Takae was reading another letter from Miyuki back in her secluded corner among the shrine buildings that afternoon.
"Still nothing," she sighed after finishing it. "Thanks for the extra tags, at least."
She took the thin pieces of paper from the parcel and hid them inside her robe before lighting the letter and burying the ashes.
Then she walked away, the look of exhaustion and faint anger smeared across her face.
"Ever since Yuriko and I started looking into those girls after the first two left, they all keep leaving too without warning," she thought.
"It's been two months of this endless back and forth, and Leina is starting to suspect our continued interest in this," she sighed.
"This is going nowhere. They definitely aren't amateurs. Whatever it is we think we're chasing might be too far out of our reach."
"We need to think of something new, fast," she thought as she walked by the ever-busy central compound. "They're definitely aware of us by now. It won't be long before they start taking action against us too."
"I'll have to link with Yuriko again as soon as possible and see what she thinks."
She walked into the open field where all the laundry was done.
By the time she reached their usual washing spot, the three of them—Yuriko, Leina, and Taki—were already there.
"You're late again, Takae," Leina scolded. "Even Yuriko made it here before you."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!" Yuriko shot back.
"Nothing. Just sit down," she replied. "We have our work cut out for us today."
"What's up?" Takae asked as she sat down alongside them. "Did we get assigned some extra work or something?"
"It's nothing like that," Leina replied, already looking exhausted. "It's just that a big headache got reassigned to laundry duty."
She turned and pointed to a group of four or so girls who were just chatting instead of doing any work.
"You see that," she said, pointing to the one in the middle. "That's Tsubaki Hanasuba. She's the daughter of an incredibly rich merchant."
"She thinks that just because her father is so rich she's a princess, so she refuses to do any actual work," she continued. "She's been transferred from at least three other duty groups, and every one of them complained about the extra work they got from picking up her and her fan group's slack."
"I can already see the extra heaps of clothes coming our way," she sighed.
"Why don't you go and say something to her?" Taki asked. "Everyone here listens to what you say, so I'm sure they aren't any different."
"It's best to just avoid condescending people like that, Taki," Leina replied. "Messing with them will just lead to unnecessary headaches."
"Plus, we wouldn't want the rumours surrounding her to land on us too," she added while scrubbing.
"What rumours?" Takae asked.
"Well, she's allegedly run out of the shrine at night many times to meet her friends at a tavern nearby," Leina replied. "They say she's paid off the guards outside to keep her secret."
"But I wouldn't be too sure, though," she continued. "Being who she is, I'm sure she has a lot of enemies spreading these rumours so they can accuse her of breaking the ribbon and have her kicked out."
"Is that right," Takae said slowly, as if she were thinking about something else at the same time.
"If the rumours are already there, then why isn't anyone reporting her?" Yuriko asked.
"Reporting someone has to come with enough evidence, or else you could be accused of trying to set them up, so it's too risky for anyone," Leina replied. "It's better for them if the upper echelon hear the rumours and act by themselves. That way no one has to risk their neck."
Their conversation was cut short by the sounds of laughter coming from the group's direction.
When they turned to see what it was, they saw the group of four girls standing over a girl who was drenched. She looked like she couldn't be any older than eleven and was shivering.
"What was that?" the girl, Tsubaki, said as she poured even more water from a wooden basin on her.
"Please leave me alone," the girl begged in a low tone. "I already have too much work. I can't help you out. Please ask someone else."
Tsubaki knelt down and lifted up her chin, saying, "But it's you we want."
Tears streamed down the girl's face, but instead of letting her go another smile appeared on Tsubaki's face as she noticed the girl's hairpin.
"What's this?" she said, taking it out of her hair. "How does a peasant like you have something so nice?"
"Please give that back," the girl pleaded as she struggled to get it. "It was a gift from my grandmother."
She continued to struggle for it, but Tsubaki only raised it even higher, out of her reach.
"I'll give it back if you do what we say," she said with a smirk.
After struggling to reach it for more than a minute, the girl snapped and yelled, "I'm not doing anything for you, you skank! Now give it back!"
"Oh," Tsubaki said, her expression turning serious. "What a way to talk to your elder."
She then rose to her feet and held both ends of the pin with her hands.
"Disrespectful little girls like you shouldn't have nice things," she said before snapping it in two.
Then she dropped the pieces on the ground in front of her feet before turning to her friends and saying, "Let's go and find someone else. This one is useless."
They started walking away, and as they did the girl picked up the pieces and tried to fit them together as she sobbed.
"Are you okay?" a voice asked from over her.
She looked up to see a girl with orange hair looking down at her.
"I'm fine," she said harshly before rising, pushing past her, and running away.
Yuriko tried chasing after her, but Leina stopped her, saying, "We shouldn't follow her. I'm sure that she just wants to be left alone."
"Those bitches," Yuriko shot, clenching her fists as she watched them walking away in the distance. "I'd break all their teeth if there weren't so many people out here."
"Calm down, Yuriko," Takae said. "We don't want to cause any commotion for Leina now that she's only one month and a half from leaving."
"Right," Yuriko said while meeting her gaze. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Leina replied. "Let's all just get back to work."
The two of them nodded, and they started walking back to their corner. Yuriko looked over her shoulder to see if the girl was still there, but she wasn't, so she couldn't help but sigh.
The sun set soon after, and all the maidens made their way to their sleeping quarters. From then on they were free to chat, read, sleep—basically do anything, as long as it was within the limits of the rules.
Most did exactly that, which made them neglect their immediate surroundings.
Which was why they didn't notice that a scrawny eleven-year-old girl was missing.
That neglect was exactly what she was counting on.
Now she could walk into the central temple without anyone wondering where she was.
Soon enough she was sitting in a dimly lit room in front of none other than the Shrine Priestess herself.
"Tell me, what's wrong, my dear?" she asked in a caring tone. "What troubled you enough to seek me out today?"
"I've tried to keep it to myself for as long as I could, but I can't anymore, Mistress," the girl replied. "I have something to confess."
"What is it?" she asked softly.
"Two nights ago I woke up feeling thirsty, so I went to get some water," she replied. "On my way back I bumped into a girl who was sneaking back in through the back gate."
She started tearing up as she continued.
"She caught me and threatened me and my family if I ever exposed her, and she's been mistreating me ever since."
She looked up at the Shrine Priestess, her expression firm even though tears were streaming down her face.
"I want justice," she said sharply. "That's why I've come to you, Mistress."
"Don't worry," she replied, softly stroking her cheek. "We will protect you."
"Th-thank you," she mumbled.
"Now please tell me the name of this girl," she said.
"Of course," the girl replied firmly.
"It's Tsubaki Hanasuba."