"You all put on these 7 pieces of chain mail tomorrow." Kurayaga stroked the pair of chain mail closest to him, "It will definitely come in handy."
"We won't know how to act tomorrow until we get to the scene. So - Ichiro, after the seven of you launch the assault, you will be the commander-in-chief."
"When to launch the attack, who will be the main attacker, who will be the auxiliary attacker - these things are all decided by you."
"Yes!" Ichiro responded loudly.
As for Kurunaga, when he said this, he paused for a while.
After a while, he said quietly again:
"It is now approaching the end of September. According to my lord's habit of never going out hunting in autumn and winter, his hunting tomorrow will be his last hunting trip this year."
"So this is our only chance this year..."
"So...tomorrow...is the day that will decide the future of us...and the Hirose Domain."
"I hope you will all work together as one."
"I also wish you all... good luck in martial arts."
…
…
Ogata never expected that he would have insomnia tonight.
Maybe it's because I'm excited, or maybe it's because I'm nervous.
Or maybe... it's simply because Shiro's snoring is too loud.
Ogata usually found that Shiro was a very nervous person.
But Ogata didn't expect that Shiro's nerves would be so strong that he slept more soundly than usual the night before the decisive battle and snored louder than usual.
Feeling that he really couldn't sleep, Ogata lifted the quilt and tiptoed out of the room.
The patriots all slept in the same room. In order not to disturb other people's sleep, Ogata kept the sound of footsteps and breathing to a minimum.
Ogata wanted to take a walk outside the room to relax.
In order to conceal the existence of Ogata and others, Kuranaga drew a "circle" with the living room of the patriots as the center, and did not allow any servants in the palace to enter the "circle", and at the same time, Ogata and others were not allowed to leave.
This "circle".
The only people who can freely enter and leave this "circle" are Kuronaga and Tobiru.
Due to the limited range of activities, Ogata cannot wander around casually.
In the end, Ogata decided to go to the place he was most familiar with these days - the dojo.
There is a fairly large window in the dojo, which faces the sky.
Ogata's purpose was to go to the dojo to look at the night sky and breathe the fresh air outside the window.
When he opened the sliding paper door of the dojo, Ogata was surprised to find that there was someone inside the dojo.
Moreover... he is still an acquaintance of Ogata.
"My lord..." Looking at Kuranagi who was holding a wooden sword in his hand, Ogata raised his eyebrows, "Why are you here? Are you also coming here to watch the night sky to relax because you can't sleep?"
As Ogata spoke, he pursed his lips towards the large window of the dojo.
"It's true that I couldn't sleep." Kuronaga smiled bitterly, "But - I didn't come to see the night sky."
"I couldn't sleep anyway, so I thought I'd just come practice sword practice."
"My lord..." Ogata cast a helpless look at Kurunaga, "You will only become more and more excited the more you practice, and the more you practice, the more unable to sleep you will be."
After that, Ogata walked straight towards the window, and then sat cross-legged by the window, looking at the stars in the night sky outside the window.
"My lord... Actually... ever since you summoned me into the mansion and asked me if I wanted to be an 'executioner', I have always thought you were a strange guy."
Now there are only Ogata and Kurunaga, no other outsiders.
Therefore - Ogata decided to bury the words and questions that he had been burying deep in his mind these days, and that he had always wanted to say to Kuronaga but had never had the chance to say. Tonight, he would tell and ask Kuronaga clearly.
"Strange? What do you mean?"
"My lord, you are planning to assassinate Matsudaira Gennai."
"But you still address the person you intend to assassinate as 'lord'."
"It's like saying honorifics to the enemy of your father who is about to be killed. It's quite weird."
"My lord, why do you still insist on calling Matsudaira Gennai 'Lord'? If you change this kind of thing with your heart, you can still correct it, right?"
After hearing Ogata's question, Kuronaga pursed his lips.
Afterwards, Kuronaga silently put the wooden sword in his hand back on the knife rest, then walked beside Ogata and sat side by side with Ogata.
"Yeah..." Kuranagi smiled bitterly, "I myself... also feel that I am very contradictory..."
"I obviously want Matsudaira Gennai to die now..."
"But the mouth always uses honorific names for him without obeying his orders..."
"The combination of my determination to support the great righteousness and...the concept of 'loyalty' that I have adhered to since I can remember, created...my current contradictory and weird look..."
"My lord..." Ogata said softly, "You are also a great person... In an era like this, there are very few people like you who would not hesitate to kill the lord you serve for the sake of justice.
…”
"Heh..." Kuranagi twitched the corner of his mouth and revealed an ugly smile, "Me too...after going through an unimaginable struggle, I finally made up my mind to help the righteous..."
"After Gennai Matsudaira became the new lord of our domain and his cruel nature was exposed, I told myself this countless times in my heart."
"'I am a warrior, and I must be loyal to my lord. No matter what ridiculous things my lord does, I cannot be disloyal to him.'"
"I have to say this in my head countless times every day..."
"Only in this way can I ignore all the atrocities committed by Gennai Matsudaira with peace of mind."
"Until...probably around the middle of this year...I saw the lord hacking a poor little girl to death..."
"The poor little girl did nothing wrong. She just accidentally collided with Gennai Matsudaira's car. She was chopped into two pieces by Gennai Matsudaira's subordinates and then was thrown to the roadside like garbage.
…”
"I happened to be at the scene..."
"I can't describe how I felt when I saw the tragic death of this little girl..."
"I only remember clearly - a voice sounded very loudly in my mind: I can't bear it anymore."
Kuronaga took out the knife inserted in his waist.
Ka.
Then open the sheath and slowly pull the blade out of the sheath.
The cold light reflected from the unsheathed blade just covered Kuronaga's pupils, illuminating the streaks of light in Kuronaga's pupils.
"At that moment...I finally woke up..."
"While I am a warrior, I am also a man."
"When the world falls apart, a few men have to step forward."
"If you succumb to darkness and don't dedicate yourself to upholding justice, you will be a man in vain!"
"Ogata-kun, let me tell you the truth."
"When I decided to assassinate the lord, I made a decision - I launched the assassination as a man. In the end, I will end it as a warrior."
"No matter whether the assassination is successful or failed, I will perform a caesarean section to apologize."
"Assassinating the lord is for the sake of the world's justice. Having a disembowelment to apologize is for the morality of the warrior."
"Use the blood from my belly to cleanse my soul, which is unclean because of my betrayal of the Lord."
After that, Kuronaga slowly inserted the knife back into the scabbard, causing the cold light that originally shrouded his eyes to gradually fade away.