He went out, mostly to figure out how it will be viable. Wait for Kazuho to return or simply leave.

"Shinrou-sama, here is the reply." The boy pa.s.sed him a small letter. He was awake, even as Shinrou had not searched his body. He thought that it will have been better to do so if he did not survive but not before.

"Thank you." He took it from the boy. Although he knew that he must at least wait for a moment to see whether he should asked who poisoned him. It was something that was administered in food rather than anything else.

"I"ll be leaving now."

"Spend the night here, it has been a long journey." And he pa.s.sed several coins to him in exchange for his service. Enough for a man"s wage in a year, the boy widened his eyes at that. Surprised that it was

"I can"t accept it."

"You have been a great help. And you have put your life at risk too, you deserve it." He ruffled the boy"s head, before he accepted it and went to bed. "Mind if you wait, I do have some questions for you."

"What is it?"

"Did you meet anyone before you came here?"

"A boy, around this tall, wears simple clothing. Bought me a meal before I came here. I didn"t touch it until I reached the city, and I didn"t feel good afterwards. Must have turned bad." He could figure out that it was poisoned, although he did not say it to him. "There also was a woman who told me that I should wait until I was in the city, said that I should put my work first."

"Thank you." In fact, he didn"t know who the woman was. If she had not told him to wait, he might have died before delivering the letter. Which will have adverse consequences, as much as he knew that their letter was intercepted before it came here.

Whether he should open it became debate as well, since it could have been manipulated if Kazuho wrote in Kyokuhinese. On the front, it was clear that it was tampered given that Kazuho will not have written his name wrongly. It was off by the second character.

Before he went inside, happy to take hospitality when it was offered. At that moment, he opened the letter trying to see who was behind it. It was from Kazuho, and it was not tampered with. Not in the least, even as Kazuho used his mother tongue over anything else to write the letter. Sensible, since there was not many who spoke the language in the first place. The moment he saw the language he guessed that whoever it was tried to read but failed to decipher the language used.

He read the letter once to see if there were any inconsistencies, racking his mind to see whether there was any deviating from the grammar of the language. There was none, which meant that Kazuho had written it.

Once he was done, he knew was that Kazuho was separated from Masami and Yuki, with only Shino and Hajime. He guessed that it was Hajime. Shino did not have the motive, she indeed had little reason to think that she could find anything here. That much was the truth, because of what he learned from her.

She had almost no relations her other than her cousins, even then their relationship was easily summed up as estranged and barely talking. They did not know each other for quite some time, neither did they contact each other. She will have spoke of it at least once, even as she kept much of her family under tight wraps. But Kazuho did manage to to pry a couple of secrets out of her mouth— the same thing she did to her.

As such, he knew that they did not meet each other until now. Although why had she decided to leave was something which baffled him as he wondered why. Kazuho mentioned that it was because of a particular portrait which is why she came. And he attached it below, hoping that he kept it well. He knew in an instant the moment he looked at it. It was Rin"s sister.

He kept it between his shirt. It had to be safeguarded, as the resemblance was striking. Hence one which could be used, he was certain that Rin now would have looked similar to her elder sister. Many had remarked their likeness as children, and compared it with him saying that he looked nothing like them. It was true of course, because he was an adopted child.

"Hime-sama wishes to see you." Murasaki had appeared once more. He could not leave the place, it was not a wise move at this point. She did so, in much contempt as he stood up and left with her.

Heading to the outside, was Enyou who was dressed in a normal kimono along with a cloak. She took it off upon meeting him. Murasaki had been the unwilling member in this, obliging because Enyou asked that of her.

"I suppose there is something important."

"This is for you." She pa.s.sed him a letter, addressed to him. "Aniue hopes that you would consider joining him and bringing the boy over. You have every reason to."

"Then what if I don"t?"

"What happens next is out of my control." Knowing what she will have played next, even as he knew that no matter what was it, Kazuho had no hand in it. He knew the man"s secrets, and most of his sins. As such, there was nothing really getting him to betray Kazuho. And he would not, because he was one of the only people who remembered Rin at this point in his life. A girl who never acquainted herself with many, and Kazuho was one of the only few.

"What if I say that we can help you find that girl?" Then he stopped for a moment, if he was wise he will accept it. He will tell Kazuho about it, but he could take it to his advantage. At this point, having the Sasaki clan off their backs or thinking them pliable was easy enough. And this was still an underhanded deal, something presented without any official consent.

