The owner of Iguchiya is an old man who is about 40 or 50 years old.
After hearing the footsteps entering the house, the shop owner immediately raised his head from behind the counter and cast his gaze towards the door of the shop.
As soon as his eyes came into contact with Makimura who had just stepped through the store door, the store owner let out an exclamation.
"Nisuke, long time no see." Makimura smiled at the shop owner.
The shop owner, whom Makimura called Nisuke, still looks shocked.
"Mr. Makimura, you suddenly disappeared from Kyoto two years ago. I thought you had offended some high-ranking official in the shogunate, and that high-ranking official sent someone to assassinate you..."
"Two years ago, because of some things, I decided not to be a yuri in Kyoto and become a ronin instead."
After saying that, Makimura raised his head and looked around.
"...Nisuke, compared to two years ago, your store seems to be more beautifully decorated...It seems that your business has been good in the past two years."
Nisuke chuckled.
"If you open a powder store in a place like Gion, as long as the quality of your powder is good enough and there are enough varieties, you won't have to worry about no one buying it."
"I'm relieved to see that your store's business is still so good." Speaking of this, Makimura's tone gradually became serious, "Nisuke, I came to you this time mainly to ask you something. .”
"Nisuke, does your store still sell 'Wakasa Incense'?"
"certainly!"
Nisuke replied without thinking.
"The sign of my Iguchi House is that it has the largest quantity and variety of fragrant powders in Kyoto."
"Even perfume powders like 'Wakasa Incense', which have never been easy to sell and are not sold in other stores, are always sold here."
"Okay, then - Nisuke, has anyone come to you to buy 'Wakasa Incense' during these days?"
"Yes, I have."
Nisuke spat out words that made Makimura and Shimada's expressions change.
"During this period, there has been a person coming to me to sell Wakasa incense."
"This customer comes every few days, because he buys Wakasa incense, which is not sold much all year round, and he only buys Wakasa incense, so I have a deep impression on this customer."
Rensuke raised his hand and pointed toward the door.
"The bald man who happened to pass you by just now when going out is the customer who has been coming to buy Wakasa incense recently."
"He just happened to come to my place again to buy Wakasa incense..."
Before Nisuke finished speaking, Makimura interrupted first:
"Nisuke, thanks for letting me know!"
As Makimura said this, he led Shimada behind him and rushed outside the Iguchi house.
Before rushing out of the Iguchi House, Makimura seemed to have remembered something and suddenly turned back to Nisuke and shouted:
"Nisuke! There is a group of people going around killing people right now! 45 people have been killed since last night. Be more careful! Avoid going to places with few people!"
After saying this, Makimura and Shimada disappeared from Nisuke's sight.
Makimura, who had disappeared for two years, suddenly appeared in front of him, and then left in a hurry - this rapid change made Rensuke's mind a little confused for a while.
It wasn't until Makimura's figure completely disappeared from sight that Nisuke smiled bitterly and whispered in a voice that only he could hear clearly:
"Even after two years of absence, Makimura-sama is still the same... he does things vigorously and resolutely..."
After muttering like this, Rensuke withdrew his gaze from his body, moved it back to the account book on the counter in front of him, and continued to concentrate on accounting.
…
…
Makimura really doesn't know whether he is lucky or unlucky now.
I met someone who might be closely related to this case——but I just passed this person.
After running out of the Iguchi House and stepping into the middle of the street outside the Iguchi House, Makimura did not chase the bald head aimlessly like a headless fly.
Instead, he stopped first and relied on his height advantage to look for the bald figure.
Makimura is much taller than the average person, so his field of vision is naturally much wider than that of the average person.
After just looking around for a while, Makimura found the bald man who hadn't gone far yet.
The bald man probably didn't expect anyone to come looking for him, so he walked leisurely on the stone brick road in Gion at a leisurely pace.
"Shimada, follow me!"
"yes!"
Makimura and Shimada walked in tandem, pushing aside the flow of people in front of them and leaning towards the bald head.
This bald man is far more alert than others.
When Makimura and Shimada were still quite a distance away from the bald head, he seemed to hear something strange behind him and turned around to look behind him.
