I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Then... come with me."

Kinoshita Mai turned and walked into a small path on her right.

She led Qingdeng through a maze of streets and paths, until finally—they arrived at the Senjiya.

As Aoto looked at the familiar job agency with a puzzled expression, Kinoshita Mai waved to him.

"Come with me, and be careful not to wake Mr. Kiryu," Kinoshita Mai said softly.

"Mr. Kiryu...Ms. Kinoshita, doesn't Mr. Kiryu know that you are Neko-sō?"

“Of course he doesn’t know.” Kinoshita Mai put her hands on her hips. “Based on what I know about Mr. Kiryu, if he knew that I was Nekozo… he would definitely be shocked first, and then strongly oppose the phantom thief career that I am currently pursuing.”

"So I kept it a secret from him all along, carefully trying not to let him find out that I am Cat Monk."

"Alright, come with me."

Kinoshita Mai led Aoto stealthily around to the side of the Senjiya, climbed over a wooden wall, and leaped into the Senjiya's backyard.

Immediately afterwards, Kinoshita Mai slowly walked to the large tree growing in a corner of the backyard, squatted down, pointed to an inconspicuous hole at the base of the tree, and said with a smile:

"I put all the money I stole... in this tree hole."

"You put all the money here?" Qing Deng's eyes widened in surprise. He quickly walked to Kinoshita Mai's side and craned his neck to look into the tree hole.

The tree hole was very deep, and in the deep darkness, Qingdeng could only vaguely see a piece of dark cloth.

At that moment, Kinoshita Mai reached out and peered into the hole, lifting the dark cloth—beneath the cloth lay layers upon layers of coins, like a mountain… gold, silver, and bronze.

“My grandmother taught me from a young age: instead of giving people money directly, it’s better to teach them how to make money.”

As Kinoshita Mai looked at the mountain of money hidden inside the tree hollow, a hint of reminiscence appeared between her brows, and she took off her face mask.

"When I first started stealing money from notorious villains as Cat Monk, I also thought about not following the example of Mouse Monk and distributing the money directly to the poor."

"But after thinking it over, I felt that doing so would only be a stopgap measure."

"Giving money directly to the poor can indeed improve their lives temporarily, but it cannot make their lives better indefinitely."

"So I decided to save all the money I stole and build a school with low tuition fees that all the poor could afford, which would teach people to read, use an abacus, make clothes and other skills."

"Only education can make everyone's life continue to improve."

“I’m the one who takes care of the backyard of the Senjiya. Mr. Kiryu never manages the yard, so I can safely hide the money in this deep tree hole without worrying about Mr. Kiryu finding it.”

"Although the money I have saved up so far is far from enough to build a school."

"But I believe that one day I will be able to build the school of my dreams."

After listening quietly to Kinoshita Mai's calm words, Qing Deng looked at Kinoshita Mai with a surprised expression.

Kinoshita Mai is currently not wearing a face mask.

This child, whose face was usually filled with timidity and shyness... now had a determined light shining in her eyes.

“Build a school…” Qingdeng murmured softly, then smiled gently, “A nice ideal.”

"Ms. Kinoshita, my biggest takeaway tonight... is that I'm now completely impressed by you."

Aoto's sudden praise made Kinoshita Mai's expression freeze for a moment. She quickly turned her head away, her face flushed slightly, and dared not look directly at Aoto. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something to Aoto, but she couldn't utter a single word.

Chirp, chirp, chirp...

At that moment, several loud bird calls reached Qingdeng and his companions' ears.

Birds are chirping... which means dawn is not far off.

"Haha... Before I knew it, it was almost dawn." Qing Deng slowly stood up. "Ms. Kinoshita, it's about time I went back."

"If I don't hurry back and Okita and the others find out that I'm not in the Test Hall, it won't be easy to explain."

"Yes." Kinoshita Mai also stood up. "Thank you so much for your help tonight."

"I already said, no need to thank me." Qing Deng waved his hand with a smile. "See you later, Ms. Kinoshita."

"Ah, Tachibana-kun." Just as Aoto had turned around and was about to leave, Kinoshita Mai suddenly called out to him.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

Kinoshita Mai's hands, hanging naturally at her sides, clenched and unclenched repeatedly, her eyes darting left and right as she stammered, "If... I encounter another situation where I need your help... would you be willing to help me again?"

Qing Deng's expression froze.

He raised his gaze, stared at Kinoshita Mai for a moment, then looked again at the tree hole where the money was hidden—

"...If I have the time and can help, that is." Qing Deng smiled and nodded slowly but firmly.

Seeing Qing Deng's action and hearing his words, Kinoshita Mai paused for a moment before revealing a smile that was a mixture of joy and shyness.

