Gintama: It Is Love!

More Than You Know (Saito Shimaru)

"Books again, Shimaru-niisan?" Sougo frowns as he follows Shimaru quietly into a small bookstore. When they went on their patrol, the afro-haired man suddenly paused and kept gazing at the bookstore with such a hopeful look on his face.

Sougo couldn't resist and gave in— going into the bookstore willingly with him. "You never read though, what's the point—" Sougo looked around, strutting inside the bookstore while Shimaru seemed to have disappeared somewhere.

"Are you trying to learn how to speak aga—" Sougo paused when he came face to face with a woman— soft (H/C) hair and bright (E/C) eyes.

"Oh, hello." Sougo greeted nonchalantly with a polite bow. She had books in her hands and seemed to be arranging them when he came across her.

Instantly, (Y/N) got flustered because of Sougo's thoughtless remarks— she never expected a customer to go barging in all of a sudden.

(Y/N) hurriedly brought out a notepad and a pen— scribbling something on it while Sougo was looking at her curiously.

"May I help you with something?"

She faced the notepad towards Sougo for him to read what she had written. Sougo leaned forward, a hand on his chin and his eyes narrowed at it.

"Shimaru-niisan? When did you turn into a girl—"

Sougo was cut off when Shimaru pulled Sougo back by the collar, forcing him to move away from (Y/N). Shimaru then showed (Y/N) his sketchpad at which she nodded understandingly and rushed off to the counter.

"Ow....What was that for?" Sougo whined, looking to the orange-haired afro for an explanation. Shimaru shook his head gently and began writing it out.

"That was (Y/N)-san. You weren't being polite to her,"

"Polite me? That's the nicest I'll ever be," Sougo shrugs and then crosses his arms over his chest as he gazes at Shimaru scrutinizingly.

Shimaru shook his head and made an X mark with his hands before writing again in his sketchpad.

"You shouldn't be so close to her like that when you've never met her. You scared her,"

"Wait, wait— Shimaru-niisan, it's weird how you're so concerned over her." Sougo raised a hand and placed it on his chin as he furrowed his eyebrows. "I was just curious— she writes down what she wants to say too, like you." He pointed out.

"(Y/N)-san got into some kind of accident when she was a kid— because of that she can't speak." Shimaru raised the sketchpad to Sougo's face quite close.

"Oh...I see," Sougo nodded nonchalantly, "But it still doesn't explain why you seem so fond of her?"

Shimaru flinched and started waving his hand about frantically while Sougo smirked. The afro captain rarely loses his cool— to see him acting so panicked like this could only mean one thing.

A glint in Sougo's eyes made Shimaru freak out— ever since Shimaru found out about how Sougo tried to hook Yamazaki up with that lady robot Tama and how Yamazaki lost all chances to approach her after it— he had been extra careful with his feelings for the bookstore owner, (Y/N).

"I see what's going on here," Sougo smirked and started laughing devilishly all to himself while Shimaru sighs and makes his way to the counter.

"Only this today?"

(Y/N) sent him a gentle smile as she lifted her notepad to him. Shimaru blushed and slightly bowed his head, averting his eyes from hers.

"I'll come back for more soon,"