Aoto suddenly recalled: how he met Elodie - when he was visiting Eshima Shrine, he accidentally ran into her sneaking out of the hotel with the help of Mai Kinoshita and Leroy...

This naughty child has a criminal record! How could he feel so guilty about "hiding out to play without Anthony"?

I seem to have misjudged this child's nature...

She is indeed a good child who is so sensible that people think she is a bit precocious... but she occasionally shows her bold, naughty and adventurous side.

——As expected of a fan of "The Rogue" Robin Hood...

Just when Qingdeng was sighing in his heart with a helpless tone——

"Ah, I found it."

Qingden looked up - Elodie took out from the closet a bright yellow yukata embroidered with very cute patterns, a headscarf, a white cat mask with only one pair of eyes exposed, and a pair of small yellow buttons.

Clogs.

"This suit was specially prepared for tonight... It's so good that I don't need to hide it until next year."

After saying this happily, Elodie put up the baffle placed next to the wardrobe to prevent outsiders from peeking into her changing clothes.

"Master." Elodie retracted most of her body behind the baffle, only exposing her small head facing Qingden, "Don't peek."

"I won't peek."

Qingden said this angrily, turning around with his back to Elodie.

Elodie chuckled, then put her head back, and her body was completely hidden behind the thick baffle.

After the rustling sound of changing clothes subsided——

"Master, do you think it looks good?"

Qingdeng turned around - a dazzling youthful aura rushed towards him in an instant.

After changing into the bright yellow yukata, Elodie put her golden hair on top of her head, covered it tightly with a scarf, and put on a mask to cover her face.

In order to allow Qingden to see her new look more carefully, Elodie slightly spread her smooth little feet that were wearing yellow clogs, and raised her hands to the left and right to the height of her shoulders.

"Well, it looks good."

"The response is so mediocre...!" Elodie lowered her arms in displeasure and pursed her lips.

"...Haha." Looking at Elodie's appearance at this time, Qingden couldn't help but smile.

came back……

The enthusiastic, cheerful, and somewhat quirky lively disciple that Qingdeng was familiar with is back.

At this moment, Qingdeng felt that his heart was filled with a strong sense of joy and peace of mind.

There is a feeling that most of the weights tied to the body have been lost immediately.

Qingden took a deep breath, calmed down his mood, then turned his back and knelt on one knee.

"bring it on."

Qingden stretched out his fingers to gesture to his back and said with a smile.

"Let's watch the fireworks."

"Um!"

Elodie smiled sarcastically, then quickly ran to Qingdeng's back in three steps at a time.

He jumped lightly and lay down tightly on Qingden's broad back like a koala.

"Hurry up."

After confirming that Elodie was sitting firmly... ah, no, after holding him firmly, Qingden kicked off his back foot violently - running, leaping, and flying out of the window!

The night scene retreated rapidly.

The wet night wind blew their clothes flying.

Elodie tightened her headscarf and stretched her neck upwards, looking over Qingden's shoulders and looking straight at the skyline in front of her.

The moonlight illuminated Elodie's face, which was slightly red due to her excitement.

…

…

Edo, Okemachi, Little Chiba Sword Hall, second floor, Sanako's boudoir——

Pashu... Pashu... Pashu... Pashu...

Sanazi was sitting on his knees beside the bed in an extremely upright posture, flipping through the great masterpiece "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen in his hand under the candlelight and moonlight.

His long, green-white fingers gently turned the pages of the book.

The sound of "Pa Tao, Pa Tao" turning over books and the sound of candles burning became the only sounds in this neat and new room.

Reading is Sanako's biggest hobby after martial arts. She often relies on reading to pass her leisure time.

Among all books, medical books were Sanako's favorite.

Sanako, who has extremely high cultural literacy and profound knowledge in medical skills, can read even the "originally imported Chinese books" that are not in white.

The so-called "white text" is Chinese without sentence pronunciation and kana phonetic notation.

At this moment, Sanako was reading intently.

Suddenly, a set of conversations floated out of the window, causing Sanako's consciousness to escape from the world of books uncontrollably.

"Wow, Shu, your new yukata looks great."

"Thank you~~ I saved up for three months to buy this yukata."

…

Sanako slowly put down the "Compendium of Materia Medica" in his hand and raised his eyes expressionlessly to look out the window.

The hosts of this conversation were two young women walking side by side, walking quickly through the street below the window.

Sanako watched the two girls getting further and further away, their figures getting smaller and smaller...

Yukata...this word is like a fishing line.

A fishing line dropped into the sea of ​​memory.

Suddenly, there was a feeling of something being entangled at the end of the thread... something had taken the bait.

It's a conversation.

…

(Miss Sanako, this yukata suits you so well. It’s no wonder that I’m so looking forward to your appearance in the yukata. It’s really beautiful!)

…

"..." Sanako raised her right hand as if she was distressed and annoyed, and gently rubbed the high root of her nose.

The blue yukata that Aomori praised so much last night was returned to the store when he was about to go home after watching the fireworks.

Sanako didn't like to wear informal clothes like yukata, and even when Aintome praised the dress as it matched her, she never thought about buying it.

but why……

Why……

It's completely impossible to say why - in fact, as early as last night when she got home, there was already an emotion that repeatedly disturbed Sanako's heart.

Sanako has been consciously ignoring this emotion, treating it as if it were nothing.

If faced directly and admitted to the existence of this guy... it would make Sanako, who has a strong self-esteem, feel very ashamed...

Because this emotion is called "regret"...

After hearing the conversation between the two girls just now, the guy got up again and tried to stand in front of Sanako.

Sanako subconsciously repeated his old trick, trying to ignore this feeling of regret and focus on the medical skills in his hands again.

However... this guy has grown invisibly and grown into a "behemoth" that cannot be denied.

His expression gradually took on the state of trance... His gaze moved around restlessly. Although he looked like he was reading seriously, he actually didn't read a single word into his mind.

The sound of turning pages stopped.

The sound of rising candlelight dominated the room.

After an unknown amount of time passed like this, Sanako lowered his head and glanced at the fine clothes on his body.

What happened next really happened in an unexpected moment.

Snapped!

A tense atmosphere suddenly arose in the room.

The person who created this atmosphere was naturally Sanako.

Sanako suddenly closed the "Compendium of Materia Medica" in his hand, making a loud "snap" sound.

After placing the closed book back on the desk beside her, Sanako stood up slowly, pressing the hem of her kimono with an expression as if she had made up her mind...
To be continued...