Takashi frowned; both of them had been injured. Shinoda had a deep purple bruise across the side of his face, the contusion spreading from his right eye socket all the way down to his cheekbone. Kodama had a bruise across his nose, and there was evidence of dried blood around a cut that looked to run into his scalp. Takashi closed his eyes, anticipating disappointment when he had hoped for good news.

“What happened?”

“I’m sorry,” Kodama said.

“For what?”

“It didn’t go as we expected,” he said, bowing his head again. “The girl was with someone else.”

“Who?”

“A gaijin,” Shinoda said, taking over.

Katsuro jumped in. “Describe him.”

“Six feet tall, dark hair, a beard, blue eyes.”

“It could be him, Father,” Katsuro said.

Takashi waved for Shinoda to continue.

“We followed the old man to a restaurant. He met his daughter. They spoke for an hour and then the gaijin arrived. We couldn’t get close enough to hear what they were saying.”

“Go on,” Takashi said, stifling the flare of anger that he felt at the prospect of Sakura still somehow contriving to stay a step ahead.

“We followed her, like you said. They took the metro and got off at Waseda. We stayed with them, but, the gaijin…” He paused, evidently embarrassed at the failure that he was going to have to recount. “The gaijin jumped us. We came around the corner and he tossed us both down the stairs. Kodama was knocked out and he was too strong for me.”

“And?”

“He said that he had a message for you. He is going to come and see you tomorrow. He has a proposal. He said to say that you’ve lost something very important and that he could help to get it back.”

“What have I lost?”

“He said a sword.”

Takashi stood and, without even a backward glance at the two men, walked back to his position at the window.

“Boss?” Kodama asked, trepidation in his voice.

“Go,” Takashi said. “Get out.”

He heard them as they crossed the wide space back to the door and the stairs that would deliver them to the tenth floor and the elevator. He should have insisted upon punishment for shoddy work, but he was distracted by the message that they had delivered. He still had no idea who this gaijin was, and why he was helping Sakura. The woman was attractive, but would a stranger really put himself in harm’s way just because of that? It didn’t make sense. The man, whoever he was, was effective and tenacious.

“Why would they go to Waseda?” Takashi said.

Katsuro didn’t answer.

“Do you not think that is unusual?”

Katsuro shrugged. “I don’t know.”