——Katsu Rintarō?

Upon realizing that the middle-aged man he had just rescued was the same Katsu Rintarō he had encountered on the street that afternoon, Tachibana Aoto’s expression subtly changed.

To unexpectedly encounter Katsu Rintarō twice in a single day is quite a coincidence... though the timing and setting of this second meeting are somewhat delicate.

Currently, there’s no time to linger on the old man—Aoto swiftly withdrew his attention from Katsu Rintarō, then flicked his wrist, deflecting Shinno’s sword with a clang.

Shinno had already regained composure from the shock of "someone suddenly appearing at the window."

With a stern face, he jumped back several steps to widen the distance between him and Aoto.

Seizing this opportunity as Shinno retreated, Aoto gracefully leaped down from the window sill, placing himself between Shinno and Katsu Rintarō.

"Finally climbed up..." Harada gasped as he crawled in through another window from the side.

Saito, Nagakura, and Fujimura also leaped into the corridor, following the window, and stood behind Aoto in succession.

By chance, a group with an unknown identity suddenly emerged, surprising the Anti-foreigner Group’s members.

Having passed the collapsed third barricade and intending to chase the ’traitors’ who had retreated to the far end of the corridor, they cautiously halted their steps and imitated Shinno’s retreat by keeping a safe distance from Aoto’s group.

Shinno first noticed the Magistrate’s Office’s seal cage tied to Aoto’s right waist and the jitte with the red tassel, recognizing them as officials from the Magistrate’s Office.

Immediately afterward, he found Aoto’s face somewhat familiar.

After briefly scrutinizing Aoto’s face, Shinno’s expression darkened:

"Tachibana Aoto...?"

Shinno feared that he would never forget the face that brought disgraceful defeat to their Anti-foreigner Group.

The man before him seemed to recognize him—yet Aoto showed no surprise at all.

After all, by now, he was somewhat of a celebrity in Edo; many townsmen recognized him on the street.

However, the next words he heard caused Aoto to raise an eyebrow.

He heard hurried footsteps and loud shouts coming from behind Shinno:

"Mr. Kamino! Mr. Kamino!"

A young samurai squeezed through the crowd and rushed to Shinno’s rear.

——Shinno?

Aoto focused his gaze on Shinno.

The young samurai, gasping for breath, ran to Shinno’s back and was about to say something when he suddenly noticed Aoto and his group confronting Shinno from opposite sides. His expression froze, and he seemed unable to utter a word.

Despite becoming silent, he finally mustered the courage to tell Shinno with dismay:

"Mr. Kamino... some officials from the Magistrate’s Office have arrived."

"They’re all wearing chain armor and gauntlets, and they’re incredibly skilled."

"We... can’t hold them off..."

"...You people are quite amusing." Shinno said expressionlessly, "The enemy has already reached me, and only now do you inform me: the enemy is here."

Upon hearing this, the young samurai bowed his head in shame.

In fact, it wasn’t entirely the fault of the "Surrounding Team" responsible for besieging the Foreign Language Research Institute.

When Aoto and his group appeared, they did bravely charge forward with their blades.

They merely misjudged Aoto and his group’s equipment and skill level and thought they could quickly deal with these intruders with their numerical advantage.

In less than two minutes of bloody chaos, half of the original thirty-member "Surrounding Team" remained.

At this point, realizing they couldn’t easily handle Aoto’s group, they decided to report to Shinno and request reinforcements.

But it was too late.

The net enclosing Aoto and his companions had become exceedingly fragile due to their diminished numbers.

Deprived of their numerical advantage and morale, the "Surrounding Team" posed little threat—having made this judgment, Aoto decided to forcefully break through their blockade, elude their interception, and make a dash for the Investigation Office at the top where cries of battle still echoed.

To save time climbing the building, Aoto and his group climbed directly. The height of each floor of the Investigation Office was less than 2.5 meters, and with windowsills and such to grasp and stand on, it wasn’t difficult to scale.

It was in this manner that Aoto swiftly reached the building’s highest level and appeared just in time to save the nearly killed Katsu Rintarō through the window.

"Enough." Shinno coldly said to the young samurai, "Get out of here."

"...Shinno..." Aoto softly chewed on the surname "Shinno," "Are you the leader of the Anti-foreigner Group: Kamino Tatsugorou?"

The leader of the Anti-foreigner Group was named Kamino Tatsugorou—something known to the Magistrate’s Office among the few pieces of intelligence they possessed.

"That’s right." Shinno admitted boldly, "I suppose this marks our first official meeting, Tachibana Aoto."

Shinno enunciated Aoto’s name heavily.

"You really love opposing us."

"Two months ago, you brought us unprecedented disgrace."

"And now, you’ve suddenly appeared in front of us again, obstructing us."

"Don’t you have it backward?" Aoto calmly replied, "Isn’t it you who truly enjoys opposing me?"

"It was you who initially sent people multiple times to assassinate me under the ridiculous pretext of ’having worked at the United States Embassy for a period, thus being a sinful traitor.’"