49 A fashion designer

I left the shrine with my hand on the wall, ready to leave for the Tenshukaku.

I used the same 'soul ink' to mark the path in some stones and trees, so I could only follow them and reach the Shogun's place without problem. Of course, I still collide with some pebbles or boxes, but I can manage. Once I reach the city, I can reach the Tenshukaku easily, I only need to pay attention to the citizen's souls and follow their steps.

So now I'm happily travelling through the city when a girl stops me. I said girl but she is my age, around 15.

"Sir, would you like to try one of my clothes?" she said in a polite tone.

"Sure" I had time and money, so why not?. Also, I saw this girl from the shrine with my 'supervision', she comes from a little settlement in the middle of the nearby plains, Konda village.

"Great!" she excitedly said.

"Are you a new designer?" asked while using my hands to see if something was in front of me.

"Yes, my name is Chiori, and I just created my brand Chioriya" she happily said. I see how her soul is brimming with excitement and happiness at the mention of her brand.

"You look like a girl ready to chase her dreams" I nodded at her attitude. I like people like her, that feel excited about their future and work hard for it.

"Of course, is the motto of my brand" she said while looking at me and then at the clothes nearby. "Please try this one".

"I'm blind, you need to help me" I said, and she nodded, holding the hakama so I could introduce my arms easily. "What is your motto?".

"Hmm, this looks good. Will you buy it?" she said with an appraising look.

"I have no idea how I look, so of course I'm going to buy it" I firmly said. I can see her confusion at hearing me.

"It will be 40000 Mora. And my brand Chioriya is sold only to those that won't give up chasing their dreams" I froze in place just after handing her the money. I smiled and looked at her.

"Then I will be your most avid fan. I have a dream you see" I said with an admiring look.

"ooh, please tell me". I could see that she was genuinely curious.

"I want to make Inazuma a better place" I explained.

"That's a great dream. We could definitely have some help here" she bitterly said.

"And the first step of my plan is to kill that useless Shogun" I nodded sagely.

"What are you saying?!" she shouted in panic after looking around. If someone heard me saying that in her store, she would be kicked out of Inazuma.

Of course, I knew nobody was near. And even if they tried, everyone knew I was a weirdo, they wouldn't care.

"Yes, I'm even working with the Resistance, acting as a mole. I definitely look the part" I pointed at my unseeing eyes.

"Please leave my shop" she darkly said.

"No! I'm chasing my dream! You can't kick me out!" I petulantly said.

"Still, get out of my shop" she was getting angry now.

"I don't wanna!" I said with a mocking smirk.

"Get the fuck out of my shop now". Well, look at this, the polite girl has thorns.

"Kenshin, just leave the girl alone" I finally saw Ayato approaching. I knew he was around and would come to stop the fun.

"Ka-Kamisato-sama" the girl was nervous now, having recognized Ayato. She was just a new fashion designer and a crazy guy was shouting that he would kill the Shogun inside her hard-earned shop.

"Miss Chiori, just ignore him. He works directly under the Shogun, and we have a meeting now" explained tiredly Ayato. He was sick of my antics but still came over to solve the problems I caused.

"I-I see". I can now feel anger at being pranked. "Wait a minute, a blind weirdo who always acts with inconsistency and has a few screws loose, are you that 'Slapping Baby' I was warned about?".

I feel insulted at still being known by that name. I love it, but I did a lot of other things after that.

"The one and only" I made a dramatic bow.

"Please don't come back" she is still angry.

"Oh, I will come back for sure. Lament the moment you reached out to a stranger in an effort to promote your store. I will tell everyone in the very important meeting we are about to have how good your clothes, the ones I can't see, are. I wonder what will you do if the Shogun comes, will you tell her 'You don't have dreams so get the fuck out of my store'?" I really want to see that.

"*Sigh*, let's go" Ayato grabbed my shoulder and pushed me out of the store.

"Bye bye Chiori, I will return on my way back!" I waved at her, who was still seething, and also feeling a bit dismayed by my last words.

Ayato guided me to the Tenshukaku, and I was able to feel his worry.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I was in the meeting to call out bullshit and have fun, but he took his job seriously.

"The guys from the Hiiragi and the Kujou clans are getting bolder, and it's not showing any signs of stopping anytime soon. At this pace we will have trouble in a few years" he explained with a worried face.

"Then worry about it then. There is no way to convince those guys to stop, and convincing the Shogun is well, impossible" I dismissed his worries. Just let them move first and we will react.

"I will do that. Now, are you going to tell me about that book of yours?" Why was he angry? My book was pure art.

"It's an effort to try to make people read more" I answered.

"For how long do you think we have known each other? The only thing in your head is having fun" he heatedly replied. "And with that book you are mining the Shogun's position. People consider her as the ultimate being, and her having an affair with the Head Priestess is going to ruffle some feathers".

"I don't care. Yae's position as God's lover is even more important now" I countered.

"I would actually be impressed if your plan was designed with that purpose in mind, but I know you only want to poke the Shogun" he looked at me with a frown.

Well, that's true.

"Kenshin-sama, Ayato-sama, welcome, the meeting is about to start" a soldier told us, and we went to the meeting room.

"Relax Ayato, how is she going to know? She never leaves this damn place" I casually remarked, making Ayato nod.

We entered the room and saw that a few people were missing.

"Did these guys finally die of shamelessness?" I loudly said, taking my side near the Shogun, who was, like always, meditating with her eyes closed.

