Disclaimer: All credit goes to Shingo Nanami and フクロウ. Here's part two, enjoy!

恋に酔え！

Get Intoxicated By Love!

Kasane x Toukichirou

Part Two

"...This is…?"

Kasane absentmindedly opened her mouth at the strange atmosphere.

Toukichirou smiled at her reaction.

"It's a gambling den."

He replied in a preoccupied manner.

Indeed, just as he told her, she could see a lot of scary men playing the even or odd gambling game she had often seen in historical period dramas.

"Ga-...Gambling den."

"It's really not an ideal place to bring a girl along huh…"

Toukichirou wryly smiled at Kasane's reaction.

"However when gathering intel in a local area, the first place to go to is either the tavern or the gambling den. In those kinds of places the majority of what you find are hoodlums, but you shouldn't be fooled. There are many cases in which most of these people are followers of an influential person. They're pretty strict about their territory, so once you get in with that one person you can get valuable information."

Saying that he gave out a loose grin.

Kasane nodded along and faintly returned the smile.*

"Well then, shall we go in?"

As Toukichirou went to enter the shop without further hesitation, Kasane involuntarily grabbed his arm.

"What's wrong little missy?"

"I-isn't it...dangerous?"

She would feel the bloodlust oozing from the shop and the gamblers were also somewhat terrifying.

This is just an example, but she felt like they were in the middle of a yakuza territory and were entering into their home base, as if it was their property, without chiming the bell.

"Were you worried about me? That makes me happy, but there's nothing for little missy to worry about."

"B-...but"

Seeing her unwilling expression, he could tell she wasn't feeling up to ir.

"...I apologize for making you accompany me. Would little missy like to go back to the castle?"

"O-of course not!" Kasane raised up her face in shock of his words. "I-...I'll be fine! N-no matter what happens I-I'll protect Toukichirou-san…!"

Proclaiming that, she pushed Toukichirou into the building.

"That was supposed to be my line…" He amusingly spilled a laugh at her.

"U-uwah…"

Seeing everything up close, Kasane raised her voice.

With sharp glares, the men turned their gaze towards her.

She shrank back from the force.

"What? What business do you young ones have here?"

"We're here to gamble of course."

Toukichirou said with a straight face.

All the men looked at one another; not a single bead of sweat appeared on his face.

"Very well, young lad and... young lady."

The two of them passed through the small gap from the wall of men that surrounded them and took a seat.

"...Toukichirou-san, how to do we do this?"

Kasane whispered over to him.

"What, little miss you don't know how to play?"

One of the men overhead her question, he had a faint slur in his speech.

Knowing that she was clueless about the game, she dropped her head in shame in her consciousness. Toukichirou came to her rescue.

"It's simple. When the dice rolls, you just bet evens or odds."

"Heh~..."

After hearing the rules, Kasane piped up with interest.

"... Would you like to place your bets?"

"Eh?! Me!?"

Kasane's eyes widened at his suggestion.

(...Whether you win or loss a little, our purpose here is to gather intel so one game shouldn't hurt)

Toukichirou said it in a volume only she could hear.

Kasane was struck with fascination at his suggestion.

"...Th-then… just a little bit…"

"Go ahead, go ahead."

Seeing his generous smile, she also returned it with a shy, uncertain one.

Since she came into this world she now knows the taste of alcohol and now will dabble into gambling. If her grandfather were to find out, he'll certainly have a raging fit.

"I got it right again~!"

The money piled on each other like building blocks before her.

It has only been less than an hour, but during that time Kasane has brilliantly guessed every turn correctly and has yet to lose.

"...Little missy, you're quite good at this aren't ya…"

Toukichirou muttered in admiration.

"Since I was little, my luck has always been strong!"

In high spirits after winning consecutively in a row, Kasane smiled at him.

"So they really exist don't they~ people blessed by god…"

"Goodness, such a lucky lady we have here."

One of the men muttered.

"However, that luck's not going to continue any longer you know."

