Free Web NovelChapter 492: Arc 6, Chapter 108: A Direction
"I’ve heard some buzz coming from a few circles. Ladybugs, Ring Circus, Majora and Lodefall seem to want to work with the cult. Granted, the whole lot of the mobster-types want the same I’d guess," Rose relayed.
"And they all operate in Dolpool?" Fumeko swished her glass curiously.
Rose took a drag of her cigarette, "Ladybugs, sure. The Ring Circus’s territory’s Fordwin, and the rest of them are all over the country."
Diana’s tail swivelled idly, "Before you came, we were discussing whether or not Cheshire should go deep. She has an in at the Minora Folia estate."
"Sounds Regimian," Fumeko replied.
"Descendant family from the Malecise Regime; once the war broke out, part of the family got stranded in Burnetrout pretty much. Although, I know for a fact that they choose to be stranded," Rose said with a giggle. "You should see their estate.
Anyhow, they’re under the umbrella of the Majora, a coalition of descendant Regimian families; there’s a few outliers, but that’s their game. They’re Burntish for all intents and purposes, but big daddy Malecise can pull them a few strings here."
"But Malecise isn’t doing so well," Fumeko connected.
"Probably the reason for the panic, yes," Rose enjoyed a bit of brandy. "And even all through that, the scion of the Folia can’t help but be obsessed~," Rose dragged a hand across her chest.
"And you think you’ve got them seduced enough for them to give you cult-related information?"
"Think?" Detective Rosemary’s lips extended to each corner and she could not help but laugh. "Oh darling~ You sweet thing," she fanned her flushed face.
"Don’t know ’f the dollymop’s ever been told no," Pinfree hiccupped as she licked out the last drops of alcohol from her glass. Diana bopped Pinfree on the head with her smoking pipe, making Pinfree squeak and hold onto both her horns.
Rose set her cigarette holder down, with the last bits of smoke trailing into the air, "I’ve been called worse darling~"
"Aye, I know that!" Pinfree skittered away from the fox-woman’s side of the table. She pointed a finger at Diana, "Yer smackin’ me fer the lip, yer tongue’s worse than mine ya dog."
"You’ve had too much to drink rat," one fox-like ear ticked.
’Is everywhere I end up a circus?’ "If that’s all you two were talking about, I have more to add."
"I think that’s about it. I was going to suggest, it’d be nice for a cute little rabbit to skulk around in the shadows, see what she can find while I’m there," Rose looked to the brunette.
Fumeko’s lips pursed. Her half-lidded gaze was on the brandy in her hand, "Can’t. I don’t know why, but my affinity’s not a factor anyone can count on for the moment."
Diana side-eyed.
Rose went silent.
...
Fumeko saw within the glistening brown drink, an answer? She drank the glass in the sound of the rustling ivy. What Lady Pinberry said sloshed past her lips, with the aftertaste of the expectations left for her.
It tasted good. The brief scent of alcohol almost was, it was almost like the smell of a particular flower—sweet, pungent, refreshing.
The glass was empty in one go as the brunette set it back down, feeling that delightful burn down her throat, "Don’t count me out yet. I still have my party.
I’m better at tracking the cult and their magic. I’ll be fine without some shadows... And I’ll have another one," the empty glass tinked with a flick of her finger.
_
"Hey, woah, sorry."
Fumeko bumped into the sudden figure that popped into her view.
He had two large bracers under his arm. Ben looked down at a brunette with a rosy flush under her eyes, the tip of her nose and down her neck. "You good?"
She blinked a few times and squinted up, "Yeah, I’m fine. I just had few drinks. I thought you were going back to your hotel?"
Ben shrugged, "I mean, I wasn’t just gonna let a girl go back home alone at night." He gave the dagger with its sheath back to her. "N-not that you can’t defend yourself or anything, I just, I don’t know." freёwebnovel.com
Fumeko took it and looked back to the pub she exited. She sighed, "Whatever. I got the help we needed, but we’re gonna have to wait a couple of days."
"Good thing you found her. I was like five minutes away from busting in cause I thought you were in trouble."
"How nice of you," she snarked. "I told them everything about your rendezvous with the gangs."
"Them?"
"Another detective was there; she’s also gonna help."
Ben slammed a fist into his palm, "Nice! Our party of vengeance grows."
"Shut the fuck up," Fumeko’s head swivelled to look down every street.
"Ohp, sorry."
’Circus...’ "I’ll have Aru reach out to Palais Front-de-Mer tomorrow. We can get those bracers checked out properly."
"So, we’ll meet there tomorrow?"
"I didn’t say that," Fumeko walked around the street corner and lifted her leg up. She pinned her dagger back to her attire and shook a foot around to call for a carriage. "I don’t know when the palais will respond. Could be days, could be weeks."
Ben sighed. "Man, I just wanna get Jotou back... Clyde too though. What about him?"
A carriage driver spotted the brunette among other drunk, or less than sober, pedestrians and drove to a stop nearby her. The horsaroaches chittered.
