I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Ogata only feels... he is in a dilemma that he doesn't know what words to describe.

Ogata’s rationality told him: At this time, he must do something quickly.

But now he just feels that his head is empty... can't think of any good strategy to get out of this dilemma.

He is not moving now, nor is he not moving—especially the palms of his hands.

Not only that, but I don't even know what to say.

And Isshiki is motionless now, which also makes it more difficult for Ogata to make decisions.

But fortunately—the savior who rescued Ogata Kazuyoshi from this embarrassing atmosphere appeared in time.

"Excuse me—is anyone in there?"

Outside the entrance and exit of the bath, a middle-aged male voice sounded.

This male voice that suddenly pierced into the ears of the demanding party and Isshiki immediately awakened the two of them from their chaotic state.

"Yes, someone wants to come in." Yishi hurriedly said, "But, can you block me for a while?"

If an outsider sees a woman taking a bath in a men's bath, she may not know how long it will take to explain just to explain.

Ogata instantly understood what Ishiki was worried about.

So after hearing Isshiki's stammering words, Xujian almost immediately responded "OK" without hesitation, and then quickly put down the pair of heavy objects he was holding with his hands, turned around and faced him. At the entrance and exit of the bath, sit back in the pool.

"You hide behind me."

Hearing Ogata's words, Isshiki immediately followed Ogata's words without hesitation, and hid behind him. Because Isshiki's body is smaller than Ogata, it is more than enough to hide his body behind Ogata. .

After the two performed this series of actions, the middle-aged male voice just sounded outside the door at the entrance of the bath again:

"Is there anyone in the bath?"

"Someone!" Ogata replied, "Is there something wrong?"

"Is it convenient for me to come in?"

"Come in!"

As soon as Ogata's voice fell, the door to the entrance was slowly opened, and a middle-aged man dressed as a male waiter appeared in Ogata's field of vision.

The middle-aged male waiter quickly checked the situation in the bath, and then fixed his sight on Ogata:

"This guest officer, are you the only one in the bath?"

—It seems that he didn’t notice Isshi...

Ogata whispered this way in his heart, and replied calmly:

"Well, yes, I'm the only one. What's wrong? Is it time for the bathhouse to close?"

Ogata has not forgotten that he does not have a human skin mask to cover his face, so in order to prevent the middle-aged male attendant from seeing his face clearly, Ogata specifically lowered his head to make it difficult for him to see his face because of his perspective.

"Uh, it's like this." The middle-aged male waiter's face was ashamed. "The curtain at the entrance of the bathhouse, I don't know who exchanged it."

"It should have been a male shower curtain. It has become a female shower curtain. It should have been a female shower curtain. Now it has become a male shower curtain."

Hearing these words from the middle-aged male waiter, whether Ogata or Isshiki who is now hiding behind Ogata, his eyes widened in astonishment.

"You mean..." Ogata's expression became weird unknowingly, "Is it supposed to be a female bath here?"

The middle-aged male waiter nodded: "That's right. But fortunately-now it's late at night, not many people will come to take a bath again, so it didn't cause any major disaster."

"It turned out to be... this way..." Ogata pulled his mouth involuntarily.

"Guest, do you want to take a bath again? If you want to take a bath, please move to the real men's bath next door."

"...Can I continue to soak here?" Ogata said quietly after a moment of silence, "Your bathhouse should be closed soon, too. I don't bother to change places anymore. I will soak here for a while and then leave. "

Hearing Ogata say this, the middle-aged male waiter was embarrassed.

But fortunately-after being silent for a while, the middle-aged male waiter nodded:

"...Okay then. The curtain will be changed back after the bathhouse is closed."

Seeing that the middle-aged male waiter agreed to let him stay here for a while, Ogata secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Later, the middle-aged male waiter said something like "for the inconvenience caused to you, please forgive me" and reminded Ogata that this bathhouse will be closed soon, so after paying attention to the time, he opened the entrance and exit of the bath. The gate disappeared from Ogata's field of vision.

In the bath, only Ogata and Isshiki were left.

After confirming that the middle-aged male waiter had left and there was no one else outside the bath door, Ogata tried to adjust his face, tried his best to make his expression look calm, and then slowly turned around.

In order not to see something that shouldn't be seen, Ogata specifically raised his gaze and looked at the ceiling above his head.

"Um... can you walk now?"

"Reluctantly...you can..."

"Then I will carry my body, you should leave here first..."

After all, Ogata turned his whole body around, facing the east side of the bath.

After Ogata turned his body to the invisible direction of Isshiki's body, Isshiki raised his gaze and threw it at Ogata...complex emotions dominated by annoyance and shyness.

She put her hands on the heavy object held by Ogata just now.

The skin still has the touch of Ogata's palm.

