I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Exercise regularly and consistently; don't be inconsistent in your efforts."

Zhou Zhu stood on tiptoe and patted Qing Deng, who was 20cm taller than him, on the shoulders.

"Don't waste such a tall guy with long arms and legs."

Zhou Zhu did not comment on the match he had just had with Qing Deng.

He simply ate a bunch of Qing Deng's groping with a strange smile, then inexplicably told Qing Deng to "keep exercising," before raising his head and glancing at Kondo and the others surrounding him.

"Alright, everyone, stop gathering here..."

"I'm back!"

Before Zhou Zhu could finish speaking, a sudden, energetic voice interrupted him.

Hearing that familiar, pleasant voice, Qingdeng raised an eyebrow and looked in the direction of the sound—at the entrance of the dojo, a slender high ponytail was bouncing.

Kondo: "Souji? You're back. Why are you so late? Where did you go again?"

Okita strolled leisurely into the dojo through the main gate.

He was holding a bag of konpeito in one hand and stuffing handfuls of candy from the bag into his mouth with the other.

"I didn't go play!" Okita, whose mouth was full of konpeito, so his speech was a little unclear, pouted unhappily, "I had bad luck today. When I got to the confectionery shop, I found out that they had sold out of konpeito."

“Kondo-san, as you know, I only love eating konpeito from that one shop.”

"So there's nothing we can do but wait for them to finish baking the new sugar."

After saying that, Okita glanced at Kondo and the others who were surrounding Shusuke with a questioning look.

"What's going on? Why are you all gathered together? Are you discussing something...? Hey?"

At that moment, Okita's gaze suddenly froze.

He spotted someone's figure in the crowd surrounding Zhou Zhu.

After staring blankly at Aoto for a while, Okita saw his eyes light up, his face flushed, and he took small, quick steps, "pat-pat-pat" towards Aoto.

"Tachibana-kun! You came to practice your sword today?"

"Huh? Yeah, what's wrong?" Looking at Okita, whose emotions had suddenly become unusually agitated for some reason, Aoto couldn't help but look puzzled.

"I heard about your deeds when I was buying konpeito at the confectionery shop!" For some reason, Okita was quite excited and thrilled. He stood on his tiptoes and clenched his fists tightly in front of his chest.

Deeds?

Oh... do you mean the case I solved in Koyukicho the day before yesterday...?

Yesterday, when Qing Deng encountered Kinoshita Mai on his patrol route, he learned from her that her feat of "solving a case in one hour" had already spread throughout the city.

As a member of the "Sanhui" (three-times-returners), Aoto naturally had the Edo map memorized.

The location of the murder the other day, Koiwancho, is quite far from Koishikawa Kohinata-Yanagicho, where the Shieikan is located.

Ha, my deeds have even reached Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagimachi... As expected of a densely populated metropolis, news doesn't spread very slowly.

Qingdeng is not a person with a strong sense of utilitarianism.

However, he felt a little excited and thrilled that his great achievements were becoming more and more widely known.

Just as Qingdeng's lips curled up slightly with his little bit of excitement—

"Regarding the murder case in Muyan Town the other day, you didn't even enter the crime scene! You merely listened to the reports from your own officials, and then, like Zhuge Liang, you calculated with your fingers and figured out who the culprit was! Is that really true?"

Qingdeng: "………………Huh?"

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Chapter 49 Ding! Gaining a fanboy: Okita Souji

Aoto stared blankly at Okita, who was still looking at him with excitement, as if he were in a daze.

Shusuke, Kondo, and the others around him were also taken aback after hearing Okita's words, and then slowly cast surprised or bewildered glances at Aoto.

After a long period of mental blankness, Qingdeng finally felt his soul return to his body.

“…Okita-kun.” Aoto took a deep breath. “Where did you hear all this nonsense…?”

"I heard it from two middle-aged men while waiting for the konpeito at the confectionery shop to be baked!"

Okita told Aoto in detail how he had heard these rumors from the two idle old men.

After patiently listening to Okita's explanation, only one thought remained in Aoto's mind:

—? ? ? ? ?

He felt as if countless question marks were dancing in his mind like fireflies on a summer night.

How did you manage to spread such outrageous rumors in just two days?!

Because of inadequate basic education and feudalistic thinking in this era, Qing Deng predicted that strange and unusual rumors would easily spread.

