Chapter 387 Beep Beep! New Driver Mikael Reports In!

Mei stood in front of her house and waited silently for a while. Seeing that there was still no response, she quickly walked around the front of the car and stood by the window of the driver's seat.

She leaned down slightly and looked into the car through the glass.

Although the original driver had informed her of the job transfer early this morning, Mei still felt a little disappointed when she saw that the man sitting in the car was a completely unfamiliar man.

No matter from which angle, her original driver was very much to her liking. Not to mention the superb driving skills that a driver must have, he often chatted with her on the way home. At first she was not quite used to it, but later she got used to it and felt that this feeling of being truly cared for was really good...

Of course, another thing that satisfied her was that no matter what the occasion, he was very polite, respectful to her as a young lady, and generous and steady.

Perhaps, it was because he was too outstanding that his father felt that letting him be a driver was a waste of talent, and finally promoted him to another position.

Unlike this newcomer - what is he doing? He actually blocked the car at the school gate, then leaned back in the seat, closed his eyes and listened to music?

"Ahem!"

Mei coughed twice, but it was not known whether it was because the sound insulation of the windshield was too good, the new driver did not seem to hear it, or at least did not react to it.

"Da Da Da!"

Mei knocked on the window three times, and the violent vibration finally woke up the new driver. He opened his eyes blankly, rubbed his silver-gray hair, and then slowly took off his headphones and turned his head to look out the window.

But what made Mei speechless was that even though he had seen her, this guy had no intention of getting off the car. He just gave her a thumbs up and pointed to the back seat.

"You..."

As a driver who was paid to do things, this attitude was really against the sky. It was as if this was not Mei's car, and he was not employed by Mei's driver... This style was like a taxi driver.

No, even if he was a taxi driver, he had to be polite to customers, right?

"Really, where did my father find such a new driver!"

Mei was a little crazy. She had never encountered such a situation in all these years. She did not go to the back seat as usual. As the person being served, she should sit in the back seat, but if she did so now, it would seem like she was following the instructions of the new driver!

She bit her lower lip, walked back to the other side of the car quickly, opened the passenger door, and sat in directly.

"Bang!"

The door closed heavily, and the whole car body was shaken. The schoolbag carried Mei's resentment and flew from the gap of the front seat to the back seat.

"Let's go, what are you waiting for?"

She ordered unhappily, but the driver did not respond, and did not even start the ignition.

"What's wrong?"

She turned her head and saw that the new driver was also looking at her.

"Look at me... why are you looking at me? Can't I sit in the front passenger seat?"

Without the barrier of the car window, the new driver's face became clear. Meiyi was surprised to find that in terms of appearance, this guy didn't look much older than her. Looking at that particularly young face, she even had an urge to ask him to show his driver's license, and correspondingly, her tone was weaker.

"That guy" didn't say anything, but just drooped his sleepy eyes, pointed at Meiyi with his index finger, and then pointed behind Meiyi.

"Oh!"

As Meiyi fastened her seat belt, the car started.

"Let me introduce myself, Miss Raiden Meiyi, my name is Mikael, from today on, I will be responsible for picking you up and dropping you off at school."

The corners of Meiyi's mouth twitched, and she didn't know what to say.

If you say he is not sensible, he does call her "Miss Raiden Meiyi", if you say he is sensible, he doesn't even bother to use "you".

She glanced at the new driver named Mikael with her peripheral vision. Seeing that she didn't respond and didn't care, the latter pulled the handbrake on his own.

"Wait!"

Mei quickly pressed the handbrake back. Her face flushed and she shouted:

"You guy! Are you really the driver hired by your father?"

"Yeah! What's wrong?"

As if he had expected Meiyi to not believe it, Mikael took out a complete labor employment contract from the storage slot next to the car door. Meiyi flipped through it, and both the name and the photo were consistent with the guy in front of her.

"How about it, do you believe it now? If you still don't believe it, I can also show you the text messages in my mobile phone with your father."

Mei sighed, looking like she wanted to say something but stopped.

Finally, she raised her hand, and her movements and expressions were exactly the same as Mikael's previous movements when he pointed at her.

"I'm not talking about this. I'm talking about... As a driver, don't you wear your seat belt?"

"..."

Mikael was silent. The only sound in the car was the weak sound of the engine, which made people feel unreasonably hot in the cold early winter.

"Ahem!"

Mikael coughed heavily and pulled the seat belt into place in a snap.

"It was just an accident."

