It was good to have found a nice place to hangout in Wind Country, even if it wasn't in Sand itself, and he had to hike out to Soon's Haven for it. The Birdhouse was a nice bar, with a name Makoto found quite amusing for his own reasons. Not to mention that ever since he'd solved that problem for one of the bartenders, the staff were all quite friendly with him.
"It's not a bad place," Emiko said to him while polishing a glass. He was seated at the bar, as had become his custom, and had a mug of local ale in front of him, half-finished. "Of course, it's not in the best neighborhood, but I can only afford so much."
After her little 'psycho stalker ex-girlfriend' problem was solved, Emiko had proved to be quite a composed, capable person. Not to mention that she appeared to be the local 'hears all the rumours' bartender.
"It sounds nice," he agreed. "Though, what's so bad about that area? I haven't been through there at night yet, so I haven't seen anything myself."
She paused for a second, then turned and put the clean glass away, then turned back and rested her hands on the bar top, brushing a stray lock of red hair away from her forehead absently on the way.
"It's not so much the whole area, I guess," she said. "It's just this one corner. Last week, a guy was stabbed there. And there's been a bunch of muggings. One of the houses on that corner supposedly has ghosts, but I don't see what that has to do with muggings."
Makoto snorted lightly into his drink. "Sounds like someone stirring rumours for their own good."
"That's what I thought. There's even lights on there some nights when I walk by, even though supposedly no one lives there." Emiko lifted her hands and shrugged casually. "I'm betting on a group of thieves squatting."
It really sounded like it. "Did the man who was stabbed see who did it?"
"If he did, I haven't heard. Which means he probably didn't." She shook her head, the light catching the yellow butterfly clip holding her ponytail in. "But he didn't mention anything weird happening either. Probably just a fast mugger."
That seemed right. "Sounds like it. Has no one looked into this yet?"
Emiko gave him a lopsided grin. "I doubt the daimyo cares. And Sand? This technically isn't really in their jurisdiction. I mean, I guess if one of them noticed, they'd be over here to handle it. But it's not enough of a problem that anyone wants to specifically ask. Especially when there probably aren't any ninja involved."
"That's a shame," he murmured, already thinking. "...but, you haven't heard of anything that would make you think of anything weirder than thieves, have you?"
Emiko hesitated, then glanced around. Her tone was suspiciously breezy given that she'd dropped the volume significantly. "Oh, just the usual sorts of nonsense haunted house junk. Strange noises, odd lights, slamming windows and doors, mysterious shapes. That sort of thing. Nothing a thieves' guild couldn't account for."
"Sure," he said, doing his best to keep his tone casual as well. "Certainly not a mystery worth solving."
"I wouldn't bother," she said. Another man sat down at the end of the bar, and she moved off in that direction. He watched her go carefully, and she gave him a wink over her shoulder before turning to the new customer. He nodded, almost to himself, before finishing his drink and leaving a tip.
He'd passed through the neighborhood Emiko lived in during the day before, and it seemed like any other part of the city. At night, however, it didn't bear much of a resemblance to anywhere else in Soon's Haven. There was a fair bit of night life on most streets, but in this area it was dead quiet. He seemed to be the only living soul outdoors.
If it is indeed ghosts, you do not have a particular advantage over them, Makoto.
I don't expect it's actually ghosts, so that's not really a concern.
He came to a halt at the corner she'd mentioned, not that it took a lot of guesswork even if she hadn't. There was one house that screamed 'haunted' just at a glance, complete with broken fences, broken windows, and roof shingles strewn about the small yard in front of it. The same sort of small yard on the other houses on the block seemed to mostly house patio furniture or plants.
The shingles are a nice touch.
He pushed open the (broken) gate, even though he could have easily stepped over the fence with one of its wrought-iron poles ripped out and several more bent over. Certainly it looked like it could have been the work of a ghost, if you had no idea what a ghost was.
There were lights moving around on the top floor that looked like they could have been lanterns or flashlights. He casually strode to the front door, which was--amazingly, considering the state of everything else--locked. Undaunted, he fished out his lockpicks from an inner pocket and went to work.
I have to admit, I remain surprised you know this skill.
You shouldn't be. My family considers it essential.
It wasn't a very difficult lock, and it took less than a minute for him to get through. He put his picks away in one of his inner pockets before pushing the door open. On second thought, he drew his parasol to hold in front of himself as a shield first, then pushed open the door.
There was a very large dog standing there when he did.
A very large, semi-transparent dog.
Makoto lowered his parasol when it didn't seem to notice him there, still standing motionless, staring out the door. Even when he walked in and slowly closed it, then stepped around it moving slowly toward the stairs. It did not make so much as a dull woof.
Nor was it blinking or, for that matter, breathing.
Well then.
"All right," he murmured, and the dog still took no notice of him. "That is either a very clever illusion meant to scare anyone off investigating, or a ghost dog."
He didn't want to alert anyone who might have been in the house to his presence, but at the same time he didn't want to just leave. So he took the stairs lightly, but two at a time, still holding his parasol out as a shield in front of him.
