Chapter 291 Please help me clear Ogata's suspicions! (1)
Kyoto, Administrative Office.
Kyoto Administrative Office - the office of the Kyoto Town Administrative Office.
Kamiyama Koshinosuke was currently kneeling down behind his usual office desk, placing his hand on his forehead and closing his eyes tightly, as if he was resting his mind there.
A middle-aged man with a solemn expression was kneeling beside the sacred mountain, as if thinking about what was cool - this middle-aged man was none other than Hasegawa Heizo.
No one was talking, whether it was the Holy Mountain or Hasegawa.
No one made any unnecessary moves there.
The atmosphere in the entire room became strange and heavy because of the two people's silent behavior.
At this moment, a male voice suddenly came from outside the room:
"Master Shenshan, it's me."
"...Akiyama." After hearing this male voice, Shenshan slowly opened his eyes, "Is there anything you want to report to me?"
"Well...there is indeed something that I feel it is very necessary to tell Mr. Shenshan to report..."
"Come in."
"yes!"
Qiu Shan slowly opened the paper sliding door, walked into the room respectfully, and then knelt down in front of Shen Shan in a standard posture.
"Tell me." Shenshan said softly with a light joking tone, "What is it that you need to let me know?"
"...Kamiyama-sama." Akiyama said seriously, "I...met Makimura-sama on the street today."
As soon as Akiyama finished speaking, Kamiyama and Hasegawa immediately showed completely opposite expressions.
Hasegawa did not recognize "Makimura-sama", so he looked confused.
As for Shenshan, after hearing these words from Qiu Shan, a rich and extremely complicated look immediately appeared on his face.
You can find a variety of emotions on Shenshan's face at this time.
Surprise, shock, confusion, sadness...
"...Akiyama, tell me completely the cause and effect of your encounter with Makimura today."
…
…
Kyoto, in an underground prison.
"ha……"
Makimura, with his arms folded in front of his chest, leaned against the stone wall behind him, twisted his body, changed into a more comfortable position, and then dozed off.
This prison is built underground, so there is always a damp smell in the air.
But because it has not rained these days, the humid atmosphere in the prison is not very heavy at present, and it has not reached the point of making people feel uncomfortable.
Akiyama did not break his promise - after putting Makimura in jail, he provided him with all the generous care he could.
Under Akiyama's arrangement, Makimura did not share the same cell with other prisoners. He had his own private cell, and he was the only one in the whole cell.
At the same time, the cell where Makimura lives is located in a relatively remote location in the prison. There are no "neighbors" around, allowing Makimura to spend these few days in peace.
Not only that - Makimura's food is obviously much better than that of other prisoners.
While other prisoners could only eat bland barnyard porridge, Makimura was able to eat rice and various side dishes.
After personally bringing Makimura into this prison, Akiyama personally promised Makimura that within five days at most, he would release Makimura who had only committed the crime of "fighting."
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Apart from not having freedom and enough entertainment, Makimura has no other dissatisfaction with his current prison life.
Naturally, there will be no entertainment facilities in the prison for Makimura to pass the time. While in prison, the best way to pass the time is to sleep.
Makimura has been sleeping since he gave Akiyama a favor and asked him to be taken to this prison.
Wake up and sleep, wake up and sleep...
Now that I have changed to a more comfortable sleeping position, a faint feeling of sleepiness emerges from my body.
Just when Makimura was about to fall asleep again, footsteps suddenly sounded at the end of the corridor outside the cell door.
Judging from the loudness of the footsteps, there were not many people.
Makimura only listened attentively for a moment, and then he heard that there were only two owners of this series of footsteps.
Since the footsteps appeared, noisy shouts rang out from the cells on both sides of the corridor:
"Hey! I was wronged! I was wronged!"
"Stinky official! Pay attention to your family members! If I go out, I will kill all your official family members as soon as possible!"
"Isn't the recent food too bad? There was a stone as big as a thumb in my porridge today. How on earth do you cook?!"
