Malachi's POV

The next morning, I woke up with a small yawn. Blinking several times as my eyes had felt dry. By the time my vision finally cleared, I saw Mitsuhide was already up and in costume. He sat at the desk in our shared room, writing something. I sat quietly, watching him. Until it finally struck me that I should say something. "..Um.. Good morning.." I murmured quietly. Without missing a single beat, Mitsuhide replied. "Good morning, sleepy little mouse. Clean up quickly. I have something to tell you before breakfast."

I nodded quietly, "Alright.. About last night-" Mitsuhide didn't respond this time, he only kept writing. He was probably wondering why I wasn't getting ready yet. Still.. I felt as if I had to say SOMETHING at the very least. Biting back my nerves, I spoke, my voice coming out quiet, "..I'm sorry for keeping you up last night.. But I appreciated it all the same.." Mitsuhide paused, his posture shifting a bit. "..There is nothing you need to apologize for." The tone in his voice made it sound as if he was frowning, was he upset? "..Thank you.. I guess.." I tried to smile, but Mitsuhide didn't even look at me. "Now, get prepared. Unless your aim is to force me to wash your face for you. Well, little mouse? Shall I get a bucket..?"

Suddenly, his entire demeanor was changed. And I felt annoyed with how he was already trying to rile me up this early in the morning. "Hm.. Considering I have no idea what you'll be doing with said bucket, I must decline. I'll get to washing up myself now." As I quickly left to busy myself with readying for the day, one question remained lodged in my mind. Was it just me or.. was Mitsuhide acting different than normal? He seemed a bit brusque. The complete opposite of his normal speech.. But.. Everything was normal last night. Could be something else then..

Upon my return to our room- Mitsuhide handed me something, "Read this." It was in Nobunaga's handwriting. I still wasn't accustomed to reading Japanese writing, so it was a bit difficult to make everything out. But I felt myself tense as the puzzle pieces slowly fell together. Mitsuhide had returned back to his normal, unreadable self. Narrowing my eyes, I kept my gaze on the letter. "..Nobunaga has received a summons from.. the imperial court?" "Someone falsely reported on our investigation of the daimyo to the imperial court in Kyoto." Mitsuhide explained.

It felt strange to me. All we were doing was investigating some suspicious rumors about a small, allied territory. But apparently, the court at Kyoto had heard a different story. Now it was a large territory, with tens of thousands of soldiers at its disposal. But why? As I read further, the letter stated that the imperial court had sent a messenger directly to Azuchi to report on the situation in greater detail. "We must return to Azuchi quickly and inform our lord and the nobles about the true state of affairs here. Once we've rendered their rebellion useless, that is." Mitsuhide stated.

"Uh- Hold on.. Isn't that a little too far ahead? Are we even positive that this daimyo is going to rebel or not?" There wasn't a single ounce of love lost for me on that bitch of a man. But even if I did loathe him and found our beliefs opposing, that was no reason to accuse him of treason. "I've already acquired evidence of his treachery." Wait- That quick?! "..Really? Where's the evidence then?" "In here." Mitsuhide smirked, a smug expression on his face as he tapped his head.

An impressed laugh escaped my lips, "We've only been here for a day.. I guess they didn't call you the 'Secretive Schemer' for nothing." As in my case.. All I'd been able to gather about this lot is that they were creeps- which could, maybe, be assumed. And my appearance made them think I was a woman, quite similarly to the guys at Azuchi Castle. But Mitsuhide patted me on the head before I had the time to really beat myself down.

"What you told me last night was quite useful." Mitsuhide smiled. "Really? Something good came out of my crying? What was it?" "You'll find out." Mitsuhide took the letter and folded it up, tucking it away. "It would be a shame to return to our lord with only the information he wanted and no souvenir. We shall settle things at tomorrow's festival." That certainly piqued my interest. Out of everyone I'd met in this period, none caught my attention as much as Mitsuhide did. I had no idea what his plan could be, or how he'd come up with it so quickly. But, I did not doubt it was a good plan. All because he was Mitsuhide Akechi, The Secretive Schemer.

But rather than allowing Mitsuhide to know of my true feelings, I simply shrugged and let out a sigh, "Well, if you need my help. You've got it." Mitsuhidde simply smiled, "Indeed, I have a rather large role in mind for you. Now, let us set the stage."

