Back in the 4th Ward, her old hometown, Asa left the train station and wove her way between the buildings, through narrow streets, making her way farther and farther in until she arrived at the mask shop HySy Art Mask Studio. The store’s logo was emblazoned on the wall outside, masks peering out through the windows. The very sight stirred Asa’s excitement, and somehow instilled in her a sense of pride.
“Howdy!” she called out as she knocked on the door, and when she stepped inside, one of the mannequin heads fitted with a mask caught her eye. “Whoa! This’s a new one! Oh, wow, this is beyond fine! This is beyond amazing!”
She had meant to exchange pleasantries first, but unable to resist the allure of the mask, scurried right on over to it.
“Same as always I see, Asa,” came a leisurely voice from farther back in the shop.
“Ah! S-sorry! Guess I sorta spaced out, there …” She turned around to see a man staring back at her from the workshop.
“Uh-huh. Been a while.” The man sported countless piercings and was tattooed all the way down to his fingertips. He was Uta, who once had reigned over the 4th Ward. He’d since been driven from that position of leadership, and now put his manual dexterity to use to get by running a mask shop.
Asa had been a little girl when Uta ran the ward, but she’d always admired his aura of sheer strength. She was further enamored of the masks he fashioned, and she resolved to one day have a mask shop just like his.
“You masks really are awesome, Uta! Please take me on as your apprentice!” Asa got down and prostrated herself before him. “I beg you!” she said, lowering her head.
“Our styles are too different, Asa.”
Time and again, Asa had come to Uta and begged to be his apprentice like this, only for him to calmly refuse her.
“How’s the 23rd Ward? I hear things are pretty rough there right now.”
The change in subject told Asa that it was a no-go this time as well, and she bit her lip as she stood back up. “Cochlea was attacked, and things have been a mess because of it. The doves are swarming all over the place. Heck, same goes for the pain-in-the-ass Ghouls who broke out. I hear there are lots of Ghouls who’re refugees from other wards too.”
As a matter of propriety, Asa couldn’t open a shop in the 4th Ward, where Uta dwelled, so she’d settled in the 23rd Ward, which was now embroiled in strife. Rather than seeing their brethren as having been liberated from their human captors, the Ghouls of the 23rd Ward resented them more than anything else.
“Lately I’ve been considering moving to another ward until the situation there dies down. But enough about me! I actually came because I wanted to ask you something, Uta.” She handed over the photo she’d gotten from the detective.
“What’s this?”
“Some detective came to ask me about it today. Do you recognize this mask?”
The reflection of the mask in the photo was visible in Uta’s eyes. “A policeman? Not a Ghoul investigator?”
“Yeah. I guess he was on some sort of case. But anyway, isn’t it super pretty? Who could’ve made something like that?”
Asa had a hard time reading Uta’s face; he was always placid and calm, ever composed and unwavering. She regarded him casually for a few seconds, his thoughts a mystery to her, before he put away the tools on his workbench and stood up. He slipped on the coat that hung next to him and donned his hat.
“Uta? You goin’ out somewhere?”
“Yeah. Think I got a little hunch.”
“A hunch? Wait … Uta, you think you know who the crafter of this mask might be?!”
As Asa brimmed with excitement, Uta stepped out of the shop and flipped the door sign to Closed as he said, “Not quite a crafter, per se. Tsumugi used to make masks. And I know a place where she was a regular customer.”
“Tsumugi …” So that was the mask maker’s name. Asa was growing more and more curious about what sort of person she could be. “Would it, ah, be all right for me to go with you? I’d love to see her work in person!”
Asa clenched her fists in fierce anticipation. “You’re the one who came to me to do the talking,” Uta said to her. “It’s all you.”
Uta took Asa to a café in the 20th Ward called Anteiku.
“Hey, I know this place. Doesn’t Yomo work here?” she asked. Renji Yomo was one of the many Ghouls who’d mysteriously shown up back when Uta ran the 4th Ward.
“Yeah. But we’re not here for Renji today. We’re just here to see the owner.”
The café looked to already be closed for the evening, the lights all off, but when Uta rang the bell, an elderly, white-haired man showed up. “Uta? Well, this is a rare sight. What’s going on?”
“Sorry to show up so late, Yoshimura, but there’s something I wanted to ask you about, if you don’t mind.”
A kindly smile curled Yoshimura’s lips as Uta spoke so politely to him. He was an older man, but one who gave off a sense of unfathomable power. Noticing Asa, he asked, “Who’s this?”
“Oh! I’m Asa, Uta’s prospective apprentice.”
Uta neither confirmed nor denied Asa’s casual assertion. Yoshimura narrowed his eyes at her as she felt her dejection set in yet again. “Well, come on in, at least,” he said, waving them into the shop.
“How’s your health?” Uta asked.
“Need to take it easy. Can’t really leave the café, but otherwise well enough.”
Yoshimura fetched them some coffee as they took seats at the counter. Asa had never been to a café like this one, but the luxuriant aroma rising from her coffee cup was enough to tell her it was of topmost quality.
“So, what’s going on?”
Uta took out the photograph. “The police are looking for whoever made this mask. I think it may have been Tsumugi.”