Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 310: Chase (Part 1)
"Welcome...eh?! Master Makimura!"
The owner of Iguchiya is an old man who is probably around 40 or 50 years old.
Hearing the footsteps entering the house, the owner immediately raised his head from behind the counter and looked towards the store door.
As soon as his eyes met Makimura who had just stepped through the store, the owner exclaimed.
"Jinsuke, long time no see." Makimura smiled at the owner.
The shop owner, whom Makimura called Jinsuke, still looks frightened.
"Master Makimura, you suddenly disappeared from Kyoto two years ago. I thought you had offended some high-ranking official in the shogunate and were assassinated by that high-ranking official..."
"Two years ago, due to some things, I decided not to be a Yoriki in Kyoto anymore and become a Ronin instead."
After saying that, Mucun raised his head and looked around.
"…Jinsuke, your shop seems to be more beautifully decorated than two years ago… It seems that your business has been good in the past two years."
Jinsuke chuckled.
"If you open a powder shop in a place like Gion, as long as your powder is of good quality and has enough variety, you won't have to worry about not having people buying it."
"I'm relieved to see that your store is still doing so well." At this point, Makimura's tone gradually became serious, "Jinsuke, the main reason I came to you this time is to ask you something."
"Jinsuke, is your store still selling 'Wakasa incense'?"
"certainly!"
Jinsuke answered without hesitation.
"The sign that Iguchiya puts out is 'We have the largest number and most diverse incense powder in Kyoto.'"
"Even incense powder like 'Wakasa Incense', which has always been hard to sell and is not sold in other stores, I have always sold it here."
"Okay, then - Jinsuke, has anyone come to you to buy 'Wakasa incense' in the past few days?"
"Yes, I have."
Jinsuke blurted out a word that made Makimura and Shimada's faces change.
"During this period of time, there has been a person who comes to me to sell Wakasa incense."
"This customer comes every few days because he buys Wakasa incense, which is rarely sold all year round. He only buys Wakasa incense, so I have a deep impression of this customer."
Jinsuke raised his hand and pointed toward the door.
"The bald man who just passed by you was the customer who has been buying Wakasa incense recently."
"He just happened to come to me to buy Wakasa incense..."
Before Jinsuke could finish his words, Makimura interrupted him:
"Jinsuke, thanks for letting me know!"
As Makimura said this, he led Shimada behind him and rushed out of the wellhead house.
Before rushing out of the wellhead house, Makimura seemed to have remembered something, and suddenly turned back and shouted to Jinsuke:
"Jinsuke! There's a group of people killing people everywhere right now! 45 people have been killed since last night. Be careful! Avoid crowded places!"
As he finished saying this, Makimura and Shimada disappeared from Jinsuke's sight.
Makimura, who had disappeared for 2 years, suddenly appeared in front of him, and then left in a hurry - this rapid change made Jinsuke's brain a little confused for a while.
Only after Makimura's figure completely disappeared from his sight did Jinsuke smile bitterly and whispered in a voice that only he could hear:
"Even after two years, Mr. Makimura is still the same... He is always decisive and efficient..."
After mumbling this, Jinsuke withdrew his gaze from the area in front of him and returned it to the account book on the counter in front of him, continuing to concentrate on keeping accounts.
…
…
Mucun really doesn’t know whether he is lucky or unlucky now.
I ran into someone who might be closely related to this case - but I just missed him.
After running out of the wellhead house and stepping onto the center of the street outside the wellhead house, Mucun did not chase the bald man aimlessly like a headless fly.
Instead, he stopped and used his height advantage to look for the bald man.
Mucun is much taller than the average person, so his field of vision is naturally much wider than that of an average person.
After just a quick look around, Mucun found the bald man who had not walked far.
The bald man probably didn't expect anyone to come looking for him, so he walked leisurely on the cobblestone road of Gion at a leisurely pace.
"Shimada, follow me!"
"yes!"
Makimura and Shimada walked one after the other, pushing aside the crowd blocking their way and moving towards the bald man.
This bald guy is much more alert than the others.
