AIC: the hotel of a thousand (and one )deaths

"Shimizu-sama, we have arrived." Ryuusei's tone came out dangerously close to being grumpy, rather than respectful. He was rubbing at his sore shoulders the instant that they lowered the princess-box to the ground outside the hotel. 

Yuusaku surreptitiously shot his jerk of a friend a moderating look. It had not been a particularly hard day, and the attitude was unprofessional. 

If the client had any complaints about them when they arrived at the capital in a few days, Aiko-sensei would kill them. And then he would kill Ryuusei.

And then the lady herself was opening the door of the tiny wooden nightmare box that civilian ladies had to travel in to protect their modesty, or whatever. 

It wasn't even quite 1pm, but this was where they were expected. If they sprinted they could probably make it to the next hotel before darkness fell, but they'd probably rattle the ladies around in the box, and that wasn't how an enterprising young chuunin got a good review. They were already going a lot faster than a team of civilians would have gone.

"Thank you," Shimizu-sama said primly. She turned to put her legs out, and then carefully bent to the side to slip on her shoes. Her greying hair was just as immaculate as it had been 2 hours ago, when they last stopped for a rest. When she stood up, she briskly pushed at whatever wrinkles had dared form in her dark blue yukata. Her daughter meekly followed a few moments later, sleepy and clearly stiff from the confines. She perked up after few moments, taking in the scenery with big, dark eyes.

Yuusaku reminded himself that their lady client definitely was not cute. Customers are not allowed to be appealing. 

It was hard to deny that she was attractive, though. Objectively. And she was dolled up in elaborate contrast to her mother's rather stern and plain clothing. She had full-length furisode with three layers for traveling. He was fairly certain the the scrolls Ryuusei was carrying were full of her wardrobe.

The hotel staff had noticed them by this point. Three men came out in a rush to offer the ladies a table at lunch which was starting any moment.

"I will be taking a bath before lunch." Shimizu-sama said it mildly, but it caught Yuusaku's attention. "I am weary and need to be refreshed after traveling."

She looked absolutely immaculate.

'That's definitely a powerplay. She's putting the hotel in a bad position. Are they going to hold a second meal for her? They can't possibly say "That's too bad, I hope you're not too hungry before dinner."'

There was an extended moment of silence. And then two of the staff members exchanged a look that barely betrayed their discomfort.

"Of course." The tallest man there bowed so low that Yuusaku wanted to wince on his behalf. "We shall delay lunch until 1:30, then."

Oh. He resisted the impulse to suck air in through his teeth at that. Wow. 

'Shimizu-sama is definitely the most powerful noble present. Noted.'

She was too dignified to show it, but Shimizu-sama had to be pleased by that outcome. She held her head high and strode into the hotel with staff fluttering about her.

Yuusaku let the obsequious pleasantries and bows wash over him, only half-heartedly observing the wooden stake with Shimizu's family name and seal being displayed outside the hotel to show which honored guest had arrived. Two other names were already set up. He caught Shimizu-sama the elder eyeing the displayed names, but what she thought was anyone's guess. He and Kensuke carried the luggage inside, while hotel staff moved the traveling equipment out of sight behind another building. Ryuusei set off without comment to check around the premises for anything suspicious.

Ryuusei met back up with them while Shimizu-sama was preparing for her bath. The daughter had already finished with setting out her belongings and was waiting. She looked at Ryuusei through her lashes as he appeared via unnecessarily flashy shunshin, clearly interested in what mysterious things shinobi might be up to. Ryuusei didn't seem to notice her attention, except that his chest was puffed out a bit and he had a more serious expression than usual.

'Maybe he thinks it makes him look cool.'

Yuusaku tried not to roll his eyes and tilted his head in silent question. Ryuusei flashed a handsign that meant he wanted to debrief, but there was no urgency in it. 

Shimizu-sama emerged from her room, with Kensuke on her tail. They fell into an obedient procession with her at the head, followed by her daughter, hotel staff, and then the shinobi. 

Yuusaku detached from the doorway and followed the hotel staff who were carrying the ladies' hotel yukata and towel across the street to the luxurious onsen. Despite wearing the hotel's wooden sandals, the ladies were catlike and quiet on the stone street.

It was a sprawling complex with at least four types of baths surrounding a garden with a little well. He caught signs for cold baths, hot baths, mud baths, stone baths, a sauna, and a ...

He blinked, as if that might make the sign change.

When he turned his head, Kensuke met his eyes. They shared a moment of quiet commiserating disbelief before they separated. Apparently, rich people liked to put their legs into pools full of fish that ate human skin. 

He felt tired already. Luckily, Shimizu-sama headed directly into the actual bathing area. He stood vigil, listening to splashing and scrubbing in the cleaning area. There was quiet conversation between the mother and daughter, which was reassuring because it was a good indication that they were still alive and well. When he heard footsteps pad out to the rotenburo to relax in the open air, he waited only a minute before checking on Kensuke's position.

