CH_8.42 (307)

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The target's name was Sune Jakusho, a low-level samurai who was connected to a local yakuza-style gang involved in extorting "protection fees" from businesses, duping elderly people with no relatives into signing over their wealth, and running a predatory loan shark business with absurd interests and a violent collection process.

Jakusho was a mid-level member involved with the "protection fees" side of the business and went around his allocated region to extort money from businesses and shop owners. It allowed him to act like a tyrant, and the behaviour was bolstered by the fact that the local gang had connections to some samurai higher-ups, which allowed the gang to operate without the fear of law obstructing their activities.

The other person of interest in the mission was a geisha named Yuri. Like many geisha, her parents had sold her to a geisha house at a young age, where she was trained in the standard geisha arts—flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, calligraphy, music, dance, and historical and contemporary knowledge for conversational acumen.

Then, she was introduced into society under a new name, Yuri.

Yuri, being a beautiful young woman, was a sought-after geisha and commanded large sums of money from her wealthy patrons. She had long since repaid her parents' debts and past upkeep and had even paid the sum for her freedom from the geisha house, but she continued to work as a geisha because it was all she knew.

That, and being a geisha paid well. She, however, didn't maintain a sexual relationship with her clients and patrons, and her services solely revolved around keeping them company. So, when Jakusho began to push her in that direction, Yuki inevitably felt cornered enough by his behaviour to request an assassination.

"Didn't you hear the informant? The target will meet the geisha tomorrow; we should eliminate him before he causes a problem," said Takuma with a furrow between his brows.

"You see a problem, I see an opportunity," said Three, relaxed and confident.

The duo was arguing about how they would execute the mission based on the scrolls the informant had given them.

"I see a problem because there is a problem. We should keep the target far away from the geisha. If we kill him today, he won't reach her tomorrow," said Takuma. "And if we deal with him when he's visiting her, it will cast suspicion on her, which will get her into trouble—and yes, our mission is assassination and not caring about her well-being, but I'm sure it's perfectly understandable why we should keep the geisha at a safe distance."

"I don't deny any of that," said Three, raising her hands, "and I'm not saying that we strike when he's in her company."

Yuri's geisha house served nobles and samurai. Attacking Jakusho there would mean having at least a couple of samurai in the vicinity who could either serve as obstacles to killing him or, the more likely option, obstacles to them escaping after killing him. They hadn't scouted the geisha house, it was sure to have several people present inside, which would make killing Jakusho in stealth infeasible without extensive planning or help from an insider.

They had neither, which was why Takuma asked, "Then when do we do it?"

"We hit him en route to the geisha house," Three replied.

"How's that any different from killing him today?"

"Listen, I'm just taking your advice," she said, surprising him.

"Pardon; my advice?"

"Yeah, your advice from back at the teashop. You said stealing from the samurai's house was straightforward because it only involved one location. I'm just applying the same concept here; the informant gave us the target's frequent locations and rough timings, but we haven't followed him day-in-and-day-out to know his schedule or where he will be exactly one hour from now, and even if we did, it's not enough time to know what kind of secondary obstacles might be present at those locations—but we do know where he's going to be tomorrow evening."

To meet Yuri, her clients had to reserve time slots, and Jakusho had kept the same day and time slot for the past two months. His meeting with her was one part of the routine that was proven to be set in stone.

Three continued, "Hitting the target en route to his appointment simplifies the problem by removing the moving parts. His appointment in the evening gives us the whole day to plan. Let's say we choose a road or intersection close to the geisha house—scout every corner of the place, create a plan—and hit him with precision and surety. One target, one location, straightforward—and thus reliable... What do you think?" she asked.

Takuma was silent momentarily as he thought about a logical fallacy in her words, but after considering her words from a couple of different angles, he didn't see any apparent problems. The more he considered it, the more it made sense to follow Three's plan.

"My advice makes sense, doesn't it?" he said.

She took the clue and smiled, "It absolutely does."

"It's decided then. We kill the target tomorrow."

———

With the informant task locked in for the second day, the duo decided to handle the heist task on the first day. Unlike Jakusho, the samurai who owned the historical twin daggers was a high-ranking samurai. His house was in an affluent part of the city where the roads were broad; the properties were bigger because of large yards and gardens, and each residence had ample space between them—making the entire residential area emptier as opposed to a denser part of the city where adjacent buildings touched with only narrow alleyways between them if any.

It was easier to blend in with busy crowds, which the affluent residential area lacked, thus making wandering around a property, at the very least, suspicious.

Most houses in the area were single-storey structures with an attic level serving as additional storage, but each property had high walls that made viewing from the surface level impossible. Nearly all properties had trees near the property line or walls, which partially blocked the view from both sides, but the foliage wasn't thick enough for the duo to hide inside and spy.

