I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Hmm?" Elodie blinked at the window not far away, her eyes filled with an undisguised curiosity.

—At this hour…why is it so noisy outside?

As Elodie pondered this question to herself, she slowly walked to the window and opened it.

The bright moonlight shone through the opened window into the room, illuminating Elodie's beautiful, deep blue eyes.

Then she saw a tall figure.

He ran like the wind across the rooftops of the row of houses directly opposite Elodie's bedroom window.

The man was wearing a black fox mask that covered his entire face.

Bathed in moonlight, with two swords hanging at his waist,

Because the person was running so fast, in the blink of an eye, the person's figure flashed past Elodie's field of vision.

"Huh?" Elodie exclaimed in surprise, sticking her head out the window and following the figure of the "black fox mask" with her eyes.

Upon closer inspection, Elodie noticed that next to the "Black Fox Mask" was a rather petite figure, also dressed in black, except that this person was not wearing a mask, but rather had a black veil covering their face.

As Elodie stared blankly at the two people running across the opposite rooftop, she suddenly heard a series of noisy footsteps coming from the street below.

She lowered her head and looked down at the street below the window.

On the street, more than ten constables carrying lanterns were panting as they chased after the two men in black.

The noise made by the men in black and the officials disturbed the tranquility of the leased territory.

Many people, awakened by the commotion, opened their windows like Elodie to see what was happening.

After briefly glancing at the constables on the street, Elodie turned her gaze back to the two men in black who were almost out of her sight.

"Dressed all in black... scaling rooftops... being chased by officials... Could those two be...?!"

As if recalling something, Elodie's beautiful, deep blue eyes shone with a dazzling light, like stars twinkling in a summer night.

……

……

After entering the leased territory with Kinoshita Mai, Aoto once again felt like he had "traveled through time" tonight.

The concession area contained a large number of tall Western-style buildings. Qing Deng even saw a towering Catholic church. After entering the concession area, he felt as if he had traveled to a Western country.

These tall Western-style buildings served to effectively block the view, greatly facilitating Qingdeng and his men in shaking off their pursuers.

Kinoshita Mai just claimed that she was quite familiar with this leased territory—and she wasn't just making things up.

She led Qingdeng through the leased territory, making her way left and right.

Sometimes it climbs onto the roof of a house, sometimes it falls onto the street, and sometimes it turns into a narrow alley...

After the two of them moved into the leased territory, many of the guards in the leased territory were alerted and followed Nishino and the others to chase after Aoto and Kinoshita Mai.

Even with the help of the guards from the leased territory, Nishino and his group were still gradually left behind by Ao and Mai, who now relied on the complex terrain and familiarity with the leased territory.

Finally—after Aoto and Kinoshita Mai turned into another alley, their figures completely disappeared from Nishino and the others' sight.

Lost them... Mizushima wiped the sweat from his face, stomped his foot angrily, his face full of resentment and unwillingness.

For Mizushima, who always adhered to the principle of "never letting any thief escape," there was nothing more frustrating than going to great lengths only to fail to catch anyone.

Compared to Mizushima, whose expression revealed pure resentment, Nishino's expression was more complex.

Nishino, who was also exhausted, wiped the sweat that was about to drip down his chin and looked thoughtfully in the direction where Aoto and Kinoshita Mai had disappeared!

……

……

In Edo, in a small alleyway of a town not far from the leased territory—

"Whirring whirring……"

Qingdeng braced himself against the wall of the alley, panting heavily and sweating profusely.

Kinoshita Mai, who was standing next to him, was in a similar state, her back against the wall, her chest heaving rapidly.

To make her breathing easier, Kinoshita Mai pulled down her face towel, revealing her cute face, which was covered in sweat and had her cheeks flushed red.

After successfully shaking off their pursuers within the leased territory, Qingdeng and his men, just to be on the safe side, ran all the way outside the leased territory before finally stopping.

After running and jumping around for so long, Qingdeng finally felt a little exhausted. His legs didn't feel too tired because of his "strong muscles", but his lungs felt like they were about to burst.

After catching his breath for a while, Qing Deng finally managed to catch his breath a little. He pushed off the black fox mask on his face and smiled at Kinoshita Mai beside him in a half-joking tone:

"Tonight has been a truly...tumultuous night..."

After much thought, Qing Deng realized that there was no better word than "tumultuous" to describe tonight's night.

The true identity of the infamous phantom thief, Neko-sō, has been discovered...

Join forces with Nekozo to investigate the "Tsuji Slayer Incident" in the Eta ghetto...

They were incredibly lucky to stumble upon the murderers just as they were about to commit their crime...

Unfortunately, after dealing with the murderers, they encountered a large group of government officials, mainly composed of arsonists and thieves, leading to a fierce chase...

