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Early in the morning, Daidouji Akira and his gang had gone into the valley to look for their "heirloom" after confirming the Mountain Imp colony was gone, but to no avail. As their hearts were so low, reaching their stomachs, they almost leaped from their throats when they saw n.o.buru standing in the way. They only relaxed after seeing the words carved in front of him, a.s.suming they were carved by some strong samurai pa.s.sing by. Relieved that Lily was probably dead, and the traitor most certainly gone, they could finally return to Takes.h.i.ta with mixed feelings.

It was already the evening by the time Akira and gang reached Takes.h.i.ta. They were making their way towards the tavern they were supposed to stay. They forwent the plan to return to the mountain town due to two reasons; they were unable to find the heirloom and confirm Lily"s death. They were unwilling to let it go just like that!

Akira even forcefully purchased a bullock-cart on the road. Lying unconscious on the cart was the heavily injured Takano with one arm missing.

Unwilling to let that go, Akira forced some words out between gnashed teeth as his hatred focused solely on Lily, "Regardless of her breathing or not, I must see her body with my own eyes! We don"t know if that ⓢⓛⓤⓣ was actually killed by the mountain imps or not!"

One martial monk exclaimed, "Lord Akira, how could that woman be alive with so many mountain imps there? Surely she"s in shreds now!"

"That"s right, but it"s such a pity. The heirloom must"ve been taken by them," said another martial monk beside Akira.

Humoring the thought, Akira said, "Alas, since that"s the case it will be very difficult to get it back!"

"This Lily was too hateful! So be it if she fell down the slope and got caught by the colony, but did she have to take the heirloom with her?" Akira thought as the spy they left in the city breathlessly rushed over.

"Lord Akira! B- Bad news!"

Akira"s mood began to sour even more as he shouted, "What now?!"

"T- That woman…"

"What woman, speak clearly! And slowly!"

"That woman, Kagami Lily, I saw her entering the town this afternoon completely unharmed!" said the spy hurriedly.

"What?!?!" Akira was so surprised that his eyeb.a.l.l.s threatened to pop out, "N- Not dead? She"s actually not dead? But how? How did she escape from that colony of Mountain Imps?!"

As Akira and the rest of his gang rushed to the tavern to discuss the topic in detail, Lily was walking out of the Chrysanthemum Inn to linger along the riverbank.

"That"s strange, I clearly remembered that I dropped it around this area, why is it gone…"

That was such a fine paper parasol, even if the others didn"t know of its secret, it was still within the realm of possibility for it to be picked up by other people.

Lily blamed herself!

"I actually lost the parasol!"

It was beyond her control for the parasol to be blown away by the gust generated by the black steed. However, if she immediately returned to find the parasol, rather than getting enamored by Uesugi"s kiss and went to nag at her, she might still be able to find it. The street was devoid of people during the rainstorm after all.

"This is just great! I had forgotten about this matter at the time, returned to Chrysanthemum to take a bath and get a new set of clothes, only to run back to specifically tell that woman my name, just what was I thinking?!"

All other matters could be dropped, but she would be in deep trouble if the Sakura Parasol was really lost!

However, the Sakura Parasol was not an ordinary item. At the very least, it was not something a commoner would be able to damage. Lily spread out spiritual waves to search the area, but since the Genji Dojo was protected by a special barrier, she was unable to search there.

The result from half a night of search; nothing.

Lily returned to the Chrysanthemum Inn helplessly. All she could think of was whether she could request Lady Sakiko to issue a pamphlet for lost item tomorrow. It may be a.s.sumed that the parasol was still within the town.

When Lily was back in her room, she took off her upper garment to reveal her back. Then she used a wet towel to whip herself until her back turned deep red.

"This is for my fickle mind! This is for letting senior sister down! This is for losing the parasol!"

In brief, Lily made far too many mistakes in one day.

Not much time had pa.s.sed before she collapsed onto the ground with reddish back.

She was a girl, and if she looked at it from a different perspective, being kissed by another girl didn"t count. At the very least, it meant that she hadn"t defiled senior sister"s body.

The so-called purity of girls would be tainted if their body was seen by a guy, but it didn"t count if they were seen by other girls right? Lily had never heard of the saying that the girls would lose their purity if they were seen by other girls in the public bath.

However, Lily had the mind of a boy. Since that was the case, wouldn"t that mean kissing other girls was an unfaithful act towards senior sister despite having her purity spared?

Could that really be regarded as an unfaithful act though?

Regardless of which, Lily already had an answer in her heart. She felt very guilty towards senior sister in the deepest recesses of her heart.

