An early chapter this week. Huzzah!
Shinpachi yawned as he slid open the front door to Odd Jobs Gin-Chan. It wasn't particularly early, but he'd been kept up the night before by periodic noisy commotions caused by a certain gorilla commander who liked to hide on his property.
The one thing that had kept him sane through the trying ordeal was the promise of hotpot today. Gintoki had given his word yesterday that the two of them would go out for sukiyaki to celebrate their success in the amusement park mission. Kagura, of course, wasn't invited, as she'd run off and left them to do the job all by themselves. Or so Gintoki had said, but Shinpachi was sure he'd wind up letting her come along anyway.
"Morning, Gin-san, Kagura-chan!" he called, stifling another yawn as he closed the door behind him and placed his shoes neatly in the genkan.
"Oh, Shinpachi," Gintoki's voice greeted back from the main room.
Upon entering, Shinpachi found the Yorozuya boss, minus one sixteen-year-old red-clad Yato, sprawled on the couch, attempting to solve a crossword with his toes. At the back of the room, Sadaharu was standing on his hind legs, looking forlornly out the window.
Shinpachi glanced around the room, confused. "Where's Kagura-chan?"
Gintoki cursed as the pen slipped from between his toes and clattered to the ground to roll under the table. Exhaling a sigh, he looked up at Shinpachi and said, "Dunno. Haven't seen her."
Shinpachi's eyebrows rose in surprise. "She didn't come home last night?" He lifted a hand to his chin contemplatively. "That's unlike her."
Gintoki shrugged and waved a hand dismissively. "She probably got wrapped up in some mischief in town. She'll come running through that door any minute to ask us to mop her mess up for her."
As if on cue, a knock sounded from the genkan.
"See? What'd I say?"
Shinpachi sighed at his boss and turned back to the front door. "As if Kagura-chan would knock before entering her own home," he pointed out as he walked back down the short hallway.
Clearly Gintoki was somewhat interested in the identity of their visitor as well because a moment later he appeared at Shinpachi's flank, scratching his chin with his usual half-lidded, bored expression.
Shinpachi tugged the door open and both were surprised to find Otose standing before them, a white cakebox in hand.
Immediately, Gintoki went on the defensive. "Oy! What are you doin' here, ya hag? I already paid you for this month!"
Otose closed her eyes and exhaled a short, put-upon huff. "Rude as ever," she remarked, inviting herself in despite Gintoki's protests. "I came to give the three of you a little gift to show my appreciation for paying not just this month's rent, but the last two's as well." She deposited the box into Gintoki's hands.
Gintoki blinked in confusion and then directed his gaze at the box in his hands. "…What?"
Shinpachi was just as confused. "Gin-san, did you pay her for the last two months?"
Gintoki looked back at him, face blank. The two continued to stare at each other as if one of them would suddenly miraculously remember doing such a thing.
"Kagura did it," Otose informed them blandly, finally growing tired of waiting for them to put it together. "She came into my shop this morning and handed me the full sum in a single lump payment."
Once again, Shinpachi looked at Gintoki and Gintoki looked back at him. The two wore matching expressions of shock. A moment passed. Then another. Then…
"WHAT?!" both cried in unison.
"Where in Edo did Kagura get that kind of money?!" Gintoki demanded, still staring at him.
"As if I know!" he retorted.
"Oy," Gintoki's voice fell to a whisper and he leaned in close. "You don't think she robbed a bank, do you?"
The tall, silver-haired man cried out in pain as Otose whacked him upside the head. "She didn't rob a bank, fool. She got a job. Something the two of you should consider doing as well."
Gintoki glared at her and rubbed his head where she'd hit him.
Shinpachi just looked at Otose in shock. So, Kagura hadn't been lying when she'd said she found a job. But what kind of job paid enough to cover two months' rent in the space of a single week?
"Anyway, I just thought I'd show my gratitude. Make sure to save some of that for Kagura, understand?"
With that, Otose sauntered back through the door and closed it behind her with a sharp snap.
Once again, Shinpachi and Gintoki were left to look at each other, utterly baffled.
Kagura employed? Kagura raking in tens of thousands of yen?
"Hey… Just what kind of job did she get?"
Shinpachi shook his head. It was a mystery to both of them.
oOo
Kagura grinned broadly as she skipped down the main street of Kabuki-cho. In her hand was a wad of cash as thick as a box of pickled seaweed.
Today, she was on a mission. For once in her life, she had actual money. As in to spend. On things that she wanted. She giggled excitedly as her eyes roved over the various shops that lined the street. First, she was going to buy a new dress from the import boutique down the way, then she'd treat herself to a big steak lunch, then maybe she'd even pop into the jewelers and see about purchasing some fancy accessories. She'd never owned jewelry before.
Was this how it felt to be rich? She could have anything she wanted and all it took was cozying up to an old fart for a few hours.