He pretended to be nothing and held the steering wheel, tapping his fingers rhythmically.

"Where are we going next? I heard from my senior that Miss Mei usually doesn't go home directly, but goes to a... uh, Homu Kendo Gym to practice first?"

Seeing that the guy in front of her finally looked a bit reliable, Mei Yi breathed a sigh of relief, even though she was already thinking about how to advise her father on how to fire this guy - maybe he was still a well-connected person...and so was her dad. , why don't you check it carefully...

Meiyi looked at the setting sun diagonally falling between the tall buildings. Although the sunset came earlier in winter, it was already almost five o'clock. It takes ten minutes to go to the kendo gym. I practice there for more than half an hour. Then I go home during the rush hour after get off work. I don’t know if I can get home at seven o’clock...

"How about... just being lazy today?"

As soon as this idea popped into her mind, Mei Yi quickly shook her head.

"No, in the practice of swordsmanship, if you don't practice for one day, you will waste ten days of hard work. You can't slack off. And..."

She glanced at the driver named Mikael again, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

But she didn't expect that this guy would strike first:

"Hey, my eldest lady, have you decided? Where are you going?"

"You...go to the Homu Sword Hall!"

Mikael glanced disdainfully:

"How can there be a serious swordsmanship hall in this world that uses Homu as its brand name? I'm afraid it's not for kendo enlightenment for children..."

Mei Yi's face suddenly became extremely rosy, and she slapped the armrest of the car door:

"Stop talking nonsense! Drive!"

Seeing that Mei Yi had a tendency to become irritable, Mikael's teasing expression also softened a bit.

However, what he said after correcting his attitude left Mei Yi even more speechless:

"So, how to get to Homu Sword Hall?"

"Ahhhhh!! I'm going to make dad fire you!!!"

…………

"And... there really is a Homu Sword Hall... Does this game have such a large audience..."

Mikael parked the car firmly on the side of the road, looked at the four shining golden characters on the signboard beside him - Homu Sword Hall, and fell into deep thought.

Not only that, there is also a huge Homu sculpture placed at the entrance of the Kendo Hall. It does not look as chilling as a Kendo Hall should have. If the word "Sword Hall" were covered up, everyone would just think it is a children's paradise. .

Mikael turned around and looked around the car again. There were few pedestrians on the road, and they were all old people going home shopping for groceries. After all, the sword hall is located on the dividing line between the urban and suburban areas of Changkong City. The location is extremely remote, and this area used to be the old urban area. Most of the people living here are old people who are reluctant to move, but the old people also have to take care of their grandchildren. , it’s not surprising that this sword hall is opened here.

He loosened his seat belt and was about to get out of the car, but Mei Yi patted him on the shoulder and stopped him.

"What's wrong, Miss?"

Mikael's voice was weak, and Mei's cheeks twitched twice:

"First, if you don't want to call me Miss, you don't have to. Second... put this on."

She opened the drawer in front of the passenger seat and handed a mask to Mikael. While the latter was still looking confused, Mei had already covered the lower half of her face with the mask and simply tied her hair up. For a moment, put on a peaked cap.

"What kind of trouble is this..."

Mei Yi turned around and glared at him: "You don't have to wear it, as long as you don't feel embarrassed."

Now it was Mikael's turn to be speechless again:

"No, my eldest lady, you think you are childish..."

Before he could finish complaining, Mei Yi jumped out of the car and slammed the door shut.

Mikael couldn't hold it back anymore, he shrugged his shoulders and laughed twice, then put the mask Mei Yi gave him back into the drawer in front of the passenger seat, and walked out of the car gracefully.

After locking the car door, he quickly walked to Mei, who was looking for the key to the gym door. Seeing that Mikael was not wearing a mask, she didn't bother to say anything more.

Half a minute later, the door of the gym slowly opened. Different from Mikael's imagination, the gymnasium was unexpectedly simple, almost just a room and a courtyard.

As the two of them entered the gym, no one came out to greet them. Only the crows in the courtyard were frightened by the sound of people. They flew up and circled repeatedly in the sky above the courtyard. They neither dared to fall down nor knew how to get rid of them. Where else to go.

"Is there no one here?"

Mikael heard clearly that in the entire gym, the only heartbeats of Mei Yi and him were.

"Is there no one again? Alas..."

Mei Yi sighed softly, turned on the light to illuminate the somewhat dim room, and began to put on protective gear.

