Lord, we could do this, then that

"Yes, it was all my incompetence that left you worrying about the threat of demons, my lord."

"When a lord suffers humiliation, his retainers deserve death. Rest assured, my lord, when the demons attack again, even if it costs me my life..."

"I will take the demon's head and lay it upon your desk!"

The moment Hojo Akitoshi said that he could not even sleep peacefully, Akechi Mitsuhide dropped to his knees with a thud.

All the Hojo Army samurai around him knelt as well. In this era, words like those from Hojo Akitoshi...

Were the harshest possible rebuke to his retainers.

"Get up, get up."

No sooner had Akechi Mitsuhide and the others knelt than Hojo Akitoshi rose from his folding stool.

With one long stride, Hojo Akitoshi reached Akechi Mitsuhide, not letting him stay on his knees even a second longer.

After helping his fiercely loyal retainer up, he did not forget to show off a little of his affability, taking the trouble to help each of the other samurai to their feet.

Seeing their lord behave like this, everyone present naturally...

Put on the exaggerated displays of emotion so characteristic of Japan.

Sobbing filled the air, enough to make anyone who did not know what was happening almost mistake the scene...

For the passing of the Hojo Army's lord, Hojo Akitoshi.

Watching his retainers' exaggerated expressions, straight out of a Japanese anime, Hojo Akitoshi gave a helpless, awkward twitch of his lips.

Although he had lived in this world for nineteen years, every time he encountered a performance this distinctive...

He still felt somewhat uncomfortable. But as the saying went, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Hojo Akitoshi could hardly force his retainers to stop behaving this way.

So he could only sit on his folding stool and quietly wait for his samurai to finish crying and gradually rein in their theatrics.

Fortunately, these samurai had spent plenty of time with Hojo Akitoshi and more or less understood their lord's temperament.

Before long, apart from a handful of particularly emotional fellows, the sobbing stopped as quickly as it had begun.

"Finished crying? If you cry here day and night, will that somehow kill every demon in the world?"

Once his retainers had reined themselves in, Hojo Akitoshi spoke slowly, holding a roasted soybean between his fingers.

"Yes, we have been utterly incompetent."

In perfect unison, Akechi Mitsuhide and the samurai dropped to their knees again.

"Is there no one who can resolve my troubles?"

This time, however, Hojo Akitoshi did not step forward to put on another display of affability. Instead, his imposing presence weighed on those kneeling before him until they could scarcely breathe.

"My lord, do you mean...?"

Glancing around, Akechi Mitsuhide suddenly grasped the deeper meaning behind his lord's actions today.

"The Shikon Jewel, and that girl?"

The object the demon had demanded when it seized Kagome, and Kagome's performance when they drove it back...

None of these clues could escape Akechi Mitsuhide's discerning eye. A man of considerable substance, he immediately offered a suggestion that was exactly what Hojo Akitoshi wanted.

"Mm."

Looking with satisfaction at the man before him, who had been the Oda clan's foremost retainer in the original course of history, Hojo Akitoshi slowly nodded in agreement.

Akechi Mitsuhide was delighted. Having guessed his lord's thoughts correctly, he could barely keep his joy from showing.

Lowering his head, Akechi Mitsuhide quickly set his mind to work.

With his broad interests, extensive knowledge, and excellent memory, Akechi Mitsuhide was no stranger to the name of the Shikon Jewel.

Previously, though, he had treated accounts of it as tales even less reliable than unofficial histories. Besides, his lord Hojo Akitoshi ordinarily showed no interest in such things.

As a result, Akechi Mitsuhide had unconsciously left that knowledge gathering dust in a corner of his mind.

But now that it was needed, he could retrieve it immediately.

"We could do this, then that..."

Rising from the ground, Akechi Mitsuhide leaned close to Hojo Akitoshi's ear and whispered.

"Mm."

In truth, he already had a comprehensive plan of his own, but seeing how well his retainer understood his wishes...

What reason did Hojo Akitoshi have to reject his good intentions?