That smile was like sunlight streaming through gaps in the clouds.

……

……

As Qing Deng scaled the wall of the Senjiya and quickly left the Senjiya under the cover of night—

"...They're finally gone."

A large yawn came from a big tree next to the Senjiya.

"Ah... I'm so sleepy... I can finally go back to sleep. As you get older, your energy really does get worse."

On the tree, an elderly man wearing glasses was sitting cross-legged on a thick, long branch.

If Aoto or Kinoshita Mai were present, they would be speechless with shock upon seeing this old man.

This old man... is none other than Mr. Kiryu!

Kiryu sat cross-legged on a branch, using the dense foliage as cover, leaning against the tree trunk behind him, holding a katana with a purple and black hilt and scabbard, and a large curve in his arms.

He watched Qingdeng leave through the gaps in the leaves with a meaningful look.

"Sigh... I really don't know how to report this to the lord afterward..."

He sighed in a helpless tone as he stretched lazily.

hum hum...

Suddenly, a fly flew over and buzzed around Kiryu.

Kiryu waved his hand at the fly, trying to shoo it away, but the fly nimbly spun upwards and dodged Kiryu's hand, then continued to fly around him.

Kiryu waved his hand again, and the fly scurried away.

After this happened several times, Kiryu frowned, glanced at the fly that he couldn't shake off, and then reached out his right hand to place it on the hilt of the katana in his arms—

Click.

The instant Kiryu placed his hand on the hilt of the katana, a crisp sound of the sword being sheathed rang out.

"Alright... let's go back to sleep." Kiryu stretched again, then slowly stood up, leaning against the tree trunk behind him.

As he stood up, a fly, neatly split in two, floated down lightly from Kiryu's side...

……

……

Although Nishino and Mizushima failed to capture Aoto and Kinoshita Mai, they did not come away empty-handed. They successfully captured Toragoro, as well as Kame-taro, Tsuru-saburo, and others who had been knocked unconscious by Kinoshita Mai.

Nishino and Mizushima arrested all these people and brought them back to the magistrate's office for rigorous interrogation.

After a rigorous interrogation, they finally learned from Kogoro and the others why Neko-san and the "Black Fox Mask" had appeared in the Eta settlement.

Unsurprisingly, the news that "Neko-sō has reappeared and taken down a group of vicious wanted criminals" and "Neko-sō's companions have appeared" instantly became the hottest news in Edo!

The latter's popularity is significantly higher than the former's.

After all, before this, Cat Monk had always been fighting alone.

Cat Monk has a new companion—this is the first time.

The magistrate's office also paid some attention to this matter. Usui and Atsukawa specially convened a meeting at the South Office, which was attended by all the officers and soldiers of the South and North Offices. At the meeting, they discussed in detail this "mysterious companion of the cat monk".

The officials who had "returned three times" probably never expected that... the "mysterious companion of the little cat monk" they were discussing was sitting among them, seriously engaging in a discussion with everyone.

This meeting was destined to end inconclusively—with such a lack of intelligence, what could possibly be discussed?

However, the meeting was not a complete waste of time.

At the very end of the meeting, in order to make it easier to refer to this suddenly appearing cat boy companion, Usui and Atsukawa decided to give him a code name.

Since this guy has a close relationship with Cat Monk... and also presents himself with an image of "wearing a fox mask"...

After a brief exchange of opinions, the person's code name was decided upon—Little Fox Monk!

When Qing Deng heard that the code name given to him by everyone was "Little Fox Monk", he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

It's such a simple and direct code name...

Qing Deng secretly rejoiced that he wasn't wearing a dog mask, otherwise the code name given to him by the officials might have been "Dog Monk".

However, from another perspective, there isn't much difference between "fox monk" and "dog monk"... because both foxes and dogs belong to the canine family.

After the magistrate announced that the code name given to Neko-sō by this mysterious companion was "Fox-sō," the discussion surrounding the news intensified.

In the city, countless people speculated about who this fox-like monk was and what his relationship was with the cat-like monk.

Qing Deng also paid attention to how the public discussed and evaluated him, the fox monk.

After hearing all sorts of outlandish remarks, Qing Deng couldn't help but chuckle.

Some say that the fox-monk is a male ninja.

Some say that Fox Monk, like Cat Monk, is a female ninja.

Some say that the fox monk and the cat monk are a married couple, or even a pair of notorious thieves...

In short, all sorts of bizarre remarks were made, which made Qing Deng sigh: Imagination truly has no limits.

Edo has been incredibly lively lately.

As time flew by, April 15th arrived in the blink of an eye.

A new hot topic of news, which the public can discuss at length, has quietly arrived.

Tomorrow... that is, April 16th, the swordsmanship competition held by the Lord of Aizu will begin!