"……I see."

Shazhong tightened the reins in her hands and stopped the carriage.

"Senior, thank you for the medicine."

With that said, Qingden threw the medicine bottle in his hand to Yae.

"Uh, eh? Ah?"

Yae hurriedly took the medicine bottle.

"Junior, this medicine..."

Before she could finish her words, Qingdeng interrupted her and said:

"You keep it for me, and I'll get it back from you when I get the chance."

At this time, the carriage just stopped steadily.

Aoto took off his haori and gently covered Sanako and Souji, then got out of the car without any hesitation.

…

"Ugh...!"

Sanako let out a sigh and slowly opened her beautiful eyes.

She didn't know why, but her heart suddenly beat so fast... This made her wake up involuntarily.

In the small carriage, she first smelled Qingdeng's scent.

"This is...Tachibana-kun's Haori...?"

Sanako blinked and looked at the black feather fabric covering her body in surprise.

After bringing Aototo back to Tsukinomiya Shrine for healing, the new warriors of the new imperial palace changed Aototo into clean and fresh clothes.

How could Mr. Tachibana's clothes be on my body? The moment this idea came to mind, Sanako was shocked to find that the place beside her where Aoden should have been visible was completely empty.

"Tachibana-kun...?"

Sanako was stunned.

Of course, this is just a momentary thing.

After a moment, she hurriedly sat up and got out of the car in a panic.

This panicked behavior has nothing to do with the ladylike temperament of the past.

The cold air that hit her face made Sanako shiver.

After her eyes adjusted to the night breeze outside the car, she suddenly saw - Qingden was leading a horse, striding toward the north, in the direction of Edo.

Not far away, Saege and Yae stood side by side.

Their expressions were solemn, as if they were watching the dead soldiers rush to the battlefield.

"Tachibana-kun! Where are you going?"

As soon as Sanako's shout rang out, Qingden stopped and turned his head.

"Miss Sanako?"

Qingdeng was startled at first, and then showed bitterness on his face.

"Miss Sanako, you woke up at the wrong time..."

When he said this, the bitterness on his face turned into intriguing helplessness.

Seeing this scene and listening to these words... an ominous premonition suddenly rose in Sanako's heart.

Regardless of the fact that she had not put on her shoes yet, she just stepped on the smooth ground with a pair of feet covered with white stockings. She ran to Qingdeng in three steps and two steps at a time, using her body as a wall to block Qingdeng's path.

"Where are you going?"

She asked again.

Qingdeng smiled slightly.

"Miss Sanako, I still have unfinished business... After I finish everything, I will go to Yokohama to find you and Okita-kun."

Although Qingteng didn't explicitly say where he was going or what he was going to do, strangely enough, when he said the words "I still have unfinished business," Sanako immediately understood.

everything.

"Stop joking!"

Sanako yelled out of control.

"You finally saved your life, are you going to die again?"

Probably because he knew he couldn't hide it, Qingdeng lowered his eyebrows as if in trouble.

"Miss Sanako, I am not going to die. I will return safely."

"Return safely? Do you think I would believe this? When your body and mind were in good condition, you couldn't defeat Rakshasa, right? With your scarred appearance now, you can still do something

What?"

"Miss Sanako, I don't know if you want to believe it... Just now, I thought of a way to defeat Rakshasa. This time, I will never lose again."

"This is not a question of whether you can defeat Rakshasa! Even if you take a step back and assume that you really master the method of defeating Rakshasa, what will happen? There are hundreds of Yakuza gathered in Qingshui Residence at this time.

Ah! There is also a master like Qingshui Eiji standing guard! Do you plan to go to Qingshui Residence alone like this? How many lives do you have?"

The roar coming from deep in the throat sounded like a wail like broken glass.

While Sanako roared, he glared at Qingden with sharp eyes.

"..."

Qingden stopped talking and silently took a step to the left, preparing to avoid Sanako.

Sanako stepped forward with quick eyes and hands, and her frail and delicate body once again blocked Qingdeng's front.

"...Miss Sanako, please get out of the way. I want to fight, let me fight."

"Don't go!"

"..."

Qingdeng moved again.

This time, Sanako bit her shell and made a sound, then pulled out the wakizashi from her waist.

"I told you not to go! Didn't you hear?!"

Sanako screamed like boiling hot water suddenly overflowing.

The sharp tip of the knife pointed directly at Qingdeng's chest.

"Back off! I'm serious! Instead of watching you fight a battle that you can't win...rather than letting you be humiliated and killed by the enemy...I would rather kill you now! At least this way, you can

You die a happy death!"

She stared with red eyes, her eyes were ferocious, her tone was passionate, and her tough attitude contained a sharp chill, which made people involuntarily believe that her knife would really pierce Qingdeng's chest...

When the two sisters not far away saw this, they all looked worried.

From their expressions, it is not difficult to see that they very much want to rush forward and reconcile the conflict between Qingto and Sanako.

However, even though they were extremely anxious, they still controlled their bodies with amazing perseverance.

Even the young Yae understands that this kind of scene is not something that outsiders like them can intervene in...

Qingdeng lowered his gaze and stared at the knife in Zonazi's hand.

Right in the middle of this electric light and flint! He stretched out his left hand unexpectedly and grasped the blade! His broad palm covered less than half of the blade!

Qingteng's move immediately made Sanako, who was holding the sword, pale in appearance.

Stunned, she subconsciously wanted to withdraw the blade... but was shocked to find that the knife in her hand seemed to be clamped by iron pliers. No matter how hard she tried, it did not move at all in Qingdeng's palm.

"If you want to kill me, you have to at least point here, right?"

Qingdeng ignored the skin cut by the blade and the dripping blood. He kept his expression and controlled the blade with brute force. The tip of the blade pointed directly at his chest moved sideways to the left little by little... and finally settled on his left chest.

above.

"If you want to stab me, stab me. If you want to kill me, kill me. No matter what, I will not give in."

After saying that, Aomori let go of Sanako's wakizashi.

At the same moment - there was a "clang" sound... the knife fell to the ground.

Sanako lowered his head and said nothing, looking blankly at the wakizashi that fell at his feet, the sword covered in bright blood, and the hands holding the sword were trembling slightly.

Just when Qingteng was trying to avoid Sanako...

"Tachibana-kun...don't do this...!"

The whimpering sound caused Qingdeng to stop again.

He looked up because he was concerned about the tone of this sentence - in front of him was a pair of beautiful eyes full of tears, staring straight at him.
To be continued...