It was a lovely afternoon.
Danzo-san had come to see me, an old friend of mine from 'Soldier'; the executive to be exact, we went on several missions together. While we, soldiers, fought, he went over our battle strategies. In fact, he was one of the smartest warriors in our troupes and the only one Riota-san trusted enough to make an executive under his command.
I ran outside when I heard of his arrival. And as soon as we walked in, Nene turned on her charm. It was the first time I'd ever seen her do it and I can see why; seeing the girls gathered in a messy Ima, Danzo-san was a bit hesitant to come inside. At first he hadn't been sure quite how to behave or what to say, Danzo-san always had a weakness concerning women, but the girls of Fuku tried their best to make him feel welcomed.
"I have business in the area," he'd told us, although it was unlikely to be true. I've known him from a long time, Danzo-san was quite the pretender.
"Does it involve the reaper?" I asked.
"Yes, we were able to gather some information," Danzo-san replied. "he hasn't been seen in his frequent bars so we believe he has fled the city."
I hadn't realized I was holding my breath. At Danzo's revelation, I let out that breath. "But you have a name? You know who he is?"
"Yes. One of the citizens recognized the description you gave us; he guided us to a camp near the Kanjishi forest." Danzo-san answered stiffly. "We found he'd cleared out that morning. He must have been warned that the rumors were spreading."
Nene gasped "Does that mean Shou-kun's work is done?" She asked with a sad expression.
"In the contrary, it starts now." I said to her, I could see Danzo's face shifting to a warm smile.
He let his gaze wander over the room. "It looks like you have the matter well in hand."
Embarrassed I looked away noticing the maid who just came in whispering something into Hatsu-Yome's ear.
"Oh yes yes let him in." She said and the maid hurried outside.
The door rolled open as commander Riota-san himself came in and bowed.
Nene said to him, "Riota-san!" but the way she spoke, I wouldn't have been surprised if she had run out of breath in the middle, because it sounded like this: 'Rioootaaaaa saaaannnnnnnn!'
It was as if she were scolding him. He looked up when he heard her voice, and his two big cheeks shifted up toward his ears, which was his way of smiling.
"Mmm . . . Nene-san," he said, "if you get any prettier, I don't know what I'm going to do!" Nene laughed as she gracefully sat next to him.
"Commander, I didn't know you were coming." I said quite confused.
"Ah Shou-kun! I just came to make sure everything is alright but I see Danzo beat me to it!"
Nene almost jumped "Oh yes! Shou-kun is doing a great job keeping us safe." She said while serving him a cup of tea.
The commander seemed very pleased to hear that. "I knew I could trust you." He said patting my shoulders.
"So Riota-san," Hatsu-yome began, "how is the investigation going? We heard about your recent progress."
"So far we have only few leads but we'll catch him eventually." Riota-san gave a short reply rising his cup of tea with confidence. "Meanwhile I'm counting on you to keep the ladies company." He glanced at me and I nodded.
"Neh Riota-san?" Tama asked "Why aren't we seeing you anymore?"
Riota-san made a face somehow embarrassed "Well I had been working a lot lately."
"Is that why you keep sending us your soldiers?" Tama teased glancing at Danzo-san "To make sure nobody steals Nene-oneechan?"
"Tama-chan leave the man alone you're embarrassing him!" Nene hit her slightly with her fan and the room roared in hysterics.
We spent the rest of the day chattering about soldier business, we tried to change the subject occasionally to something we thought the girls might be more interested in. later then they invited Danzo-san and the commander to stay the night, but they declined kindly