6600】

The moment Okita Hikaru's words were about to fall, Souji seemed to be out of breath, breathing in the air around him.

"You're lying! It's impossible for Tachibana-kun to say such a thing!"

When Okita Hikaru heard this, he put on an expression of "What I said is true, believe it or not" and shrugged.

"I'm not lying to you. That's exactly what Mr. Tachibana said. I just repeated Mr. Tachibana's original words exactly."

There was nothing strange about Okita Hikaru's expression or eyes, it really seemed like he was telling the truth.

Upon seeing this, the General Secretary couldn't help but remove four out of seven points of doubt.

No way - when Souji shouted with his eyes, his expression was obviously shaken even more, and his eyes were wandering wildly, as if he was trying to measure this bedroom that he was used to living in and seeing with his eyes.

At this time, Okita Hikaru silently added more "oil" to the already burning "fire".

"Xiao Si, it's not surprising that Mr. Orange would give such an answer, right? Haven't you noticed that Mr. Orange's attitude towards you is obviously different from other people's?"

"Yes, yes?"

Under the dual influence of alcohol and panic, Souji's brain was already in a semi-shutdown state, and she was now answering questions entirely based on instinct.

"Of course."

Okita Mitsusha nodded slightly with reason.

“This is probably the so-called ‘obsessed by those in authority and obsessed by bystanders’.”

"Although Mr. Tachibana currently plans to focus all his energy on his career and has no plans to start a family with anyone in the short term, which is a pity, but it is understandable."

"For a man like him, it is better to get married later. If you start a family later, you can free up more time and energy to focus on your career. It is not too late to marry a wife after you have established your career."

"Anyway, it doesn't matter if a man gets married later."

"Ji Jun has revealed his feelings for you. Xiao Si, now it's your turn to express your opinion."

"State your stance? What kind of stance?" The director-general's tongue seemed to be tied up.

"You try to act stupid for me no matter what..."

Okita Hikaru sighed helplessly. Her expression and actions seemed to be saying to Souji: There is really nothing I can do against you.

"It's time for you to face up to your feelings for Mr. Tachibana, right? You've had unusual feelings for Mr. Tachibana a long time ago, haven't you?"

"No matter how much you deceive yourself, no matter how many times you tell yourself, 'There is no such thing,' your feelings for Mr. Tachibana will not disappear because of your deceptive behavior."

Director General: "I..."

Normally, the Director-General would have refuted it as soon as possible.

But now... Souji has been unable to say a coherent sentence. After hesitatingly saying the word "I", his throat seemed to be blocked by something.

She clawed at the edge of the quilt with as much force as if she wanted to scratch it, and her eyes exposed outside the quilt showed a very intense look of thought.

During the conversation with Souji, Okita Hikaru conducted "real-time tracking" of Souji's face throughout the process.

After seeing the deep-thinking expression on the part of the director, Hikaru Okita raised the left corner of his mouth slightly, making a "planned" arc.

In order to prevent the director from seeing her sister's expression of "the plan has succeeded", Hikari Okita flattened the slight curve of her mouth with brute force as soon as it appeared.

"Okay...it's really time to sleep now...I'm so sleepy."

Okita Hikaru raised his arms, stretched his waist, and said "haha" and yawned widely.

Only in front of her closest husband and sister would this charming lady not cover her mouth with her hands when making such indecent gestures as yawning.

Okita Hikaru turned around and spread the bedding in his arms neatly on the tatami, side by side with the Souji's bed.

While making the quilt, Okita Hikaru calmly spoke to the air in front of him with his back to Souji:

"Xiao Si, I have made a decision. I agree to let you continue to stay in the Trial Guard Hall and continue to practice swordsmanship."

"Eh?"

With a simple expression of stunned expression, the Souji conveyed a complicated message: "Did I hear you right?"

In order to fight for the right to continue studying kendo, she had quarreled with her sister many times, but each time they broke up because both parties refused to give in.

Why did my sister suddenly change her gender? Suddenly she agreed to let me stay in the training hall to practice kendo?

Before Souji could turn his inner doubts into rhetorical questions, he heard Okita Hikaru calmly say:

"Don't be too happy. There are conditions attached to my making such a big concession."

When Okita Hikaru said this, she happened to have laid out the bedding and was able to free her hands. She turned around without moving her lower body and only turned her upper body to face Souji, and raised two fingers towards Souji.

