"h.e.l.lo, Rin."
She whirled around at the sound of her brother"s voice - one that she had not heard in a while.
"Nii-san…"
She said with a small smile, wearing her guards uniform.
"I"m sorry it took so long for me to come and see you."
"No… it"s okay. I know how busy you are lately."
Came her sad response.
"Do you mind if I come in to see mother too?"
"Mhmm, I think she"d like that."
They were living in the same house as before – the one Niwa had given them all that time ago.
He had not heard much about home. Not even from his father. It seemed to be a topic Morohira wished to steer clear from. And as he walked in and felt the atmosphere, he understood why. It felt like a funeral home.
"Who"s that Rin?"
Came a weak voice from the next room. She must have heard their footsteps.
Instead of replying, she simply smiled at Gengyo, and motioned for him to follow her.
It was a sad sight indeed. The once warm and cheerful f.u.ku was now restrained to a single bed in the centre of the room, looking incredibly pale and incredibly weak. She was barely able to express the surprise she felt as he walked in.
"Ah… Tadakata-chan."
She said in quiet, but warm voice.
"h.e.l.lo, mother."
He greeted her with a light smile. It was immensely upsetting to see the state she was in. They had already lost Masaatsu, and now it looked like their mother already had one foot in the grave.
"You don"t look so well, mother."
He stated honestly.
"Your father always says the same… but Tadakata-chan you don"t look so good either."
Her words were true. His face was not that of a healthy man. But he merely shrugged at her concerns.
"I"m able to do what I need to do, I"ll be fine."
"It feels so strange seeing you like this, Nii-san…"
Rin confessed. After the battle, it was like she had lost both of her brothers, as he appeared to have become a different person.
"Yes, I"ve stayed away for far too long."
"The master of… *cough* *cough* Toyone, eh?"
f.u.ku expressed, though she was a.s.saulted by a coughing fit as she did so.
"Merely in t.i.tle, mother. My real job is to ensure justice is sought for the fallen."
"You mean, for… Masaatsu?"
Rin questioned.
"Correct. It"s what father and I are working toward."
His sister felt the sword at her waist and gripped it.
"…What about me Nii-san? I feel so… empty, lately. I have a sword, and I guard the mansion, can I not use it?"
He paused, a little chilled by the intensity of her depressed expression.
"I really have ignored you for far too long, little sister."
He thought regretfully.
"Mm… Akiko tells me you"re quite the fighter…"
He ran his finger down his jawbone scar, and pondered.
"If… If you get well again, mother, then I will have a job for Rin. But until then, mother needs you, Rin."
She looked dissatisfied with his answer. But what did it matter? It was not as if things were becoming worse, they were simply unchanging.
"That"s quite the pressure you"re putting on me, Tadakata-chan."
He shrugged. What he said was not kind. In fact, it was selfish. It was an attempt at cultivating his own peace of mind by handing over the responsibility of his mother"s care to someone else. But with the fragility of his own systems, he did not think he would be able to help her as she needed.
"It is. But, it"s a road forward, is it not? Even with Masaatsu gone, we cannot stand still until we die. I am going to cut Imagawa"s head from his shoulders. Rin, it seems, would like to join me. What about you, mother? Masaatsu would not wish to see you like this. We need you well, mother. Otherwise, it hurts us, you know? I don"t think I could deal with the death of another family member."
He put it honestly, and he put it harshly. Perhaps it was childish, but those were his honest feelings. He could not spare to speak anything less than the truth. He did not need the pebble weight of those lies on top of his fragile walls.
But it seemed his words got through, as instead of growing indignant, his sweet mother smiled.
"You"ve grown up, little Tadakata-chan… Rin tells me you"re growing close with Niwa Akiko? I do wish to be there, to stand beside you on your wedding day."
He could not help but chuckle.
"Aye mother, I"d like that."
He then turned to Rin with a raised eyebrow.
"It seems you and Akiko have been speaking behind my back, eh?"
She did not show the slightest hint of remorse, and merely mimicked his shrug.
"Me and Akiko grow bored, and it"s pretty fun talking about Nii-san."
She said with a small giggle, her gloomy face lighting up slightly.
"Haha, I"ve missed you, little sister."
He said, patting her head, before moving toward the door.
"I"ll come and visit more often, okay?"
"You"d better!"
"I look forward to it, Tadakata-chan!"
They called out after him, as he took his leave. He was expecting a visitor, so he could not spend too much time with them.
"Is she here?"
He asked s.h.i.+bata as he spied her in the courtyard.
"Yes, Miura-san. She"s in the reception room."
He nodded before proceeding indoors, and removing his shoes. He stuck a head inside the reception room, motioning for Isabella to follow him upstairs to his office.
