"So, what're we doing?"
In a tone as if it were someone else's problem—
Tenyuu
.
"What do you mean, what are we doing? Aren't you supposed to show me you can actually be useful?"
Maomao
looked out at the inner courtyard.
Lihaku
was on night patrol duty, so they had decided to let him sleep. In exchange, they had received a floor plan of the estate.
Also, since they had talked the quack doctor into going out, they had to wrap things up quickly.
"I'm a pair of scissors. If you don't tell me which paper to cut, I won't cut anything. If you just want me to stab whatever from behind, that's fine by me, though."
"……"
He seemed to be holding a grudge over the fact that Maomao and the others didn't trust him.
(Well, he is who he is, after all.)
He somehow seemed to have a thin sense of ethics.
"For now, let's head to the place where the youkai supposedly appeared."
"Sure thing."
The first location was the inner courtyard where the floating face was said to be most often seen.
"The sightings are concentrated around that tree and on top of the building."
Maomao glanced at the estate's floor plan. Though it was only a secondary residence, it was quite spacious.
"Hoh."
Tenyuu looked back and forth between the tree and the building.
"Anything that caught your eye?"
"Not really. How about you,
Niangniang
?"
Tenyuu's way of addressing Maomao was always this.
"For my part, there are about two things."
First, she looked at the tree.
"It's a bit different from the trees growing elsewhere in the Western Capital. It's larger and taller than the other trees."
"And what about it?"
"Doesn't it interest you? Different species of plants yield different medicines. Though I can't tell for sure without getting a bit closer."
"Yeah, and what does that have to do with anything right now?"
Maomao made a bored face at his uninteresting personality.
"So, what's the other one?"
"The other thing is that what people see on the tree and the building seems to be a 'face.'"
"Well, that's because they said a face was appearing."
"Yes. A 'face' or a 'visage' appears. But no one has said a 'head.'"
What had caught Maomao's attention was that the testimonies were split between 'face' and 'head.'
"'Face' and 'head'—you mean flat versus three-dimensional?"
Tenyuu, for all his quirks, was sharp. He hit close to the mark.
"I don't know about that, but it bothered me a little. I'm going to take a look at that tree."
"Go ahead. Is there something I should do?"
It seemed the scissors had decided to work after all.
"Yes, then."
Maomao took a hand towel from her bosom and wrapped it around a stone she found on the ground.
"Please toss this so it catches nicely on that tree."
"You ask the impossible."
Even as he said it, Tenyuu wound up beautifully and hooked the hand towel onto the tree. With this, she could climb the tree without seeming suspicious.
Maomao trotted up to the base of the tree. It was a broadleaf tree, about
two jou
tall.
"Is this
kinmokusei
?"
Maomao checked it up close. It was a tree that bloomed small, strongly fragrant flowers. The flowers were used in osmanthus liqueur and flower tea.
Maomao put her hand on the tree and let out a startled "Whoa."
"Yuck, gross."
(Be quiet.)
On Maomao's hand was bird droppings. Half-dried droppings. She started to wipe them on the trunk, then stopped.
"Eh? What are you sniffing it for?"
Tenyuu was recoiling.
"Eh? What are you poking it with a stick for?"
Tenyuu watched with cold eyes.
"Eh? Pinch? You're pinching the inside like with chopsticks?"
Tenyuu took half a step back.
It wasn't as if Maomao enjoyed doing this. But animal droppings contained all sorts of information.
"It seems this bird mainly eats insects."
"It eats at least bugs, sure."
"Besides that, there's probably some fur mixed in from a mouse or similar small animal."
"It eats mice? A
hawk
or
kite
, maybe?"
Setting aside insects, if it ate small animals, then it had to be a bird of considerable size.
"Yes. But…"
Maomao looked around. The estate had abundant greenery and water, so birds gathered here and there, but at the very least, there were no birds large enough to eat mice. Furthermore, if such a bird were present, the smaller birds would flee.
At least at this hour, it didn't seem to be around.
Thinking it over, Maomao next looked at the building.
"That building—you can't climb up onto the roof, can you?"
"The roof, huh. Want me to toss the hand towel again?"
"Will it reach?"
"Doesn't seem possible."
There didn't seem to be any particular solution, and Maomao was thinking they should head back once, when she thought she caught something moving at the edge of her vision.
Wondering what it was, she looked, but there was nothing in particular—just the openwork lattice ornament beneath the roof.
"…After all, I want to climb up onto the roof."
"Eeh, that's impossible."
"We'll find a way. A
ladder
."
