The Mysterious One-Night Castle (Part 2)

Metaphysical / Paranormal event

Aotsuki Tsukamoto stood in a dimly lit passageway somewhere within Kannonji Castle. That strange, one-horned oni-yōkai girl had brought him here, and locked him within, but thanks to the efforts of Kagami and Tama, he had been able to escape. His allies, Abe no Seimei, Maxim, Ka-ten Agni, and Sugihara Hidemitsu, were all still outside the firmly-shut castle gate. Though he could communicate with them mentally, that left him alone to figure out a way to escape.   Hoping to avoid another encounter with Rokkaku no Ateshi, Aotsuki moved first to his right. It was harder to tell after his whirlwind entrance to the place, but if he had to guess, he’d say he was heading east. Late as it was, most of the castle had retired, and none remained in the corridor to challenge him. He tried to muffle the sounds of his clanking equipment, and succeeded about as far as could be hoped for a man carrying such armor and weaponry.

A short trek down the hall brought Aotsuki to a hexagonal room with a higher ceiling than what he had seen up to this point. A ladder led up to a solid-looking trapdoor, and two other exits led to halls facing south and east at an angle respectively. This place looked to be the bottom of a guard tower, and used mostly for storage. There was some hay here, a few barrels stacked about, and a single lantern dimly illuminating the scene.   Kagami heard the sound first, and alerted him to it. It was a soft, heavy breathing, as of someone sleeping nearby. Sensing the flow of ki around him, Aotsuki was able to spot a dull, brownish aura slumbering beneath the hay in the left corner of the room. Judging by the silhouette and intensity, it belonged to a tall, feminine figure, spiritually powerful but not so much as Aotsuki himself.   Judging the trapdoor to be too heavy to raise without a ruckus, Aotsuki instead made for the eastern-facing hallway. He crept across the room quietly enough to avoid waking the room’s other occupant, but just as he was about to fully pass her and reach his destination-   CRACK!   An enormous sound, as though something sturdy breaking under a great weight, came from somewhere else in the castle. It had a muffled quality to it, so probably originated in another room, but was still loud and violent enough to almost make Aotsuki jump. Somehow, the sleeper in the hay barely stirred, instead just turning over and beginning to snore softly. Now more alert than ever, Aotsuki continued forward.   --   Meanwhile, back in Takayama Tomoteru’s room in Owari, Ryūzaki Sanosuke was receiving an abridged account of events at Kannonji from Shigeaki Fujino. He decided that this required his intervention, and so asked the chipper psychic to take him from his business in Owari and over to Kōka Province, where all the action seemed to be happening. Hashinara Yoshitakatomo, instigator of this investigation, seemed to be in deep thought or meditation, and did not acknowledge him. So, Sanosuke called upon Takenaka Hanbei instead, instructing her to help the Daimyō with anything she* might require.   Fujino arrived not long after, but she did not immediately whisk her charge over to Kannonji Castle. Instead, she expressed an instant fascination for the bloody, morbid magical circle on the ground, and the sheet full of demonic sigils held by Hanbei. Energetic as always, Fujino pointed out one of the sigils on the paper, and suggested that it was very similar to the faded carving that graced that Gehennan bottle that had recently found its way into Sanosuke’s possession. The legend on the paper was written in an unintuitive fashion, so it took a moment for the Silver General to puzzle out what she was talking about. Soon, he found it. “Shax,” it read, with a number of other pronunciations besides. Sanosuke’s artistic background came to his aid as he compared the two sigils. As marred as the symbol on the bottle was, he could pick out enough points of comparison to tell that it was very likely the same.   He tucked this information away for later, and asked Fujino to grab Shibai after his departure, in the hopes that the Samurai Detective might be of some help to Yoshitakatomo and her* investigation. The other agreed, asserting that she herself would stay, as all this demonic business was far more interesting than the scene at Kannonji Castle. With that, they were off.   --   Outside the closed castle gates, Abe no Seimei and Maxim were still puzzling over what to do about their strange situation. Aotsuki was reasonably safe, so there seemed little need for haste, but he was still trapped inside the castle’s walls. It was hard to say what would happen should he remain there when the sun rose and the castle vanished once again. Agni, meanwhile, had wandered off into the nearby weeds and was burning twigs for her own amusement under Hidemitsu’s supervision.   