And they could take it to their advantage if they knew how. Something which Kazuho was always better suited, but this was an ambiguous arrangement. Thus, it was worth a shot as he could easily back away if it did not turn out in his favor.

"Meet with my brother once more." He held an invitation to tea. He knew that he had to show for this. There was no other way.

"All right. I"ll be there."

"Thank you, I will take my leave." Enyou left the place. Murasaki had not followed. He knew that she was going to talk about something. Anything for that matter.

"I"m curious, who is the boy you now serve."

"Just a man who has a debt he wish to repay. And it"s complicated." He didn"t want to talk more; it was not an easy story to tell within a conversation. It was a lengthy one.

"I presume the girl you"re looking for happened to be Rin." He turned his head around. "I saw her once, she came to my shop. She looks rather familiar, similar to how she looked then."

"Where is she now?"

"Her name is Saitou Sachiko. Linked to a family who happened to have been rather busy in getting spies, and a.s.sembling a network of them." He knew that it was incredibly strange, but he had a name. He needed to wait a little longer until Kazuho reached back home. And whether she was here for that matter.

But it seemed that he made some progress. And it was not her fault, he had never mentioned the girl he went to look for. "Thank you."

She left the next moment.

Kaede had barely been able to sneak outside. Busy as she was, but the moment her brother appeared she had to make up an excuse to leave. At least one which will have been satisfactory. And her chance came when they needed to look for new tea leaves, and ingredients for the visit. Sachiko only trusted her enough to go, and she managed to dodge taking on any companions.

As such, she did make sure to settle it. But not without a visit to the street and Mutsu helping her carry the items, something he was happy to do for her. She managed to find Mamoru, who was rather busy by the looks of it.

"Are you in the midst of finding Kouya or have you already found him?"

"I have found him, didn"t Mutsu tell you?" Well, she never asked him and he will never bother her with much unless she asked him.

"I was in a hurry to leave, and there wasn"t a good time to break such news." Since they were pa.s.sing through markets for most part and there was difficult to release such news.

"Anyway, he calls himself Kazuho, has his own reasons why he came back. And he won"t be helping us all that much either."

It was not hard to understand why. Kouya had disappeared for years and never turned up. A man who has had more grievances against the Shogunate will not have go off for several years, and never show up. Even when he did, he did not cause any major stirs.

"Where is he?"

"Takara"s inn, the place I should have guessed yet I did not." He gave a laugh, knowing the irony because of how it should have been on his mind yet he did not figure it out. "Either way, he has plenty of enemies who have found him. And the only reason why he came back was to repay a debt to a girl he met when he was eleven."

"That seems a bit much."

"Well, I do think that he must have came from a family who either lost their lives during the Shogun"s a.s.sa.s.sination, or possibly part of the family who was framed as the culprit." It was what that made sense, even as they knew the Shogun"s son disappeared not too long later. With no trace of where he was or even where he went. And he was a boy with the education men twice his age dreamed of. At least that was what they knew. Intelligence that was uncommon in any other man, and boys his age were unable to keep up with him.

As much as Kouya was outstanding, being the son of the Shogun was unlikely. Not that he did anything to really give it away.

"It is still difficult. But is he still there?"

He nodded. "Though I doubt for much longer. He is going back to Okiban soon enough, once he settles some matters here."

She did think that finding him will be a good chance now. "I know where he went, although that"s because I went with Kisuke and his friends."

"Did his friends include a black haired girl?"

She nodded. At least she knew that was where she went, for such a long time she wondered where Kaguya had been and there was was.

"There was also a girl with red hair."

"That I have no idea." Mamoru explained. She gave a shrug, he did disappear for a long time it was not impossible that he will have made more friends.

"Although it could give a clue where he ran off."

"A clue that neither of us know the answer to." He was right on that account, red hair was uncommon here but not so in quite a fair bit of the world. Even as she heard that it was the rarest hair color as compared to everything else. Neither of them traveled hence they could not even tell where they could.

"Well, she tended to go back and forth in gibberish." They both knew it was hopeless because Mutsu had never learned another language. And asking him to try and replicate it was a little hopeful at best.

Even as they both knew that Kazuho will never answer truthfully just where had he been.

"How about we find out more about them in that inn, I can buy alcohol there and pretend while prying things out of her mouth."

"I"m not joining you, I do have better things to get to." But she could always pretend it was.

"Mutsu, bring all of them back to the Saitou household." She did have an inn and a bottle of sake to drink to get to.