"Even if you say that, we'd have to ask the gardener."
Tenyuu's motivation seemed to have dwindled considerably; he had no enthusiasm.
(Now that I think of it, the gardener…)
He was the old man who had said yesterday that he had seen a head.
Maomao headed for the shed where the gardener was.
"Telling me out of the blue to lend you a ladder, huh."
The old man responded as if it were a bother. Perhaps because of the strange thing he had seen yesterday, he seemed somehow listless.
"I've been told to treat guests kindly, but I haven't been told to help them rummage through the estate."
"That's a fair point."
Tenyuu agreed.
(Whose side are you on?)
Tenyuu was completely unreliable.
"It seems birds are building a nest in the gaps of this estate's roof."
"A nest? Now that you mention it, there have been a lot of droppings lately."
"Yes. If birds are building a nest, it's troublesome, so I thought we'd clear it out. And if I could get hold of the eggs at the same time, that would be wonderful. I'd use them as medicinal ingredients."
"Medicine, you say. Even though you don't know what kind of bird it is?"
"Yes, eggs are generally good for nourishment, after all."
Maomao said something appropriately vague.
And she added one more thing.
"This monster commotion that's been the talk of late. I think I can figure out what's causing it."
"R-really?!"
"Yes."
At the very least, Maomao thought she could solve half of it.
The old gardener immediately prepared a ladder for her, but it was more unstable than she had expected.
"Wait, am I the one climbing?"
Tenyuu confirmed with Maomao.
"From the way you say it, you have no intention of climbing, do you?"
"Yup."
Since she had no intention of imposing that much on the old gardener, Maomao decided to climb up herself. However, as she set up the large ladder, idle officials and servants began gathering in droves.
"……"
Unfortunately, no one came forward to climb the ladder in Maomao's place; they were all just sightseers.
Incidentally, the original idler had also come along.
It was Jinshi. At the appearance of the great personage, those around stepped back three paces.
Jinshi was wearing an indescribable expression and seemed to be instructing Basen about something. Basen nodded and came over to Maomao.
"You're going to climb the ladder, but I'll take your place. What should I do?"
"Master Basen?"
Honestly, if Basen were the one going, it would be faster for Maomao to climb. Basen had superior physical ability, but she had a feeling his split-second judgment would be slow. Besides—
(He might do something reckless with his brute strength.)
"No, I'm fine. I'll go."
Maomao flatly refused, but there was no way Basen would back down.
"I said I'll take your place. What should I do?"
It was on the premise that he would take over. Maomao had no choice but to relent.
"…Probably, just probably, birds are building a nest in the gaps of the roof. If there are birds, could you catch them?"
"Birds, then."
"Yes, probably nocturnal birds. Please take them gently while they're sleeping. If you can reach them, that is."
"Understood."
Basen exhaled forcefully through his nose. Maomao, on the contrary, grew uneasy.
"Master Basen. Needless killing will keep you from reaching paradise, so please don't strangle them to death."
"Don't strangle them to death…"
All of a sudden his voice grew quieter.
(I'm worried.)
She thought she might wake up Lihaku or someone to take Basen's place after all, but she looked at the roof gap. It seemed Lihaku could never fit through it.
"Judging by the size of the gap, it would be better for me to go."
"N-no, I'll go. Leave it to me!"
Filled with anxiety, Maomao watched Basen climb the ladder. One small mercy was that since his body alone was sturdy, even if he fell from the ladder there was little need to worry about injuries.
Basen climbed the ladder and peered into the gap of the openwork ornament beneath the roof. He made a circle with his thumb and index finger.
(So there is a bird's nest.)
The openwork ornament was designed to be removable, and Basen carefully removed it. He threaded a cord through it and lowered it to the ground. Then he twisted his body and slipped in through the gap.
Not just Maomao but everyone around gulped in unison.
Just as she was thinking everyone had grown quiet,
Suzume
had somehow appeared and was showing the people around her a board with 'Quiet, Please' written on it.
For a while there was no reaction, but then there came a great rattling sound.
"It got away—!"
Basen's voice echoed.
(O-o-o-i!!)
While Maomao was flustered, Suzume had set down her sign and was climbing the ladder. Wondering what she was up to, Suzume waited in front of the gap Basen had entered and caught something that came flying out with a net.
"……"
At her uncanny efficiency, even Maomao was dumbfounded.
"Caught it—!"
Suzume held the net up high. Her face was tremendously proud, full of self-importance, and just a little
irritating
.
She loved being the center of attention and wouldn't miss the choice moment.
(´◉◞౪◟◉)dorya