Turning the corner, he ascended to the second floor and walked straight along the corridor directly opposite the staircase, until—Chiba Shigetarou stopped in front of a plain paper sliding door.

This was his bedroom.

He opened the door and entered his own bedroom; Chiba Shigetarou dashed to a storage cabinet in the corner of the room, opened the bottom drawer, and with extreme familiarity, moved aside the items stored inside. At the very bottom, he uncovered a small booklet, its pages worn from frequent flipping.

Chiba Shigetarou flipped through the booklet with a somewhat reckless speed, the rapidly turning pages producing a "whirl" sound.

On the pages being turned were written names, one after another.

Kawai Shirōbei, Nishijima Koutarou, Tanaka Yin Cang, Yamawaki Sunataro...

Among these names, only a very small portion were "safe and sound."

The vast majority of names had a large cross drawn over them.

At the bottom of these names with crosses, there were brief "comments" written.

These "comments" were varied and strange:

Too fond of drinking, character too flamboyant, only has family background and nothing else, doesn’t like Sazanoko at all, just wants to cling to our Chiba family...

Chiba Shigetarou in one breath turned to the blank page at the back of the booklet, then picked up a brush and an ink-filled inkstone from the desk beside him. After soaking the brush with ink, he solemnly wrote a name on the booklet:

Tachibana Aoto.

Chiba Shigetarou casually put down the brush next to him, and then held the booklet at a distance, examining the newfound name as if he were appraising a piece of art.

A moment later, a smile tinted with anticipation appeared on Chiba Shigetarou’s cheeks.

"There’s plenty to keep busy with... Let’s hope this Tachibana Aoto isn’t another one of those who make a good first impression but turns out to be a rotten person upon long-term acquaintance..."

After muttering like this, Chiba Shigetarou prepared to put away the booklet and store it back in the cabinet.

However, just at that moment—a gust of night wind blew in through the open window into Chiba Shigetarou’s bedroom.

Whirl...

The booklet in Chiba Shigetarou’s hand, under the influence of the night wind, quickly flipped forward, coming to stop at the first page where the wind gradually subsided.

The first page of the booklet... only had one name written.

Sakamoto Ryoma.

This name, like most names in this booklet, had a large "cross" drawn over it.

But compared to other names crossed out, this one was slightly unique: there were no "comments" written below it.

Looking at the name turned out by the night wind... the smile that was previously on Chiba Shigetarou’s cheeks quickly vanished.

The vanished smile turned into annoyance, thick eyebrows furrowed tightly.

"Damn it..."

Chiba Shigetarou muttered a low curse.

"Let my precious sister have unrequited love for you until now... Ryoma, I guess only you in this world can manage that..."

"Hope you are the first... and also the last person to cause Sazanoko pain with unrequited love..."

"Well... it’s probably unlikely there’ll be another man like this..."

Chiba Shigetarou let out a heavy sigh, then closed the booklet in his hand and put it back into the deepest part of the storage cabinet...

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