They had just ruled out the possibility of Maxim effecting some kind of covert rescue when Sanosuke arrived by way of Fujino. He had brought his kyonshi assistant, Amenotokotachi with him, who remained back and allowed her master to engage with the others. For her part, Seimei appeared very displeased regarding Sanosuke’s arrival, and made an unsubtle jab about him “inviting himself.” She proceeded to give an abridged account of the happenings up to that point, being careful to paint her lord Aotsuki in a much less hapless light than was actually the case.   Sanosuke had already made up his mind and, after a few words exchanged with Amenotokotachi, they both leaped over the thirty-foot wall. The kyonshi was like a shadow in the night, but the Silver General less so. He took pains to make himself look good during the leap, and such a show always draws witnesses. An alarm bell immediately sounded in one of the guard towers and the castle stirred in response to what could only be seen as an invader.   Seimei could only express her frustration and dismay. Aotsuki’s entrance was one thing, as that had been outside of his own volition. With this display, however, any diplomatic advantage they might have had was now null.   --   Aotsuki had just scrambled into the hallway beyond the tower when another sound assaulted him. This time, it was the pounding of rushing feet approaching from a door to his right. A quick investigation of the surrounding ki informed him of a slighter, yellowish aura approaching at speed. From the silhouette he could see beyond the door, she had a pair of rabbit ears flopping on her head and something large and heavy filling her arms. He was almost out of time, so Aotsuki scrabbled at the door opposite, on his left, and managed to tumble inside with Kagami and Tama just before the hurried figure exploded into the hallway. If she had noticed anything afoot, her shadow on the paper door gave no indication, and she continued on her way with the cumbersome object still gripped tight.   Now that the immediate danger had passed, Aotsuki took a moment to observe the room he had stumbled into. A somewhat cramped affair, two of its walls were filled with shelves holding rows of scrolls. A large window, open to the night air, dominated the rear wall, and in front of it…   A man’s body, slumped over some kind of small writing podium. He didn’t move, but Kagami’s keener eye was able to tell in the moonlight that he was at least still breathing. Slowly, carefully, Aotsuki began creeping around the slouched, robed figure toward the inviting window. He was not quite careful enough, however, and a heavily armored foot came down on the poor scholar’s hand. He awoke with a howl of pain that sent Aotsuki and his girls rolling out of the waist-height window and into the yard beyond.   He stood now in a wide strip of grass separating the castle proper from its high, solid outer wall. The path to the east only led to a dead end at the rear of the castle complex. That left the only way out as an open run toward the courtyard at the fortress’ front. His hapless victim was still nursing his hand through bleary eyes, but he would no doubt soon be lucid enough to raise the alarm, if his pained yell hadn’t done so already.   Speaking of alarms, a new sound reached Aotsuki’s ears. It was the frantic ringing of a bell from the guard towers at the castle gate. Overwhelmed, he stood there for a moment in an attempt to get a better grasp on the situation. The door within the records room flew open moments later, and a voluptuous, draconic woman in noble finery stormed into the room. She was flanked by a trio of well-armed guards, and wasted no time in loudly accusing Aotsuki of being a trespasser and a thief. Aotsuki’s bewildered assertions to the contrary fell on deaf ears, and he only became more confused when she claimed that a broken mochi bowl found in the shrubbery must have been his doing.   At that point, Sanosuke arrived. He had seen Aotsuki during his arc over the wall and, rather than bursting into the castle as originally planned, he altered his trajectory to zoom over to his ally. Heedless of the fear and chaos his entrance had caused, he strolled up and joined the ongoing discussion.   The appearance of another trespasser did not improve the reptilian official’s mood. Sending one guard to fetch “Yomishi, Shizuka, and Ateshi,” she ordered the other two to arrest the two violators. Sanosuke’s attempts to calm her down only resulted in a promise that he could give his excuses to the Gichō after a long stay in Kannonji Castle’s dungeons. The guards were none too pleased about their orders to apprehend a pair of heavily armed and obviously experienced generals. Their eyes kept flicking, in particular, to the enormous sword which graced Sanosuke’s back. To their credit, they attempted to perform their duties, laying their hands on both.   The Silver General had surrendered in word but not deed, and he brushed past the guard to step over the sill and into the room. This prompted the man to reach out and attempt to stop the intruder by force, but Sanosuke brushed him off without a second thought. He approached the official without overt malice, but she was obviously beginning to panic. At that moment, the door behind her opened, and three more buxom girls in similar finery almost fell over themselves trying to fit into the cramped room.   