“What’s the meaning of this?” He passed the check to Kazuho. Who took the chance to look at it, which was nothing more than a wrongly sized piece of paper with scribbles. The sum was not even spelled out. “I was showing this to the bank, and they laughed at me.”

Kazuho wondered whether this had been a trick by him, it was possible he might want to extort more from them. But it was too early to tell, he would need to test him a little more to figure it out.

“It definitely isn’t mine.” He took out the stack of paper he used. The article was more rectangular than this, and the top had been filled with details which allowed him to quickly fill it in. Something which wasn’t present on the paper. Even the quality was different, his book was filled with smooth paper while this was much rougher.

“But this can’t be possible.” Instead of biting back, he was bewildered. Kazuho could make the guess that he really was telling the truth.

“How did you get there?” Shinrou asked. This was a city in which many walked, and it was not unusual for even merchants like them to walk around with large sums of money.

“I walked there. Through a shortcut, which was an easier route to the banks. Although I avoid it because it isn’t safe.”

“And you walked through it with 5000 yen in your pocket?” If it wasn’t safe, then there was no point in him walking through the street instead of taking a more reliable, longer route. Kazuho raised his eyebrow, it was not a wonder why his money was stolen. And explained why he had lost his cash. The rule to most merchants was to avoid such places in favor of safer routes.

“Yes. But I didn’t see anyone reaching into my pockets.” Kazuho shook his own head, seeing as he wasn’t really paying attention at all. And also came the issue of where he had placed them. Even if they could not avoid such a route, the best way to put it high up where it would be noticeable.

“You clearly don’t know thieves. Did anyone bump into you while you were there?”

“Yes, but he was a young boy.” Which didn’t matter, since these were hard times? Many children needed to work or find some way for their family to survive. Sometimes their parents have fallen ill or needed the money for school. And to many, those had been the perfect targets to train into thieves. Their hands were small, which made reaching in and taking out easy. Not to mention that they were easily underestimated.

“And this can be done by a young boy with access to paper and ink. It’s just scribbles, and most of them can read to some extent.” To what extent was debated, but it was a certainty that most of them could read.

“Guess I would have to report it to the authorities.” The man sighed. “I have got to be down on my luck.”

Shinrou tried to keep himself from laughing, since one of it had been trying to get them to rent instead of buy, with no intention to sell any of his smaller houses. While the other had been idiocy for lack of better word. Or that the thought of not making a good profit had really gotten to him.

Kazuho was far less so, he knew just how much would be displayed if they got involved. Gossip would spread all over the city, and people would see of them. Which to Kazuho was the last thing he needed, it had not been worth the time to go through all the legal proceedings. He had better things to do than that.

But the only possible idea he had in his head was to suggest finding him himself.

“How about I try to find the boy?” Even if this may see him as suspicious, he was making an offering, and it could be framed in such a way. But he was sure that it would be accepted. He was reluctant, as seen by how he had come back instead of heading straight to the shogunate to launch a complaint.

“How are you going to find him?”

“Give me a description, and I’ll do what I can.” It was almost bizarre for him to do so, even as the man raised an eyebrow at such a proposition. “Look, I don’t want to find any trouble. This would save both me and your time. If I can’t find him, I’ll write you another check.”

He nodded. It was an acceptable deal for him; he would rather deal with this privately than have all of it out in the open. “He wasn’t particularly very tall, I kept it in my lower pocket. So maybe around my shoulder.” And the man wasn’t of great height either, Shinrou being taller by him by quite a bit.

Which allowed him to grab it without noticing. That made a lot of sense. “He had black hair, dressed rather poorly.” And that was all they could, not even a sketch.

“Can you draw?” Kazuho passed him the paper. Since that description would have gotten them nowhere. He had taken the brush, trying to draw.

“He sure is cooperative.”

“It’s a rule to avoid them looking too heavily into their business. I mean he did almost try to trick us.” Shinrou nodded, understanding that they were people who wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

“Won’t he think the same as us?”

“He benefits from something like this too. I even offered compensation.”

“Which to you would still be literally nothing.” He shot him a look. Preferring not to talk about his finances as much as he was here, if anyone were to really total his wealth, he would be counted as having enough money to live comfortably for a lifetime. Several lifetimes was also a possibility.

Even as the man returned him the paper with a rough sketch. A rough sketch was an understatement, as the boy’s eyes were too big, nothing was defining. And Kazuho knew that he would be in for a long search. And that his only good clue had been the check he issued.

“I clearly hoped too much.”

“Indeed.” Shinrou agreed.

Kazuho asked. “What is the name again?”

“The street along the twentieth district.” Since they did not name anything here at all and split them into districts.

“Tell me when you have something.” The man took the chance to leave. Kazuho sighed, placing it into his sleeves. He knew for the full fact what this would have meant, it was starting out with no clues and having to find most of them yourself.

Even as Masami came out, knowing that it was better to hide while they were here. Since both of them had come without them. And thus it was better to do so.

“So, we’re going to be looking for a thief?” They both nodded at her question. “And the drawing is even worse than Shinrou’s art.”

“Does that mean we’re allowed to leave?” Yuki had been trying for a long while to get out of the house, and this could be the reason. And honestly, it didn’t really matter since they would be spending a lot of it trying to figure it out as Yuki saw whatever sights she had wanted to see.

“Since we have this, why don’t we go out now?”

“I’ll stay behind, in case he comes back.”

Kazuho and Masami gave the nod as Yuki ran inside to grab her parasol. After which they both left.