"You left me waiting quite a while."
She complained as they traversed the final steps.
"I had business. Take a seat."
The cus.h.i.+ons were still in their respective positions at either side of the table, and she sat down as she was told, enjoying it"s softness.
He got straight down to business, and retrieved a small pouch from inside kimono, sliding it across the table towards her.
"There is 75 gold in there. Of course, the mission went as planned, thanks to your intelligence."
Indirectly calling him untrustworthy, she poured the contents of the pouch onto the table and began counting them.
"Heh…"
He sighed at her actions.
"So?"
She questioned.
""So"?"
He repeated, with a raised eyebrow.
"What now? Do we go to the city and rob a bigger jeweller"s? Or are we dealing in different goods this time?"
She seemed to have a solid expectation that her services would be required again. But it was not as though that expectation was completely unfounded.
"Mm. In a week, I will have need of your services again. I will give you more information around that time."
"…A week, is it?"
She intoned, apparently irritated by it being such a length of time.
"Indeed, it will be at least a week. I have much to do."
She slipped the last coin back into the pouch, apparently satisfied that the amount was as he said it would be.
"Well, I have business to see to as well. I"ll be expecting you to contact me within the week."
It was a lie, but it did not matter to him. He merely needed her to do the job as he told her to, anything else was not his concern.
In the room alone now, he began to tap his finger on the desk in thought.
"Should I really do this…"
He pondered with a laugh. He rather enjoyed the outlandish nature of his new idea, and he could not wait to see the men"s baffled reactions. And so, with the time drawing late into noon, he had Jikouji gather the men into the reception room.
…
…
"How much did we get, boss?"
Rokkaku was the first to ask.
"2053."
The older man had to let out a whistle in response to that number. It was high. Extremely high. Even with Jikouji saying that it would be upwards of 2000, they had not entirely believed it.
But now, he dumped a heavy bag full of coin onto the table, and they were forced to accept the reality.
"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l… From just one day"s work we got all that?"
"Indeed."
"…"
"So how are we going to spend it?"
Gengyo nodded in response to the expected question, before stating the reason he had called them here.
"We"re going to Toyokawa."
"Toyokawa? Again?"
A certain old man questioned, curious. Surely they did not intend to rob another jeweller from the same port?
"Aye."
Was all he said in response.
"Why?"
Came the obvious follow-up question, in response to which he allowed himself a small smile.
"You will see when we get there. Something of a surprise if you will."
Whilst the rest of the men looked curious and excited, Jikouji looked rather worried. If this surprise was even more outlandish than any of the previous ideas, he did not know if he would be able to deal with the shock.
"We will ride out first thing tomorrow morning, you can expect to be gone a couple of days, so bring some food with you."
"We could just nick some food when we get there to save us from carrying it."
Ii said seriously.
"No, there"s no merit in getting caught carrying out petty crimes."
The young master admonished, leaving no room for misinterpretation.
And so, the meeting soon concluded and the men went home to their families for the evening, or stayed back in the mansion, if they were not from Toyone. They let their loved ones know of how long they were likely to be gone, before turning in early and going to sleep.
They did not know quite what their master had in store for them, they simply knew it would be exciting.
Whilst they slept, Gengyo was in his room, drawing the same plan again and again. He tried to give the structure a certain addition, but kept finding that there was not enough room. He tossed the paper aside, before beginning again, putting it in a different location, and then having it run through the motion that it needed to.
Most who were to look at his sketches would have no understanding of what he was trying to achieve. And for a time, he forgot what he was trying to achieve as well. It was the early hours of the morning before he finally settled on a design that was satisfactory, and then he began to redraw it more cleanly.
Whilst it seemed to be the optimal design, it required that the structure they purchase tomorrow be within certain specifications, else it would render he efforts obsolete. He merely wished to perform preliminary testings so that he went to Toyokawa having some idea of what he was looking.
With the flame of the candle, he burned the rest, so that the designs would never end up in someone else"s hands, and serve as incriminating evidence against him. And then, he safely tucked away the final draft.
He stared forward around his darkened room, a little uneasy now that his mind was not occupied with a task. It was moments like this that he dreaded and worked to avoid, for he knew that was when certain thoughts were liable to start.
He began tapping on his desk, but soon even that was not enough, and he was tapping faster, and more aggressively, like a drum solo building up to a climax.
He clenched his fists, and ceased his tapping, attempting to resist the emotion that wished to overwhelm him. He held his head tight within those clenched fists, and pressed inwards, trying to physically force the thoughts out of his head. He smushed his nose into the desk, and lay there uncomfortably unable to sleep, and unable to let his guard down.
He remained like that until dawn came, and his focus returned.