"Sak`e?" Akimoto asked, a dribble sliding down his chin.
"Yes, thank you." His face twisted with anger. "Ori! Baka that he's dead before I could kill him."
"Yes, but dead, so is Shorin. Nothing but trouble, both of them, like all Satsumas. The men," he added hastily, remembering Shorin's sister, Sumomo, "not the women."
"Satsumas are trouble, I agree,"
Hiraga said darkly. "As to Sumomo, I don't know where to send for news of her, where she is or if she reached home safely--that could take her weeks, and more weeks for father to send word here.
News would take two, maybe three months."
"You asked Katsumata to watch for her. He will have spies out from here to Kyoto. She can take care of herself that one. You'll hear soon."
Akimoto scratched his crotch irritably.
To see Hiraga so unsettled was disturbing. "You know we're almost locked in here. The Bakufu Enforcer patrols have been reinforced and they wander in and out at random. All the mama-sans are nervous and after the riot today, Raiko... she will not let us stay much longer."
"As long as we pay we will stay. And as long as the tunnel is safe we can escape by sea if necessary. Curse Ori!"
"Forget him," Akimoto said impatiently. "What should we do?"
"Wait. The gai-jin will provide us with cover --Taira will see to it."
"Because of Fujiko? Eeee, he is mad.
What does he see in that drab? I cannot fathom that. She is nothing but a drab." Akimoto laughed and ran his fingers through the stubble of his hair.
"Think I will try her one night, just to see if anything is special--even though she's polluted."
"Try her tonight if you want, Taira won't be using her."
"Raiko will already have given her other clients-- she's rapacious."
"Yes, but Fujiko's already paid for."
"What?"
"My new arrangement is that Raiko will not offer Fujiko elsewhere unless she and I agree first--so I can keep her available for Taira at a moment's notice, in case I decide.
Try her if you want, she is cheap enough."
"Good, I need all the cash I have left, Raiko squeezed a down payment out of me, rumbling about the extent of my credit."
Akimoto grinned and drained the flask into his cup. "I want to bribe one of the fishermen to take me out to the frigate--perhaps I can talk myself aboard one of the warships, pretending to sell fish. I must see inside an engine room, one way or another."
Hiraga's stomach heaved, thinking about his own visit. "Perhaps I could get Taira to take me again, with you this time. I can pretend you are the son of an important Choshu merchant, a shipbuilder, anxious to do business with them, but any business must be kept secret from the Bakufu."
Secret? How long will we be secret here?
A tremble went through him. "It's cold tonight," he said to cover his fear that once again Akimoto politely feigned not to notice.
A few metres away in her own quarters Raiko had finished her makeup and was dressing for the evening. She decided on the new pink kimono. A large heron decorated the back, embroidered with gold filaments. For many months she had coveted it. Now it was hers, paid forwith part of the profit garnered from the hugely successful sale of the pearl earrings. They proved to be even more valuable than she had estimated.
Eeee, she thought happily, the kami and gods that look after mama-sans were looking after me that day. A major business coup, all profit except for Furansu-san's part. Money for the medicine was hardly worth considering though she had put a substantial debit in her open set of books. She smiled to herself. The cost was nothing but the knowledge of which plant and who could harvest it, at what correct season and how to make the infusion, ah, that was worth whatever the market would stand.
"The gai-jin princess will be a marvelous, long-term asset," she murmured contentedly, pleased with what she saw in her full-length mirror. It was the only modern one in the whole Yoshiwara, a present from a client, imported especially for her from England. A small frown creased her forehead as she thought of him: Kanterberri, the gai-jin who was killed on the Tokaido by those fools Ori and Shorin.
Baka! He was a good client and most appreciative of my services in finding him the perfect mistress, Akiko, whose name is now Fujiko--very convenient for us that our Ing'erish gai-jin rarely share their women, prefer to fornicate in secret, with one woman, keeping her secret in our Floating World that is based on discretion and secrecy.
Taira none the wiser, Fujiko a new life and new lover. Good for everyone.
"Mistress? The gai-jin Furansu-san has arrived."
"Good." Raiko made sure the medicine was correct and put it beside the table. When she had kept Andr`e waiting the precise amount of time, neither too little or too much, she sent for him.
"Ah, Furansu-san, welcome to my humble House." She poured thimbles of her best sak`e and toasted him. "You're looking well."
"Health! Ten thousand summers," Andr`e replied politely.
She discussed the weather and the state of business and then came to the first point. "Your choice of earrings was more perfect than I thought, your share comes to a little over double what you asked."
His eyes widened, "Jesus, so much?"
"Yes." She poured more sak`e, filled with glee at her acumen on both their behalfs for, of course, once a business deal was finally agreed between them, it was a matter of face that it was honored exactly. "My bank, the Gyokoyama, found the client, a Chinese silk and opium merchant from Shanghai who was visiting Kanagawa." Another smile. She added delicately, "He indicated that he would be in the market for as many such trinkets as I could offer."
His smile matched hers and he drained his cup and held it for a refill and toasted her, "To future trinkets!"
"Next, the..."
"Before next, Raiko. Why he pay so much?"
"In bad times a wise man puts part of his wealth into tiny things he can carry in his sleeve.
He's no fool--I considered holding on to them myself for the same reason."
His interest quickened. "What bad times in China?"
"He said that all China was in revolt, famine everywhere, gai-jin business in Shanghai less than usual, though now that the English fleet laid waste the Mirs coast and sank many of the White Lotus pirates, the sea-lanes would be safe for a while and trade up and down the Yangtze would pick up in the spring. Eeee, Furansu-san, I hear they sank hundred of junks and massacred thousands, many villages now in ashes." Her fear was open. "Their killing power is terrible."
She shuddered, knowing that though Japanese despised Chinese as weaklings, they shared the same great phobia: fear of gai-jin and an obsession to keep them forever out of their lands. "Will gai-jin fleets come against us when they return?"
"Yes, Raiko, if Bakufu not pay reparations money. War yes. Not here, not Yokohama. Yedo."
She studied her cup for a moment, wondering how she could further protect herself and turn this to profit, more than ever convinced that she must, somehow, quickly rid herself of Hiraga and Akimoto before it was discovered that she was implicated in the Ori disaster by harboring him and them, however righteous sonno-joi was. A wave of apprehension went through her and she fanned herself, complaining about the strength of the sak`e. "Karma," she said and shrugged off what "might be" for what "is." "Now, some more good news: There is a girl I would like you to meet."
Andr`e's heart seemed to skip, and then, when it started again, it was more weak than before.