Qingdeng, who was in charge of the Xia Duan, and the general manager, who was in charge of Qingyan... the two of them remained motionless.

The two people facing each other from a distance exuded an aura that made it difficult to get close.

In an almost freezing atmosphere, the General Directorate took the lead in taking action.

He concentrated his energy on the toes of his hind feet and bent his hind knees. At the moment when he bent his knees, he quickly accumulated enough strength in his legs and waist, then kicked off the ground with his hind feet and rushed forward suddenly.

, using the momentum of his body to rush forward, he thrust the sword in his hand towards Qingden's chest!

At the same moment, Qingdeng's body also started to move.

His actions are almost exactly the same as Souji's.

Bend your back knees, accumulate strength, and use the force of pushing forward to strike out the sword in your hand!

The two people in different postures used the same move, and the two bamboo swords pierced each other straight like meteors!

Bang!

The blades of the two bamboo swords collided in mid-air.

Although Souji's explosive power is incredibly strong, he has always insisted on training his body and has the attack power of Qingdeng blessed by the talents of "leading the way", "bear's waist", "concentration", and "lonely".

No worse than the Chief Secretary!

The two bamboo swords with their tips touching each other are like two fighting bulls fighting against each other. If you don't let me, I won't let you. If you give me more strength, I will give you more strength.

In the end - this brief duel ended with "no winner or loser".

With a "pop" sound, the two sword tips crossed each other.

The tip of Qingteng's sword brushed against Souji's left shoulder, and the tip of Qingteng's sword brushed against Qingteng's right abdomen.

The two bodies took a few steps forward according to the inertia, and passed by each other.

Souji didn't run too far. He stopped two steps behind Qingden and turned around quickly. While turning around, he held the bamboo sword in front of him.

The "Ignorant Sword vs. Bomb" just now ended in a draw, with both sides' swords only grazing each other's body. Therefore, the winner has not yet been decided, and the contest must continue.

However, when Souji quickly turned around to face Qingteng and re-arranged his posture, his eyes blinked several times quickly because he was surprised and surprised by what he saw - Qingteng did not regroup as quickly as he did.

Instead, he slowly put down the bamboo sword in his hand, and the originally tense muscles of his body relaxed little by little as Qingdeng stood up straight.

"Tachibana-kun, what's wrong?"

Seeing that Qingteng looked like he didn't want to fight anymore, Souji asked quickly.

"...Okita-kun."

Qingdeng sighed silently, and then said softly in a helpless tone.

"For today's competition, let's stop here first."

"You are very unfocused... There is no point in continuing the fight. It will only waste your energy and mine, and it will not play any role in mutual learning and progress."

As soon as Qingteng finished speaking, an old voice with a serious tone interposed between Qingteng and the director:

"Soji, have you been feeling unwell these past two days?"

The owner of this old voice was none other than Shusuke, who had just been standing aside watching Ayoto and Souji practice.

Zhousuke, who was always smiling, now showed a rare serious expression.

I saw him holding his hands behind his back, walking slowly towards the general manager, and continued in a deep voice.

"Since yesterday, you have been acting strange. You look restless. You are always in a daze from time to time, and you are not paying attention to your sword practice. You have just had several attacks and counterattack opportunities that are expected to pose a great threat to Lord Orange.

, I missed it all because of your inattention.”

"General Secretary, you don't need me to tell you in detail that 'lack of concentration is a taboo in martial arts', right?"

Shusuke, as well as Kondo, Hijikata and others beside him, all looked at Souji with serious and slightly worried eyes at this moment.

All of them, people with sufficient strength, were keenly aware of how unfocused Souji was during the contest just now.

Qingdeng was right to stop the fight in time.

If one of the parties in the competition is not concentrated enough...it will be a small matter if the practice effect is not achieved, but it will be a big deal if the body is injured due to lack of concentration.