He was just where he should have been, posted outside the fence of the open-air bath where they could hear anything unusual. The air was hot and moist, heavy with the scent of yuzu. The hotel must have put the fruit into the hot water.

It took a few minutes for Ryuusei to join them, bounding over the rooftop. He jumped out of a fig tree and stalked over like an offended cat.

Yuusaku felt his stomach sinking.

Ryuusei stepped in very close and said in a low tone, "There's a dead man in the room next to Shimizu-sama's. Late 60s, civilian, in expensive clothes."

It took a moment to cope with that update. His mind refused it for a moment. This was his first mission since becoming a chuunin. It was the first time that he was leading a mission. He absolutely refused for it to become a clusterfuck. He was rejecting it, out of hand.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Kensuke said, quietly but vehemently. Compulsively, he flattened his bangs. "This is- this is a really nice hotel." He sounded a bit scandalized that someone might inconsiderately commit crime in a 5 star hotel.

...Kind of missing the point, but alright.

"Odds that the shinobi in the area won't be blamed are...?" Ryuusei gave a bitter smile.

"Depends on how the body is discovered...?" Kensuke offered in a small, uncertain voice.

"Or if," Yuusaku mused. He felt his brow drawing down into a scowl. "And cause of death."

"Definitely murder," Ryuusei said cheerfully. "He's been poisoned, something that smells sweet and dilated his pupils. But it's bloodless! There's that." He seemed lighter now that the bad news had been passed off.

He sighed. "Okay," Yuusaku said to himself. "Okay, okay, okay." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "We can make this work."

"I believe in you, boss," Ryuusei said. And then he shuffled a step closer to the fence, as if to claim the lower-stress role of playing bodyguard.

Kensuke gave him a dry look. "Subtle," he muttered. But he didn't protest the body-disposal responsibility being passed off to Yuusaku. He was the lead on the mission, after all.

He thought it over for a moment. It would be dark in only a couple of hours, which could be a help. Knowing who the body was would be very useful information.

"...Did you do anything with the body?" he asked quietly.

"Put it in bed," Ryuusei said, barely moving his lips. "I figured that would buy time. It's plausible that some old civilian would be tired after traveling, and lay down. The staff wouldn't want to wake him."

"Good call." He glanced at the fence separating them from their clientele.

Shimizu-sama seemed to be well-informed and briskly competent. There had only been two other name plaques outside the hotel. She might well know who else was in the hotel. And, being their client, maybe she ought to be consulted or... kept informed, at least. She might know of political undertones that would affect the best possible course of action.

'If we can get back to the hotel room quietly, before the body is discovered, I'll consult with Shimizu-sama,' he decided. 'Maybe letting the body be found as-is is the best call, and interfering would only make things look more suspicious.'

Luckily, Shimizu-sama must have been more hungry than in need of relaxation. She left the bath after only about five minutes. The daughter remained. 

Ryuusei was avoiding eye contact, with his back straight against the fence.

Yuusaku rolled his eyes. "Kensuke, with me. Ryuusei, guard Shimizu-hime." He flash-stepped to a polite two steps behind Shimizu-sama, who had not waited for the help at all. She did not seem interested in talking to her young bodyguards, which made it all the more awkward to break the silence. Kensuke stopped outside the door to ensure that the conversation would be private. He cleared his throat after the door slid shut behind them.

Shimizu-sama glanced over at him as she sat at the low table. "Are you ill, young man?" 

"No, ma'am," he demurred. "There's something that I feel deserves your attention."

For the first time, she cast the full force of her gaze on him. For a civilian woman in her 40s, Shimizu-sama was intimidating. That stare didn't feel much different from the way that Aiko-sensei evaluated a possible new person when she was deciding if she should walk around them or step over their body. He felt spiders crawling over his flesh. 

"When investigating the premises, we discovered a body," he reported. His voice came out thankfully steady and professional. "Male, in the adjoining room. The person seems to have been a client, not staff. It does not seem to have been discovered yet, but we assessed that it was a crime scene. We considered that this might be...inconvenient," he hedged.

Her mind seemed to be whirring. "The adjoining room..." Shimizu-sama said quietly. Her lips pressed together in a thin line. "An older man? Undiscovered as of yet?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"That would be the Nakajima patriarch," she mused. "Certainly he's the only person here worth murdering. No one would gain a thing if a Teruoka died, that family is in decline."

Um. He blinked. "Yes, ma'am," Yuusaku said, because he didn't know what else to say to that.

"You are right that this is inconvenient," Shimizu-sama said decisively. "Nakajima-sama is no friend of mine, and his death is politically convenient for me. As most of the nobility would know, Nakajima-sama and my husband have competing interests." She made eye contact with him. "So he hasn't been murdered."

