The Tea Wife

The Request

The word about the violence that had taken part at the abandoned dojo had spread quickly that night. At morning light Mr. Yukawa had packed his daughters things and sent them on a train out of the city for safety. His bumbling excuse had not make sense but still the young girls had gone. It was said that three men had been shot, one fatally, but there was no mention of a woman or poisoning. He remained fearful of retribution even now as his shop remained empty.

It was not a surprise then when heavy guardsmen showed up in the evening and insisted on being let inside. There were perhaps more than usual and a few carried boxes. The teamaker prepared for the worst...

"Where is the lady's room?" the largest said thickly and without much emotion.

"Left upstairs, but she isn't here." Mr. Yukawa answered spitefully.

Suddenly a surprising grin came across the man's face. "We know that. She's with Mr. Tanaka and he sent us to collect her things."

Mr. Yukawa was swept aside as the men with boxes lumbered upstairs to the left bedroom which Misa had used alone. The name Tanaka however caught in his mind and he was quite afraid that he knew the answer to his next question. He made to the back safe, a gesture probably less willing considering yakuza nearby, but he removed a stack of papers which had been intended for Misa.

"Would your boss be Tanada Rui, former kendo player?" he asked the more jovial mafia as he searched through the pile of letters he had just removed.

"Yeah, he was... Is that all the lady's things?" replied the mobster, now watching boxes of clothes, jewelry, and books sloppily taken out to the black van.

Mr. Yukawa's fingers finally grasped the envelope he had been searching for, which bore the script of his former friend, written on his deathbed.

"These papers are also for the lady, please be careful with them... but this one is for your Boss." He pressed the last words of Misa's father into the hands of a very foreboding man. "I've waited a very long time to give it to him, please make sure he reads it." Then watched them drive away as he locked the front room.

Mr. Yukawa was left unsure whether he had just done something horrible or perhaps set right a wrong which had been festering for three years. Regardless, now that he had handed over her belongings into the hands of another man, that man, he knew her fate was no longer up to him.

He resigned to take excellent care of his own daughters from now on. Inspired by the thought of what Mr. Tamayaki's last words must have been.