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Absolution: Chapter 5 - Suspicions

by Sakusha

Youji loved life at sea. By midsummer he had even had a rare trip to the mainland. But he spent all his land hours with me. I couldn’t get enough of it. Maybe it was a bit presumptuous but I thought of him as family. Considering how he had come into this predicament in the first place, I really had no right but I couldn’t help it . When we could, we usually spent our meals with our legs hanging over the docks, chattering about this and that. On this particular day, however, the docks had been blocked off for security reasons. There were at least two days a month that it was like this. Certain shipments would come in, and Miko-sama had a special crew for unloading the ships contents. The regular workers such as myself were never allowed anywhere near the ship. I found that to be completely odd. I had a very uneasy feeling regarding the secret shipments and Miko-sama. I don’t think I was the only one however, because Youji brought it up during our noon meal as we sat on top of some empty crates by the warehouse.

“ ….And I’m not even allowed on that ship. Soujirou, how come he won’t let me on that ship? I work hard don’t I? And nobody is ever allowed in that warehouse unless Miko-sama is there. He was yelling all day yesterday about the new shipment. And this morning I got a peak of the crates they were unloading. The nets weren’t secure and one of the crates fell out. Everyone jumped like the thing was going to explode!”

“ Maybe they were just afraid something would break and your uncle would take it out of their pay” I answered jokingly.

“ We ships spices, Soujirou” He said seriously “ They act like there was something dangerous in those boxes.”

That boy was too perceptive by half. And he was right. Whenever these shipments came in, everyone got a little jumpy, especially Miko-sama.

“ Yo-chan,” He hated that name “ Let it go. You have a good thing going here. I can’t see anything wrong, and you’re doing what you love to do.”

I really didn’t want to think too hard on it because I knew if I did, I would come to the conclusion that Youji’s uncle was most likely involved in something slightly shady, and while I would not agree with it, I wanted Youji to have his apprenticeship and to be happy, and these were things his uncle could provide, and I could not.

“ But, Sou-chan,” He not only hated to be called chan, but knew how to turn the tables, mind you, “ What if he’s doing something…bad”

Before I could answer, I heard a slight shuffle, and Miko-sama, the very topic of our conversation, turned the corner.

“Oh! Hello there Youji, and..Soujirou?”

“ Yes, Miko-san, Soujirou. It is nice to see you. We were just finishing up our mid-day meal. Is everything alright sir?” I tried as hard as I could to keep my voice steady.

He eyed us for a moment, surly he could here both of our heart beating because I swear I could.

“ Everything is just fine.” He said finally. “ I was thinking that since there is no work to be done on the docks until tomorrow, I would like some repairs to be made to the main warehouse. I really think that its useless to have idle workers, you understand.” He eyed me as he said it and I got the distinct feeling he wanted to say much more.

“ Yes, Miko-sama, I’ll see to it right away” I cleaned up my lunch and started on my way, Youji behind me.

“I’ll come with you” he chirped, also eager to be gone.

“ Youji ” Miko-sama called after his nephew, and we both stopped.

“Yes, uncle, um, Miko-sama.”

“ I would like you to come with me, I would like to speak to you about something.”

“ Yes, Miko-sama” Youji turned to give me a little shrug. Certainly Miko-sama had not heard out conversation. And even if he had, Youji never really accused him of anything. I still felt uneasy, and against my better judgment, gave him a reluctant smile. After all, what could I do? I was not this boy’s family, as Mike- sama was, and there didn’t seem to be any danger in going with his uncle. With that Youji went to catch up to his uncle who had already started to walk towards the offices.