"There's no one. You mean, there's often no one here? But, I wanted to ask before, Raiden Mei, since you also think this place is childish and there's no one there, why don't you consider changing to a dojo? Even if it's to go to school. Bullying classmates in the kendo club is better than practicing alone here, right?"

Meiyi slowly put on her protective gear. She no longer wanted to worry about the issue of addressing her. Anyway, as soon as she got home today, she was going to ask her father to explain this. Not only was it rude, but she was not even familiar with the roads in Changkong City. She turned on the navigation system and turned the original ten The driver who drove for 20 minutes was fired! However, he had to suffer a little before being expelled.

Well, that's right. In fact, when she entered the kendo gym to practice, the driver only had to wait in the car. But it was just to make Mikael suffer, so when he foolishly followed, Mei didn't do anything to stop him.

"Isn't it incredible? This is the sword hall I often came to when I was a child. Although my father is also a master of swordsmanship, he is always busy with mundane affairs. He may not be able to go home for dinner once a month, and he has no time to teach me how to learn swordsmanship. So, he entrusted me to this gym.

"Looking back now, this gym is really strange. No matter how small the space is, there won't be only one Homu swordsman besides me all year round. But I was just a child at that time, how could I think so much? that year I really thought that Homu existed in this world, so I naturally thought that I was learning swordsmanship from Homu. By learning, I became a master in the Beichen Yitou style inherited from the Leiden family. Now that I think about it. , quite ridiculous.”

"Huh? So this Homu swordsman is pretended to be your long-lost family member?"

"...Have you always been so funny?"

Mei threw a set of protective gear in front of Mikael.

"This is……"

"As I grew older and wiser, the Homu Swordsman appeared less and less. Even if I couldn't find a comparable opponent, I wouldn't bother to compete with a group of people who didn't even have a swordsmanship rank. That would only be Bringing me down, of course, is different today, not here. Is there a second person? I know that the driver my father found for me also has to shoulder the responsibility of a bodyguard. You have just proved that you are not proficient in the business as a driver. If you want to avoid being fired, let me. Let’s see how good you are as a bodyguard!”

Mikael tilted his head, kicked aside the heavy protective gear, and then pulled out a bamboo knife from the wooden shelf.

"Please, I'm just forced by life, desperate, and forced to sell myself to survive..."

Yayi thought he was lying and asked jokingly:

"Oh? Why are you forced by life? Why are you desperate?"

"Actually, it's okay now. My wife is dead and my daughter is also dead. Now I only have to support myself."

Mikael smiled and shrugged, then looked up at the ceiling.

No matter in his demeanor, tone or language, Mei Yi couldn't tell that he was sad at all. Besides...

"How old are you, your wife, and your daughter? Remember to make a good draft before you lie next time!"

Mikael smiled again, but did not argue.

Mei didn't bother to ask any more questions. She glanced at the protective gear that Mikael kicked away mercilessly and kindly reminded:

"You don't wear protective gear? Even though it's a bamboo knife, it's very painful when you get hit, and you might bleed."

"I know this better than you, but protective gear is troublesome to put on and even more troublesome to take off. Anyway, I'm not used to it."

Mei Yi had a bad impression of Mikael. Seeing that he was stubborn, she thought she had fulfilled her obligation to remind him, so she said no more. Anyway, the one who will suffer when the time comes is not you.

She put on a helmet called "Face". The iron mesh protecting her face somewhat affected her vision. As she said before, because someone disguised as "Houmu Swordsman" had not appeared for a long time, she put on the protective gear. After that, both my body flexibility and my vision felt a bit unaccustomed.

But it doesn't matter, it's not a big problem. She believes that her Beichen Yitou style Xu Jiechuan's strength is enough to deal with a young man who is only a few years older than herself.

The two of them unanimously chose to start in the middle, and Mei was not careless. She cautiously used the tip of the sword to test it gently, but Mikael seemed to be someone who didn't know how to sword at all, and even his steps stopped in place. .

Seeing this, Mei Yi finally felt confident. She moved her body slightly to the right, followed by a left slash.

"First use this blow to lure him to move the knife to the left to block, then grab his right body to defend the void and solve the battle!"

Although it is cliché to make false claims in the east and attack in the west, it is enough if it is useful.

But unexpectedly, Mikael had no intention of blocking at all, but quickly stepped forward, thrust his arms forward, his bamboo knife lightly touched the iron net on Meiyi's face, and then kept his heart Detach.

Until Mikael put down the bamboo knife, Mei still kept doing the diagonal slashing motion, as if he hadn't calmed down.

