Yuki could do nothing but stand gaping for several moments. “Why on earth did you spy on the Lady?” she finally asked, keeping her voice low.
“I didn't mean to!” Rin shot back, glancing from side to side anxiously. “I’ll tell you more, but not here.” She turned, and walked hurriedly down the street, as the commotion from within their house grew loud enough that muffled yells could be heard from where they stood. Yuki followed behind but kept her distance. She was not sure why she was putting herself at risk, as Rin had never been especially kind to her, but she did remember that Rin had taken her punishment upon herself during her first observation as an eye.
They made their way down the street towards the northern moat. There was a small izakaya there, a kind of pub, where elder sisters could go to unwind. It was one of the benefits of their rank, and many congregated there after a long night’s work. Patrons were not allowed in this kind of establishment, and neither were unaccompanied younger sisters. Eyes, of course, were never allowed in.
Yet with Rin leading the way, Yuki was able to walk right in. They bypassed the open seating area for a private room, one that was completely closed off except for the sliding screen door that connected to the narrow hallway. There Rin sat down and quickly ordered a bottle of sake. When the door was finally closed, and she had made sure that no one was lingering nearby, she finally relaxed. She took a long swig from the bottle and then put it down hard on the table.
“I’m already dead,” she groaned, letting her head thump back against the wall behind her. “How could I be so foolish!”
Yuki eyed her cautiously. “What happened?”
Rin lifted her head and gazed at her wearily. “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise me two things. One, you will never tell a soul about this. Two, you will promise to help me think of a way out.”
Yuki was not sure if she wanted to be complicit in all of this, especially before hearing what had actually happened. However, she also felt that by meeting with Rin privately, she had already gone too far to back out. Besides, she had never seen her so distressed before, and it was indeed troubling. From everything she had heard, kindling the wrath of the Lady was a deadly offense. As much as Rin had antagonized her in the past, she did not want to see her suffer without trying to help.
“I’ll help you.”
Rin took another long draught of sake, but this time her gaze did not break from Yuki’s, as if assessing her reliability. After a few moments of what seemed to be a great internal conflict, she finally spoke. “This is going to seem like a lie, but I promise you that every word is the truth.”
Yuki nodded earnestly, allowing her to continue.
“As you may have already known, I have been passed over for a promotion for quite some time. My skills are equal to any of the other masters out there, and my work ethic is unquestionable. I’ve seen more men than I care to count, and that is on top of my wages as a musician. There is no precedent I am breaking, for there have been many other musicians who have been promoted to master who were much younger than me. I have done well enough as a senpai. You were promoted ahead of schedule, and Misasa is on her way to becoming a highly favorable imouto. As you can see, there are no other legitimate reasons that I can think of as to why I have not been promoted.
So, the only reason that remains is that I must have fallen out of favor with one of the administrators, which is not a valid reason to delay promotion, but it seems to happen quite frequently around here. The perpetrator, I believe, is Ueda. He was my very first…” When she said this a look of utter revulsion crossed her face. “But since that time, I have not allowed him to touch me again, and I have made no effort to visit him privately. He disgusts me, and I despise him. Other than not sharing his bed, I have shown nothing of my true feelings towards him, but have always treated him in a polite, cordial manner.”
Yuki nodded, but she was not sure how this related to the real problem.
Rin pressed on. “For quite some time I have been terribly upset about this and wondered if there was anything else that I could do. That is when I remembered a story I heard once when I was an eye. It was a story of a flower who felt so confident in her abilities that she went right in to see the Lady and asked that she be promoted. Rumor had it that the Lady was so impressed with her ardor, that she promoted her on the spot, and she ended up marrying a wealthy officer who died and left her his entire estate in the far countryside.”
“That seems too good to be true,” interrupted Yuki.
Perhaps,” Rin said wistfully, “But a kind of madness came over me. I was feeling desperate, and I thought to myself, ‘If I could just speak with the Lady, and explain myself, I might finally be promoted.’ So, after my afternoon obligations, I resolved to go and try to speak with her in person.”
