Uun.
Ume-dono... You're leaving the five leaves?
Yeah. I'm gonna go legit.
I see...
Despite what you say,
you seem like you're concerned about our next job,
asking questions like "Have you thoroughly investigated?"
Right, Matsu?
If you're gonna leave, we should stop gathering here.
Then, I'll show up only at Ichi-san's place from now on.
Fine! Don't come here!
I'll go see Ichi-san tonight to tell him about our next target.
So please get the details from him, Otake-san. Okay.
What're you doing, Okinu?
I already cut some pickles earlier.
Matsu-san said he won't be stopping by anymore, so I thought I'd give him some.
Matsukichi-dono... Hm?
It took longer than expected to get here since I got lost.
These are some pickles from Okinu-dono.
Leave them there.
Hmm?
How beautiful!
Don't touch it.
It's for sale.
If I send it to my little sister in my hometown, she'd be so please.
What time is it?
Let's see... Maybe around two o'clock?
Just how long are you gonna stay here? Ah... Pardon me.
He left with money...
I wonder if Matsu-dono, too, needs money besides the money he earns
as a metallic ornament craftsman...
What did you say? Huh?
Was I thinking out loud?
Yeah, you were mumbling.
Nn!
Weren't you saying that you were going to go train in a dojo or something?
I'm not sure if you'd call it a dojo...
That Shogun's direct retainer guy you're talking about, Yagi... Do you know much about his background?
Well... he's kind of hard to grasp.
I don't even know if his swordsmanship is really good or not.
But he's got sharp eyes.
When's the next time you're gonna see him? He seems busy, so...
That guy... concerns me.
Did something happen?
Well, it's got nothing to do with you.
There's two people whom I'm deeply indebted to for the rest of my life.
"Deeply Indebted to Two People"
You're one of them.
So, what happened?
I've been given wooden tags from several fiefs that patronize my store.
I need them to go in and out of their city residences.
But they went missing.
Where?
We kept them in there but...
They were gone, huh?
Master... Hm?
It must be Otsu-ya's owner. Zensuke!
I saw it. His store has been our competitor from the start.
We're favored by some feudal lords and some of the Shogun's direct retainers,
so he has been unpleasant towards us all this time.
However, he suddenly called upon us the other day.
Well, you've got a nice hanging scroll here.
When Master left the room for a while,
I saw Otsu-ya's owner standing by the alcove there.
Even if he took them, it's not like he can use them.
He did it to annoy us. He's trying to make us lose our credibility in order to steal our clients.
Zensuke, don't mention this outside these walls.
Matsukichi-san... This is our problem.
It's got nothing to do with you.
You're normally coolheaded, but you sometimes do reckless things, so...
Something wrong? Nothing.
This house is old so it often squeaks.
Looks like you were right about us having a rat, Sensei.
I wonder if it's a rat from Kiku-ya. These are what you were after, right?
I just hate it when Kiku-ya's owner sends a rat like this here.
Are we gonna kill him?
No. We can use him to blackmail Kiku-ya's owner.
Let's throw him into one of the storage rooms.
Matsu? No, he didn't come.
Strange... He said he'd go see you yesterday.
It's odd for him not to stick to his word.
Shall I go check his place? Yeah, if he doesn't show up tonight, either.
Akitsu Hm?
Yagi-dono!
Oh yeah... This is a teahouse that has tasty rice dumplings.
I thought you were busy. Hey, don't say that.
Is that yakuza...
with you? He's Yaichi-dono.
Oh... The acquaintance you mentioned, with the same name as my friend's...
I like the look of you.
I'm yagi. He's from the dojo I was talking about.
Yaichi-dono... Don't worry about it.
But...
Looks like you have many friends.
Is that true?! Yeah, it is!
Did you go to his place? Yes, I did earlier.
And? As I suspected, he wasn't home.
It seems that Yaichi-dono also wants to ask him something urgently.
I'll go check again.
Masa! Hm?
I'll come with you.
Matsu-san? Yes
I haven't seen him since the day before yesterday. Is it urgent?
No.
Hey kid.
What do you want with Matsu?
I... I was just told by my Master to go check on him.