The second stair from the top creaked when he stepped on it. Makoto reflexively paused, then continued on after a second...
...and ran right into a seven foot tall, misshapen, undead-looking thing.
He stumbled but caught himself, and then thing went down, falling to the floor with a distinctly human-sounding 'oof!'
He stopped and did a mental facepalm. There as the sound of footsteps running from around the bend in the hallway, so he switched his parasol to his right hand and fished in his projectile holster.
"Kenshiro?" the man yelled as he rounded the corner with a lantern. "What was that noise? Did someone--"
Makoto flung a set of senbon at the man, catching him off-guard and pinning him to the wall through his arm. The probably-a-thief yelped and dropped his lantern, at which point Makoto brought up his firefly lights. The man masquerading as a shambling monster had wobbled to his feet and gave an approximation of a lunge, but a swift hit from his parasol brought the unfortunate 'Kenshiro' down.
"What a surprise, it was thieves and not a monster all along," Makoto deadpanned. "Oh my. What a shock."
Because they were clearly not ninja, he only held his foot relatively lightly on the fallen thief before tugging the mask off. It wasn't hard, with the increased light level, to notice the man was wearing platform boots to look tall enough to pass as a terrifying monster.
"Meddling kid," the thief with the lantern snarled, trying to carefully extract the projectiles from his arm. He needn't bother; Makoto would do that for him after knocking him out to haul out to the authorities. "We would have gotten away with this if it weren't for you! We were almost ready to leave this dump of a neighborhood!"
"Who are you calling a kid?" Makoto asked, offended. "So I'm short! I just came from a bar; I'm an adult. You know what, don't bother. The only question I have is: how did you get that dog illusion to stand guard downstairs when clearly neither of you have any skill in Genjutsu?"
The man turned to stare at him uneasily, pausing in his tugging at the senbon. "...What dog?"
Makoto stared back, then shook his head and went about rounding them up and knocking them out before alerting the local authorities. He carried the two now-unconscious thieves out, complete with shambling monster costume, to wait for them. Curiously, there was no sign of the dog on the way out.
It wasn't until he had offloaded the thieves and told the story to the local authority that there was a noise from the house.
Peering out of one of the broken windows was the same ethereal dog he'd seen earlier. Its tail was wagging now, and it gave a soft doggy 'boof' noise that seemed to echo before turning around and trotting off back into the house.
"Looks like you had a hell of a night, kid," one of the patrol officers said to him. It appeared he'd seen the animal, too. "Why don't you go home? Must be past your bedtime."
Makoto huffed out a sigh before running his hand through his hair. "Not you too," he complained. "I'm twenty-four!"
"It's not a bad place," Emiko said to him while polishing a glass. He was seated at the bar, as had become his custom, and had a mug of local ale in front of him, half-finished. "Of course, it's not in the best neighborhood, but I can only afford so much."
After her little 'psycho stalker ex-girlfriend' problem was solved, Emiko had proved to be quite a composed, capable person. Not to mention that she appeared to be the local 'hears all the rumours' bartender.
"It sounds nice," he agreed. "Though, what's so bad about that area? I haven't been through there at night yet, so I haven't seen anything myself."
She paused for a second, then turned and put the clean glass away, then turned back and rested her hands on the bar top, brushing a stray lock of red hair away from her forehead absently on the way.
"It's not so much the whole area, I guess," she said. "It's just this one corner. Last week, a guy was stabbed there. And there's been a bunch of muggings. One of the houses on that corner supposedly has ghosts, but I don't see what that has to do with muggings."
Makoto snorted lightly into his drink. "Sounds like someone stirring rumours for their own good."
"That's what I thought. There's even lights on there some nights when I walk by, even though supposedly no one lives there." Emiko lifted her hands and shrugged casually. "I'm betting on a group of thieves squatting."
It really sounded like it. "Did the man who was stabbed see who did it?"
"If he did, I haven't heard. Which means he probably didn't." She shook her head, the light catching the yellow butterfly clip holding her ponytail in. "But he didn't mention anything weird happening either. Probably just a fast mugger."
That seemed right. "Sounds like it. Has no one looked into this yet?"
Emiko gave him a lopsided grin. "I doubt the daimyo cares. And Sand? This technically isn't really in their jurisdiction. I mean, I guess if one of them noticed, they'd be over here to handle it. But it's not enough of a problem that anyone wants to specifically ask. Especially when there probably aren't any ninja involved."
"That's a shame," he murmured, already thinking. "...but, you haven't heard of anything that would make you think of anything weirder than thieves, have you?"
Emiko hesitated, then glanced around. Her tone was suspiciously breezy given that she'd dropped the volume significantly. "Oh, just the usual sorts of nonsense haunted house junk. Strange noises, odd lights, slamming windows and doors, mysterious shapes. That sort of thing. Nothing a thieves' guild couldn't account for."
"Sure," he said, doing his best to keep his tone casual as well. "Certainly not a mystery worth solving."
