Chapter 26 - Restless

"Your appearance looks terrible," Akito commented when she came down for lunch. She knew better than to refute him; she knew her current appearance was a mess. Setsura sighed, she hadn't seen him all morning and yet he acts all nonchalant. Where has he been this entire time? Setsura wanted to ask him but figured that it would do her no good.

Setsura sighed, "I don't know why but...I can't sleep." Being half-asleep was terrible for her. She ended up coming down here right before it hit noon.

Since all she could do here is eat and sleep - Setsura was beyond bored. But now it seems like she couldn't fall asleep either. So that's why she went down. A deep sigh escaped her lips, being restricted like this was awful. It made her body feel sluggish since she could only go to two places.

"That won't do. Is it because of the change in environment?" Akito asked.

"I'm not sure," Setsura didn't understand why. Sure, when she first arrived at the Meiji era, she was unable to sleep due to the drastic changes. But, eventually, she fell into a comfortable routine. This was the first time she was unable to any sleep at all. So she was groggy and grumpy.

"Yep, definitely because of the environment change," Akito reached over and patted her head, "There is a lot of food here, you should eat a lot."

Why do men eat so much? Since she came down, all Setsura had was some justice, and she immediately lost her appetite. There was plenty of food here, nice looking food too. Even though she was being held here against her will, the food wasn't like a prisoners. So Setsura wondered exactly what their intentions were keeping her here.

"It's good to keep some strength. It won't do if you pass out here."

Setsura understood what he meant; they were in foreign territory. So she has to make sure she has enough strength, just in case they had to run away.

"That's true, but..." Setsura trailed off when she saw the expression on his face. Akito was casually putting food on her plate. Setsura knew she could never match his palate. But, she still needed to eat a lot, "Get me more food."

Akito smiled and followed her instructions until her plate was full.

.....

After a few minutes of eating, Setsura eventually finished. "That aside, how much longer is this gonna be?" Setsura questioned. "We've been here for quite some time now." She didn't know how long investigations took in this place. But, she was getting increasingly impatient.

Setsura sipped her tea and observed the canteen after lunch. The only people living in this place were members of the city. The chefs already left for the meantime. So those who came late could only eat whatever food remained.

"We'll probably have to wait till the criminal's caught."

"I want to know when the criminal will be caught," Setsura interjected with an indifferent look on her face. It's not like she didn't understand, the investigation is important, and the criminals should be brought to justice. However, it made her skin crawl being suspected over such a brutal murder. Do people actually think somebody like her is capable of it? Sure appearances are deceiving, but she's perfectly sane. The murderer must be some sick psycho - with the way the body was disfigured; it was not a simple task — somebody with high intelligence.

Somebody with medical knowledge - and knowledge of the people living in this era. While the first two things could apply to her, what about the last? Anybody could question her for long enough, and find out that she doesn't belong to this era at all.

Akito smiled, "Take it easy, investigations like this take time. I've cooperated with city investigations several times already, so I understand the procedures," Akito blew the steam rising from his teacup. "Normally those balls are private, so they don't have to worry about random strangers themselves. Those who belong in the community won't try anything, because it would be easy to catch things. So the criminal was amongst the new people who attended."

"Even if you tell me this, doesn't everybody carry a weapon for self-defense?" Setsura questioned, "Why on earth am I the only one being suspected?"

One of the main reasons they suspected her is because of her weapons.

Akito smiled, "It isn't just you; there are a lot of suspects."

A lot? She hasn't seen anybody but her. While there are a lot of people in this building, Sestura could tell they were regular guests of this establishment. Nobody else but her has a guard following her down to the cafeteria; her gaze flickered towards the guard. He was blending in well with the people, but Setsura knew he was looking over at her. However, unlike earlier, Setsura noted that he was not looking over as much. Is it because Akito is here with her? She supposes it made sense. Akito may act the way he does, but it does not change his current status.

He is still a government worker. From what she has established in her short stay here, he holds, well at least formerly held a high position.

"Why do you look so relaxed, didn't they take away your weapons too?"

Akito smiled, "Are you worried that we would get attacked and Im unharmed?"

"Of course I am," Setsura puffed her cheeks, "If your unarmed, that is the same as me being dead too." Setsura thought that Akito would at least hold onto his weapons. But in the end, she watched as he personally handed them over, "Are you sympathizing with your fellow officers, that is why you gave your weapons?"

"In a sense, but put it this way. If I hid it when they were confiscating things, and they found it later, we would get in more trouble."

True, it would look like Akito has something to hide.

"The two of us were in the garden when it happened, how many other people were there?"

"One or two other couples."

Setsura rolled her eyes, who is a couple with you? But she knew better than to argue with him now. The main point here is to investigate the case.

"The state of the body, I've seen something like it before," Setsura mumbled. She did not want to hide this from Akito. The technology in the Meiji era is still faded for her; Setsura did not want to take any risks. What if they have the means to get that information out of her? It would be better for her if she just told him. "In my memories."

Akito looked at her for a while and nodded, "Yeah, I figured."

"What do you mean?"

"Since you got dragged into this case, I will not hide things from you anymore."

The next words that left Akitos mouth surprised her, but at the same time, it made sense. So, this is the reason why they are so cautious towards her and why she is the only one really being watched. Setsura sighed, "You should have just told me that from the very start, there is no need to hide such things from me."

"I thought it would be best to hide it, since you are still in the process of regaining your memories, and," Akito extended his hand out and reached out for her right hand, which was covered with a glove. Akito gave her a set of gloves recently and told her to use it. At first, Setsura did not understand why, but now she did. "If they were to find out about your hand, I do not know what they would do."

That's right her right hand; it's paralyzed. The reason why Akito gave her these gloves is so people wouldn't notice. It's not like her right hand had any visible signs of being paralyzed or anything. However, Akito told her that people would be able to tell. Setsura didn't quite understand, but she figured it would be better to be safe than sorry.