Chapter Text
As miserable as your journey through Karafuto could have been, you were in good company and that made all the difference. Although the weather was cruel at times it seemed to pass more quickly when you were trading stories, and you almost didn’t feel the bitter wind burning your face when you were eating whatever hot meal your friend had cooked up. Time and time again you found yourself thankful to be travelling with a group that made the winter so tolerable. Thankful for most of them anyway.
Even if your journey hadn’t been so smooth you wouldn’t have been able to bring yourself to complain too much. The bounty you had set out to collect was too good, so good that your group had put their mission on hold, just for a couple of days. Thousands of yen would do that. Sure, you had agree to split the bounty but even split five ways the reward was more than enough for everyone to be satisfied. It was enough that none of you would have to worry about how you would support yourself for the rest of your search for the gold and then some. You wouldn’t have to stop to hunt a few deer or pan for gold anymore.
The bounty was impressive for such a seemingly minor criminal but after speaking with a few townsfolk you learned how the bounty had grown so large. The criminal you were after, Isayama, wasn’t someone who had committed any serious crime. He hadn’t killed anyone nor stolen anything of significant value. Isayama had simply annoyed enough of the townsfolk that they had pooled together their money for him to face their judgment. Therefore, they didn’t want him dead, just brought back to be punished appropriately. The terms of the bounty made things a bit more difficult but not unmanageable, especially not with the group that had been assembled. Some were more helpful than others however. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the Russian, with whom you could barely communicate, that wasn’t carrying their weight.
“Shiraishi, can’t it wait?” you sighed. Although you didn’t interrupt what you were doing, you threw a glance towards him. Sugimoto and Asirpa were almost finished preparing the hares that had been caught earlier but without a fire there would be no dinner. More people gathering would make things a lot easier but instead of helping Shiraishi was pestering another member of your group.
“This is important,” Shiraishi insisted, nodding aggressively. He had been hoping that you wouldn’t notice he was slacking off and so he hadn’t put too much thought into an excuse. He regretted that now. Your expression was a threat. Looking for support, he turned towards the other member of your group. “It’s important, right, Russki?” he prompted, but though he tried to get an agreement out of the other man with more nodding he got nothing back but a blank stare.
“He can’t understand you!” you snapped. No one in your group could speak Russian, making communication with him difficult at best. Hand signals helped when the three of you were moving through the woods or tracking down an animal but you had no such thing for times like these. The two of them could hardly be having a deep conversation.
Shiraishi grimaced at you but made no move to get up and help with setting up the camp. He continued sitting next to Vasily, who actually had a right to sit down. He had contributed already, having killed the hares that were for dinner tonight. Shiraishi hadn’t done anything except complain today, so seeing him sitting so casually bothered you more than you cared to admit.
“If it’s so important, why don’t you share it with everyone?” you grumbled. And though you kept your gaze on Shiraishi you didn’t stop collecting sticks and handfuls of dried grass. As irritated as you were with Shiraishi, your thoughts were still on the fire and your eventual dinner.
“It’s an in-joke,” he explained. “You wouldn’t understand.”
It took a deep sigh to hold back your thoughts on his comment but you let it go without addressing it. “Can you at least do something while you discuss?” you asked him with a forced grin. You had almost gathered enough material to start a fire but it was more about the principle now.
Whether it was due to your expression or your tone, Shiraishi acquiesced. Although not without a groan, he got up onto his feet and started puttering around. You watched as he picked up one stick then another and only once you felt he wouldn’t stop once your back was turned you left him to start the fire.
When he saw you begin to arrange the kindling, Shiraishi let himself relax, just a little. He didn’t stop gathering sticks but he lost his sense of urgency. He collected just enough that he would look productive and have something to give you but not enough to actually be helpful. He wasn’t worried about the fire right now.
“Please,” Shiraishi pleaded, though he kept his voice in a whisper. He didn’t want to attract your attention and Vasily likely wouldn’t understand what he was asking anyway. Some gestures were universal though. Without dropping the sticks he was clutching, Shiraishi pressed his hands together as if in prayer. Vasily stared at him blankly, his expression not changing whatsoever. He understood that the other man was asking for something but he didn’t know what “something” was. No amount of begging would convey that, at least not in Japanese.