…
These noisy shouts did not slow down the footsteps at all.
Makimura didn't care about the shouts in the other cells, nor did he care about the official arrival. He just felt that the noise of these people was affecting his sleep.
This series of footsteps slowly approached Makimura's cell from far to near.
Finally - stopped in front of Makimura's house.
Just when Mu Sicun was about to open his eyes and confirm why the footsteps stopped in front of his cell——
"...Long time no see, Makimura."
A rich male voice that was extremely familiar to Makimura sounded in front of the cell door.
As soon as the male voice finished, Makimura suddenly opened his eyes and looked out the cell door.
Outside the cell door, there were two middle-aged men standing.
A middle-aged man wears a special black uniform.
Another middle-aged man was wearing ordinary clothes.
Looking at this middle-aged man wearing ordinary clothes, Makimura narrowed his eyes slightly.
A strange look began to flicker in Makimura's eyes.
"Lord Shenshan..."
A gentle murmur came from Makimura's throat.
Looking at Kamiyama Koshinosuke's face that he had not seen for two years, memories slowly rose up in Makimura's mind like a rising tide...
…
…
…
…
7 years ago——
Tianming 3rd year (AD 1783).
Kyoto, Sanoji Street.
Sanjiji Street—despite its impressive name, it is actually a place that people in Kyoto talk about with disdain and avoid it.
Sanoji Street is where Yakuza in Kyoto gather.
In Three Princes Street, you can see Yakuza who belong to a certain family, and you can also see Yakuza who do not belong to any family, have no roots, and work alone.
"Makimura!"
Hearing someone calling him, Makimura slowly turned his head following the sound.
Makimura recognized the voice, so he also knew who the person who stopped him was.
Precisely because he knew who the person who called him was, Makimura frowned after hearing this voice.
"...Sun Qilang, what do you want me to do? If you come to invite me and Shunliu to join your family again, then I advise you not to waste your efforts. Shunliu and I will not join any family."
"No no no."
Sun Qilang, who was leading his three younger brothers, shook his head and walked slowly towards Mucun.
"I stopped you because I simply wanted to show you the ring I just got yesterday."
Sun Qilang raised his hand and showed Makimura the ring on his left thumb.
"This thing is very valuable." Sun Qilang looked embarrassed, "It is said that this finger ring is native to Tang Dynasty."
"Oh. It's such a beautiful ring. I've finished reading it and I'm leaving." After giving some insincere praise in a perfunctory tone, Makimura turned around.
However - before Makimura could completely turn his eyes away from Sonshichiro, Sonchiro spoke up again:
"Makimura! Are you and Junroku really not considering joining our 'Nagai Family'?"
"With your and Junroku's abilities, it's extremely easy to become a cadre of our 'Nagai Family'!"
"When you become a cadre of our family, you will be able to enjoy precious treasures that ordinary people cannot buy even if they spend their life savings, just like me."
"In addition to money, you can also enjoy countless women."
"Don't you think..."
Before Sun Qilang finished speaking, Makimura seemed to have completely lost his patience, with a very obvious look of impatience on his face, and said in a deep voice:
"Didn't I say that Shunliu and I would never join any family?"
After saying that, Makimura was too lazy to pay attention to Sun Qilang and strode away from Sun Qilang.
He strode away from Sunshichiro. It was only after Sunshichiro's figure completely disappeared from his field of vision that Makimura slowly slowed down his pace.
Makimura had some things to buy now, so he kept walking on the way out of Sanjiji Street.
Third Prince Street is where the Yakuza are based, so naturally no businessman would have the guts to open a shop and sell things on this street.
When the intersection of Sanjiji Street finally appeared within his field of vision, Makimura suddenly felt a strong hand pat on his shoulder.
Just now, Makimura heard a series of footsteps approaching him slowly from behind.
However, Makimura did not turn around to see who the owner of these footsteps was.
