"No, what I mean is that people have three souls and seven spirits, seven emotions and six desires, seven deadly sins, and innate flaws. Conversely, they also have the three guiding bonds and five constant virtues, feelings, and compassion. Only when all these come together can they be called human."
"What do you mean?" Kōichi asked with interest.
"The character for 'person' is written with two strokes, 丿 and 丶. They must support each other to stand upright. Rules define boundaries, and placing people within them serves to restrain them. One provides support, the other restraint. If that restraint continues too long without an outlet, people become like balloons constantly inflated by desire. Without a release, they will eventually burst!"
Across from him, Reiko froze for a moment after hearing this. She had thought it would be another tedious debate, but this Mr. Li seemed to be getting at something else.
"Ridiculous," Kōichi countered. "Without rules, human nature would go unchecked! Without people like us urging the world toward goodness, who knows what sort of purgatory it would become!"
"Really? Search your conscience carefully. From Himiko's succession in Yamatai to the Warring States period, the shogunate era, and then the Meiji Restoration, when far-right militarist ideology ran rampant, how many of those political struggles bore traces of your involvement?"
"???"
Everyone was baffled, exchanging bewildered looks.
Kōichi asked in confusion, "May I ask where you heard this, sir? None of us know of such history."
"Hm? You don't know Himiko?" Tetsuhiro was a little surprised. "Then what about Oda Nobunaga? Tokugawa Ieyasu? Emperor Akechi? Okamura Yasuji?"
Everyone began murmuring to those beside them, occasionally glancing at Tetsuhiro with obvious mockery in their eyes.
After hearing these names, Kōichi repeatedly checked with the elderly housekeeper beside him. She thought for a