Something was wrong with the mud baths. This week there were 18 new cases of skin infections, each of these patients had come from the Youkou Doro a day earlier. It all started about a week ago. It was in a rather classy place, having the attire to even walk into the joint would require someone like Shiori to take out a second mortgage. Obviously there was something amiss. Initially she assumed it was a result of purposeful actions, perhaps a rival spa had poisoned the treatments, the mud baths or even the air. According to the report she received, they felt it was in the mud. She took a sample and dutifully carried it to the tower for study. It was inert. The only issue she had with it was the fact that it did not carry near the number of minerals the spa claimed it did.
She next took a bath herself. It was a nice change, getting a mud bath instead of having to chase down some problematic individual. She waited for an inflammatory response, an allergic reaction... nothing happened. She treated herself to a variety of treatments. The treatments felt glorious, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with her after. It would be a dull report to bring. It would also result in mission failure if she brought back no cause or culprit. This was troublesome.
That evening three more patients came to the hospital with various infections, they had been to the spa the same day as she. They even underwent the same treatments. What happened to them and not to her? Besides their class there was no difference between them and her. Perhaps that was the difference, they were having an allergic reaction to something she was more used to. It was if nothing else a fair hypothesis. She reviewed again the components in the various treatments. They were hypoallergenic.
It was then that she came up with one final theory. What if they were purposely being affected by something? The next day she watched the treatments of the patrons, secretly aching for another treatment herself. There was absolutely no funny business by the employees, but there was by a patron. She did not notice the woman there the previous days but she did this day. She was sprinkling something into the baths when the patrons and their spa technician were distracted. She frowned, there is no reason for that. She might be able to understand it if there was a certain someone that she sought to harm, but these people had no association with each other.
This was just silly and dumb. She took down the lady's description and ran off to the Kazekage tower. The pools were not in need of purification, they were in need of removal of a certain someone. She returned a short time later. The woman was a civilian. She came willingly. The whole occurrence was actually rather boring, she was expecting something more... exciting. Well, it was nothing special but money is money. She'd collect her reward later. She needed one more treatment first.
WC 513