Sanosuke’s limited knowledge of animals and the occult informed him that these three were all yōkai of some sort. One resembled a sheep, another a rabbit, and the third some kind of long-tailed monkey. Each also bore upon their person a stuffed animal, elaborately sewn in the form of whatever animal they represented. Indeed, even Yasutsuna, as they hailed her, had a small, cherry-cheeked dragon hanging at her hip.   Rokkaku no Yasutsuna imperiously ordered Teiko, the rabbit, to bludgeon Sanosuke into submission, but the other was slow to react. The Silver General was known to have a way with yōkai, and his presence seemed to be having a charming effect on these three. That he hadn’t seemed to exert any effect on Yasutsuna was suggestive as well.   Once again, they were at a standoff, as Yasutsuna was obviously not going to back down. The other three looked sleepy, bored, and hesitant respectively, so he determined to try another tack. He complimented the toy dragon at the lead woman’s side. A comparison to Toyotama-hime’s own dragon didn’t elicit any sort of recognition in her, but once Yasutsuna figured out that his intention was to praise her stuffed animal, her demeanor shifted slightly. With a prideful aloofness, she introduced the little one as Kōcho no Ō, a strange name that Sanosuke could only guess meant “Blushing King,” and went on to state that he could venture an offering to the King.   Outside, Aotsuki seemed to have been forgotten entirely. This wasn’t a wholly unexpected outcome when Sanosuke was in the presence of beautiful women, but he felt more than a little unsure of how to proceed from here. Fortunately, his indecision was saved by a hushed voice calling for him from the window one room over. Looking that way, Aotsuki found a vibrantly blue-haired woman with what looked like canine ears poking up from atop her head. She was beckoning Aotsuki over, and for some reason, he felt like he should follow her. She certainly looked trustworthy, after all.   Clambering into the next room, Aotsuki and his girls sat with the woman who introduced herself as Rokkaku no Jakusai. After Aotsuki had done the same for his party, he explained his confusion and the circumstances that had led to his imprisonment here. Upon hearing about Ateshi’s capture of the golden-haired youth, Jakusai expressed her sympathies, and explained that the behorned girl liked to keep particularly handsome boys as pets. Ateshi was very strange, and perhaps not too smart. She might, his host explained, have a bit of trouble understanding why humans and animals weren’t the same thing.   Emboldened by the other’s commiseration, Aotsuki began to feel more comfortable. He fell easily into their discussion, and when Jakusai insisted that he must be tired and should rest in the castle, he almost agreed. She was explaining that she would keep Ateshi and Yasutsuna away from him, and ensure that he’d be safe, when something shifted inside Aotsuki’s head. In a sensation not unlike a beam of light piercing through a clouded sky, the White Frog shook off a compulsion he hadn’t even known he’d been under. Jakusai suddenly didn’t seem so trustworthy, and he no longer felt any powerful desire to accept her invitation.   Just beyond the wall, Sanosuke was making a critical mistake. He leaned down and patted Kōchō no Ō’s head. Judging from the responses of those around him, that was not the right offering. Yasutsuna gathered the tiny draghon up in her arms in affront and shouted at him that he had offended the King. Dragons like gold, she vehemently insisted. Gold, not headpats. Fortunately, Sanosuke had just the thing. Pulling out one of the Solomon-stamped coins and hoping that whatever hellish alloy it was cast from wasn’t dangerous, he offered it to the King. Kōchō no Ō’s puffy jaws clamped down on the coin without any apparent intervention from his holder.   Everything went silent for a moment, and Sanosuke felt a great shift in the air. Concentrating, he could tell that a large amount of ki had moved from Yasutsuna to the plush doll in her hands. With a splutter and a cough, the Blushing King spat up a smaller gold coin, this one stamped with a hazily-familiar grinning ursine face. Before he could react, Yasutsuna had gathered up both coins greedily. She slumped now, apparently exhausted, and declared that she was going to retire for the night. Without paying any further mind to the intruder, she departed and left Sanosuke in the room with the other three yōkai.   Meanwhile, outside, the night was dragging on for Maxim and his unlikely companions. Seimei had moved far away from the gate on some half-baked warning from Aotsuki, and the red-skinned firebrand and her servant were still frolicking in the weeds some distance away. That left Maxim as the only person near the guardhouse door when it opened and a calm, ladylike voice invited him inside. The woman backlit by the lamp inside appeared poised and dressed in fine, but vaguely religious garments. A pair of elaborate, white-branched horns curled up from the sides of her head. Although rightfully suspicious, Maxim sensed no malice in her invitation, and so agreed. She bade him to gather his other companions and, together, they all entered the castle.   