It took a moment to catch up to that. 

'Ah. This might be a setup for Shimizu-sama or the Teruoka family. Or someone is trying to to muddy the waters by arranging for the death to happen where there's multiple people who might have a motive.'

"Can he have been murdered a day or two after you leave?" Yuusaku suggested. They could henge and impersonate him, although if the body was examined there could be some problems with the timeline being discovered. "Or was it his ill health?"

'We'll have to disguise the cause of death,' Yuusaku thought. 'And maybe the timeline...?'

Shimizu-sama clasped her hands in her lap primly. "He has always been fond of having a good time," she said. "And traveling is stressful for those of us who are not as young and strong as you, for example. I don't believe that our stay overlapped."

Right. Right. So, he wanted to make sure the body didn't look too fresh. Yuusaku remembered the skin-eating fish. "Maybe he wanted to relax this morning."

"That would be within his character," Shimizu-sama agreed. "He is fond of relaxation, and he is a noted connessieur of sake."

Yuusaku chewed over the background information, wondering what would be the best course of action. "Is he a talkative or social man?"

"That would be within his character," Shimizu-sama agreed. "He is fond of relaxation, and he is a noted connoisseur of sake."

"Certainly not." Shimizu-sama leaned over to turn on the hot water kettle. "He only confides his thoughts in his most trusted peers."

"I think that he went to relax in the hot bath," Yuusaku said. "With a bottle of fine wine. He had already enjoyed some in his room. Unfortunately, he's fallen asleep in the water and won't be found until dinner."

The bath was perfect. The yuzu scent would disguise the poison that Ryuusei had smelled, the hot water would speed decay, and the horrible fish would eat away at his flesh and make coming to any conclusions a very difficult prospect. And it was a plausible way for a tired, drunk old man to die. People got sleepy in the bath all the time.

"I wonder when he arrived," Shimizu-sama said. "And if he perhaps took a luncheon here. He might have taken his bath before we arrived."

Points taken. Yuusaku bowed deeply, ending the conversation. It was just in time, too- the door slid open to admit Shimizu-hime. Her eyes were dancing, but her expression went serious as she walked into the room. Ryuusei was a perfectly proper distance behind her with a bland expression.

...He didn't need this, he really didn't.

He stepped out into the hall, letting Ryuusei take his position in the room. He caught his teammate's eye and signed out a short message.

- Stay with client A.- 

He ignored Ryuusei's outraged scowl. If he wanted to stay with the young client badly enough to make that face, then they should definitely be separated.

Kensuke glanced into the hotel room. -call backup?- he asked.

No. Absolutely not. 

Yuusaku rejected the suggestion with a sharp gesture. -Stay with Client B. Make a clone in 5.-

They'd see Aiko-sensei at the Daimyo's palace in three days. They did not need to call her for help cleaning up a relatively innocuous problem. They were chuunin, it was their job to take things in stride and get the mission done.

Kensuke nodded professionally at the assignment and slipped all the way into the room, leaving Ryuusei with the doorguard position. He knew exactly what he was doing, but the mischief was impossible to find on his narrow face. 

Yuusaku forced down a snort. He walked out of the hotel, noting where the staff were out of his peripheral vision. There was someone in the office within sight of the registration book behind the counter. That man looked up as Yuusaku passed. There was the sound of running water in the restroom, and soft voices in the souvinir shop. The kitchen was busy- he couldn't hear anything, but it had to be full of people at this hour. He'd know that even if he couldn't smell fish cooking.

He went out onto the street and was seen by several people. and then when he wasn't, he closed his eyes and concentrated hard on the chameleon genjutsu that Aiko-sensei loved so much. It wasn't perfect. He wouldn't try it in a fight, and he wouldn't trust that it fool a shinobi. But if he was quick and quiet and lucky, the civilian staff wouldn't see a thing.

No one looked up when he crept back into the hotel. He had to wait for an elderly woman to slowly ascend the stairs to the right of the bar counter. He hurried to flip through the book with client and check-in information. It might not be relevant, but he made certain to note the names of the last five guests. 

Nakajima had entered the hotel two nights ago. 

Yuusaku frowned. Why hadn't he left in the morning, then? There was a time limit for his visitation. Like all the other nobles, they were expected in the capital within a certain timeframe. And the hotels had strict timelines, given that the dozens of noble families taking this route would all be expecting their reserved rooms to be ready.

'So either he planned to stay here an extra day for some reason, or he was delayed. Or he died before he could leave. But the hotel is definitely going to be antsy about getting him out of here. That might be why they were willing to risk snubbing him with a late lunch.'

Nakajima was traveling with no family members and four servants, who had been housed in another building. ...and were either complicit in the murder, or had been forbidden from entering the nice hotel. Otherwise surely the body would have been discovered by now.

