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Volume 3 Chapter 2 Part 7

「No Saru. Things have already been decided. 」

「No way!!! 」

When Tsuda Sogyu was leaving, the only thing that he added was:

「It’s been a long time since we last met, Akechi-sama, so please do come over to my house, and we are going to organize ourselves a small feast to celebrate our reunion. 」

And Akechi Mitsuhide answered with a barely intelligible:

「I would love to, but I must stop this gorilla from committing any despicable actions towards Nobuna-sama… 」

… and was feeling a bit indecisive, but she couldn’t reject Sogyu’s good intentions withput a perfectly valid reason, so after saying 「I will come back at night. 」 she left together with Tsuda Sogyu.

After Mitsuhide and Tsuda Sogyu left the room, Nobuna and Yoshiharu were left there glaring at each other while Imai Sokyu was eating takoyaki without a care in the world.

「Hmph. What do you plan to do now, Saru? Juubei is an unbeatable genius. If this goes on, you might just lose utterly and be relegated to managing the kitchens back at Gifu Castle! 」

「If it was about a regular fight, I’d be okay with it, but a cooking competition is obviously advantageous to Juubei, even more so since she is a girl. Don’t tell me you really want me to go lose and stay in the kitchen and that’s why you agreed to it so readily?! 」

「Hmph! You have been acting strange ever since we came to Sakai, and while Juubei abandoning her duty to guard Kyoto is strange too, I just want to cheer both of you up. And besides, aren’t you the type of guy that won’t try their best unless they are backed into a corner? It’s about time you get used to my way of doing things. 」

「I’m ok, but to do this to Juubei, it might just have the opposite effect… If you force her to do things like that, who knows what might happen? 」

「You think so? 」

「A-And in the end, the one who made me troubled is you, you know? 」

「Me? Why?

「Uhm, b-because… 」

(Damn! Her first love might just be in this city… If that guy appears in front of Nobuna, will I be able to do anything about it? And the reason why she was so against her marriage with Nagamasa, was it because of this guy? Did it actually have nothing to do with me…?)

The more he thought about it, the more Yoshiharu felt a sharp pain in his heart.

(But I can never admit to such an embarrassing thing. I can never admit it, and I can’t let Nobuna hear about it. If I let her know, I will be teased like an idiot because of it for as long as I’ll live.)

「N-Nothing, nothing at all… 」

Looking at the troubled face of Yoshiharu, Nobuna’s mood was becoming better and better.

「Ahhh, is that so? Well, it’s not like I care anyway. Ahhh, I wonder if I will meet my first love here? 」

「Damn it! Who the hell is this first love of yours? Is it a ghost? Or maybe a bird or a gorilla? 」

「Of course it’s a human; you are really rude for implying otherwise! Comparing him to you is like comparing the moon to a piece of shit, even your looks are quite literally worlds apart. 」

「So as to say, in my world’s terms, he’s a pretty boy, huh?… Damn it, in the end Nobuna cares about looks when choosing guys! Because of that…damn! Damn it all to hell! 」

「Wait, you really have no manners. The great me could never be smitten by just a guy’s looks! It’s true that that guy is very suave, but what really attracts me to him is his interior. His dreams… The bravery to fulfill his mission at all costs… He has no qualms about family status and treats everyone as equals, and he is also full of compassion… He really is the perfect guy for me… 」

Nobuna seemed to deliberately stir up Yoshiharu’s jealousy, and that’s why she was purposefully ambiguous and didn’t explain that all that she had said just now was her feelings from over 10 years ago.

「Hmph. As long as the face is pretty, the interio will just automatically be good too. Ah~ah~, how I wish to go back to Kyoto so that I could drink tea with Hanbei-chan… 」

「Ugh. What the hell,?! what’s with you?! Always with your ‘Hanbei-chan this and Hanbei-chan that!’! 」

「Unlike someone I have to deal with right now, Hanbei-chan will not scold me at all. She is very friendly and gentle with everyone! 」

「Hmph! So what if she is? Anyway, why didn’t you bring Nene along with you? Don’t tell me you plan to flirt around with the girls in Kyoto while she’s not keeping her eyes on you? 」

「Huh? The reason why I didn’t bring Nene along is because it’s dangerous here! How was I to know that we could enter Kyoto so smoothly? 」

「Ahh, is that it? So what you’re saying is you don’t trust my grand plans and strategies at all. You must have thought that I would fail in heading to the capital and we would need to fight our way in, right? Hmph! 」

「Who the hell said something like that! 」

「Hmph! Who knows! Listen! If you lose to Juubei, you ‘breast-touching demonic monkey’, you can just rot your life away in the kitchens for all I care! 」

「Ohhh, just try it if you have the guts! We will see about it when I win! 」

Imai Sokyu, who was hiding in a corner then mumbled lightly:

「A quarrel between husband and wife, not even gods can help with that. The relationship between the two of you is really good though. 」

*Breathe in*

Both Yoshiharu and Nobuna breathed in at the same time. And then…

「 「WE AREN’T HUSBAND AND WIFE!!!」 」

… they shouted at the same time as well.

* * *

「Actually, I have a secret job that I want to pass to you. After it will be done, I will try my best to persuade the Kaigi Gunshū to let you win in the competition with Sagara-sama. 」

Akechi, who had reached Tsuda Sougyu’s place, accepted a job that he wanted to give to her.

「Hehe. As expected, one must rely on friends at the crucial moment. Leave it to me! 」

Mitsuhide, focusing wholly on not losing to that gorilla Sagara Yoshiharu, accepted the proposal without thinking. Though Mitsuhide was clever, she would often lose her calm after accepting orders, and she had totally not noticed the suspicious parts of Tsuda Sogyu’s request.

「It’s okay, it’s just a simple job. And if there will be people interfering with that job, please help yourself and deal with them as you see fit. 」

「I understand. I will finish this matter by tomorrow. 」