What a pokey little place… but it’s better than jail, and right now my efforts in Osaka will go better if I’m -not- there. The information I have places the nosy, horrid Kyoto Obiwabanshuu having thier hands in this affair, too. How much will I have to endure? I put down the cup of tea that I’m drinking. This place has terrible standards.
Too many of the ambitious young men that my son sponsored are stripped of their duties. Of course that all stayed out of the paper, too embarrassing for the Government… They were so easy to take in – from good families, eager…. and too poor to make their rise… and here we were, with so much money. The foreigners… some were sent home. A young Austrian naval attache is some sort of a son of a princeling and is claiming “immunity”, which is taking up ink in the papers. We Japanese do love to blame a foreigner!
And as for Miyagawa… he never took our money, he had no need to. No, my leverage over him is a -secret-, and from what I heard he got away with a slap on the wrist. It was thought that all he was guilty of was following some bad friends to illicent pleasures. All men do, of course. I narrow my eyes. Well, he’s safe for now and with the Interior over all aspects of law enforcement… he’ll remain useful, or he’ll lose it -all-. My son understands that he must endure jail for now, and I’ve paid enough bribes to where he’s living well there. But I’ll need Miyagawa for my own plans.
And as for the police… what is this corrupt cop Fujita? My son babbled something over him being a Shinsengumi captain, but he’s mistaken. One is in the north babysitting criminals, the other living capitain is in jail. The rest are dead, that’s well known. But my son did tend to overreact when he gets hot, and there was such a fire that night… but if he’s corrupt, maybe he can help me take down that Kawajii. It’s some man of his that got the Osaka police to turn against us….
A pretty woman enters the room, bowing profusely with manners as pretty as her face.
“Kato-sama, thank you again -“
I wave my hand. This town was overrun with crime, all to do with that noxious Tanaka group my son saw fit to associate himself with. There’s danger in easy money, I’d tell him – drug smuggling, human trafficing… But in the end it wasn’t that which landed him where he is now… although my contacts in the Osaka PD tell me that it’s all being connected. What a foolish son I have. He should have been trying to make sons with one of his wives… if he actually stuck to something I’d have a proper heir now. He’s just like his father, sometimes.
And now this whole Yagi Hide debacle. Kidnapping? He told me lately, when I’ve visited him in jail, that that corrupt cop Fujita said that the Yagi woman was a kept woman. Had I know that, I would have just offered the man a good sum to sell her. Most men are ready to be rid of troublesome women, and the Yagi woman was nothing but trouble. She’s vanished but we’re looking for her, but not to repeat my son’s mistakes. I have my own ways, after all.
I would like to make her cry. I never -did- get to break her. Ah, and how I do miss Kichisaburo-san. I knew right away he couldn’t be that Okita Souji, but he was fun to have around! And so willing, almost eager, to get his hands dirty! I wonder how it was for the Yagi woman, to have the man she loved (I think she was fooled, she was rather dim) hurt her so! I titter a bit to myself. But at least I don’t have to put up with that dour Asato-san.
The woman attending me waits patiently for me to say something else as I’m lost in my own thoughts.
“Your tea here is of poor quality, I expect better next time.” I throw the rest of the cup into her lap, splattering her face and kimono, but she only flinches -a little-. “And I need those books – both sets.” I look down at her. “You understand what I mean, correct?”
She bows her head. “Yes, mama-sama.” I smile. She’s a good girl, obedient. Thankful for all that I gave her, saved her from. She’s pretty and would fetch a good price for a life of suffering, and she knows that. Not headstrong… and nobody left to protect her. She owes it all to me, and will give me what I need. Even to betray an old friend.
From the window I can see the sign of this place – SUGIYAMA ONSEN – ITO. It’s a bit crooked, but we should leave it a bit shabby for now. I may be an old woman, but I can -wait-.