The woman, who introduced herself as Shōtei, claimed to be the Gichō of the castle. She spoke warmly to the four, treating them as visitors, and led them through the courtyard to a small tea house set aside from the main castle. Here, she invited them to sit, and began to make refreshments for Maxim and Seimei. Lord Aotsuki’s adviser seemed quite pleased with this turn of events, but Maxim couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still wrong. It didn’t help that Ka-ten Agni and Sugihara Hidemitsu were no longer with them; apparently they had separated at some point during their brief journey within the castle walls.   Speaking of Lord Aotsuki, his repeated refusals to spend the night within Kannonji Castle seemed to be highly confusing and concerning both to his host. Jakusai's mental powers must be quite insidious, as the fact that someone could resist her glamours didn’t even seem to register to her. Eventually, Aotsuki decided that he wasn’t likely to make any more progress here, and made to leave despite the other’s increasingly desperate complaints. When he went to step outside the window, Jakusai made one last plaintive attempt to grab him, and asked a strange question. Did Aotsuki like her?   This was unexpected enough to stop the golden-mopped lord’s exit, and he scrambled for an answer. Mentally asking Sanosuke was no help. He seemed just as curious to hear the answer. Eventually, he managed to state that he didn’t know her very well right now, but would like to remedy that in the near future. This noncommittal answer seemed as good as rejection in Jakusai’s eyes, and she fell to the floor in despair. Aotsuki understandably felt a bit of a heel about that, but anything else he might have said was interrupted by the appearance of a violently mustachioed guard just outside the window. The man was here to escort him to the tea house and the pleasure of the Gichō, and it seemed that he didn’t have much say in the matter. Jakusai had left the room in a tiff, so Aotsuki saw no recourse but to follow the walrus-whiskered guard into the courtyard.   Being only one window down, Sanosuke heard this exchange clearly, and made a mental note about the tea house himself. The three yōkai girls awkwardly left in the room with him, however, still demanded his attention. The lemur-tailed girl, Rokkaku no Shizuka, broke the silence by asking if her doll, Monokurokun, could have an offering too. With a shrug, Sanosuke planted another Solomon Coin into the outstretched arms of the tiny simian doll. Its miniature paws closed around the metal, and Sanosuke sensed a transfer of power again. This time, it was much fainter, and seemed to be from the doll to its holder, rather than the other way around. Indeed, Shizuka seemed to keep all of her blasé pep as she excused herself and then hopped out of the open window. She did not return the coin.   Rokkaku no Teiko was the next to speak, as apparently the sheep, Yomishi, had fallen quite soundly asleep on her shoulder. Rather than ask for a coin of her own, however, she ventured whether Sanosuke had seen a mochi dish on his way in. He had not, and told her so. An expression of extreme guilt passed over Teiko’s face, and she passed Yomishi to Sanosuke before excusing herself as well. With a half-hearted request for him not to break anything, she was gone, and the Silver General was left along with a soft, lightly-snoring figure pressed against his body. Not quite so alone, as Amenotokotachi soon joined him within the room.   Now free to do as they wished within the castle, Sanosuke informed his shadow that he would be taking a grand tour of the place under the pretense of finding Yomishi a place to sleep. The other accepted this readily, and they made to exit the cloistered records chamber, but were interrupted by another presence at the door. This was the one who had captured Aotsuki and started this whole business. Rokkaku no Ateshi stood there, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape, staring at Sanosuke.   A long, poignant moment passed, then Sanosuke offered Yomishi to the other girl. Ateshi accepted, picked up the dozing sheep, and left for parts unknown. The sensation that he had somehow just escaped a brush with great danger settled heavily over Sanosuke’s shoulders. Suddenly, exploring the rest of the castle didn’t seem quite so attractive a prospect. Bidding Amenotokotachi to follow him, Sanosuke decided to find this tea house that everyone else had apparently gathered within. On the way, they both looked for mochi dishes. None were found.   Within the merrily-lit tea house, Shōtei was engaged in telling the tale of how she had once met an Albionite many years ago, when she was but a girl. Maxim’s obvious heritage had inspired her, and she seemed to experience a mild fascination with the foreign man. When asked why she’d know of such a thing to begin with, she began her story.   