Chapter 23: The Infiltration
Notes: Part 2 of the Entertainment District Arc.
They make their way to the Yoshiwara and their first stop is the Tokito House.
"Excuse my intrusion, but I am looking to leave these girls in better care. I would be relieved if you could take one." Uzui-san said.
"Oh, dear me… Those are some average-looking girls." the woman said.
"Not at our place…" the owner replied, "We just brought a new girl a few days ago, so I am sorry…"
"Well, one should be okay." the woman said suddenly.
"Then, I'll entrust one to you. Sorry for the trouble, ma'am. Thank you for your kindness"
"Then, we'll take the middle one. She looks honest."
"I'll work as hard as I can." Tanjirou –Sumiko– said.
He is the first one to get a job in one of the three houses Uzui-san's wives had infiltrated. He would look for Suma-san in House Tokito.
"Well let's get you cleaned up and settled in." the madam said.
As the make up was washed off, Tanjirou's mark appeared.
"Hey! What the hell is this?! You won't get any costumers with this huge scar here! Oh, come on. Give me a break! That man was so hot, how could he swindle me? This is unforgivable!" the madam shouted, grabbing hold of a lock of Tanjirou's hair and shaking him.
"Could you stop that ?" the man asked, worried, "Taking it out on the girl won't help! We took a chance on her. There's nothing we can do."
Tanjirou's infiltration had begun.
The next morning he was told his duties. Due to his scar, he'd be helping out with the house chores, rather than try to get customers.
He was in the middle of folding the covers in one of the rooms, when one of the women working there came.
"Sumiko-chan, could you carry some of that over? We don't seem to have enough helpers…"
"I understand! To Koinatsu-oiran's room, right? I will carry it over right away!" Tanjirou said earnestly.
He pilled up the presents in two big piles, to make them easier to carry.
"You really work hard, Sumiko-chan." one woman said.
"When we took your makeup off, we found your scar, so the hostess was boiling hotter than a raging fire yesterday, but…" the first woman said, smiling.
"Yes! I will be glad to do the work!" Tanjirou beamed, picking up the packages and being on his way.
'Uh, was it here?' he wondered, nearing a door and seeing two young girls – Koinatsu-oiran's aides, whispering between them.
He came closer to listen.
"I heard the hostess of the Kyougoku House fell from a window and died. How frightening. Let's be careful, okay?"
"There are a lot of ladies who 'lose their footing' and disappear, recently. It's scary."
"What do you mean by that?" Tanjirou asked, coming beside them, to set down the presents.
"Whaa, Sumi-chan, you don't know?" one of the girls asked.
"That's a lot of baggage." the other seemed surprised by how 'Sumiko' managed to carry all of these.
"They're all presents for Koinatsu-oiran." he smiled at the girls.
"So, when we said 'lose your footing', means running away from here without paying your debts. If they find you bad things will happen." the girl with the stripped obi explained.
"Oh, I see…"
"They say some also ran away with their loved ones."
"Even a few days ago, Suma-oiran…"
Tanjirou's attention was piqued.
'Suma-san! That's Uzui-san's wife…'
"Uhm…" he tried to find a way to ask about her, when the door to Koinatsu-oiran's room opened.
"Stop spreading those rumors." she said softly, "Nobody really knows…whether they really ran away or not."
"Okay!" the girls agreed.
"Come." she turned to Tanjirou, "Thank you for carrying these."
"Yes. No problem." Tanjirou walked towards her.
Koinatsu-oiran took his hand and placed a paper towel and some candy in it.
"I'll give you some candy. You can eat it alone in secret." she said.
"I want some too."
"Oiran! Oiran!" the two little girls came up to them.
"No, you just ate some a while ago, right?"
"Would it be alright if I shared mine with them?" Tanjirou wondered.
"Sumi-chan!" the girls hugged him around the waist, before returning to Koinatsu-oiran's side.
"Uhm… Did Suma-oiran really run away?" Tanjirou asked.
"Why are you asking me that?"
'I have to ask her about this well, carefully… She's being vigilant… But if I lie, I'll blow my cover!'
"Uhm, well… Suma-oiran is… I knew Suma-nee. She was a bit like my big sister." he replied, sifting his eyes away.
