My Gang of Swordsmen

What did they go to do? It goes without saying…

This camaraderie from visiting XX together has made Hijikata, Nagakura, and Harada particularly close recently.

Because of his personal character and the influence of his education since childhood, Aoto has always stayed away from places like Yoshiwara.

Aoto feels: He might never have any entanglement with the people from the red-light district in his lifetime!

No matter how you look at it, Harada’s behavior of playing around until his face is white and his steps are shaky is really not appropriate.

Just as Aoto was pondering whether he should find an opportunity to remind Harada to exercise some restraint, he suddenly noticed something squirming in the lower right corner of his field of vision.

Turning his head to look — that squirming shadow turned out to be Toshisuke’s small hand.

After taking Toshisuke’s cup away, Aoto casually placed it next to his right knee.

At this moment, Toshisuke quietly reached her small hand towards Aoto’s right knee — she wanted to sneakily take back her cup while Aoto and Chokata Mitsuo were not paying attention.

“Hey, Mr. Chokata.”

Aoto, who timely discovered Toshisuke’s intent, hurriedly moved her cup to an even farther place.

“I told you, you can’t drink anymore.”

Aoto tried his best to put on a stern face, deliberately using a severe tone, hoping to make Toshisuke back down.

However, facing Aoto’s serious admonition, Toshisuke nonchalantly chuckled, and then…

“Mmm~ just let me have one more drink…~~”

She used a sweet, soft voice that Aoto had never heard before… no, it should be more accurately described as “coquettishly pleading” to Aoto.

After whining, Toshisuke blinked her big, watery eyes with effort, looking at Aoto with a pitiful gaze like an abandoned puppy.

Facing Toshisuke’s gaze, Aoto’s mouth twitched uncontrollably.

——Looks like Miss Chokata is quite drunk…

He can hardly imagine Toshisuke using this tone and these eyes to speak with him in her normal state.

Being stared at by Toshisuke like this… Aoto just felt completely uncomfortable.

Considering all the hard work and contributions Toshisuke had made in today’s competition… Aoto sighed softly, his heart softened.

He lifted his head and glanced at Chokata Mitsuo and Chokata Rintaro not far away — they were engrossed in watching Harada and the others dance, paying no attention to him and Toshisuke.

After confirming that the Chokata couple weren’t looking their way, Aoto cautiously pushed the cup back in front of Toshisuke.

“…You can only have one more cup.”

“Ehehehe~”

Toshisuke happily cupped her wine glass with both hands, promptly and hastily filling it to the brim with her back to Chokata Mitsuo, then gulped it down.

Watching Toshisuke’s blissful expression from drinking, Aoto’s facial lines gradually softened.

“…Mr. Chokata, it really is impressive. You’ve finally reached the realm where you can freely release and gather ‘momentum’.”

If one were to use a novelist’s words to describe this morning’s competition with Xuanwu Hall… there’s probably no more fitting phrase than “twists and turns, ups and downs.”

If you were to ask what today’s biggest highlight was on the field… it was undoubtedly Toshisuke suddenly unleashing her ‘momentum’ and clashing intensely with Chiba Daisaburo!

After the competition, under Zhouzhu’s guidance, Toshisuke conducted several experiments — while not yet fully proficient, Toshisuke indeed reached the level where she could freely release and gather ‘momentum’!

Aoto is still at the stage where ‘momentum’ only appears occasionally, and he has no control over it at all.

So in comparison, Toshisuke is already one level above Aoto.

Of course — one cannot simply use whether one can freely release and gather ‘momentum’ as an assessment of personal strength.

If Aoto and Toshisuke were to have a one-on-one match right now, Aoto still has considerable confidence he could win.

“Hehe…~~”

Hearing Aoto’s praise, Toshisuke raised her hand to brush the light ponytail at the back of her head.

“Mr. Tachibana… it’s also thanks to you…”

Toshisuke gazed longingly at Aoto.

The emotions contained within the gaze were hard to decipher.

“Thanks to me?” Aoto was taken aback, “Why?”

Aoto doesn’t recall doing anything for Toshisuke that could help her break through a realm.

“Mmm… mmm… so sleepy…”

Toshisuke made murmurs and moans filled with drunkenness.

It was evident she didn’t hear Aoto’s question just now at all.

Seeing that Toshisuke had temporarily lost the ability to communicate normally, Aoto silently thought to himself:

——Forget it… I’ll find a chance to ask her properly later.

…

…

——How strange… is it just my imagination…?

Sitting diagonally opposite Aoto, Mukiwa has been staring fixedly at Aoto and Toshisuke with an investigative gaze since just now.

For Mukiwa, the seat she most wanted was naturally beside Aoto.

But she couldn’t control the seating arrangement, and being socially anxious, she didn’t have the courage to ask to change seats, so she had to settle for sitting diagonally opposite Aoto.

Such a position has one benefit — any movement on Aoto’s side can be observed clearly by Mukiwa.

Since the celebration started, Mukiwa had focused most of her attention on Aoto.

As such… all of Aoto and Toshisuke’s interactions just now were clearly seen by Mukiwa.

Mukiwa knew that Aoto and Toshisuke were very close.

But she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination.

She always felt that the interaction between these two… seemed a bit overly intimate…