The paper figure carried the spiritual power of the judge and slowly floated to the blade. Wrapped in the cherry blossom petals that were necessary for the blade to appear, the young boy with the short sword Fumihime took a step forward, his blue eyes as bright as the clear sea water.

"I came here by following the crowd. I am Hyuga Masamune." (Note 1)

The feeling of spiritual power conveyed to the dead is undoubtedly the best reflection of a person's nature. The spiritual power of the judge in front of him is gentle and soft, and seems to have a suitable temperature.

Fu Shenshen chuckled softly: "Are you the Judge of Gods? Please give me your guidance in the future."

"I'm Qili, thank you for your guidance." Qili winked at him playfully, her eyes full of girlish vigor.

Outside the door, Yasuke Hasebe's call interrupted the conversation between the two people at the right time.

Nanari and Hyuga Masamune looked at each other for a moment, then left the forging room together to look for Hasebe who was looking for someone everywhere.

As soon as he walked out of the door, the utachi-fu shinjin spotted the figure of the judge and used his mobility to quickly run over.

"Lord..." Yakiri Hasebe paused, choking back the rest of his words, and noticed Hyuga Masamune behind the Judge, "So you are here to summon a new god of death?"

His tone was unconsciously doting, not the love between a man and a woman, but more like the attitude of an elder towards a child.

"Next time, remember to say 'Ah, Lord' first."

"Yes, yes - I will remember to say hello next time before I come out." Nanari responded and introduced the new god of death to Hasebe, "This is Hyuga Masamune... I read the introduction of the current political announcement before, and it seems that he is very good at making dried plums?"

Her last question was addressed to Hinata Masamune, who nodded in confirmation.

Yakiri Hasebe introduced himself and then said to Nanari, "It seems Kitsunesuke has something urgent to tell you. Do you need to go back to the castle tower first?"

With a light clap of his hands, Nanari suddenly realized, "It should be because my term of office is about to end. I'll let Kitsunesuke take care of the current affairs and fill in the report during the period."

Hinata Masamune, who was listening to the conversation between the two, felt as if he had heard something wrong.

"Is the Master's term of office coming to an end?"

Nanari smiled sheepishly: "The contract I signed with Tokisei to be a judge is for seven years. This year is the last year, and I will be stepping down in about five months."

Hinata Masamune understood: "So that's how it is."

"general?"

Yagen Toushirou was stopped by Nanari when he passed by the castle tower gate. Nanari pushed Hyuga Masamune in front of him and made a gesture of asking for help.

"Thank you for your hard work, Yakuken. I'll leave Hinata in your charge."

As soon as she finished speaking, Nanasato slipped into the castle tower at the urging of Kitsunesuke who popped his head out from the second floor, the wooden steps making a thumping sound.

Outside the castle tower, the two short sword-wielding gods who were left behind looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Yaken pushed up his glasses and spoke calmly to lead the way, breaking the vaguely awkward atmosphere.

Yaken led Hinata along the other side of the corridor and introduced the rooms and hand-crafting rooms one by one.

When passing by the Honmaru nursing team sitting in the corridor, Yakuken glanced and unexpectedly saw a familiar figure.

"Brother Yiqi?" Yaoyan was a little hesitant. It was really rare to see his brother sitting with the others, holding a teacup and sipping tea leisurely.

The aqua-haired Tachibana Odakami turned his head and said, "Are you showing your new companion around the Honmaru? You've worked hard, Yaken."

Yaoyan: "...Not hard, come to think of it, today seems to be the first issue of Brother and Random Horse?"

Ichigo Ichizuru, who had completely forgotten about this, paused in his leisurely movements. In the distance, under the Manyozakura trees, Rantoshiro was no longer visible.

He immediately put down his teacup, said goodbye to the others, and walked towards the stable. His back inexplicably revealed a sense of guilt.

Yaoyan: "...Brother Yiqi seems to be getting more and more forgetful."

Hinata stood two steps behind Yaken, remaining silent. He then briefly introduced himself to the two remaining sword masters and continued to move forward, following Yaken's steps.

"This is the Awataguchi sword school's room, next to it is the Lai school, and turning inward is the Sanjo stable." Yakuken stopped at the door and turned his head to Hinata and said, "You live on the right side of Sanjo. The general has already prepared the basic supplies inside, and the rest can be purchased at Man-ya later."

"Thank you very much. I think I have found the way."

"It will be dinner time soon. You can change out of your battle uniforms. New recruits usually go out the next morning."

Hinata Masamune listened carefully to Yakuken's words and had a general understanding of the basic things about Honmaru.

Yakuken heaved a sigh of relief after confirming that he had memorized everything. He smiled at Hinata's puzzled look and said, "This is also the first time I'm in charge of a newcomer. Before, it was Yamaubakiri and Hasebe who were in charge."

——Actually, you did a great job, Yakuin.

"Excuse me——"

In the kitchen, Candelabra Mitsutada and Utase Kanesada heard the sound and looked over. A head popped out from the door. It was Hinata Masamune who had changed into his erotic costume.

With the hat tilted on his head, Hinata blinked his blue eyes and said harmlessly, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"It's the new companion mentioned by the main hall." Candakiri wiped the flour off his hands and said, "Please come in."

"What is this?"

Candelaqier picked up a small basket and put it aside. It was filled with plums.

"The main hall prepared it not long ago. They said, 'Because Hinata is good at making pickled plums, we want to give it a try if Hinata is willing to make it.'" Cangdai Kiri recalled Nanari's expression at that time. She looked like a greedy child with her eyes shining.

"Is that so? Then leave the dried plums to me." The boy said so, and with the help of Candlestick Qie, he found the bottles and jars specially used to store dried plums, which came with a small plate.

