I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

……

……

On the morning of August 13th, the first year of the Wanyan era (1860)—

Edo, the Thousand Things Shop—

Qing Deng slightly raised the straw hat he was using to shield his head and looked at the Senjiya shop, which he hadn't visited in a while.

"I wonder if Mr. Kiryu is here..."

After muttering something, Qing Deng strode forward and pushed open the door of the Senjiya shop.

A vibrant red, brimming with youthful energy, instantly caught Qingdeng's eye.

"Welcome, Hikaru... Ah, Tachibana-kun!"

At the beginning, this melodious female voice, like a silver bell, sounded timid and lacked confidence.

But after recognizing who it was, his tone changed instantly, becoming powerful and full of excitement.

Immediately afterwards, Qingdeng heard the sound of bare feet stepping on the wooden corridor, rapidly approaching him.

Wearing a cool, bright red yukata and with her cute bare feet, Kinoshita Mai emerged from behind the counter with a big smile on her face and hurried toward Aoto.

"Orange-kun, you're here."

"Good morning, Ms. Kinoshita."

After smiling and giving a brief greeting to Kinoshita Mai, Aoto looked around.

"Where is Mr. Kiryu?"

"Mr. Kiryu has gone out on an urgent matter. He was asked to clean the house of termites."

Aoto's "Thousand Things Shop Trip" today was something he had arranged with Kiryu, Kinoshita Mai, and the others beforehand.

After Aoto moved into Jinyitang, Kiryu and Kinoshita Mai, like Sanako and her brother, visited Aoto every day.

On June 10th... the day before Aoto was discharged from the hospital, Aoto mentioned to Kiryu and Kinoshita Mai that he would probably be able to move out of Jin'i-do the next day and regain his freedom.

So, Aoto, who had a mountain of questions to ask Kiryu, made a promise with Kiryu and Kinoshita Mai that he would visit the Senjiya on the morning of June 13th.

"Termite removal? Mr. Kiryu can remove termites?"

"Yes. Mr. Kiryu once learned some special termite extermination techniques in Okinawa. His termite-killing skills are quite well-regarded. It is said that in any place where Mr. Kiryu has cleaned up termites, not even a single termite egg will be found for at least a year."

"Mr. Kiryu has so many skills..."

While softly marveling at Kiryu's versatility, Qing Deng untied the orange juice from his waist and sat down on the cushion next to him, which was reserved for guests.

Qing Deng's sword has temporarily reverted to Ju Sui.

Why not use a spirit-summoning device? The reason is simple—the device is still under repair…

Rescuing Sanako, battling the Extermination Group, and fighting the final battle against Kanna and Kamaitachi... Sadakijin brilliantly survived these three almost uninterrupted battles.

The sword "Ding Gui Shen" truly lives up to its reputation as a treasure bestowed by Ii Naosuke. Any ordinary sword would likely have broken long ago after such intense battles.

However, no matter how "precious" a sword is, it cannot change the fact that "a sword is a consumable item".

No matter how fine the steel or how skillful the forging technique, a knife will eventually break and need to be sent to a swordsmith for repair.

On the day the decisive battle with the Extermination Group ended, Qing Deng counted the number of nicks on the Dingguishen Blade.

The blade of the Ghost-Slaying Sword has a whopping 17 notches...

The numerous nicks and slits made the blade, meant to ward off evil spirits, no different from a saw.

Fortunately, the blade did not break. If the blade had broken, it would have been beyond repair and would have had to be melted down and reforged.

At the same time that Qing Deng was sent to Renyitang for treatment, Ding Guishen was also sent to a reliable swordsmith for repair.

According to the swordsmith, Qingdeng would not be able to see his Dingguishen again until at least early July.

"Please sit down for a while, I'll make you some tea."

Kinoshita Mai skipped along, her small feet making a "pat-pat" sound as she ran towards the kitchen.

At that moment, Qing Deng saw Dodo, the big orange cat owned by Kinoshita Mai, walking gracefully out of the back room of the Senjiya while meowing.

Because Aoto often visits the Senjiya, Toto already remembers Aoto's scent.

Qingdeng gently waved to Duoduo, and the fearless orange cat immediately let go of its paws and ran to Qingdeng's side. Then it lay on its side with its belly exposed, letting Qingdeng stroke its fur.

Kinoshita Mai brews tea quite quickly.

In less than 10 minutes, Qing Deng saw Kinoshita Mai return to him with a tray containing two teacups.

"Please have some tea. It's freshly brewed, be careful it's hot."