It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't complete truth, either.
He makes a really horrifying, painful face when he lies, he's been told many times – it's why he never could get past his family when he tried to hide a cold or a surprise or a small mischief.
"And you were sold here after your sister was?"
"Y-yes… We were constantly exchanging letters for a long time. She shouldn't be losing her footing here… She's not the type to ran away."
"Oh, is that so…?" Koinatsu-oiran seemed to believe him, "I honestly never thought Suma-chan would ran away either. She was a very gutsy girl. And a dependable young woman. She never acted conceited with men. But we found her diary… And she said she was planning to run off in it. I haven't heard word of her getting caught, so it'd be nice if she managed to escape… But…"
'Ashinuke… Run-aways… That's a convenient cover story for the demon. People would just think they ran away from the district. The diary was probably a false lead. I hope that she's safe… We'll save you no matter what. Suma-san…!' Tanjirou thought determined.
Then he bowed to Koinatsu-oiran.
"Thank you for what you told me about Suma-nee and for believing in her." he said, bowing, "I should return to my duties. I don't want to upset Ookami-san any more." he replied, sheepishly rubbing his scar.
Koinatsu-oiran smiled.
"Please, don't overwork yourself."
"I won't." he smiled back, "Thank you."
He left the room, and went back to finishing the various chores he was meant to finish before the day was done.
Once he was done, he went to the hostess.
"Ookami-san, I finished wiping down the hallway, draining the vases, getting new water, replacing the old water and trimming the flowers! What should I do next? Ookami-san, what's next?" he asked with an energetic smile.
"Be quiet. Hold on for a bit, you no-good… Wait, what!? You finished your work so quickly? What a diligent girl! S…So, next…uh…Uhh…"
The poor woman never expected Tanjirou's enthusiastic approach to hard, efficient and quick work. She went from being angry at being swindled to impressed.
As the night fell and he carried some pillows to a room, Tanjirou stopped to look at the sky.
'A dark and murky smell… The night in this town smells very impure…' he thought.
It's a distressing scent to his nose. It made him feel like someone was about to attack him.
He asked the mice to call the others to meet on the rooftops in the morning, relaying the information he found out about Suma-san.
In the morning, before he started his third day at Tokito House, he went to their meeting point to exchange information.
"Like, I'm saying! There is a demon at my house!" Inosuke was saying that day, "It's a thing like this! Like this! I'm sure!" he made gestures with his hands that Tanjirou couldn't really understand.
"Well… No… Yeah, that's, um… Just wait a second."
"Like this! Do you understand this?!" Inosuke kept making gestures. One reminded him of a butterfly. Or a spider dying. Tanjirou wasn't sure which.
"Look, Uzui-san and Zenitsu will be here soon for our reports, so…"
"Like this! It was like this! I know what they're like!" Inosuke now looked like a bird. Or something.
"Yeah, okay…"
"Zenitsu isn't coming."
"What do you mean by Zenitsu isn't coming?"
"I think I put you guys in terrible danger." Uzui-san was saying, "I wanted to help my wives, and that led me to make some bad choices. Zenitsu's whereabouts are currently unknown. He stopped contacting me last night. I haven't heard from him since last night. You two leave the Hanamachi. You're not up to this. If the demon here is an Upper Moon, you can't handle it. When someone disappears we must count them as dead. So, I regard those who have stopped sending me letters as such. From now on, I'll act alone."
"No, Uzui-san! We–!"
"There's no shame in this. To survive means victory. Don't squander this opportunity." And with that, he was gone.
"Wait, old man!" Inosuke called after him in vain.
"Maybe he doesn't believe in us because we're not far up in the ranks?" Tanjirou wondered.
"We're Kanoe now." Inosuke said, "We're four up from the bottom on the ranks' chain. Show us our rank."
Inosuke flexed his fist and the kanji for 'Kanoe' appeared.
Tanjirou flexed his own.
"My rank." he said.
"Hey! Yours is different!"
"I was tired from the Selection during the Wisteria Engraving, so I chose a short code." he replied sheepishly.
"And you're one higher than me!" Inosuke shouted.
Tanjirou looked pensively at his fist and the kanji that read 'Tsuchinoto'.
