After promising Kinoshita Mai that he absolutely wouldn't tell anyone about her earlier embarrassing behavior, the girl finally began returning to normal.
The blush on her cheeks faded sowhat.
The "steam" no longer rose from the top of her head.
Since Aoto and Kinoshita Mai happened to be going the sa way, both wanting to leave this small path, they naturally fell into step side by side.
The atmosphere between them... was unprecedentedly awkward.
Not yet fully recovered from the earlier "ow ow" incident, and having only t Aoto once before, Kinoshita Mai hugged the large cloth bag in her arms tightly—who knew what was inside—her shoulders hunched, head drooping, lips pressed tightly together, with a lingering blush on her cheeks, visibly nervous and embarrassed.
Kinoshita Mai remained silent, and Aoto didn't know what to say to her either.
Aoto was terrible at dealing with girls.
In his previous life, due to his upbringing environnt and personal temperant among other reasons, he didn't even have female friends, let alone a girlfriend.
His experience interacting with won... was practically zero.
Though he had no female friends, he did have plenty of male friends with arms and waists thicker than each other, and biceps bigger than one another.
Precisely because he had never made female friends since childhood and had no sisters or similar relatives, Aoto was extrely awkward around won.
What to talk about with them, what they liked to discuss... he was completely clueless.
And the mories of "the original Tachibana Aoto" contained absolutely no knowledge or recollection about "topics girls of this era liked to talk about" either...
If they continued like this without speaking, the atmosphere would beco suffocatingly awkward... Not wanting the situation to remain this uncomfortable, Aoto glanced sideways at Kinoshita Mai while racking his brains for suitable conversation topics.
After observing Kinoshita Mai out of the corner of his eye for a long ti, he still couldn't think of any topics, but his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
—Now that I look carefully... this girl really is quite cute...
The day before yesterday at Senjiya had been too rushed to properly examine her appearance.
Now that he could look more carefully, he realized this girl's features were truly outstanding.
Smooth black hair was styled in the era's most popular won's hairstyle: the shimada mago.
She wore a kimono primarily in bright red with white accents, and for so reason, this red clothing seed to suit her perfectly.
Eyebrows, nose, mouth, eyes... every line on her face was delicate and graceful.
Yet compared to her cute face, her skin and chest were clearly more attention-grabbing.
She had perfectly fair, tender skin that felt like even if you threw coarse sandpaper at her face, it would just slide right off her smooth complexion.
Despite her young age—she couldn't be more than 15 or 16—her developnt was surprisingly good.
The kimono was originally a garnt that could make D-cups look like C-cups, C-cups look like B-cups, B-cups look like A-cups, and A-cups look like crossdressers.
Even wearing such a minimizing outfit, this girl's chest area still appeared quite full.
Kinoshita Mai had such slender arms and legs that unless you saw it with your own eyes, it was hard to imagine soone with such a delicate fra could possess such impressive proportions.
Just as Aoto was silently marveling at and praising Kinoshita Mai's beauty in his heart, suddenly—he heard that unique, mosquito-like soft voice of hers coming from beside him once again.
The one who broke the suffocating silence first turned out to be the shy Kinoshita Mai:
"Um... excuse ... even though you've visited our shop, I still don't know your na..."
Ah... that's right... The day before yesterday at Senjiya, I only introduced myself to Owner Kiryu...
Muttering "how careless of " inwardly, Aoto cleared his throat:
"Sorry, I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself to you."
"My na is Tachibana Aoto, currently serving in the Teimachi squad at Kita Bansho."
"Tachibana Aoto?"
Kinoshita Mai lifted her head, sending Aoto a long, curious look.
"What is it?" Aoto asked curiously, not understanding why she was looking at him like that.
"Ah... it's nothing..."
When Aoto's gaze turned to her, Kinoshita Mai—too shy to et his eyes—quickly lowered her head again, staring at her small feet wrapped in white tabi socks as she continued softly:
"Earlier when I went to the silk fabric shop to pick up so fabrics, I heard so people in the store discussing you..."
"They said: a dōshin nad Tachibana Aoto solved a murder case in less than two hours yesterday..."
[Note: Silk fabrics: aning kimono. Ancient Japan didn't yet have the term "kimono"]
Hearing this, Aoto gave a wry smile: "I see... Yesterday's matter has already spread through the city so quickly..."
"I never expected you were that Tachibana Aoto..." Aoto vaguely saw a hint of admiring smile on Kinoshita Mai's face, "You're amazing, actually solving a murder case in less than two hours..."
"Ah, that was just good luck on my part," Aoto said casually with a smile.
Though they had only exchanged a few simple words, this brief communication successfully eased much of the awkward atmosphere between them. Kinoshita Mai's previously tense shoulders relaxed considerably, and her voice beca louder and clearer too.
Seizing the opportunity while their atmosphere had improved significantly, Aoto "pressed his advantage."
Kinoshita Mai's earlier words had given him an excellent conversation starter—
"You said earlier you went to the silk fabric shop to pick up fabrics, so is this cloth bag you're holding now the clothing you just collected from the shop?" Aoto gestured with his chin toward the cloth bag Kinoshita Mai was holding in both hands.
Kinoshita Mai nodded: "This is a gift I prepared for my friend."
"Friend?"
"Mhm, I have a very important friend. She and her grandfather are moving from Osaka to Edo to live here for a while due to so matters," Kinoshita Mai said slowly, still staring intently at her toes, "If nothing unexpected happens, they should arrive in Edo in about ten days."
"Tomorrow I'll be leaving Edo to et them at Fujisawa-shuku on the Tōkaidō road."
"I was originally worried the kimono I prepared for my friend wouldn't be finished in ti..."
"But fortunately, that silk fabric shop managed to complete the kimono I ordered before tomorrow after all."
"You're going all the way out to Fujisawa-shuku to et your friend?" Aoto exclaid softly.
Traveling that far outside the city to welco soone... that was the highest level of courtesy.
"Mhm... after all, she's my most important friend," Kinoshita Mai showed a shy smile tinged with excitent and anticipation.
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