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At last, they heard the chairman’s voice thanking his guest for bringing some matter or other to his attention. Kanako was right. The door to the chairman’s receiving room slid open, and the floor erupted into a cacophony of squeaks as a manservant ushered the visitor out.

Eri held up her palm, bidding them to wait.

“Go!”

The maids practically burst through the side door. Murasaki’s eyes shot to the woven screen that split the room. As she rushed behind the privacy screen, then to the far side of the room to crack open the door for fresh air, she stared at the dented floor cushion in disappointment.

Nothing but a lukewarm, half-drunk cup of tea, set upon the table running beneath a cutout in the screen, remained of the chairman’s presence, though she fancied she caught the faint aroma of sandalwood incense. Ms. Tanabe scented his kimono with it once a week, after airing out the garments.

A flurry of activity followed. Kanako plucked the two cups of tea from the table, placing them on a dark lacquerware tray with a design of gold maple leaves, while Murasaki, fumbling a little, dove to the mats to apply a teaspoon’s worth of piney wood polish onto the tabletop. She cleaned the table so furiously her shoulder ached, then wiped the coasters.

“Hurry,” Eriko hissed.

Kneeling beside the table, Eri measured out a precise amount of leaves to add to the pot. Murasaki darted back into the neighboring room, changing out both floor cushions for fresh ones in the closet.

He’s awfully spry for such an elderly gentleman, Murasaki thought as she removed the offending cushions, then plumped the new ones.He must be at least sixty or seventy, at the minimum.

Since the revolution that ended the reign of the last shogun, only one chairman had been replaced, after ruling about a decade. His death only added to the image of the anonymous chairmen as elder statesmen.

But must they bethissecretive?

The moment the maids finished tidying, Eri opened the door facing the hall through which the visitors entered. Mr. Uno was already returning with another guest.

Kanako let out a high pitched sound of anxiety, then hurried from the room. Murasaki trailed after, heart pounding.

“You need to be faster,” Eri scolded as she pushed the door between the rooms shut. Murasaki whispered an apology, wondering all the while how she could possibly move faster.

“The chairman will be with you momentarily,” the butler said. Murasaki heard the sound of the outer door trundling shut.

As they exited with the used cushions and tray of cold tea, Murasaki stopped dead. “I forgot to close the side door!”

Eri wheeled, her eyes wide. “Go now—go around and fix your mistake before the chairman arrives. Quietly!”

“But the floors—”

Eri nudged her forward. “There’s no helping it. The conversations must be private. Go around to the back. Now, Murasaki.”

Flushed with embarrassment, Murasaki exited the room, taking the long way around the rectangular block of elevated rooms. The floor cried like an entire flock of nightingales as she bustled along. It took only moments for her chest to begin to ache.

She was just about to slide the door when she heard that magnificently rich voice again, clear as the autumn sky. But it was too late to stop herself. The door rasped as it closed half an inch.

Murasaki froze. The chairman continued talking with his latest guest, undisturbed by the sound.

If I just push it a little at a time…

The chairman laughed at something his guest said. Tingles ran from Murasaki’s shoulders up to her scalp. He didn’t sound elderly at all.

He sounded—well, almost her age, if not younger.

Again, the screen inched closed. Murasaki tensed as she felt some resistance. She tried to lift it slightly to avoid the place where it stuck. Just a little more—

The grating sound made every muscle in her body tense up. Murasaki’s ears grew hot. The door was stuck in the track.

“Ihavebrought it up in letters to the other chairmen,” Chairman Asami said, his voice startlingly close.

“But why not in the legislature? There was a vote just last month—”

Suddenly, a dark eye shadowed by a demon mask appeared in the remaining crack. Murasaki stifled a cry as its pupil searched left to right almost casually.