Through Fire and Water

Chapter 6 - Followed

This chapter is dedicated to ErzaSenju! Happy reading! :)

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Izumi pov:

"Here's your manju, young lady! That will be a hundred and fifty Ryo!" The plump manju shop owner bellowed with a grin as he handed me a woven bowl with six pieces of manju in it.

I thanked him with a smile and a chaste bow of my head while handing him the money and taking the bowl of manju from his hands. I took a seat on one of the shaded benches beside the shop so I could eat the manju before heading home. They were hot so I set them aside for a few moments so they could cool down before I dug in. In the meantime, I reached for the small money pouch I had with me. I opened it to look at all the money I had inside and sighed.

"Mira san gives me more allowance than I can spend....what am I supposed to do with all this money? There's nothing interesting enough to buy and I don't see any point in saving it – not in this place anyway." I mumbled to myself. I tied up the small pouch and put it back in my small side bag with a sigh.

I honestly didn't know what to spend this money on. If it was in my world, I would have most likely put it into my bank account as additional savings to fund my world tour. There was also the possibility of buying the latest action-adventure Play Station game. But there was no reason for me to spend or save money in the Edo Period unless it was for emergencies. There wasn't even a bank that could be a safe storage for extra money.

Clicking my tongue, I reached for my manju. I suppose I could think about money matters later. I was hungry right now, having scouted around the Middle Ring by myself because Haruko was busy on another errand, and my stomach was grumbling loud enough for the person sitting next to me to hear.

I picked up one of the sweet buns and brought it to my lips. I took a bite out of it and hummed in happiness and at the wonderful taste of the bun. The first and second one were gone in a flash and I settled into eating the third bun while looking at the people walking in the street.

I paused eating and narrowed my eyes though when I noticed a man on the other side of the street in a dark alley, leaning against the wall of the building and looking my way. He was tall with cold dark eyes and wore a cloak with the hood up to hide his face. I could tell from the way his cloak was wrinkled that he carried two katanas at his waist. Out of intuition and years of experience, I knew that this was the guy who had been following me for almost the whole of today. I had not only felt like I was being watched and followed but I had seen him a couple of times since this morning, in three different parts of the city that I had walked through to be exact. I had my doubts on him even though I hadn't caught him watching me and merely thought of his behaviour and the way he was dressed as suspicious. But now I was sure that he had been following me the whole time for reasons I didn't know. He wasn't doing a very good job at being stealthy – he was trying I suppose, but it wasn't good enough to evade my skills.

I stared back at him intensely while taking another bite of my manju bun, returning his harsh, icy and scrutinizing gaze, and he narrowed his eyes in return. Who was he and what did he want with me? He had better not be a crazy stalker or in worse cases, someone who wanted to kill me. I don't recall doing anything that qualified as breaking rules that the Blood Emperor had put down on his people so there was no reason for his assassin samurai to target me. Then again, there was a possibility that he was trying to find out something about Crimson Rose.

I couldn't help but scoff and look away from him. Whether he was a stalker or a samurai or just someone trying to find out about the organization, it didn't matter. I had had enough of this guy following me around and it was time to confront him and get him off my back.