Getting no reply or even reaction from the Russian, Shiraishi turned back towards the camp. There was smoke rising from the fire but it wasn’t independent yet. You were still adding sticks to it, trying to get the flames steady, so he had some time. But while he had time, he didn’t know what to do. What he was asking of the Russian was difficult to communicate even in words and so to explain himself without them might be near impossible. He had to try though.
Using one of the sticks meant for the fire, Shiraishi began to draw in the dirt under their feet. The images he made were crude and clumsy but by the third Vasily was beginning to understand. He nodded carefully. He wanted to show that he understood, not that he was agreeing. He could sense that there was more to the request.
Getting that nod from the other man, however reluctant, Shiraishi couldn’t help but smile. They were getting somewhere. Now to go on. Without turning around Shiraishi gestured towards the camp behind him. He hoped that would be clear enough. He didn’t want to have to turn around and risk drawing unwanted attention. Thankfully it seemed that his subtle gesture had been enough. After a moment of reflection, Vasily touched the dirt then lifted his hand and pointed towards the camp, finishing the motion by setting his hand against his chest. Shiraishi broke into a grin. He had crossed the language barrier.
Then Vasily shook his head.
“Why not?!” Shiraishi snapped, but as soon as he did he froze. He hadn’t meant to be that loud. Slowly, he turned and looked behind him, and he was relieved to find that he had been worried over nothing. You hadn’t noticed, or if you had you were too fed up with him to confront him over it. Still, he needed to be more careful. When he turned back to Vasily he spoke in as hushed a voice as he could manage. “It’s just a drawing!” Shiraishi insisted. It wouldn’t cost Vasily anything to draw, just a piece of paper and some time. A quick favour between friends.
Although Vasily didn’t understand what he had said, the other man’s tone said enough. He didn’t humour him with a reply and instead started to stand. He had sat out here to avoid being bothered but he realized now he had only made himself a target. Shiraishi wouldn’t have bothered him with the others around.
But before he could get anywhere or take even a single step, he was grabbed by the arm and asked to sit back down. Vasily looked towards the camp then back down at Shiraishi and gave in. He sensed that even if he tried to end it here Shiraishi wouldn’t let it end here. It might be better in the long run to settle this now.
Although Shiraishi was relieved that he had managed to keep Vasily here, he knew he was running out of time. There were too many variables. Vasily could get fed up with dealing with him, or you could come over to check on them. Or Sugimoto could notice he was slacking off. He was chatting with Asirpa now but all it would take was a glance in his direction and he would be caught. Grumbling, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the few miscellaneous coins that were in there. He looked them over but didn’t bother to add them up. It was no more than twenty sen at the most. With a forced smile he offered his hand to Vasily, showing him the coins. He had to think of it as an investment.
Vasily looked at the coins then at Shiraishi, his expression unchanging. “Miser...” Shiraishi muttered but he reached his hand into his other pocket and fished out what was in there. He had more money packed away in his bag but the Russian didn’t need to know that.
It seemed to Shiraishi that the other man was weighing his morals against his wallet but Vasily was merely counting the coins. With all the coins pooled together, there was about fifty sen or so. He nodded.
“It better be good!” Shiraishi told him, as he poured the coins into the other man’s hand. With that, he gathered his pile of sticks and started towards the fire. He didn’t get more than a couple of steps before he stopped and turned around. “I’m talking full frontal!” he whispered loudly, waving his hands in a gesture that didn’t really convey anything at all.
You scowled at Shiraishi as he tossed a handful of sticks into the fire but you kept your criticism to yourself. It wasn’t worth the effort with him.
When the hares were finished cooking, everyone fell into the nightly routine you had gotten used to. It was predictable, and as such it was almost calming. Despite whatever happened on the road, you always knew how the evening would play out. Once Vasily got his meal he would disappear, only to reappear on the edge of the camp later. At first you had thought he wanted time to himself but after a few evenings you realized that it probably had to do with the act of eating itself. None of you pestered him about it.
