When he opened his mouth and froze, she seemed to notice his suspicious pause, hesitated slightly, and continued to ask, "Could it be ...... Isn't there a lady in Mr. Naito's hometown?"

Hijikata felt that she could not hesitate any longer, otherwise she did not know what else she would say, so he replied decisively, "...... Yes. ”

But she got a definite answer, but she refused to let him go. She leaned a little closer to him—there was a slit on her side, and the rain was blown in by the increasing night wind—and whispered, "Well, you must have missed you so much since you were away from home......

Earthwork: "......"

He felt a pang of agitation.

The topic was too difficult for him to answer, no matter what she asked. But it didn't seem quite right to deny the existence of the "Lady of Home"—before he could figure out how he could properly and reasonably obfuscate the subject, he heard her add as if interested:

"What kind of person is your wife......

Hijikata couldn't bear it. This series of innocent questions literally cone on his heart like a series of nails, and made him almost irritable.

"What are you asking for?" he asked impatiently and bluntly.

Originally, she thought that a little evil voice would scare her away, but she was stunned for a moment, and laughed instead.

"I've heard that this is the safest topic for a good man. Her answer was a bit unexpected.

"After all, in such a time, what ambition is there to talk about? good or bad, only time will tell—"

Earthwork:?!

He was a little startled, and suddenly turned his face to glare at her. For the words she had just uttered sounded meaningful, not like that of a country maiden, and yet the next moment he was obliged to turn his face away in embarrassment, for they were now too close to each other to avoid the rain, and he had just forgotten this, and as soon as he turned his face away, his lips almost touched her cheek, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

...... So, what the hell is this! There aren't many women who dare to interrogate the deputy head of the Shinsengumi, if she knew that the man who was sitting next to her now and who she was questioning was the deputy head of the ghost back then-

Before he could finish his thoughts, he heard the long-winded woman beside him speak again.

"Therefore, a good man like you is not suitable to talk to you about those usual topics in the Wind and Moon Field. Greetings to your wife, then, are also right—" She slowly dragged out her final note, and her tone was filled with a sigh that seemed to be true and false.

"After all, she's such a lucky person~"

The small wavy lines in her voice upset Hijikata. In order to stop her from continuing, he hastily opened his mouth and cut off her words.

“...... Ah, she's a ...... Strange people?"

"Huh?!" Sure enough, as soon as he made this comment, he immediately heard her low voice of surprise.

Hijikata inexplicably felt a sense of pleasure (fog!) in reclaiming a castle (?), coughed and continued, "...... Many of the thoughts and behaviors are probably different from those of women in this era—if they insist on speaking, they are too stubborn, and sometimes they seem very clumsy......"

As soon as these few comments came out, the girl next to him, who was still chattering and asking him about the "hometown lady" with a curious face, seemed to have no eyes at all, but suddenly quieted down, it was so quiet...... It's a bit unusual.

Fortunately, her silence didn't last long. Hijikata heard the sound of rustling beside him, apparently the sound of their clothes scraping against each other as she tried to adjust her position - but he didn't dare turn his head to see what she was doing, and he remembered the accident he had almost caused when he turned his head, and he didn't dare to act rashly anymore.

However, she quickly seemed to adjust her posture and answered with a smile.

“...... If you hadn't known that Mr. Naito was a good man, and that there must be a place for a lady in your heart, just listening to your words, would you really think that you were actually dissatisfied with your lady in your heart?"

The half-truth, half-truth-like, hook-like tail of her words appeared at the end of her sentence. Hijikata felt a headache.

In the end, he had to cough heavily in a thick voice, pretending not to hear the slightest hint of provocation in her tone, and replied bluntly: "...... No. ”

Miss Kujo: "Oh?!"

Hijikata suddenly felt a little ridiculous.

What was he doing tonight?...... Oh, the routine night patrol. And then what?

...... Then, I encountered the incident of this pretending wandering girl to hijack Saigo Congdao.

Then, he could only exchange his body as a hostage to return to Saigo Congdao -- they Satsuma people couldn't even deal with a woman! And they were talking big about changing the country!

In the end, he actually sat under the boulder with this murderous fake wandering girl to hide from the rain, and he didn't know what happened in the camp, whether the people chasing her were delayed by this sudden rainstorm, and when they would catch up......

Now, he's forced to talk about this kind of topic he's not good at!

Hijikata took a deep breath.

Sedation. He had to hold her steady.

Although there was already some speculation in her heart that she was a secret envoy sent by the Satsuma army to persuade Saigo to defect from the road, since Satsuma dared to send her to danger alone, it showed that her skills should not be underestimated; if she was not sure that she would be able to complete the mission smoothly, how could Satsuma dare to send someone who would be easily caught by them and then learn a lot of information about Satsuma's side from her mouth through harsh interrogation?

Moreover, his knife is still with her.

This woman must not be underestimated.

Just as he was leaving the camp, he walked up as promised and willingly took the place of Saigo and left from the road, and the moment she put the knife on his neck, he understood: judging by her movements and the position of the knife, this woman was definitely a veteran.

The posture she had chosen and the placement of the blade were so clever that she would not threaten his life by moving around for the time being, but she could also gently and skillfully send the blade forward at any time and end him up; what sophistication and cunning! It must have been a habit honed in countless practical actions!

