I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"what!"

The commander cleared his throat and shouted in a strange tone.

“Miss Sanako, I just saw you pacing around there.”

As he spoke, Souji gestured with his chin toward a very secluded spot not far away.

He would steal glances at the lonely Ms. Kinoshita from time to time, taking a step forward but then withdrawing it, looking hesitant and indecisive.

At this point, Souji narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth curved into a "ω" shape, and a childlike mischievous smile appeared in his eyes, which were gently hidden by his long, beautiful eyelashes.

"Could it be... that you came to talk to Ms. Kinoshita and keep her company because you saw her all alone?"

Upon hearing this, Sanako's expression froze.

She stood frozen in place, as if she had been subjected to a "time-stopping" spell, completely motionless.

Several seconds later, she seemed to come to her senses and scolded:

"Don't talk nonsense! How could I possibly care whether she's lonely or not!"

Souji tilted his head, revealing an innocent expression.

"Huh? But I clearly saw you standing there just now, frequently casting concerned glances at Ms. Kinoshita?"

At this point, she put on a bright, sunny smile.

"What? Although you always act fierce in front of Kinoshita-san, Sanako-san, your relationship with her isn't actually that bad. You still care about her a lot!"

"This……"

Sanako wanted to continue refuting, but looking at Souji's smiling face, the words that were already on the tip of her tongue were simply too difficult to utter.

Souji's innocent and gentle smile is incredibly captivating, making it difficult to say anything harsh to her.

At that moment, Sanako suddenly felt Kinoshita Mai's gaze.

She instinctively turned her head to look.

Kinoshita Mai: "..."

Sanako: "..."

The girl in red looked at her with an almost bewildered expression.

Then, the two women simultaneously looked away, both displaying expressions that were somewhere between awkward and bewildered.

The commander rested his arms on his knees, cupped his face in his hands, and looked at the two women with a smile.

At that moment, two figures approached them.

"Huh? Isn't this Miss Chiba?"

Having said that, Yamanami Keisuke quickened his pace, and Todo Heisuke, who was right beside him, quickly followed. The two of them stopped in front of the three women.

Before joining the Shieikan, Yamanami Keisuke was a core member of the Chiba Kenkan, so he naturally knew Sanako. The two nodded to each other when they met.

Although Todo Heisuke was also a disciple of the Hokushin Itto-ryu school, he had previously belonged to the Ito Dojo, so he wasn't very familiar with Sanako. After exchanging a brief greeting, he consciously stood aside as punishment.

After exchanging a few brief pleasantries with Sanako, Yamanami Keisuke turned his gaze to Kinoshita Mai.

"I remember you're Ms. Kinoshita from the Senjiya, right?"

"Ah...mmm..."

Mai Kinoshita wanted to respond.

However, her shy and timid nature "took over" as expected, making it difficult for her to say specific words, and she could only make incomprehensible sounds such as "ah" and "uh-uh".

Since both Yamanami Keisuke and Todo Heisuke had only recently joined Shieikan, they were not very familiar with Senjiya.

Although they had met Kinoshita Mai, their relationship with each other was quite superficial—it should be said that, apart from Aoto, the people of Shieikan were no different from strangers to Kinoshita Mai.

Although Mr. Kiryu often brought Mai Kinoshita to the Senjiya for visits, Mai always kept her head down and rarely interacted with anyone when leaving the Senjiya.

Over the years, including Kondo Shusuke and Kondo Isami, who were the original master and young master of the Shieikan, the number of times they spoke to Kinoshita Mai was probably less than 20.

Even Souji only gradually became acquainted with her after Aoto revealed her true gender and declared that she would marry three wives.

When Yamanami Keisuke looked at her, her eyes immediately and subconsciously shifted to the side, and she quietly adjusted her position, hiding behind Souji.

In terms of size, she was about the same as Souji, so how could Souji possibly hide her?

However, the commander-in-chief did not say much about it.

She glanced at Kinoshita Mai behind her, then smiled broadly and said enthusiastically to Yamanami Keisuke:

"Yes! Mr. Yamanami, this is Ms. Kinoshita Mai, the agent of the Senjiya! She's my good friend!"

When he mentioned the words "good friends," Souji emphasized them.

"Don't let her delicate appearance fool you, she's incredibly skilled in martial arts! She could easily take on ten burly men single-handedly!"

"She's currently a member of the Shinsengumi! She's the captain of the 9th Division of the Battokai! So she's practically our colleague! Let's all get along well in the future!"

After saying that, Souji stepped half a step to the side, revealing Kinoshita Mai behind him.

"Ms. Kinoshita, although you should already know these two names, let me introduce them to you anyway!"

"This is the commander-in-chief of the Shinsengumi: Keisuke Yamanami. He is very learned! He is a rare talent who excels in both literary and military arts!"

"This is Heisuke Todo, the captain of the 8th Division of the Shinsengumi's Battō Corps. He's incredibly brave in battle! He's always at the forefront when we hold practice matches. He's sure to be a leading vanguard general for our Shinsengumi in the future!"