Feeling the touch that has not yet dissipated, the complex emotions in her eyes are more vigorous.

Her lips moved, as if she was planning to say something to Ogata.

But in the end—she didn't say a word.

She covered her chest with her hands in silence, and walked silently to the side of the bath without a word.

Probably because his head is still dizzy, but also to avoid repeating the mistake of accidentally falling down just now, Isshishi walks very slowly.

Ogata didn't urge her, and waited quietly.

The atmosphere between the two did not just fall into a slightly embarrassing silence.

Because after a while, Ogata said to Isshiki with ashamed face:

"Sorry... I accidentally entered the women's bath..."

"It's not your fault..." Isshiki responded softly, "The curtain was changed, and you were also one of the victims..."

Although Ishiki's understanding was obtained on this matter, Ogata did not relax.

Because there is something more terrible waiting for him to apologize...

"I just... accidentally touched some places that shouldn't be touched..." The shame on Ogata's face turned into embarrassment at a speed that was visible to the naked eye, "It's really... very embarrassing..."

Because of the angle, Isshiki couldn't see the embarrassment on Ogata's face.

And Ogata couldn't see Isshiki's cheeks that were flushing now.

"...You also wanted to support me who was about to fall... What happened just now, just assume it never happened."

After uttering this sentence quickly in an elusive tone of emotion, Isshiki stopped speaking.

Isshiki actually wanted to scold Ogata loudly.

Although Ogata's original intention was good, the final result was still unacceptable for Isshiki.

Just now, it was the first time since she grew up that she was so frivolous by a man—and a man she hadn’t known for long.

To be honest, she is now full of resentment.

But the weird thing is—she can’t get the slightest motivation to scold Ogata now...

"Thank you for your understanding..." Ogata gave a relieved expression.

"...In order not to cause your misunderstanding, let me explain..." Isshiki suddenly said slowly, "I pretended to be a man because it was more convenient to act when I was following my grandfather to travel around school, not for special reasons..."

Ogata nodded softly, "So it's like this..."

Although in the Edo period, women were able to show their faces openly on the streets and work as waiters in restaurants, but the overall atmosphere of society was still inferior to men.

This can be regarded as the norm in this feudal society.

In feudal society, because of various reasons such as productivity, men are basically inferior to women. In a society where men are inferior to women, it is much more convenient to do many things after pretending to be a man.

Wow...

Finally, after an unknown period of time, Ogata heard a splash of water coming from behind him—Ishiki's feet finally stepped out of the bath.

And after Isshiki left the bath, the red glow that had hung on his cheeks quickly expanded.

When I first soaked in the bath, because the whole body was wrapped in hot water, it still gave Isshiki a feeling of "something is hiding her body".

But now after leaving the bath, there is nothing else around him except the air.

Not far away, there was a man who had only met for a short time, but he was exposed to the air indiscriminately. This strange feeling made Isshiki's face turn red uncontrollably.

Isshiki made a simple assessment of her current physical condition—the distance from the bathhouse to the room where she and her grandfather lived is not very long. Although her head is still dizzy, it shouldn’t be a problem to go back. Big.

"...I'll leave first..." Isshiki turned his head and said slowly to Ogata, who still had his back to her, "Remember—what happened tonight, as if it hadn’t happened. I won’t talk about tonight’s thing to outsiders. , Don’t tell other people either."

Ogata nodded vigorously, "Well, I will."

After leaving this sentence, Isshiki moved his slightly heavy feet again and walked towards the entrance and exit of the bath.

But before and after coming to the entrance and exit, Isshi stopped.

She turned her head and looked at Ogata.

His eyes were still full of complex emotions.

After looking at Ogata deeply for a long time, she finally retracted her gaze and opened the entrance door of the bath...

…

…

I quickly put on the same color as my goose-yellow kimono, leaning on the wall, and walking slowly on the way back to the room.

Probably because it was already late at night, not only did not see half of the guest in the corridor, but also did not see half of the waiter in the hotel.

—It’s so hard...

Isshiki originally thought that it shouldn't be a problem to walk back to the room based on his current physical state.

But after putting it into practice, Yishi realized that her evaluation of her current physical condition seemed to be a bit overestimated.

It was okay at the beginning, and I was able to maintain my energy, but the more I moved forward, the more dizzy and nauseous I felt.

When he was halfway away from the room, Isshiki finally supported the wall due to the unbearable dizziness of his head and the strong nausea from his stomach, and slowly squatted on the ground.

—Slightly... Rest for a while... Uh... It's disgusting...

Squatting on the floor, Ishiki panted, took deep breaths, and rubbed the temples on both sides, trying to keep herself awake, but unfortunately, her practice had little effect.

However, at this moment, a male voice with obvious helplessness sounded behind her:

"It's still too reluctant to let you go back to the room alone... I'll carry you back, right?"

