Ink Stained

72: agreements*

契約

Shin flipped the card to where the gilt-stamped digits were printed on the nondescript card. The sides were folding in on themselves from all the times he'd twirled it, crumpling the corners before straightening them out again in frustration. For a moment, he held it aloft between them, glaring at it, before stretching his arm and holding it out.

"Here."

Gingerly, as if it was a hot potato he took between his two fingers rather than a business card, Kouta took it and inspected the phone number. A little wrinkle worked its way to his brows. "Tokyo. I always thought he's probably based there."

Shin lifted an eyebrow. After sitting on the card for over a week while he stewed about what Pai did, and what he should do, Shin was surprised that that was all Kouta said when he finally saw the card.

"Seriously? That's all you have to say?"

Kouta lifted his shoulders in a carefree shrug. "What do you want me to say? It's not like I didn't consider other places. For a while I thought he was in Yokohama. But it's not big enough. Kitsune like big, busy cities. Tokyo's actually the perfect place. After Kyoto, of course." He grinned like a smug child. "Kyoto's always the best."

This idiot, he grumbled mentally. Out loud Shin said, "Maybe you could instead be saying that this is a bad idea and we shouldn't go through with it?"

"That this is a bad idea is common sense." Kouta readily agreed. "But it's our only idea. Dangerous as it was, I can admit that I applaud Pai-chan for taking the initiative we were twiddling our thumbs to avoid. A bit."

"Are you saying you're fine with what she did?" Shin asked, a little of the lingering, unresolved anger he still felt at the risk Pai so blindly took leaking into his voice. He sat up and slung his arm over his raised knee, turning away from Kouta to look out over the forest. The sun was setting just over the line of trees, and he squinted at its bright rays, watching it slowly, ever so slowly, sink behind the trees.

Kouta scoffed. "Hell no. But Shiori's already given her hell for it, so why should I add on to her ear damage?" he asked, referring to the very loud argument practically everyone had heard from Pai's bedroom after Shiori (and everyone else) found out about what she did.

Shin managed a vague smile at that. He thought he was angry with Pai for what she did – but that was nothing compared to Shiori. He knew that it was really just pure terror at what could have happened to her that made Shiori so angry, same as it was for him. Still, last night was the most furious he'd ever seen the princess, and she had a hair-trigger temper. She'd already gotten angry plenty of times in the three years everyone had lived together.

Despite the gravity of the situation, it was amusing to see how much of Obaasan's personality had filtered down the generations into Shiori. No one could question that she was Obaasan's granddaughter.

Everyone was extra friendly to Pai after Shiori was done with her, politely pretending they hadn't heard anything through the walls of the house, pitying her for ending up on the princess' very wrong side. Even Ryu postponed carrying out the prank he'd been planning to play on Shiori, choosing to stay well clear of his apocalyptic sister for days afterwards.

He scowled as an image of Pai sitting on the bed in the infirmary floated through his mind. He'd lost his temper with her right then and there. He felt horrible for lashing out at her for fear of what could have happened to her while she was alone with Kagetora, but it was nothing compared to everything she'd said to him.