"Cheer up!" Inosuke slapped him on his back with enough force to throw someone down.
"Yes. Right. Now's not the time. My bad. When night falls, I'll head to the Ogimoto House, where you'll be, to meet you. Wait for me until then. Acting alone will be dangerous. Today, I'll finish investigating the House I'm currently in." Tanjirou explained.
"Why?!" Inosuke demanded, indignant, pulling Tanjirou's cheek, "I am telling you that there is a demon at my House. So come over now! You really are a total dumbass!"
"Wuor wuong!" Tanjirou tried to explain himself.
"Huuh?!" Inosuke turned to hitting Tanjirou.
"What's that racket?! Shut up…!" a man's voice was heard from somewhere below.
"Uzui-san was standing outside the stores at night, right? Owowow, but Zenitsu disappeared and the demon at your house hid itself." he explained, guarding his head, "Owowow, come on… Stop beating me up. I think there might be secret passages inside the buildings."
"Passages?" Inosuke stopped mid-hit.
"Yeah." Tanjirou sat back up, "The fact that there are no demons going in and out of the houses, means that there's a high chance they're working inside. The demons work in the brothels. Which means if they're acting tactfully as humans, they'd have to exercise more caution in killing humans so nobody would notice."
"I see… It'll take time to clean after a murder. And bloodstains don't just simply go away."
"This is a night district. So demons will find some things convenient, but not others. They have to work at night or people would begin to become suspicious and question them. I believe…that Zenitsu and all three of Uzui-san's wives are still alive and I will act with that belief in mind. I'll save them for sure. I want you to act with that in mind as well, Inosuke. And don't die under any circumstances! You okay with that?"
Inosuke stared.
"Everything you just said now…" he started, "is what I was trying to say!" he looked determined.
And so they did.
Tanjirou returned to Tokito House and kept looking more into Suma's disappearance, doing the work Ookami-san gave him.
When evening fell, he found Uzui-san's mice and asked for his swords and uniform.
Soon he was ready.
He waited for the girls to leave Koinatsu-san's room before he entered unannounced.
"Koinatsu-san. Forgive me for being impolite. I will be leaving the Tokito House. I owe the Master and the others for all the care they provided for, so could you give this payment to them?" he said with a soft voice and serious tone, pushing an envelope towards the young woman.
"Sumi-chan…your clothes… Why are you dressed like that?" Koinatsu-san turned to face him.
"I apologise for the deception. I have my reasons for dressing up as a girl, but I am actually a boy."
"Oh, I knew that. I could tell just by looking…and hearing." she replied, "With that body and voice of yours."
"…Huh?" the teen blinked.
"I knew you were a boy from the beginning. I was just wondering what you were doing here…"
Tanjirou felt lost.
'I never thought anyone would find out.' he realised.
"You have your circumstances, right? Some kind of mission? You were worried about Suma-chan, right?"
"Yes! I really was! That wasn't a lie!" he said passionately, "I will save those who have disappeared."
"…Thank you. I admit I am a little relieved now. You see…I'm leaving this town tomorrow." Koinatsu-san said after a moment.
"Oh? Is that so? That sounds wonderful!" Tanjirou said happily.
"There's someone who's willing to take me in as a wife… I'm, truly, extremely happy right now. But… That's why I couldn't help but worry about everyone I was leaving behind. Even though there were a lot of unsettling incidents happening, I had no means to investigate these mysteries…"
"That's only natural, so please don't worry about it! Please, just keep smiling."
"I guess I'll never know what brought you here. And…I really don't want you to leave…Sumi-chan." Koinatsu-san said kindly.
Tanjirou was surprised to hear that. He gave her a warm smile and bowed.
"My name is Kamado Tanjirou." he said, "It would be an honor if I did get the chance to meet you again in the future. I hope to have good news to share with you about Suma-san by then."
And he left as quickly and quietly as he had entered her room.
He was making his way to Ogimoto House to meet up with Inosuke.
'Crap. The sun's pretty much setting now. I gotta hurry over to Inosu…' he stopped mid thought, 'Wait… What's that? I smell something. A faint, sweet smell… A demon! I smell a demon and it's close!'
Notes: Dun-dun-dun! Clifhanger!