It's not that Hijikata isn't bad at dealing with people—in fact, he thinks he's better at this kind of thing than Kondo, after all, in the Shinsengumi era, he was in charge of reporting to his superiors, supervising his subordinates, communicating with other people, and so on—but tonight, perhaps because of the proximity, or because of the annoying rain, or perhaps because of this incomprehensible and melancholy topic, he felt a pang of restlessness.

...... This Miss Kujou seems to be genuinely curious about his "hometown lady". That's why I got to the bottom of it for a while. This kind of situation has not been encountered before by him, all in all, although he does not have an overly arrogant view of himself, but when he encounters this kind of problem, it is usually because the other girl has a strong interest in him, so he uses this roundabout tentative method to inquire about the news. And although he quickly and harshly rejected the other party before, but today, in order to stabilize this Miss Kujo, he still has to say two more words to deal with him.

And, perhaps because he and Miss Kujo were complete strangers, it was easier for him to speak to her about "Lady of Hometown", whether it was true or false.

"She's a tough and tenacious woman. He finally said.

Now that he had made up his mind to say more, he let go of that sense of restraint and continued to speak slowly.

"I used to think she was a cunning guy...... It's obviously a very ordinary thing, but when she gets there, she can have so many tricks...... I just asked her to come and talk to me on a normal business, only to hear her chanting haiku aloud outside my door—"

The aura of the Kujou lady beside her seemed to stagnate. Hijikata didn't know if it was because she was stunned, or because she was trying to hold back the smile—even when he said these things, he couldn't help but smile, because some things sounded strange now, didn't they?

"And, often whimsical...... I don't know how to raise goldfish, regardless of whether the situation allows ......"

"I seem to like sweet food very much, but when I ask her to cook, it is always light...... There have been many times when I have to re-add soy sauce to the dish. ”

“...... It's the opposite of what Mr. – uh, my brother – used to cooking. That guy likes to put soy sauce in his dishes, and the dishes are so salty that they poison people...... Everybody—well, people who have eaten their craft, they all say, ah, if only the habits of the two of them could be neutralized......"

"Also, I thought that her sewing skills were good, which was a limited advantage...... As a result, I later learned that they all asked other girls to do it for them...... If she comes by herself, the sewn clothes won't be worn a few times before the threads will be opened again. Let her sew it firmly, and when she took it to the sewn clothes, the traces of the sewing were crooked like earthworms crawling on the clothes......"

At this point he paused, not knowing what he was considering, and after a moment he burst out laughing and shook his head, as if he himself thought these things were so amusement.

“...... I can't help it. He muttered.

But even though he had said so much in a rambling manner, Miss Kujo beside him remained silent. Only the sound of quiet breathing reminded him that there was an audience beside him.

Hijikata paused for a moment, and felt that he should also say something about the benefits of "Lady of Hometown", otherwise others would inevitably wonder if there was such a "Lady of Hometown", otherwise how could it be said that it was all shortcomings?

He looked down and pondered.

"In addition, I am actually very reliable in doing things, and I seem to have read a lot of books and kept up with ...... Well, when I talked about Guan Sheng Emperor with a friend who was like my brother, I actually had a head ......"

"Sometimes she's so reckless and bold that people are scared to death by her, and sometimes she's cunning and clever enough to trick people around—"

The sound of rain outside the cracks in the stone was still dripping. Accompanied by the rhythmic sound of the rain, his voice seemed to have entered a state of stability, and he spoke quietly, without even the slightest pause to remember or think, and just kept talking.

"Sometimes she doesn't say a word when she is injured, so brave that people don't even realize that she is a woman and needs to be protected......"

“...... The will is tenacious to the point that even I am amazed, and when I recognize something, I rush over with my head bowed and in one breath, without looking back, and without doubting my decision, as if I am not afraid of the danger that awaits me......"

There was a hint of sigh in his voice.

"But even such a woman has a very innocent side—"

"It's always about the summer festival of the coming year, so I'm going to go with two people at the beginning—"

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25 August:

I finally feel like I'm much better...... It's so uncomfortable to be sick this time

The fever didn't torment me too much, the main thing was that I felt dizzy and had a sharp pain in my head as soon as I sat up

Since this chapter is still the key plot of the deputy chief's confession, I don't want to write it reluctantly, but everyone thinks it's not good-looking

Anyway, thank you for your understanding and patience!I think I can restore the update

Also, I've thought about it and I've written more than 20 chapters, so let's speed up and let the deputy chief sprinkle sugar!

So the deputy chief of this chapter is a little more straightforward, because he doesn't know that the girl sitting next to him is a girl

Sometimes it's easier for us to say things to strangers that we don't dare to say to those close to us

Because I feel like I'm not losing anything by saying it to strangers anyway, right?

PS. The head office likes to put soy sauce when cooking, and Kondo-san likes to be Emperor Seki, all of which are set in the original work hhh

Next update: tomorrow.

Thank you to the little angel who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~

Thanks to the little angel who threw [Mine]: Meow Meow, Gui Crane Deep, Immortal Limit 1;

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [the nutrient solution]:

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!