Mugen woke the next morning in a worse mood than he had gone to sleep in. His fire had burned out, he was hungry, and although he told himself he was glad to be away from Fuu and Jin, he felt a stab of loneliness. He got to his feet and stretched, then looked back the way he had come. He could just go back now-he'd have to give the letter back to Fuu, or listen to her whining. He'd have to listen to her whining anyway, but anything would be better than this silence….
The Ryukyuan shook himself. Now that he had cut himself loose, he might as well keep on going back to the town. He wouldn't have any trouble finding his companions again, and he would enjoy some time to himself without that annoying girl hanging around, spoiling all his fun. He pulled out the letter and flattened it, staring at the incomprehensible words he had never learned to read, then shrugged and folded it carefully before stowing it away in his pocket.
He made good time, reaching the town early in the afternoon. The red light district beckoned, but there was no point in going when he was flat broke. Still, there must be somebody walking around with more money than he knew what to do with. Mugen ducked down a narrow alley to wait for a careless citizen to walk by and pulled out the letter again. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take it to that guy's mother-it would kill some time and he'd have better luck getting some money after it was dark anyway. He tucked the letter back in his pocket and set out for the little house on the outskirts of town.