"Any ideas?" asked Three as they stood under a tree's shade three houses away from the samurai's house.

"We go in from the back, ask politely, pick up the daggers, and leave," Takuma said with a shrug.

"Should we also have tea if they offer it?"

"I don't think the samurai is at home."

"I didn't see him, but that doesn't mean he isn't in there."

She had peeked into the house he stood as a lookout, but they hadn't enough time to ensure the samurai wasn't home.

"There weren't any horses in the stable," he said, thinking back to a brief look he had gotten himself. "You are a shinobi, so it's not a part of your culture, but you must've noticed samurai on horseback today. Unlike us, samurai use horses; seeing that the house had a stable and it was empty, there's a high chance that the samurai is out."

"You're also a shinobi."

"I'm a cultured individual."

She rolled her eyes. "What about the other samurai in the house?"

The information scroll for the heist task was brief at best. They were given a description of the historical twin daggers, their addresses, and some information about the samurai. They didn't want to face the samurai because he was classified as a jonin-level combatant in shinobi terms.

Neither of them could survive against that, even if they fought with perfect teamwork.

"He's much weaker, I think we can deal with him," said Takuma.

That included a few guardsmen they had seen stationed around the house.

They could stake out the house and wait for someone to come out, abduct them, and get some information, but they had no idea when someone would step out or when the samurai might return home. Time was of the essence, and they currently had a window of opportunity before them.

They could abduct someone, keep them overnight and then go in the next day—but what if the person they abducted was expected back within the hour, and their missing presence created uncontrollable complications?

"So, I say we pop in, get the daggers, and then disappear," he said.

Thieves got caught for various reasons. They could get caught during the act, get implicated from some evidence they left behind, get the authorities alerted when they try to sell their stolen goods, even simply blabbing or bragging to someone about the job could come back to bite them.

However, they weren't trying to sell the daggers; they hadn't talked about the heist with anyone—so as long as they didn't get caught during the act, they could get away without a hitch. Even if they left some evidence behind, they weren't from the city, making it difficult and time-consuming for the authorities to tie it back to two complete ghosts with no local presence.

"Alright, let's go see how special these daggers are," said Three.

———

The people in the samurai's house were having a calm day. Regardless of whether they were staff or family, it was a privilege and boon to be connected to a high-ranking samurai, especially one who had a position in the Ember Imperial City.

Aifumi was an elegant woman in her mid-forties. She was the wife of a samurai, making her the mistress of the house. While her husband performed his duties to the Daimyo as a samurai, upholding their family name, she was responsible and trusted to maintain the household and social affairs of being a samurai with influence in the Daimyo's court.

She was having a slow day, having just finished hosting a gathering at their house for a handful of her husband's peers last weekend. Of course, starting tomorrow, she was going to review the household budgeting, which would take her a few days to get all sorted as their estate employed quite a handful of people and provided a few services to manage their home.

When she was done with that, she was planning to guide her daughter-in-law so she could take over the responsibilities in a few years when her elder son was expected to follow his father and officially enter the Daimyo's court.

It was all part of her responsibilities as the mistress of the house and her duty to support her husband, but today, she was going to take it easy.

Her attendant served her tea, and she gazed out the room and into the garden outside. She closed her eyes as she listened to the water dribbling from the pond fountain and the tunes from the wind chime and found the hectic pace of her life slowing down.

As she had her eyes closed, Aifumi heard some footsteps. They were uniform, light yet stable, and yet had a heavy feel to them. She thought herself familiar with everyone in the estate to recognise them by their footsteps, or at least recognise if they were a guard or attendant. But the sound of these footsteps were different than anything she heard.

She opened her eyes just in time to see a masked man enter her view outside the door.

As the wife of a high-ranking samurai, she had both seen and hosted shinobi a handful of times at their house, so she recognised the man as a shinobi from his gear. The style differed from what she had seen on the Hidden Leaf shinobi, and the green-and-grey colour scheme was foreign to her—but the man was undoubtedly a shinobi.

A couple of seconds passed as the man looked at her and the attendant in the room. The light from outside cast a shadow over the man, making him seem darker.

Her sense of danger flared. She knew this man could not have come with good intentions and went to shout to alert the guards, but her body suddenly seized. She could no longer speak or even move her pinky. It felt like she had turned into a statue and could only stare at the man because that's where her gaze was when she lost control of her body.

She couldn't see her attendant, but hearing no words from her meant she was also similarly frozen. Her heart thumped, and fear crept in when she couldn't move or scream, no matter how much she tried. She had never felt anything like this before but knew it could only be shinobi's ninjutsu.

