A door on another side opened, and a thin old man with gray hair entered the kitchen. Yua drew her wakizashi, and Taka took his bow from his back.


    “Rx, young people.” The man raised his hands with a gloomy face. “I will not report you to the guards. I was expecting you here. You guys are lucky to meet me. I was one of those who agreed to the n.”


    “The n?” Yua raised an eyebrow.


    “ns on sending help request letters through merchants.”


    “Why can’t I feel youing?” Taka asked.


    The man smiled. “I used to be a ninja too. However, because of this old body of mine, I can do nothing more to resist their oppression.”


    Yua and Taka exchanged nces. Taka nodded and lowered his bow, then bowed slightly. “My name is Taka, sir.”


    “And I’m Yua.” The kunoichi added, putting her sword back in.


    “I’m Tamaki. Tamaki Shoichi. Nice to meet you.” The old man replied, bowing back. “Follow me, please.”_.


    The man named Tamaki walked into the house. A woman and a man in their thirties approached him.


    “This is my son, Ryoma, and his wife, Maeno,” Tamaki exined as they passed through a narrow passage. “There are only three of us here.”


    The husband and wife bowed slightly as a sign of respect. Yua and Taka introduced themselves and bowed back as well.


    Since the house was small, it didn’t take long for them to arrive at one of the rooms.


    “This is my room.” Tamaki shifted the door of the house, which was made of paper and a wooden frame. “I have prepared a hiding ce for you here.”


    Ryoma handed a long bamboo stick to Tamaki. The old man then used it to push a part of the ceiling made of wood. That part opens, showing deep darkness.


    “You are indeed a ninja,” Taka mumbled. Neither he nor Yua realized a secret door in the ceiling. The part that was pushed in was very much integrated with all the other ceiling parts.


    “Sorry, but you guys have to hide there in the meantime.” Tamaki pointed to the hole in the ceiling. “Don’t worry, I’ve cleaned it often. I, along with several others, have been looking forward to your arrival. They also prepared the same hiding ce in their respective homes.”


    “Thank you very much, sir.” Both Yua and Taka bowed again to the old man.


    “However, if possible, we want to quickly save the vigers tonight.” Taka continued. “Our time is limited.”


    Tamaki shook his head. “Not now. Officials from the government are staying overnight to carry out inspections. Security is very tight. You’d better do that mission tomorrow.”


    Maeno then brought a candle that was lit in a small container. Yua and Taka entered the hole after epting the candle. As Tamaki said, the room behind the ceiling was clean without the slightest dust.


    “We want to give you dinner, but the guards will suspect us if we cook at night.” Tamaki sighed. “And sorry, we couldn’t provide a morefortable ce.”


    Yua looked through the hole in the ceiling, smiling broadly. “Once again, thank you, Tamaki-san. This is more than enough.”


    Taka then put the hole cover in its proper ce, making the room even darker.


    “They are good people,” Yua muttered as she put down the candle she was carrying.


    Taka took a deep breath. “Did you see their faces earlier? They are very gloomy as if they have no zest for life.”


    The situation became silent as the two of them didn’t speak anymore.


    “Hey, Taka-san.” The kunoichi whispered. “You’ve made progress by not bleeding your nose anymore. Even though you’ve been around me for quite a while.”


    Taka flinched and hastily wiped his nose, which fortunately didn’t bleed this time. “Don’t be silly! Now you better sleep. We’ll take turns on guard.”


    “Yua…” Raymund growled in frustration, and the kunoichi looked up and smiled at him. “You don’t need to extract information from him anymore, right?”


    ***


    Taka opened his eyes and found a tray beside him.


    “This….” The ninja rubbed his heavy eyes, observing what was on the tray: a bowl full of rice, a te of two dried fish, and a bowl of miso soup.


    “Good morning, handsome man,” Yua asked with a warm smile. “Eat. You need the energy to carry out this mission. Maeno-san has been kind enough to cook for us.”


    Taka nced at Yua’s empty tray.


    “Sorry, I already ate. I am starving. All we’ve been eating since yesterday is little roast birds.” The kunoichi widened her smile.


    “I see…” Taka took the chopsticks and sped his hands together. “Itadakimasu.”


    “You are so kind, Yua,” Raymund mumbled. “You don’t need to eat. But still, what you did just now was very generous.”


    Still smiling, Yua looked at Taka, who ate like a madman.


    In fact, the rice they got was only half a bowl for each person. They also only get one fish each. However, Yua chose to just drink her miso soup.


    A soft knock sounded from the rooftop where they were, followed by Ryoma’s voice. “Taka-san, Yua-san, when you guys have finished eating,e to the next room. My father is waiting.”


    Taka and Yua looked at each other. The male ninja hastened to eat until he choked and had to drink a lot.


    “Seriously. What kind of ninja is he?” Raymund mumbled again.


    The two of them then descended from the ceiling and went into the next room. There, Yua held her breath at the heartbreaking sight. A small child was sitting in front of Tamaki with a bruised face and a bandaged right hand.


    The little boy looked at Yua and Taka. “Are these people…”


    “Shhh…” Tamaki put her index finger to her lips. “You’d better tell them immediately why you got such cruel treatment from the guardsst night.”


    The little boy gulped with teary eyes. “I-I just wanted to get some medicine for my mother’s backache. Poor her, she couldn’t get up from her futon.”


    “We never get medical care,” Tamaki added. “If anyone gets sick, they will be left to die.”


    “How cruel.” Yua hissed, almost in tears seeing the poor little boy.


    “Sorry, I showed this to you two.” Tamaki sighed. “I just want you guys to get more motivation.”