Chapter 35: Aoi Todo's Twisted Question
Sunlight filtered through the leaves above, scattering shifting patches of gold across the concrete.
The atmosphere at the school gate had already grown tense enough to spark at a touch, but the moment Yami arrived, that tension changed.
Not vanished.
Changed.
He set the guitar case down at his feet. His long fingers rested on the zipper for a brief moment before slowly pulling it open.
Sskk.
As the zipper slid aside, the ancient black blade lying within was revealed.
[Shiranui].
It lay there quietly, dark and restrained, as if it had slept through countless years and still had no need to boast.
There was no dramatic release of power.
No violent surge of cursed energy.
No exaggerated pressure rolling outward like a shockwave.
And yet, the instant Yami's hand closed around the hilt, everyone present, including the aggressively smiling Aoi Todo, felt a chill crawl up their spines.
It was not fear born from cursed energy.
It was something older.
Sharper.
Like standing too close to a drawn blade.
"Interesting..."
Todo's huge eyes lit up with a brilliance that bordered on madness.
He did not attack right away.
Instead, he stared at Yami with blatant fascination, as if appraising a priceless weapon.
"No cursed energy, but this kind of presence..."
His grin widened.
"So the rumors really weren't exaggerated."
Then, without warning, he did something that made everyone freeze.
Riiip!
Todo suddenly grabbed the front of his already half ruined uniform and tore it wide open with both hands.
The sound of fabric ripping apart was absurdly loud in the silence.
In the next instant, his upper body was fully exposed under the sun, every muscle carved as though from bronze and stone. Even while standing still, his body radiated an absurd level of explosive force.
"Hey! Are you some kind of pervert?!"
Nobara took a disgusted step back and almost covered her eyes with her hammer.
"What kind of lunatic starts stripping in public before a fight?"
Todo ignored her completely.
His gaze never left Yami.
"Yami!"
He took one heavy step forward, and the ground gave a faint tremor beneath his foot.
"Before I beat you into the ground, I need to ask you something!"
Yami had just drawn [Shiranui] halfway from the case. Hearing that, he paused and raised his eyes.
His calm red gaze met Todo's.
"A question?"
His tone remained as mild as if Todo were asking him for directions.
"That's right!"
Todo crossed his arms over his mountainous chest and looked down at him with complete seriousness.
"This question will decide whether we become friends..."
His eyes blazed.
"...or enemies."
The atmosphere instantly turned strange.
Even Megumi, who had been ready to summon shikigami at a moment's notice, stared blankly for a second.
What the hell is this idiot doing now?
Todo drew in a deep breath.
Then, with the force of a war cry, he roared:
"What kind of woman is your type?!"
Silence.
A breeze passed through the gate, stirring a few dead leaves across the ground.
Nobara's mouth fell open.
Megumi's lips twitched violently.
Even Mai, who had been standing off to the side with open contempt written all over her face, looked momentarily speechless, as though she had only just realized this monster from Kyoto was somehow on her side.
This...
This was the question?
Todo, however, did not look embarrassed in the slightest.
If anything, he looked even more serious now.
His sharp gaze locked onto every tiny shift in Yami's expression.
"Do you like women with big asses?"
"Tall women?"
"Curvy older women?"
"Answer me, Yami!"
He pointed dramatically.
"Your taste in women determines your worth as a man!"
In Todo's world, taste was everything.
A man's preferences reflected the deepest truth of his soul.
If the answer was boring, then the man himself was boring.
If the answer was shallow, then he was worthless.
Todo waited.
He was already prepared.
If Yami answered with something dull and lifeless, then Todo would crush the rumors about him with his own fists right here and now.
Yami tilted his head slightly.
Unlike the others, who saw only absurdity in the question, he actually considered it.
His gaze softened.
For a moment, his focus drifted far beyond the school gate, far beyond the present, into a place buried deep inside memory.
What kind of woman was his type?
Deep in the memories tied to Yoriichi Tsugikuni, there was one figure that never faded.
The one gentle light in a childhood full of silence and abandonment.
The one person he had always wanted to return to, no matter how far he had walked.
His wife.
Uta.
The girl born into poverty, but with eyes clearer than anyone else's.
The girl who had taken his hand without fear when the rest of the world treated him like a bad omen.
The girl who smiled when he first lifted a sword.
The girl he had lost forever.
The sharpness around Yami's presence eased.
The sword intent that had quietly gathered around him subsided, as though soothed by something warmer than battle.
For an instant, it was as if he truly saw her again.
Standing beneath the evening sun.
Dressed in rough clothes.
Smiling more brightly than anyone else in the world.
"Gentle..."
Yami spoke softly.
His voice was quiet, but in the stillness, every person present heard it clearly.
Todo's brow lifted.
Gentle?
That was an ordinary answer.
Too ordinary.
If that was all, then this would be disappointing.
But then Yami continued.
He lifted his gaze, and in those ruby eyes there seemed to be a distant field of gold.
A very faint smile appeared on his lips.
"A girl like a sunflower."
A sunflower.
Always facing the sun.
Full of life.
Ordinary, yet radiant.
At those words, everything went still again.
No one had expected that answer.
Not "long legs."
Not "big butt."
Not "black hair."
Not "I don't care."
Instead, they got something so clear, so vivid, so unexpectedly poetic that for a moment no one knew how to react.
For some reason, that simple sentence struck every person there in a different place.
It painted a picture.
A lone swordsman standing in an endless field, watching over a sunflower swaying in warm light.
Todo's expression changed.
All the wild aggression in his face drained away, replaced by something trembling and almost sacred.
The hand he had started to raise slowly stopped in midair.
Inside his mind, an absurdly beautiful vision bloomed.
A vast field of sunflowers.
He and Yami standing side by side beneath the sun.
No words.
No fists.
No need to prove anything.
Just understanding.
Soul deep understanding.
Todo's throat worked.
His eyes shook violently.
Then, to everyone's absolute disbelief, tears welled up.
"What a..."
His voice cracked.
"What an elegant answer!!!"
The tears spilled.
His expression twisted into pure emotional revelation.
"BROTHER!!!"
The roar shook the trees.
.....
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