Chapter 167: 167

Harunaka finally took the list with her face flushed. Even though she was aware that Kimura Kazuki had to be around when she soaks herself in the bathtub, she did not refuse.

Kimura Kazuki did not think much about it. This was a rare opportunity for an ordinary person. Harunaka would be stupid and ignorant if she refused.

At first, he thought that Harunaka would require a few days to get prepared. However, he received her text message the next day at noon.

'Senpai, I got the herbs. Please come over to my house this afternoon after school is over.'

'So soon?'

'^_^ My daddy had been transferring pocket money for me every month, so I do have some savings.'

Kimura Kazuki sighed. Rich people are indeed different!

According to the herbs listed, around RMB 200,000 was required, equivalent to 3,000,000 Japanese yen... Who would have expected that Harunaka would be prepared with those herbs at the following day? No wonder there is a Chinese idiom saying that studying is for the poor while martial arts is for the rich. It was totally accurate.

It just happened that tomorrow and the day after were the days for the teams to go to the Tachibana Budo Gym to participate in the Jade Dragon Flag National Competition. Since Harunaka would be taking in the herbs' effects in the medicated bath and improve her physical standard today, she could win the competition in the coming two days and proceed to the next phase.

He had been observing for these two days to see if there were some stronger Women's Teams in other high schools. He found that there were not many compelling candidates from those high schools that had registered for the Tokyo District Qualifiers. Instead, the candidates from other districts were much more powerful than those from Tokyo. Due to this point, he inferred that this is probably the reason why not many Kendo families were residing in Tokyo.

After all, Tokyo was an international metropolis. It was very crowded, and the buildings were jostled against one another; it was a concrete forest. In that case, there were not many forests or plantations.

Since there was less greenery, reiki would be relatively rare. The other districts were different from Tokyo. For instance, Hiroshi Takeda, a sword saint, chose not to reside in Tokyo but the Mount Tobiuo in Yamagata Prefecture. From this, it could be deduced that the Ancient Kendo Community in Japan would rather choose those densely wooded areas as the residing address of their families. Under the circumstance of keeping a distance from the cities, they were able to have their peace of mind to practice Kendo.

Kimura Kazuki reached Suiryu Apartment soon after his classes were over in the afternoon.

Although Harunaka's face was flushed, she had thought it over, so she did not drag. There were many bags on the table in the living room, Kimura Kazuki walked over and had a look. He nodded his head silently as he observed that the herbs purchased were according to the list.

"What should we do now?" Harunaka stared at Kimura Kazuki. Even though she was prepared, her heart was still thumping vigorously.

"Heat up the water in the bathtub to at least 90-degree celsius. Then, put all these herbs in."

Kimura Kazuki remembered the prescription of the Dragon Bone Soup because it was fairly straightforward. This was also the reason why this prescription was widely known. Money and herbs were all that was required... After boiling the water and taking the medicated bath, a person's physical standard would have some improvement.

He had the same bath during his previous life. The reason he took the medicated-bath at first was to experience the changes in his body. He had been intending to upgrade the Dragon Bone Soup as he wanted to attempt to discover another prescription that could gift the practitioner's potential to ordinary people. Of course, those herbs were provided free-of-charge by the Spiritual Academy as they thought that it was worth a try as long as there was a tiny chance to excogitate it.

Of course, the reason why Kimura Kazuki could attempt without paying was that he was a doctoral student, and he made some achievements in conducting research about the Enchanted Talisman.

Unfortunately, he failed to excogitate it in the end. He did not even improvise it...

Harunaka nodded her head and entered the bathroom.

Kimura Kazuki glanced toward the direction of the second floor...

Akino, who was in the corridor of the second floor, lowered her head promptly. She patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief, "I was almost caught." Akino came out for a peek because she sensed that Harunaka had been acting strange. She had been pulling her to shop at herb shops and asked her to take them back together. When she asked about what she was going to do with the herbs, Harunaka only answered her that it was a secret.

A secret could provoke one's curiosity, and Akino was definitely not an exception. So, she had been observing Harunaka surreptitiously in the corridor of the second floor after they got home. However, Harunaka only blanked herself out while sitting in the living room until Kimura Kazuki came to their house. Akino almost exclaimed... What are they planning to do?

Akino, who was sitting at the ground of the second floor, walked from the stairs sneakily.

At that moment, Akino reached the ground floor, and she walked toward the bathroom. She got scared out of her skin when she saw the doorway of the bathroom, and she took one step backward involuntarily.

"Is everything done?"

"Y... Yes!"

Upon hearing that, Kimura Kazuki pushed the door open and entered. He saw that Harunaka, who was swathed in a bath towel, was standing beside the bathtub while she stared frighteningly at the medicinal hot water in the bathtub that was exuding hot air.

"Why are you still not in it?" Kimura Kazuki frowned slightly. He thought that she meant that she was already soaked in the bath when she said, "yes."

Harunaka gulped while looking at the boiling hot water. At this moment, the fear within her had suppressed her bashfulness. She spoke in a low voice, "I'll get scalded."

At that moment... Akino already sneaked near the doorway of the bathroom, and she was popping her head out to look around, but she could only see two indistinct figures. Even so, this had shocked her...

"These two... they've reached this stage already?"

Two people staying in the bathroom by themselves, what are they planning to do? Many novel storylines were flooding Akino's mind... Also, their voices were not too loud nor too soft, she could still hear them.

She wanted to shy away, but she could not move as if her little legs were stuck with tape.

In the bathroom. "Don't be afraid," Kimura Kazuki spoke as he put his hand directly into the bathtub. Under Harunaka's frightened gaze, he flipped the water and spoke in a faint tone, "You can try it too."

Harunaka took a glance at him. She held her bath towel in one hand while she touched the water surface lightly with another. It was surprisingly not burning, and the temperature was just nice.

She looked over to Senpai and realized that he was smiling.

Kimura Kazuki turned around.

Harunaka stepped into the bathtub carefully. She perceived the warm exuded from the water while keeping the bath towel and putting it aside. She immersed her whole body into the tub, leaving her head outside, "Okay."

Upon hearing her voice, Kimura Kazuki turned around and looked at

Harunaka.

As the color of the medicated water was dark brown, her body below her neckline was not visible at all. This was also the reason why, although Harunaka was nervous, she did not panic. Even though they were alone in the bathroom, she trusted Senpai, as they've known each other for some time.

"How do you feel?"

"Nothing... Ouch!" Harunaka was stunned when she was asked as the medicated bath was warm and gentle, not causing any discomfort to her at all. However, before she could finish, she cried out. The shyness in her eyes had turned into pain, she took in a cool breath. Her pretty face was slightly distorted, and she tried to stand up involuntarily.

While seeing this, Kimura Kazuki pressed her down with force. He spoke in a low tone, "Hang in there."