In this situation, anyone with eyes could see Souji's intention—she wanted to take this opportunity to integrate Kinoshita Mai into the new group in the future.

Kinoshita Mai is simply introverted and not good at socializing; she is not ignorant of human relationships. She is certainly one of those "sharp-eyed" people.

Not wanting to waste the commander's good intentions, she swallowed hard, then slowly raised her head, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her, her gaze darting away, and said haltingly:

"Um... I... I'm Kinoshita Mai... Nice to meet you..."

Fortunately, Yamanami Keisuke was a refined and easy-going person.

He didn't mind Kinoshita Mai's social anxiety, and immediately smiled as soon as she finished speaking:

"I am Yamanami Keisuke, Ms. Kinoshita, I have a deep impression of you."

"Before the Shinsengumi selection was over, I had the privilege of witnessing Tachibana-kun's assessment of you, and your fighting skills were truly amazing."

"We should have many opportunities to meet and work together in the future, and I look forward to your guidance."

At that moment, Todo Heisuke chimed in, greeting Kinoshita Mai with great enthusiasm.

"Huh? What are you doing? Oh? Aren't these Ms. Chiba from the Chiba Sword Hall and Ms. Kinoshita from the Senjiya?"

At that moment, Harada Sanosuke swaggered over, with Saito Hajime—who was finally no longer standing there like a stone pillar—following him.

Yamanami Keisuke turned to look at Harada Sanosuke and Saito Hajime, and smiled in response:

"We will all be key members of the Shinsengumi in the future... ah, no, I should say we are now, so we want to take advantage of this rare opportunity to get to know each other better, so that we won't be embarrassed if we can't even remember each other's names in the future."

Upon hearing this, Harada Sanosuke immediately wore an expression of sudden enlightenment.

He clenched his right fist and slammed it onto his flattened left palm.

"Oh! I see, that makes sense!"

"Although I've seen Ms. Kinoshita quite often before, I've never spoken to her before!"

Having said that, he turned around, put his hands on his hips, and shouted to Kinoshita Mai:

“My name is Harada Sanosuke! I come from the Matsuyama Domain of Iyo Province on Shikoku Island! I’m a man who won’t die even if he commits seppuku! Back then, some bastard looked down on me! Guess what he mocked me for? He said I was a fool who couldn’t even do seppuku properly! I didn’t like hearing that! So…”

Before he could finish speaking, Saito Hajime suddenly interrupted.

Saito, who was not fond of talking, had always been very sparing with his words.

However, this time he surprisingly uttered a long sentence of over a hundred words:

“Harada-kun, can you please stop telling this story? Every time you catch a group of people willing to chat with you, you have to tell them your story of ‘committing seppuku but not dying’. You’ve already told this story 13 times today, and I’ve heard it 13 times as well.”

Just as everyone was making a ruckus, Sanako quietly moved behind Souji, lowered her voice, and spoke slowly in a tone only the two of them could hear:

"You keep her company, prevent her from feeling lonely, and even help her integrate into the Shinsengumi... Aren't you being a little too good to Ms. Kinoshita?"

The commander smiled slightly and replied in a half-joking manner:

"There's nothing I can do; it was Tachibana-kun's request."

A look of surprise immediately appeared between Sanako's delicate eyebrows:

"Tachibana-kun's request?"

The commander nodded slightly.

"There are some things that would be easier for me, being a girl myself, to do."

Aoto has always wanted to correct and improve Kinoshita Mai's social anxiety.

The methods he used included, but were not limited to: taking her to crowded places to play, conducting "dialogue practice," and teaching her how to communicate with people.

While Qingdeng's efforts cannot be said to be entirely useless, the results were certainly not ideal.

Therefore, Aoto entrusted Souji, who was also a girl, to keep a close eye on Kinoshita Mai on a daily basis and to take care of her as much as possible when necessary.

"Anyway, I really like Ms. Kinoshita, so I readily agreed."

At this point, Souji seemed to recall something interesting, and a sweet smile bloomed on her face.

"Although I always knew that Ms. Kinoshita was a very interesting and nice girl, I was surprised to find that she was not only interesting, but also very cute after getting to know her better."

"Now I understand why Mr. Tachibana insisted on marrying three wives, even at the cost of defying the world."

"Let's set aside my humble origins and lack of special skills for now."

"What a blessing it would be to marry both of you, the self-reliant and strong-willed Chiba Sanako and the innocent and carefree Kinoshita Mai."

Hearing Souji's words, Sanako's expression gradually became complicated and indescribable.

Souji noticed the change in Sanako's expression.

She turned her head to the side, her eyes flashing with a sly glint.

“Miss Sanako, you also think that Ms. Kinoshita is a fun and cute girl, don’t you?”

"?!"

Because she hadn't expected Souji to suddenly ask her a question, Sanako, who wasn't mentally prepared, was speechless for a moment.