The Heroic Legend of Buntaro Part I - The Great Mystery

[THE JESKE]

The Heroic Legend of Buntaro Part 1:

Somthing was missing. Yoritomo Kumiko wasn't sure what... but
she knew. She knew deep in her heart that someone had made a
fool of her. She paced angrily back and forth across her
trinket-covered courtroom. It had often been said that what
the Mantis lack in courtly elegance, they made up for in gaudy
impressiveness. To a mantis, a display of wealth was just as
good as some backwards-talking tounge-swallowing fool, if not
better. During the many years Kumiko spent at the Monestary
with Komori, she leard many techniques for keeping one's self
control... and she was quite good at it... but she also
developed a habit of liking things to be... how should I put
it... just right? To the casual observer, the gold and silver
encrused masses of loot stuck to the walls might seem,
helter-skelter... maybe even theme-resteraunt-ish... but
Kumiko knew every trinket on those walls, and where they
belonged... and SOMTHING was out of place or missing. She
stomped over to the Gold blackbird statue that was mounted at
a 34% angle on the south wall... Then stomped back over to the
north wall and looked at the mantle of Yoritomo Tsuyu that had
been bronzed and stuck between some assorted gaijin coins and
novelty whistling bulb arrows. "No... No, it's not that..."
Kumiko mumbled to herself.

"Kumiko Samma... What exactly is it that is troubling you so?"
Yoyonagi asked as calmly as she could. "I swear to Kami
Yoyonagi... SOMTHING on these walls is not where it should be.
AH! AH! AHAH!!" "Did you find what it was?" "YES! It's
Masasue's Cricket! It was 5 feet further down the wall today!"
Yoyonagi had, at this point, become used to putting up with
Kumiko's oddities, since it had been awhile since she had
taken the championship, and aside from this little compulsion
of hers, she had prooven herself a capable champion...
Especially for someone without any sort of remarkable ability.
Kumiko smiled a sweet smile of complete satisfaction and went to sit back down on her giant Champion's chair.

"Kumiko Samma... don't you think it's odd that..." Yoyonagi immediately regretted starting this chain of thought... but it was far too late. "Yoyonagi-Chan! You are CORRECT! How in the WORLD did it get moved? Someone must be responsible... but who would bother taking somthing so innane, and then return it later that day? It seems to go against all common sense! Call me Mochisa! Immediately!" "Who?" Yoyonagi asked. "You know, Mochisa! Mooochiiisa! You remember that magistrate who is always bumming around here?" "Oh yeahh Mochisa-san!... Of the Tsuruchi Family. He really dosen't get out much does he..." "Which makes him PERFECT for this little investigation of ours..."
"What are we investigating?" Asked Buntaro blankly. "Oh, It's you Buntaro. I didn't notice you over there." Kumiko said. "Buntaro! what are you doing lurking in the corner over there? General Naizen Samma instructed you to swab the decks of all the Sampans today!" Yoyonagi scolded. "Umm... which ones are the Sampans again?" Buntaro asked with unyielding blankness. "Sigh... Come here 'he who is slow of mind'... I'll just show you... AGAIN..." Yoyonagi led buntaro outside the throne room and instructed some of the guards to seek out Mochisa. "Soon... we'll have the answer to our little mystery..." Kumiko said to nobody in particular... which quite frankly made some of the guards a little uncomfortable.