◇ ◇

In the end, the claims of the Toyotomi and Tokugawa families remained unmeshed, and the meeting of the century ended.

Afterwards, he invited the high court and Tea Bureau, which he had refrained from in the separate room, and the response was carried out in a soothing atmosphere.

The next day, I visited Fanghiro Temple with Jiayang Tokugawa, and when I supervised the reconstruction work, I went straight back to Osaka.

And many people in the castle, including Chihime, greeted us at the main gate of Osaka Castle.

"Hideyoshi! Welcome back!!

Turning eleven this year, she no longer has anything left to her emotions to jump into my chest like she did before.

That's what I miss about it, but she's also healthy and cute staring at me as I tease her and dye her cheeks a light peach.

"Um, I can't help welcoming you. O thousandth and all."

And I bowed my head to the thousand princesses in front of me, and to the people who greeted me behind her, such as Ichiko, Bruises, and Katori and Yuan.

Then at the next moment, the face of a thousand princesses turns into a sunflower-like smile.

And I walked out towards Honmaru, lined up next to me.

"Listen, Hideyoshi! Thousands have learned new songs again!

"Oh well!

Thousand princesses mumble the song as a delight after seeing how surprised I am.

Her song, wrapped in the plumage of a gentle spring yang, gently soothed the fatigue of the journey.

If you listen to her voice and turn your attention to its side from time to time, you can see perfectly well that she is purely happy to talk to me this way.

But a lot of the people in the castle must have had different emotions than her when I got back.

Because before I left the castle, I could hear their worrying voices in my ears, too.

- Wouldn't you be imprisoned by Lord Tokugawa!?

- No, on the contrary, they could take your life!

- He said that Hideyoshi's illness was Tokugawa's fault, too!

I mean, they'll be relieved to say, "It's better if you're okay."

And these rumors without roots or leaves reach me, so naturally they should be in the ears of a thousand princesses.

But she doesn't even show fine dust about that, she has a purely happy look on her face in conversation with me.

"Hey, a thousand."

I accidentally stopped her.

Look at me all of a sudden, she's got her eyes round.

"What's wrong? Hideyoshi."

I asked.

"Is there anything hard going on?

"What...?

Thousand princesses confused without knowing what my inquiry is intended for.

I was staring at her like that.

Put words in your eyes without putting them in your mouth.

Then, for a moment only, she floated a pitiful colour in her eyes, but she immediately returned to her original glow and replied with a full grin.

"Everyone is doing better, so nothing is going to be hard! More than that, I'm not happy to talk to Hideyoshi like this!

"Happiness..."

"Ha! Thousands are happy now! Speaking of which, Hideyoshi! This happened yesterday, too!

Thousand princesses change the subject to another story where there is no other love.

But the color of sadness in her eyes, which I showed her, completely covered my head.

After all, she knew too. About the rumors in the castle.

It's between Tokugawa and Toyotomi, and I'm having a hard time.

- Lord Hideyoshi and a thousand 'happiness' are not in Osaka. It's in Edo.

Looking at the side of her that speaks so well, Jia Kang's words get heavy.

What am I supposed to protect?

What is the best thing I can do to create a world where one or more people can live in a 'smile'?

The stray shards brought to me at the meeting at Nijojo Castle didn't feel like they were getting any bigger.

◇ ◇

During the Osaka Castle appraisal on March 30, 2016,

I'm in the middle of a reputation now. And there are two agendas.

Whether or not to give the inscription of the bell of Fanghiro Temple under reconstruction, and whether or not to meet the demands of Tokugawa Jiayang.

The matter of the inscription of the bell was settled on the understanding that it would be handled lightly by Kiryu.

And I was in the middle of discussing the next agenda.

"... Hey! Are you listening right!?

I returned to me with Princess Kofi's scolding voice.

"Ah, oh. I'm sorry. And what were we discussing now?

"Huh!? Is it about the outcome of the meeting at Nijojo Castle? What the hell else are we talking about!?

"Oh, yes, it was"

"Damn... something's been weird since yesterday. Hold on tighter."

"Ugh, um"

Yukimura Maida, Princess Kofi, Hiroshi Gui, All Akashi, Sofan Tsuda, Governor Ono, Sir Ozo, Kunikitori and Yuan, Old Dogsai Oda and Yurakusai Oda, all of the rated crowd gather together and turn their gaze to me.

"Then why don't we decide quickly by majority! Raise your hand if you rise to the demands of Tokugawa!

Princess Kofi, who tells her to be sophisticated.

However, where a majority vote has been taken, it is visible that the decision is' no '.

Only Yurakusai Oda, who consistently claimed at the beginning to be the "Don't Be Complimentary to Tokugawa," raised his hand with momentum, but none followed.

"Apparently, you settled 'no' to this matter. Then, Lord Hideyoshi, give me a letter of refusal..."

Yes, it was when Princess Kofi tried to move on.

"Give me a minute!

And my mouth moved alone.

No, there may be a narrative to describe "alone".

Because there's a clear intention there.

Everyone is looking at me with their eyes round.

When I swallowed my spit, I said with all my strength in my stomach.