Because the owner of these footsteps was so familiar to Makimura, so familiar that just by hearing the footsteps, he could recognize him.
Makimura, who knew that the person was coming, had been waiting for the person to come over and talk to him.
After finally waiting for the person to pat his shoulder, Makimura turned his head and smiled at a handsome young man behind him who was similar to him in age:
"Shun Liu, why are you here?"
"I was just bored and wandering around Sanzi Street. As I was wandering around, I saw you. Are you going out on the street?"
"Huh? The knife oil is almost used up, so I went to buy some knife oil and came back."
This handsome young man, who is the same 17-year-old as Makimura this year, is named Junroku Kunieda. Makimura is currently his only friend and partner.
At the same time - Makimura is Junroku's only friend and partner at the moment.
When he was 12 years old, Makimura's family members died of an epidemic.
By chance, Makimura, who became an orphan, met Shunroku, who had been wandering alone in the streets of Kyoto for many years. Then he and Shunroku began to work together in Kyoto and worked hard so far.
, it is already the fifth year that the two have partnered.
Shunliu quickened his pace slightly and walked quickly to Mucun's side. Then he kept walking at the same speed as Mucun and walked side by side.
"...Was Sun Qilang showing off to you the ring on his thumb just now?"
"Did you see that?"
"Hmm. Ah Ba, do you know where Sun Qilang's finger ring came from?"
"...I don't know. But I can probably guess where it came from. It was robbed, am I right?"
"You guessed it right." Shunliu shrugged and sneered, "This ring was snatched from a poor family who owed money to the Nagai family."
"This family runs a small business. At the beginning of this year, there were some operational problems, so they borrowed money from the 'bank' opened by the Nagai family."
The Nagai family is the family to which Sonshichiro belongs, and is considered one of the most powerful Yakuza families in Kyoto.
"That family fell into the trap written by the Nagai family on the documents and incurred a debt that was impossible to repay."
"After this family failed to pay the money, Sun Qilang personally led his people to this family's home yesterday to steal valuables."
"That's how this ring came about."
"It is said that this ring seems to be a very precious thing of this family. It was hidden in a quite hidden place. Unfortunately, it was eventually dug out by Sun Qilang and his gang who had no other special skills except looting.
"
"After Sun Qilang and others found the thumb ring, the male owner of the family resisted fiercely and begged Sun Qilang not to take the thumb ring..."
Shunliu did not continue telling this story, and stopped going any further after saying this.
Although Junroku did not continue the story, Makimura could guess what would happen next: the male host must have been severely punished, and then Sunshiro and others walked away.
After quietly listening to Shunliu explain the origin of Sunshichiro's finger-wrap, Makimura was silent for a while.
Then——
"...I really want to quickly collect enough evidence to help the government completely eliminate the Nagai family."
He let out a sigh that was almost like a long sigh.
After Makimura's sigh, Shunliu nodded:
"Me too."
Unknowingly, the two of them had crossed the intersection of Third Prince Street and arrived outside Third Prince Street.
Although Third Prince Street is only separated from the street connected to Third Prince Street, the air and atmosphere permeating the two streets are completely different.
On Sanjiji Street, Makimura and Junroku couldn't help but hold their breath even when they took a breath.
After walking out of Sanjizi Street, the two of them took a deep breath of the air outside, with expressions of satisfaction on their faces, seeming to enjoy the air outside that was very ordinary in the eyes of others.
"...When will we be able to leave this ghost place called Sanjizi Street..." Shunliu murmured.
Makimura did not respond to Junroku's question.
At this moment, both of them noticed - at the end of the left hand side, two warriors with swords on their waists were striding majestically in the middle of the street.
Looking at the two samurai with swords on their waists, both Makimura and Junroku had longing in their eyes.
"...I don't know if we will have the chance to become samurai in this life..." Shunliu murmured again.
This time, Makimura responded to him.
"Impossible." Makimura responded without any hesitation. This response was mixed with a touch of disappointment, "How can a commoner become a samurai?"