Chapter 258: Chapter 113: Aoto Wants to Be a Phantom Thief with Cat Monk

"Of course, if one day Cat Monk does fall and starts targeting ordinary civilians, I won’t be able to maintain a friendly attitude towards him."

After saying that, Aoto instinctively raised the teacup in his hand to take a sip, but upon reaching his lips, he realized the tea was already finished, so he awkwardly put the teacup down.

At this moment, Mukiwa’s slender, velvet-like eyelashes fluttered a few times.

After sending a long glance at Aoto, the corners of her mouth slowly lifted, a smile emerged, ultimately turning into a child-like pure expression.

"Mr. Tachibana, you as a ’Three Times’ Dōshin say you like Cat Monk... Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?"

Aoto chuckled, then raised his right index finger to his lips, making a "hush" gesture.

"Then, Miss Kinoshita, you must keep this secret for me," Aoto teased.

Mukiwa raised her hand to cover her lips, smiling sweetly.

"Okay!" After lowering her hand from her lips, she nodded vigorously, "I will keep it a secret!"

"Hehe, hehe..." Mukiwa suddenly giggled a few times, "In this way—this is now a secret between the two of us."

Mukiwa noticed that Aoto’s teacup was empty.

"Mr. Tachibana, wait a moment, I’ll go pour you a cup of fresh tea!"

Mukiwa grabbed Aoto’s empty teacup and ran back to the kitchen inside with a "pat, pat" sound.

After Mukiwa left, Saito, who had been quietly sitting beside Aoto drinking tea, raised his head, wearing a complicated expression as he looked at the inner room of the Thousand Affairs House.

"A secret between two people... Has Miss Kinoshita forgotten about me?"

Aoto, amused by Saito’s faintly resentful murmur, couldn’t help but cover his face, despite trying to control it, and let out a joyful laugh.

...

...

After Mukiwa returned with a freshly brewed teacup and sat beside Aoto, she chatted with Aoto idly for quite a while longer.

By the time Aoto had unknowingly drunk countless cups of tea and the conversation with Mukiwa had shifted from "Cat Monk" to "the four ways of eating Wagashi," the shop door of the Thousand Affairs House finally rang with a clatter.

"Young Master, Mr. Tachibana, I’m back." Kiryu opened the shop door, "Luckily—Mr. Nagakura and the others are just at their residence now, we got hold of them all right away."

Looking up—3 young men followed behind Kiryu in a row, entering the store.

Aoto immediately recognized Nagakura Shinpachi, who he’d met just last month among the 3 young men.

As for the other two besides Nagakura... their appearances are worth noting.

One of these two had an average height of about 1.6 meters and a rather sturdy build.

He wore a slightly worn kimono without a hakama, with the collar in front askew to both sides, revealing exceptionally hard-looking chest and abdominal muscles.

Aoto noticed that this person’s abdomen had a horizontal cut.

The more Aoto looked, the more he thought this horizontal cut looked like a seppuku wound...

He wore no wakizashi at his waist, but carried a tachi and held a nearly 2-meter-long spear with his right hand over his shoulder—since he held a spear, Aoto deduced this person must be the spear expert Boss Kiryu referred to: Harada Sazō.

As for the other of the two, his build was on the shorter side.

This person was even shorter than Chokata, only just over 1.5 meters tall.

His clothes were worn neatly, and he properly wore a pair of long and short swords at his left waist.

Since the man carrying the spear was Harada Sazō, then the short fellow must be Fujimura Heisuke.

Both Harada and Fujimura had faces that should be secretly admired by many girls.

Upon entering the Thousand Affairs House and seeing Aoto, Nagakura, who had met Aoto once before, was the first to wave his hand and greeted Aoto in a rather hearty tone:

"Yo! Mr. Tachibana! We meet again!"

"Mr. Nagakura, long time no see." Aoto smiled and politely nodded at Nagakura.

Mr. Tachibana—upon hearing Nagakura address Aoto like this, Harada and Fujimura immediately cast a sidelong glance, sending scrutinizing gazes at Aoto.

Harada’s gaze was calm and typical of a stranger’s look at another stranger.

While Fujimura’s eyes had a slightly different glimmer. As he looked at Aoto, his eyes shimmered with a faint excitement and joy.

Spear-toting Harada put his left hand on his waist, showing a silly grin while asking Aoto in peer language without any honorifics: "Are you the one looking to hire undercover informants, Aoto Tachibana?"

Aoto nodded and stood up: "Nice to meet you, I’m Aoto Tachibana from the North Guard Station Town-Patrol Dōshin."

As soon as Aoto’s introduction was finished, Fujimura enthusiastically straightened up, then bowed 90 degrees to Aoto.

"Nice, nice to meet you! Mr. Tachibana! I’m Fujimura Heisuke from the Ito Dojo!"

Fujimura’s words stood in stark contrast to Harada’s—they used no honorifics when Harada spoke to Aoto, while Fujimura employed the most sophisticated and elaborate honorifics in his interaction with Aoto.

Through their appearances and the brief exchange just now, Aoto could tentatively understand the general personalities of Harada and Fujimura.

Harada appeared to be the type of rugged and straightforward man, seemingly a bit thick-headed and rough around the edges.

As for Fujimura, he was much more honest and courteous, executing all sorts of etiquette with great thoroughness.

"Alright, stop lingering at the entrance." Kiryu turned back, smiling calmly to Nagakura and his group, "Come on in. Young Master, could you please bring over 3 more cushions?"

...

...

Kiryu had brought everyone—Aoto first thanked Kiryu, then straightened his back slightly, facing Nagakura, Harada, and Fujimura who were sitting in various postures before him, and spoke solemnly:

"I’ve already heard everything from Boss Kiryu—Boss Kiryu has already spoken to each of you, and you three are willing to join me. So I’ll be straightforward."

"You should have heard about the tasks required of undercover informants."

"This work doesn’t require any brain-taxing intellectual activities; the main job is to share the physical chores, tiring work, and hard labor of the Dōshin."

"Therefore, I don’t have many demands for undercover informants under my command—just need to have good stamina and be willing to endure hardship."

"However, since helping the Dōshin arrest criminals is one of the main duties of undercover informants, I also hope my informants possess martial skills as much as possible; if someone is proficient in martial arts that would be even better."

"According to Boss Kiryu—each of you three possesses outstanding Martial Arts skills among your peers."

"I’ve met Mr. Nagakura before, and I’ve sparred with him; I’m quite familiar with his abilities."

"As for Mr. Harada and Mr. Fujimura..."

Aoto focused his gaze on Harada and Fujimura.

"I’m not quite sure about the specifics of your abilities."

"So I’d like to conduct a test of your skills now, what do you two think?"

"Oh?" Harada’s eyelid twitched, smiling widely, "Testing our skills? Ah, ah... that makes sense, after all, we can’t hire someone whose actual capabilities are unknown as subordinates. Sure, sure! Let’s test!"

On the side, Fujimura nodded his head vigorously: "Alright! I’m willing to accept any test!"

"How do you plan to test?" Harada then asked, "If you want to test our skills... you must let us face off and have a match, right? Do you plan to find someone for us to spar with, or do you want to personally face us yourself?"

"I’ll personally test your skills," Aoto slowly revealed a profound smile, "But testing one by one... is a bit time-consuming."

"Let’s just... do a two-on-two, it’s more efficient."

"Two-on-two?" Harada and Fujimura spoke in unison.

Aoto then tilted his head, looking at Saito who was sitting behind him.

"Saito, can you help me?"

Saito paused, then immediately nodded without hesitation.

Being not so talkative, he responded to Aoto with actions.

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