Once inside, Tetsu no Sosuke let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He had sought out an official who clearly had unusually close ties to Ubuyashiki Kagaya. After Tetsu no Sosuke explained the situation, the man took him from place to place.
They spoke to all sorts of people and endured all sorts of waits before Tetsu no Sosuke finally got to see what he wanted.
But just as he had expected, much of the information was missing.
The house had originally belonged to someone whose family had lived there for generations.
Yet there was no record of who that person was, or what descendants had come after.
The records only became a little more detailed starting thirty years ago.
Thirty years earlier, after changing hands several times, the house had been sold to a young couple.
The couple had lived there for only a few years before having a child.
But soon afterward, all three of them disappeared.
The house was never reclaimed and simply stood there. It did not have an owner again until a few years ago, when the young man unlocked its front door.
Tetsu no Sosuke tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
That made things a little clearer.
Judging by those scraps of information, the couple might well have met with some kind of accident. Could the child they left behind be the young man?
And could some devastating experience have damaged his mind?
It was the most reasonable explanation Tetsu no Sosuke could come up with.
But he lacked the crucial evidence.
"Speculation, nothing but speculation..." Tetsu no Sosuke sighed. Without solid evidence, he could only rely on his own guesses, and that left him deeply uneasy.
Besides, there was one thing he could not understand. Whatever had