“Have you ever spoken with her before?” Yuki asked, who was under the impression that none save a few elite foxes had.
Rin shook her head. “No. Not one-on-one. She was a bit more visible when I was an eye, but now she is frequently gone on long errands, or with the Shōgun in his palace.”
“So how did you suppose you were going to see her then?”
“I did not really think that I would be able to see her today. I thought that I would go to her estate and be turned away, and somehow, she would catch wind of it, and she might summon me at a later time. It was foolish, I know. I wish I would have never gone!” she lamented, before taking a long pause and another draught of sake.
“So, what happened?” Yuki prodded. The sake was taking its effect, and Rin’s face had turned bright red. Her hesitation was diminished, and her words seemed to spill ever faster out of her mouth.
“Well, when I got there, there were no foxes at the main entrance.”
“How strange. There are always guards posted there.”
“Yes, exactly! So, you can imagine my surprise when I saw that there were none. I was curious, so I peeked my head inside. I then imagined something sinister going on and thought that if by chance I could save the Lady from harm, I would win her favor for certain. It was madness, I know, but I went inside anyway. Everything was dark, and the place seemed abandoned except for faint voices far off and away. I continued on, further than I ever imagined I would ever go. I was caught up in some wild mood, and all my natural fear had left me. When I finally realized what I was doing, and could no longer go on, that is when I saw them.”
Yuki’s eyes opened wide. “Them?”
Rin’s voice fell to a whisper, and she leaned forward so that Yuki could feel her breath upon her face. “The Lady. She was with a man, but he was not the Shōgun. I could not see his face, but I knew that it was not her lord. They were both undressed and lying next to each other.”
Yuki could not believe her ears. “But the Lady is the prime consort of the Shōgun! She cannot be with anyone else!”
Rin nodded, lifting the bottle to her lips but was unable to drink. “They were lying next to each other, speaking softly. At that time, I understood why the estate was unguarded and left abandoned. The Lady did not want anyone to see, not even her own trusted servants. Such a thing, if reported to the wrong person, could spell disaster for her. The favor of the Shōgun has been a great part of her success here. If he ever found out she was seeing another man behind his back, it could be her doom.” She trailed off for a moment, took only a small sip, and continued.
“There I stood, petrified by the realization that I had stumbled upon an awful, terrible secret. Though I tried with every ounce of courage I could muster, I could not move my limbs to get away. I was frozen still. The only thing I could do was listen. And this is what I heard…
The Lady had been speaking at length about the upcoming battle with the barbarians. The man was listening patiently. When she finally had finished, he asked, ‘When the moment comes, will you be ready?’ At this, she turned towards him and laughed. She told him not to worry, that she had been preparing for this moment for quite some time, and that her power was almost at its peak.”
“What power?” Yuki breathed, as an uneasiness crept over her.
“I am not sure, but she sounded confident. She then asked him if he was ready to uphold his end of the bargain, to which he replied, ‘Yes. If the victory over the barbarians is complete, I will kill the Shōgun as we have discussed.’”
“Kill the Shōgun!” exclaimed Yuki, though she kept her voice to a whisper and covered her mouth so that her words barely passed through.
Rin nodded gravely. “Then, the man stood and dressed, and I began to panic, for I did not know what to do. I was so frightened that I did not hear the rest of the conversation, although it had to be brief. The man soon took his leave and so I hid in an indentation in the wall where there was a tall bonsai tree in a large clay pot. I positioned myself behind it as best I could, and luckily, he was in a hurry, so he did not notice me.
I waited there for some time, allowing the man time to exit before I made my move. I knew that I only had a few minutes before the foxes would return, and I would be caught either where I was or in leaving the estate. And I could not just leave through the front entrance, the way I came in, so I had to try something else. I thought that I could jump through a window space nearby. They were all shaded, but I had no other choice! I had to gather my strength and do it. I had heard nothing from within the Lady’s chamber since the man departed, and I became worried that she would soon emerge at any time.
