Kinoshita Mai grabbed Aoto's empty tea cup and ran back to the kitchen in the back room with a bang.

After Kinoshita Mai left, Saito, who had been sitting quietly next to Aoto drinking tea just now, raised his head and looked at the back room of Chishiya with a mixed expression.

"The secret between two people... Miss Kinoshita, has she forgotten me?"

Qingto was amused by Saito's murmur with a hint of resentment. Although he tried his best to control it, he couldn't help but cover his face and laugh happily.

…

…

After Kinoshita Mai returned to Qingneng with a cup filled with fresh tea, she and Qingneng chatted for a while.

After drinking countless cups of tea from Aoden and unknowingly changing the content of the chat with Mai Kinoshita from "Cat Monk" to "Four Ways to Eat Wagashi", Chishiya's shop door

Finally there was a loud noise outside.

"Young Master, Tachibana-kun, I'm back." Kiryu opened the shop door, "You're lucky - Nagakura-kun and the others happened to be staying in their residence right now, and we found them all right away."

Looking up - three young men following Kiryuu filed into the store together with Kiryuu.

Qingto found among these three young men at a glance Nagakura Shinpachi, whom he had only met last month.

As for the other two people except Nagakura...their looks are worthy of special mention.

One of the two people has a medium height of about 1.6 meters and a rather strong build.

He was wearing a slightly shabby kimono, without hakama, and the front of the shirt was crookedly open to both sides, exposing his chest and abdominal muscles that looked very hard.

Qingden noticed that this man had a horizontal incision on his abdomen.

The more Qingden looked at it, the more he felt that this horizontal incision looked like a laparotomy wound...

There was no wakizashi on his waist, only a katana, and a nearly 2-meter-long spear was held by this person in his right hand and carried on his shoulder. Since he was holding a spear, Qingdeng deduced that this person should be

The master of marksmanship mentioned by Boss Kiryu: Sanosuke Harada.

As for the other one of the two, he is on the shorter side.

This man is shorter than Okita, only a little over 1.5 meters tall.

He was neatly dressed and wore a pair of long and short swords on his left waist.

Since the man carrying the spear was Harada Sanosuke, then this short man should be Toudo Heisuke.

Whether it's Harada or Toudou, they both have faces that many girls should have a crush on.

After entering the Thousand Things House and meeting Aoden, Nagakura, who had a close relationship with Aoto, took the lead in raising his hand and greeted Aoto in a rather heroic tone:

"Yo! Tachibana-kun! We meet again!"

"Nagakura-kun, long time no see." Qingden smiled and nodded politely to Nagakura.

Tachibana-kun——After hearing Nagakura call Aotomo this way, Harada and Toudou immediately turned their gazes sideways and looked at Aotobu.

Harada is the kind of normal, calm look between strangers.

The light in Toudo's eyes was slightly different. When he looked at Qingdeng, his eyes shone with a touch of excitement and joy.

Harada, who was holding the gun in his right hand, put his left hand on his hip, showed a silly smile, and asked Aonto in a commoner tone without honorifics: "Are you the Tachibana Aoto who wants to hire Okabiki?"

Aoden nodded and stood up: "The first time we met, I returned to Tongxin: Tachibana Aoto in Shimokita Bansho Town."

As soon as Qingneng finished introducing himself, Todou stood up straight with excitement on his face, and then bowed 90 degrees to Qingneng.

"First time, first meeting! Mr. Tachibana! I am Toudo Heisuke from Ito Dojo!"

Toudo's words were in sharp contrast to Harada's words - the latter did not use any honorifics when talking to Aotomo, while the former used the most top-notch, complicated honorifics to talk to Aotomo.

Through the appearance of the two people and the few simple exchanges they just exchanged, Qingnobo has a preliminary understanding of the personalities of Harada and Toudo.

That Harada seemed to be the kind of unruly, informal, rough man who seemed to be a little honest.

As for Todo, he is much more honest and polite, and all manners are extremely thoughtful.

"Okay, don't hang around at the entrance." Kiryu turned around and smiled calmly at Nagakura and the others, "Come in quickly. Young Master, please go and get three more cushions."

…

…

Everyone was brought here by Kiryu - Qingnobu thanked Kiryu first, then straightened his waist slightly, and said seriously to Nagakura, Harada and Toudou who were sitting in front of him in various sitting postures:

"I've heard everything from Boss Kiryu - Boss Kiryu has talked to you one by one in advance, and all three of you are willing to join me. So, I'll get straight to the point."

"You must have heard more or less about the work Okabiki needs to do."

"This job does not require any mental work that requires a lot of effort. The main job is to share with Tongxin the chores, tiring work, and hard work that only require physical strength."

"Therefore, I don't have many requirements for Okabiki under my command. All he needs to do is have good physical strength and be willing to endure hardships and stand hard work."

"But because helping Tongxin arrest criminals is one of Okabiki's main jobs, I also hope that my Okabiki's skills can be as good as possible. It would be great if he is someone who is proficient in a certain martial arts."

"According to Boss Kiryu - the three of you all have martial arts abilities that are outstanding among your peers."

"Nagakura-kun has had a relationship with me before. I have competed with him. I know his strength very well."

"As for Harada-kun and Toudou-kun..."

Aoto focused his attention on Harada and Toudo.

"I don't know much about the specific strength of the two of you."

"So, I would like to conduct an assessment to test your strength now. What are your intentions?"

"Oh?" Harada's eyelids twitched and he grinned, "Testing our strength? Ahhh... That's right. After all, it's impossible to hire someone who doesn't know the specific strength to be a subordinate. Okay, okay! Let's test it.

!”

Todo on the side nodded his head vigorously: "Yes! I am willing to accept any test!"

"How do you want to test it?" Harada then asked, "If you want to test our strength... then we have to have a fight with others. Do you want to find someone to compete with us? Or do you want to find someone to compete with us?

Are you saying you want to compete with us in person?"

"I'm here to test your strength personally." Qingdeng slowly showed a meaningful smile, "But if you test them one by one... it would take too much time."

"Just...let's have a two-on-two match to save time and effort."

"Two teams two?" Harada and Toudo said in unison.

Qingden turned his head at this time and looked at Saito who was sitting behind him.

"Saito, can you help me?"

Saito was stunned for a moment, then nodded without thinking.

He didn't like to talk, but responded to Qingdeng with actions.

*******

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Chapter completed!