Your Master?
Matsukichi-san is my Master's friend. So he sometimes visits him. They day before yesterday, too...
Come to think of it, Matsukichi-dono went out with money the day before yesterday.
Kid, let us see your Master.
Matsukichi-san is missing?!
That's an odd pair of friends he has.
So Matsukichi-san is still committing crimes?
About Matsu's disappearance...
I'd like you to tell us what you know.
Uun...
It seems that our competitor stole our business wooden tags.
I suspected that Matsukichi-san might've snuck
into Otsu-ya in order to take them back.
So I sent that child to check on him.
Then, are you saying... that Matsu has been caught by that competitor?
If Otsu-ya makes some sort of move, we'd know for sure,
but they haven't yet.
What's your relationship to Matsu?
Uun?
I loaned him money.
Matsukichi-san has a child. He has a child?
That child was seriously injured so he needed a lot of money for treatment.
I loaned him money and he's been coming here every month...
to repay it little by little.
So that's why he's committing crimes.
Is your arm injured?
And yet, you'd still try to sneak in here and steal...
Would you tell me.. the reason for that?
I wish I could at least confirm if he's being held there or not...
Let's go back for now.
If it wasn't Matsu who got captured,
we could've had him check into it.
At any rate, we have no choice but to wait and see what Otsu-ya will do.
It's tough to just wait for that.
That's a glum look.
Do you wanna do the dojo training some other time?
What's the matter? Did you lose your job again?
Ah! Bodyguard!
nanda ? N
Ah... well...
Are you gonna start working as a bodyguard somewhere?
There is a place I would like to...
Seems like there's a reason behind it. Tell me.
Something you can't talk about?
It is, but I feel like I want to turn to you for help.
Then do it.
Candle merchant Otsu-ya might've stolen Kiku-ya's wooden tags.
So you wanna get into Otsu-ya in order to take them back, huh?
One of my acquaintances probably snuck into Otsu-ya
and I haven't seen him for three days now.
The wooden tags can wait for now.
I wonder if it'd be possible to rescue him at least.
Ume-dono! Hm?
I'll go to Otsu-ya.
I'll work as a bodyguard there! What?!
Yagi-dono introduced me to one of the Shogun's direct retainers who holds sway with Otsu-ya.
Wait, Masa! I don't know who this Yagi guy is, but you shouldn't act recklessly right now.
If there's something I can do,
I have to try it.
Masa!
Kiku-ya's owner said...
that when something like this happens,
Matsu gets so caught up in it that he loses sight of his surroundings.
Maybe.
You're calm. I thought you'd be more worried...
since you know Matsu better than anyone else among us.
And you're quite worried about him even though you two don't get along.
Of course... he's a friend.
You're cool, Ume.
A "friend", huh?
I look forward to our continued friendship.
As expected, I can't leave the group, can I?
Nope.
Hey, what's the matter?
He tried to escape.
How long are we supposed to keep him tied up?
Beats me. They're probably working on a plan to blackmail Kiku-ya or something.
Here.
Eat it.
Don't bother.
There's no point in keeping him here if he's gonna die.
He won't die even if we don't feed him for several days.
He's got annoying eyes.
Hey, newbie. Stand watch here.
So I was right... you were here.
I was able to get into this place as a bodyguard.
That was uncalled-for.
So you're here... because you heard about if from Kiku-ya's owner, huh?
Around that time, I was a lone thief
so I couldn't have a family of my own.
So I didn't get married with the woman I was with, either.
I didn't even know I had a child
until I was told about the child's injury.
Since I couldn't do anything for them,
I wanted to at least help them pay for the medicine.
That's when Ichi-san and Kiku-ya's owner... helped me out.
Are you in pain?
I'll get you out of here as soon as I can find a chance,
so please just hang on a little longer.
Looks like I'm going to be indebted to three people now.
Now, about the next episode of House of Five Leaves...
Matsukichi speaking.
When I sneak into samurai and big merchant residences and spy on them,
I sometimes end up stealing a glance of this or that.
But I don't report them to Ichi-san.
Well, the next episode is...
"Come to Rescue You"