Although the Russian disappeared when dinner came, everyone else stayed around the fire, for better or for worse. Sugimoto and Asirpa were always good company but more often than not you wished that Shiraishi would wander off. Hiking all day with him was enough.
Yet today he had wandered off and that worried you. If he wasn’t here, what was he getting up to? With wild animals and traps, the woods were dangerous and if he had ventured far enough away you might not even hear him scream.
Just as you were about to get up and go in search of him, Shiraishi emerged from the woods, along with Vasily. They were an awkward distance apart, and so you couldn’t tell whether they were together or had just run into each other on the way back.
“Nice to see the two of you getting along,” Sugimoto mumbled, in between bites of dinner. Said so offhandedly, you couldn’t tell whether he was fishing for an explanation or not but if he had been Shiraishi didn’t give it to him.
“Ya know,” Shiraishi began, “everyone always asks ‘Where is the Russian?’, never ‘How is the Russian?’ He’s actually a very nice guy.” Shiraishi set a hand over his heart and leaned in towards Vasily, who merely glanced over at him before shuffling away.
With that the evening was over. The last of the wood was added to the fire and one by one everyone turned in for the night.
—
When travelling as a group, it was only natural that it would break down into smaller groups. Everyone set out together but after just a few minutes the group would start to separate and an hour or so into the hike everyone would be settled into their spot in the line. You would keep within sight of each other but everyone was spread out enough that you couldn’t hear the idle chat of the distant members.
More often than not you ended up ahead of everyone else, scouting ahead with Vasily and whoever else joined you that day, however today you were lagging behind. You had asked Asirpa to give you the rundown on some of the local plants. You had made the mistake of bringing poisonous plants to dinner and while she had stopped them from ending up in the meal, it wasn’t the kind of mistake you wanted to make again.
And so that was how the two of you had ended up walking together, pausing every so often when she found a new plant to teach you about. She kept her explanations brief, giving you just the basics, and for the sake of the other person who had joined you she gave an exaggerated face. If he was tagging along he would be learning too, even if he didn’t understand your language. You didn’t know why Vasily had joined you, except perhaps to avoid Shiraishi, but he was being a good sport about the lesson so neither Asirpa or you minded.
Compared to the relative bliss at the rear of the group, things weren’t going well at the front. Usually Sugimoto and Shiraishi got along well and they would chat as they went but things felt almost tense today. For once Shiraishi wasn’t saying much but somehow he was getting on his nerves. He was… clingy. When he slowed down Shiraishi would slow down, and when he sped up Shiraishi kept pace with him.
When he slowed down then Shiraishi slowed down and when he sped up Shiraishi kept pace with him. No matter what he did, the other man fell in line next to him.
The first phase of his plan had gone smoothly but that didn’t mean Shiraishi would be taking the second lightly. Even though communicating wasn’t a problem for the two of them, he knew dealing with Sugimoto would be the trickiest part of his plan. He was willing to wait for when things felt right to strike.
Although the group had left just after dawn, it wasn’t until the sun was almost directly overhead that Shiraishi spoke up. “Sugimoto…” he whispered, and with that things were already off to a bad start. Sugimoto stopped and turned towards his friend, though he didn’t hide his reluctance to do so. He knew Shiraishi wasn’t looking to start a conversation for the sake of passing the time.
“What?” Sugimoto asked. He took a glance back towards the rest of the group, and seeing them crouched down discussing some moss, wished he were there instead. Shiraishi had only confronted him like this because the two of them were alone.
“Jeez, no need for hostility,” Shiraishi replied. Although Sugimoto couldn’t have sounded less enthusiastic, he wasn’t deterred. “I have an opportunity for you.”
