!" [Breaking update 1W5]

Feeling restless and frightened? I can’t think of the right words to describe it.

All in all, I have been feeling very unsettled since early this morning.

Maybe it's because the surveillance on Natsume Sōhachiro has been fruitless, and I can't help but feel anxious... Aonto explained this to himself.

Counting today, the surveillance of Natsume Sōhachiro has been going on for several days.

Continuous round-the-clock surveillance has been carried out, and as a result, Souhachiro Natsume has not been seen to have contact with any suspicious person until now.

No results have been produced yet... Such a situation made those at the top begin to put pressure on Qingdeng.

Originally, these superiors, who did not seek merit but sought no fault, and who only wanted to use the most conservative means to investigate the case, were very opposed to Ayoto doing such an extremely error-prone thing as "investigating Sohachiro Natsume".

Now that Aoto's investigation of Natsume Sohachiro has been fruitless, it is inevitable that those at the higher level will start to make irresponsible remarks about Aoto.

Look, I said it all, right? Natsume Sōhachiro has nothing to investigate, but you don’t listen! Look, manpower and precious time are wasted. Although those superiors did not tell Ayoto so clearly, Ayoto did.

You can read such thoughts from the looks they cast recently.

Qingdeng didn't care about the pressure from his superiors.

No matter what his superiors say, Aoto still firmly believes that the weird Natsume Sohachiro is the key to finding Sanako, so he is unwavering in his thoughts and has no intention of changing his current case-handling methods of monitoring Natsume Sohachiro around the clock.

While Kinoshita Mai was leaning against the alley wall with her eyes closed and concentrating, Aoto, who had hidden his figure in the shadow of the alley, continued the task of "surveilling Natsume's house" meticulously, keeping his eyes fixed on the door of Natsume's house.

At this time, Kinoshita Mai, who had just closed her eyes to rest, suddenly opened one eye slightly, and then used the opened eye to quietly look at Qingden's face next to her.

Looking at Aonto's face, which was extremely serious because he was concentrating on monitoring the Natsume family, a... strange emotion appeared between Kinoshita Mai's eyebrows.

His hands were folded in front of him, and the fingers were clasped together. His cute and pink toes, like white lotus root sprouts, grabbed the flat wooden clogs under his feet.

Aoto's investigation of Natsume Sohachiro was approved by the government.

Therefore, since he does not need to act secretly, he naturally does not need to dress up as a "little fox monk".

Similarly, Mai Kinoshita, who comes to assist Aoto in an open and honest manner due to Aoto's request, does not need to put on any disguise or change into the clothes of a "cat monk".

In order to cool herself down, and to facilitate movement, tonight... no, it should be said that during the past few days in response to Shimo Aoto's request for assistance, Kinoshita Mai has been wearing a refreshing and cool bright red thin yukata without socks.

Her fair feet are wearing a pair of red buttoned flat clogs.

"Huh? Miss Kinoshita, what's wrong?"

Qingto's peripheral vision caught Kinoshita Mai's gaze.

"Ah, no, nothing..."

Kinoshita Mai hurriedly turned her gaze away from Qingto.

"I just... I think you are so conscientious and responsible, Mr. Ju."

"Obviously other officials have the attitude of 'It's okay as long as I didn't make any big mistakes'."

"You are the only one who takes this case so seriously."

When Kinoshita Mai first came to help, Aoto mentioned to Kinoshita Mai his disgusting attitude in handling cases of "as long as no big mistakes are made, that's all."

"It's not a big deal." Qingden laughed dumbly, "After all, Miss Sanako... she can be considered my friend for the time being."

"Even if we don't mention the futile thing like 'officer's responsibility'."

"Just the reason of 'finding friends' is enough for me to do my best on this case."

Miss Sanako... when she heard this name from Qingto's mouth, the strange emotion that just appeared in Kinoshita's brows resurfaced again.

Mai Kinoshita clasped her hands together again, looked down, looked at her toes that were like white jade petals, and said softly in a... somewhat uneasy tone:

"Tachibana-kun, are you and that Chiba Sanako... very good friends?"

"Huh? It's not like we have a good relationship." Qingto, who only regarded the question raised by Kinoshita Mai as an ordinary chat, answered casually without thinking, "Strictly speaking... she and I may not be the same.

She is considered a friend. Since I met her, I have only spoken to her for a while."

"I know her brother Chiba Jutaro very well."

Hearing Qingto's answers... Kinoshita Mai pursed her lips slightly.

The eyes that were as beautiful as black crystals were gleaming, revealing an emotion that... could be barely interpreted as "lucky".