Later in the afternoon, I had used my break from rehearsals to buy the items Mitsuhide had asked for his performance. It felt a bit like that of a convenience store, at least, compared to the bustling multi-floor mega mall that was Azuchi. 'Hmm.. They don't have the right color cloth.. Eh. I know how to dye.' Being given the role of a seamstress back in Azuchi, I took it seriously. Sewing wasn't a passion of mine, but I found it a useful hobby. I had just tucked away my purchases within my bag when I heard a familiar voice. One I hadn't expected.

"Malachi, is that you?" "What the heck are you doing here?!" I turned around and was met by the shocked gazes of both Sasuke and Yukimura. "Yukimura..? Sasuke?! I could easily ask you two the same thing!" I couldn't believe my eyes. But, neither did they, it seemed. But it really was them.. "Once more, we run into each other while shopping. Could this be what they mean by 'market forces?'" Sasuke commented. Yukimura rolled his eyes at the darker-haired man, "I don't know what that means, but I bet you that's not it." "..I have no idea either, Yuki.." I muttered.

As Sasuke took a step towards me, Yukimura grabbed his arm, holding him back. "..Watch it. Don't forget, Sasuke, we've just been spotted by an enemy. Even if that enemy's a boar man." Yukimura warned, then turned his attention to me. "Malachi. I heard who you really are." "Well, good. Then you should know that I am not YOUR enemy-" I closed the distance between us and put one hand on my hip, glaring at Yukimura. "W-what?" "I'm also not a boar man." Yukimura blinked his honey-brown eyes at me. "If I was your enemy, I probably would've caused a distraction by now and run." "Well, that's fair." Yukimura suddenly smiled, "You're too weird to be an enemy anyway- but just weird enough to be Sasuke's friend." Suddenly, Sasuke interjected, "Yukimura, you understand that you have retroactively applied the quality of 'weird' to yourself." "Eh, it's fine."

My expression softened as I let out a light laughter, "..Ahaha.. Glad to see you two haven't changed." The atmosphere seemed to lift, and suddenly, it felt as if everything was okay now. Then, I remembered something. "..Actually, I'm kind of supposed to be here as an undercover agent or something, but I happened to notice Yoshimoto earlier. Is he something to do with why you're here?" I asked. Both of them gave me such a surprised look that I almost felt startled. "He's here?!" Yukimura exclaimed. "..You didn't know..?" I asked, a bit confused.

Sasuke averted his gaze, almost as if deep in thought as he spoke- "Malachi, our being here has nothing to do with the ongoing conflict with the Oda forces. We've been searching for Yoshimoto and the Imagawa vassals. They disappeared from Echigo without a word." Sasuke explained. ..Disappeared? "..Why would Yoshimoto do that?" "We don't know. But we know it caused a big stir. Especially since it happened in the middle of the war." Yuki told me. "There is no doubt that Yoshimoto left voluntarily, but he may have been influenced by someone to leave." Both of them appeared worried, in fact, I could feel it coming off them in waves. Though, Yukimura's worry seemed to be marked with frustration. This search has been going on for a while, hasn't it?

"My next mission involves investigating a powerful potential third belligerent." Sasuke told me, I felt a bit of alarm rise within me. "Are you telling me right now that someone else may get involved with this conflict?" "It's difficult to say. It relates to a sudden workplace incident- no.. I shouldn't say anymore." Sasuke trailed off, then straightened up.

"Was this what you told me about the other night?" I asked without thinking. Sasuke nodded, "Yes, in fact. We tracked Yoshimoto to this region by following the sighs of various lovesick tea-house waitresses. If you have information about his whereabouts, we would appreciate it." "..Hmm.. I only saw him once." I explained to the two when I had seen Yoshimoto, yesterday, at the surprise VIP inspection. Sasuke and Yukimura's reaction was that of chill unease.

"..That other guy with the daimyo, you sure they called him 'Lord Yoshiaki?'" Yukimura pressed. "Pretty sure. I don't know anything else about him except that he has to hold some kind of position of power. And that I was almost forced to sleep with him against my will." I answered, leaving no room to explain the story hidden within my words. I didn't feel like repeating what had happened again. But, neither of them pressed further. Sasuke simply averted his gaze once more, "This speaks of trouble." "Damn. Didn't think it would get this bad." Alright.. I think there's some unanswered questions here.

"You two sound as if you know who this Yoshiaki guy is. Fill a guy in. Is he dangerous?" Sasuke nodded, "Very much so. Assuming.."