So I ran, and I ran with such blind fury that I could think of nothing else. I saw the window, pushed open the shutters, and jumped. When I landed in the alleyway below, I did not look back but ran with all my strength until I was far away and surrounded by the intoxicated throng that flock to Ishihara night after night. And there I stayed for some time, for my heart felt that it would burst, and I walked along aimlessly, grateful that I had managed to get out unseen. However, when I lifted my hand to feel my heart finally easing in my chest, I noticed that my brooch was not there. It had been torn off during my escape, possibly by the stiff limbs of the bonsai tree, or at some point when I had passed through the window’s opening.”
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There was a long silence. Yuki could instantly see that it was true, for she was not wearing the brooch, and a few frayed pieces of thread stuck out where it should have been.
“I thought that it might have fallen off outside of the Lady’s estate, but I dared not go back to search for it. When I finally gathered myself enough to return to our house, and I heard Udea storming upstairs, I knew that it had already been found.”
“But the brooch does not implicate you, not specifically. Every musician has one, even me. They are all identical.”
“That is true,” Rin agreed as if the thought had just come to her. “And I do have many others that I have saved in case I ever lost mine. In fact, I already picked one up from my private box at the treasury house.” She held up the golden brooch that bore the emblem of the musicians and put it on.
“Well there!” Yuki cried, as her heart lifted. “No one shall ever know!”
But Rin did not seem comforted. “I don't think that it will be that easy. If the Lady suspects that someone has seen her in private with another man, discussing a plot to overthrow the Shōgun, she will use all her resources to find them. She does not know how long I was there, and they could have discussed many other matters, though I cannot imagine much worse. If she shunned even her loyal foxes, it was surely an illicit meeting. She will desperately want to find the culprit, and I cannot imagine what she will do to me when she does.” At this point, her older sister, who was always so strong and calm and as cold as ice, finally melted and began to weep.
Yukiana did her best to comfort her with words and even offered her a shoulder to cry on, but it was a long time before she could finally speak again.
“What am I going to do?” she moaned, her eyes bleared red from tears.
Yuki had already been thinking about this as soon as the story had concluded. “For now,” she began, trying to sound confident. “We cannot let this leave this room. Not even Misasa can know. The more people that know about what happened, the more likely that it will get out. This must remain a secret.”
Rin nodded, drying her eyes with a beautifully embroidered handkerchief she had gotten as a present from one of her patrons. “All right,” she agreed.
“Second, you have to be strong, Nē-san. I know you are afraid, but you cannot let any of that fear show once we leave this room. You must be yourself, and not be any different than normal. They do not yet know who it is, and so the best they can do is suspect. You cannot allow yourself to stand out.”
Her older sister agreed to this but sniffled loudly. “But what if they suspect someone else, and someone else takes the punishment that I deserve!”
“We can only hope that does not happen,” Yuki answered, realizing that the doom could potentially fall upon herself. “They have nothing but a brooch. And they will not get anything more. No one will readily offer themselves up, for the punishment will be too severe.”
This time Rin did smile, and although it was not her best, Yuki thought it was the first true smile she had ever seen her wear.
“Ne-san,” Yuki asked after a moment or two, “There is one thing I do not quite understand. Why me? Why of all people did you tell me?”
Rin took a moment to dry her eyes but did not need time to think about her answer. “When I first met you, I hated you Yuki-chan. I always despise newcomers, but you were especially irksome. Yet when the time came, I willingly gave myself up for you on that first night, do you remember? I did not understand it then, but over time I began to see why. You are exactly how I was when I first came here. You have the light of hope in your eyes. You believe in something beyond these four walls. And I, a woman defeated by time and circumstance, defeated by Ishihara, saw myself in you and withered.
And still, even now, you have that light. In my moment of doom, you were the one I sought. You have hope. Any other girl might have given me up for an expected reward, but I knew that you would genuinely try and help me.”
