Chapter 7 - A Bad Feeling.
The day after this last interview with the Shinsengumi, the Yorozuya had again some business to deal with. For once, customers were pouring in. Therefore, they had to repair a roof broken by scoundrels during the night, help clean up the neighborhood park, and repaint the front of a candy store. Exhausted, and with their pockets full of sweets, they returned to the agency around four in the afternoon, only to find themselves face-to-face with a customer who was no stranger to them.
"Oh? Tsukuyo-san!" Shinpachi exclaimed when he saw the young woman.
The Hyakka leader was standing in front of their door, smoking tobacco with her long pipe, wearing the usual Yoshiwara guardian outfit.
"You're finally here..." She said, staring at them with her sharp eyes, and blowing out a cloud of smoke laden with the smell of tobacco.
Gintoki seemed neither delighted nor disappointed to see her, while Kagura was delighted to see the second strongest woman in her entourage after Shimura Tae, also known as "Boss" or "Tae-chan".
All these people entered the agency, and after the usual greetings, the protector of women spoke:
"I come to make a request on behalf of all the women of Yoshiwara," said Tsukuyo.
Gintoki pointed the young woman to one of the blue couches in the agency, as he settled down to sit behind his Boss-like desk.
"With what kind of payment this time?" Gintoki asked, suspicious. "Last time it was all-you-can-drink sake, and the time before that, free coupons to all the food and souvenir shops... And I'm not even mentioning that time we got paid in anchovy barrels..."
"Whatever, whatever you like." Quickly deflected the Hyakka leader. "But the situation demands urgent attention."
"Urgent?" Gintoki repeated, before taking a more serious look. "We're listening..."
Shinpachi took the opportunity to slip away to the kitchen to put water to heat in the kettle, and thus prepare drinks for everyone. Kagura, on the other hand, was content to chew her sukonbu, lying on the other unoccupied bench, opposite the Hyakka leader.
"Three weeks ago, one of the courtesans disappeared without a trace. At first we thought she had left without warning, although that was a bit unusual. But it happened again the following week, and then again last week. And last night, two other girls also disappeared." Tsukuyo explained, looking solemn.
"And? Maybe they got tired of it and went on vacation, right?" Asked the perm-head.
"The problem is that they seem to have disappeared from Edo, and not only from our neighborhood. And they haven't given any signs of being alive yet." Tsukuyo replied. Then, with a serious air, and concern that could be read in her eyes, the young woman announced the conclusion she had reached. "Gintoki, someone is kidnapping our girls..."
The Boss seemed to think for a moment, as if mentally assembling the first pieces of a puzzle, then spoke again.
"If I counted correctly, five women have disappeared one after the other. But what makes you think they were abducted?" Insisted the samurai.
"It's true that their identity papers were no longer in their belongings. But other than that, it seems that nothing else was taken." Tsukuyo replied. "It's as if they vanished all at once, without having had time to pack and take anything with them..."
"So you came to us because you already fear the worst?" Gintoki concluded.
Tsukuyo nodded in agreement, while Shinpachi silently placed several teacups on the agency's coffee table.
Kagura straightened up into a sitting position on the bench, picking up a hot chocolate purposely placed in front of her by the Glasses Holder.
"Did you interview the girls' regular customers?" Gintoki asked. "One of them could have done it..."
"What do you take me for? I had them all summoned of course!" Answered the young woman with virulence. Then she seemed suddenly disappointed. "But none of them spilled the beans..."
Tsukuyo seemed to recall questioning them 'with violence' to get a quick confession. A harsh interrogation that had gone through suspects being hung upside down, beaten with wooden boards, and partially drowned in a barrel of water.
And both Gintoki and the two Yorozuya kids could see perfectly in their minds that this was surely what had happened.
"I don't call this 'being summoned'..." Shinpachi sighed, a little taken aback. "Unless it's 'being summoned to the afterlife or getting isekai'd by brute force'!"
"You should have hit them harder, HUH!" Kagura exclaimed, holding up a clenched fist.
"Hey! Don't incite her to commit murder!" Gintoki shouted indignantly. "People end up dying when you try to kill them! (1) Even in Gintama!"
At the same time, a particular character was passing under the agency's windows, all smiles. One of those smiles that make you shudder with fear. He glanced at the floor of the building, and continued on his way. His presence was barely noticeable, even to passers-by who passed him on the street.
However, Sadaharu grunted. He had sensed that something was wrong.
"Hush, Sadaharu, Tsukki is talking about something important, huh." Kagura scolded with a finger over her mouth.
But the dog had definitely sensed something threatening. He didn't understand why Kagura hadn't smelled it. There had been a certain scent, admittedly faint, but nevertheless sinister, that had reached his muzzle.
