This stuff Boutaro's doing with trying to cause mistrust between Shiraishi and the others feels like something that should've happened way earlier on and not now, but hopefully Noda will go somewhere interesting with it and not the direction I'm worrying about
Well i dont even think that Shiraishi necessarily trust sugimoto necessarily, since he knows that sugimoto cares for for arsipa more than anything and would probably kill him if he does anything. Its more that sugimoto has much clearer motives and than any of the other faction and therefore less likely to backstab him and if he is around arsipa then he is closer to finding the gold than anyone
It's wise to remember that Shiraishi is still an escaped convict who's after the gold for his own gain, with or without Botarou's meddling. His façade of comic relief might just let him pull the rug from under everyone else's feet when they eventually find it.
Shiraishi being shrewder and more guarded than he seems are fair points, but keep in mind that it's been shown several times that Sugimoto and Shiraishi have been willing to risk injury and death for the other's sake.
Of course, it's hard to say how far that will go, particularly when the stakes are high and there's opportunities for personal gain, but I hope it will hold!
@MolluskMan He is only 9-10 years older than her. If anything, he is more like a big brother than a father. Also she is gonna be an adult soon ( girls in this era can legally get married at 15 according to the law ), Sugimoto is a penniless man without any job, so him adopting her would be weird. Hucci adopts Sugimoto would make more sense as he has nowhere to go.
As far as i know these puns or previews for the next chapter, like the one in this chapter about dominos, are done by editors, not by author. At least, it's like this in WSJ, don't know specifically about WYJ.
Honestly it's a shame because Sugimoto actually wasn't told how to solve the code by Asirpa, but Shiraishi still has trust issues and I hope it doesn't end badly.