"Ms Ward’ll take care of that. I think I mentioned it?" Fumeko’s foot landed and she wobbled forward a little; she regained balance and gave her head a quick shake.
"You think!?"
"Get on the carriage Scorchy, I wanna go to bed," Fumeko whinged as she lugged the door open. Conceding to her order, Ben followed along.
_
Their carriage dropped off the detective at her home first; the redness across her face had dimmed back to her usual pale-peach shade.
"Catch you later I guess," Ben uttered through the window. "Also," he pensively looked around, and then back to her. "Take care of yourself dude. I really am sorry for your loss."
The light wind picked up strands of her short brown hair and she stood with her arms folded, brushing her elbows with her fingers. "...Thanks."
Ben gave a wave and the carriage began to depart; he kept his eye on her the whole time, till he was out of view.
In the darkened neighbourhood, a solitary girl looked up to the cloudy sky, hoping to catch a star in her sight. Not a single one shone, nor peeked through the veil.
’Why’s it so cold.’ She blew out puffs of air into her palms. ’This doesn’t help.’ Eventually coming to the conclusion that standing out on her lawn was an aimless endeavour, she walked into her house.
A single light remained turned on the living room; an elf was on the verge of nodding off every other second. Asobi glanced back; her head went all over the place before she focused in on the late-night guest.
"It’s past midnight; what’re you doing up?" Fumeko relocked the front door.
"Waiting for you, duh," the magician drowsily replied.
"You didn’t need to do that," she took a step up the stairs.
"I wasn’t gonna let Hotaru be awake," Asobi rubbed her eyes and shot up from the sofa. She rushed over to the brunette and cupped her hands around Fumeko’s ear.
The detective flinched back, but was trapped by the wall on her side. She steadied herself and winced an eye, "Sobi...!"
"Sorry," she whispered into her ear.
’Why the hell’s she so close?’ Fumeko side-eyed.
"I asked Stella to hide all the knives and forks in the kitchen while I took Aru out for groceries, so ask her if you need to know where they are."
’...So warm.’ The brunette’s face reddened as the hushed words hit her. "That’s... clever of you..." a hint of surprise in her tone.
"Thank you."
The growing smile of the magician’s lips grazed every bit of Fumeko’s ear; the brunette’s breath hitched. Her face flushed into deeper shades.
Asobi titled her head to the side, making locks of black hair to brush against Fumeko’s cheek, "We couldn’t find the keys to the storage so we couldn’t hide any of the tools, and we didn’t wanna enter your dad’s room."
’This is nice...’ Fumeko slowly pushed Asobi away with an arm. "I don’t think she’s gonna hear us," she whispered. "I’m, thankful? That you did all that. But you do realize Aru can just break her own fingers, right?"
Asobi poked her wand under her chin, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."
The detective’s eyes glazed over, and almost immediately the blush on her cheeks faded. ’...Twit.’
"Still," Asobi shrugged. "It’ll help silly."
"I guess." ’Credit where credit’s due. Thanks for being thoughtful Asobi, it helps me too... Not gonna say that aloud.’ "The keys are probably somewhere on the mantelpiece."
"I’ll look in the morning," the magician yawned. "Did you find anything on your journey oh mythical detective?"
"I found enough. I have a direction at least."
Asobi hummed and beamed, "You’re such an amazing detective Meko." Small pom-poms appeared all around Asobi that cheered her name quietly.
Fumeko’s eyes trailed up the stairs and further up. ’Dad was better.’
A wand tipped the brunette’s chin up so that she would face Asobi, who fluttered her lashes at her. The magician’s brows creased together, "So don’t overstress yourself, okay? We need to get Jotou and Kineko back, but you shouldn’t-"
Fumeko pulled away a grunt. She sneered, "You don’t need to tell me what to do Asobi, I can handle myself just fine." She marched up the staircase.
"M-meko, you don’t have to-"
The rest of the words escaped the brunette’s ears. ’I’ll decide whether or not to ’overstress’ myself. It’s gonna take time, it’s gonna take time- FUCK TIME!’
Fumeko entered the room of her father and slammed the door shut behind her. ’Everyone in this damn city’s so happy to let time go by, so we can get the perfect fucking plan. WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR A PERFECT PLAN!’
She flicked the lights on and bumped into the bed on her way to the desk. ’This city, this leader, these fucking organizations- BURN IT ALL. What good did it do my dad!? What good did it do for Jotou!?’
Seething out small groans, parts of her mind felt foggy. Her heart ached as if someone was pressing down on her chest. She sat at her father’s desk and took deep breaths with a hand on her head.
Fumeko gathered herself and turned on the lamp, before taking out random documents out of her father’s folders. She opened them up before her as she felt the sensation of sleep fade within seconds.
The first sentence she read, was... garble. She read it again, and again... and again. The words were legible, the page was not hazy, yet the detail and meaning slipped away as if her brain was coated with oil.
’...I miss you. I miss you dad. I miss you, you little fucking brat... I’ll get you back... Jotou—I miss you. I want you back. I want to... I’m scared.........’ "Thump."
