"Run errands? Ryogoku Bridge?"

"Well, yes. Didn't I go to help get rid of mice at Jinqi's house yesterday afternoon? I just found out that I seemed to have left a few tools at their house. I still have some urgent matters to deal with right now, so for the time being,

I can't get away. So I would like to ask you, young master, to run some errands for me and go to Shenqi's house to get back the few tools I missed."

"Okay." Kinoshita Mai said without hesitation, "I'll go now."

Kinoshita Mai closed the account book in her hand, stood up neatly, walked to the entrance not far away, and put on her pair of red button clogs.

"Do you know where Jinchi's home is?"

"Yeah. I know!"

"That's good. Go and come back quickly."

After saying that, Kiryu turned around and prepared to return to the back room of Qianshiya.

"Um!"

Kinoshita Mai, who had put on her clogs, opened the door of Qianshiwu's shop and walked away with brisk steps.

Listening to Kinoshita Mai's footsteps gradually disappearing, Kiryu slowly stopped and then faced the shop door again.

Looking at the front hall where the red shadow was no longer visible... Kiryu's right corner of his mouth turned up slightly, revealing a slight smile with a hint of relief.

"The young master is in a really good mood recently..."

Kiryu whispered in a low voice that he was the only one listening.

"People have become a lot more cheerful."

Compared with before, Kinoshita Mai is completely different now.

Kiryu Haruka remembered that more than half a year ago, Kinoshita Mai was timid even looking at strangers and speaking to them.

Running errands, helping to look after the front desk... these tasks that require contact with strangers were the jobs that Mai Kinoshita feared the most in the past.

Now, although Kinoshita Mai is still a little afraid of contact with strangers, her symptoms of "social anxiety" have undoubtedly improved a lot.

I am no longer so resistant to running errands, helping to look after the front desk, etc.

As the symptoms of "social fear" have been alleviated, Kinoshita Mai has become a lot more cheerful, no longer always looking down and gloomy.

Kiryu is naturally happy to see these positive changes in Kinoshita Mai.

"Is this the special magic that comes out after you become good with a certain man..."

After murmuring like this, the happy smile on Kiryu's face changed into a bitter smile with complicated emotions.

What was the opportunity that caused Kinoshita Mai to undergo these changes... Kiryu naturally knew it clearly.

"It seems... I had a lot of fun with Tachibana-kun the night before yesterday... I guess I didn't do anything extreme...?"

The night before, Kiryu kept his promise to Mai Kinoshita and did not secretly follow her or secretly monitor her and Aomori's itinerary.

Therefore, Kiryu has no idea what Aoto and Kinoshita Mai did the night before.

Kiryu, who has lived for more than ninety years, has seen many outrageous things that ordinary people would not even dare to think about. It is not uncommon for Kinoshita Mai to see this phenomenon of "becoming more beautiful because of love".

People with gloomy temperaments become increasingly lively because they fall in love with someone...

People with a lazy temperament start working hard because they get along with someone...

Introverts start to be more proactive in contacting the world because they get close to someone...

Kinoshita Mai's feelings for Aoden are far more sincere and passionate than she imagined - this is what Kiryu has come to realize recently.

Thinking of this, Kiryu couldn't help but think about a serious matter - how will the relationship between Aoto and Mai Kinoshita develop in the future? What are the thoughts and plans of these two young people about this?

According to Kiryu's observation, there is no doubt that Aoto has a high affection for Kinoshita Mai.

Both of them have now passed their coming-of-age ceremony and are old enough to get married.

Will Mr. Ju marry the young master?

Also, besides the young master...will he marry another woman?

In this era without advanced medical skills and hygienic concepts, it was extremely common for rich and powerful men to marry multiple wives in order to raise their family and continue their heirs.

However, ancient Japan, like the ancient Central Plains, followed the system of "monogamy and multiple concubines".

You can have many wives, but you can only have one main wife.

Due to his status, Kiryu couldn't get involved in Kinoshita Mai's future marriage and couldn't interfere.

He also didn't know what conditions and requirements his lord had for his future grandson-in-law.

Kiryu only knows one thing: no matter whether the Lord does not allow her future grandson-in-law to marry many other wives, her precious granddaughter must be the main wife!

There is no need to ask the lord about such matters.

Anyone with a little common sense knows that the status of the side room in the family is far inferior to that of the main room.

With the lord's strong and strong temperament, how could he tolerate Kinoshita Mai's lower family status than other women?

Not to mention the lord.

Kiryu himself couldn't tolerate Kinoshita Mai becoming someone else's concubine...even if that person was a disciple he admired very much.

Kiryu couldn't help but wonder - how would he react if one day, Qingden told him: "I want to take Mai Kinoshita as my concubine and marry another woman as my wife"...

By then, there should be a fierce master-disciple battle!

Kiryu thought to himself in a very determined tone.

——As a helper... you can also ask Ogata-kun to come over and help. Ogata-kun will definitely be happy to help teach anyone who dares to bully the young master a lesson.

…

…

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

"...Jun."

A voice came from afar.

"...Tachibana-kun."

The sound gradually approaches.

"...Tachibana-kun."

A familiar voice.

"Tachibana-kun, what are you doing?"

A small white hand shook back and forth in front of his eyes.

"……Um?"

Qingdeng's consciousness came out of his "daze" state and he blinked his eyes hard several times.

Then he lowered his chin and looked into the eyes of Souji, who was standing in front of him, standing on tiptoes and swinging his outstretched right hand back and forth in front of his eyes.

"I finally came to my senses."

Souji relaxed his raised toes and placed the soles of his feet back on the ground.

"Ji Jun, I have been calling you just now. My mouth was almost touching your ear, but you didn't respond at all. What are you thinking? You are thinking so seriously."

"Uh...it's nothing..." Qingto raised his hand and rubbed his face, covering up his embarrassment while changing the subject, "Is Hijikata here?"

"Not yet." Souji replied, "Mr. Hijikata is still arranging his hair. Really... it's just a comb, why does it take so long..."

At this moment, Aoto, Souji, Kondo, Inoue, Saito, Nagakura, Harada - these young people from the trial defense hall, plus Todo who was invited, are gathering at the trial defense hall at this moment.

The entrance of the museum.

Tonight is the last night of the fireworks display.

At the same time, this group of young people from the Trial Guard Hall met together to go to the fireworks display for a night.

Originally, in addition to Toudo Heisuke, who often came to the trial defense hall, they also extended invitations to Shusuke, Abi, Kubei, Souji's sister and brother-in-law, and others.

Todo nodded readily and accepted the invitation.

However, Zhou Zhu and the others refused on the grounds of "they are too old to bear such lively activities" and "we are not sensitive to places with many people like this".

In the end, the only people participating in tonight's event were young people like them.

At present, everyone, all dressed up, has gathered at the entrance of the Trial Guard Hall...except Hijikata.

"Wait for me a moment, I want to comb my hair. It'll be ready soon" - these were Hijikata's exact words to everyone 5 minutes ago.

Since Hijikata has said so, we can only wait for him first.

In sitting or standing postures, the people "looking up and down" in the entrance hall performed a "various expressions of living beings".

Like the reincarnation of a sloth, Saito likes to remain motionless in a daze, standing in an inconspicuous corner, wandering to an unknown place.

The three of them, Nagakura, Harada, and Toudo, were sitting on the wooden porch adjacent to the entrance hall, chatting away from one another.

Kondo and Inoue talked seriously about the recent business conditions of the trial gym.
To be continued...