Beads and nuggets of wood blocked his view to the other room, where a pair voices continued to argue. The female one sounded … familiar, but it couldn't be her. Could it? The beads jingled as someone parted them. Kaito couldn't believe his eyes. Mayumi was here. She looked different. Her hair was bound and she wore a white kimono with light red flowers on it. They looked stitched on, rather than woven. Kaito stared at her dumbstruck, betrayed, and above all angry. "What is wrong with you!" he said. Mayumi turned around and spoke to the man behind her. "Could you give us a few moments?" Kaito heard the man scoff, but couldn’t see him. Mayumi turned back to face Kaito and hit him on the head, hard. He resisted the urge to rub the pain away. He stood there, looking her in the eyes. Her gaze did not falter upon meeting his own. Kaito looked away, unable to take the hostile nature of her glare. "What are you doing? You still want to get to Yoshino in one piece, don’t you?” He nodded, unsure of what was going on.
