[Day 4, EE, Closed] An Inauspicious Circumstance

[Otomo Tooru]

Afterwards, Otomo Tooru will little remember the business that took him to the Empress' chambers that evening. Perhaps it was something to do with checking her interest in attending a conference with Lord Togashi, or maybe it was something to do with undermining Gorobei--a favorite pastime.

Whatever it was, it was obliterated by the import of what he discovered there.

For there, supine at the foot of her futon, lay the Empress.

She did not stir.

"O-Tenno-heika?" Tooru approached swiftly, his voice pitched at a respectfully quiet volume. When he received no response, he decided to risk it; he reached into his pocket to retrieve a hairpin and reached out to give her shoulder a gentle tap. "O-Tenno-heika?"

No reply.

Fuck, he thought,

...and yet...

He put the pin back in his pocket. There was no time to lose.

He dashed over to the writing desk. Nothing.

Fuck! Where in Jigoku is it?

He rushed to her bedside table. Nothing on top.

He pulled open the drawer, dodged the dart that shot out of it. Promising. And retrieved two pieces of paper.

He scanned them carefully, his eyebrows slowly rising, Can't have that! ...and then stuffed them in his pocket.

He took a slow breath, then turned and began to paw at the screen behind him. Where did you get to? Aha!! He pulled the dart slowly, tenderly, out of the screen, leaving the tiniest pinprick, and then dashed back to the bedside table, where he re-rigged the Empress' little trap and replaced the door.

There we are. He brought his index finger to his lips, considering the situation carefully. Was there anything he had missed?

He thought not. He moved slowly toward the door, letting his volume rise with proximity to simulate the end of a conversation."

"...very well, then, Tenno-heika, I will pass it along. Please, leave it with me. Farewell, Tenno-heika." And he slid open the door so that the Seppun could see him performing the final full bow before he emerged.

"The Empress is retiring for a time, gentlemen. She has asked to be woken before night falls that she might perform some work. Thank you." And with a last nod of acknowledgment to the miharu, Otomo Tooru made his /exit.