I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Hikaru Okita seemed to want to say something more, but the gazes of those around her made her feel as if heavy hammers were pressing down on her, and she couldn't utter a coherent sentence for a long time.

Left with no other choice, Hikaru Okita had to concede and compromise.

“Okay… I understand.” Okita Hikaru shrank back and cautiously surveyed his surroundings. “Let’s not talk about this for now. I’ll find time to discuss it with you in detail later.”

Souji smiled for the first time since he had encountered Seito and his companions at the teahouse.

But his smile quickly vanished.

"Let's change the subject then. Let's talk about your marriage. Souji, you're already 16 this year, it's time to think about it carefully..."

Souji: "Awoooooo!"

Before Okita Hikaru could finish speaking, Souji closed his eyes tightly, raised his hands to cover his ears, and howled "Awoooooo!"

"This kind of topic is also very depressing!"

"Don't don't!"

"I won't listen! I won't listen!"

With his eyes tightly closed and ears covered, Souji roared at the sky like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, shaking his head violently as his slender ponytail flew up and down at the back of his head.

Okita's roar and behavior attracted even more attention and scrutiny.

Disliking the feeling of disturbing others, Hikaru Okita's face immediately showed deep embarrassment.

"Sōji, please stop calling me! Okay, okay, I won't talk about this here. I'm sorry for disturbing you, please forgive me."

After quickly dissuading Souji from his "Tyrannosaurus Roar," Okita Hikaru hurriedly went to apologize to those around him, keeping himself very busy.

After hearing Okita Hikaru say, "Let's not talk about this here," Souji immediately fell silent.

The speed at which his expression changed was as fast as magic.

Souji: (=￣ω￣=): "Okay, then I won't argue anymore."

Qing Deng vaguely noticed a mischievous smile in Souji's half-closed eyes and slightly upturned lips.

Okita Hikaru noticed the smile on Souji's face.

Okita Hikaru stood with his hands on his hips and said irritably:

"Commander, you're not getting any younger, why do you still look like..."

"Awoooo ...

"Alright, alright!"

Seeing that Souji was about to switch to "Tyrannosaurus Rex mode" again, Okita Hikaru quickly interrupted him.

"Stop shouting, stop shouting, sigh... really..."

Hikaru Okita let out a long sigh, picked up the tea on the table, and took a sip.

Although Aoto couldn't see Okita Hikari's expression because her back was turned to him, he could vaguely sense from her sigh that the eldest sister in the family seemed to have aged several years in that instant.

Souji then revealed an openly mischievous smile and laughed happily, like a naughty child who had successfully pulled off a prank.

Upon seeing this, Qing Deng couldn't help but chuckle.

This is the Souji that Qing Deng knows... a child who seems to never grow up.

The somber expression on Souji's face that I just saw was completely out of character.

After Souji's outburst, Okita Hikaru seemed to have lost interest in staying in the teahouse any longer.

As she hurriedly finished her tea, she quickly led the chief away.

Although Souji had just managed to gloss over all the topics Okita Hikaru had mentioned by being silly, Aoto still remembered what Okita Hikaru had just said.

"Give up swordsmanship...?"

Qingdeng muttered this slowly, as if chewing on each word and phrase.

Souji is being pressured to get married by his sister... Qing Deng had heard about this from Souji before, so he wasn't surprised.

But Souji's older sister was trying her best to persuade him to give up learning swordsmanship... This was the first time Aoto had heard of this.

Aoto raised his head and cast a thoughtful glance in the direction where the Okita siblings had left.

This is something Qingdeng can't simply ignore...

……

……

That day, in the evening—

Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi Town, Test Guard Hall——

As the setting sun disappeared behind the rooftops, the clouds in the sky were adorned with a golden halo in its afterglow.

These golden clouds piled up above the distant mountains, painting the mountains and the sky with magnificent colors.

The setting sun and the arrival of darkness finally brought a touch of coolness to Japan's largest city.

Occasionally, a gentle breeze would drift in from the distant horizon, carrying a refreshing and pleasant feeling.

Souji, who was sitting cross-legged on the veranda of the courtyard adjacent to the Shieikan, was enjoying the cool evening breeze while reading an arithmetic book in his hands in the still relatively bright evening sunlight.

In his spare time, the commander-in-chief often studied arithmetic books and researched arithmetic by himself.

Despite studying arithmetic so diligently, Souji's arithmetic skills were still terrible—but that's another story.

Souji sat cross-legged on the veranda floor, facing the courtyard ahead, his head bowed to his chest. An open arithmetic book lay sprawled on his lap.

Although he appeared to be diligently reading, he didn't turn the pages for a long time.

His unwavering, unfocused eyes seemed to have scanned the same page a hundred times.

His heart was already in a distant, unknown place.

At that moment, someone's sudden shout brought Souji's heart back from afar.

"Okita-kun!"

"Uh... um? Tachibana-kun?"

Startled by Qing Deng's sudden shout, Souji trembled slightly before turning around to look at Qing Deng, who was striding towards him.

"Okita-kun, do you have time now? I have something I'd like to talk to you about."

Qing Deng asked the commander directly.

"Hmm? What's up?"

Souji blinked hard, looking completely bewildered.

"I have time now... What do you want to talk to me about?"

"I'm glad you have time."

Qingdeng looked around.

"Come with me. What I need to tell you... is best left unsaid to everyone for now."

"What's going on? Why are you being so mysterious?"

"You'll find out once you come with me."

The bewildered Souji put away his arithmetic book and followed Aoto to a very secluded corner of the Shieikan.

Qingdeng craned his neck to look around and listened carefully. After confirming that there were no outsiders around, he cleared his throat forcefully.

“Okita-kun, today… I ran into you and your older sister at that teahouse you often took me to.”

The commander's eyes widened instantly.

"Tachibana-kun, were you in that teahouse at the time?"

"Well, I was sitting not too far from you. And then... I accidentally overheard you and your older sister talking."

At this point, Qing Deng paused in his speech.

A hint of hesitation appeared between his brows at that moment.

Souji was arguably the person with the best relationship with Aoto among everyone at the entire Shieikan.

Qingdeng simply couldn't ignore the fact that his closest friend, with whom he shared everything, was being forced to give up swordsmanship by his own sister.

Regardless, the reason must be found out—this strengthened Qingdeng's resolve. After a moment's hesitation, he took a deep breath and said in one breath:

"Okita-kun, your older sister wants you to give up swordsmanship... What's going on?"

"Well……!"

The commander muttered in astonishment.

Despite a 20cm height difference, you held your head high, while I looked down; you looked at me, and I looked at you…

Time slipped away slowly as their eyes met in silence.

Qing Deng wasn't in a hurry; he just kept watching Souji silently, waiting for Souji's response.

After a long while, the look of astonishment on Souji's face slowly melted away.

"What a coincidence..."

Souji smiled wryly and reached behind his head to play with the ponytail.

"How could you have just happened to overhear my sister and me talking..."

The commander sighed softly.

"All right……"

"Since you overheard my conversation with my sister, Tachibana-kun... I'll give you a general account of what happened."

"Today I went out with my sister to have fun and do some shopping."

"On the way back to Shieikan, I suddenly got a little thirsty, so I took my sister to that teahouse and also recommended this shop that I really like to her."

"But who knew that as soon as we sat down at the table in the teahouse, my sister started talking to me about the topic of 'giving up swordsmanship' that I least wanted to talk about... which ruined my good mood."

The commander sighed again.

"My older sister... has never supported my learning swordsmanship..."