The man stepped aside, and a similarly dressed woman stepped out from behind the door. Unlike the man, who wore a green mask with a leaf design, the woman wore a teal mask with a blue splash design.

"Breath through your nose," said the woman in a soothing voice.

Aifumi was confused, and the panic in her heart only rose when she realised the man wasn't alone. How many people had invaded their homes?

"Listen to my voice, " the woman continued to speak. "Focus on your breathing. In and out. In and out. Follow my words. Breathe in and breathe out. Just like that. Repeat with me."

The woman asked them to breathe, and Aifumi followed the calm voice. Even though her heart was still hammering away, her breathing was in control.

"Excellent," said the masked woman. "We do not wish you harm in any way. I understand it might be hard to believe, but it's the truth. As long as you follow our requests, we will be out of your sight, out of your home, never to return." She turned to look at Aifumi. "I'm assuming you're the lady of the house, madam. Please respond through a simple nod or shake of your head."

Aifumi wanted to complain that she couldn't move her body, and this was just a ploy for them to harm them when she suddenly felt that she could move her neck. In fact, everything above her shoulders except her voice was free. She could open her mouth, move her tongue, but couldn't produce any sound.

She glanced at her attendant, who sat a few steps away from her near the wall and looked uncomfortable as her body was frozen into a statue-like state. She then looked back at the pair of invaders and nodded.

"Thank you for cooperating. Our goal is simple. We require a set of old twin daggers that we know to be in this house."

Aifumi didn't have to think; she knew what they were talking about. There was a set of old shinobi daggers framed and hanging in her husband's office. He had acquired them three years ago, beating a shinobi in an auction.

"...I see you recognise what I'm talking about."

Aifumi scolded herself for showing her recognition on her face. It had been frozen just a moment ago..

"Lead us to the daggers. We will leave afterwards. Please nod if you understand."

She nodded.

"Nod if you agree to cooperate."

She nodded again. If the cost of getting these intruders out of her house were a set of old daggers, then she would gladly pay it.

"Very good. Thank you for cooperating. Please stand up."

Just as the words ended, Aifumi realised she could move her entire body again. Her voice was still not in her control. She stood up and glanced at her attendant before looking at the woman, who understood her intention and said,

"She will be freed as soon as we leave. No one will be harmed."

Aifumi hesitated for a moment before nodding. As she led them through the house, the woman spoke in a whisper, which sent shivers down her back. "We know there are guards in the house. Understand that if you are leading us to them, I will not keep my promise of not harming anyone. The easier you make it for us, the easier it will get for you. Do you understand?"

Aifumi hurriedly nodded repeatedly. She thought of her granddaughter, who had just started walking; her daughter-in-law, who was supposed to succeed her; the people who worked at their house—while her husband was out, it was her duty to protect them all.

"Very good. Thank you for your cooperation."

She did her best to follow a route that wouldn't be visible to the guards and prayed no one would come across them. Unfortunately, her prayers weren't answered. They heard footsteps from across the corner, and Aifumi recognised them as a guard from their heaviness.

The man walking ahead of them raised his hand in a fist. The woman grabbed Aifumi's shoulder and pulled her to a stop. The man stepped ahead to the edge of the corner before rushing across. Aifumi squinted her eyes closed when she heard the guard struggle, muffling out half a syllable before silence punctuated the sound of a body sliding against a wall down to the ground.

The woman gently pushed her, and Aifumi walked around the corner in fear to see the guard slumped against the wall. She couldn't see any blood, but it didn't relieve her fears.

"He's unconscious, please keep moving," said the woman while pushing her.

Aifumi bowed her head as she moved along. She had not led them to a guard, but now it could only seem like she had done so. The fear for her family's safety spiked in her heart, and she silently prayed for her husband to return home and save them.

They finally arrived at her husband's office, and the woman asked her to go inside and retrieve the daggers.

She came out with the daggers encased in a frame, and the man took it off her hands.

"I know that you didn't lead us to the guard. Rest assured, we will keep the promise and leave without harming anyone. Head inside the office and sit there for ten minutes before coming out. Your voice will return soon," said the woman.

Aifumi nodded, and the next moment, the masked duo disappeared with a gust of wind that blew the loose strands of her hair back.

She followed the instructions and sat inside her husband's office. Her voice returned in three minutes, but she remained in her office. She heard a commotion, and within a minute, another guard entered the office with an attendant and began checking on her injuries.

When the ten minutes ended, she immediately went to her granddaughter and daughter-in-law's side to ensure their safety and didn't leave them until her husband and sons returned home.

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The link is in the synopsis!