"Don't let yourself get distracted by temporary conflicts of temper, wasting time and precious manpower."

"I hope that everyone in the future will take what happened to Fuan Ha and the others as a warning. If there is a similar dispute of temper again, I will punish them severely!"

The swarthy dwarf, who silently memorized all Kamino's orders, shouted to his toes: "Understood!"

I have said everything I wanted to say... Kamino wanted to leave just like that.

But he suddenly remembered something important.

"By the way." Kamino turned his attention back to the swarthy dwarf, "Have you contacted Natsume Sōhachiro?"

"We have already made contact this afternoon." The swarthy short man said this, paused, and then showed a proud smile to Kamino, "Natsume Souhachiro has agreed to help us."

"……Ah, very good."

Kamino, whose face was gloomy because he had been listening to all kinds of bad news, now had a smile on his lips.

…

…

--Well……

Confusion of consciousness...

——Hmm...

Confused thoughts...

--dizzy……

Regardless of memories or thoughts, everything in the mind is fragmented, making it impossible to grasp its specific shape.

In this chaos, Sanako felt that she was gradually regaining control of her body.

The beautiful long and slightly upturned eyelashes trembled slightly... She struggled to raise her eyelids.

After opening his eyes, Sanako was surprised to find that the scene before him was no different from when he closed his eyes... What he saw was thick darkness.

Darkness as thick as ink poured into Sanako's eyes and nose.

——Where am I?

Sanako, whose consciousness was still somewhat confused, asked herself this while subconsciously twisting her arms.

Then, she found that her hands were tightly tied behind her back, and the only place where her two small white hands could move were only 10 fingers.

The strangeness of his hands made Sanako feel as if a basin of ice had been poured on the back of his neck... The tangled ball of wool in his mind was quickly smoothed out one by one, forming clear straight lines.

The memories before coma revived in Sanako's mind little by little.

At the same time, Sanako's eyes adjusted to the darkness.

She hurriedly raised her head and looked around, confirming that she was now locked in a cellar-like place... Natsume Yue was tied next to her, still sleeping soundly.

"Uh...! Uh...!" Sanako, whose mouth was tied, could only utter some meaningless onomatopoeia. She twisted her body and used her shoulders to push Natsume Yue beside her.

Under Sanako's push, a subtle whisper floated out from Natsume Yue's lips.

Then, the little girl finally woke up and slowly opened her eyes.

"?!" Natsume Yue regained consciousness, her expression was dazed at first, and then the "dumbfounded" on her face turned into "horrified" at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh...!" Natsume Yue, whose mouth was tied with a piece of cloth and was also speechless, shouted "uh-huh, uh-huh" to Sanako.

Although none of them could speak now, Sanako could tell from Natsume Yue's frightened eyes what the child wanted to say now.

Miss Sanako, where are we? - Natsume asked Sanako with her eyes.

Calm down - Sanako responded to Natsume Yue with a calm look.

Affected by Sanako's calm mood, the look of panic on Natsume Yue's face dissipated somewhat... but her body was still trembling slightly.

In fact, Sanako is also very scared now.

Just by taking a look at their current situation and looking back at their memories before coma, you can tell: who has been kidnapped by them now.

Being kidnapped... Sanako was also the first time she encountered such a terrible thing.

The intense fear caused her heart to beat so fast and hard, as if it would jump out of her throat at any moment.

Who kidnapped us?

What is the purpose of kidnapping us?

for money?

Or...for something else...?

All kinds of bad conjectures flashed uncontrollably in Sanazi's mind one by one... These terrible conjectures further aggravated Sanazi's current heartbeat.

The reason Sanako can still maintain a calm expression now...all depends on her strong willpower.

She now relies solely on her strong will to suppress the worries and timidity in her heart.

She signaled Natsume Yue to calm down with her eyes. After calming down for a while, Sanako took several deep breaths to adjust her thoughts and mood. Then she raised her head again and scanned the surroundings, trying to deduce that they were currently being held in prison based on the observed environment.

location.

