About an hour later——

"I said it feels like it's getting hotter and hotter! It turns out it's already this hour!"

Makimura looked up at the sky and took off his haori from his upper body.

The pale yellow sun had just emerged from behind a thin white cloud and was about to reach the highest point in the sky.

The weak beam of light struggled to penetrate the layers of cold fog and weakly hit the streets and alleys of Edo.

Compared with the coldness of winter, the warmth of the sun is nothing to mention, but it still makes the temperature in the air rise slightly.

"Hahaha! It would be better if the temperature gets higher! I don't like too cold weather!"

After saying that, Makimura held up the bottle of wine that he couldn't count and took another long gulp.

Seeing this, Qingdeng couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

He strongly suspected that Makimura had the talent of "Drunkard +9" in his body.

Although Kiryu very considerately prepared squid, fried beans and other snacks to go with the drink, Makimura barely touched these snacks and kept drinking.

Except for a moment's pause due to his sparring with Ayoto, Makimura never stopped drinking, and he kept drinking without stopping.

The temperature of the water above cannot be said to be very high, but if you pour so much wine into your stomach in one breath, your stomach will be bloated and uncomfortable even if you are not drunk, right?

However, Makimura's face was only slightly red and his belly was slightly bloated, but everything else was as normal.

The consciousness is clear, the words are clear, and there is no trace of drunkenness in the speech and behavior.

——What a great drinker... Mr. Makimura must be the kind of person who can "survive" to the end in various banquet scenes...

Qingdeng thought to himself.

At the same time, his mind couldn't help but recall the scene on New Year's Eve a few days ago when he accidentally drank a piece of wine.

"Well... Mr. Makimura... I'm sorry... I can't drink anymore..."

Kinoshita Mai said "hum" and let out a cute wine burp.

Kinoshita Mai's drinking capacity is very average, and she will start to blush after just a few glasses of ordinary sake.

At this moment, Kinoshita Mai looked slightly drunk, and her pretty and cute face was dyed a deep red.

Ayoto has always liked the way Kinoshita Mai blushes, so he thinks Kinoshita Mai's current drunken state is particularly cute.

"Hahaha! Young Master, your drinking capacity needs to be improved! Well, since Young Master can't drink anymore... Kiryu, Tachibana, the three of us will continue drinking!"

The sound of the wine bottle being opened, accompanied by Makimura's laughter, echoed in the courtyard and lingered for a long time.

Looking at Makimura, who felt like he could still drink for a day and a night, bits of embarrassment gradually appeared on Qingto's cheeks.

He looked up at the sky and thought: It's almost afternoon...

Qingto didn't forget his promise to Mai Kinoshita because he was enjoying drinking: he would go out with her this afternoon.

Based on Makimura's bold personality and his ability to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, I always felt that even if I drank with him until the sun went down, he would still be full of energy.

Should you continue drinking with this old-timer, or should you keep your promise and go out with Mai Kinoshita?

For Qingdeng, this is a question that does not require even a second of thought.

I, Ju Qingden, have always kept my promise! Whatever I promise to others, I will try my best to do it to perfection! So, how can I break my promise to Ah Wu?

After shouting in his heart with an extremely determined tone, Qingdeng paused for a moment, then changed to a tone as if he was whispering, and gently added in his heart:

It's definitely not because I'm horny, and it's definitely not because I want to go out with the girl I like more than drinking with my grandpa...

With this thought, Qingdeng began to think about how to use appropriate and polite words to reject this drinking party that he didn't know when it would end.

At the same time, he unconsciously glanced sideways at Mai Kinoshita beside him.

Coincidentally, as if she had a telepathic connection, Kinoshita Mai also turned to look at Aoden at the same time.

Affected by her shy personality, Kinoshita Mai is not good at making eye contact with others.

The moment her eyes met Qingdeng's, she subconsciously dodges her eyes, trying to avoid them.

However, in just a blink of an eye, she relied on her strong will and fiery emotions to straighten her gaze again and look into Qingdeng's eyes without flinching.