After seeing the conspicuous giant Makimura rushing towards him, the bald man's expression changed, he tightened his clothes, then hurriedly turned his head back and fled.
——This guy... is not as alert as an ordinary person...
Makimura, who has been working as a force in Kyoto for 5 years and has personally caught countless villains, has keenly judged that this bald man's alertness is far beyond that of ordinary people.
As the largest and liveliest happy street in Kyoto, Gion-ku district naturally has a much higher flow of people than other neighborhoods in the city.
It's not unusually difficult to chase people in such a densely populated area.
Makimura and Shimada pushed aside the crowd in front of them quite gently, pushing the people blocking them to both sides one by one with enough force not to hurt or knock others down.
However, that will not be the case with the bald man.
Even using the word "rude" to describe the bald man's actions is a bit beautifying.
The bald man didn't care about anything at all, he just wanted to get away from Makimura and Shimada as quickly as possible.
Anyone who stood in front of the bald head, regardless of gender or age, was pushed aside by the bald head with rough movements.
Wherever the bald head passed, there was a lot of chaos, and curses came and went.
Because the bald head's actions in separating the crowd were much simpler and rougher than the two Makimura's, the bald head's escape speed was slightly faster than the two Makimura's pursuit.
After realizing that it would be extremely difficult to catch up with the bald man if he continued like this, Makimura pursed his lips, then turned resolutely without any hesitation and rushed towards the alley on the left.
"Makimura-senpai! Where are you going?"
Although he didn't know what Makimura was doing all of a sudden, Shimada still didn't know what was going on and hurried to catch up.
"If you keep chasing me like this, it will be difficult to catch up with him!"
Makimura explained to Shimada behind him without looking back.
"So we take the easy way out!"
"Shortcut? Are there any shortcuts in a place like this?"
"Of course! Have you forgotten? I have been a Yuli in Kyoto for 5 years!"
"There are so many people in Gion-ku, so it's one of the places where all kinds of cases are most likely to happen."
“When it comes to understanding Kyoto, especially this area, few people can surpass me!”
Makimura led Shimada through alleys extending in all directions.
After a while, Shimada saw that the alley in front of him and Makimura was sealed, and there was an earthen wall that was higher than Makimura.
Just when Shimada was about to ask Makimura what to do, Makimura shouted at Shimada:
"Shimada! Run a few steps faster! Run to the base of the earthen wall, then lean against the earthen wall, face me, half-squat, palms of your hands facing up and overlapping each other, and raise your hands to your abdomen!"
"yes!"
After only listening once, Shimada understood what Makimura meant and what Makimura planned to do.
So Shimada quickened his pace, overtaking Makimura who was running in front of him, and ran to the base of the earth wall. Then he followed Makimura's instructions just now: lean against the earth wall, face Makimura, squat half-crouch, palms of both hands facing towards
and overlap each other, raising both hands to the position of the abdomen.
At the same time that Shimada completed this series of actions, Makimura just happened to run in front of Shimada.
Makimura jumped up, stepped on the palms of Shimada's hands that were folded up to his abdomen with his right foot, and then used this force to jump up the earth wall in one breath.
The moment he jumped onto the earth wall, Makimura reached out to Shimada who was under the wall and pulled Shimada up.
…
…
"Heh...heh...heh...heh..."
After discovering that there were no footsteps approaching him behind him, the bald man finally dared to look back and check what was going on behind him.
When he turned around, he saw that the tall and strong man was no longer chasing him.
Have you gotten rid of them? - The bald head thought to himself in his heart, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The steps slowly slowed down because of the relief...
call--!
At this moment - Baldhead felt a gust of wind coming from his left side.
A strong man jumped out of the alley to the left of the bald man and hit the bald man accurately.
This strong man is naturally Makimura.
Makimura, who was familiar with the layout of Kyoto's streets and alleys, had just led Shimada through the alleys just to take a shortcut and go directly in front of the bald head.
After Makimura accurately hit the bald man, Shimada, who was a few steps slower than Makimura, also rushed out of the alley.
Shimada originally wanted to step forward to help Makimura, but because Makimura was involved in the scuffle with the bald man, even if Shimada wanted to step forward to help, he didn't know how to intervene.