However, after a while, Sanako became disappointed.

Looking around, they could only see dust and the corpses of various small insects. Apart from confirming that they were now locked in a cellar, there was nothing else to gain.

Sanako then twisted her body and hands vigorously, trying to break free of the hemp rope on her body.

Seeing Sanako's actions, Natsume Yue realized what Sanako was trying to do, and quickly followed suit and twisted her body vigorously, trying to break free of the hemp rope with Sanako.

Then a look of disappointment gradually appeared on the two women's faces.

The hemp ropes that bound her and Natsume Yue's hands together, as well as the two of them and the wooden pillar behind them, were all tied very firmly.

Just relying on the strength of these women, it is really impossible to open the hemp ropes tied to their bodies.

Natsume Yue lowered her head dejectedly, perhaps because she was too frightened... A layer of moisture gradually appeared in her eyes.

She sniffed her nose hard...she didn't want to cry in such embarrassment.

But the more she tried to hold back her tears, the thicker the moisture on her eyes became.

Eventually - the water vapor turned into large teardrops, rolling down from her eyes.

"Father...Father..." The girl who was no longer as cheerful as before, in a voice that was especially muffled by crying, repeatedly uttered her name for the person who gave her the most sense of security in the world.

When Natsume Yue was weeping silently, Sanako beside her... half-closed her beautiful eyes with an expressionless face.

--What's this……?

Sanako thought like this and straightened the middle finger of his right hand.

Just now, when she was twisting her hands and trying to open the hemp rope that bound her hands, her right middle finger accidentally touched a cold foreign object.

After extending the middle finger of her right hand in the direction where she had just touched the foreign object, a cold touch spread to Sanako's fingertips again.

It's a loose iron nail in a wooden post.

"..." Sanako took a deep breath, then stretched out his right thumb, clamped the loose iron nail between his thumb and middle finger, and twisted it bit by bit.

Sanako's slender fingers are very dexterous.

Sanako, who received the strictest "Yamato Nadeshiko" education since childhood, can hold a sword and a naginata firmly with her fingers, and can also complete delicate work such as tailoring and embroidery.

With Sanazi's long and powerful twisting, the iron nail was finally pulled out of the wooden pillar.

Feeling the cold touch of the iron nail she was holding on her fingertips, Sanako took another deep breath.

She is still scared now.

They were suddenly kidnapped, and were suddenly imprisoned in a place where they didn’t even know their specific location. I don’t know who the kidnapper was, and I don’t know why they were kidnapped...

She was afraid of these disturbing thoughts.

She is afraid of the uncertain future.

Although she was afraid...but now she was even more afraid that she would just give up thinking and sit back and wait for death!

Even if you are going to die, you must try your best to survive and then die... Sanako thought like this, a sharp light flashed in her beautiful eyes.

She held the iron nail between the thumb and middle finger of her right hand and rubbed the sharp nail point against the hemp rope that bound her hands.

…

…

Those words of Natsume Sōhachiro... are strange no matter how you think about them.

What a fucking coincidence!

Sanako happened to go out with Natsume Yue today.

Sanako just disappeared today.

Grandma Natsume's letter informing her of her illness was delivered to Edo just today.

Natsume Yue happened to leave for Osaka to visit her grandmother this afternoon.

Not to mention Qingnobo, who is a "policeman", even Chiba Jutaro felt strange.

So many coincidences are added together to write a novel!

However, no matter how Aonto and the others interrogated him, Natsume Sohachiro insisted that "Natsume Yue is not in Edo, she has returned to Osaka."

Although Natsume Sohachiro's words were conclusive and true... Qingto still listed Natsume Sohachiro as a "problem subject that needs to be investigated intensively."

The connections of the Chiba family, the "number one martial arts sect", are really impressive.
To be continued...