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Time seems to stretch while you are relaxing in a tub, one could almost say you have been here for over two days. Eventually, Yuki would return to find you exactly where he left you. He would look around the room for a moment, searching for signs of something before shrugging and returning to his stool. You await for him to ask, but he doesn't. So you take the imitative, "Have you decided what you're going to do?"
"Yes, I'm going to investigate this place. It's all too much to ignore. But It will have to wait for when we are no longer together. For now, we should simply stay the course. However, I can't help but worry that whatever evidence exists here today, will no longer be here tomorrow. How about you? Have you decided your next course of action?"
"I will finish up my bath with some soap, then try to remember where we went next"
"Ah, so there is a next place?"
"Yes, I remembered while I was sitting here. I was in a tub just like this. Then when I got out, she was still with me. We left together, I'm sure of it."
"She still stuck with you? Are you absolutely certain? You're not taking advantage of me, are you swordsman?"
Doesn't he trust you yet? Besides, now that you were all cleaned up why <span class="mu-i">wouldn't</span> she want your company?
"I can't speak on an ongoing investigation" its almost a private joke at this point "but I can't stop you from putting the pieces together yourself. Where exactly do you think all this breaks down?"
~~~
The manager, Genko, is happy to see the both of you leave. His time with the imperial investigator has come to an end, so he allows himself to breath a small sigh of relief. You wonder if when you part ways with Yuki, will you breath that same relief, or will you be struggling for air. At the very least, you will face whats to come clean. Outside, you find the streets once again busy. The rain has come to a stop, and people are quick to take advantage. In the city, everyone seems to struggle to have somewhere else to be. You prefer the country, where everyone struggles to have the opposite. Yuki instructs you to leave the umbrella behind, for the next person who gets caught in the rain. It seems like a waste, as the umbrella is probably quite expensive, but you do as instructed and leave it at the bathhouse.
As the two of you push through the crowd, you start to find it much harder to pick up your own trail. The influx of people is making it confusing and its at this time that the sake was really starting to hammer into your brain. So remembering where you were going is almost impossible. You and Yuki end up walking in circles for a while. When suddenly you hear something, a voice. Shrill and impolite, it comes from the kind of cruel women that would drive a husband to murder, suicide, or both. You remember this voice, so you follow it through the crowd dragging Yuki along.