They had met on the coast, and the man from Albion was enormous; almost as vast as the sea. Indeed, she was quite surprised to find that Maxim stood only a measly two meters high. They couldn’t speak each others’ languages, of course, but they communicated by drawing pictures in the dirt and sand. For all his mass, the Albionite was gentle, and they parted ways peacefully. She couldn’t be certain from what he drew, but Shōtei thought the man’s name was something like “Holy Crow.”   The uncommon story reminded Maxim of the legends he had heard of Cewri. They were mythical giants who had carved out the beginnings of civilization on the island of Albion before the first human had ever stepped foot on its verdant shores. Even now, a mighty Cewri’s head was buried beneath Camelot to… ward off the French? That seemed odd, but Maxim’s knowledge of the matter couldn’t be called thorough.   It seemed as though the strange noblewoman would continue her tale, but the arrival of first Aotsuki and then Sanosuke put an end to her reminiscing. Aotsuki attempted to apologize for the trouble he’d been involved in, but Shōtei waved it away with an understanding that he was as much a victim tonight as anyone. From Sanosuke, however, she demanded an apology for entering her castle without invitation. Only when he gave such was he permitted to sit and join them for tea.   Shōtei took a moment to make her own apology for what she called the antics of the Council. They were young and excitable, she claimed, and hoped that they hadn’t caused any actual damage to any of the guests present. Aotsuki was compelled to voice his concerns about Rokkaku no Jakusai’s reaction to his withheld affection. To this, Shōtei gave him a sad look. Her expression was all too reminiscent of the one that castle guard had shown him when he was dragged into the castle by Ateshi. Aotsuki would likely not have peace, she told him, until he could truthfully tell Jakusai that he enjoyed her presence.   As though summoned by mention of her name, Jakusai burst through the tea room door with a plate full of mochi spears and a call for “Lord Aotsuki” to enjoy them. She tripped immediately. It seemed as though time slowed down within the tea house as five wooden spears, each thrust through three multicolored mochi, twirled through the air on a direct collision course with Shōtei’s serene face. Aotsuki acted quickly as, with a swordsman’s precision, he plucked three of the mochi out of the air. Even as he acted, he could tell he wouldn’t make it in time. Three was one thing, but there was no way he could move quickly enough to rescue the last two from impact. Then, Maxim was there. The big Albionite’s hand closed around the remaining two spears, yanking them from the air in a barbaric show of dessert domination.   Sanosuke, for his part, caught something else. As Jakusai tumbled to the ground, he swept her up in his arms and placed her tray upright just in time for Aotsuki’s three mochi spears to land primly upon it. The Silver General’s legendary roguish smile seemed like to would cause the Inugami girl to melt for a moment, but then she remembered herself. It was Aotsuki she was here for, and she removed her attention from Sanosuke in favor of lavishing it all on the man who had so gently rejected her. When it was all over, a moment of silence descended as Maxim returned the last two mochi sticks home.   It took some convincing, but after a stern command from Shōtei, Jakusai was finally driven from the room, and took Inu no Seimei with her. The utterance of the stuffed dog’s name caused a minor stir in the room, not least from Abe no Seimei herself. The onmyōji seemed content, and a bit amused, to allow her identity to remain a secret. Shōtei apologized for the name, admitting that they weren’t her strong suit. Aotsuki mused mentally that they might have something to do with ancient names of Japanese legend, a whimsy that sent Sanosuke into deep reflection over the animals and what names he knew. Eventually, he could find no connection except that they were all probably named by someone who was having a bit of fun, and sewn by the same single individual.   Finally, Aotsuki could voice what had brought him here in the first place. Bluntly, he stated that he was investigating this castle, which appeared in his home of Ōmi Province only at night. Shōtei responded that she didn’t know what he was talking about, and that Kannonji Castle had been on this very spot for several hundred years. Incredibly, she didn’t seem like she was lying. Aotsuki’s insightful eye was in a good spot to determine that Shōtei was telling the truth, at least as she knew it.   Deciding to probe the situation further, Aotsuki inquired about the neighboring Daimyō in the hopes that her answer would furnish him with a clue. In answer, bemused by not offended, Shōtei listed Aotsuki Tsukamoto, Hashinara Yoshiyuki, and Oda Nobunaga. All correct, to the public’s knowledge. After a moment of thought, however, she revised the statement. Hashinara Yoshiyuki was the daughter of Hashinara Katamoto, the current Daimyō of the Hashinara, she claimed. It was understood that Yoshiyuki would take command after the ageing lord passed away, which is why she hastily gave her former response, but at the current time, Katamoto was the correct answer.   