Friendly guy. 

The other family currently present had arrived only a short time before Shimizu-sama had. But as he scanned the reservation, Yuusaku felt his tension fade. Teruoka was a party of three women, traveling with two female servants and 12 male servants. Wow, they were trying really hard to seem important. That had to be massively expensive. He wondered at that- if the family really was in some kind of decline, that seemed like a really bad use of resources. Something about that was off.

But more importantly, no one from that party would have been in the baths yet, certainly not in the male section.

He had a working theory, but it needed a few things confirmed. But just offhand...

'I'd say that he died in the morning or last night, before he could order his servants to get ready for travel. When they never got the summons, they probably waited quite a while, until they decided he was too drunk to travel and they took advantage of the opportunity to relax in the town.'

...The only things he really needed to know were when the man had last been seen, and when someone had last been in the baths.

That second thing would be hard to pin down without just asking people, and that would be suspicious.

'Whoever finds him can fill that dot in with their imagination,' Yuusaku decided. 'Odds are very good that no one has been in there for hours.' He firmed his jaw against his task. If the man was going to be noticed missing, it would be when he didn't come to lunch. He could miss one meal without comment. But if he failed to come to lunch, it would be noticed.

The dining room was filling up. He wanted to check the meal registry to see if the man had come to breakfast, but there was no chance of doing that unseen.

'But they're going to be busy.'

...They might be checking Nakajima's room to get him to lunch.

He hustled to the room in question and closed the door behind him silently. No one was there. It didn't smell yet, thankfully, but that wouldn't last. Belatedly, he realized that no one would go to get the man until he was actually late for lunch. 

Yuusaku steeled himself to actually look at the victim. Ryuusei's analysis seemed right. The man had been dead around 2 hours, he'd think. Not long before they'd arrived... He might have even been to breakfast. He rifled through the man's luggage, hoping that Shimizu-sama's information had been on the mark. and-

"The scary woman is right," he said in an undertone, pulling out not one but three bottles of expensive-looking sake. And one of them had been opened and halfway consumed. He took a cautious sniff. He couldn't smell anything unusual, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. It had a strong scent.

'If he's a notorious drinker, this is probably how he was poisoned. He had a quiet drink last night in his room, died alone. It's probably something soporific, kept him quiet and from realizing anything was wrong. Nice.'

He suddenly remembered that he was thinking about the death of a real human person, not an analytical exercise. Yuusaku gave the body a guilty look and a shudder.

'I didn't kill him,' Yuusaku reminded himself. 'I didn't do anything wrong. And my client... probably didn't kill him either,' he finished, not certain about that. 

It sort of seemed like it would have been difficult for her. But he wasn't going to put it past her. She might have hired a second team from another country, or had a civilian confidant do it, counting on a more competent team who would clean it up for her.

...that sounded plausible. And it might explain why she had wanted a shinobi team who could get her to this specific hotel so early in the day when most travelers on this schedule would arrive in the early evening.

'Not thinking about that. Not my job.'

Nakajima wasn't a- it wasn't a particularly big body. Yuusaku dragged it out of the bed and gathered up the hotel-issue yukata. He didn't know if Nakajima was the type to clean up a futon or not, so he left it with a wince. 

It took two trips. He put the yukata, towel, and wooden sandals in the washing room outside of the bath, as if Nakajima had been prepared for when he'd finish his bath and go back to the hotel room. He arrayed the sake bottles around the bath. He tipped the partially drank bottle into the drain, hoping that the other ones wouldn't have poison in them. He opened a second bottle and poured most of it out as well. Then he laid it on its side as if it had been knocked over.

And then he had to carry the body. It was hard when he wanted to flinch away from it. It was even harder when he had to strip the body naked and put it in the tub. His arms were shaking with the effort to lower the body so that it looked like the man had fallen asleep and slipped underneath the water without touching the water himself. 

Fish immediately swarmed on the pale corpse, hundreds of them. They were black and silver, ranging from the length of his pinky nail to the length of a finger joint.

He looked away with a shudder. A body that wasn't moving in response to pain... it couldn't take that long for the fish to cause damage that would obscure the time and cause of death. 

He slipped back into the hotel, made eye contact with Ryuusei, and waited for a good chance to enter. There was an empty table where the dead man would not be sitting. There were four women in plain pink serving uniforms removing dishes and bringing out new ones on trays. There were several staff members in suits standing by the door, looking tense. 

But the real chill in the air came from the area where a party of 3 women were eating. One of them was the old woman who he had seen climbing the stairs earlier. She seemed formidable, despite the fact that her hair was thinned and her back was stooped. 

The other two at that table were young, but it was hard to gauge their age based off of their clothing. They were wearing furisode, like Shimizu-hime, so they were definitely unmarried. Maybe 12 and 14 years old? The elder girl was in blue, pink, and red, and the younger was dressed in green with white detailing. They had similiar-looking round faces and defeated demeanors.

