervous.

Even the advisor, Teacher Yamazaki, hesitated for a moment before Kagura Hikaru took the initiative to solve the issue.

"Not at all, this is what I should do," the club manager Kagura Hikaru said.

After this small episode, the atmosphere among the boys finally eased.

The boys from the Kendo Club, who had been glaring at Kagura Hikaru for two hours on the train, also started talking to him.

It was just that during the conversation, comments like "If you dare lay a hand on Yui-chan, I'll kill you," "Kill you!" were thrown in, making it hard for him to relax.

After packing up their luggage, using the restroom, and charging their phones, the fifteen minutes of rest had barely passed before they went downstairs to meet up with the two girls.

Unexpectedly, Hosaka Yui was a bit late. Upon asking, they learnt that she had gone to familiarize herself with the hotel's layout, so she could respond immediately in case of any emergencies.

Kagura Hikaru acknowledged that he had learned something new, realizing that a club manager had to be so meticulous. By comparison, he thought his work was done after just finding a blanket, but that clearly wasn't enough.

After everyone gathered, they rode off to their next destination.

In theory, there was still a day before the competition, and the national championship would not officially start until tomorrow. They should have taken the time to enjoy Capital City.

Perhaps other schools' teams might do so, considering it's a rare opportunity for a trip funded by public money, so it made no sense to miss out.

But with Ayakoji Chiyoko on the team, it was impossible to allow the participating members to show any form lax behavior.

So, after dropping their luggage at the hotel, the second place they went to was the Kendo dojo!

Sword Dao, as one of the Island Nation's mainstream sports, naturally has many dojos dedicated to its teaching.

However, in recent years, as the era of fast-paced entertainment has risen, many Kendo dojos have begun to struggle to attract students, gradually becoming more desolate.

The dojo Kagura Hikaru and the others were about to visit was one such dojo on the brink of bankruptcy.

The old dojo master had passed away due to illness, and his children were not interested in taking over, planning to sell the dojo for a good price.

If this was some other web novel, at this point, there would appear a granddaughter of the old dojo master who didn't want the dojo to close. Her character would be a pony-tailed Kendo girl; a male protagonist who happened to visit would hear about the situation and decide to help the girl restore the dojo's fame.

The only path before them would be to win first place at the national high school Kendo championship...

None of this happened, they were simply there to rent the space.

The children of the dojo master planned to offer a venue rental service before selling the dojo, to earn as much as they could.

Ayakoji Chiyoko managed to rent the entire dojo for ten hours at a very reasonable price. Now, the space and the equipment in the dojo temporarily belonged to them.

By the way, this expense was not paid out of pocket but was included in the competition budget.

Kagura Hikaru roughly understood why so many of them only got two rooms at the hotel—the money had all been spent here...

Everyone changed into the Kendo uniforms provided by the dojo, picked up bamboo swords, and began their routine training before the competition.