When Makimura and Shimada were still quite a distance away from the bald man, he turned around to look behind him as if he heard some movement behind him.
When he saw the extremely conspicuous giant Mucun rushing towards him, the bald man's face changed, he tightened his collar, then turned his head back in a hurry and ran away.
——This guy...is not as alert as an ordinary person...
Having worked in Kyoto Yoriki for five years and having captured countless villains personally, Makimura keenly judged that the bald man's vigilance was far beyond that of ordinary people.
As the largest and most lively entertainment district in Kyoto, the Gion area naturally has a much larger flow of people than other districts in the city.
Chasing people in such a crowded area is extremely difficult.
Makimura and Shimada were quite gentle in pushing aside the people blocking their way. They pushed the people blocking their way to the sides one by one with enough force not to hurt or knock anyone down.
However, the bald man would not be like this.
To describe the bald man's behavior as "rude" might be an exaggeration.
The bald man didn't care about anything else and was only concerned with getting away from the sight of Makimura and Shimada as soon as possible.
Anyone who stood in front of the bald man, regardless of gender, age or status, was pushed aside by him with rough movements.
Wherever the bald man went, there was chaos and curses.
Because the bald man's action of separating the crowd was much simpler and more violent than that of Mu Cun and the other two, the bald man's escape speed was slightly faster than that of Mu Cun and the other two.
Realizing that it would be extremely difficult to catch up with the bald guy if he continued like this, Mucun pursed his lips, then turned resolutely without any hesitation and rushed towards the alley on the left.
"Makino-senpai! Where are you going?"
Although he didn't know what Makimura was doing all of a sudden, Shimada still hurried to catch up without knowing what was going on.
"It will be hard to catch up with him if we keep chasing each other like this!"
Makimura explained to Shimada behind him without turning his head.
"So we take a shortcut!"
"Shortcut? Is there a shortcut in a place like this?"
"Of course! Have you forgotten? I was a Yoriki in Kyoto for 5 years!"
"Gion is a crowded place , and it's one of the places where all kinds of crimes are most likely to happen."
"When it comes to my knowledge of Kyoto, especially this area, few people can surpass me!"
Makimura led Shimada through the interconnected alleys.
After a while, Shimada saw that the alley in front of him and Makimura was blocked and there was an earth wall taller than Makimura.
Just when Shimada was about to ask Makimura what to do, Makimura shouted at Shimada:
"Shimada! Run faster! Run to the base of the wall, then lean your back against it, face me, half squat, put your palms facing up and overlap them, and raise your hands to your abdomen!"
"yes!"
After listening to it only once, Shimada understood what Makimura meant and knew what Makimura was planning to do.
So Shimada quickened his pace, overtook Makimura who was running in front of him, and ran to the base of the earth wall. Then he followed Makimura's instructions: leaning his back against the earth wall, facing Makimura, half squatting, with his palms facing up and overlapping each other, and raising his hands to his abdomen.
While Shimada completed this series of actions, Makimura had just run in front of Shimada.
Makimura jumped up, stepped with his right foot on Shimada's overlapping hands that were raised to his abdomen, and then used this as leverage to leap onto the earth wall in one breath.
The next moment after jumping onto the earth wall, Makimura reached out to Shimada under the wall and pulled Shimada up.
…
…
“Haha…haha…haha…haha…”
After realizing that there were no footsteps approaching him from behind, the bald man finally dared to look back to check the situation behind him.
Looking back, he saw that the tall and strong man was no longer chasing him.
Have I gotten rid of them? The bald man thought to himself and breathed a sigh of relief.
My steps also slowed down due to relief...
call--!
At this moment, the bald man felt a gust of wind coming from his left side.
A sturdy man jumped out of the alley on the bald man's left and pounced on the bald man accurately.
This strong man was naturally Mucun.
Makimura, who was familiar with the distribution of Kyoto's streets and alleys, led Shimada through the alleys just now in order to take a shortcut and go directly ahead of the bald man.