He could not help but notice that they had not brought any of their servants- which did make him wonder why Shimizu-sama had invited 'the help' to dine with her. And judging by the fact that Nakajima had banished his servants to another building, it seemed like Shimizu-sama was the odd one.

'There is definitely something going on here.'

He shifted his legs. Yuusaku froze. The hair stood up on the back of his neck. There was something under the table. Something cold and moist.

Kensuke was looking at him. His expression was perfectly bland. Slowly, he reached out and picked up a piece of sashimi with his chopsticks. He dipped it in soy sauce and then closed his eyes to savor the fish as he ate it. Yuusaku did not fail to notice that no one else had any sashimi left. Kensuke had reserved the last bite of his fish for that little display.

Oh. He did not let his expression change. 

'A clone can't eat, so he hid the food. My foot is in a pile of raw fish. And I need to sneak it out of here. Oh, you asshole. I'm going to have to put raw fish in my pocket if I can... In my sock if I can't manage that.'

Ryuusei gave him a smile.

On one hand, he couldn't think of a particularly good way for his teammmates to dispose of the food. But on the other hand...

'I hate my friends.'

"Did you enjoy your sashimi?"

It took a moment to recognize Shimizu-hime's voice. She barely talked at all, and the change in patterns had him very nervous after coming directly from hiding a body. 

She was waiting for an answer.

Shimizu-sama was watching with a bland expression.

'I hope that she didn't kill that man. I hope she doesn't kill me.'

"Yes," he said. He hoped he didn't look too tense. "It was delicious."

Shimizu-hime's gaze flickered towards Ryuusei.

Ah. She wanted to start a conversation with him as a decoy, so that it could naturally be expanded to include the boy that she was interested in.

'Well, if she has one of us killed, it's not going to be me.'

"Which piece did you like the best?" she asked.

His smile froze on his face. He did not know what sashimi had been served. Shit, shit, what was almost always served in sashimi platters? "The tuna," he said, making a guess.

Shimizu-hime's smile went a little strained. "You are... from Water Country, yes?" she asked.

'There was no tuna on this table,' he realized miserably. 'And now she thinks I can't recognize fish. This is fine.' He gave her a smile. "Yes. We are."

'I'm just owning this now.'

"And in Water Country..." she trailed off, not sure what to do with the sentence but clearly wishing to get a conversation going.

"There is a lot of fish," Yuusaku confirmed. "I, ah. I prefer shellfish." He was allergic to shellfish. He stared at the table. Maybe it would open up and swallow him whole.

"Do tell?" Ryuusei only sounded politely interested. Yuusaku hated him intensely. 

"Shellfish is delicious," he said flatly.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            "Have you been to the capital recently?" Ryusei turned the question toward Shimizu-hime. The corners of his eyes crinkled in a genuine smile.

She brightened up. "Not for three years," she murmured. "I have been busy with my studies. But I am looking forward to seeing my father." She glanced towards the women at the other table, and her voice rose ever so slightly. "And to meeting the Mizukage, of course."

The old woman who Yuusaku had seen go up the stairs gave them a terse look.

"Have you met the Mizukage?" Shimizu-hime asked brightly.

The barest hints of a smile were playing around the edges of Shimizu-sama's lips. He took that as confirmation that both ladies definitely knew that the Teruoka family was not having a meeting with the Mizukage.

"We have," Ryuusei confirmed. He somehow managed to sound humble. "Aiko-sama is our teacher, actually. She accompanied us to the recent Chuunin exams in Konohagakure."

Shimizu-sama's expression became speculative. "Is she really?" she murmured.

She, Yuusaku noted, was far too classy to let her voice be overheard. But she could have her daughter be ever-so-sightly too loud.

"We are very lucky," Kensuke said. 

"That is very interesting." And then she went back to eat, which seemed to signal that the conversation was over.

Lunch finished. Yuusakue managed to put a pile of raw fish and what felt like vinegar radish into his pocket without anyone noticing. The nervous staff never got the relief of seeing their final guest come. The Teruoka matriarch finished eating first, but she did not come over to say hello. She kept looking over as if she wanted to talk, but she did not walk to Shimizu-sama. 

Shimizu-sama seemed not to notice, but Yuusaku would bet his last kunai that she did. When she leisurely set down her chopsticks and rose in unison with her daughter, the other ladies 'just happened' to stand at the same time.

They met at the door.

"Teruoka-sama," Shimizu-hime murmured. She seemed genuinely pleased.

The old woman's jaw tensed. It took her a moment to respond. "The Shimizu daughter, I suppose?" Her statement was not directed to anyone in specific. Neither she nor the two young girls with her looked at the shinobi at all- but they didn't seem to be giving the Shimizu family any respect, either. So why come talk?

