"Miss Sanako, I finally found you..."

Qingden smiled helplessly and walked slowly towards Sanako.

"Tachibana-kun?" Sanako looked surprised, "Why are you here?"

Perhaps because she felt that it was rude to expose her thighs in front of outsiders, Sanako lifted her straight thighs, which were so white and tender that they glowed bluish-white under the moonlight, from the river, took out the pocket paper, and wiped her feet and calves.

then put on the white socks, tightened the clogs, straightened the hem of the hakama with one hand, and stood up with the other hand supporting the ground.

"After I just met Mr. Jutaro and Chiba Tamon Shiro-kun at Ryogoku Bridge, I learned from Mr. Jutaro that you have been missing since this afternoon."

"Although you left a letter to report that you are safe, Mr. Jutaro...and Chiba Tamon Shiro-kun and I are all very worried about you, so we don't care about any swordsmanship or martial arts."

"Let's spread out and go to the places you often go to look for you."

"This morning, you told me that this river bank is your 'secret treasure', so I wondered if you would be here... I'm so lucky, I didn't expect that I would find you here.

Already."

When he finished speaking, Qingto happened to be in front of Sanako.

"Meeting my elder brother and fourth cousin at Ryogoku Bridge? Swordsmanship and martial arts?" Sanako slightly raised his chin and gave Qingtou a confused look.

"Huh?" Aoto, who noticed the change in Sanako's eyes, tilted his head, "Ms. Sanako, didn't Mr. Jutaro tell you? I will also participate in the swordsmanship show at Ryogoku Bridge tonight."

Sanako really doesn't know.

Chiba Jutaro originally planned to confess to Sanako this afternoon the fact that "Aoto will also come to perform swordsmanship tonight."

However, throughout the whole day today, Sanako never saw Chiba Jutaro again except when he got up and briefly returned home at noon. Therefore, Chiba Jutaro was unable to tell the matter.

Tell Sanako.

"?!" Sanako's beautiful eyes shone with surprise.

Immediately afterwards, as if she had figured out something, her eyelids lowered slightly, showing a vague arc of helplessness.

"Brother...it turns out to be like this..."

After murmuring like this with a soft voice like breathing, Sanako closed her eyes, raised her head, took a deep breath, and then turned around, facing the silver glow of countless moonlights.

The dancing river faces Qingdeng.

"... Mr. Ju, I'm sorry that I bothered you to look for me. I'm really ashamed."

"Although it's rude to say this... but can you please stay away for a while?"

"Now...I want to watch the moon alone here for a while."

"Please go back and tell your brother and your fourth cousin: Don't worry about me, and don't go looking for me anymore. I will go home before the moon reaches its highest point."

Qingdeng: "..."

After Sanako's words fell, Qingto's facial lines that had just relaxed due to the successful finding of Sanako became tense again.

Is it a problem with the light? Or is it a problem with the viewing angle...?

Qingden always felt that Sanako's back at this moment... was much more delicate than usual...

He opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to say something to Sanako, but he couldn't spit out even a single word.

I have nothing to say...my mind is blank...even though I have racked my brains desperately, I still can't think of a word that applies to the current situation.

The difficulties Sanako faced were more severe and cruel than the ones Souji was facing now.

No, what Sanako faces cannot be summed up as a "difficulty"...it should be more accurately described as a "desperate situation".

Souji's sister just didn't allow her to practice martial arts anymore, while Sanako's future martial arts achievements were directly sentenced to death...

Qingto also knew what kind of feelings Sanako had towards martial arts.

Being abandoned by the things that he had been fighting for for most of his life... To be honest, it was hard for Qingto to say that he could empathize with the situation that Sanako was currently facing.

After all, he is not as passionate about martial arts as Sanako.

"Martial arts achievements stop here"... This kind of thing will not happen to Qingdeng for a long time in the foreseeable future.

If it is difficult to put yourself in other people's shoes and understand their feelings, any words of comfort you say will lose their power.

Telling people who value "results" "Don't take results so seriously, cheer up"... This kind of casual kindness is often more heartbreaking than pure malice.

In particular, Qingtou still remembers what he said to Sanako a few days ago... when he was facing off against the heroes of the Little Chiba Sword Hall.

An achievement that everyone applauds heartily.

At this moment, looking back at this statement, I feel full of irony...

The time in this space seems to have frozen at this moment.

Sanako looked at the river quietly without saying a word.

Qingdeng, who didn't know what to say or what to say now, tried repeatedly to say something, but until now he still couldn't form a single sentence.

It's strange... Looking at Sanako's soft and frail back, which felt like it would break into two pieces with just a slight break, Qingden could only feel something "something" rising up from the depths of his heart -

—a strong emotion.

Qingdeng knew what this emotion was called.

Anyone who is a normal human should know the name of this emotion.

This is the emotion called "sadness".

Why did he feel sad when he saw Sanako's frail back at this time? Qingden had no time to think about this problem at the moment.

Everything is good, he wants to do something for Sanako - driven by this strong impulse from his mind, Qingto has no spare time to pay more attention to himself and the outside world except for this "impulse".

of anything.

At this moment, the night wind brought a series of noisy sounds.

This string of sounds was very light, indistinct... but it was still keenly captured by Qingden, who has the "perceiver of wind" - this is the unique sound caused by the gathering of people.

Noise.

Sanako's "secret treasure land" happens to be located on a small high ground where you can overlook Edo from a high position.

In Qingdeng, I turned my head following the commotion and saw a dense light in the distance.

That is Ryogoku Bridge...that is, the direction of the fireworks display site.

"..."

Qingdeng's eyes widened slightly, and he pursed his lips as if he had realized something.

"...Ms. Sanako."

Then, he focused his attention on Sanako again.

"Please come with me. I will take you to see some good things."

Sanako turned her face silently and looked at Qingden with a confused look in her eyes.

Before she could say anything, she felt her left wrist being clamped by an iron pliers - Qingden raised his big hand unceremoniously, grabbed Sanako's left wrist, and then pulled her directly without any explanation.

We strode towards Edo.

"Huh? Wait, wait a minute!"

Qingden's sudden and strange behavior caused a trace of panic to flash across Sanako's cheeks unconsciously.

"Where are you taking me?"

Sanako subconsciously leaned back, trying to resist Qingden's pull.

But in terms of strength, how could she be a match for Qingdeng, who is both a man and full of muscles?

After struggling for a while, except for causing great pain to my wrist, nothing came of it.

"Where to go... we'll keep it a secret for now."

Qingden, who had no intention of letting go, turned his head and smiled at Sanako.

"When you reach your destination, you will know where you are going. The place I want to take you to is not very far from here and you will be there soon."

After a short while, Aoto dragged Sanako back to Edo and came to the street where pedestrians were gradually appearing.

A young warrior dragging a beautiful woman striding down the street... Such a strange sight attracted a lot of strange eyes.

Sanako As a general, Yamato Nadeshiko, who values ​​etiquette and image very seriously, how could she bear the attention of others like this?

"I see."

Sanako quickly said to Qingden.

"I'll just go with you, don't hold my hand anymore."

Seeing that Sanazi did not seem to have any intention of running away when he let go of his hand, Qingden nodded, let go of Sanazi's wrist.

Sanako gently rubbed his finally free Hao wrist a few times, then raised his eyes and looked at Qingden's back with a slight frown.

"Tachibana-kun, seriously...where are you taking me?"

Sanako walked a few steps faster and walked side by side with Qingto.
To be continued...