"I will make dried plums that the master will like."

Hinata Masamune said seriously, and his hands had already started to move, sorting and putting together the things needed. For a while, the kitchen was quiet, and the three of them were concentrating on making food.

"Dinner will be great." Nanari, who was hiding in the corner with her valet Kashuu Kiyomitsu, could already smell the aroma coming from the kitchen. She wiped off the non-existent saliva from the corner of her mouth and held her face in happiness: "I've been looking forward to Hyuga's plum dried meat since it was first installed. Now I can finally eat the real thing - it's absolutely awesome!"

Kashuu Kiyomitsu covered half of his face, feeling a little embarrassed: "...Master, Hinata heard it."

At the kitchen window, Hinata Masamune stood on tiptoe and smiled towards the place where the two were hiding.

Qili: “…”

"Ouch!" Nanari quickly turned around and squatted, "This is too bad! Hinata will misunderstand me like this..."

Someone poked her shoulder lightly with fingertips, and Nanari buried her face between her arms and remained motionless: "Just let me calm down for a while, it will be fine, it's so embarrassing... my cheeks are burning."

"Master, I'm in front of you." Kashuu Kiyomitsu stood with his arms folded in front of the inquisitor who was trying to escape reality. It was obviously impossible for him to cross the distance and touch her from behind.

Qili was confused: "Huh? That is..." Who?

A clear young voice sounded from behind him, with a faint smile: "It's me, Master."

This sound...

"Hinata?!"

"You guessed it right."

Nanari felt more ashamed than ever before. She was caught drooling over the plum blossoms made by Fu Oishin (the god of death). Not only did her cheeks turn red, but her neck and earlobes were also red.

"Master, are you not going to get up? I brought some dried plums."

Nanari was alert instantly, not noticing Kashuu Kiyomitsu tilting his head to hold back his laughter, and turned around quickly to meet Hinata's smiling eyes, then he waved his hand towards the person -

"Eh? Empty?"

The attendant laughed out loud, which was very disrespectful. Qili hung his head and looked depressed, like a cat that had been scolded and admitted its fault obediently.

The teaching scene that Nanari had expected did not come true. Hyuga Masamune first raised that hand and touched the judge's head, then stretched out the hand behind his back, which originally contained two small dried plums in his clenched palm.

"It's almost time for dinner, and Candokidaikiriden also suggested eating less, so I only brought two." Tanto Fu Nijin said, motioning for the judge to take one, and handed the other to Kashuu Kiyomitsu, "After dinner, I'll serve you a small dish to send to the castle tower."

Nanari held a piece of dried plum in her mouth and watched Hinata Masamune return to the kitchen with tears in her eyes. On the one hand, it was because of the sour taste, and on the other hand, she was moved.

"Hinata is so nice..."

Kashuu Kiyomitsu, who was also disgusted by the sour taste of the dried plums, brightened up after tasting the sweet aftertaste. Hearing the words of the diviner, he directly pointed out that his boasting has never changed: "You said the same thing to Yaken when you helped him make cold medicine. The time before that, you said the same thing to Mikazuki-dono when he helped you process documents. And the time before that, too..."

Nanari's expression gradually became dull: "Ah, so I've said it so many times."

Kashuu Kiyomitsu nodded seriously.

Dinner ended happily in a lively atmosphere. Someone took out some wine and secretly poured it into Yamaubakiri's cup. Yamaubakiri drank it in one gulp without noticing anything. Then he suddenly felt that the taste was not right and passed out on the spot, rolling around wrapped in the cloth.

The judge on the seat stared at Yamaubakiri with an expression like a mother looking at her son, and the others were also used to it and had no intention of stopping it.

The hand on his knee was touched by someone. It was Yamaubakiri holding an empty wine glass and turning it over.

Hinata Masamune took the cup from his hand, took the hangover soup brought by Candida Kiri, and held down the restless white ball under his command. Compared with the strength of the katana, the short sword could only be considered as barely able to hold down the latter.

Fortunately, Yamaubakiri Kunihiro didn't make a fuss even when he was drunk. He stayed quietly when he was told not to move. He just turned his head away to show his refusal when he smelled the not-so-nice smell of the hangover soup.

Hinata: "... Yamaubakiri-dono, drink the hangover soup well."

Yamaubakiri was silent, his emerald green eyes staring straight at Hinata Masamune, and the two of them inexplicably started a silent contest, and neither of them blinked first.

"Pfft." The culprit Tsurumaru, who was sitting on the left of Hinata Masamune, couldn't help but let the two of them stare at each other, ending the game midway.

Tsurumaru Kuninaga stood up and held Yamaubakiri to prevent him from escaping, while Hinata was in charge of feeding him hangover soup. After one bowl, it didn't work immediately, but it did provide some relief.

A white soul floated out of Yamaubakiri's mouth, but Hinata pressed it back with a smile.

"Ahem." The Shinsengumi, who had finally seen enough, coughed twice. "It just so happens that the Horikawa sword school's room is just opposite where Hinata lives. Yamabushi-dono went to the mountains behind the Honmaru for night training, and Horikawa needs to take care of Izumi-no-kami, so..."

Hinata understood the unfinished words, but couldn't help but make a comparison between Yamaubakiri and himself, and cast his eyes on the Shinigami.

——Are you sure I can send Yamaubakiri-dono back?

——There will be medicine developed to help you.

——No, this is not a question of whether to help or not, right?

The judge's eyes drifted: "Then I'll be leaving first. Come on Hinata."

Hinata Masamune: "..."

He smiled helplessly: "No problem, I will return the Yamaubakiri-dono in good condition."