'There is a social niceties war being waged, and I don't know who is winning or why.'

"And these must be your daughters?" Shimizu-sama said. She looked like the sweetest auntie in the world with her hands clasped demurely at her front.

"My granddaughter and niece," Teruoka-sama said tersely. "I'm sure they'll find marvelous matches in the capital. They're both quite accomplished. Yuina has a particular skill for calligraphy. Of course, nothing defines a well-bred young lady like accomplishment with a paintbrush. So it is to be expected."

Whatever that meant, it struck home. Shimizu-hime kept her face still, but the tips of her ears burnt pink with humiliation.

'She's bad at shodo?' Yuusaku wondered. That didn't seem right. Unless she was so bad at it that she was famous for being bad at it. If that was the case, the nobility needed to get out a bit more.

This, at least, was fascinating. The sniping wasn't too different from some of the conversations that shinobi diplomats might have. He didn't know all the rules or undertones, but he could recognize that blows were being exchanged.

The eldest woman pushed on. "Did you know that my youngest son has recently been given the care of the White Crane Castle, by the Daimyo himself?"

"Oh, yes," Shimizu-sama said, as if this wasn't interesting at all. "It's a terribly big job, and an honor to be given a role usually reserved for very experienced administrators."

'Her son has no qualifications and is going to fail,' Yuusaku translated. 

"I believe that he knows my eldest son. They attended school together, did they not?"

'Her son is going to be more successful, or was more successful in school. Something like that.'

Teruoka-sama gave a thin, false smile. "Indeed."

And that was that. They parted at the door without saying any goodbyes. It was probably just as well, Yuusaku thought. It might have gotten bloody.

The ladies retired to their rooms, but not for long. The reason for Shimizu-sama's demanding travel schedule became quite clear when she led them out on an appointment to meet with a business associate. She called upon hotel staff to carry her luggage. 

At the order, Ryuusei hid his confusion well and unsealed the scroll that he had filled with boxes. Three men from the hotel carried the luggage with what seemed to be moderate difficulty.

'I'm guessing that the luggage wasn't clothes, then. It's something that she's selling.'

The sniping made sense now. Yuusaku didn't know much about the nobility, but he did know that they considered business and working to be low-class. They were supposed to be rich with money they got from their ancestors, and stay rich because all the people who lived on their land brought them rice and tax money. The Shimizu family weren't landowners, or they hadn't been for long enough to be respectable.

'The Teruoka aren't making enough money from their tenants to support the lifestyle that they socially need. So they want to marry off their daughters advantageously as soon as possible, and get the sons out of the house in some other position where they're being supported by income or a more powerful lord.'

He made a mental note. Aiko-sensei had clearly already decided to ally with the Daimyo's cousin who was on good terms with Shimizu-sama's family, but a little more information about the social undercurrents could always come in useful. Maybe the Teruoka could be leveraged somehow.

Shizuka-sama made her way to a teahouse that was very clearly out of Yuusaku's income bracket. He tried not to look uncomfortable as he and his teammates took up posts along the wall. They were basically furniture, silent and still while a rather stern man made arrangements to buy-

'Pencils?' he wondered, incredulous. 'Shizuka-sama is rich and powerful because she sells pencils.'

...That made a lot of sense. It was an emerging market, as the lower classes began to gain access to education in public schools. Traditional brushwork took a lot of time and skill to master, which was why shodo was such an important art form-

'and why Teruoka made a comment about calligraphy and well-bred young ladies,' Yuusaku realized. It was very difficult not to smile, now that he had closure on at least part of what had happened. 

So. The Shizuka were rich and influential, but they were new money, so they weren't respected. And their business also catered to the lower and middle classes specifically, which would garner even more contempt. A luxury good might have been excused, he thought.

Well. That explained why Shizuka-sama was so terrifying. She was ambitious. And she might come out near the top in a new social order, where there was a new Daimyo and the Mizukage gained control of Wave Country.

It was both touching and horrifying that Aiko-sensei had put him in charge of a mission with a client who they were hoping to cultivate a very beneficial relationship with. When he inevitably disappointed her and was banished from the country, he would fondly remember that she had once believed in him.

Shimizu-sama sold many, many pencils in the next hours. Two more clients met her at the same tea house, in a neat procession that had clearly  been advised to keep their appointment time strictly. 

They walked back into the hotel and pandemonium. Four simply-dressed men were kneeling in the lobby, one of whom was laid out in a full bow. A young woman in a hotel worker's uniform was full-on sobbing, and two more workers were whispering and watching with wide-eyes from the door that led to the kitchen. A tray of food was sitting abandoned on the check-in desk, and the Teruoka matriarch was remonstrating the moustacioued hotel manager. The two young ladies in her care were sitting on a bench along the wall. If he had to take a guess by looking at their expressions, he'd say that they were waiting for death.