Anticipating Sugimoto would raise some complaint or objection, he raised a hand preemptively. All he wanted was the chance to make his proposal. Like a magician revealing his card, Shiraishi reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a single piece of paper. It was small, roughly the size of a photograph, and had been rolled up carefully. Continuing on with a touch of dramatic flair, Shiraishi began to unroll the paper but stopped before much of anything had been revealed. All that Sugimoto could make out was a woman’s face; the image cut off below the neck. But there was no mistaking who that woman was, and that was what was important. Although Shiraishi could be oblivious, even he had caught onto how Sugimoto looked at you. There was something there, and that something was potential profit.
“Nice, right?” he asked. Even though he was playing it up for Sugimoto, it was a nice drawing. Vasily had outdone himself. Maybe it had been worth the fifty sen after all.
“Now, I’d love to show you the rest but I’ve shown you too much already,” Shiraishi went on to say. “Well, unless you were to buy it off me?”
With that Sugimoto started to walk, leaving Shiraishi scrambling to catch up. He had more than a few choice words for his friend but at the risk of attracting the attention of the other half of the group he would save them for later. Shiraishi didn’t seem to pick up on that, or just didn’t care, as he continued on like he hadn’t been interrupted at all.
“Five yen,” he offered. That seemed a fair price for art of this variety, especially for something custom like this. And it would be a tidy profit for his efforts. Sugimoto didn’t seem to agree though, not acknowledging the offer whatsoever.
When a minute had passed without reply, Shiraishi tried again. “Three yen.” Although not the ideal price, his profit wouldn’t be too bad. But yet again he was left hanging.
“You drive a hard bargain,” Shiraishi said, “but I’m willing to go as low as two yen for such a good friend.” When Sugimoto didn’t as much as turn to look at him, he groaned. He couldn’t go any lower. His time had to be worth something. He had come up with the idea and brought it to Vasily and he had taken the risk of investing in him.
“What a shame,” he lamented. “I guess I’ll have to keep it for myself.” With that, he sighed and began to tuck the drawing away. He had already folded the paper enough to hide the art but he folded it once more, stretching things out as much as he could. Sugimoto grumbled, more than aware of what Shiraishi was doing, but he found himself with no choice but to take the bait.
“Shiraishi, I’m not paying you for the drawing,” Sugimoto told him, and though his voice grew quieter with each word, it lost none of its intensity. Shiraishi went to take a step back but never got to follow through. A hand grabbed his coat and yanked it, sending him stumbling forward. Another tug directed him to look up and when he did he found Sugimoto glaring at him with no more than a few inches left between them. “I’m paying you not to get such a stupid idea again,” Sugimoto growled.
“I understand,” Shiraishi said, with a frantic nod.
“What’s going on?” Asirpa called out, with her hands cupped around her mouth. You looked up, and when you saw what had caught her attention you stood up. A couple hundred metres ahead of you on the path you could make out Sugimoto and Shiraishi grappling with each other. As Asirpa’s voice echoed through the woods the pair froze and separated.
“I tripped!” Shiraishi shouted back, and both the men nodded, exaggerated enough to be seen clearly even from such a distance. When they got no reply the two men turned around and continued down the road. They started at a quick pace that only grew faster, until they disappeared into the woods that laid ahead.
Asirpa turned back around but before she gathered her things the two of you shared a look. It wasn’t worth chasing after them. Whatever the two of them were up to would be revealed soon enough. It was because of that mutual, silent agreement that Asirpa pointed out a bush a few dozen metres ahead of you and began explaining its uses.
Safely out of sight of the other group, Sugimoto reached into his pocket and found two fifty-sen coins. Without stopping, he passed the coins to Shiraishi and in return he was given the paper. But looking down at the paper he held in his hand, Sugimoto realized he didn’t know what to do with it. He wanted to get rid of it but without matches his options were limited. He could rip it up and scatter the pieces but when you caught up and found the trail littered with paper you would have nothing but questions for him.
Without any other obvious solution, Sugimoto tucked it into his pocket. He would just have to hold onto it for now. Tonight, when they made camp, he could toss it in with the kindling and that would be the end of it. Until then, he wouldn’t think about the paper in his pocket, nor the woman featured on it.
Definitely not.