However… Qing Deng suddenly realized that he seemed to have underestimated the level of rumor-mongering in this era…

Qingdeng raised his hand and pressed his brow a few times.

“Okita-kun… listen to me, everything you’ve heard is utter nonsense, not a single thing about it is true…”

Having one's own glorious achievements celebrated and having these inexplicable rumors spread about oneself are two completely different things...

Not wanting anyone around him to have any strange misunderstandings about him, Qing Deng patiently explained to Okita, concisely recounting the true process of how he solved the case.

Upon learning that what he had heard was a completely false rumor, Okita's brow furrowed with surprise and disappointment.

“Well, I also heard that your performance in the ‘Third Round’ was quite mediocre.” Okita clenched his fists slightly in front of his chest. “You were even given the nickname ‘Dumbhead’.”

"In recent days, you realized that as a 'Sanhui,' you bear a heavy responsibility to protect Edo. You were shocked to find that you could no longer live in a daze, so you worked hard and studied crime-solving techniques. That's why you were able to solve that case the other day."

"Is this part of the content true?"

Okita had always only longed for the work content and mission of "Sanhui," not for any specific person within "Sanhui."

He wasn't a fan of celebrities, so Okita never actively inquired about the various gossip and rumors in the "Three Rounds," nor was he interested in doing so.

Therefore, it was only just now that he learned from the two uncles that Qingdeng also had the nickname "Dazed Deng" and that Qingdeng had some anecdotes in the past.

“Ah…” Qingdeng raised his hand and scratched the hair at his temple, “This part of the content… is true.”

In order to reasonably explain how he stopped being so dull-witted, Qing Deng set up a "persona" for himself that was roughly the same as what Okita had just said.

Yes, you have to stick to the persona you created, even if it's painful.

Seeing Qingdeng nod, the slight disappointment and surprise between Okita's brows quickly turned back into elation and joy.

Okita clenched his fists even tighter in front of his chest, then stood on his tiptoes higher, bringing his face closer to Aoto's.

Qing Deng could clearly see the excitement and agitation shining in Okita's beautiful eyes.

"Tachibana-kun, you're amazing!"

"May I ask you one more question? What was the turning point that made you realize you bore an immense responsibility and could no longer afford to drift through life aimlessly?"

Looking at Okita, who was staring at him like a fanboy, Aoto felt that if this handsome young man had a dog's tail growing from his waist, it would swing like an electric fan.

The tail of an Akita or Samoyed would seem perfect for Okita.

Most people don't dislike being respected.

Being looked at with such admiration and respect by Okita, Aoto couldn't help but feel a little smug.

"Uh... well..."

Driven by a surge of elation, Qingdeng cleared his throat, trying to suppress the barely contained urge to smile, and feigned a profound expression:

"I can't remember the specific circumstances either."

"All I remember is seeing so many people displaced while patrolling my jurisdiction."

"I have seen too many injustices go unaddressed."

"I have witnessed too many tragedies that I could have prevented if I had been more powerful."

"When I came to my senses, I had already put away my previous carefree attitude and started to diligently learn various methods and techniques for investigating cases from the seniors in the police station."

That was a perfect display of swagger!

Qingdeng silently gave himself a perfect score for the show he had just put on.

Okita's reaction was also quite perfect.

"Whoa...!" Qing Deng noticed that Okita's eyes were starting to sparkle, and the red glow on his cheeks was getting even brighter.

"Tachibana-kun, you...you..."

Okita seemed to want to say something to praise Aoto.

But his vocabulary seemed quite limited... Having suffered from his lack of education, he stammered for a long time but couldn't utter a single word.

After a long while, he repeated the praise he had just given to Qingdeng:

"Tachibana-kun, you're amazing!"

The show that Aoto just put on not only fooled Aoto, but also fooled Kondo and the others around him.

Kondo and the others were unaware that Aoto had the nickname "Dumbhead Aoto," and it was also the first time they had heard that Aoto had solved a murder case in such a short time the day before.

They all looked at Qingdeng with expressions that said, "Wow, you're really that amazing."

After staring intently at Aoto for a while with eyes full of stars, Okita slowly lowered his tiptoe back to the ground.

"Sigh... If only... everyone could be like you, Tachibana-kun..."

Okita's face still showed excitement and exhilaration.

But a hint of melancholy quietly crept into his eyes.

Aoto failed to notice Okita's subtle change in expression.