Her first night had been a breeze. The customer had turned out to be some big-name retired general and the man had been more interested in regaling her with tales of his past heroics and pouring saké down his throat than doing anything sexy. In the end, Kagura hadn't even needed to drug him. He'd passed out all on his own.
That morning, after the man had left, Hinowa had giggled and told her that some customers were like that: old men who just wanted a little company from a pretty girl. That suited Kagura just fine. He'd been a charming fellow in his own way.
And hey, if guys like that were willing to pay out the wazoo for a little attention, she was more than happy to oblige them.
Still smiling like the mouse who got the cheese, Kagura entered her first shop of the day. She had six hours until sunset and she was determined to make the most of them.
oOo
The sun was low in the sky when Sougo finally removed his facemask and blearily looked around the park, attempting to orient himself. He'd chosen to shirk his duties and snooze on his favorite bench today instead of patrolling as was his assignment. Normally, this decision could be chalked up to his abysmal work ethic, but today he'd had another reason for playing hooky.
He was getting really sick of being sent on criminal eradication missions. If the higher-ups couldn't find him, they couldn't give him any special jobs.
Sougo stretched and let out a long yawn before lazily pushing himself off the bench. He supposed he ought to at least give Kabuki-cho a perfunctory once-over so he could report that everything was as it should be.
As he exited the park and walked lazily down the main street, he allowed his mind to wander. Of course, it went straight to the one matter that had been bugging him like a rock in his shoe for the past week. It had been nine days now since the Odd Jobs lot had gotten up to any mischief—a suspicious length of time.
Normally, they could be found raising a ruckus in some public place or causing trouble for an Amanto or at the very least destroying property while chasing someone's cat, but the streets this past week had been peaceful.
It bothered him.
In his own experience, when things got too peaceful, it usually meant there was a chaos far greater in the works.
A flash of red in a nearby shop caught his eye. Sougo stopped.
Through the window, he could just make out an all-too-familiar figure.
China?
His curiosity getting the best of him, Sougo changed his trajectory to head toward the shop. It was a jeweler's, of all places.
How very curious.
What was a girl like her doing in a store like that, he wondered as he peeked surreptitiously through the glass.
She appeared to be examining a pair of jeweled kanzashi. The store clerk was gesturing with his hands as he explained the pieces to her and the look on her face told Sougo she was listening intently.
His eyebrows rose. Was she actually planning to buy them? Surely not. There was no way a broke Odd Jobs employee like her could afford jewelry like that. More likely, she was up to something.
It was to his immense surprise, then, when she nodded and produced a substantial wad of cash from the pocket of her pants. The clerk took the money with a bow and began wrapping the box in tissue paper. When he was finished, he slid the parcel into a bag and handed it to her.
Sougo's eyes widened. What in Edo was Yorozuya's china girl doing with so much money?
Where had she gotten it? Did the boss know she had it?
The red-haired girl turned to leave the shop and Sougo hurriedly hid himself before she could see him. He wasn't really sure what prompted him to do this. Perhaps it was curiosity at the spectacle he'd just witnessed, or perhaps it was just that he didn't feel like explaining why he was spying on her transaction.
Either way, he remained out of sight as she exited the shop with a self-satisfied smile and began walking away down the street.
This brought Sougo to his second odd observation of the evening. She wasn't walking in the direction of the Yorozuya.
It was getting late. Shouldn't she be heading home now?
Making a spur of the moment decision, Sougo camouflaged himself with the other shoppers and followed her.
o0o
Her path took the two of them out of the shopping district and then, to Sougo's mounting confusion, out of Kabuki-cho altogether.
Sougo continued to tail her as the types of shops surrounding them changed and the number of lights diminished. This worked in his favor as it gave him more shadows to hide in as the number of people in the streets thinned.
Just where are you going? he inquired in his head. His question was answered not long after when he rounded a corner just in time to see her step into a shadowed elevator. His eyes widened.
He'd been wondering why she was headed toward the old shipyard. Though it wasn't a place he himself frequented, every Shinsengumi officer knew of the 'paradise' that lay below the Taito-district.
What was that fool girl doing going to a place like Yoshiwara at this time of the evening? And carrying such an expensive purchase at that. Did she want to be robbed?
Well, whatever the case, what she did and didn't intend to do was out of Sougo's hands now. To enter a place like Yoshiwara in his Shinsengumi uniform would get his head put on the chopping block faster than he could say take Hijikata instead.
Sougo frowned at the now silent elevator and after a moment's quiet scrutiny turned around and walked back the way he'd come.
oO0Oo
Alright, so I google mapped this shit and apparently Kabuki-cho is a whopping two-hour walk from the Taito district where Yoshiwara used to be. For the sake of plot, I've taken a leaf out of Sorachi's book and, um, somewhat underrepresented the distance between these two districts. Please suspend disbelief.