"I wouldn't bother," she said. Another man sat down at the end of the bar, and she moved off in that direction. He watched her go carefully, and she gave him a wink over her shoulder before turning to the new customer. He nodded, almost to himself, before finishing his drink and leaving a tip.
He'd passed through the neighborhood Emiko lived in during the day before, and it seemed like any other part of the city. At night, however, it didn't bear much of a resemblance to anywhere else in Soon's Haven. There was a fair bit of night life on most streets, but in this area it was dead quiet. He seemed to be the only living soul outdoors.
If it is indeed ghosts, you do not have a particular advantage over them, Makoto.
I don't expect it's actually ghosts, so that's not really a concern.
He came to a halt at the corner she'd mentioned, not that it took a lot of guesswork even if she hadn't. There was one house that screamed 'haunted' just at a glance, complete with broken fences, broken windows, and roof shingles strewn about the small yard in front of it. The same sort of small yard on the other houses on the block seemed to mostly house patio furniture or plants.
The shingles are a nice touch.
He pushed open the (broken) gate, even though he could have easily stepped over the fence with one of its wrought-iron poles ripped out and several more bent over. Certainly it looked like it could have been the work of a ghost, if you had no idea what a ghost was.
There were lights moving around on the top floor that looked like they could have been lanterns or flashlights. He casually strode to the front door, which was--amazingly, considering the state of everything else--locked. Undaunted, he fished out his lockpicks from an inner pocket and went to work.
I have to admit, I remain surprised you know this skill.
You shouldn't be. My family considers it essential.
It wasn't a very difficult lock, and it took less than a minute for him to get through. He put his picks away in one of his inner pockets before pushing the door open. On second thought, he drew his parasol to hold in front of himself as a shield first, then pushed open the door.
There was a very large dog standing there when he did.
A very large, semi-transparent dog.
Makoto lowered his parasol when it didn't seem to notice him there, still standing motionless, staring out the door. Even when he walked in and slowly closed it, then stepped around it moving slowly toward the stairs. It did not make so much as a dull woof.
Nor was it blinking or, for that matter, breathing.
Well then.
"All right," he murmured, and the dog still took no notice of him. "That is either a very clever illusion meant to scare anyone off investigating, or a ghost dog."
He didn't want to alert anyone who might have been in the house to his presence, but at the same time he didn't want to just leave. So he took the stairs lightly, but two at a time, still holding his parasol out as a shield in front of him.
The second stair from the top creaked when he stepped on it. Makoto reflexively paused, then continued on after a second...
...and ran right into a seven foot tall, misshapen, undead-looking thing.
He stumbled but caught himself, and then thing went down, falling to the floor with a distinctly human-sounding 'oof!'
He stopped and did a mental facepalm. There as the sound of footsteps running from around the bend in the hallway, so he switched his parasol to his right hand and fished in his projectile holster.
"Kenshiro?" the man yelled as he rounded the corner with a lantern. "What was that noise? Did someone--"
Makoto flung a set of senbon at the man, catching him off-guard and pinning him to the wall through his arm. The probably-a-thief yelped and dropped his lantern, at which point Makoto brought up his firefly lights. The man masquerading as a shambling monster had wobbled to his feet and gave an approximation of a lunge, but a swift hit from his parasol brought the unfortunate 'Kenshiro' down.
"What a surprise, it was thieves and not a monster all along," Makoto deadpanned. "Oh my. What a shock."
Because they were clearly not ninja, he only held his foot relatively lightly on the fallen thief before tugging the mask off. It wasn't hard, with the increased light level, to notice the man was wearing platform boots to look tall enough to pass as a terrifying monster.
"Meddling kid," the thief with the lantern snarled, trying to carefully extract the projectiles from his arm. He needn't bother; Makoto would do that for him after knocking him out to haul out to the authorities. "We would have gotten away with this if it weren't for you! We were almost ready to leave this dump of a neighborhood!"
"Who are you calling a kid?" Makoto asked, offended. "So I'm short! I just came from a bar; I'm an adult. You know what, don't bother. The only question I have is: how did you get that dog illusion to stand guard downstairs when clearly neither of you have any skill in Genjutsu?"
The man turned to stare at him uneasily, pausing in his tugging at the senbon. "...What dog?"
Makoto stared back, then shook his head and went about rounding them up and knocking them out before alerting the local authorities. He carried the two now-unconscious thieves out, complete with shambling monster costume, to wait for them. Curiously, there was no sign of the dog on the way out.
It wasn't until he had offloaded the thieves and told the story to the local authority that there was a noise from the house.
Peering out of one of the broken windows was the same ethereal dog he'd seen earlier. Its tail was wagging now, and it gave a soft doggy 'boof' noise that seemed to echo before turning around and trotting off back into the house.
"Looks like you had a hell of a night, kid," one of the patrol officers said to him. It appeared he'd seen the animal, too. "Why don't you go home? Must be past your bedtime."
Makoto huffed out a sigh before running his hand through his hair. "Not you too," he complained. "I'm twenty-four!"