Then, Kinoshita Mai suddenly froze, then raised her hands and slapped her tender face vigorously from left to right.

"Miss Kinoshita?" Qingden quickly cast a doubtful look at Kinoshita Mai.

What are you doing? Aonto asked Kinoshita Mai with his eyes.

Kinoshita Mai, who understood Aoden's eyes, smiled a few times as if embarrassed.

"I'm punishing myself."

"While you, Mr. Ju, are thinking seriously about how to save people, I am thinking about some random things... This is really inappropriate."

"While punishing myself, I also remind myself: I came to assist you, Mr. Tachibana, to save people. Compared with human life, all other things are trivial. Focus on saving people first, and other things will wait for them.

We’ll talk about it after we’re rescued.”

There was a hint of guilt in Kinoshita Mai's tone.

Random thoughts? Random things?

Qingto, who didn't quite understand what Kinoshita Mai was saying, blinked.

Just when Ayoto was still wondering what Kinoshita Mai was talking about just now... Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Ayoto caught a glimpse of a black shadow shaking in the direction of Natsume's door.

Upon seeing this, Qingden quickly turned his gaze away from Kinoshita Mai, focused his gaze, and stared at the swaying black shadow.

Kinoshita Mai, who noticed Aoto's strange behavior, quickly stood up straight and followed Aoto to look at the door of Natsume's house, and then she also spotted the black shadow.

Although tonight is a cloudy day with dim light and extremely poor visibility... such weather will not have any impact on Qingdeng.

Because Qingdeng has the gift of being able to see clearly at night: "Night Vision."

No matter how dark the space is, it is like daylight to Qingdeng.

After looking at the black shadow that suddenly appeared, Qingto immediately saw the full picture of the black shadow - it was Natsume Souhachiro!

I saw Natsume Sōhachiro alone pushing open the door of the mansion to a gap just enough for him to walk through, and then tiptoed out of the mansion along this gap, then turned around and headed straight towards the east side of the street.

Go on foot.

He looked left and right the whole time, with a nervous look on his face... as if he was alert to whether there were passers-by or followers around him.

After staying on guard for so many days... I finally discovered Natsume Sohachiro's unusual behavior.

There was no need for any verbal communication... and there was nothing to communicate. Aoto and Mai Kinoshita looked at each other at the same time with great tacit understanding. After looking at each other, the two walked out slowly side by side with silent and light steps.

He walked into the dark alley where they almost lived these days, and closely followed Natsume Sōhachiro, who was moving around strangely...

…

…

Edo is very quiet at night.

Natsume Takahachiro walked non-stop through dozens of deserted streets, and finally entered an inaccessible street. He turned into a street surrounded by thick darkness. No one could hear him even if he screamed inside.

remote alleyway.

"It's me, Natsume Sohachiro."

As he stepped into the deepest part of the alleyway, Natsume Sōhachiro lowered his voice and spoke solemnly to the darkness ahead.

"You came much earlier than scheduled."

The darkness in front of Natsume Sōpachiro "squirmed"... An extremely lean warrior with many pimple marks on his face slowly emerged from the darkness and stood in front of Natsume Sōpachiro.

There was no greeting... After the "acne warrior" appeared, Natsume Sōhachiro said quickly in an anxious tone that suppressed anxiety and fear:

"In accordance with your instructions, I have handed over to you the donkey cart containing the sake ordered by Mr. Bright that is scheduled to be delivered to the residence today! It's time to return Ah Yue to me!"

When Natsume Sōhachiro said this, his waist stooped so much that it made his whole person look smaller.

This "shrunk" body coupled with his pleading expression... "extremely humble" is the perfect word to describe Natsume Souhachiro's current posture.

Faced with Natsume Sohachiro's plea... the "Acne Scar Samurai" remained unmoved and his expression remained unchanged.

He lowered his eyebrows, glanced at Souhachiro Natsume with an indifferent look without any emotion, and showed a faint smile.

"Mr. Natsume Sohachiro, thank you for your cooperation with us these days."

"We greatly appreciate your assistance."

"Don't worry, we will abide by the agreement and let Miss Natsume Yue go."

"We never wanted to harm Miss Natsume Yue from the beginning."

The words of the "acne scarred warrior" were like sunshine, illuminating Natsume Souhachiro's originally extremely gloomy face.

Natsume Sōhachiro's originally rather cloudy eyes became much clearer at this time.

However... it hadn't been long before the light appeared in Natsume Sohachiro's eyes. The next scene that happened in front of him made his expression and body become as hard as stone.

Snapped!
To be continued...