Twelve Lies I Told Shingen Takeda

Chapter Twelve: Desperate Measures

As per usual, I wordlessly handed off the latest stack of messages to Chiyome. Also, as per usual, she ignored me in favor of sorting reports into various piles. At her elbow was a metal tipped pipe, which looked like it could double as a weapon, so I was inclined to be happy with the entire ignoring situation.

I started to leave the stuffy, tobacco scented room, then hesitated, a question stuck between my brain and my mouth. I had, apparently, angered Shingen more than I had initially believed. Why, I wasn't entirely sure. Was she even the right person to consult? Chiyome likely knew Shingen better than anyone in the castle, and thus had the added benefit of being outside of the normal grapevine. But she intimidated me more than nearly everyone except Kenshin.

While I mentally debated, I idly watched the smoke curl from the pipe, rising until it hit the ceiling to swirl in the faint bit of fresh air coming from the window. Though "fresh" was a matter for debate as well. It had been thick and humid all week, threatening to storm without following through. I glanced back at Chiyome, busy at her desk. No, maybe not. I edged back a step.

"Out with it, boy. You're making me dizzy with your back and forth." To my knowledge she hadn't looked at me enough to be made dizzy, but... details. Her brusque tone convinced me that it wouldn't be worth appealing to her for ways to restore my friendship with Shingen. I would likely come across sounding like a lovesick teenager. Which, I wasn't.

But I did have another issue she might be helpful with. I pulled out the arrow I had been carrying around all week. "Would you know of any smiths who-"

"Waste of time." She paused to take a long draw on the pipe. "Did Shingen ask you to trace that?"

"Er. No. He's, uh, d-d-displeased with me right now, so I thought..." I trailed off when she started laughing.

"That would be a waste of time too. Anything else?" Her tone suggested that if it was something that she would also consider a waste of time, then I would be unable to waste her time ever again.

"No. Thank you." I bowed, then hurried out, not in the mood to press my luck to the point of another knife to the throat situation.

Waste of time was the story of my whole afternoon. The only upside was that Shingen was unlikely to ask me what I'd been doing with myself this week. While Shingen had gotten over his mysterious (and in my opinion unwarranted) acute flare of temper, he had been distant to me all week, rarely requiring me to do anything more than deliver the daily correspondence. He had also stopped tossing me the puzzle to solve, which was more of a minor annoyance as I hadn't managed yet to put it back together... and I knew I could put it back together if I had more time.

That had left me at loose ends, but never one to be idle, I had started personally investigating the source of the arrow. Unfortunately, so far, all I knew, after visiting every blacksmith in an ever widening circle around Kasugayama, was that no one in the area had made the arrowhead. Showing the arrow to Chiyome had been more of a conversational punt, and I didn't agree that looking was a waste of time. It was possible that the same party that had hired the sniper who attacked Shingen's group last month had also hired the archer. If so, they probably had acquired the arrow in Azuchi, with the object of pointing blame to Nobunaga. But to confirm that, I would need to find another arrow to use as a comparison. Azuchi was too far away for that to be an afternoon, or even an all-day task. I'd likely be gone close to a week.

Meanwhile Mai seemed oblivious to the continued danger. Yoshimoto and I had, without discussing it, decided to stick close to her in case another attempt was made on her life. Instead of being careful, Mai continued to act as if nothing was wrong. Instead, she had decided to play matchmaker and was determined to convince me to reprise my "Moon Goddess" persona.