Perhaps the girl had not smelled anything, or had not paid attention. She did feel a shiver run down her back, but thought it must have been a draft from the poorly closed door at the entrance.
"Do you want us to find the culprit first, or the girls?" Gintoki asked gravely.
"The girls, please." Tsukuyo asked. "My subordinates are already working to find the trail of the culprit(s). But at this rate, it's impossible for us to protect all the girls. So it's crucial that each of us carry out our mission without faltering."
The young woman then rummaged in the sleeve of her kimono, and took out several objects.
"Here..." She said as she handed him two richly decorated, and apparently recently used, fabrics.
"What's this?" Asked the samurai.
"Clothes worn recently by the missing girls..." Tsukuyo replied. "Smell this..."
"Hey, I'm not that kind of weirdo..." Gintoki impatiently said. "What do you think I am, a pervert who sniffs girls' clothes?"
Shinpachi winced in embarrassment at his Boss's admission, and his lack of understanding of the Hyakka's words.
"Idiot." Said Tsukuyo flatly, her eyebrows furrowed in embarrassment. "You have a dog don't you? Maybe he could pick up their trail by their scent."
"Ah! Very clever, Tsukki!" Kagura exclaimed, who had figured out what to do with the clothes faster than her foster father. "I'm sure Sadaharu can do it!"
"But Tsukuyo-san, will it be okay?" Shinpachi worried. "There may still be abductions while you're investigating..."
"That's a risk to take. The more people helping with this case, the faster it will be solved," she sighed. "I don't like it either, but it's the only thing to do. Hinowa-sama has already given her approval. So, can I count on you?"
Gintoki nodded his head, imitated by Kagura and Shinpachi. There was no time to waste. And seeing that they had come to an agreement quickly, Tsukuyo then handed the Yorozuya Boss the last item she had pulled out of her sleeve.
"Here, take this," she said, handing the Yorozuya Boss a cell phone. "We'll need to stay in touch as much as possible during this case, so don't part with it."
The perm-head considered the phone that was handed to him with his dead fish eyes, thinking that it would do him no good to have one of these gadgets with him. But in the end, he resigned himself to take it.
Tsukuyo then left the place, and by the time she had found herself in the street below, had been joined by two Hyakka who had remained hidden in the side streets until then.
Gintoki followed the three women with his eyes, until they disappeared into the colorful mosaic of humans and Amantos stretching to the end of the street.
The whole thing looked fishy. But shady in a serious, disturbing way. But not shady in the sense that they'd get screwed over for payment again, or arrested by the police.
"Hey, Shinpachi..." Said the perm-head, eyes still fixed on the street in front of the agency.
"Gin-san?" Questioned the young man.
He had only felt it for a moment. Only for a moment, in all that compact crowd and where no individual could be discerned precisely.
Someone had looked at him, observed him. And he himself had felt a shiver. Someone had been watching him, for several minutes, at the same time as the Hyakka and their Leader were walking away from the agency. it couldn't be a coincidence.
"Call your sister, will you? Tell her to make sure the gorilla stays with her." Said the Yorozuya Boss.
"Huh? I don't follow you, Gin-san..." Shinpachi replied, confused. "And asking my sister to do that would be like getting me killed..."
"Tell her it's me who insists. Tell her to offer him tea if she has to, but don't let that stupid gorilla leave her side." Insisted the Boss.
Shinpachi, confused, did not quite understand what his boss was getting at, but eventually reluctantly complied. He then had the task to explain to his elder sister what Gintoki had told him, while suffering the murderous and icy tone at the other end of the phone. The temperature even seemed to drop in the Yorozuya agency. Then after apologizing about ten times, he hung up the phone.
"It's okay, she finally agreed, but you'll have to buy her some Bargain Dash (2)..."
"Hey, I'm not the Shogun!" Gintoki contested, grumbling. "I don't have enough money to spend on ice cream that will go into someone else's stomach!"
"If you buy Bargain Dash for Anego (3), don't forget my Sukonbu!" Kagura added.
Gintoki sighed, wondering if feeding Kagura would eventually get him, then stood up from his desk.
"Let's go find those two women before it's too late," he said.
And soon the trio found themselves in Yoshiwara, the red lantern district that had become a city of its own under Hosen's rule.
The city that had once known eternal night was taking advantage of the last light of the day to the fullest, leaving the roof overhead completely open at all times. It was a city in its own right, and no longer a district, because of its laws and its very particular environment. Some people even wondered if the police had as much power there as in the rest of Edo.
Laughter echoed left and right, customers flowing in a continuous stream through the busy little streets. Music, sometimes traditional and quiet, sometimes avant-garde and cheerful, shared the space with the scent of good food emanating from the various establishments.
"Gin-chan... I'm hungry..." Kagura complained.