"I have two conditions. As long as you can meet any of my two conditions, from now on, whether you learn swordsmanship or do other things, I will not care about you anymore."

"First, learn a skill that can support yourself, such as tailoring or pottery."

"Sister here, I suggest you learn the language of Westerners. Just learn English and French. You don't have to learn the languages ​​​​of other countries."

"According to my observation, the founding of the country has become an irreversible foregone conclusion. Facing the powerful ships and artillery of Western countries, this country can no longer be as 'closed' as before."

"No matter how fiercely those so-called 'rejecting foreigners' slogans of respecting people with lofty ideals shout, they can't go against the general trend of falling like a waterfall."

"From now on, the exchanges between the Edo shogunate and the outside world will definitely become more frequent, and the demand for talents who are proficient in Western languages ​​will definitely continue to increase."

"So if you learn the Western language, you will definitely not have to worry about food in the future."

"The British Empire is currently the strongest country in the West. When dealing with overseas countries, we absolutely cannot avoid the British Empire."

"The strength of France is second only to that of England, and France now has a very close relationship with the shogunate, and the two sides have carried out a lot of cooperation."

"So, it is enough to learn English and French. If you can master these two languages, it will definitely be of great benefit to your future."

"To be honest, I am currently learning English by myself."

“Although I don’t know how to pronounce many words because I don’t have a teacher to teach them orally, I already remember the meaning of many words.”

"As for the second one..."

Okita Hikari smiled enigmatically.

"That is to find a husband who can trust me to entrust you to him."

"Unless it is absolutely necessary, I will not force you to marry anyone. I will give you the greatest degree of freedom in choosing a mate. But for now, I highly recommend Mr. Orange."

"Although I can't call it a reason...but my instinct when looking at people tells me: Mr. Tachibana is the person who can bring you happiness."

"I'll give you three years."

Okita Hikaru raised 3 fingers.

"Three years. Within three years, I will either learn skills and crafts that can support myself; or I will marry Mr. Orange or a man like Mr. Orange who makes me think, 'He will definitely bring you happiness.'"

"After three years, if you fail to meet either of these two conditions... then I'm sorry. Even if you take off your clothes and abdicate to me, I will never let you touch the sword again."

There is no intention to negotiate with the DG.

After finishing this one-sided announcement, Okita Hikaru let down his hair and took off his coat.

After taking off only a white bottom shirt, I took advantage of the fact that my body still had a little heat from the clothes and the winter cold from the outside had not yet invaded me, so I slipped into the warm quilt.

Just as Okita Hikaru was about to close her eyes and enter a dream, she suddenly seemed to think of something and turned to look at Souji again.

"Xiao Si, I almost forgot to say... Although I admire Jun Ju very much and I am happy to see such an outstanding man become my brother-in-law. But you must not do anything to belittle yourself."

"There is definitely no shortage of girls to like a hero like Jun Ju."

"If one day in the future, Mr. Orange marries someone, we should find other outstanding talents."

"In short, you can't be anyone's concubine, including Tachibana-kun. Do you understand?"

"I understand your character very well. You... like to give yourself too much. You would rather suffer yourself than see others suffer. You are too kind-hearted."

"Because you like someone so much, you unconditionally tolerate all the other person's excessive behavior... I think you can do this kind of thing... Hmm? Xiao Si, are you listening?"

Okita Hikaru found the general secretary dumbfounded, staring straight at the gray ceiling dimmed by the night, seemingly not listening to her words.

In fact, it was true - Hikaru Okita took off his clothes and was about to get into bed, and Souji entered a fugue state.

All sounds, movements and movements from the outside world left him.

Her consciousness floated out of her body and flew to the past not long ago, four months ago...

…

Time goes back to 4 months ago, on August 14th of the first year of Wanyan (1860)——

"Sister! I don't care! I will never put down the sword in my hand!"

"You...well, forget it, let's not talk about this topic. If we continue to talk, we will quarrel again. Let's talk about something else - Xiao Si, what do you think of Mr. Ju?"

"Uh...how about what?"

"do you like him?"

"Hi...?! Sister! What are you talking about so suddenly?!"

"Xiao Si, it's time for you to think about the major events of your life. You are now at the best age to get married. I think Mr. Ju is a pretty good person. You... huh? Hey, look what I found.

.”
To be continued...