"How charming," Shimizu-sama said to her daughter in an undertone. "Teruoka-sama does so enjoy a bit of theatre in the evening, though she claims to be above acting."

Shimizu-hime's eyes went so wide that Yuusaku knew that was both deeply funny and deeply inappropriate.

The hotel manager caught sight of them and looked incredibly relieved. "Ah," he said, trying to cut off Teruoka-sama. "As you can see, Shimizu-sama and her company have returned."

Shimizu-sama glided into the suddenly quiet room, head held high like a queen. "My dear, you seem upset. Perhaps you should relax."

...That was meant to sound utterly reasonable to the hotel staff, and like a threat to the rival noble.

'Wow.'

If she had just an ounce less self-control, Yuusaku was one-hundred percent certain that she would have specifically mentioned that Teruoka should go relax in the baths. She could get away with it, given that she hadn't been informed of the death yet. 

Teruoka-sama went pale. Her eyes glanced between Shimizu-sama and the three shinobi flanking her. 

The old woman drew herself up to her full height. "Nakajima-sama has been murdered," she said. She narrowed her eyes at Shimizu-sama, but her hands were clasped tightly enough that they were white. She was apparently not quite bold enough to accuse Shimizu-sama of murder to her face. But she was thinking it very loudly.

"Murdered?" Shimizu-hime echoed. Shimizu-sama was the perfect picture of horror.

"Now, now," the manager interrupted. He held his hands out beseechingly. "I apologize very much for this terrible circumstance. However, I do not believe there's any cause to conclude that there has been a crime. It seems to have been a terrible accident." He wrung his hands. 

"What has happened?" Shimizu-sama said, sounding both concerned and completely reasonable. The manager was clearly grateful to focus on her.

"Nakajima-sama was tired, and has fallen asleep in the bath in the morning." He made pleading eye contact with Shimizu-sama and then deferently looked down again. "When he did not come to lunch, we intended to deliver his meal to his room. Upon finding it empty, we searched the premises and found-" he faltered. "Nakajima-sama."

"I see," his employer said gravely. She looked sad. "This is unfortunate."

"He wasn't at breakfast, either," Teruoka-sama interrupted, shrill.

"Nakajima-sama took his morning meal in his room early," the manager said smoothly. "Which is why we assumed that his absence at lunch indicated he preferred to dine alone. He must have gone to refresh himself for the day after dining."

'I wonder if that's true. It might be how he was murdered- someone brought him a poisoned meal. Or maybe a servant brought a meal to the room where he was already dead since last night, ate it, and took the dishes away to give the impression that Nakajima was still alive. Or that story might be a cover for the hotel failing to notice or look for him after he missed breakfast.'

"In the bath," Shimizu-hime said. She sounded a bit faint. "We were- we were in the baths earlier. So on the others side of the wall- there was-"

"In one of the special spa areas, actually," the manager rushed to assure her. "Not close to the ladies' bathing area at all."

"In the hot stone bath?" Shimizu-sama asked.

The manager looked uncomfortable. "The garra rufa bath, as a matter of fact."

There was a moment while everyone adjusted to that information. It appeared to be new information to Teruoka-sama as well.

"I see," she said, in a strange tone.

He got the feeling that his employer was very carefully not looking at him. Because he itched to move, he put his hands in his pockets. and then he took them out, because his pockets were still full of lukewarm fish.

'I am an adult,' he told himself. 'The Mizukage trusts me.'

"Indeed." The manager glanced behind them. One of the kitchen workers was finally ushering away the crying employee.

"That is... unexpected," Shimizu-sama said diplomatically.

There was another silence. 

Things only went downhill from there. A local doctor had been summoned, as well as the local law enforcement. The weeping girl returned and explained how she had found the body when she went to sweep the baths. Shimizu-sama was not accused of anything, but the three business people she had met were visited by some of the police, and the hotel staff reported on the whereabouts of all guests as well as each other.

The doctor emerged from the bath area, bemused by all the fuss. "It seems to have been natural causes," he said delicately, not mentioning the apparent drunken state of the noble. It wouldn't be very dignified.

"Are you quite certain?"' Teruoka-sama asked. She was looking at Shimizu-sama again.

The country doctor gave the noblewomen an uncomfortable look. "He seems to have been suffering from a medical condition which unfortunately led to these circumstances," which was a very nice way of saving face. 

"Are you certain that he's dead?" That was a new voice- and Yuusaku realized it was the first time that Nakajima's servants spoke. The man in question was sweaty and red-faced. "Maybe he's not dead."

'That's suspicious,' thought the young man who had hidden a body just before lunch today. He nearly put his hands in his fish pockets again.

The doctor gave him a very strange look indeed. "I'm quite certain I can identify a dead man," he said.

