The Place Nearest to You
Chapter 20
Ando never thought of herself as a stupid person. At least, she never thought that one day she would be fooled by someone and praise him with all kinds of beautiful words.
She once complained that the female boss of the casino was stupid and easily deceived by Okita. If it weren't for Shinbachi's reminder, she would be no different from that woman.
But fortunately, before he was completely "cooked" with warm water, he had come to a sudden realization.
At this time, there was no need for her to be sad. Instead, she should be glad that she discovered his plot before she got too deep into the mud.
The only pity was that the light she thought of was extinguished.
That wasn't very good, was it?
No one could find what they wanted to pursue in an instant.
And for her, Shinsengumi was never just Sogo Okita.
She used a night of insomnia in exchange for the expulsion of negative emotions. When she finished tidying up, she opened the door and walked into the courtyard, she was serious and polite again. Ando.
After all, Okita didn't teach her nothing when he "pretended" to be a senpai. At least, she knew how to hide her true emotions at this time.
Today, it was rare that all the senpai woke up early and rushed to the conference hall.
Something must have happened.
Ando thought so and followed them into the conference hall.
Kondo and Hijikata were still sitting at the head of the table, and both of them looked a little dignified.
Ando sat in her seat and waited for Hijikata to speak.
"Two days ago, the Ronin organization that tried to assassinate Kondo Dage has been found."
Hijikata put out the cigarette in the ashtray and said in a low voice, "It's an old enemy. I thought they were all wiped out, but I didn't expect them to come back and have the guts to sneak into Shinsengumi to assassinate.
So this time, we must catch them all in one fell swoop. "
Ando remembered that Okita once said that Katsura Kotaro was a moderate anti-shogunate person. So this time, the Ronin organization was a radical one?
However, wasn't it a little deliberate to expose the base right after the assassination failed?
Did the other party purposely expose themselves in order to lure the tiger away from the mountain and assassinate Director Kondo again?
Ando was just about to express his opinion when he heard Hijikata continue, "To prevent the enemy from creating a diversion, Sogo, this time you will lead A long queue to clear out the enemy.
The rest of you, stay in Shinsengumi and be on high alert, waiting to catch the turtle in the jar. "
Ando nodded approvingly. Sure enough, Hijikata had thought of the same thing that she had thought of.
After all, this was Shinsengumi's brain. He had to have some tricks up his sleeve.
"Vice Commander, Ando and I will take care of the cleanup." Under such a tense atmosphere, Okita was still able to speak in such a calm tone.
Ando glanced at him. He didn't expect this guy to have some confidence in his strength.
"Nonsense."
Hijikata frowned. "If it wasn't a diversion, wouldn't you be in a very dangerous situation again?"
"If we were surrounded by the enemy, no matter how many people we have, it would just be suicide.
I'm not trying to be brave. Didn't I bring Ando with me? With her strength, she should be able to take on 20 or 30 people.
Since they are an organization that is barely surviving, they probably don't have much of an advantage in terms of numbers. "
Okita's expression was very different from his usual lazy self. Ando listened to him, but she knew that he must have some analysis that he didn't say.
They didn't find the person who put the speaker in the courtyard. No one knew if there was a mole, and they didn't know if the mole was in A long queue.
He chose her to go with him because he trusted her strength, and more importantly, he didn't think that she was a mole.
"I won't be a burden." Ando replied.
"Be careful." Out of trust in Okita, Hijikata didn't stop her.
"If you can't beat them, remember to run, okay?" This sentence was said to Ando.
Shinsengumi had never recruited women because of Hijikata's male chauvinist mentality.
He always felt that women were weak and should be protected, not allowed to rush into the battlefield with them.
If it wasn't for Okita's careless promise, he would never let Ando join Shinsengumi.
"She's not stupid. Maybe she can run faster than you." Okita casually replied and mocked Hijikata.
Being interrupted, Ando could only nod.
If it wasn't for Xiao Li and Qiao Hua's "touching" story, Ando would have been happy.
She was happy to stand closest to Okita and fight with him.
But Okita obviously only wanted her to stand closest to him and be chained up by him like a maid.
This kind of emotion came at the wrong time, and Ando hurriedly shook his head.
She and Okita were going on a mission together. Not to mention maintaining a tacit understanding, at least they couldn't be hostile towards each other.
Seeing her serious look, Hijikata didn't say anything else. Instead, he explained the general deployment of the camp. Ando didn't know if this deployment was Hijikata's final plan. She didn't need to know.
What she needed to think about was how she and Okita were going to infiltrate the enemy's base and wipe them out.
Although she didn't know how many enemies there were, when she thought about killing people, the first thing that came out of her heart wasn't fear, but anticipation.
The feeling of being able to unleash her swordsmanship to the extreme and being able to adapt to specific situations was like solving math problems in high school. It was strangely satisfying.
"Captain Okita, it's a pleasure to work with you."
She felt that she should say something, but in the end, she covered up her thoughts and only used a slightly distant tone to express her current feelings.
"Why don't you continue to call me Senior Okita?" Okita was sensitive and quickly noticed the change in the way she addressed him.
"A long queue for a mission. Aren't you my captain?" Ando's eyes flashed and the smile on her face was a bit stiff.
Okita stared at her for a long time.
She didn't dare to look at him and lowered her eyes. But she was curious about what he was thinking, so she secretly looked at him from the corner of her eyes.
His cheeks were as kind and cute as usual. She couldn't see any evil in him. Ando almost felt like she had misunderstood him.
"You seem to be hiding something from me." Okita finally spoke.
"How is that possible!" Ando blurted out.
Ando felt that he had a guilty conscience for reacting so quickly. He silently thought about what kind of excuse he could use to dispel his doubts.
On second thought, he was the one who did the wrong thing, so why did she have to hide it?
Shouldn't the embarrassment of being exposed be an emotion he should be feeling right now?
Thinking of this, she raised her head and stared at him. "I've always been open and honest. I never hide anything, unlike some people who are full of evil tricks."
"That's right!"
He suddenly became angry and said righteously, "I've long been sick of Mr. Hijikata's evil tricks. After this is over, let's kill Mr. Hijikata together!"