“Well, I don’t know! We don’t know what this liquid is,” Soi snapped back. “All I know is that if something happens to her, it’ll be all your fault. And if it is the case that she dies, well, we all know what Nakago will do to you!”

“You can’t say that! Nakago never has the advantage over me. That’s more than you can say. And why would it be my fault? You’re the one who gave it to the maid!” he pointed.

“Oh yeah? But who’s the one who spilled it?” Soi countered, voice rising. She had taken Tomo to the back of the palace, in a little courtyard usually forgotten by the attendants. When she had told Suboshi to warn the priestess of the contaminated soup, Tomo had caught up to her just to inquire more about the bottled potion.

“I didn’t spill it! I was pushed!” Tomo spat back. “I think you’re worrying about the wrong things here. What’s more important is for us to figure out what is in this bottle in the first place!”

“Oh, please Tomo... I thought of that way ahead of you. If you hadn’t started your silly arguing, we would probably know what this potion is for by now.”

“Sure, whatever.” Tomo added sarcastically, “And how do you, my lady genius, propose we find information about this liquid?”

“Well…” Soi said softly. “That’s the first thing we need to determine!”

“Soi!” A voice called out, and they both turned to see Suboshi running towards them. He did not acknowledge Tomo as he came. “Soi! What was wrong with the soup that they served Lady Yui this morning?” he asked.

She showed him the small container. “A little bit of this got into it,” she briefly explained.

“…and this is?” he asked.

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” she answered.

“We? As in… us three?” Suboshi looked suspiciously at the opera performer standing  close to Soi. “Uhm, no. You two can do whatever you want. But I don’t want anything to do with this. Lady Yui didn’t even have anything wrong with her, so I think you’re all just being paranoids.”

“There was nothing odd about her?” Soi questioned.

“No. Nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. She looked as healthy as ever, maybe even better today,” the youngest of the three explained.

“She wasn’t acting weirdly?” Soi pressed.

He contemplated for a minute, before answering a deliberate “No.” He shuffled his feet nervously, and added, “You know, you two can do whatever you want with that. But don’t count me in.” With that said, he took off towards the palace.