Aoto smiled, raised his hand, and patted the chain armor hidden inside his kimono: "Everything that needed to be worn and carried is ready."
"Hmm. That's good." Arima nodded, then looked at Saito and the others standing behind Aoto.
He probably wanted to assess the current state of Aoto's new subordinates.
Nagakura, Saito, and Harada all seemed to be in quite good spirits, either smiling or appearing calm, so Arima only glanced at them before shifting his gaze away.
Arima's attention lingered on Fujimura, whose face was still very pale and who looked rather tense.
"...Young man, relax." Arima patted Fujimura's shoulder, sighed softly, "No need to be so nervous."
"Whether we'll encounter the Anti-foreigner Group and clash with them tonight is still uncertain."
Fujimura nodded stiffly and forced a rather awkward smile: "Thank you... I'm much better now than before..."
This afternoon, Aoto had already introduced his new subordinates to Arima, Inagawa, and the others.
