"Have you ever performed seppuku?" Fujimura’s eyes widened.

Harada chuckled, then lifted the sides of his kimono, revealing the prominent horizontal scar on his belly.

"See this? That’s the scar from my seppuku back in the day!"

Nagakura, sitting next to Harada, glanced at the scar on Harada’s belly and asked, "Can I touch it?"

"Of course! Go ahead!"

Nagakura reached out and pinched the scar on Harada’s belly.

"You’ve performed seppuku and didn’t die... you really are lucky..." Aoto clicked his tongue. When he first met Harada at the Thousand Affairs House and saw the scar on Harada’s belly, he thought it looked like a seppuku incision. It turned out he was right. "Why did you perform seppuku? Did you commit a crime in the Vassal State?"

"No crime committed," Harada said, picking his nose. "I just got into a petty argument with a samurai, and he mocked me as ’a junior clerk who doesn’t even know the etiquette of seppuku.’ In a fit of anger, I drew my wakizashi and performed seppuku right in front of him."

"All I did was stab the knife into my belly. Who couldn’t do that? Even eight-year-olds know how to perform seppuku."

Aoto: "..."

Saito: "..."

Nagakura: "..."

Fujimura: "..."

Everyone silently stared at the scar on Harada’s belly.

The reason for the seppuku was so absurd! It made them feel a sense of ridiculousness even while looking at Harada’s scar again!

"My reason isn’t much different from Harada’s," Nagakura said, shifting away from Harada’s seppuku topic to why he joined under Aoto’s command. "I’m currently traveling around for martial artist’s cultivation."

"And for that, travel expenses are essential."

"So I want to take on jobs with the highest pay possible, in hopes of saving enough money to support my martial artist’s cultivation for at least a few months."

"I want to broaden my horizons," Fujimura chimed in. "Teacher Yidong told me: if I keep practicing swordsmanship in the Sword Dojo all the time, it won’t work. In addition to rigorous practice, I must broaden my horizons and not become too closed off. So, I decided to try some work I’ve never done before."

"I’m a bit interested in undercover informant work. Plus, I greatly admire Mr. Tachibana, so I decided to try my hand at being a dōshin’s undercover informant."

"Hic...!" Harada, after gulping down another big mouthful of sake and letting out a huge burp, grinned at Aoto and asked, "Mr. Tachibana, when can we undertake some big missions?"

"I’m getting a bit impatient now, hoping to take on exciting big missions soon, like stopping radical ’Anti-foreigner Faction’ mobs from attacking some place or something like that."

"There aren’t that many big missions to do," Aoto shrugged. "You officially start work tomorrow."

"I’ll teach you how to patrol first."

"Patrolling the streets is your main task."

"Big missions like those are rare and don’t come by easily..."

"Tachibana, Tachi-Tachibana Aoto-sama!"

Suddenly, a loud shout rang out from outside the sushi shop.

Startled by the shout, Aoto turned his head — at the entrance of the sushi shop stood a young man drenched in sweat, breathing chaotically.

"Tachibana Aoto-sama... huff huff... finally... huff... found you...!"

The young man, while pulling out a seal cage from the Magistrate’s Office, quickly moved towards Aoto.

"Lord Governor has issued an urgent summons, requiring all ’Three Times’ officers on leave to immediately end their leave and return to the North Guard Station."

"Please proceed to the North Guard Station right away!"

********

********

The new major plot has officially begun. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Requesting monthly votes! Requesting recommendations! (Crying leopard head.jpg)