(Chapter unedited.)
Coincidental of Familiarity
Kagaya had asked Hara to escort him back to his room when he came out from the room where Kanao was resting, which she had accepted without question. She was a bit curious what their conversation was but she decided not to. It would be nosy of her and it wasn't really her business to know. She wasn't a gossipmonger or any sorts of that. And even if she knew, she wouldn't tell anyone anyway. It wasn't in her place to do so especially here in Red Light where rumors (both good and bad) about Oyakata-sama is forbidden as an unspoken rule among the Oiran, and maybe the whole Flower District as a whole. But despite that, it still doesn't stop them wondering and talking what kind of person this Oyakata-sama was.
Her experience felt surreal, escorting the Oyakata-sama that others had talked about as if he was only a figure, not a person. Assisting him to his office (which might be his room too, she realized) because of his failing eyesight, she couldn't believe what was happening and wondered if she was currently grounded in reality. What people had talked about this person beside her was all so wrong. Definitely wrong. The Founder of Flower District was not a perfect figure that everyone thought. Ubuyashiki Kagaya had a life before he became a person called the Founder of Flower District and somehow in the previous life or another, she was his wife formerly known as Ubuyashiki Amane. A life she had no memories of.
It gave her a time to think since he had entered the room and lounged herself in the nearby chair. The humming silence around her gave her a chance to contemplate the words Kagaya had supplied to her earlier. About her previous life, about her choice of identity and how he had respected for it, and the fact that her lost memories he had implied to her wasn't supposed to be lost at all. It gave her a respite to muse about it.
"This is far enough, Hara." The voice of Ubuyashiki Kagaya snapped her out of her daze as she noticed they had arrived at the familiar door. "And I hope this isn't much to ask of you but can you look after Tsuyuri Kanao?"
"I will." Who in the right mind would actually refuse him? Besides, that was her intention in the first place.
He directed a smile to the space beside her. "That's good. Please take good care of her. If she forced herself to stand up, stop her. Kanao can be stubborn and a bit ignorant of the workings of her own body. She needs all the rest for her own sake."
She nodded. "Leave it to me."
Kagaya entered the office after he gave her a grateful smile and closed the door behind him. Hara wasted no time and retraced her steps where they had come from and arrived at the door where Kanao was resting. She turned the doorknob and opened the door, and was met with a sight of darkness inside that almost startled her. She groped at the nearby wall for a light switch.
"Hara…-san?" a familiar voice in the darkness made her jump in surprise.
"K…Kanao-chan…?" she asked slowly while glancing left and right. A sharp 'click!' echoed and the room was suddenly basked in blinding light. Hara gaped at the girl in front of her who had flipped the switch, already on her feet. "Kanao-chan! Why are you standing up?! Go back to bed!" she dragged the younger girl back to the bed in the corner. The lilac-eyed girl didn't pull a resistance against her and she let herself get tugged before sitting down. "Next time I see you standing up, there would be no food for you." She scolded.
"You didn't see the switch so I had to lend you a hand." said Kanao. "I have no intention of leaving in this room if that's what you're thinking."
Hara looked at Kanao who laid down at the bed and lifting the blanket to her body, and turned her head at the wall where the light switch was welded. See? I didn't see it because it was dark, she thought as she returned her attention to the girl who had her eyes closed. Despite the darkness around us, she still saw it? She supposed that Kanao had her eyes opened in this room of darkness while she and Kagaya had their conversation.
And speaking of the conversation between them… she shook her head. No, she scolded herself. It wasn't her business. She shouldn't asked about it. "Please rest, Kanao-chan. You've got a long day ahead of you." She told her instead.
"I will." She replied faintly with her eyes still closed. "Kagaya-san said so too."
Hara nodded in agreement. "You will. It would be bad for your health if you force yourself."
"…"
She blinked at the younger girl, eyes closed and long deep breaths. That was fast, she thought amused as she looked at the sleeping girl who was already asleep. She never expected that Kanao was the kind of person who fell asleep the moment they hit the pillow, but she guessed she was really tired. Hara put a hand lightly to Kanao's forehead, a heat still seeping through the younger girl's skin. She still have a fever. How did she able to stand and not get dizzy? Kanao did a great job of not showing it if she was.
Hara plopped down at the chair that was close to the bed and gazed at Kanao's face absentmindedly. She wondered what kind of conversation they had in this room earlier. The moment Kagaya had asked to visit this room earlier, she thought the timing was convenient. She had an inkling what conversation they had here and wanted to know about it, not for the sake of gossip nor rumors, it was about the little bit of curiosity within her.
It did gave her a time to think of everything Kagaya had told her earlier. The slayers and the bounded or the 'leashed'. The way he had told her about the 'leashed', when she had asked if she was allowed to know, it was like as if Kagaya and others was in hostage situation, some kind of leverage to overlook something… or something like that, she doesn't really know. And the fact that these slayers were supposed to have their memories forgotten instead of her, it was a bit suspicious. Who are suppressing the memories of the slayers? Why are they suppressing it in the first place? And what does she have to do with this since her memories was forgotten along with them?
Hara concluded that only one who could do this was them. The highest juridical of Soul Society, Central 46. She wondered if the slayers and the 'leashed', and perhaps including her, had done anything wrong against them. She doesn't have any memory for an answer. She had forgotten about it in the first place.
She returned her attention at the resting girl at the bed, sleeping soundly as if without care in the world. Are you one of them, Kanao-chan? she thought. Are you a slayer or the 'leashed'? Which one are you?
Silence was all she got at her silent question.
Kanao doesn't know how many days she had rested in the establishment. She guessed a week but doesn't really know if it was only a week. It felt like a long time had passed since she had laid down in the same bed in the same room.
The Oiran frequently visited her, every day and every night. Once, she saw Hara sleeping uncomfortably in a chair where Ubuyashiki Kagaya was seated of their previous conversation. She wondered if the older woman had been also sleeping in the establishment too since she saw her so many times in almost every second.
Looking at the high ceiling above her, blinking at the elaborated designs of gold and silver, twisting and distorting into certain elegant shapes, Kanao pondered what had happened to the siblings. What they eat, what would they do if they get sick and what they had been doing to her things that was left to her 'home'. She hoped they are doing okay on their own, but she supposed that they are since, she guessed, they've been wandering around in Rukongai for perhaps in a long time and hunger is a rare occurrence to the residents. And the siblings might've not been part of the rarity.
She turned her head to the side and faced the window beside her, looking at the dotted lights hovering the skies. Stars as symbol of souls, she recalled. It has been a while she looked up at the night skies since she had busied herself to observe the people in front of her instead of the blinking lights above her. It takes her back to experience she had initially forgotten with Ubuyashiki Kagaya when Flower District was still nonexistent.
Kanao would be lying if she said she remembered everything during their journey as companions together. It came to her in a dream, so suddenly that she wondered if the reoccurrence of the memory was done deliberately by some unknown forces, or was only triggered due to some certain things. She doesn't really know. And what's more to the dream was that voice. An unknown yet familiar voice. She heard the voice before but she forgot. Then again, she had forgotten a lot of things, including the gaping hole of her life as a living human.
To find the truth of our seemingly amnesiac state when we arrived here in Soul Society, that's what Muichirō-san said when he told her about his… their mission with their eyes pointed to Central 46 who were the main suspect of their state. She wondered if their accusation might be possibly misaimed since… she don't know, maybe there are some inner workings in the shadows involved, and possibilities of some people participating are always to be considered. As an observer who had seen enough, odds and ends was her mind's companion. Or perhaps, she was only overthinking things because… well, she doesn't want to be involved. She wanted out of it. She was fine by herself.
Yet another side of her, her seemingly curious, prying side, wants to know the whole truth.
Kagaya suggested that she should join their endeavors to fulfill the mission if it is something she wanted. But a certain side of her told her no, don't do it, she was already fine on her own, why should she leave the place she used to live when she was already comfortable enough? Then a side of her, another side of her; the curious side retorted that, is she? Was she actually comfortable of her life? Of her undying hobby to observe and never to be with them? To never walk with them, to never talk with them? Was it actually something she wanted? To be an observer who seemed to have no place in the world? The arguing sides of her keeps arguing silently in her head that she started to have a headache so she forced herself to close her eyes and sleep. She was gradually getting upset the longer the arguments in her head prolonged since she doesn't know what to take sides. She decided to contemplate about it the next day.
But when the day came, it only gave her more headache the more she thought about it. She doesn't like it. She seriously doesn't like it. How did it come to this? she wondered. For her thoughts to become so disarray and confused, how did it come into this? The more she searched for a reason to blame, it always starts at the certain pink-haired Shinigami, a seemingly innocuous little girl who suddenly came to her, like a ripple to her life and thoughts. But Kanao can't blame Kusajishi for everything that is happening to her. It would unfair since she had no hand in it. The snake incident, her encounter with the leader of Black Zeal (both former and current) and the offer to become a Shinigami; Kusajishi Yachiru was not involved to any of it.
If she can't blame anyone, what should she do? If blaming doesn't help her at all she had to gather her thoughts first, or maybe she shouldn't think anything since it's what caused her headache in the first place.
And so she stared blankly at the beautifully carved ceiling above her.
A moment later, or perhaps a minute or an hour after, there was a loud BAM! along with the noise of glass shattering rang in the room, in her room. Kanao looked at the direction where the other glass window beside the glass window that was in her side, seeing the shards splattered with some still falling with a small jingle of 'cling!' joining its shattered companion in the floor. She looked up at the person who stepped towards her making a muffled crunch of the glass.
She recognized instantly who was standing close to her bed. With bandages that covered his face and the two katana hanging in either side of his hips, she knew who it was.
"What the hell are you doing?" growled Hashibira Inosuke under his bandage mask. "It's been three weeks and I'm sick of waiting! If you're not coming out, I'll come at you instead!" he unsheathed his swords, pointing the sharp end of the sword threateningly close to her nose.
"Three weeks…" She was right it wasn't only a week had passed.
"That's right. Three long weeks, and you lazing around in that bed." remarked Inosuke. "Why are you in that bed and why are you here anyway? You know this is kinda off-limits to some people."
And apparently its fine for him to barge in the window, she thought. She wondered why the security didn't already entered the room since he created a loud ruckus from his flashy entrance.
"Stand up!" yelled the bandage man. "Get out from that bed and fight me! Let's settle your Fang of Vengeance! Right here, right now!"
Kanao looked down at her bedridden state. She's not in a shape for a fight, definitely not right now. Why does he think it was a good idea to fight her? And then she recalled. "A fair fight, that's what you've said as my Fang of Vengeance before, right? Is this a fair fight?" she asked.
His eyebrow twitched. His mouth twisted into a scowl and sheathed his swords to its scabbard begrudgingly, she saw. "Two weeks. If you don't show up, I'll approach you myself, no matter where you are." Inosuke walked over where he came from and jumped over the shattered window. He turned his head with his green eyes glaring sharply at her under the tresses of bandages. "Don't forget that." He promised.
He didn't waited for her reply when he disappeared from the frames of shattered window. It didn't take for a while when Hara and the security appeared in the room. How convenient timed, thought Kanao confused. The Oiran approached her worriedly.
"Are you okay? Did he attack you?" she asked looking at the younger girl's body.
"I'm fine." She replied. "Can I ask you something, Hara-san?" –san. It just dawned her. Since when did she start calling the Oiran with honorifics?
"What is it?"
Kanao looked at the older woman's eyes. "Am I allowed to get out here now?"
With Ubuyashiki Kagaya's permission, Kanao was finally allowed to walk outside. Under the condition that she won't be walking alone, Hara volunteered herself to be the escort for her to go 'home'. Kanao thought it was unnecessary to be accompanied since she was already fine, with the pain and the wound in her wrist and legs had closed up into a scar, and she didn't need to be escorted. But since it was a condition for her by Kagaya, she had no choice but to accept it reluctantly.
"Let's go," the Oiran linked her arms with hers once they were outside, possibly her gesture to support her on the way, "I'll walk you back to the tent." It was an awfully sunny day. Completely different from the last she was outside before, where it was rainy and dreary. She supposed that three weeks being bedridden and her usual endeavors looking through the window to observe and stare the customers where she can close see them enter and exit and vice versa from the establishment does that to her. And just like her usual endeavors, it was a dull and boring hobby, perhaps even more since she wasn't outside.
"Before we go there, I have to visit someone." Kanao said before they started their way to her 'home'.
"A friend of yours?" guessed the Oiran.
"Of sort." She doesn't know if Yuichirō was considered to be a friend of hers.
Hara had a strange expression. "Where?" she asked.
"17th District, near Orange Zeal. You'll recognize the house since it was the most proper you see in the district." Again, she was taken back at wonderings where the residents of 17th District had gone into. So far, that strange woman with strange hair and her savior, and Yuichirō was the residents she had seen.
"Proper…?" the Oiran looked dubious. "Anyway, let's get you some change of clothes. You can't be possibly visiting your friend wearing that?" she pointed a stare at her worn-out pink yukata.
Kanao thought she already looked fine. Besides, the yukata she's currently wearing is the only better-looking yukata she had. Others are sewed together from abandoned clothes she picked up from corners, at the side of the road or any clothing she found floating in the river when she does her laundry, and she only used it as her sleeping garments when she goes to sleep. "This is all I have." She told the older woman, half-truthfully.
As if expecting it, Hara sighed and shook her head. "That won't do. I'll give you some of mine." She dragged the younger girl with her to the direction of her home.
Is it really necessary to dress up even if it was only your friend? she thought wryly, letting herself get pulled. Again, she's not quite sure if Yuichirō is considered to her friend or just an accomplice or something…
The Oiran seemed to read her mind. "We, women, should always look good. Well, according to some people. I'd say we dress up to feel good. The reason I'm making you dress up because I always associate you being lonely wearing that pink yukata of yours. Does it make you lonely, Kanao-chan?"
"I don't know." she replied truthfully. As far as she can remember, she had already wore this pink yukata since she had arrived in Rukongai. Probably, she added. She would lying if she said that, along with her forgotten memories as a living human, she also forgot her first arrival in this afterlife called Soul Society.
"Let's fix that." said Hara genuinely which made her furrow her brows. "I'll make sure to make you feel better." she promised with a small smile.
Despite the confusion hanging above her, Kanao accepted silently. It would be a worth a try if the Oiran said so.
The kimono that the Oiran forced her to wear was, for some reason, made her feel exposed. It wasn't because it had a skimpy design or anything like that. The kimono Hara gave to her was sleeveless and its length reaches the top of her knees that clung her figure not too tightly. It was dark purple in color which faded into pink at the bottom, and the engraved design in it was red petals—roses petals, she noticed—falling into oblivion and the pinkish part of the kimono had a scattered white cherry blossoms as if the roses petals' colors became faded. While it was a modest dress, it makes her feel naked compared to the loose pink yukata she used to wear.
"How do you feel, Kanao-chan?" Hara asked as they walked away from her house, which was rundown and a bit ruined as she still remembered from her last visit. She was surprised that, despite the state of the Oiran's house, she still possessed these kind of clothes. She supposed it make sense due to her occupation.
"Extravagantly." she replied. Wearing these type of clothes, especially when it was very clean and the smell as if it was still freshly pulled out, was like a luxury she can't afford. As if she can experience wearing the kimono only once.
"Well, it's yours now." The older woman told her. "I did say to you before I'll bring some of my clothes. And you can also consider as my thanks for rescuing me before too."
Kanao blinked. That snake incident was already long ago. Four weeks long ago if her memory served her right.
"Anyways, we'll be visiting your friend, right? Let's go." Hara said frantically, looking at her expectantly, perhaps too expectantly as if she was trying to… She suddenly changed the subject from the snake incident as if she was trying to get away from it, she thought observantly, did something happened? She guessed that she doesn't want to remember about the abominated snake since it was a traumatic experience. But she had a feeling it wasn't only that.
Nonetheless, she went along at the Oiran's words. "Yes. He would be around the building Orange Zeal." Kanao remarked instead.
"And the most proper house we'll see, right? Got it." The older woman nodded and they went their way. Their walk was awkward and silent, and in the corner of her eyes, she can see the Oiran fidgeting and biting her lip while looking around anxiously. Kanao would follow her gaze whenever she directed her eyes at in a certain direction but saw nothing unnatural at the surroundings. She decided to let Hara do her business… of something she was looking everywhere.
"Kanao-chan," Hara called her after they had crossed the boundary between 14th and 15th District. "Is there a reason why you're visiting the 17th District?"
"Because I want to visit my friend first." Didn't she already her said that to her earlier?
"…that's it?"
"That's it." she affirmed. The Oiran doesn't know about the nature of her memory loss, and it's better if she doesn't know about it.
"I see." It took her a while to speak again. "The 17th District must've been a crowded place."
That caught her attention. "Why?"
"Did you know that the most customers of Red Light came from 17th District?" Hara told her. "Whenever we talk to them, they always came from there. My other Oiran friends said the same thing." she chuckled suddenly. "Friends… anyway, I'm curious what the 17th District looks like."
Kanao kept her silence. Strange, she thought. 17th District as a crowded place and the most customers of Red Light came from there... it contradicted what she had saw from her last visit. "You'll see it soon." she said to the Oiran eventually. Hara nodded in reply.
They crossed the boundary between 15th and 16th District. She looked to the older woman to see she was surprised at the playful exuberance, seeing the smiling children left and right. "Wow. It's so cheerful around here." Hara said and looked around with a small smile. Kanao decided to let the Oiran walk around since, she observed, it was her first time visiting in this district.
A flash color blurred towards Hara. Kanao bristled, ran towards the Oiran and immediately held out a hand, catching the ball—temari, she realized—that almost hit the back of Hara's head. She stared at the temari ball and noticed it was the same ball that hit her before.
And the same boy who is about to approach them.
She wondered if this was only a coincidence.
"Are you okay?" The boy said the same words when he reached to them.
"I'm okay." Hara told the boy. Kanao saw the boy twitched and looked at the Oiran. His eyes went wide and was rendered speechless at the sight of older woman. Lilac eyes looked back and forth between Hara and the boy.
"I-I see." the boy stammered when he finally regained the ability to speak. "You… you d-don't seem to l…live around here but I hope you'll…" he spared a one last look at Hara and ran away from them after he grabbed the temari ball from Kanao's hands.
Hara blinked in confusion and looked at the retreating figure of the boy in the distance. "O…kay. That was weird. Let's go, Kanao-chan."
Kanao lingered her gaze. That boy, she thought and turned her attention to her companion, knew Hara-san. He had the look of recognition when she spoke to him. It was obvious he was startled at first, then there was sadness, dismay and disappointment right after. She broke her stare from the boy and followed after the Oiran. "Do you know him?" she asked.
Hara shook her head. "No. That was the first time I saw him."
"Are you sure?"
She paused. "I'm sure." she replied eventually.
If she said so then probably it is, Kanao thought dismissively and continued their way.
Least to say, Hara's reaction was very much expected. Gaping mouth and eyes wide in shock; that was the image Kanao thought would paint the Oiran's face when they arrived 17th District.
"How in a world…" Hara murmured, still stuck in a trance of astonishment at the sight of ruined houses, buildings... everything that was within their sight except the towering Orange Zeal in the distance.
"I know." Kanao agreed.
"Where are the people…?" the Oiran continued to murmur as if she didn't hear the younger woman's words.
"I don't know." she replied. "Only few people remained here as residents."
"Then how…" Kanao knew what Hara was implying.
"I don't know." she replied repeatedly. She noticed the contradictions of the Oiran's words earlier that the majority of customers of Red Light came from here. She just didn't told her about it. And besides, they were on their way here, it would be better if Hara can form her conclusion at the sight of desolated 17th District in front of her. But whether if she can created an assumption or never about the state of the district, the Oiran would have to do that later. "My friend should be ahead." Kanao reminded to snap the older woman's shocked trance which she successfully did.
"Yeah…" Hara nodded when she gathered herself together. "Yeah. Let's go." She said as if convincing her own self.
Their walk was brief and silent. Hara was looking around the surroundings with incredulous wonder, perhaps thinking what had happened to the place. Kanao can't blame her at all, she possessed the same curiosity when she first arrived here. When she was walking around the Flower District to curb her own restlessness and lead to an encounter to a group of people calling themselves as Black Zeal.
Kanao was still a bit unfamiliar at the state of affairs and how the Flower District worked as a whole. She heard that there was two groups in every district (14th to 20th) that managed their respective 'entertainment'. The Black and White groups. She guessed that the group she had encountered, currently led by Hashibira Inosuke when Tokitō Muichirō passed the mantle of leadership, was part of these Black groups where the name was obvious. She wondered if the White group was called White Zeal which was very likely.
Since Yuichirō was the brother of the former leader of Black Zeal, she thought, perhaps he knew what happened to the rest of residents in 17th District. The majority of customers of Red Light can't be possibly and suddenly appear out of nowhere, they had to be hiding or resting somewhere.
"You weren't actually kidding," came Hara's astonished voice. "Your friend's house was the only proper one among these ruins."
The Oiran was right. Of the missing roofs and lack of doors of houses that surrounded it, Tokitō Yuichirō's home stood out among the rest. It was actually a simple house with all its necessary parts intact. But if she had to compare it from other houses from other districts, his home would be easily overlooked.
Kanao knocked at the door which was, she noticed, very sturdy when the rasping noise echoed loudly, indicating that there was a visitor waiting by the door. There was rushing footsteps gradually looming from the inside and the door was opened. "O… It's onee-chan! Nii-chan, Nii-chan, Yui-niisan! Onee-chan is here!" Teruko called out loudly to the other occupants of the house.
"How did you…" Kanao didn't expect for the familiar little girl to open the door.
"That mummy man brought us here." she replied. "I don't know why he looks angry when he brought us here saying 'children shouldn't loiter around carelessly!' or something like that and then left us with Yui-niisan."
"Mummy… Inosuke?" He had been looking after siblings…? The same children he'd threaten at first meeting…?
The girl nodded. "He was weird. Very weird. I tried to talk to him but he didn't." she said dejectedly.
Well… considering their first meeting, according to one of her elder brother—the middle child—that Inosuke had stepped over the little girl because she was 'in the way' and Inosuke assuming the behavior to ignore her was pretty understandable. To her, at least. But it doesn't really excuse what he had done to Teruko that day.
But still, Inosuke bringing the siblings here because they 'shouldn't loiter around carelessly'? Kanao didn't expect that.
"Oh, Tsuyuri Kanao, welcome to my home. And…" Yuichirō appeared from the corner with Teruko's brothers. He turned his attention beside her. "Ubuyashiki Amane?" he said incredulously, blinking owlishly.
"Ubuyashiki…" Kanao murmured, turning her attention to Hara. That's the same name as Kagaya-san, she thought.
"You know me?" asked the Oiran in disbelief.
"You… don't know me?" Yuichirō gave her a dubious look before he turned his attention to the younger woman as if realizing she was standing right there. "Anyways, welcome to my home, Tsuyuri, Amane-san." he bowed respectfully at Hara.
Kanao shot the Oiran a questioning look. Hara shook her head profusely indicating that she had no idea.
"When is Muichirō-san going visit here again?" Kanao inquired instead.
"In a few days probably." He replied before raising an eyebrow. "Finally reached a decision?"
"I'll be talking about him about that." She refuted. "Just needed a few clarification before I'll accept his offer."
"So you did reach a decision?"
"Sort of."
"Alright then." Hara interrupted them, shifting nervously. "Kanao-chan, are you gonna be staying here?"
"Yeah." said Kanao. "The siblings are here so I don't have to go 'home'."
"The siblings? Okay." She nodded at her regardless. Hara smiled at Yuichirō. "Hello there! My name is Hara, not Ubuyashiki Amane. What's your name?"
He stared at her for a long time. "Tokitō Yuichirō." He told her eventually.
"Nice to meet you!" Hara said briskly, perhaps too briskly, Kanao noticed. "I'm actually here to escort Kanao-chan to your home but since we're here, my job is done. See you later, Kanao-chan!"
They both watched the Oiran abruptly walking away from the house, almost running and stumbling to her feet. "Is Hara-san… the wife of Ubuyashiki Kagaya?" Kanao asked after Hara had disappeared from their sight and entered inside the house.
Yuichirō disappeared to the kitchen for a while before he returned with teapot and two cups. "You know him?" He poured the cup from the teapot and slid it close to her.
"Yes." Kanao stared at the steam rising from the cup.
"Yes. That Hara was the wife of Ubuyashiki Kagaya." he replied and poured his own cup. "I don't know what happened to her and why she doesn't seem to know me."
He didn't attempt to hide that Hara was one of 'them'. The 'leashed'. "Why do you still have memories and we don't?" she asked. If Yuichirō didn't tried to hide anything, she would return the same deed.
"It should be obvious, isn't it? We're the 'leashed'." He sipped his cup. "You and Muichirō and the others is, well, the lost memories was the price. It had to be."
"It had to be? Like it should be natural that we should lost our memories?"
"I told you, the memories was the price of your actions. And I can't tell you any further."
"Of our actions? Did we do something?" Were they criminals when they were alive?
"I can't tell you further than what Muichirō had asked of me before." He told her coldly while sipping steaming cup of tea.
Kanao sipped hers finally. "What about you? Are you happy about your situation?" she asked.
"I'm not." His voice lowered and Kanao noticed his tight grip of the cup. "Not everyone does but they became resigned to it. But Muichirō and his companions didn't gave up." He sighed and put down the cup. "Ironic, isn't it? The truth was right beside them all along but those who knew the truth wasn't allowed to say it."
"Then why did Central 46…"
"…"
She knew he won't tell her any further. He said so earlier. Kanao changed the subject instead. "Teruko said Inosuke brought them here."
"Finally doing his job for once." He retorted. "But I don't know why here of all places."
"Because this is safest place he can think of…?" she insisted reluctantly.
"Here? The empty and desolate surface area of 17th District and this is the safest place?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Well…" she muttered. That was the only idea she can think of. Wait, she thought, the surface area? "Yuichirō-san… where are the residents in this district?"
"Underground." He told her nonchalantly. "A dangerous and violent place compared here. I recommend not to approach it."
Approach, she thought, she didn't even have no idea where to enter anyway. "Is it okay if I stay here for a while?" she asked instead.
"You will." He agreed. "The house is getting crowded lately. Not that I hate it though."
Kanao watched him gathered the cups and teapot and walked towards the kitchen. She exhaled and directed her attention to the window where the bright sun is still up and shining. The truth, she thought, looking at the warm weather outside, am I gonna search it from now on? Her memories, the 'leashed', Ubuyashiki Kagaya and Ubuyashiki Amane who was now named as Hara; is she going to start chasing the truth from now on?
Especially when everything seems to be connected than a mere coincidence?
Terminology used in the chapter
(taken from r/bleach, wikia and google)
Oyakata (Master of the Mansion): The title created by the people of Rukongai to the founder of Flower District.
Oiran (First Flower[?]): A high-ranking courtesan. Also considered as a prostitute but they were distinguished from them since they were highly trained entertainers and had a greater degree of choice who would be their customers. ([?]According to the Wikipedia, the first kanji of Oiran means 'flower' and 'leader' or 'first' in the second).
Chūō Shijūroku (Central 46): The highest authority of Soul Society below Soul King. Comprised of 40 Wise Men and 6 Judges.
Rukongai (City of Wandering Souls): The slums outside of Seireitei where souls from the World of the Living/Human Realm are sent.
Temari (Hand Ball): A decorative folk art used to make toys. It is made from the remnants of old kimono.
Inosuke's appearance here was actually unplanned. He just came barging in like how he entered through the window to speak with Kanao here in this chapter. So weird. And no author's musing for now.
I'm sorry for those wanted a faster pace of the story and update. To be honest, some of things are in construction and I really should write the plot points down to a different document in case I forgot about it because the ideas on my head is getting heavier regarding about Wild Flower. And the spin-off, Garden of Stars, is still on a conceptual stage. Damn me and my hyperactive brain.
And another new story idea is starting to loom above my head, fuck.