Watching the beautiful girl dancing on the open air, without microphones and flashing lights, only slow and poetic movements, with sparse surroundings, surrounded by people, under the crimson sunset, Logan had to admit that the impromptu performance of the envoy that evening was an unforgettable scene.
The distant red agate at the end made him, the peeping spectator, suddenly feel a bit at a loss. Facing all sorts of hardships and life-and-death struggles, he had come through them all without panic, but now, there was a sudden sense of unease, different from the unease before the singing and dancing.
It had been a long time since he felt this way. In the hazy corner of his memory, it seemed that during junior high school graduation, there was a girl named Suzan, his childhood sweetheart, who walked into the classroom. The September weather was hot and humid, the cicadas chirping made people drowsy, and he was leaning on his desk, but suddenly woke up, "Hi Logan" - he was rendered at a loss by the familiar yet unfamiliar figure standing tall and straight.
…
It was already late at night, and there were almost no pedestrians on the street. Occasionally, a few drunkards staggered and leaned against the wall, their expressions sorrowful as they shouted incomprehensible words. Some Samurai on night patrol came by, punching and kicking them irritably, cursing, holding lanterns for a while before leaving, leaving only darkness behind.
Logan wore an animal mask and sat steadily on the narrow eaves, watching the drunkard limping and finally disappearing from sight, shaking his head.
"I guess we won't be able to set off tomorrow..." He thought of the scene when the group arrived in this city, the Samurai were shouting to go drink. The nature of their group was special, but it was getting late, and the local officials only sent a representative to offer condolences, and there will probably be a reception banquet for them tomorrow.
After settling down the envoy and all the other scholars, the Samurai couldn't hold back their excitement and went out happily. They only returned in the deep of the night. It was said that the envoy was very angry, and Hanjiro also stepped forward to sternly reprimand his subordinates, lamenting where their usual self-restraint and frugality had gone, and if they still held the spirit of the Samurai's way in their eyes or not? It's a pity that his face is slightly red and he smells as drunk as others, so it's hard to be convincing.
There was nothing Logan can do about this. Even though they are in a town, he couldn't let go of his guard, so he had no choice but to continue to contribute to his excellent sense of responsibility and career development.
After that dance, he had no intention of sleeping, which was probably the real reason.
Logan was in a daze for a long time, then slapped his head, took out the mission briefing from his pocket, flipped to the section introducing the commissioned target, skimmed over the unimportant parts, and found the information he wanted.
"Hoshino Sumika."
The name is pronounced Hoshi no Sumika in Japanese, which means abode of the stars. It's a pretty nice name.
'That's not right, why should I care if her name is nice.' Logan slapped his face, stuffed the mission briefing back into his pocket, coughed, and looked ahead, standing guard properly.
The situation the next day was as Logan expected. Not to mention that the group of useless Samurai woke up leisurely well after dawn, Sumika, the etiquette envoy of the Land of Fire, was also visited by several famous local officials, and even scholars came to discuss music and literature, attracted by her reputation.
This surprised Logan somewhat. Although he expected this envoy group to have a relatively high status, after all, they were entrusted with the diplomatic mission of fostering friendship between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Tea, but he did not expect that Sumika to be even more popular. It has nothing to do with 'power', but more with 'fame'.
After a bunch of this and that, the envoy group had to stay in the town for another night. Under Sumika's coercion, the Samurai couldn't drink, so they set off smoothly the next morning.
On the winding road outside the city, the group of forty to fifty people turned into a thin line. In order to match the pace, Logan could only follow on foot, mostly staying around the carriage of the envoy.
During his time in the city, Logan kept a low profile. Officials and scholars came and went, and he just quietly watched. After all, for a Ninja, it's better to keep a low profile, and this kind of thing had nothing to do with him anyway.
"Good morning, Ninja of Konoha."
When Logan absentmindedly tossed a coin, a crisp female voice suddenly came from beside him. He froze for a moment, and turned around to find that it was the beautiful envoy named Sumika. Logan did not know when she opened the curtain of the carriage, and now, she was waving at him with a smile.
"Ah, good morning." Logan replied numbly, 'This girl had changed her clothes, but it still followed the red and white theme.' "What's the matter?"
"Can't I call you if I have nothing to do?" Sumika said to him with a smile, different from her otherworldly presence during singing and dancing, "I'm actually quite curious about Ninjas with various legends."
"Oh." Logan nodded thoughtfully, and then replied, "You make a valid point."
'Eh, why can't I say something else?'
After Logan finished speaking, he wanted to give himself a slap. Is this really how you converse with someone? It seemed he still had some residual attribute of being a shut-in. As a person who used to be full of witty remarks, he couldn't even come up with a decent sentence when faced with a cute girl.
'Damn second dimension, ruining my youth. Clearly, it's not my fault no matter how you look at it.'
Sumika's clear red eyes also flashed with a hint of dumbfoundedness when she heard this, but she quickly reacted, "Um, your name is Raiden Hattori, right? I asked Hanjiro about it. Thank you for taking care of us for a while. The day before yesterday... it must have been funny for you to see the Samurai all drunk."
"Ah, no, not at all. Ensuring your safety is what I should do." If the one in front of him is a man, Logan would definitely brag at this time. After all, how many chances in life do you get to brag?
However, seeing the sincere look of the girl in front of him, he gave up his grandiose thoughts and said, "It's understandable that the Samurai wanted to relax. You also don't need to worry about safety issues."
'Anyway, their combat power is already worrying, so if they want to get drunk, just let them. I can handle fights on my own.' This is the underlying message in Logan's words.
Sumika chatted with Logan for a while. Just when Logan was feeling overwhelmed by the other party's gentle smile, Sumika saw the coin on Logan's right hand. She thought of something and changed the topic, "Ninja Hattori, there's a question I've been wanting to ask for a long time. During this time, I seem to have always seen you playing with coins..."
"Oh, this." Logan let the coin spin dazzlingly between his fingers for a few times. After fiddling with the coin for so long, he naturally learned some tricks. Seeing this trick, Sumika's eyes widened, and Logan coughed. Of course, he couldn't say that he was studying how to hypnotize people in an instant and plan to electroshock whoever pisses him off in the future, so he had to make up some nonsense next.