After Makimura accurately pounced on the bald man, Shimada, who was a few steps slower than Makimura, also rushed out of the alley.
Shimada originally wanted to go forward to help Makimura, but because Makimura and the bald man were wrestling with each other, even if Shimada wanted to go forward to help, he didn't know how to intervene.
——Hmm... this guy... is really strong...!
Mucun, who was wrestling with the bald man, couldn't help but say this in his heart.
This bald guy might contain a lot of clues and information, so he must be captured alive.
Precisely because he had to be captured alive, Makimura did not draw the large sword on his back when he jumped out of the alley just now, but rushed forward with bare hands.
If Mucun wanted to kill this bald guy, he could have cut the defenseless bald guy - but if he killed the bald guy, there would be no point at all.
Mucun's original plan was to rush forward with bare hands, subdue the bald man, and then slowly ask him questions.
However, Makimura only now realized that his plan was not easy to complete.
The bald man was much stronger than Makura had imagined, and judging from his movements, he must have practiced some hand-to-hand combat and was quite adept at using various force-releasing techniques.
Although from the overall battle situation, Mucun had successfully pinned the bald man under him and had the upper hand, but Mucun was unable to take down the bald man quickly for the time being.
When Mucun reached out to pull the bald man's collar, he suddenly pulled out a small cloth bag as big as a baby's fist from behind the bald man's collar.
After pulling out the small cloth bag, Mucun immediately smelled a familiar fragrance wafting out of the small cloth bag and entering his nostrils.
Makimura immediately recognized that the item in the small cloth bag was the "Wakasa incense" - it must be what the bald man had just bought at Iguchiya.
The fight between Mucun and the bald man naturally attracted quite a lot of passers-by to watch.
No matter how the times develop, no matter which country we are in, passers-by often enjoy watching the fun.
In just a few breaths, Mucun and the bald man were surrounded by a thin layer of passers-by who came to watch the fun.
At this moment, Shimada, who had been unable to find an opportunity to step forward and help, suddenly noticed that a large group of police officers were holding various types of capture tools to separate the crowd.
Whenever something unusual occurs, the officers nearby will immediately rush over to check the situation - this is considered normal and common.
However, looking at this large group of officials, Shimada felt something strange.
The reason was simple: the number of officials rushing over seemed to be too many.
As soon as this strange feeling emerged in Shimada's mind, something strange happened.
Because there were not many passers-by watching the excitement around Mucun and the bald man, the officers quickly separated the thin crowd with their skilled techniques.
After rushing into the "battlefield" which was still going on but where Mucun had already gained an absolute upper hand and would have subdued the bald man if given a little more time, this large group of officers immediately rushed towards Mucun without any hesitation, picking up the catching tools in their hands.
The first thing they killed was a total of 7 thorns.
The seven officers holding these seven spears were obviously experts in using spears.
The seven spears stabbed towards Mucun from different directions.
Mucun was concentrating on suppressing the bald man, and he did not expect that the officers who suddenly broke in would attack him, and the officers were too fast, so he had no time to prepare. Mucun was stabbed by the seven spears again.
These seven spears stabbed towards Mucun from different directions. One spear stabbed Mucun's neck, two spears stabbed Mucun's legs respectively, two spears stabbed Mucun's arms respectively, and two spears stabbed Mucun's torso.
After these seven spears restricted Mucun's movements, dozens of officers rushed forward and pinned Mucun to the ground.
Even for Mucun, it would be impossible to escape with his limbs, torso, and neck trapped by thorns and dozens of people pressing on him.
Because Mucun was suppressed by the sudden attacking officers, the bald man was able to escape.
After climbing up from the ground in a panic, the bald man fled out again desperately.
The officers didn't seem interested in the bald man and let him escape.
Looking at the bald man who was about to run away, in just a moment, a thought suddenly flashed through Mucun's mind.
As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, Makimura immediately put it into practice - he used one hand to open the mouth of the small cloth bag filled with Wakasa incense that he had just snatched from the bald man, poured some Wakasa incense into his palm, and then sealed the mouth of the bag again.