"Next time before using a diagonal chop to feint, remember to slide forward first. You stand still and don't move. At that distance, even if I stand here and let you chop you, I still can't hit you, right? Sword Master Homu didn't even teach you this Is it you? Or is it just Beichen Yi Dao Liu?"

"call……"

Meiyi let out a long breath and started with the middle section again.

"I admit that I underestimated my opponent. I will take the next competition seriously."

"It's one to zero. Oh, by the way, since it's a competition, how many rounds will determine the outcome?"

"Of course three books will determine the outcome!"

Mei Yi roared softly and stepped forward unexpectedly - there was nothing he could do. He had misjudged the opponent's strength before, and now in order to recover from falling behind, he could only resort to some small means that were too weak to win.

But almost at the same time as she took the first step, Mikael also slid back. Her bamboo sword had just stood up, and before she could strike down, she felt a pain on the back of her right hand. Mikael's bamboo knife made an extremely small crosscut, accurately hitting the back of her hand, and took out another book.

"How about it? I won the second copy first. Is it over now?"

"Within hand..."

Meiyi held the bamboo knife tightly and slowly took two steps back.

If she could use the excuse of underestimating the enemy in the first confrontation, then Mikael's performance this time undoubtedly broke all her illusions - even if Mikael really doesn't understand swordsmanship, it doesn't mean that he doesn't Can use a sword. Judging from the skills just now, he is definitely a master with a sword.

While the iron net affected her sight, it also obscured her expression, despite the fact that the angry and troubled look on her face now could not be hidden from Mikael.

"It doesn't count!"

She suddenly shouted.

"ha?"

Meiyi held the knife in one hand and put her hand on her hip, and acted openly and openly:

"The first time was just a warm-up. The outcome of the three books was decided after that, wasn't it?"

"You are a primary school student!"

Mikael pursed his lips and tried his best to swallow these words.

Meiyi started from the middle again. Mikael, uncharacteristically, stepped forward with his left foot, followed his right foot behind, and raised his bamboo knife diagonally upward, assuming an eight-phase pose.

Seeing this gesture, Mei Yi's eyes narrowed.

"Have you ever mastered swordsmanship?"

The reason why I ask this question is because the eight-phase structure was the posture that warriors used to prepare for battle on the battlefield. Today, it is rarely used in kendo. If you only have a superficial understanding of kendo, you may not even know this posture. .

Mikael smiled and shook his head:

"No. It's just an old friend who is deeply involved in the art of swordsmanship. I watch her practice swordsmanship every morning, and I learn a little bit about it."

"Hey! Are you insulting people?"

fur? Are you trying to say that just watching and learning something secretly is better than Beichen Itto-ryu's Fu Xu Jie Chuan?

Mei Yi controlled the rhythm of her breathing, and her heart beat rapidly and powerfully, but she deliberately suppressed it. Of course she was angry, but she didn't get carried away by it. Instead, she moved carefully, trying to find a flaw in Mikael.

"Oh? Not bad. It's good that you can still control your emotions stably at this time."

Perhaps this was Mikael's sincere praise, but to Mei Yi's ears, it naturally had a different meaning.

And her attempt to find a flaw in Mikael also ended in failure - the reason why the eight-phase structure is rarely used is because the center is too exposed and vulnerable to attack. In other words, Mikael's flaw is obvious and there is no need to look for it.

Of course, it can also be understood in another way - Mikael is tempting her to attack.

"No matter! Just fight this once!"

She shouted loudly, and while rushing forward, she also nodded the bamboo knife in her hand forward.

Her speed was unprecedentedly fast, so fast that Mikael seemed to have no time to counterattack, so he could only retreat his left foot and hold his bamboo sword horizontally to block.

But this played into Mei Yi's plan. She did not try to wrestle with Mikael, nor did she try to win by trying to win in the east and west. Instead, she continued to move forward until she was close to Mikael.

In fact, when faced with an opponent who has an absolute advantage in age, gender, height, and weight, close combat is really the last resort. But this is the only chance of victory in Mei Yi's eyes - to retreat!

But unfortunately, she was not the only one who thought of this.

Almost as soon as their arms touched each other, Mikael exerted force on his wrist and drew his bamboo sword to the right, easily deflecting Mei's weapon.

Then, taking advantage of the stunned moment when the opponent's weapon was released, he hit Mei Yi's collarbone hard with both fists holding the handle of the knife. Under the reaction force, his body naturally slid backwards. On the contrary, the bamboo knife in his hand moved forward——

"Crack!"