——Well...this guy...is so strong...!
Makimura, who was struggling with the bald head, couldn't help but secretly said this.
There may be a lot of clues and information about this bald man, so he must be captured alive.
It was precisely because he had to be captured alive that when Makimura jumped out of the alley just now, he did not pull out the Odachi sword on his back, but rushed forward with bare hands.
If Makimura wanted to kill the bald head, when he jumped out of the alley just now, Makimura could have cut the unsuspecting bald head in half with one knife - but if he killed the bald head, it would be meaningless.
No.
Makimura's original plan was to rush forward with bare hands, subdue the bald head, and then slowly ask the bald head questions.
However, Makimura now discovered that it was not easy to complete his plan.
This bald man's strength is far greater than Makimura imagined, and judging from his various movements, he must have practiced some unarmed combat techniques and is quite skilled in using various force-relieving techniques.
Although judging from the overall battle situation, Makimura has successfully suppressed the bald man under his body, and Makimura has the upper hand, but Makimura cannot quickly capture the bald man.
When Makimura reached out to pull the bald man's clothes, he suddenly took out a small cloth bag as big as a baby's fist from behind the bald man's clothes.
After pulling out the small cloth bag, Makimura immediately smelled a familiar fragrance wafting out of the small cloth bag and entering his nostrils.
Makimura immediately recognized that the contents of the small cloth bag were the "Wakasa Incense" - presumably the bald man had just purchased it at Iguchi House.
The scuffle between Makimura and Baldhead naturally attracted quite a few passers-by to watch.
No matter how the times develop, no matter which country we are in, passers-by often just watch the fun and don’t think it’s a big deal.
In just a few breaths, Makimura and Baldhead were surrounded by a thin layer of passers-by watching the fun.
At this moment, Shimada, who had never found a chance to step forward to help, suddenly noticed that there were a large number of officials holding various fishing gear and separated from the crowd to watch.
Whenever something unusual happens, the officials who happen to be nearby will immediately rush over to check the situation - this is considered normal and extremely ordinary.
However, looking at this large group of officials, Shimada felt something strange.
There is no other reason: the number of officials rushing over seems to be too many.
As soon as this strange feeling emerged from Shimada's mind, a change occurred.
Since there were not many passers-by watching the excitement around Makimura and Baldhead, the officials quickly separated the thin crowd with skilled skills.
The charge was still continuing, but Makimura already had the absolute upper hand. After giving Makimura a little more time to subdue the bald man on the "battlefield", the large group of official officers immediately picked up their respective positions indiscriminately.
With the fishing gear in his hand, he headed towards Makimura.
The first thing to kill was a total of 7 thorns.
The seven officers holding these seven thorns are experts at using thorns at first glance.
7 thorns stabbed towards Mucun from different directions.
Makimura was concentrating on suppressing the bald head, and he did not expect that the officers who suddenly broke in would attack him, and the officers were too fast, so he had no time to take precautions. Makimura was struck again and again by these seven thorns.
Stabs solidly.
These seven thorns stabbed at Makimura from different directions. One thorn stabbed Makimura's neck, 2 thorns pierced Makimura's legs respectively, 2 thorns pierced Makimura's arms respectively, and 2 thorns pierced Makimura's torso.
After these seven thorns trapped Makimura again, more than a dozen officers swarmed forward and directly pushed Makimura to the ground.
Even Makimura couldn't escape when his limbs, torso, and neck were stabbed and trapped, and dozens of people swarmed up and pressed on him.
Because Makimura was suppressed by the sudden attack of officials, the bald man was able to escape.
After getting up from the ground in embarrassment, the bald head once again ran away desperately.
But the officials didn't seem to be interested in the bald head and allowed the bald head to run away.
Looking at the bald head who was about to run away, in just a moment, an idea suddenly flashed through Makimura's mind.
As soon as this idea flashed in his mind, Makimura immediately put his idea into practice - using one hand to open the mouth of the small cloth bag filled with Wakasa incense that he had just taken from the bald head.
, poured some Wakasa incense into the palm of his hand, and then resealed the mouth of the bag tightly.