The dice roller smirked.

During that time, Toukichirou's slanted eyes narrowed.

"Now then, little miss, evens? Or odds? ...Which one will you bet for?"

He asked Kasane will a cruel smile on his face.

"Then, even…"

"Dear me~ sir. There's nothing in that container, am I right?"

Just as Kasane began to answer, Toukichirou humorously intervened.

However, the atmosphere around him was slightly tense.

"Just now, you pretended to put the dice in the container and when young missy answers odds or evens, you'll give out the opposite result, right?"

Toukichirou grinned.

The men all bristled in anger at his words.

"Young lad, are you trying to unjustly accuse us?"

"Dear me no~, don't say accuse. Cuz I'm telling the truth after all."

One of the men stood up and thrust a knife at him.

However Toukichirou did not break his aimless expression.

"...Uh-!"

At the same time, the man's knife flew off into the air.

It seemed that something hit his arm, the man covered the area in pain.

There Kasane stood in front of Toukichirou, with the sword she borrowed from Nobunaga. In order to protect him from the knife, she had swung the unsheathed sword at the man.

"Little missy…"

"D-don't do such a dangerous thing!"

Kasane said as she inched up to the men.

Everyone in the room bewilderedly stared at her.

"To-toukichirou-san, s-should back away, alright!?"

"...It's as if the roles are reversed…"

Toukichirou stared at the girl in front of him and faintly gave out an amused smile.

The men all gazed at Kasane with a dumbfounded look. After looking at one another for a few minutes, they all began to laugh as if the tension melted away.

"AHAHAHA! ! Well we have quite a brave young lady here! !"

As one man roared out into laughter, the others followed his lead.

Kasane widened her eyes at the sudden change in atmosphere.

"Ahaha! Sorry about that, you two. Well~, it's been awhile since interesting folk came across this place."

"Uh...U~m…?"

"Not only did you see through my trick, who knew the lady you brought here turned out to this be valiant! This is a masterpiece!"

They all laughed amongst themselves.

Just as Kasane finally grasped what was going on, she found herself left behind.

"You look like a shrewd guy, but you sure got yourself a good woman. It's a first time we've seen a man being protected by a woman."

"Well, it must be love. It's nice to be young~."

The men began to cheer and banter with each other.

Kasane's blushing face flushed even more red. She hurriedly began to deny their claims.

"Y-y-you're wrong, Toukichirou-san and I aren't.."

"Well~, this is quite embarrassing, isn't it little missy."

As she went up to deny their relationship, Toukichirou circled his arm around her shoulder and brought her closer to him.

Kasane turned even more red; he found this to be adorable and happily grinned at her.

"Don't flirt here too much you two!"

"When I was young, I sure…."

With the atmosphere suddenly turned pleasant, Toukichirou and the men went into a deep discussion. All the while Kasane remained stuck close with Toukichirou, waiting for the still time to tick by.

TBC

*Here the author uses the term 相槌 (aizuchi) which is something that's a bit difficult to sum up in one word. It's pretty much a term used to describe how we listen to people's conversations. So when another person talks you go "Oh is that so? Eh~... Uh-huh. Hai… Hai.." repeatedly while giving them a nod or smile or some other expression here and there to show or give an impression that you're listening to someone. Now here you might be thinking, 'But we do something similar here.', but… it's slightly different. (Ours is a bit more passive I guess?) I suggest everyone should conduct their own research. There's better people out there who can explain things better than me. Ahahaha...

Anyway in short, Kasane isn't nodding because she understood Toukichirou, but rather to make an impression that she was listening to him.

Well~ it's been some time I've uploaded another chapter. I hoped everyone enjoyed it. Anyway I have a quick and random question for everyone, how did you find Sengoku Strays? I just had a conversation about this about last week and it makes me curious to how other people managed to find this series.

Again I don't know when I'll be able to upload the next chapter, but I'll make sure to do it before Thanksgiving. So until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful and safe week ahead of you!