"You can't be, we've already filled up on the dango store on the last street!" Replied Gintoki, exhausted and ruined. "Look! You're still eating them!"
"It'sh nowt thru! (it's not true!)" She said as she finished chewing her dumplings, and swallowed them quickly in one go.
"You pig..." Complained the perm-head. "Do I have to remind you why we're here?"
"Gin-san is right, Kagura-chan." Shinpachi added. "The priority is to find those women. That's what Tsukuyo-san asked us to do."
"I work better on a full stomach!" Replied the young Yato.
"You always have a full stomach even when you're not doing anything" Gintoki complained.
Kagura sulked a little, but understood that the situation needed her full attention.
"By the way, Gin-chan, when are we going to use Sadaharu?" Kagura asked.
Ouch... Gintoki was so busy thinking about other things that he had almost forgotten why they had brought the big mutt with them.
"You saw it, didn't you, Kagura-chan... He didn't find a trail to follow at Yoshiwara's entrance..."
"That's just it Gin-san, maybe there was too much passage at the entrance of the city for Sadaharu to smell anything..." Shinpachi pointed out.
"It could also indicate something else..." Said Gintoki thoughtfully. "Why do you think we're taking a tour of the entire neighborhood?"
"Huh?" Shinpachi exclaimed. "To... To see the last places where the missing women were seen, right?"
"Not just that." Gintoki explained. "If Sadaharu didn't smell anything, it could be that those women never left the city, contrary to what Tsukuyo thought... Or maybe..."
"You mean the missing girls would still be here, Gin-chan?" Kagura asked while petting her dog.
"It's more than likely. Sadaharu may be a big shit factory on a daily basis, but I still trust him when it comes to his nose," Gin-san said, with blood running down his forehead.
"Uh, Gin-san, you should be careful with what you say..." Said Shinpachi.
Sadaharu obviously didn't appreciate the permed's comment, even though it was a backhanded compliment, and simply started to chew on his head.
"Oi! What do you think you're biting, you bastard!?" Gintoki shouted as he struggled.
"Sadaharu! Let go of Gin-chan!" Kagura ordered sternly.
Immediately, the big white dog let go of his "toy", and calmly sat down beside his mistress. Gintoki, after removing the blood from his face, took out two cloths, the same ones given earlier by Tsukuyo, and held them in front of the god-dog's muzzle.
"Come on, we count on you, Sadaharu..." Said Gintoki with a smile.
Forgetting the disagreeable comment of a few minutes ago, the dog was very happy to see that his three masters were finally relying on him for something important. After all, it had been several arcs since he had been of any use! He then sniffed as much as he could, and after having absorbed the different smells present on the cloth - mostly woman's perfume and sake - he started to follow a track on the ground.
"Gin-chan! It works!" Kagura shouted with joy.
"I knew Sadaharu could do it!" Shinpachi exclaimed.
"Good! Let's follow the trail Sadaharu dug up!" Gintoki smiled.
The trio followed closely behind the big white dog, passing through the crowd ungraciously. But Gintoki was still uncomfortable. The fact that no trail had been found by Sadaharu at the entrance to Yoshiwara could be explained in two ways. Either these women had never left the district, or...
The culprit had managed to make them leave by another way than walking. This thought disturbed him more.
If these women had not walked out on their own two legs through the main door of the neighborhood, perhaps they had not walked at all. And the possible reasons as to why they were unable to walk, with different degrees of horror, came rushing into the mind of the perm-head.
GINTAMA
Meanwhile, another problem had still not been solved. Far away from Yoshiwara, at the headquarters of the Shinsengumi, an important meeting was taking place. The three of the - the gorilla commander, the demonic vice commander, and the sadistic captain - were all gathered in a room and talking seriously about a certain problem.
"So not only has this woman infiltrated the Shinsengumi, but you're telling me that she might not even be who she says she is?" Kondo asked, dumbfounded. "And we're just finding out about it now?"
"Yes. I sent Yamazaki to search old Matsudaira's office, and apparently there is no trace of a 'Kemono' in the police files..." Said Hijikata with a sorry look on his face. "We got screwed over big time..."
"And even if that bitch, man or not, was part of the Shinsengumi or was really the police, she wouldn't get away with it..." Sougo added. "I'm not usually picky about the rules, but she broke several Kyokuchû Hatto rules... She's a threat we can't ignore, in addition to her meetings with several enemy factions..."
"Tch! Since when do you pay attention to the rules?" Hijikata said. "You really only respect them when it suits you!"
Kondo ignored the displeasure of his Vice Commander, who was more worried about this situation.
"What do you two think?" Kondo asked seriously. "Do you think you can handle this problem?"
"It's hard to say, considering her Herculean strength..." Hijikata admitted. "Besides, I'm still divided on his case..."
