Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 5

The others turn Yahiko's absence into explanations drawn from their own interests: food, a girl or extra sword practice. He resents the guessing and claims he is merely taking a walk. Following him reveals paid work, but it does not yet settle why he wants the job. Tae says he asked for secrecy and that Tsubame joined after him. Neither that timing nor the followers' guesses settles his reason for taking the job. The comic surveillance makes an apparently familiar household less certain about what its youngest member does alone. Kenshin takes the possibility of further training seriously, while Kaoru and Sanosuke keep returning to their preferred theories. This reading covers only the licensed VIZ opening preview through Yahiko's exchange with Tsubame; the later battle and his motive's resolution are outside the inspected excerpt.