Shigeaki Fujino: Compromised?!

Life, Career

Ryūzaki Sanosuke's day had taken him to a variety of places and plots, but this was perhaps the strangest of all. Esteemed psychic and lynchpin of the Hashinara communications network, Shigeaki Fujino, had been apparently added to an entirely new mental network by an unknown individual. A startling lack of experts in the field of mentalism meant that it would be difficult to determine what, if any, negative effects this might have on their beloved network hub. Sanosuke suspected, just as Maxim before him, that it couldn't be anything good. With few options remaining to him, he decided to take the case to the one person who, despite her prickly personality, seemed to know everything.

The Grand Yamana Observatory hadn't changed much in the time since Sanosuke's last visit, although the setting sun cast its signature sandalwood tree in a beautiful silhouette behind the main building. It didn't seem as though the Yamana Daimyō himself was around. Fortunately, Aoki Michiko was. Sanosuke found her in the adjoining library, and almost startled a few loose scrolls out of her hands. The irascible scholar didn't seem too pleased to see him, but then she was one of the few who rarely did. Once Sanosuke and Fujino explained the situation to her, Michiko's analytical mind took over, and she began devising a plan, if not a solution.   Although she could boast a solid grounding in most subjects, the intricacies of the mental world were still largely a mystery to Michiko. Indeed, according to her, there were few even among the scholars of the Imperial Court who could truly call themselves experts. While Michiko couldn't offer any further insight into the psychic phenomenon itself, she did have some advice on how to proceed. This mental link, if it were the same as Fujino's, must work both ways. Therefore, they could use it to ask the culprit herself what was going on. Perhaps they'd get no answer. It was likely, even. But it was well worth the try to solve this issue in one go.   While the rogue Fujino clone had touched Sanosuke, he only had the possibility of having been inducted into her network, while Fujino could offer certainty. Therefore it was she who first opened up communication and hailed the other psychic. Sanosuke could only watch an unseen conversation play out as Fujino's face drooped, then darkened, and eventually found sanctuary between her hands. It was bad, she said. The other had answered, and it was worse than she could have imagined.   When pressed, Fujino explained that her family was more than just a mother and father squirreled away somewhere they'd be safe. She had an aunt as well who had been traveling the world for the past several years. Shigeaki Tōno was an eccentric, a deadbeat, and generally an embarrassment whom even the lackadaisical Fujino couldn't stand for long. While this black sheep of the family should have been abroad in Tianchao, apparently she'd returned recently and started making trouble without delay. This was at least an explanation, but Sanosuke couldn't grasp why it'd cause Fujino so much distress. So, she prompted Tōno to contact the Silver General himself over the line she'd established back at Tachibana Castle not an hour before.   Moments later, Shigeaki Tōno herself had Sanosuke on the mental line. When questioned about her behavior, the eccentric aunt's responses were simple. She'd been off traveling the world using her own powers of teleportation and picked up certain interesting ideas. The one most appealing to her was that of a "Newspaper," a journalistic production that could cheaply and easily inform even the common people of the going-ons in their country. To that end, Tōno had started adding people she thought were interesting, movers and shakers, to her mental network.   That all seemed to check out, but Sanosuke still had to ask why Tōno had acted so strangely when they'd met briefly in Tachibana Castle. That behavior had been the true cause of all this confusion. Without hesitation, the other responded that she'd been drunk and panicked when her niece unexpectedly showed up, thus teleporting away without a word. Try as he might, Sanosuke couldn't find any hint of a lie in her words, so took her at faith. It seemed more and more likely that events apparently connected to other attempts to compromise Fujino had instead just been the antics of an estranged family member.   This "newspaper" that Tōno was talking about caught Sanosuke's interest. He mentioned the possibility that the Hashinara Clan might be interested in sponsoring such a public work, which seemed to be exactly what Tōno was looking for. In return, she insinuated that things which the sponsor found "inconvenient" might not find their way into the news. This caused Sanosuke no small amount of relief. Tōno was apparently not eccentric enough to fail to understand that part of the relationship.   The two seemed to have quite a bit to offer each other, so Sanosuke arranged dinner with the formerly-unknown aunt. They agreed to meet at Yakisoba Yashiki in Shimonoseki, apparently one of Tōno's favorites, and discuss things in more detail. Once that was settled, Sanosuke delivered the good news to Fujino, only to see her face fall once again. Her aunt was trouble, the petite psychic insisted, and was probably broke again, looking to snag Sanosuke as a sugar daddy. To Fujino's growing horror, the Silver General didn't seem perturbed by this idea.   Michiko, who had been standing politely by while their mental conversation proceeded, took this as a sign that things had worked out thanks to her advice. Sanosuke caught her off guard by offering to take her to dinner as well, but Michiko was eventually persuaded to accept as a bit of repayment for her services provided. Doubts still clouding Fujino's usually-sunny countenance, the trio departed for Yakisoba Yashiki and what would surely be a dinner to remember.