Tetsu no Sosuke's pupils contracted. Nakime!?
The woman sitting beside the man was Nakime... And that man... and that child...
"Could these three be Nakime's family?"
The man was Nakime's husband. Then the child...
He immediately studied the child's face, but the features were blurred.
For a moment, he couldn't tell whether the young man from before was Nakime's husband or her son.
Either way, there had to be a crucial connection between them.
With that in mind, he wasted no more time. He sent a message by Kasugai Crow asking where the young man had been taken. The answer was the Butterfly Estate.
Tetsu no Sosuke had someone buy him a train ticket for that evening and headed straight for the Butterfly Estate.
Two days later, Tetsu no Sosuke finally reached the Butterfly Estate.
The train couldn't take him right to its gates. After getting off, he had spent another full day traveling before he arrived.
As soon as he entered, he spotted the three little girls. All three looked startled to see him.
"Oh no! The Hammer Pillar is back!"
The three of them turned and ran.
Tetsu no Sosuke was baffled. What did they mean, "Oh no"? The Hammer Pillar was back?
What was so bad about me coming back?
He quickly stopped the three girls and asked where Shinobu Kocho was, then asked about the young man.
He learned that the Insect Pillar had left nearly half a month ago and still hadn't returned. The young man, however, was at the Butterfly Estate.
The three girls often played with him when they had nothing else to do, and they had grown quite close.
After finding out where he was, Tetsu no Sosuke went straight to him. He was sitting in the courtyard, gazing blankly