His eyes widened, and he looked behind him in amazement-it was Ogata, who was now neatly dressed, standing behind her.

"Why are you... here...?"

"I always feel that you are in your current state. It is too reluctant to go back to the room alone." Ogata knelt down, keeping his eyes level with Isshiki, "So in order to avoid any accidents, I decided to follow you quietly."

"Your face is so ugly now, is your body uncomfortable?"

Isshiki wanted to say, "I am in good health now, just take a rest to get better, you don't care about me", but as soon as she opened her mouth, her brows were frowned by the intense nausea.

She now felt that she might say a few more words, and she would throw up dinner tonight.

As the daughter of a samurai, she didn't want to do such indecent things in front of outsiders or in the corridors of the hotel no matter what.

Seeing Isshiki couldn't even speak now, Ogata was silent.

After a moment of silence, he lifted up Yishi without saying a word, and helped Yishi to his back.

"I'll carry you back." Although Ogata's volume was soft, his tone was calm. "Where do you live with your grandfather? If you have trouble speaking, use your fingers to show me the way."

Seeing that Ogata was so tough that he didn't even greet her, he helped her behind him. Isshiki's first reaction was to protest loudly, saying that he didn't need his help.

But... my gaze was behind Ogata's eyes, and for some reason, I had already thought of refusing Ogata's kind words, but I couldn't say anything.

After lying prone behind Ogata, who was crouching on the ground, for a while, Isshiki slowly stretched out his right index finger and pointed to the intersection ahead.

"Is that right over there... if you hold on, I will walk a little bit slower. If I still feel uncomfortable, I will pinch my neck and I will walk a little bit slower."

After all, Ogata picked up Isshiki on his back and walked slowly towards the place Ishiki had just pointed out at a speed as slow as a tortoise crawl.

Isshiki lying on Ogata's back has a place to rest, and Ogata's speed is also just right, so that the dizziness and nausea in Isshiki's head is slowly reduced.

The dizziness and nausea dissipated, and a strange and relieved cold came out.

Isshiki's head slowly sank, resting on Ogata's left shoulder.

"...Thank you..." She tried hard to resist the dizziness and nausea.

"No thanks." Ogata responded softly, "I just did what I was supposed to do."

After the two sang and got together, they fell silent again.

But strangely, this silence did not exude an aura of embarrassment, on the contrary, it also revealed a little tranquility.

…

…

"The front... the second room on the right is where I live... Just send me here... If Grandpa sees you come back with me behind your back... that's not easy to explain..."

Ogata looked towards the second room on the right-hand side in front-it was about 7 steps away, not far away.

Hearing Isshiki's words, Ogata also stubbornly said that she must be sent to the door of the room. After Ishiki's voice fell, he obediently put down Ishiki behind him.

"Do you feel better? Can you take the remaining steps?"

Isshiki nodded softly: "Well...at least...I can finally speak...there are no problems at all after the last few steps..."

The time I just lay on Ogata's back was not long, but at least he took a little rest.

"That's okay..." Ogata nodded lightly. "If that's the case, don't live here. I should go back. If it is a bit late, my family may worry about me."

"...Isshiki flower."

"Um?"

"Isshiki Hana—my real name." Isshiki stared into Ogata's eyes and said every word.

"Isshiki Hana..." Ogata smiled, "It's really a nice name. It sounds good and has meaning."

There is no compliment in Ogata's words.

The name "Flower" may be unremarkable for a woman.

But when paired with the surname "Isse", it instantly made this name a bit more poetic.

"At dawn tomorrow, Grandpa and I will leave here and continue to return to Osaka." Isshiki continued, "After tonight, we may not have any chance to see each other again... so... take care..."

Isshiki had no idea what he was talking about now.

As if he had his own will, his lips and tongue moved on their own.

He reported his real name without authorization, and then took care of Ogata without authorization.

When he came back to his senses, the words "Take care of you" had already been spoken.

When Ogata heard what she said, he was taken aback for a moment, and then slowly showed a smile:

"You too. Take care."

…

…

"Hua, you are finally back... eh? What's wrong with you? Why is your face so ugly?"

As soon as Zhizhou's gaze turned to Isshiki, who was finally back, he was immediately shocked—because Isshiki's face was now scaryly pale, as if he was sick.

"I'm fine." Isshiki said, "It's just a little dizzy."

"So dizzy?" Zhizhou said in a bad mood, "Really, you are not too young, why are you still like a child... eh? What's wrong? Why are you smiling? Is something good happened?"

-Grinning?

Ishiki was taken aback for a moment, and then hurriedly raised his hand to touch his lips-the corners of his mouth were indeed slightly cocked.

She didn't even realize that she was smiling.

She recalled, recalling when she subconsciously smiled.

The memory goes back quickly.

