❦
When Rin returned to her residence, Kii reported that Tsuguru had closeted himself in the guest room with three bottles of sake.
The young mistress frowned. 'Leave him be,' she told her servants. 'Have his meals delivered to his door for the next few days.'
Now that the culprit had been identified and the case had come to a close, she had to write a comprehensive report detailing the events and results of her re-investigations.
She had no time to coax Tsuguru into a better mood.
Besides—she glanced the maid who entered her study with a tray of wagashi—if she paid attention to the young samurai, this damned shapeshifter would accuse her of having feeling for him even if she really didn't.
How childish!
'Tch.' She accidentally wrote a wrong character because she was distracted and had to start over on a new sheet of parchment!
Rin finished writing her report in the evening and handed it to Yoka to get it delivered directly to the shogun in Edo. However, just as the maid stepped out of the bugyō's residence, she came face to face with the Imperial Commissioner who was on his way home from dealing with Jan-Willem.
'Is that Little Terazawa's report for the shogun?' he asked. Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued, 'Don't bother sending it. I've already sent word back. The shogun has already responded and he's got another request for Little Terazawa.'
'And what's that?' Rin asked brusquely, a scowl on her doll-like face when her maid returned with a deadweight in tow. She put down the hand that was reaching out for the wagashi, clenching it into a fist.
She couldn't wait for this pretentious b*stard to get out of her sight now that the case is over.
Commissioner Inoue flicked a speck of dust from his lapel, unperturbed by the young bugyō's unfriendliness. 'Just a simple clean up job,' he said casually.
[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]