Compilation

When Miyori turned over the copies she'd made on the pixie printer to her, Sayaka had taken them back to city hall to make copies she and Koji could read. It turned out the copy of the photo negative—the map of the Garden—was overexposed, but just barely usable. And the rest was more or less identical to the originals, if a bit blurry around the edges. 

"And that's not all," Sayaka said as she pulled a sheaf of papers out of her bag. "I was able to pull some records based on what we know so far. Take a look." 

She pulled out a sheaf of papers, spreading them out on her dining room table. She'd had no qualms about inviting them to her house, and had even made them sandwiches for lunch before getting down to business. 

Koji picked up the copy of the map and squinted at it, trying to make out the slightly blurred lines. "Out of curiosity, are these stolen goods?" 

"Well, the copy machine was definitely illegal to borrow," Sayaka answered frankly. "But I put it back, and I don't think anyone noticed it missing; it was just the backup one in case Eguchi's broke. As for these records, they aren't stolen! I just made copies." She paused. "Though I suppose the paper is technically stolen office supplies, since I'm not giving that back." 

"Great," Koji muttered. 

For a city official, Sayaka seemed remarkably calm about breaking rules. It seemed that she'd taken the same blood oath Miyori had over the past week, too. Koji seemed more nervous about Sayaka's involvement than Sayaka did at this point. 

"And also…your friend, Ogimura-san. You said his name was Takasu-kun, right?" 

Miyori nodded. 

"I thought so. I went looking for the records, and he's exactly who I thought he was—did you know his mother is a successful installation artist?" 

Miyori shook her head. Noa had mentioned some things about his mother, and she'd sounded like some sort of magic expert, but that was all. 

"Well, maybe she's not quite a household name—though she should be. She's well-known in the industry, and I've actually been a fan of hers for a long time." She leaned forward. "I found out that she terminated her latest public contract eight weeks ago, and several of her bills are past due." 

Miyori bit her lip. "Noa-kun said she disappeared, so…" 

"And I'm sure it's related to all this." She tapped the files. "She's not the only contractor who's gone missing—and not the most subtle, either. Some have said they're not looking for work right now, others seem to have skipped town…and a few have missing person's reports out about them. It's not everyone in the field, but it's enough that I bet the rest of them are worried." 

Koji raised an eyebrow. "You think they're kidnapping artists?" 

"I think there's a cover-up." Sayaka looked serious. "I don't want to worry you, Koji-kun, but I had to sneak around quite a bit even to get these copies. Before I met with you two, I was told off for asking for an investigation into some magic fluctuations, too." She shook her head. "I'm sure there's bribery going on here somewhere. Probably Iseki Conglomerate lobbyists, though I can't guarantee there aren't dirty politicians taking fae money, too—since you've said they're in on this." 

"Wonderful," Koji said. He smirked. "Glad to see you're still nosy. Here I thought your regrets had you chasing after me." 

Sayaka coughed. "Well—those are pretty bold words from a man who didn't even want to show his face in front of me. Just accept my hard-earned information already, will you?" 

Clearly there was something going on there that was none of Miyori's business. 

"What I'm interested in is this map," Koji said, changing the subject. "Were you able to make out what it says?" 

"Some," said Sayaka. "Hopefully enough. But this map and the city maps don't quite add up—there's signs of architecture here that aren't in the city plans. It's strange." 

"No it isn't. It's interesting," Koji said. "Nobody has a perfect map of this city—though if you somehow got all the different fae families to share theirs, you might get pretty close." He pushed the map towards Sayaka. "Find what looks off, and that's probably where the really interesting stuff is happening." 

"That's a good place to start," Sayaka agreed. She pulled yet another sheaf of paper out of her bag—this time a map that, when she unfolded it, covered most of the table. They began pain-stakingly cross-referencing it against the blurry map Miyori had managed to capture. 

To one side was a page of notes in Sayaka's neat hand, drawing connections. Miyori, who wasn't particularly good with maps anyway, read through these. 

Noa, his mother, the other artists and professional magicians who seemed to have gone away or underground…even the requested volunteers at the event. Iseki wasn't afraid of disappearing people, if that was what it took. And since they were using blood magic, it was almost certainly fae they were working with….

Wait. 

She'd brought Noa's notes along with her own today as a matter of course. Digging into his notebook, she found the letter that had cursed him.

Murasaki Shijo.

He'd said before that he thought it must be a coincidence, but what if it wasn't? Could it be the same person, working under two names?

Miyori waited for a lull in the others' conversation and then showed them the letter. 

"The Shijos, huh." Koji shook his head. "They had some trouble years ago and went quiet—I've heard whispers of a new head, but no details. And usually the heads of the families communicate with each other a little better than that. It's a courtesy thing."

"It'd be quite a big deal for a fae to work that high up in a company, though, right?" Sayaka asked. "What did you say she was, a CFO?" 

"That'd just make it easier to cover their tracks," Koji pointed out. "If she's got a lot of money and power and all. Not to mention not staying in the underworld like she's supposed to." 

"So you think it is the same person?" 

"It's a theory. And it means that this"—Koji pointed to a spot on the map—"might just be their home base. It's not on the official maps, and right in the middle of Shijo territory." 

Miyori looked at her blurry map, and saw that he was right—multiple lines connected to a spot awkwardly far from the city center. "So that's where we need to go," she breathed. 

"Not so fast," Koji said. "If we just show up, we'll either be stopped immediately, or it'll turn into a raid. And raids to be handled very carefully. Raids lead to skirmishes, and those can lead to outright war between families if they go bad. And most fae actually want to avoid that a lot of the time—it's messy, it's a waste of resources, and it draws the wrong kind of attention." He shook his head. "Unfortunately, those are all things gramps is looking to avoid." 

Miyori's heart sank. "So he's not going to help us?" 

"Not yet, he isn't," Koji said. "But I'm working on it. Just give me a little longer."