Kinoshita Mai placed the two cups of tea from the tea tray beside Aoto and in front of herself, respectively. She then moved the empty tea tray aside, crossed her two little feet, buried them under her plump, peach-like buttocks, and sat upright beside Aoto.

"I'm sorry to trouble you to make tea." Qing Deng picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip of the tea that Kinoshita Mai had just brewed.

Kinoshita Mai smiled and shook her head, saying, "You're welcome."

"Tachibana-kun, please wait here for a moment. Mr. Kiryu should be back soon."

Qingdeng nodded.

The Senjiya fell silent as Kinoshita Mai finished speaking.

Only the sound of Qingdeng sipping tea could be heard from time to time.

Strangely enough, even though no one was speaking, neither Aoto nor Kinoshita Mai felt the atmosphere was awkward.

A strange sense of peace permeated the two of them.

But someone didn't really want such a tranquil atmosphere.

With a strange, silly smile on her face, Kinoshita Mai kept fiddling with her hands and fingers folded on her lap, while her two little feet, buried under her bottom, kept wiggling.

She would occasionally glance at Qingdeng beside her, but the moment her eyes met Qingdeng's body, she would quickly look away as if she had been electrocuted.

She didn't want to waste the time she was spending alone with Qingdeng.

She wanted to talk to Qingdeng...

After racking her brains for a while, she finally came up with a suitable topic to use as an opening:

"Tachibana-kun, this is wonderful." Kinoshita Mai took several deep breaths, suppressing her silly grin and replacing it with a normal smile. "Finally, I don't have to live at Jin'i-do anymore."

“Yes.” Qingdeng took over the conversation with a wry smile, then sighed, “I’ve had enough of the smell of medicine there.”

"You must be very bored during your stay at Renyitang, right?"

"Actually, it's not too bad. I have the novels that Okita-kun and the others gave me to read, and you and Sanako-san come to visit me often, so it's not particularly boring."

At that moment, Kinoshita Mai's gaze and the smile on her face froze.

I froze the moment I heard the title "Miss Sanako" from Aoto's mouth...

Kinoshita Mai was forced to recall.

A memory she may never forget for the rest of her life...

……

……

More than 20 days ago, on the night that Qingdeng and the anti-foreign group engaged in their decisive battle—

Residence

After rushing to the settlement, Kinoshita Mai found a young woman whose beauty was so striking that she could tell just by looking at her profile.

Aoto and Kinoshita Mai had made a promise: he would rush to the residence as soon as he rescued Sanako.

—Could it be that…?

Kinoshita Mai, having boldly assumed the woman's identity, quickly approached her from behind.

"...Are you Ms. Chiba Sanako?"

This stunningly beautiful woman... Sanako slowly turned around, scrutinizing Kinoshita Mai from head to toe with a wary gaze.

After seeing Sanako's face clearly, Kinoshita Mai instantly realized that she had just asked a really stupid question.

Kinoshita Mai had only heard of Sanako's name before, but had never seen her in person.

Even though she didn't know what Sanako looked like, Kinoshita Mai immediately became absolutely certain after seeing the woman's face clearly—this woman must be the famous Chiba Sanako!

Such a face could not possibly be none other than Chiba Sanako, who was hailed as "Edo's most beautiful woman"! There's no reason it couldn't be Chiba Sanako!

Looking at Sanako's stunningly beautiful face, Kinoshita Mai's expression suddenly became complicated.

—So beautiful…

Kinoshita Mai instinctively shrank her neck, trying to hide her face...

His gaze involuntarily drifted downwards, landing on Sanako's chest and waist.

Sanako was wearing a kendo skirt that went down to below her chest, which greatly accentuated her breasts and made her waist look very slim.

After her gaze involuntarily drifted to Sanako's chest and waist, Kinoshita Mai's expression immediately became more complicated.

—Older than me…

Kinoshita Mai tensed her shoulders.

"You are……?"

Sanako's questioning voice pulled Kinoshita Mai out of her reverie.

—This is not the time to think about such nonsense!

After cursing herself inwardly, Kinoshita Mai quickly asked Sanako:

"I am Tachibana-kun... Tachibana Aoto's companion! Do you know where Tachibana Aoto is?"

Upon hearing Qing Deng's name, Sanako paused, then subconsciously turned her pretty face away to look at the distant battlefield.

Kinoshita Mai followed Sanako's gaze. Soon, amidst the shadows of enemies, she spotted a familiar figure.

Suddenly, Kinoshita Mai's expression changed drastically.

Without any hesitation.