It's nerve-wracking. If I continue to drink with Mr. Makimura like this, I'm afraid this afternoon's outing plan will be ruined. Kinoshita Mai said this to Aonto with her eyes and expression, while showing a shy and wry smile.

The eye contact between the two is very hidden.

However, this "silent communication" was still discovered by others.

And the discoverer was the person with the worst eyesight at the scene.

Kiryu looked at Aoto, then at Mai Kinoshita. His eyes hidden behind the lenses flickered slightly.

"...Makimura, I'm here to have a drink with you. As for Tachibana-kun, don't let him drink anymore."

Makimura: "Huh?"

Aoto, Kinoshita Mai and Makimura all looked at Kiryu in surprise with uniform movements.

"Old people have the life of the elderly, and young people have the life of young people. The weather today is quite good. On this beautiful day, it would be too wasteful to not let the young people go out to vent their energy, but to trap them under the eaves.

.”

After saying that, Kiryu looked at Aonto and Kinoshita Mai with a smile.

"If I guess correctly, you two have an appointment this afternoon, right?"

A word to wake up the dreamer. When Kiryu said this, Makimura suddenly showed an expression of enlightenment.

"Oh! That's it! What, Tachibana, if you have an appointment with the young master, you should tell it earlier! Hahaha!"

Kinoshita Mai's pretty face, which was already flushed red by the alcohol, suddenly turned even redder.

As Kiryu and Makimura finished speaking, she quickly pretended to be an ostrich with the speed of a conditioned reflex, burying her little face low.

Kiryu actually saw through everything... This feeling, as if the girl's parents caught him having sex with the other's daughter, made Qingto very embarrassed.

However, the embarrassment is only a temporary thing.

In just the blink of an eye, Qingden adjusted his emotions and gave the considerate Kiryu a grateful look.

…

…

Thanks to Kiryu's intervention, Aoto and Mai Kinoshita successfully escaped from the endless drinking game.

Kinoshita Mai changed her outfit.

The outermost layer of clothing worn on her body is still the exquisite red kimono given to her by her grandmother; inside the kimono are a few more scarves for cold protection; a pink scarf is wrapped around her pink neck; two

Her little feet were covered with white cotton socks; her whole body exuded the unique youthful atmosphere of a girl of her age.

"Qingdeng, let's go..."

Kinoshita Mai squeezed the belt of her kimono tightly while whispering like a breath.

A green smile appeared on her cute face.

Although Aoto and Mai Kinoshita have a great relationship, so far they have rarely gone on dates together.

Under the watch of Kiryu and Makimura, the figures of the young man and woman disappeared at the intersection outside Qianshi House.

The two old men returned to the verandah of the courtyard.

Without the company of Qingnobo and Kinoshita Mai, the place suddenly became deserted.

"Young Master... you have really grown up..."

Makimura's emotions turned into a deep sigh.

“The older I get, the more I feel that time flies by so fast.”

Makimura stretched out his hand and gestured to his thigh.

"I think back in those days, when my lord picked up the young mistress, the young mistress was only so big, like a kitten, and it seemed that she could be strangled to death with just a gentle squeeze."

"I didn't expect... In just a blink of an eye, the young master has become a properly married girl. She also has someone she likes... I'm afraid it won't be long before we can see the young master wearing a white gown.

It looks good."

Kiryu joked:

"Makimura, you seem to be particularly sentimental today."

"Sentimental? Hahaha! Maybe!" Makimura folded his arms on his chest, raised his head, and looked at the distant sky. "Being sentimental and remembering the past - these are the privileges of us immortals, aren't they?"

"That's right...that's right." Kiryu agreed.

Makimura continued:

"To be honest, I used to worry that the young master with a weak personality would be deceived by the rhetoric of an unreliable wanderer."

“He did things like ‘obsessively giving money and sex’, ‘desperately running away with others’ and so on.”

"Fortunately, this worry has not turned into reality. Overall, I am very satisfied with Tachibana. The last time I met such an outstanding hero... was on Butterfly Island 70 years ago."

"Seventy years ago...Butterfly Island..." Kiryu raised his eyebrows, "Do you mean...Ogata-kun?"
To be continued...