Saito found his contact seated in one of the rundown restaurants of Kyoto. Despite the derelict nature of the establishment, the tables and chairs were half-filled, the atmosphere rowdy. The food may be bad, the drinks watered down, but people will still pay for something to fill their stomachs as long as the price was reasonable. As he pushed his way past the curtain, the noise slowly died down as the customers noticed him. With his official uniform and pair of blades – tanto and wakasashi – tied to a sash at his side, it was obvious who he was.
Saito affected as if to scan the room searching for someone. He let his eyes stray over the figure of his contact for half a second before he turned away and stepped right back outside the restaurant. He proceeded to stretch his back in a casual manner before he leisurely walked a bit of a ways further down the alley, where it was quite empty except for a lone beggar. Nevertheless, the beggar, upon seeing Saito in his Shinsengumi garment, hastily stood and scurried away, careful not to make eye contact.
Saito pretended to kneel down and check that he hadn't broken the strap of his sandal. He saw a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye and stood up quickly turning around as his contact arrived. 'Alright I'm here. Now what is the meaning of this?' His contact asked nervously, fidgeting with his hands as he glancing around to check if they were watched.
Saito raised one hand and lowered it in a gesture to calm down. With his other hand, he reached down the collar of his uniform and removed a silver piece. 'Good to see you too, Suzashi,' he replied dryly.
'You know it's dangerous for me to be seen with you. The yakuza will have my head.' Nevertheless, the man didn't hesitate to snatch up Saito's proffered coin and bit his teeth on it to ensure it was authentic. 'What exactly are you interested in?' The man asked hurriedly.
'Last night. Noticed anything strange going on?'
The man pursed his lips and thought for a moment. 'No. Got to be more specific than that.'
"Has there any sort of abnormality happening in secrecy? More or less, people acting suspiciously around town?
"Nothing comes to mind at the moment, but you could jog my memory…" He spoke slowly and cunningly.
Saito took this as a hint, and tossed him another coin into his direction. The man caught it and put it up into the dim sunlight, reflecting off the precious metal. He sneered, putting it back down.
"Well, I suppose there were some sort of rumors going on around the place." He wondered, putting his hand to his chin, supposedly thinking hard.
"What kind of rumors?" Saito reminded him.
"I've talked with some customers in the restaurant, something about some fellows lurking around the area through the alleyways and have been making bookings in the red light district to have some conversations. Heard they were rogues, carrying around swords on their sides." He spoke quietly.
"I see." Saito asked, confirming the information. "Is there anything else that you could tell me?"
"Sadly, that's all I know. These are only rumors, so there's not much that I can tell." He spoke regrettingly.
"Thank you. I apologize for troubling you, Suzashi." Saito bowed down.
"Nah, it's okay. If I earn a bit of these and I don't lose my head, I don't mind." He cackled, holding up the small round pieces to his eye.
"Well, I should be leaving now. But don't tell anyone that we had this conversation, okay?" He warned him as he headed back to his restaurant.
Saito only stood silent and nodded as the man walked out of the alleyway and out of sight. He waited for a couple of minutes to pass before he headed out to decrease suspicion of them ever being together.
With a thud, Shinpachi let go of the man, hitting hard on the ground. With a scurry, he ran towards the direction where he came from, looking back with fright.
"Ungrateful Mibu Wolves…" He hissed to himself, but with chatter in his teeth, as he disappeared out of sight.
"Hey, Shinpachi, maybe that was a bit harsh?" Sano asked.
"Are you kidding me? He wouldn't talk when I interrogated him, so I had to do it the hard way. Besides, avoiding violence is just not my thing." Shinpachi complained as they walked around the area to look for more people.
"Yeah, but dragging them by the collar?" Sano reminded him, whispering inside his ear.
"S-Shut up! I'm just not in the mood, okay?" Shinpachi exclaimed, but hushed himself when he noticed people staring at them.
Shinpachi felt a hand on his shoulder gripped firmly, and his body being turned around. Before he knew it, Sano was dragging him further ahead, and turned at an alleyway.
"Look, I know you're worried about Yamazaki, but everyone else is too. Right now, the others are searching around town and asking about anything related to this, and they feel exactly the same way. But unlike you, they are keeping their calm and aren't making a scene. So do a little good for all of us and try to control it, okay?" Sano asked sternly.
Shinpachi muttered a 'fine…' before heading out again, and across the marketplace.
They blended quite well into the busy crowd. They weren't wearing their uniforms like usual, due to their current reputation and the several people that detest them for their doings in the past. Surely if they were interrogating the fellow citizens of Japan as the Shinsengumi, they would all hide in their homes until they passed. This was the only way that they would be able to access information: but not sticking out. However, so of them were familiar with their faces, so the job was still difficult.
Shinpachi stretched his arms forward as they walked around the marketplace.
"Getting tired, Shinpachi?" Sano asked him.
"No, of course not. We're going to keep on the investigation until we get something useful." Shinpachi replied with a determined tone.
Sano let out a small chuckle, with a sad smile.
"You sound…a lot like him, you know?" Sano spoke softly.
Shinpachi hesitated, but continued walking slowly.
"Yamazaki's done what we're doing many times right? Always out and eager for information." Shinpachi reminisced.
"Yeah…and we're not doing a good job at it aren't we? Everyone practically knows our faces, never the less how we dress. But he keeps on changing appearances and places, right?" Sano said sighing.
Suddenly, they heard a shout calling them from ahead. A small figure came running up to them, with his long brown hair flowing freely with his every step.
"Hey! Sano, Shinpachi!" Heisuke finally caught up to them, and they headed to the markets to chat.
"So, anything yet?" Sano asked him.
Heisuke sadly shook his head.
"I wasn't able to get much information. Too many people avoided me." Heisuke spoke.
"Guess they knew who we were." Sano sighed heavily again, feeling a bit hopeless.
"Well, I suppose. But I was able to get something. It's not much, but it's better than nothing." Heisuke remembered quickly.
"Really!? What?" Shinpachi exclaimed, finally feeling like they're getting to something.
"Well, people are saying that they are a lot more rogue samurai around town during day as well as night. They usually go out singularly, but they gather up a lot after night." Heisuke said.
"I see… Well, I suggest we keep on looking around and then we head back, okay Shinpachi?" Sano suggested to his friend.
He held back a sigh of disappointment and just shook his head.
"Yeah, okay. Let's go." Shinpachi finally agreed as they head back to the streets.