Yuki was taken aback. She had never imagined that someone else viewed her like this, especially her harsh older sister.
“I am going to leave this place one day,” Yukiana said with quiet resolve.
“When you do,” Rin said softly, “Please, take me with you.”
After a bit of encouragement, Rin was finally ready to return to the musician’s house. Every girl of Ishihara, if nothing else, could put on a mask of false composure, and this Rin did with great skill. By the time they returned, Ueda’s fury had died down, and all he did was inspect them and their brooches before allowing them to proceed upstairs. Once inside the room, they could hear that the whole house was busy with questions and accusations, with whispers and anxious silence. Misasa was already there, and so Rin and Yuki gathered around her, asking questions as if this was the first time they had heard of the scandal.
“One of our own was nearly caught spying on the Lady,” Misasa whispered with disdain. “Why someone would do such a thing is beyond me, but I know there are plenty of wicked men who come through this district. I am sure they made some sort of deal for the information.”
Rin and Yuki listened with as much feigned interest as possible, interjecting here and there to sound authentic.
Misasa did not seem to notice and went on for quite some time. By the time she had finished, all the other musicians had been accounted for, even the ones who were still out. But the perpetrator had not yet been found.
The next day, Ueda scheduled a mandatory family meeting, which was quite unusual, as it was difficult to gather all the musicians in one place. Everyone gathered in Ueda’s cramped quarters, and the only event Yuki could compare this with was the day she had won the janken contest and became the Ceremonial Eye. Udea explained that the Lady had been spied upon and that they knew that the perpetrator was a musician. He also told them that the foxes were already on the case, and extremely close to ascertaining the culprit. He said that they were going to give the perpetrator time to confess and thus avoid severe punishment. This, of course, was a lie, and part of their plan. Yuki had already told Rin to endure any such attempt. If they already knew who it was, they would not need to hold meetings to incite fear. Rin and Yuki both remained silent, despite Ueda’s best attempts to intimidate them into confessing. He stood in front of each and every girl and eyed them threateningly. Some girls broke down under his imposing stare, but this in and of itself was not enough to implicate them. Eventually, the meeting ended, and Ueda was no closer to discovering who it was than when he began.
The next several days seemed to drag on painfully. Yuki was ever aware of the increased presence of foxes in the daily lives of the musicians. They were ubiquitous and even stood guard inside of their rooms, which they had never done before. The sharp triangular faces and black eyes of the fox masks were unusually chilling, as was their utter silence and diligence. Yuki and Rin were unable to communicate, except for a few quick glances of solidarity. Rin appeared stable enough, and if she could last a while longer, the entire thing might blow over and be forgotten.
During this time of intense scrutiny, Yuki was able to mull over Rin’s strange account of the fateful evening. Many questions were unanswered and there were many details that seemed too strange to ignore. For one, who was this mysterious visitor? How did he have the gall, the audacity, perhaps even the bravery to be alone with the Shōgun’s prime consort? If he were found out it would be even worse for him than for her, for she was with child. He was risking torture and certain death. Why would he risk that? Was it for love? Or was it for another reason?
Secondly, what ‘power’ was the Lady referring to? Rin had said that the Lady’s ‘power’ was almost at its peak. What did she mean by this? Surely Lady Ishihara had near-complete control over her domain here in the city, but abroad, she was not so sure. Did she mean her foxes? Was the Lady going to use them to battle the barbarians? No, that did not seem plausible either. For as skilled as they were, what good would they avail over a murderous horde?
And why would they want to remove the Shōgun? How could they even attempt such a thing? How would they get away with it even if they could? These were the terrible questions which consumed her mind during the following days.
One week after her meeting with Rin, Yuki was doing her morning chores alongside Misasa. They were soaking linens in one of the washrooms where there were piles of clothes and large baths of water. There were usually plenty of girls from other families about, but this time there were only two others, and they were on the other side of the massive washroom. Misasa had been quiet that morning, but Yuki had attributed her demeanor to lack of sleep. Yuki had met with Sōichirō the evening prior and was still working diligently on winning over his elusive lover.
