Eleven: Shopping

Senritsu peered at the dressing room door, wondering if Kurapika actually cared about changing clothes or if she was making him change because the all-black look was too sober for her tastes. She was leaning towards the former.

But likely, it was the latter. And he did look much better, wearing a plain white, long-sleeve t-shirt and jeans when he stepped out, handsome even, but she tried to push those thoughts away and simply gave him a thumbs up with her good arm. "Looks good."

"Thanks," he replied, fiddling with then end of his sleeve. "So, are we looking up spider trails now?" He asked.

She dropped her gaze and fumbled around her purse, pretending to look for her wallet. "Do you have any other leads?" She hadn't meant to sound snippy, and a quick look at his expression revealed he wasn't upset.

"Not really." He stood awkwardly in front of her. "And that's the problem."

"Pretty much. We don't know where to start, so we're just throwing things up against the wall right now." And that was true. Mostly. She had no idea where to truly start looking, nor even if they had already ticked off one of the last twelve places Kurapika had been. Or was it thirteen? Damn it.

"It's entirely possible Tomin sent us on a wild goose chase, or that letter isn't even from her," Kurapika said.

"Those are both good points." She pulled out her wallet and walked up to the counter, pulling the tags off of Kurapika's clothes as she brushed by him. "Uh can I just pay for this?"

The cashier shrugged, swiping the tags. Senritsu paid, and then the two of them went outside where the sun cast odd shadows all over the sidewalk, indicating it was late in the evening. Her stomach rumbled lightly as they began strolling down the street.

"You're right," she said. "Sorry, I guess I should've thought of that sooner."

"No worries."

"I don't think the trails mean anything though," Senritsu replied. "I guess we should go with what we do have. The church is where...well kind of where it all started. That's where you were at least and that's where you saw that vision."

He nodded. "Can we get back in there?"

"Maybe," she said. "There's something shady about that whole place, but…I'm just not smart enough to figure out what."

"I'm sure that's not true," he replied. And there wasn't any hesitation in his voice, which made her feel slightly better about her lack of intelligence.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Tomin gave me a number...I'm going to give it a call." Dialing swiftly, she pressed the phone to her ear and waited.

"This number is no longer in service, please—"

She hung up and tried a second time.

"This number is—"

"Not in service any longer," she replied, hanging up. "Thanks, I know."

"You sure that's the right number?" Kurapika asked.

"Yeah…Tomin knew whoever had brought your phone to her she said "don't tell him you got this phone from me…so a he brought your phone into the store," she replied. "I wonder if Tomin kept some kind of record of people who came into the store."

"A record of sales more than likely, particularly if money was exchanged," he said. "But I don't think my phone is worth much, if anything at all."

"True…and how would we get access to that stuff?" Normally, she'd pull her Hunter card. But she didn't want to draw any further suspicion since, Swartzenbarger already suspected she had something to do with Tomin's murder, even if he was trying to pretend that he didn't; stirring the pot wouldn't do her much good. But obtaining what she wanted through dubious and secretive methods also wouldn't look too good.

"Is there a legal way of obtaining access to that kind of stuff?"

"Sort of…I'm a Hunter…but so are you!" Her brows came together. Maybe he can get access to that information without it looking too suspicious. "Where's your Hunter's license?"

"My what?"

"Your…I guess I should tell you a little about yourself," she said. "Let's go somewhere and talk."

"Like a date?" One of his eyebrows went up.

Her face flushed and she looked down at her shoes. "Um…"

"I'm kidding," he said, grinning slightly. He gave her shoulder a light pat. "Just trying to lighten the mood. Everything's so serious and it's not helping me remember anything."

"Right." She tried to hide her disappointment, but she could feel it coming off her in droves, like a wave washing over her.

"I do wonder about the letter though," he said.

"How come?" she asked. But then another thought hit her. "I never checked it for any traces of Nen."

"Of what?"

"Nen." And she almost slapped herself for not doing something so basic. Sheesh, Kurapika really does make me flustered. It was a good thing they had stopped working together. "The letter was so vague, but what if it contained a hidden crossed her arms. message of some kind? One that the police wouldn't be able to read?"

The look Kurapika gave her was anything but confused despite the fact that she could hear his heart doing backflips inside his chest. "…Okay?"

"No, seriously," she said. "We have to get that letter."

He nodded. "Alright."

"But first, food." The letter will still be there in a few hours. Hopefully…