After being scolded by Shusuke in a stern tone, Souji lowered his head and tightened his shoulders as if he wanted to hide his body.

"I am so sorry……"

Seeing Souji sincerely admitting his mistake, the lines on Shusuke's face suddenly softened.

"Soji, are you feeling unwell?"

Zhou Assistant asked softly with a tone that softened along with the lines on his face.

"Or are you worried about something?"

After asking, Zhouzhu stared at the Souji's eyes with concern.

If you feel unwell or have something on your mind, feel free to tell me—Shu Assistant said this to the Souji with his eyes.

"Hmm...ah hahahaha..."

The director raised his hand and took off his protective mask, revealing a smiling face.

"I'm fine...it's just...I just feel a little weak recently."

"Feeling weak?" Zhou Zhu asked quickly, "Are you sick?"

After finishing speaking, Assistant Zhou raised his hand and touched the marshal's forehead.

After carefully feeling the temperature reaching his palms, he felt that Souji's body temperature was quite normal and nothing unusual.

"I'm not sick. Maybe it's because the weather has been too hot recently, so I didn't sleep much."

"As long as you're not sick..." Zhousuke withdrew his hand from touching Souji's forehead, "Since you're not feeling well, don't practice sword practice for the time being. Go back to your room and have a good sleep and rest. You can resume practicing when your body recovers."

"yes……"

The Souji bowed slightly, bowed slightly to Zhousuke, then strode back to the edge of the dojo, and put the bamboo sword in his hand back into the sword bucket placed in the corner of the dojo.

After putting away his bamboo sword and taking off every protective gear on his body, Okita lowered his head and walked straight out of the dojo with an expressionless expression.

"Hey, Orange."

Hijikata suddenly walked quietly to Qingden's side.

"Do you know what happened to Souji?"

Aitobo and Souji have a very good relationship - this is a well-known fact in the Imperial Guard.

Hijikata had finally asked the right person.

Among all the people in the room, only Aomori knew why Souji was acting so weird.

——It seems that the negotiation with my sister did not go very smoothly...

Qingden frowned slightly as he looked at the departing figure of the General Secretary.

He promised Souji not to tell anyone that he was being forced to give up swordsmanship by his sister.

Therefore, when faced with Hijikata's question, Qingden said without changing his expression:

"I don't know... maybe Okita-kun is really distracted and distracted because he hasn't slept well recently. The nights have been really hot these past two days."

Talking about lying...this is one of Qingdeng's specialties.

Qingden is now good at lying thanks to the gift of "The Deceiver" whose talent is "the ability to lie without blushing or heartbeat, making it difficult for people to notice anything strange."

No matter how false or deviated from reality the lies he told were, Qingdeng could always look at ease, making it impossible for outsiders to find any flaws.

Even Hijikata, a master liar who tells countless lies to his girlfriends every day, has difficulty detecting whether Qingto is lying.

Seeing that even Seito, who had such a close relationship with Souji, didn't know what Souji was doing, Hijikata had no choice but to keep silent.

At this time, a muffled sound like something being hit hard came from outside the dojo.

"Okita-senpai! What's wrong with you? Is your forehead okay?"

"It's okay, it's okay, I just accidentally hit the wall."

Based on the conversation that was heard...it seemed that the Souji was walking without looking at the road and accidentally bumped into the wall of the corridor.

——Okita-kun...it doesn't matter, right...?

Qingden's brows furrowed uncontrollably...

…

…

Souji went down to rest, and the others continued to do what they were supposed to do, practice what they should practice, and sit by the side of the dojo to rest.

This time it was Qingdeng who was distracted.

Because he is worried about the current situation of the headquarters, Qingto is in a state of confusion.

The confusion of his mind made Qingteng, who was standing in the corner of the dojo doing basic exercises, unable to even swing his bamboo sword steadily or correctly.

Suddenly, at this moment, a series of rapid footsteps sounded outside the dojo.
To be continued...