The air of unease had not lessened over the past few days. Instead, it seemed to be reaching a fever pitch. The musicians were not only openly scorned by the other families, but there was rampant distrust amongst each other, as the infection of suspicion was spreading. For the first time perhaps in the history of Ishihara, the song of the musicians was stifled by dishonor, and the silence was like a dirge.
“They must be close to ascertaining the identity of the spy,” Misasa said suddenly. She did not lift her eyes from the washing, but continued on, slow and methodical. “I have a feeling they will deliver the punishment soon.”
Yuki was taken by surprise by this and said nothing, continuing to wash. “Who do you think it is?” she finally asked.
“A fool,” her mentor replied coldly. “Only a fool would do such a thing. I am sure her punishment will be just.”
Yuki lowered her voice to a whisper. “I pity the one who did it.”
“Then you are a fool as well,” Misasa replied sharply, continuing to work. “She must be purged from among us, or we will all suffer.”
Yuki swallowed hard but did not know what else to say. She watched Misasa cautiously. There was an edge, a hardness about her that was different from before.
“If the infection of mistrust has spread to even her,” Yuki thought, “Then it does not bode well for Rin.”
The foxes were out in force and even watched over the women when they slept. It was too risky to speak to Rin, even just a single word of comfort. Despite her pleading eyes, Yuki looked down and said nothing.
That afternoon, she was alone in the room preparing for her meeting with Sōichirō, when Udea lumbered up the stairs.
“I hear they call you Yuki-chan,” he stated, striding into the room. The floorboards creaked under his tremendous girth, but he came, nonetheless. “The young Lord Tora is quite pleased with you. He pays me a great deal for your services. You must be quite skilled in the arts of seduction.”
Yuki shivered. She did not like being alone with this man, and she could feel an ill intent in his words. “I play for him,” she said in return. “Nothing more.”
“Ah, but there is always something more,” he snarled, and his smile was wicked and greedy.
“What do you need of me, Udea-sama?” she said, rising to her feet, and turning to face him directly. “Please speak plainly for I am young and uneducated in the ways of double meanings.”
Udea snorted. “The foxes have finally completed their investigation,” he said. “And they know that it was someone of this very floor who committed the heinous crime against the Lady. Tonight, you shall not meet with the young heir, but instead, you are summoned to the Lady’s estate where you shall witness the sentencing. I was asked to give the summons myself.” He had a cruel look in his eye, and his toothy grin reminded her of the tales of the villainous river yomi, whose smiles were said to be perilous.
“If they already know who it is why summon the rest of the floor?” Yuki shot back defiantly. “It all seems rather needless, no?”
“Someone will be convicted, that I can promise.”
“So, you don’t know who it is after all.”
Ueda took another step forward. “Perhaps. But if you give yourself to me, I may be able to ensure that it is not you. I have only made this offer to a select few.”
“I am not guilty,” Yuki returned fiercely, though she was mortally terrified. “And I will trust that my innocence is enough to see me through unharmed.”
At this Udea frowned, and she was not sure if he would take this rejection without some form of retaliation. His features darkened, and he stiffened and raised himself up to his full height. “You shall rue your decision!” he boomed. “For if you had any part in this evil, I will do nothing to shield you from the wrath of the Lady! You will receive the full measure of her fury!”
With that, he turned and strode away, and his great footsteps could be heard for several moments until he had gone down into his chambers. When at last Yukiana was certain that he was gone, she knelt down and let the tears fall.
“If the Lady’s wrath is as fierce as the rumors say,” she thought as her stomach turned over. “Someone is going to be punished, guilty or no.” Yuki did not know what she was going to do but knew that this night would be full of evil, and she needed all her wits about her to be ready for it.
“What should I do?” she thought in between sobs. “What can I do?”