Mark of the Firefly (Tsukkiyama)

Espionage in a Box

It took Yamaguchi two days of nonstop work to finally crack into the box. Two days of sitting hunched over a tiny little table in the cramped space of Hinata's room, which they had deemed safer than the Firefly suite. Yamaguchi worked through the night, refusing to eat and taking breaks only for water and to relieve himself. Every rattle of the car and turn on the tracks sent a spike of anxiety through Yamaguchi's body; if ever he needed a steady hand, it was now. He could afford no mistakes, not when they could cost him his fingers. The process was too long and grueling, too boring to be frank, for the others to stick around and watch. Instead, they took shifts. One would stay behind to guard Yamaguchi and the box while the other two tried to gather as much information as possible or just generally make themselves useful.

Kageyama and Hinata went rather rapidly from hating each other's guts to being the best of chums. Their only arguments were ones of friendly competition and well-natured debate, not brawls. Mundane bickerings were still common, but lacked their previous bite, instead taking on a tone of fondness. Yachi, of course, knew no difference, only familiar with this companionable pair, but whenever Yamaguchi questioned them, each grew red in the face and denied the change, insisting upon their rivalry. Not that this new closeness drove them apart. Now that his suspicions were confirmed and realized, Hinata was infinitely more friendly, eager to lend a hand wherever needed, and ever so chatty. Kageyama was still Kageyama, quiet, grumpy, and unable to joke or smile, but he was considerably kinder to his three companions. Yachi, outside of life or death combat situations, was skittery and shy, quick to backtrack her words out of fear of offense. She was also brilliant, an excellent strategist, and an even better researcher. Yamaguchi was as he always was, kind and gentle, but with a new edge of confidence, no longer so eager to please those around him at his own expense; there was no room for pushovers in this strange set of circumstances.

Ever vigilant in his patrols, Hinata collected plenty of useful tidbits. He usually went through the train in the night, his eyes better suited to the dark than Bokuto's on account of being a Kamelion. He found no great attempts at the train's safety, but he did gather some information. When given the description of the not-Tick, Hinata confirmed that the man was no longer aboard. That morning at Tauveriin, when Kageyama and Yamaguchi left, the not-Tick and his men had followed and not reboarded. They had either been with the slavers or otherwise held up so that they never made their way back to the Nekarasi. With his excellent nose, Hinata also eased everyone's minds in stating that none of the slavers had made their way onto the train either; he would have smelled them and thrown them out if they had. As far as Hinata could tell from his night patrols, no one was following the course of the train; for the time being, they were off Scott-free.

During Kageyama's time gathering information, he returned to the gambling car. Yachi had taught him how to identify the Firefly accent, and so Kageyama mimicked it and soundly stuck himself in their groups. There, gambling with former emissaries and wealthy elite, he heard much more useful gossip. For starters, books weren't the only things missing information on the youngest prince. No one in the empire knew anything about him. It was general consensus that there must be something wrong with him, either in appearance or in mind, to make the royal family go to such great lengths to hide him. Was the youngest prince a target, maybe not, but he was certainly a weakness for the royal family. Kageyama also found that there had been a recent uptick in manufacturing demands. Never for full products, but simply parts to machines. It could just be a coincidence, but they might also be secretly preparing for war. Not only that, but the Firefly Empire was slowly lessening iron and bronze trades with everyone, even the Kingdom of the Iron Wall. Tensions weren't high yet, it seemed, but the empire was preparing for something big.

Yachi found herself enamored with Akaashi's library car, and if Yamaguchi thought he was studious, he was nothing compared to her. Over the span of the two days, she systematically went through every bit of textual information containing politics and the empire, searching for new information. She wrote down a comprehensive, and very aesthetically pleasing, set of notes on any and all possible enemies of the empire, from the scrapper towns to the monastic settlements. The Kingdom of the Iron Wall was an instant write-off, the two rulers were on incredibly friendly terms, and while their sons seemed to have a habit of bickering, none of it was hostile. Besides, the Iron Wall would never send sensitive information to the scrap lands. The Nation of Eagles was a solid maybe. They had retained their militaristic tendencies from the Great War forty years prior, but they had fought against Inari and Itachi, not the Firefly Empire. The same went for Inari and Itachi; they had the means but no real motive, although it was rumored that the Miyas had once tried to incite a revolt in Inari before fleeing to Tauveriin. Fukoni, as previously learned by Yamaguchi, spent most of their resources quashing rebellions and insurgencies from the political unrest of their own missing prince; they had neither the time nor money for international war. Kar and Koma-Nek would not fight unless attacked first and lived in far enough isolation that they had nothing to gain from war. Besides, if Kuroo and Kenma were to be trusted, the countries didn't have many weapons to fight a war with anyways. Which left the scrapper towns.