That strong sense of immortality she felt when being forcefully kissed by Uesugi was enough to prove that she had done senior sister wrong.

"Senior sister… I"m sorry."

The white yukata slid through her arm and fell onto the ground as she suddenly sat up in a seiza position.

In that position, with nothing but a black panty covering her crotch1, she sat in seiza for one whole night.

That was Lily"s punishment for her own carelessness and fickle mind.

"I must remain faithful to senior sister! Who cares if Uesugi is a bad girl or not, there is no relationship between us. At most, we are just an acquaintance. I must not a.s.sociate with her any more than this! It is for the best if I never see her again!"

Lily silently vowed to herself.

Just as she did that, however, she touched her lips and thought, "My first kiss was already stolen by her, how do I get it back…"

"Hmph, kissing other girls doesn"t count as the first kiss!"

"Isn"t that right, senior sister?" said Lily as she looked into the mirror with her slightly teary eyes.

The next morning was greeted by a rare sunny day.

Lily put on the purple kimono and made her way towards Genji Dojo.2

She wasn"t expecting that her every action to attract so much attention.

There were some who harbored hatred towards her and some who she couldn"t even fathom what they were thinking.

"Ⓕⓤⓒⓚ!" cursed Akira, who was at the opposite bank of the path that led to Genji Dojo, "That ⓢⓛⓤⓣ is really still alive! How did it come to this… How did she escape from that Mountain Imp colony? She doesn"t seem to be injured at all? Could it be that the Mountain Imps didn"t notice her? Is she really that lucky?! If I had known earlier, I should have stayed to confirm the Mountain Imps had done ⓑⓛⓔⓔⓟ and ⓑⓛⓔⓔⓟ to her!"

However, it was not that he hadn"t thought of staying behind either. It was just that while humans found climbing a mountain to be difficult, it was like walking on flat ground to the Mountain Imps. He was afraid to be screwed over in case the Mountain Imps discovered him!

"That Kagami Lily must be going to Genji Dojo to finish her test a.s.signment. Hmph, how can a peasant with no family background like you also become a samurai?! Peh!" Recalling that his son, Takano, had become disabled for life and couldn"t become a samurai anymore, Akira was burning with towering rage. He had the violent urge to go up there and smack Lily with his club.

"My lord!" The Martial Monk beside Akira pulled him and continued, "Takes.h.i.ta is under the protection of Genji Dojo. If you injure the samurai of Genji here, our entire clan will be exterminated!"

"Peh! I already know that! Hmph, Kagami Lily, don"t think I won"t be able to deal with you even if you stay nested in Takes.h.i.ta! There are many means that my clan can employ, you would never see them coming!"

When Lily gracefully entered the Genji Dojo, Akira"s fierce and crude-looking face broke into a vicious smile.

After Lily entered the dojo, she followed the instruction of the female disciple and arrived at the small isle in the southeast plain, where all kinds of goods were being sold.

There was a cabin here specifically for purchasing animas.

Lily handed over three Mountain Imp animas for inspection.3 The one in charge of verifying the anima was an effeminate onmyoji with dull-colored hunter clothes and traditional top hat. After the verification was complete, he gave Lily a sealed letter with "Combat Examination: Pa.s.s" written on it. Lily accepted the sealed letter and she could feel a faint Spirit Power coming from it.

This letter didn"t contain any magic power, but it could prevent others from making a counterfeit.

Lily gave the sealed letter to the female disciple. That action was indicative that Lily had, in fact, already became a samurai!

All she needed to do now was to wait for the announcement and receive the Pa.s.s Certificate in a few days time.

Lily was having small talks with the female disciple as they left the cabin. Once they reached the wooden bridge, they saw a somewhat familiar-looking young samurai running over with slight distress.

Lily seemed to recall that youngster standing at Nanako"s side.

Taihara Sugiyama was slightly nervous to stand before a woman as beautiful as Lily. He stopped quite a distance from her, turning his head to sideways to avoid arousing suspicion and gave Lily a slip of paper. Contrary to what one might expect, he was quite the gentleman.

"M- Miss Kagami. My ladyship requested me to deliver this to you."

Lily received the letter.

"Just what is that Saikanji Nanako playing at now?"

Upon seeing Lily"s confusion, Taihara Sugiyama wanted to say something but hesitated. He forced a smile with a guilty conscience and left in a hurry.

Lily flipped open the letter and written on it with somewhat messy handwriting was: "Do you want your parasol back? Then meet me under the old pine tree at the opposite bank this evening! If you don"t come…"4

There was even a scribble of a little girl sticking out her tongue at the corner of the letter. One glance was enough to tell it was scribbled by Nanako herself.