Cut From A Tattered Cloth

Chapter 16

Eijiro didn't show Sayuri to the guest quarters.

He knew there was no point. Sayuri didn't want to see him. Any effort he made to reconnect with her would only end with her being annoyed, and him wanting a drink. Plus, he had finally noticed the blood-soaked tank top sticking to his skin. Had he really been wearing that since yesterday?

Dried blood didn't bother Eijiro–he'd come home with worse. But for Sayuri it would add fuel to the fire.

So rather than go to the rooftop, he stayed where he was, brooding over his notes. Kell and Melia had gone in his place. Well, Melia would've had to go either way, as she said all three women and the butler had set off the traps.

"Mendokusai, na? Ano hitotachi." she had said. Man, those guys are annoying.

Eijiro laughed at that. A part of him felt bad for Sayuri's team; the traps on the top floor were much worse than the ones they'd been caught in before.

Like Eijiro, Melia still wore the same clothes she'd had on during the attack. Blood had caked into her right side and spattered across the front and back of her shirt. It showed in her jeans, too, but those were black and less noticeable. The sight of it made Eijiro nauseous, but aside from the fact that it was stiff, it didn't bother her. Nor did she care about what Sayuri would think when she saw her like that.

"You sure you don't want to change?" Kell had asked. "I can meet them if you'd like to stop by your room first?"

But Melia shook her head. "They come here unannounced and want to use our home after being rude to Oyaji." She tapped the second half of the security code into her comm, disarming the alarms. "They get what they get."

Then, seeing all of his notes scattered around the mats, she said. "I missed something, didn't I? About the case. Can you–"

"Sonna no hanashi wo ato de ii." Eijiro interrupted. We can talk about it later. "Ima kara Sayuri wo tanomu yo."

Melia looked disappointed, but she nodded. Eijiro glanced at Kell, who had his back turned, their plans to meet with Sayuri temporarily interrupted by a call from his wife.

Not wanting to draw his attention, Eijiro faced Melia and tapped his comm. He made two shuwa signals with his hand, forming the kana characters "Mi" and "Ru." Together they spelled "miru." Look!

Melia's mouth opened in a silent gasp. Her head tilted towards her comm, but Eijiro waved a hand, to stop her. He made two more signals. "Ah" and "Toh." Ato. Later.

By that point, Kell had ended the call and rejoined them. As they left Melia walked half a step behind Kell, her hands resting behind her head. She made four signals back to Eijiro: Mah. Kah. Seh. Toh. Keh. Leave it to me.

Eijiro smiled. She was getting better at that. He wasn't fluent in shuwa, and only remembered a handful of phrases he'd learned as a child. Melia had come across it in one of the manga books she downloaded, and asked him to practice with her. He taught her how to finger spell, and at this rate wouldn't be surprised if she signed better than he could a year from now.

He waited a moment longer, then forwarded the message he had received. He typed up the translation, too. Just in case.

In the moment it didn't make sense, but combined with the news of Sayuri's arrival he had a feeling they were connected. The fact that he and Kell had received both messages at the same time all but confirmed that. Where Kell had likely received some sort of formal report explaining Sayuri's relocation, Eijiro's message only had four words:

Third bag. Front pocket.

Someone must have slipped a message into Sayuri's luggage. If not that, then maybe some other kind of clue that could help them. It was risky sending Melia to get it, but Eijiro knew she had better chances than he did.