“You really do look up to him, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. Lots of us in the 4th Ward do.”
“I’ll bet.”
Asa continued to hang out with Tsumugi as they made their way through the market district, walking around for roughly two hours. They checked out grocer’s stalls and fishmongers that Asa would never have needed to be anywhere near if she’d been with another Ghoul, which left her feeling groggy.
“I can’t believe you seriously eat grass and fish and stuff,” Asa grumbled as she smelled the odor of fish coming from the kitchen. They were back at Tsumugi’s house now, and Asa had been given the tedious task of covering her cloth with backstitching. “Let things that grow in the dirt stay there and leave things that swim back in the ocean.”
“Still,” Uta pointed out, “A human meal is kind of like a colorful work of art.”
“Why would you want to put art in your mouth?” Asa asked, scrunching up her face at that. “When my food’s got a weird color, I …”
Tsumugi came out with a tray loaded with food. The smell was even stronger now, and Asa unwittingly pinched her nose shut on reflex, but after getting a quick, narrow-eyed glance at Tsumugi’s food, her hand came away from her face. As Uta had said, Tsumugi’s meal came in lovely bowls and piled atop plates, the many bright colors a feast for the eyes. It was an interesting thing to view as art. Once Tsumugi started eating, the sight struck Asa as grotesque and unsettling, but she felt a fresh surge of joy at having learned something new.
And I bet Uta has learned a lot about me that he didn’t know before too.
That thought made her somewhat lonesome. She couldn’t shake the feeling that no matter how she tried to chase after him, she could never catch up.
That night, after Uta had gone back to his shop, Asa was alone in Tsumugi’s living room, continuing to work on her backstitching. Half the reason was that she was determined to actually finish the job, but the other half was that she was starting to find the simple work a little bit fun.
“What? You’re still here?”
The voice made Asa look up. Tsumugi was standing there, dressed for bed.
“You’re the one who told me to do this!” Asa snapped. “So I’m not going until it’s finished!”
Tsumugi said nothing in reply, and instead sat down right next to her on the sofa. She watched Asa for a while, keeping her thoughts to herself, and then got her sewing equipment from the shelf and began some embroidery.
“You don’t need to head back home?” she asked.
“Don’t got one. Selling masks doesn’t bring in a ton of money. For someone like me, it’s basically like being a part-time day laborer.”
“What about your parents?”
“My mother was already gone as far back as I remember. My dad was an idiot and got killed after he picked a fight with some other Ghouls.”
Asa was unconcerned with her own past, and her tone showed it. “I see …” Tsumugi murmured in response before going silent.
That silence continued for a while before Asa found it too stifling. She looked up to see a bit of Tsumugi’s needlework. “What’s that?”
“Oh, this? Keeping my hands active helps me stay sharp.” Tsumugi then unfurled a scarf embroidered in silver.
“Whoa, that’s amazing!” It was somewhat irritating that Tsumugi’s handiwork impressed Asa as much as it did, but she couldn’t quash the emotional response she had. The scarf sported a large ring of flowers with expanding leaves, all of it bordered by a beautiful curving ivy pattern. The needlework reminded Asa of the adorned mask in the photo she’d gotten from the detective.
“So you really did make that mask, huh?” For the first time since coming here, Asa could truly believe that.
“Well, I’m originally a dressmaker by trade, so my masks have mostly been special orders from my regular clients.”
That limited the possibilities of who had owned this mask to a very small pool of people. “So hey, old lady. How come the police had a photo of one of your masks?” Asa asked, curious. “I could tell that Uta was worried about you too. Is that mask dangerous somehow?”
Tsumugi set her embroidery work on her knee and stared into the distance, her eyes narrowing. Asa, who before now had been short-tempered and snappish with her, found herself waiting calmly for a response.
“I made that mask on the request of a very wealthy individual,” Tsumugi muttered. “He had it made for a Ghoul.”
“If it’s a Ghoul mask, why are the police involved? Isn’t this usually Ghoul investigator business?”
Tsumugi let out a deep sigh of consternation. “That detective must have good instincts. I suppose Uta is worried that I’ll be in a risky predicament if it’s discovered I made a mask for a Ghoul.”
“Ah, I see. You’d be marked as a Ghoul collaborator, then?” Asa asked, at last getting a handle on the situation.
“Those masks are a Ghoul’s way of keeping hidden. If it was found out that I’d abetted one by making a mask, I’d be brought up on charges.”
“So the mask is dangerous, then. If this detective finds you he’s probably going to arrest you.”
“I’m just an old woman without much time left. What point would there be in arresting me?” Tsumugi replied, her tone unconcerned, her face showing some deep forethought.
“You’re ready, then? Is that it?”
“Hmm?”
“I just … sometimes I get the same sort of impression from Uta.” A willingness to take on anything and everything, come what may. Even an outsider was capable of seeing it. “Now that I think about it, if anything happened, someone might be able to track Uta’s creations back to him too. And he still makes what he does, despite all the risks?”
Things weren’t like that for Asa. As someone who lived from day to day thanks to her street stall, if something bad happened to her she could just run. Running a shop and selling merchandise meant walking a fine line. One that Uta, as well as Tsumugi, continued to walk.
“What’s got you so sentimental all of a sudden?” Tsumugi asked, looking at Asa and sounding rather perplexed.
“I wouldn’t say I’m being sentimental as much as …”
“You’re an easy one to read, girl. Here, use this to blow your nose,” Tsumugi said, tossing the embroidered scarf to Asa.
“Hey! My noise isn’t running! And even if it were, I couldn’t blow my nose with this!”
“Well, she’s got some spirit, after all. If you need to take a break from your work, you can sleep on the sofa. You can finish up the rest in the morning. Don’t cut any corners.” Tsumugi groaned as she stood up and then returned to her own room.
“Oh come on, where does she get off?” Asa grumbled as she took a look at Tsumugi’s embroidery work, letting out a gasp of astonishment.
“This is incredible …”