One accident after another, one incident after another, kept us busy.

Now that she had also regained her composure, Kinoshita Mai smiled, overwhelmed with mixed emotions:

"Yes...it was indeed a very dramatic night."

"Although they successfully eliminated the murderers who took pleasure in slashing Tsuji on the first night of their stakeout in the Eta settlement, they eventually encountered the police... and the police were mainly composed of members of the arsonist gang..."

"I don't know whether to say we were lucky or unlucky tonight."

After saying that, Kinoshita Mai paused for a moment.

She suddenly fell silent, then stood up straight after a moment and put her face mask back on.

"Tachibana-kun... thank you so much for tonight..."

Kinoshita Mai clasped her hands in front of her, bowed slightly to Aoto, pursed her lips, and continued in a sincere and grateful tone:

"Without your help, I wouldn't have been able to deal with the Red Face Brothers and their gang on my own."

Seeing Kinoshita Mai thank him with such a solemn tone and gesture, Aoto paused for a moment, then smiled and waved his hand.

"Ms. Kinoshita, there's no need for that."

"I didn't choose to help you tonight for anyone's praise or for any tangible material reward."

Qingdeng lowered his hands from the wall and put the black fox mask back on.

"Alright, we've rested enough. Let's get out of here."

"Although the chances are slim, if we stay here, there is still a possibility that the officers will find us again."

"Okay." Kinoshita Mai nodded. "Let's go."

Kinoshita Mai led the way, poking her head out of the alleyway. After confirming that no one was outside, she waved to Aoto and they rushed out of the alleyway one after the other, their figures once again blending into the night of Edo.

It's probably around 4 a.m., almost 5 a.m.

Looking at the night sky that would soon be dawn, Qing Deng suddenly thought of a question related to Kinoshita Mai. Raising an eyebrow, he asked Kinoshita Mai, who was running ahead of him:

"Ms. Kinoshita, you work normally at the Senjiya during the day, and then transform into the great phantom thief Nekozo at night... Don't you get sleep-deprived?"

"I get plenty of sleep," Kinoshita Mai laughed. "I'm the kind of person who doesn't need to sleep for long periods of time; two hours of sleep a day is enough for me."

“I usually go to bed at 8 p.m. and wake up between 10 p.m. and 12 p.m. every day.”

"After completing my daily 'night patrol' and returning to the Thousand Things Shop, I'll take a nap if necessary."

—So, you only need about two hours of sleep a day to recover your energy...? Then Ms. Kinoshita must have a talent similar to the "Goddess of Sleep"...

After silently reflecting on this in his heart, Qingdeng couldn't help but feel a bit... depressed.

Judging from Kinoshita Mai's performance so far... she must possess a large number of high-quality talents, primarily speed-type talents.

As a result, he only managed to replicate the "milk" talent from Kinoshita Mai... such a subtle talent.

This made Qing Deng feel frustrated.

After raising this small question with Kinoshita Mai and getting to the point, Aoto then asked Kinoshita Mai a question in return.

"Ms. Kinoshita, how come you are so familiar with that leased land? It's not even that close to the Senjiya where you live."

"Because Elodie lives in that leased territory."

Kinoshita Mai smiled.

"After Elodie and her family moved to Edo, I frequently went to Elodie's house to play with her."

"So after a while, I became extremely familiar with that leased territory."

“Miss Elodie? No wonder…” Qing Deng nodded slightly.

Since Elodie and her family live in that leased land... then it makes sense why Kinoshita Mai, who is Elodie's best friend, is so familiar with the place.

At this moment, Aoto suddenly pursed his lips as if he remembered something—while he was still squatting on the big tree with Kinoshita Mai, waiting for the suspect in the "Tsujizaki incident" to appear, Aoto had a rather serious question to ask Kinoshita Mai.

However, due to the sudden appearance of the "Red-faced Brothers" and others, Qing Deng was ultimately unable to ask this question.

And now—a perfect opportunity to ask questions has once again presented itself to Qing Deng.

After hesitating for a moment, Qingdeng cleared his throat:

"Ms. Kinoshita, may I ask you a... perhaps rather serious question?"

"A serious question?" Kinoshita Mai turned her head and winked at Aoto—she gestured to Aoto with her eyes: Go ahead and ask.

"Miss Kinoshita, after you started running around as Cat Monk... where did you take all the money you stole from those villains?"

"You wouldn't be like that little rat monk from forty years ago, directly distributing the stolen money to the poor, would you?"

"Ah, well..."

Kinoshita Mai pursed her red lips, then gave Aoto a smile that made her eyes crinkle into crescent moons.

"It might be a bit difficult to say it directly like this."

"Tachibana-kun, do you still have time? Let me take you to see where I've spent all the money I stole from those villains."

Qingdeng paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously.