Disclaimer: RK isn't mine, it's property of Watsuki and co. Don't sue me.

Warning: the R rate is taking its meaning here. Rated for violence and mature themes.

Children of the Revolution

Chapter 4: Animal Instinct

The thin man in a western suit took a puff of his cigar, giving an appreciative look to his surroundings. He was made for luxury. He was made for fine linen shirts, for velvet suits, for comfortable armchairs, silk draperies, hot fire in marble chimneys, juicy tender meat, excellent old whiskey. He was made for money, for so many bills that his wallet couldn't close, for coins tingling pleasantly in his pockets, for gold rings on his fingers and gold chains around his neck.

He had had all that. He had lost it. He had it again. And he was going to ensure that his strike of luck would change into a permanent, everlasting reality.

He gave a quick look at the card the other man had left. He had made him an excellent impression. He had immediately sensed that they shared the same values.

Kaneda Kazushi was going to find what he needed to satisfy the Triads. Not in the way they were expecting, of course. He would never be anything but his own master.

The man's lips twisted in a sadistic smile. He passed his tongue on it, anticipating, ending his gesture in a little clasping sound. He was himself going to get great satisfaction into it, too.

The months had passed. Winter had come.

Megumi had avoided carefully any too personal conversation with Enishi. He had sensed it, and never tried to force her on the issue, but she was feeling his insistent, soul-scanning blue eyes on her every once in a while. She was afraid that he asked, and even more that she answered. He had that way of making her feelings raw, uncontrollable, because she was seeing in him a part of what she was. She had lost her family during the Bakumatsu and so did he. Her father, the closest to her, had died in front of her, and he had witnessed the death of his beloved sister. This common experience, though none of them had uttered a word to acknowledge it, had drawn them too close for comfort. She didn't want him to know that she was a criminal, as much as he was. Not because she was ashamed of it, she was, of course, but she assumed her past sins. Because she was afraid of where it would lead them.

Megumi was preparing the special dishes for the New Year, that was a few days ahead, and she was slightly depressed.

Oibore had left a few weeks before, with medical supplies she had given him. He wanted to spend the worst of winter with his fellows of Rakuninmura. He wouldn't give up on them, he had explained. She had understood that it was his way to pay for his past mistakes. He could save some of the lost souls who had found their way to the village when they didn't belong to it, and lighten the days of the others. Like he had done for Ken-san, like he had done for Enishi, and like he had probably done for others, who weren't related to him.

Father and son had gone out together the night of his departure, and Enishi had come back with a sword. A watou. She wasn't surprised that he had added the practice of kata to the intensive physical training he was concentrated on since he could walk normally again.

Rolling the mochi into a white fabric, she sighed. This morning, she had spotted him in the private garden, bare-chested in spite of the chilly temperature, while he was executing his morning program, and had realized that he had almost recovered his complete physical abilities. The way the sword and his body were dancing in the air told her that he had retrieved his level of competence, too. He was so fast, each sure move exhaling pure, animal strength, and oddly, grace. She had never liked swords or kenjutsu, as she knew that the whole purpose of it was inflicting wounds and pain. As a doctor she couldn't see anything else in it. But looking at Enishi, she had thought for the first time that it was beautiful. He was at the top of his art again.

She had quickly torn her gaze away from him. Unlike most of the men she had met in her life, he was respectful towards her. He never had an inappropriate glance or gesture. That was why she could still share her house with him, now that he was well again and Oibore gone. It was surely self-centered to think that he could ever see her in "that" way, but her experience had told her that any man could hide an enemy. Enishi's attitude had reassured her, she trusted him, still there was a problem: herself. She had started to see him not with a physician's but a woman's eyes. Whenever she surprised him training, admiring his moves, his body, she felt that persisting tingling in her stomach. She did her best to ignore it, but she knew what it meant. She had only once felt this kind of physical attraction, and oddly this time it didn't sound wrong. He was her patient, though. She wasn't supposed to feel that towards him, she didn't now how to react, and she was getting uneasy when he was around.

The problem would be solved soon, anyway, she thought with a mix of relief and sadness.

He would be in perfect health in two weeks times. He would leave, then.

"Excuse-me, is the doctor here?" asked a melodious, feminine voice from inside the clinic.

"Immediately!" she exclaimed, abandoning her task, and her grim thoughts gladly.

Gathering her hair in her scarf, she entered the waiting room. A beautiful woman, wearing a silver blue kimono, bowed to her.

"My son needs treatment," she began. Her voice was really warm and pleasant.

Megumi noticed a four, five years-old boy behind her. He was holding a white fabric, covered in blood, on his right temple with his right hand.

"I'm the doctor. Please follow me, young boy."

"No."

"Tsuyoshi," warned the woman, not raising her tone but the boy complied. She added, apologetically: "I think I'd better come with you. He can be quite difficult and has that terrible habit when I'm not.."

"Ouch!" exclaimed Megumi.

"..around.. Tsuyoshi, no training for one week. I'm sorry, doctor."

That woman had the most charming smile that she had ever seen. She was beautiful, but even more charismatic. The child was absolutely cute, in spite of his aggressive attitude. She wondered how the husband looked like.

"Never mind. I treat lots of children and I can't count how many times I've been bitten already. How old is he?" she added, smiling, but keeping her gaze carefully on the little monster as she pulled away his arm with the fabric to get a look at his wound.

He was looking like his mother, and had the same, striking silver gray eyes, yet since she had announced the punishment, he had a scornful expression that was oddly familiar and terribly out of place at the same time.

"Three since last summer."

Beginning to clean the short but deep cut, Megumi mused: "I thought he was older.."

"He's tall. His father is."

The doctor grinned at the twinge of pride in the woman's voice. "My, my, you need a few stitches, sorry, little one."

To her bewilderment, interest lit the boy's face. "Really?"

She could have sworn that he was delighted. She grabbed the tray with the material, wondering if he was normal. She glanced at his mother, who was shaking her head with exasperation, and bemused resignation.

"He hears too many stories about Bushido from his older brothers. He's dreaming about wounds and scars proving his courage," she explained, correctly interpreting Megumi's puzzled look.

The woman had a poise, which denoted a traditional education. Probably she was from a samurai family, before the Bakumatsu. That would explain the Bushido thing. Her kimono was discreet, but the fabric was rich. Some families had gone through the revolution better than others. She thought fugitively of hers, of Enishi's.

"How did he get hurt?"

"He fell from a tree. He was bored as he's too young to take part to the kenjutsu competition in the dojo nearby, and decided to have a little fun of his own in the courtyard. I think his head met a little stone when he touched the ground. Luckily, at his age he can't climb very high."

Megumi was surprised as the boy was gritting his teeth, but wasn't crying or yelling, when she closed the little wound with a needle and thread.

"Boys are terrible. You said you have others?"

"A foster son, and a son," replied graciously Tsuyoshi's mother.

She finished her work and examined the kid, to make sure that nothing was broken. "You must be VERY busy, then."

"They are usually well behaved. Only that my husband is coming home today. He travels a lot, and they are very excited at the idea of seeing him. Even if he's there only for business, this time," she ended up in a regretful sigh.

"I'm done with you, little boy. You can say to your father that you've been very brave."

A satisfied..smirk, how could a three years-old smirk, spread on the little round face.

"You did fine," he granted, royally.

His mother lifted a brow, and he added, bowing. "Thank you very much."

"Please excuse my son's rudeness. How much do I owe you?"

"1000 yens, please."

The woman took her small velvet purse and gave her a bill, without questioning.

"Thank you, doctor," she repeated, bowing gracefully.

"Oh, I keep a record of my patients, in case I have to treat them again. You can come back to have the threads removed, in ten days, or go to your family doctor."

They were obviously not from the poor neighborhood.

"We'll be back here, and Tsuyoshi will be polite, next time." She sent a meaningful glance to the little boy.

" In that case, can I ask your son's full name?"

"Of course. Fujita Tsuyoshi."

Fujita Goro, aka Saitoh Hajime, wasn't in a very good mood. His investigation was going at a slow pace.

Corruption had raised its dirty head again. Saitoh had been investigating a member of the Diet, Tomita, whom he had identified as the origin of pressure, bribes and blackmail on the justice administration, in order to cancel the penalties of several imprisoned yakuza. Tomita had been very discreet, but the last one had been indeed a too powerful figure to be ignored.

For once, that moron Chou had been helpful, and worked quickly. He had discovered that Tomita was acting in the behalf of the Chinese Triads. Saitoh had uncovered the rest of the conspiracy. The Hung families wanted to buy the services of some criminals in exchange of their freedom, to implant their activities in Japan on a base strong enough to compete immediately with the Japanese mafia.

A dangerous fire lit Saitoh's eyes. As a captain of the Shinsengumi, he had fought to preserve Japan from any corrupted foreign influence. He had failed. As a Meiji policeman and a spy, however, he could continue his battle against any form of corruption, according to the rules of Aku-Soku- Zan. This case opposed him to the two worst forms of evil. He surely wouldn't fail now.

He had already executed Tomita. The satisfaction of accomplished duty had been tarnished by the confirmation that the man was a mere go-between. He was paid by the Triads for the liberation of the criminals, yet had no idea of why precisely these ones had to be, or where they had gone afterwards. He assumed they had been called to Shangai, which would explain their disappearance after their getting out of prison, but he wasn't sure. Tomita was never initiating the contacts, the money was deposed at his bank, he knew none of the Chinese and had no way of reaching them. The man had been a pitiful coward, and had told Saitoh everything he knew. Very few.

The only interesting and unusual thing was that Tomita had been asked for another role as a go-between, by the Triads. They wanted the name of the best private investigator, not too touchy about morals, and preferably from the Western area, as it was easier for contacts with Shangai; though the definitively useless moron didn't know why, either. He had given them, and then to Saitoh, needless to say, the address of Kaneda Kazushi.

In Aizu.

Walking through the familiar streets of his wife's native city, Saitoh cursed under his breath. He didn't like the fact that such a dangerous investigation led to the place where his family was living. He had hence decided not to send Chou for the research and to do it himself. Tokio had been following him until they had children. Since then, she had settled in her late parents' home, away from the major territories of his investigations, in the last years at least. She could protect herself, but they couldn't risk that her existence was discovered, less the children's. They would become too easy targets for his numerous enemies. They had agreed on that. And now, the damn woman wanted him to stay at their home while he was in mission, under the preposterous pretext that he had to be there for New Year. It was the most meaningful, traditional celebration in Japan, and according to her, families had to be gathered at that time. He had objected, stressing how dangerous and treacherous were the yakuza involved in the case. She had dismissed it. She had been his shadow for years and nobody had ever suspected her existence. She was expecting him at home tonight, she had been very clear. She was insensible, that was so unlike her, he wondered..

His stopped his moronic considerations on his domestic problems as he arrived in front of the western style building where Kaneda's office was situated. He felt a rush of anticipation at the idea of getting at last some useful information.

The office was empty. It smelled of cheap perfume, was the man wearing some, he wondered in utter disgust for such an effeminate behavior. It fitted with what he had gathered on him, but it could also be that he had entertained a woman there. Kaneda had a very bad reputation concerning women.

He snorted after he went through the files. Awfully disorganized, no logic, and needless to say, nothing interesting in them. How could the man have earned his reputation as an investigator, THAT was the mystery.

Moving to the desk, he inspected carefully the drawers, and eventually smiled in triumph as one was locked. It didn't take Saitoh much effort to force it. As he didn't have to be discreet, he allowed himself to release some of his previous frustration by using the Rooster's delicate opening method.

There were four files inside. The first was obviously used for blackmailing an official of Nagasaki. No corruption there, only dirty secrets on his sexual life. Saitoh let the folder fall to the floor, contemptuously. The other one had no name on, but how interesting, the code used to crypt it was similar to the one he had found at Tomita's place. Kaneda had just become a candidate to receive a Gatotsu in a near future. Saitoh had had the code translated, and was able to read that the Hung families wanted Kaneda to find a chemist or a doctor, before their "associate" did. The name wasn't revealed, shit. Saitoh got annoyed. It was the first entry, but many were following. He was obviously working for them full time now. And the winner was Kaneda Kazushi.

His eyes narrowed as he read the name typed on the other file. It was the name of the yakuza boss whose liberation had set Saitoh's attention on Tomita in the first place.

Takeda Kanryuu.

And he wanted Kaneda to find Takani Megumi. Her name was on the last file.

The amber eyes glittered. He lit a cigarette, savoring his triumph, and the logical beauty of the truth as the pieces of the puzzle found their places on the board.

He knew. Now he had to act.

His personal problems were solved, too. With Takeda Kanryuu involved directly, Tokio would be sensible. He had described the man to her as a snake, who had made an art out of stabbing his enemies in the back. He'd write her a message back at the office, as he had to go and lock Kaneda's files there before taking his course of action.

Replacing his handy mirror in the pocket of his impeccable beige suit, Kaneda Kazushi thought he was a happy man. He was incredibly handsome, smart, and soon he'd be truly rich. The amount of extra money that he could get from the careless fools who didn't protect their naughty secrets well enough had always been unsatisfying. A man of his sophistication needed a standard.

He couldn't believe that he had actually worked hard at the beginning of his career, for so little compensation. His absurd efforts hadn't been in vain, though, as they had established his solid reputation. He just had to solve a case every once in a while to maintain it.

Now, he was going to have more money than he could ever spend. Maybe. Working with the Chinese, even if they were inferior barbarians, was rewarding. And they had promised him a fabulous amount of money for that chemist. He didn't believe his good luck when Takeda had asked him to find Takani, revealing to him the name they were so eager to find, and saving him any work. The reward was so fabulous, indeed, that he had almost given the Triads her name and address immediately after. He had been wise not to. He had grabbed a few thousand yens more. Of course, if they discovered that, he would be in trouble. But he was too smart. He had always paid attention not to be noticed when he visited her, as he had this little idea in mind about her. And having made no actual research on her behalf, they could never guess that he already knew where she was.

Accepting to work for Kanryuu was more risky, and he had hesitated. Kanryuu was in touch with the Triads, and he could be in a delicate situation if they confronted their views. It was highly improbable, as the Hungs were trying to double cross their ally. He didn't think either that Kanryuu, who shared his view on Japanese superiority according to the nicknames he gave to the Chinese, had any intention to work FOR them, less to share his little secrets with them. The sum he had offered, though it didn't match the Chinese's reward, had convinced him to accept. He had taken a liking for the guy, too. Very fine man, very good taste. If he weren't feeling so similar to Kanryuu to know that the man could not be trusted more than himself, he would have shared with him his little clever strategy. He would appreciate the delicacy of it, thought Kaneda, regretfully.

He had left the address of Takani in an envelop for Kanryuu, at the hotel he was supposed to arrive at 6 that night. Of course, it was typed, so the Triads couldn't trace to him. The receptionist was to give the letter only in exchange of the money, and put it in a locker Kaneda had rented in disguise, under the name of another private detective.

At 7, Kaneda would give the information to the Triads' agent in person, and get the reward. He had left a little advance to Kanryuu, as he liked him. Then, whoever got her wasn't his business. He wished it were the yakuza, and the Chinese would surely pass their anger on the concurrent detective. If the barbarians got the woman first, he wouldn't risk at all that his little manipulation was discovered. It was a win/win situation.

And even more, he thought, as he had a strike of genius. Takani Megumi was a beautiful woman, and he had found a way to execute at last this little idea she inspired him. He was going to offer her a chance. If she accepted the conditions he had proposed the last time he visited her, he wouldn't give her name to the Triads. He had no doubt that she would accept. And he would seal the deal immediately.

As he had no intention to tell her about Kanryuu. She had frightened and offended him, hence she had to be punished. He wished he could see the terror on her face when Takeda appeared in front of her.

He giggled. And of course, he would inform the Triads, anyway. He would never let 5 million yens escaping him.

Arriving near her clinic, he saw her entering the house. She was there, and alone, as the clinic was closed after 5. The stupid worry that she may have moved, which had lingered in a corner of his mind, as he didn't keep an eye on her since that annoying visit, evaporated.

He sighed, happily. He was a genius. And he was going to have her.

Enishi finished the last kata. He didn't feel the least tired. He was in great shape. He seized the towel waiting for him on the bench, and wiped the sweat off his face.

That smelled good. Her perfume was on it. It was lingering everywhere in the house, in the air, in the clothes, in the sheets he was sleeping in. He shook his head. He was maybe in too much of a good shape. He had to control that, and it wasn't easy. He found more and more difficult not to think of her merely as a doctor, but as a woman. She was so beautiful, how could he ignore that totally?

He admired her. She was devoted to her patients. He felt close to her. She knew how it felt to loose everything, as he did. He was grateful to her. She had healed him, and she had helped him to find his way back to his father. He desired her, too.

It was gross. She was awkward in his presence. He wondered if she had noticed. Anyway, he had no right to. He was a murderer. Jinchuu was also between them.

He was thinking about her in this way because she was beautiful, and he didn't have a woman in years. It was a physical reaction. He definitely had to control it. His lust was the worst show of ingratitude.

Anyway, he'd have to leave soon. Once he would be completely healed, he had no reason to stay. He had nowhere to go, either.

Well, Oibore would be back, for a brief visit, in two weeks, and they'd see then. He had to get used to the fact that he wasn't absolutely alone anymore.

He was back in the house when he heard an indignant exclamation coming from the clinic. Her voice. He rushed, and froze as he recognized a male voice there too. That lowlife Kaneda. He secured his hold on the watou his father had bought and gave to him. I'll make a good use of it this time, as you asked, old man, he thought.

He intended to surprise the pig, entering slowly instead of storming in, and to take care of him very, very calmly, but the surprise was for him. He had begun to open the panel, when he at last understood what she was saying.

"How do you know?" asked Megumi, appalled. "He was.."

"Keeping it a secret?" finished Kaneda, his suave voice amused. "I'm simply the best investigator, ever. No secret can be hidden for me, not even the name of Takeda Kanryuu's infamous chemist. The only one to know the formula of the most addictive, cheapest to product, and oh, most deadly opium ever created."

Takeda Kanryuu, the yakuza boss, master of the drug trafficking in Japan, as he was the only one not to respect the code of honor of the Japanese families, which was forbidding them to participate into such activities. His opium was the best, even competing in mainland China with the Triads' one. The name of his chemist was the most wanted information of the underworld. It was worth millions of yens.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

Megumi. Megumi was a doctor. She prepared potions, and new medicines, like the one for Kobayashi-san.

"Offering you a chance, Takani-sensei," said Kaneda, smiling dirtily. "At the same conditions we discussed last time."

His informants hadn't been able to trace her from the fall of Aizu until the moment she appeared as Battousai's friend.

"No. You can call the police, I don't care, I'll never accept that," she replied, fiercely.

The link to the Oniwabanshu. They worked for Kanryuu. Battousai.

"I'm not talking about the police, Takani-sensei. I'm talking about the Chinese Triads. At this moment, I'm the only one to know who you are. They offer me a lot of money for your name, and unless I get some kind of compensation from you.."

Megumi was Kanryuu's chemist. The one who prepared the "kiss of death", as his opium was called in Shangai.

"Never I'll make opium again. Never again people will die because of me."

"They'll make you, Takani-sensei. Be sensible, and come to me."

" And NEVER," she screamed, taking her dagger, "Never I'll be used like this again!"

Kanryuu's reputation with women. I know what is a monster, Enishi, and you aren't like this.

"No!"

Megumi screamed once more as, with the speed of a rattlesnake, Kaneda had grabbed her wrist and twisted it until her weapon fell on the wooden floor in a shushed metallic sound.

"The offer isn't available anymore," he hissed, "But I'll have you all the same."

The lust in his eyes, the nauseating odor of his perfume and heavy breath on her face, his hand between her thighs, trying to nudge them apart, while the other was still contorting her arm, on the verge to break it, his awful giggles of perverted joy as he rubbed himself to her..she felt the contain of her stomach mounting to her throat, she was trying to fight against him and the memories assaulting her mind, and she was loosing, she was helpless again. The old, ludicrous hope arose in her mind to vanish the next second.

I want to die. Not that. Let me die instead.

She collapsed on the ground, trying to breath, an inhuman scream tearing her brains apart. Was it done already? Was she flying away again, estranged to her body, like all the times they had their way with her? Was she the one who screamed, and was she going to realize how it hurt only after it was over, like before?

She retrieved enough sensations to feel the wooden floor under her. She braced herself, yet there was no weight on her. She opened her eyes. She was still dressed, her casual kimono in disorder, but not enough for..Her wrist and arm hurt, the inner side of her thighs was throbbing in pain, yet...

She looked around. Her vision was blurred. She was crying. It cleared suddenly, and she couldn't believe the scene in front of her.

Kaneda was kneeled on the floor, his head, tossed back towards her, was deformed by bruises and wounds. His arms were pitifully drawing circles in the air, his whole body shaken by violent spasms. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets, his tongue was dangling out of his mouth, blood dripping around, and there were hands around his neck.

The hands were connected to muscular arms, banded under intense pressure, to broad shoulders..

The next thing that her eyes took in was a flashing blue gaze, so intense the pupil was invisible, overwhelmingly furious thunderbolt. Her ears got the gargling sound emitted by Kaneda, and a maddened voice hissing:

"Die, bastard, die.."

He did. She saw life leaving Kaneda Kazushi's eyes.

The hands released their grip. The body unbent, the head hitting the floor. The limbs were broken, too, she realized, he couldn't be in this position otherwise, kneeling and nape on the floor.

She lifted her eyes up the corpse, to see him spat on it, disdainfully.

"Pig."

Enishi.

Kaneda didn't rape her.

Enishi had beaten him.

Enishi had strangled him.

Enishi was looking at her now.

She was laying on the floor, her kimono opened high on her legs and low on one shoulder. She was crying. Her hair was tousled, and her face pale, so pale, her beautiful eyes blurred with tears, blurred with fear, yet awareness was gradually dawning on her.

He hadn't controlled any of his reactions, bar one. When he saw the pig seizing her, his blood had made the complete turn of his body in a quarter of second, and he remembered forming one and only coherent thought. He wanted to kill him with his bare hands.

And he had. He had let down his watou, which were not to be stained with such a dirty blood, rushed in and, seizing the man by the skin of his nape, had thrown him flying in the room, away from her. Away from Megumi.

Nobody would hurt Megumi.

He had then stopped thinking, unable to resist the fury driving him.

And Kaneda was dead.

Megumi was fine.

Megumi was safe.

Megumi was looking at him now.

He closed his eyes. Tomoe was there, as always. One tear was rolling down her cheek, from the corner of her black sad eyes, yet she was smiling to him.

He understood her so clearly that his chest was hurting. He had protected Megumi. But he had killed. He didn't regret it, oh, no, he wasn't glad either, though.

There was a price to pay.

And the price was there. He saw it when he opened his lids again, to see her standing up, gathering her kimono tightly around her, her whole body trembling.

"You..you.." she stuttered.

She had seen the monster in him.

To be continued.

Author's notes: (sorry they're particularly long)

- mature themes: I hope that the description of the assault wasn't distasteful, but attempted rape can never be glamorous. Sexual abuse is a part of Megumi's psyche, of her past problems, and the thing that made her sympathetic to me in the first place. The scene is not there for a shocking effect, I would never use such a serious subject for that purpose, but it's part of the story's dynamic and the plot.

Other serious problem: the racism of Kaneda and Kanryuu towards Chinese. Needless to say that it isn't my way of thinking, not the least! Nevertheless, from Meiji period on, Japanese, and those who tried to "western" themselves in particular, tended despise other Asian people (it mirrored the racism of Westerners towards Japanese and Asian people). Their contempt explains why two characters as cowards as Kanryu and Kaneda are trying to trick an organization as powerful as the Triads, so again it's not a gratuitous detail.

- Saitoh: I need help, I know. I always had the intention to have Saitoh there, and Tokio sneaked her way in, too. I'm beyond the curable obsessive state.

For people who aren't familiar with Saitoh's private real life, his wife, Takagi Tokio, was the daughter of an official from Aizu. So I'm an obsessive person relying (for once), on historical facts. They had 3 children IRL, who went by the name of Fujita: Tsutomu, Tsuyoshi, and Tatsuo (who isn't born yet in the timeline I made out here). The foster son Tokio talks about here is Mijima Eiji (from Shingetsu village, where Saitoh and Kenshin confronted Shishio for the first time), I mixed RK story with real facts for the Fujita family.

-Mafias: I had the plot with Kanryuu in mind from the beginning, Saitoh and Kaneda's role into it too, but Firuze mentioned the Triads to me, and that gave me the idea for a more elaborated plot. Thank you so much! The facts concerning the Triads I'll allude later in that story, including the correct name Hung, are the product of her research work, which she so kindly proposed and let me use. I owe you a lot!

- details: mochi is a rice paste, used in the fabrication of sweets in particular, but also an ingredient of traditional Japanese food. It's consumed plainly for New Year celebration and made at that time. There is also a special sort of food for the Shougatsu (New Year) that can be prepared in advance, allowing the housewives to have a day off the kitchen for the celebrations.

Next chapter: The plot I started here unfolds (not too predictably but clearly I hope). Danger, problems, fights, threats..Are Megumi and Enishi going to find their way out of this?

See you!

Kamorgana