"I have some thoughts about the matter. Therefore, it shall be put on hold. Let's get married again later. So that's it for today! Dismissed!"

While they were all embarrassed and losing their words, I left the room behind.

Yukimura Maida rushes after my back.

And a little further down the hallway, a thunderous voice echoed.

"Wait a minute!

That was Princess Kofi.

When I only stopped on my leg without looking back, she passed beside me with a quick leg and bent on my front.

"Isn't it Lord Hideyoshi who tried to settle everything about Osaka by a majority vote! I'm not impressed you broke it in one word! What do you mean! Explain it to me!

I looked up and stared at her.

Then she quickly sensed that she could see 'lost' or 'shaded' in the color of my eyes, putting her hands on my shoulders and saying:

"Don't hold me in alone. I swear to my heart that I will protect you, Wataru, and Yuji, who are there."

In a different and gentle tone than before, I learned to relax my hardened heart.

And he nodded and decided to open his chest to her and Happy Village in my room on the top floor of Heavenly Guard.

◇ ◇

"I see... you were worried about Lord Thousand. But then, your Lord Thousand is exactly the Dungeon. Hehe."

"It's not a laugh, Lord Kofi. Take care of that."

In response to Princess Kofi smiling, Yukimura is complaining with a twinkle of an eyebrow.

Then she shrugged her neck and said.

"Yuanjiro is as tough as ever. You should apprentice His Royal Highness."

"Your Highness Tai Chi?

"Hehe, have enough weight to give you a castle for your beloved stomach."

"Hey, what..."

In fact, Hideyoshi Tai is giving Hideyoshi an ancient castle to the fertile temple, but asking Yukimura for it would also be a harsh story. Because he and his father have fought many times against powerful enemies to defend a single castle called Ueda Castle.

Well, Princess Kofi, distracted from Happy Village, who was blue-faced, shifted that gaze to me.

"And is your belly determined? of what Tokugawa will say."

I'm stuck with words.

Once again, when they say "Tokugawa's sayings," dull pain runs in my chest.

She's been chasing me, as if she saw through my strays like that.

"If Lord Hideyoshi is going to talk about Tokugawa, he's going to throw away what he's been building. I'm asking if you're ready for that."

"What I've been building..."

"Oh, the city of Osaka, the school in Kyo, the trust with the people, the loyalty of the ministers. And..."

The look on Princess Kofi's face that cuts words once is just a little cloudy.

And I pitied him somewhere.

"His Royal Highness's 'Dream' also..."

When he was struck by a strong eyesight, his body unwittingly relaxed.

- I throw away my fat dreams...

It was my previous Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Perhaps a similar proposal had been brought to him by General Tokugawa's family.

If only he and his family had thought about being able to live longer, he would have made the choice to leave Osaka Castle.

But he ended up fated with Osaka Castle.

I wonder why that was.

- Weren't you going to keep the dreams that Tai Chi had until the end?

I have to think so.

So what the hell was "The Dream of Tai Chi"?

Happy Village murmured blushingly as he patrolled like that.

"With that said, this is what the mysterious woman who appeared before His Royal Highness Tai died said." I'll have the second most important thing in Tai Chi, "he said.

"What does Yuanjiro say it is?

"Isn't it under the heavens of Toyotomi? Best of all, Hideyoshi and the temple's life."

Princess Kofi overheard the words of Happy Village and let down her voice as if she had given up somewhere.

"So the woman and I knew this would happen with Lord Hideyoshi."

"In other words, let go of what has been taken care of by His Royal Highness Tai to keep His Highness and many others out of strife with Tokugawa..."

"But what the hell have you been up to in preparation for your previous battle against Tokugawa?

Her chest hurts so badly at her words.

Indeed, we have worked so hard to protect Toyotomi's recapture and Osaka Castle.

Does that attribute it to blisters? Only one thing, for what I want to protect...

... and that was then.

One thought came to me.

"Under the heavens of Toyotomi and Osaka Castle...... it is difficult to protect the two. Then can't we at least protect one?"

It was Happy Village who reacted to the words.

"The demands of Lord Tokugawa are" Musashi Kunihiro Transfer Seal "and" Hideyoshi's Setsu ". In time, will you refuse the Musashi Seal?"

Princess Kofi devours the words of Happy Village.

"If you master Osaka Castle and Kichinai, one day you will have another chance to regain hegemony..."

"I'm not thinking that far. But I wonder if I can protect this view that Father wanted to protect."

I said as I opened the window and looked out at the view.

The refreshing wind of spring is blowing through with the smell of flowers. The view contrasts with the voices of people working busily and the bright white clouds moving slowly.

If the Osaka formation happened, whatever the outcome, this view would be lost.

Dodging the Osaka formation is the right way to make everyone 'smile'?

My belly was already leaning towards that point.

I hear Princess Kofi from behind.

"Anyway, talk to everyone. Then make up your mind."

The tone seems to support my back when I say, 'Don't worry, Lord Hideyoshi will only be on your side to make any decisions.'

When I felt a twinge pain in the back of my nose, I couldn't turn around and kept my eyes closed to the view outside for a while.