Finally, it freezes at the moment when Ogata smiled and said to her, "You too. Take care."

…

…

"Why did you take a shower so late tonight?" Amachi asked Ogata, who had just returned.

"Because it's been a long time since I took a bath," Ouyama said without changing his tone. "So I can't help but soak in the bathtub for a while."

Ogata promised Isshiki that he would treat everything that happened tonight as if it hadn't happened.

For the first time, he felt fortunate that he had the ability to lie without changing his face...

"Okay, let's fast into the bed." In order to prevent Amachi from questioning what he said just now, Ogata took the initiative to switch the subject, "We will be on our way tomorrow morning."

After all, without waiting for Amachi's reaction, Ogata took the lead in taking out a set of futons and laying them on the tatami.

Amachi has always trusted Ogata unconditionally.

So I heard Ogata say this, although I always feel that "soaking in the bath for a long time because I haven't taken a bath for too long" is not something that Ogata would do, but he didn't ask too much, and started laying intently with Ogata. bedding.

When the two worked together to lay down the futon, Ogata's eyes accidentally swept to Amachi's breast, which is now covered only by a thin layer of clothing.

Then, a memory that was only half an hour in the past, popped up in Ogata's mind...

Ogata, whose expression became weird, quickly moved his gaze away, so as not to allow any strange memory fragments to appear...

…

…

At this moment—

Edo, inside an izakaya—

"Huha!" Mucun put down a large bottle of sake, "How? Do you still compare with me?"

"I, I can't do it..." Shimada, blushing like blood, put down more than half of the remaining wine bottle and hiccuped, "I can't drink anymore."

"Hmph." Mucun showed a smug expression, "I want to drink more than me, you are still far behind."

"Shimada, don't drink anymore." Asai reminded at this time, "I don't want to go back with you on my back as I did a few days ago."

Makimura, Shimada, and Asai are now sitting in three corners of the wine table in the shape of a product.

In recent days, in order to pass the boring time, Makura and the others often drank midnight wine and chatted in the middle of the night in the izakaya as they do now.

"Speaking of—" Asai continued at this time, "We should be going back, too."

Asai did not participate in the "drink competition" between Makimura and Shimada, and only drank silently, so unlike Makimura and Shimada, his entire face turned red, and his cheeks were only slightly red.

"It's still early." Maki Village said, opening a bottle of sake again, "Drink for a while."

"You guy really loves to drink..." Asai said helplessly.

"Wrong." Makimura grinned, "I don't like to drink, I like to drink in places like izakayas. Because drinking in izakayas, you can often hear interesting stories."

Makura used chopsticks to pick up grains of fennel for drinking and stuff them into his mouth.

"When I was still with Li, I often instructed my subordinates to hang out in izakayas and other places. In places like izakayas, we can often collect a lot of useful information."

"I just think it's noisy in places like izakaya, and I don't have any other thoughts..." Asai sighed.

As soon as Asai’s words fell, a loud noise suddenly erupted from a large table some distance away from them:

"Wow! Really!"

"What I said is true!"

"Is that person so good?"

…

"What are the people at that table doing..." Asai frowned and looked at the table surrounded by the number 8 people. "Suddenly it was so noisy... I was shocked..."

"Well, don't worry about this little thing." Makimura said relievedly, "Continue drinking at the bar."

"It doesn't seem to be enough for snacks," Shimada said suddenly.

"Then let someone bring some more plates of fennel beans. Miss Aqian!" Mucun beckoned to a young girl not far away who was cleaning the table.

During this time, the pastoral village and the others often came to this izakaya, so they got acquainted with the people in this izakaya after coming and going.

The young girl called "Miss Aqian" by Mucun came and walked quickly with a plate: "You guys can really drink... You drank so much..."

"Because your wine is made well." Mucun smiled, "Because your wine is made well, we will come to your place so frequently during this time."

"Mr. Makimura's mouth is still as sweet as ever. What do you want? Do you want a drink or a few more bottles of wine..."

Qian did not finish her words, when a sudden burst of noise interrupted her speech-the source of this noise was the table of guests who had just attracted the attention of Asai and others because of the excessive noise. . UU reading www. uukanshu.cOM

"What are the people at that table doing..." Asai frowned again. "Even in an izakaya, you can't be so noisy, right?"

"This is also the norm in our izakaya." Qian said helplessly, "I'm used to it a long time ago. The guests at that table are also regulars here, so we are too embarrassed to say more."

"What are they talking about... talking so loudly..." Mucun was also curious about the table of guests at this time.

"I don't know the details." Qian shrugged. "But I just heard a little bit of their chat."

"They seemed to be talking about Fumaki Yamada Asemon, the first swordsman in Edo, and the demon sword Chana passed down from generation to generation by the Yamada Asemon family."

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