"Why else? Of course by climbing through the window!"
Setting down the large basket on her back, Butterfly raised her eyes to indicate the grappling hook attached to the window frame behind her, explaining with slight pride:
"I told you before, Mitsuba—when I first ran away from home, I often traveled alone through mountains and forests to gather medicinal herbs.
Climbing just a dozen or so meters is a piece of cake for me~"
"Even so, what about the guards outside..."
"I specially observed this a few days ago. At this time every day, the guards below change shifts.
There's about half an incense stick's time when no one patrols nearby. As long as you seize this gap, you can naturally get in without anyone knowing!
How about it? Does your Doctor Butterfly have a talent for being a ninja?"
While explaining, Butterfly walked forward, then while Mitsuba was still in shock and hadn't recovered, forcefully lifted her up in a princess carry.
"Alright~ don't ask so many questions, let's go! It's a rare fireworks festival, I'll take you out to play!"
Saying this, she turned around and placed Mitsuba in her arms into that large basket—completely big enough to fit an adult.
"Wait! Go out? You're taking me out?"
Mitsuba subconsciously tried to get up, but Butterfly pressed her back down into the basket.
"Why else? Mitsuba, what do you think I climbed up here with such difficulty for?
The once-a-year fireworks festival—you weren't really planning to stay alone in this dark room, were you?"
"But..."
"Don't worry, I know your identity is special, Mitsuba, and it's not convenient for you to casually stroll on the streets... Look, I've even prepared a secret prop for you!"
Saying this, Butterfly took the fox mask hanging at her waist, squatted down, and helped Mitsuba put it on her face.
"Mm, the mask of Inari—perfect for concealing your identity!"
Looking at Mitsuba wearing the mask and curled up in the large basket, Butterfly nodded in satisfaction, then carried the basket on her back and walked toward the window.
"W-wait!"
Being carried on Butterfly's back like this, Mitsuba—who hadn't recovered from the impact of the situation—subconsciously tried to stop her.
"I still have things to do tonight, I can't..."
"Yes, yes, I know. Little Mitsuba is a busy person, with endless things to do every day, busy to death with no one caring..."
Casually replying, Butterfly nimbly climbed over the window with Mitsuba on her back, quickly sliding down the rope hanging outside.
"Let's play a game, Mitsuba. I'll ask you: what's 97 plus 42 plus 69? If you get it right, I'll put you down."
As an experienced physician, Butterfly was not encountering a stroke patient like Mitsuba for the first time. Her past experiences had also given her rich experience in dealing with such patients.
She knew very well that Mitsuba's brain could now hardly perform complex multi-threaded thinking.
Therefore, just casually giving her a difficult calculation problem could completely capture Mitsuba's attention, making her temporarily forget about the current situation.
And indeed, that was the result.
"It's two hundred and eight."
When Mitsuba seriously calculated the answer to the calculation problem Butterfly casually gave, Butterfly had already carried her out of the castle tower and arrived on the street outside.
"Oh? You actually calculated it? Very impressive, Mitsuba!"
Under the dark night sky, people were coming and going on all sides of the street—undoubtedly, they were all townsfolk who had come to participate in tonight's fireworks festival.
The various colored lanterns hanging by the roadside extended all the way to the end of the road. Those shops that should have closed and rested long ago were still open at this moment, with their clerks standing at the shop entrances, continuously calling out to passersby.
The night was as lively as day. Butterfly walked through the crowd with Mitsuba on her back, smiling as she said:
"So, Mitsuba, where do you want to go play now? I'll take you there right away."
"You...!"
Finally realizing that she had been tricked by Butterfly using a method to fool children, Mitsuba immediately became furious.
She opened her mouth, originally wanting to say something, but looking at the crowds of people coming and going around her, worried that revealing her identity would bring trouble, she ultimately said nothing.
Instead, she shrunk her head back into the large basket below her, using this silent resistance to express her dissatisfaction.
"Alright, my dear family head, don't be angry~"
Feeling the movement behind her, Butterfly comforted her with a smile:
"Since you're already here, why not just enjoy yourself before going back~"
Silence reigned within the basket.
After quite a while, Mitsuba finally replied in a low voice.
"Let me go back. I promised to finish recording those breathing techniques for you."
Hearing this, Butterfly was slightly stunned, and the smile on her face dimmed somewhat.
"That kind of thing can be done anytime, Mitsuba. Right now, you should let yourself properly relax."
"No."
Mitsuba's voice came from within the basket again.
"My memory is getting worse and worse. If I don't seize the time, I'm afraid I'll forget them at some point..."
"Mitsuba..."
"Oh! Doctor Butterfly!"
Just as the atmosphere between the two gradually became heavy, a father and son happened to walk toward them from the opposite direction.
"Mr. Murata?"
Seeing this father and son, Butterfly immediately smiled and greeted them in return.
Mr. Murata, the owner of "Murata's General Store" in the city, was usually a very warm-hearted person with good luck.
Some time ago, his young son suddenly developed a high fever in the middle of the night, even to the point of delirium.
Just when the other physicians in the city had tried all methods but couldn't reduce the fever, they happened to run into Butterfly returning from gathering herbs outside, and she casually helped reduce the child's fever.
After this, Murata gradually became familiar with Butterfly.
"What a coincidence, Doctor Butterfly. I didn't expect to run into you here."
Saying this, Murata also curiously looked at the large basket on Butterfly's back.
"Um, what you're carrying on your back is..."
Due to the angle, Murata couldn't see Mitsuba, who was shrunken in the basket.
"Ah, it's my cousin from my hometown who came to see me for medical treatment. This child's health is poor and she's really shy, so she begged her older cousin to carry her out to play..."
"I-is that so..."
Having told the lie she had prepared long ago, Butterfly suddenly felt the large basket behind her shake violently twice.
It seemed that someone inside who was still throwing a tantrum was using this method to express her inner dissatisfaction.
"Ahaha, it seems my cousin is really eager to play..."
Still maintaining the smile on her face, Butterfly raised her hand and forcefully tightened the straps on her shoulders, ensuring that Mitsuba in the basket couldn't shake no matter how she moved. Only then did she ask the wide-eyed Murata father and son:
"So Mr. Murata, can you tell me if there are any fun places at this year's fireworks festival?"
"Fun places? It should be at the market side, right? I just brought this kid of mine from over there. I heard there are several new activities this year that weren't there last year..."
"Great, thank you!"
Having received the key information, Butterfly didn't hesitate at all, immediately carrying Mitsuba on her back and quickly running toward the direction of the market.
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