“Tomorrow,” Kurenai said. She nodded her head for emphasis. “We’ll take another look at the theory in daylight, and then start poking holes in it.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and the others will have turned something useful up.” Genma slowed his pace, sweeping chakra out to feel the echoes of bright ANBU sparks ahead in the dark. “Or at least brought us snacks from the izakaya.”

Surprisingly, it was Kakashi waiting for them at the cluster of stone monuments. Genma waved a greeting. “You drew sentry duty?”

Kakashi inclined his head at the other two, stretched out at the base of one of the larger monuments. Raidou had his feet irreverently propped on the head of one of the smaller stone Jizo — but then if a bodhisattva couldn’t take the weight of a weary traveler’s feet, perhaps he wasn’t so enlightened after all. He and Ryouma both smelled like cigarettes and beer, an impressive accomplishment for a relatively short night’s work.

“I think the locals tired them out,” Kakashi said. He held out a small paper sack. “Edamame?”

It wasn’t a cigarette, but oddly, Genma was finding himself craving them less recently. Even the prompting scent of smoke on Raidou’s and Ryouma’s clothes wasn’t enough. He took a few of the offered pods. “Thank you. Have you found a campsite yet, or are we sleeping here at the fork in the road with buddhas and tanuki to watch over us?”

“About a kilometer west,” Kakashi said, offering the bag to Kurenai. “There’s a grove near a river bend. Should be sheltered.”

“Sounds good.” Genma squatted down beside Raidou and Ryouma. “Sooner you get up and moving, the sooner you can lie down on a nice, soft bedroll.”

Ryouma’s answer was the faintest of snores.

Genma chuckled. When Raidou just peered at him from under heavy lids, he said, “You’re setting a bad example for the rookies, Taichou.”

Raidou squinted at Genma, sighed, and clamped a hand on the back of Ryouma’s neck, hauling himself and Ryouma both upright. “I’m up, I’m up. Did you find anything?”

“More evidence that Nomiya is not winning any prizes for popularity, and enough to make me think we might still have to be looking for bodies. But Yuuhi’s got an interesting theory that might be better for our missing mom and kids than that. Might also be a headache for us, but what else is new?”

“I’ll take a headache over dead kids,” Raidou said. “What’s the theory?”

Kurenai quickly outlined the information they'd gathered from Noriko and the theory she'd based on it. She reiterated her plan to poke holes in it in the morning after everyone had slept. Without a word, Ryouma rose to begin the trudge towards their campsite.

Kakashi took rear guard, a somber shadow at their backs. He was always quiet, but he seemed particularly withdrawn as he dogged their heels. When they got to the campsite, he kept his silence while they activated scrolls and set up a pair of tents and a small hearth. Raidou took pity on Ryouma and helped with digging the latrine, while Kurenai folded down onto her bedroll and started the wearisome nightly routine of blister care.