Chapter 277: The Advancing Miss Hina
The dishes had all been served, but Gorou's attention was nowhere near the food.
He picked up the sake bottle and poured Arataki Itto another cup.
"Judging from Lord Arataki's attire, your status must be quite high, right?"
Gorou had never tried extracting information from someone from a woman's perspective, so he had no choice but to rely on his own methods—namely, trying to get this Arataki Itto drunk.
"Hahahahaha! But of course! My glorious Arataki Gang is famous throughout the entire Inazuma City!"
In both nature and human society, showing off one's strength to a female was almost encoded in DNA.
Just like when you're playing basketball or competing in something—the moment there's a girl cheering you on, you instantly perform better than usual.
Arataki Itto was no exception.
He boldly picked up the cup Miss Hina had poured for him, downed it in one gulp, and his hearty laughter reverberated throughout the entire room.
Arataki Gang?
Seeing Itto's immense pride, Gorou suddenly remembered something.
If he wasn't mistaken, the spies sent into Inazuma City had indeed reported some group with "Arataki" in the name.
More importantly, in both the heavily guarded Ritou and the secluded Konda Village, traces of this so-called Arataki Gang could be found.
Especially the people in Ritou—whenever they talked about the Arataki Gang, their expressions were filled with such fear it was as though they had seen a ghost.
It seemed this "Arataki Gang" was a faction led by Arataki Itto.
And this faction was absolutely not simple.
"I wonder, what kinds of affairs does Lord Arataki's Arataki Gang oversee?"
You had to strike while the iron was hot. Seeing that Arataki Itto showed no sign of suspicion, Gorou asked again.
He felt he was getting close to uncovering some core secret.
"Oversee affairs? I guess you could say… places where we operate, right?"
If it was about that, then he—Arataki, the number-one oni of all time—had plenty to say!
"Whether it's Ritou, or Byakko Plain, or even the suburbs and Hanamizaka—those are all Arataki Gang territory!"
Yes—before the Sakoku Decree tightened, Ritou had been one of the places where the Arataki Gang worked part-time.
As for Konda Village, since it produced a lot of Lavender Melons, the Arataki Gang often helped with farm work there. After finishing, they would take the fresh Lavender Melons gifted by the villagers to Byakko Plain to roast them.
As for Hanamizaka…
If he didn't go to Hanamizaka to duel with those kids, where else could he get candy and snacks?
Although most of the time, he lost candy and snacks to those kids…
"..."
Gorou froze for a moment. Inside, waves of shock were already crashing violently.
He rarely came to this side of Inazuma City, but there were some things he knew.
For example—the territorial divisions of the Tri-Commission.
As for Ritou, without question, it belonged to the Kanjou Commission.
Byakko Plain, due to its connection with the Grand Narukami Shrine, fell under the management of the Yashiro Commission.
And the city outskirts and Hanamizaka were Tenryou Commission territory.
For this so-called Arataki Gang to carve out such a large chunk from the mouths of the mighty Tri-Commission… no wonder he dared challenge the Kujou family of the Tenryou Commission.
Could it be… Kujou Sara's withdrawal of troops actually had something to do with this man as well?
It seemed he had accidentally stumbled onto the core of the core.
"Managing such a vast territory… Lord Arataki must have it rough, right?"
Realizing he had touched a sensitive subject, Gorou shifted his strategy, probing this "big shot" from another angle to lower suspicion.
"It is tiring. Not only exhausting mentally, but I'm also being tightly controlled by someone. Still, I have to admit—without her, we really wouldn't manage. If she weren't around… sigh, forget it, forget it. Let's keep drinking, Miss Hina."
Arataki Itto had originally wanted to properly praise Shinobu, but remembering that praising another girl in front of Miss Hina might make her unhappy, he held his tongue.
After all, following Mr. Bai's instructions could never go wrong!
Didn't Miss Hina look more and more impressed with him?
But when these words reached Gorou's ears… their meaning became something entirely different.
Someone who could "control" this leader of the Arataki Gang so firmly… and someone Inazuma absolutely "couldn't do without"…
This "she" required emphasis.
It had to be that exalted Raiden Shogun herself!
Now, all the clues connected.
This so-called Arataki Itto must be a secretly trained oni subordinate of the Raiden Shogun—and one of her trusted confidants at that.
Otherwise, the Tri-Commission would never tolerate him stealing so much territory from them.
Even Ritou, the territory of the Kanjou Commission, had been taken over by this man.
Not only that—that thunderbolt outside earlier might also have had something to do with this oni.
Because Gorou had clearly seen it: compared to the lightning released by the woman dressed like the Shogun, the bolt that destroyed the bell tower carried far greater intimidation.
As the great general of Watatsumi, he considered himself capable of withstanding immense pressure.
But when he felt the destructive aura of that lightning, even he almost dropped to his knees in submission.
That was definitely not lightning that a normal Vision holder could produce.
"Come to think of it… Miss Hina, are you from Inazuma? Why have I never seen you much in Inazuma City?"
Seeing Miss Hina deep in thought, Arataki Itto asked something that had also bothered many of Miss Hina's fans.
In fact, this was a question not only Itto wanted to know—countless Miss Hina supporters were dying to know the answer.
But Yae Publishing House kept the matter extremely confidential. It was said that even the editors handling Miss Hina's work didn't know the truth.
Only Publishing House Owner, Yae Miko, and one mysterious individual—supposedly a friend of Miss Hina—were aware.
"Mmm… I'm originally from Hanamizaka. I've always wanted to submit manuscripts to Yae Publishing House, so I went to Kannazuka for field research and have been living in seclusion there recently."
Gorou had long predicted that someone would ask such a question, so he had prepared the explanation beforehand.
This backstory was one Bai Luo had arranged for him from the very beginning.
"So it was really from there, huh!"
Hearing Gorou's answer, Arataki Itto's eyes lit up immediately.
After Miss Hina became immensely popular, a rumor had circulated among the people.
According to some soldiers returning from operations in Kannazuka, they claimed that during a secret mission, they encountered a woman who called herself Hina.
But that Miss Hina looked very different from the current Miss Hina.
This sparked intense debate within the Miss Hina fan club, until a person provided a convincing explanation:
"Someone as gentle and beautiful as Miss Hina would definitely disguise herself while gathering material outside. Otherwise, she could easily be harassed by rude Nobushi."
This explanation was widely accepted.
After all, even ordinary people—let alone Miss Hina—would often disguise themselves when fishing or doing errands during such unstable times, to avoid attracting the attention of pirates or Nobushi.
. . . . .
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