"Ah, obviously, because of 'that thing' that happened, you're no longer objective, you perverted Hijibaka bastard!" Sougo replied.
"Huh? What 'thing'?" Kondo asked innocently.
"I told you nothing happened!" Hijikata snapped.
Suddenly, Kondo's phone started to ring. He had just received an e-mail from a person whom he had never expected to talk with... He began to cry like a child, before standing up abruptly.
"Toshi, Sougo, I'll leave you in charge of this..." Said the gorilla as he sniffed and wiped away his tears to give way to a manly face.
"Where are you going, Kondo-san?" Hijikata asked.
"To see Otae-san!" He shouted in delight. "She asked me to join her! To drink tea!"
"Impossible... It's either a trap or a wrong number..." Said Sougo, doubtful.
"But it's clearly her! Look! You can recognize her little stroke of humor!" Said the gorilla, showing them the email he had just received.
"Fuc-Dear Gorilla,
do you want to join me (now) for tea? (this is an order)
I'm waiting for you, so hurry up! (Die dirty gorilla!)"
Hijikata and Sougo held back from bursting into laughter, as much as they felt sorry for their leader. They could perfectly see the falsely smiling face of this terrible woman as she wrote these words. Maybe they should prepare the funeral of the gorilla- Uh, Kondo-san's, right now? It didn't bode well, in any case...
"Huh? Did you see that!? Ah, she's really cute when she puts her mind to it! So I'm going! I'll let you take care of everything!" Said Kondo before running out of the room.
Sougo then turned to his superior, without a murderous urge for once.
"So, what do we do? That bitch is pretty strong... I couldn't beat her even once." Sougo thought aloud, "And even with two of us, I doubt we'll get anywhere..."
"That's true... But even with the entire Shinsengumi, it would be risky. If she's already put members on her side, we could very well get stabbed in the back without realizing it..." Said Hijikata... "But we don't really know her intentions, so it's hard to gauge. The best solution is still direct confrontation..."
"Talking to her?" Sougo asked.
She apparently didn't exist in the police files; but had had by some means still unknown to them, a letter of recommendation from Old Man Matsudaira. She seemed to come into contact with criminals regularly, and had even fought some of them.
Her behavior was already strange to begin with, even if she had really been with the police.
But if she really wasn't in the police, then who was she? And what was she doing in the Shinsengumi? What did she want to do that was so important, that she had pretended to be a man until now?
These questions kept running through Toshiro's mind.
He wondered if this seemingly calm, but also violent person could mean them harm. She was hiding her true identity, so if they wanted to know more about her, they should avoid alarming her, especially about the fact that they had discovered who she was not.
Toshiro was afraid, too. Did he still have to fear a rebellion within the Shinsengumi? Or his and Kondo-san's dismissal?
It was clear that Sougo was very upset, and doubted - rightly or wrongly - that new Vice Commander. In particular, he was angry that he had found someone stronger than him. But until now, Toshiro had not judged that this person could be fundamentally bad. And he still didn't want to believe it, even after he found out that she might not be who she claimed to be. Therefore, there was only one thing to do: learn as much as possible, so he could make a decision quickly.
"No choice. Let's find out what she's up to first, and then we'll decide." Said Hijikata, resigned. "I've already ordered Yamazaki to warn the Old Man, in case something happens to us..."
"Oh, for once, you know how to be useful!" Sougo mocked.
"What are you saying, you bastard!?" Hijikata snarled.
At that moment, Sougo pulled out his bazooka and shot at Hijikata.
"Oops, sorry, I didn't hear anything because of all the noise! Are you dead, Hijibaka?"
"You bastard... Are you really trying to kill me?" Said the vice commander as he crawled to the ground.
But what they didn't know was that a pair of ears were silently listening to them, behind one of the sliding panels. Ears that belonged to the object of their discussion. A small smile broke out in the darkness, both happy and melancholic. Kemono, the woman posing as a man in the Shinsengumi, and perhaps not sent by Matsudaira, then walked away. She returned to the room she shared with the demonic Vice Commander, deciding that a nap would be most welcome before the confrontation with those two idiots...
But what she didn't know was that she was being watched, too. By an unknown pair of eyes...
To be continued...
Comprehension notes:
(1): People end up dying when you try to kill them: reference to the phrase "people die when you kill them/people die if they are killed", spoken by Emiya Shirou, in the anime Fate/Stay Night.
(2) Bargain Dash: parody of Haagen Dazs ice cream, already used in Gintama.
(3) Anego: term already used in Gintama. It refers to a woman superior/ in charge in a mafia group (of yakuza in particular). Its male equivalent is "Aniki". It will be used alternatively with the term "Boss" in this fanfiction.