"But sometimes," the servant pressed, "someone seems like they aren't breathing, and they're very quiet. But then they live." He was very obviously shaking. "So is he really-?"

'Okay, that's the culprit,' Yuusaku confirmed. 'And now he's terrified about how a dead man ended up in the bathtub. Oh my god, I love this.'

"Young man, this is enough," the doctor said. His trembling voice did seem a little sympathetic for an apparently distraught employee. "I am sorry to say it, but it is the truth."

At some point, it would seem odd if he didn't say anything. So Yuusaku went over to the policeman in charge. "Excuse me," he murmered.

The man jumped.

At some point, it would seem odd if he didn't say anything. So Yuusaku went over to the policeman in charge. "Excuse me," he murmured. "As a professional courtesy, I wanted to let you know."

The man's chest puffed up, a little bit. "Of course," he allowed generously. His tone went up a little bit so that everyone knew he was collaborating with shinobi.

The very first thing that Yuusaku did was throw the warm pocket-fish into the toilet and wash his hands thoroughly.

He did made a circuit of the premises, checking rooms. He saved the onsen for last, and used the chameleon jutsu when he checked in the ladies' area. It seemed incredibly unlikely that anyone was in there now, but he did not want to walk in on anyone. There was no one, and nothing suspicious. So he hopped over the fence to check on the ...well, it wasn't really the scene of the crime. 

It kind of looked like one, though. He stared for a moment. The bottles were just as he'd left them. The man had been pulled up, and his skin had gone incredibly pale and wrinkly. But also, weirdly... maybe healthier? It was hard to say, but he just looked good. 

The point was, the body had definitely not been eaten. The fish were not as advertised, is all he was saying.

But the pool itself was the tragedy. The thousands of little black and silver fish were floating. Every last one of them was dead. A few were on the stones near the body, which meant that someone had been picking them off of the corpse.

'That might be connected to this incident.'

"...Sorry, fish," he said. And then he rejoined his client and team.

The police eventually left, as did the doctor. The Nakajima retainers conferred anxiously and then went back into the low-class hotel where they had been installed. The Teruoka family left in an incredibly dramatic flurry of torches and stressed-looking servants carrying three separate princess boxes. Apparently, they would rather travel through the night than spend another hour in a house of death.

The hotel staff did not seem that sad to see them go.

"They'll miss dinner," Shimizu-sama said blandly, as if she was unaware that the older woman thought she had murdered a rival in that hotel. "What a shame." She idly watched as the stakes marking 'Teruoka' and 'Nakajima' were removed. The manager himself carried them around to the back of the hotel to be burnt. 

Dinner was fantastic. It was kaiseki, and this time he got to eat the sashimi. There was no tuna. He had to give his fried oyster to Kensuke, because he was allergic to shellfish.

Shimizu-hime saw this, opened her mouth, and then clearly thought better of commenting.

The manager came by to effusively apologize and thank them for their patience. He informed them that a Buddhist monk was cleansing the area, and that the water and fish would all be replaced.

'Yeah, I bet they will.' He looked away and put onion tempura into his mouth.

The final course was a savory egg pudding with the same white fish that had been served as sashimi. It was smooth as butter and just barely sweet with dashi taste.

They returned to their hotel room. The three shinobi set up two sleeping pallets, because one of them would be on guard at all time. They had hashed out the schedule while the ladies prepared for bed. Shimizu-hime emerged demurely from a changing screen in bedclothes that covered the entirety of her body, but Ryuusei still eyed her with a wonder that implied she was in a bikini or something. She flushed pink and glanced away, but almost immediately looked back at him again.

Ugh.

"Young man," Shimizu-sama said, without looking up from her mirror. She was unwinding her hair. "You must either cease making eyes at my daughter, or give me significant cause for belief that you will be the Mizukage by the time she is old enough to get married."

Yuusaku choked on thin air. Kensuke snickered.  

Ryuusei squinted. He pursed his lips. "How about Jounin Commander?" he counter-offered.

Oh, kami.

Shimizu-sama gave him her full attention. She placed her hands in her lap. "What are the duties of that role?"

"I would be in charge of executing all military actions," Ryuusei said promptly. "The position has a supervisory role over the chunnin and genin corps, as well as a significant amount of latitude. It is on level with a Kage's advisors, in terms of prestige."

'Ryuusei,' Yuusaku thought tiredly. 'You have been a chuunin for, like, a week.' 

"You have three years, or the engagement will be dissolved." Shimizu-sama looked at her daughter, read something in her eyes, and amended, "Four years. But if you aren't a jounin in one and a half years, we will revisit terms."

Yuusaku gave up and sighed. That was unwise, because it drew her attention. 

"And you." Her brows were drawn together in honest confusion. It was the first authentic expression she'd shown since he met her. "What, exactly, did you think that those fish were going to do?"