"Kenshin!" Sara, who was on the other side of the Shogun, loudly whispered to me. She is so serious.

"Unfortunately for you, we are not" the 3 missing guys appeared with their souls exuding disdain towards me.

"That only means that even your shamelessness has not reached its zenith. I don't know why are you so smug about that" I shrugged.

"We are starting" the Shogun calmly said, ignoring our friendly banter.

"I have a topic of utmost importance" I raised my hands and looked seriously at the Shogun, making everyone look at me with surprise, and Sara and Ayato feel despair.

I never proposed any topic or mentioned problems, so this was also a first time for me.

"What is it?" the Shogun gave me a small nod, allowing me to speak.

"People of Inazuma, we have a problem" I stood up to talk, making Sara and Ayato even more nervous with my breach of protocol. Nobody's head could be higher than the Shogun's. "There is a scoundrel out there disrupting our precious order".

"Who is it?" asked the Shogun calmly. Anything that threatened Eternity would be purged.

"I don't know" I regretfully shook my head. "But what I know is what he is doing". And I fell silent.

After 10 seconds, the Shogun finally spoke.

"What is he doing?" she didn't look angry at all. Well, the puppet is just that, a puppet.

"This" and I took out my most recent book.

'You motherf*cker, you said she wouldn't know about the book, why are you telling her about it!' is what I could infer from Ayato's agitated soul, while his outside appearance only expressed worry about the topic I brought up.

The Shogun only took the book calmly and opened it.

I quickly saw how the soul inside her took the reins of the puppet. Now it was Yae's 'dear friend' reading about her affair with Yae.

"W-What is this?" she asked, and probably only I noticed her stutter, the advantage of being able to see her embarrassment.

"As you can see, a most revealing book that explains some things that should be hidden" I shook my head with indignation.

"But, this isn't true" she complained. Now the rest of the people in the meeting were curious about it. Only Ayato knew what she was talking about, and that's because he read the book I disguised as his reports.

"Don't worry your Eternal Excellency, nobody in this room will question your private actions. You, more than anybody else, are free and allowed to spend your private time however you want" I reassured her with a slight nod.

"But it isn't true" she denied again with a bit more of strength in her voice.

"Can you prove it?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. She was getting angry from being questioned, so I quickly spoke again. "Not that I doubt my God's words, but this book is being sold in the street, so maybe showing people some proof that the actions described in this book are nothing but lies could convince them".

"Your Excellency, may we know what that book is about" Sara asked with respect in her voice. She wanted to help, but she didn't know the problem, that's probably her train of thought.

"No" the Shogun promptly answered.

"Your Eternal Excellency, I trust Sara with my life. I firmly believe that she will keep the secret, and we may need her unparalleled intellect to solve this problem" I said with a serious and respectful voice. Sara was feeling shy at my words, but I knew that her face would be red in a few moments for a very different reason.

Yae's dear friend looked hesitant, so I gave her a little push.

"Everyone here will probably find that book sooner or later, we should move fast and quickly to solve this problem before it grows. That is your servant's humble opinion, your Excellency" I dramatically bowed, again.

Yae's dear friend finally nodded and handed the book to Sara.

"W-W-What is this!?" she shouted in indignation and anger. There she is, with a red face from anger. "This is blasphemy!".

That seemed to be Sara's favourite phrase, along with 'Glory to the Shogun!'

"We should catch the writer and turn him to ashes" she said with a furious countenance, if the anger I was sensing in her soul was anything to go by.

"May we read the book?" asked the head of the Hiiragi clan.

"Nobody will read this book" said Sara darkly, but then looked respectfully at the Shogun. "If that goes not against your Excellency's will".

The Shogun only nodded, approving of Sara's idea.

I wrote the book with almost no details. I was describing a 'hot' scene between 2 generic women, it was only the names that created the mental image of the participants, I didn't even describe their hair colour. But of course, the Shogun wouldn't want people to think that she had this kind of relationship with Yae.

"Probably a lot of people will have read that by now, so maybe showing some proof will convince them" I repeated, looking at Yae's dear friend. Now that she was piloting the puppet, she was more expressive. Of course, she was still like a block of ice, but it was an improvement.

"Kenshin, what do you mean showing some proof!" asked an indignant Sara.

"Well, we can't convict criminals even if we all know they are killing babies" I looked at the Kujou and Hiiragi clan, who were enraged but couldn't show it in front of the Shogun. "So even if the people know that the book has nothing but lies, they still have some doubts".

"That's reasonable". Look, even the Shogun herself is agreeing with me.

"Your Excellency..." Sara looked dismayed at that, seeing that her beloved Shogun was siding with me, the guy who respected her the least in the whole country, over her who was her biggest simp.

"What do you propose" she inquired.

"I suggest that making a statement with the Head Priestess, the other being affected, should make people understand that this depraved individual has profaned your sanctity to earn some pocket money" I respectfully proposed. Yae's revenge is going to be cataclysmic, so I better have as much fun as I can.

"Indeed, I will visit the Shrine" and she tried to stand up.

"Your Eternal Excellency, there is a bit more I should say about this matter" I hurriedly spoke with a respectful bow.

She just looked at me, and I didn't dare to make her wait. She was a lot smarter than the puppet and would realize that I was having fun at her expense.

Not that being smarter than that piece of junk was too hard.

"I tried to stop it, but when I arrived, the book was being sent in a ship towards the main continent".