Strange as it was, this answer didn’t reveal any key pieces to the puzzle that Aotsuki was struggling to put together in his mind. He floundered for a moment, unsure of what next to ask, and so took a glance in Kagami’s mirror. Shōtei sat there, unchanged from what he saw with his naked eye. The mirror was known to be fickle, and sometimes give clues to the true nature of things as well as showing them literally, but nothing was changed in this case at all. Again, no clues.   Seimei rescued him from further waffling with a brief mental question about something Shōtei had said previously. She had claimed that the Council of Six Corners were young, which was not a term often applied to yōkai. Most modern onmyōji knew that the “hundred years” it took for an animal to become a yōkai wasn’t meant to be taken literally, but it still indicated a great age that the creature must reach before attaining sentience. That was indeed odd, and Aotsuki stashed the knowledge away as he asked his next question.   When he put to Shōtei whether she received many visitors here, she confessed that even trade traffic had dried up in the past few months. Indeed, Aotsuki’s company were the first she had received in some time. She attributed this to an assumption that the Shogun must have ordered the construction of a major road between Ōtsu and Inabyama, thus cutting Kannonji out of traffic across the two provinces, but Aotsuki was able to assure her that no such project existed. Still probing for anything that could help him puzzle this out, he went on to ask her how long she had been Gichō.   Shōtei’s answer was simple: She had held the title of Daimyō until earlier that year, when the Rokkaku suffered a great defeat at the hands of the Oda Clan. Following the death of the rest of her family, she went on a great pilgrimage across Japan, becoming a monk and changing her name, as was tradition. Only recently was she called Shōtei. Before, her name was Rokkaku Yoshinobu. In a similar fashion, she had changed her title from Daimyō to Gichō, finding the former too lofty a title for someone who now wished for a humble life.   The mention of Oda forces, however brief, triggered a memory in the minds of Aotsuki and Sanosuke both. Some time before, Aotsuki had learned about the Rokkaku Clan, who had been in Ōmi Province prior to his own rise to power. They were wiped out by the Oda Clan when Nobunaga made a push toward Ōtsu. He had all but forgotten, but surely Kuroda Kanbei had explained this to him at one point as an example of how not to defend a keep. Sanosuke knew all this from his own sources, but took it a step further to realize that the general responsible for razing Kannonji Castle to the ground was none other than Shibata Katsuie. They had been sharing a meeting table with the very same mountainous woman no less than two hours ago.   Seimei’s telepathic remark that Aotsuki had uncovered some key information encouraged him. He went on to ask about the Council of Six Corners, those yōkai girls who had “welcomed” them to the castle. Shōtei’s response was that they had been here for perhaps a week, and were intended to replace the lord and ladies of the Rokkaku who had died in Katsuie’s conquest of the castle. This dizzying explanation was spun into further bewildering enigma by Shōtei’s declaration that she had raised them from animals by her own hand. It was a powerful technique that she claimed to have learned from a Buddha on the island of Awaji during her pilgrimage.   That was certainly a lot to take in. Aotsuki made a bid for time to digest her claims by asking Shōtei if there was anything she would like to ask them in turn. She did, and requested to know why there had been such a lack of visitors, traffic, or trade to Kannonji Castle of late. Aotsuki didn’t have an answer to that, and told her as much. Shōtei showed only mild disappointment, but something bothered Aotsuki about that. His own trademaster of Mino Province, Momoyama Shunkei, had claimed that he possessed extensive trade logs with Kōka Province. Trade logs which only appeared at night, along with the province. Didn’t that directly contradict what she’d just said?   Filing that away with all the other information he’d picked up, Aotsuki tactfully moved the conversation to the subject of vengeance. More specifically, he asked whether Shōtei had any ill will toward the Oda Clan for their actions against the Rokkaku. This question seemed to pain the monk more than any other so far, and she regretfully expressed that she had not yet been able to discard all her feelings of resentment toward the Oda, and Shibata Katsuie in particular. Maxim, with his unholy ties to Ira Sathana, was able to all but confirm this. He had sensed a low-simmering hatred in her, wrath at someone, but could only read it as far as not being directed at Aotsuki.   Sipping on his tea and contemplating the mochi, Aotsuki considered his next move.   < The Mysterious One-Night Castle (Part 1)