Leaving Akechi Mitsuhide's advice aside for the moment, the moon set, the sun rose, and another day began as usual.

"Where am I?"

After a full night's sleep without even a dream, Kagome opened her eyes feeling refreshed.

It was just that the ceiling overhead...

No, the roof of the tent was quite a novelty to the girl from the future.

The soft bed beneath her surprised her too, almost making her think she had returned to her own home in the Tokyo of the future.

She instinctively pressed down on the bedding, unsure what it was made from, and felt that it was even more comfortable than the mattress in her bedroom.

"You're awake?"

As though he had been waiting outside the entire time, Akechi Mitsuhide lifted the tent flap the moment Kagome made a sound.

"Ah!"

She had only just woken up. Though she felt well rested, the sudden sight of a man entering...

Still triggered her body's instinctive response, and she screamed.

"Shut up!"

The instinctive reaction of a girl from the future did not frighten Akechi Mitsuhide, who was accustomed to mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

With no intention of indulging Kagome, Akechi Mitsuhide drew his sword.

Then, with a flick of the blade, he stopped its tip right before the still-screaming Kagome's nose.

"Urk."

She fell silent in a second, her eyes crossing.

Then she swallowed, staring fixedly at the coldly gleaming blade suspended before her face.

"This is Lord Hojo Akitoshi's tent. Because of you, he actually spent the night outside, packed in with the Hatamoto Samurai."

His expression displeased, Akechi Mitsuhide showed no inclination to be gentle with her. He simply gestured for Kagome to get out of bed and leave.

"Huh?"

Kagome froze at his words. Only now did she realize that Hojo Akitoshi had actually given her his own tent.

That... that was so sweet of him!

But...

As she got up, Kagome gave Akechi Mitsuhide another suspicious glance, as though asking whether, apart from this one, there really wasn't...

Another tent in the entire camp for Lord Hojo Akitoshi.

"What do you know?"

One brief glance at Kagome's eyes told Akechi Mitsuhide what she was thinking.

"My lord is not a ruler who likes special treatment. In fact, if we retainers hadn't urged him to accept this tent..."

"On campaign, given his temperament, my lord would simply eat with the other samurai..."

"And sleep alongside them."

"So my lord already considers having this one tent excessively luxurious. How could he possibly have another prepared?"

"I wanted to offer him my own tent last night, but do you know what he said?"

"He said, 'Mitsuhide, I gave up my tent because I wished to.'"

"'But if I take your tent after giving up mine, wouldn't that make everything I did seem insincere?'"

As he reached the emotional part, Akechi Mitsuhide's eyes actually reddened before Kagome, and a few tears fell.

"Treating his soldiers like beloved sons, sharing their meals and quarters, showing concern for their well-being..."

Murmuring to herself, Kagome watched Akechi Mitsuhide's reaction and his tears, and inexplicably thought of the great general Wu Qi of ancient China, whose conduct she had read about in her textbooks.

"Where is Lord Hojo Akitoshi?"

Her opinion of Hojo Akitoshi had already been very high. Now it soared like a rocket, almost reaching its limit.

Fully awake now, Kagome threw back her covers, eager to find Hojo Akitoshi.

She wanted to thank that exemplary ancient daimyo in person.

"Wait."

But Akechi Mitsuhide swept his blade across, blocking Kagome's way once more.

Staring at the bewildered girl, Akechi Mitsuhide asked coldly...

"What was that Shikon Jewel the demon asked about last night? Why did the demon attack you?"

"Well..."

Her expression grew somewhat awkward, and Kagome's eyes wandered. She did not know whether she should tell him the truth.

"I told my lord long ago that his sincere goodwill would only be met with indifference."

"There is no need to treat someone like you with such sincerity."

With a cold snort, Akechi Mitsuhide spoke in a voice full of indescribable disappointment.

It was the regret of seeing his lord's kindness wasted on the wrong person.

"No, that's not it. Lord Hojo Akitoshi is such a good person."

Pressed by Akechi Mitsuhide's words, Kagome, still an innocent little rabbit at this point, could no longer sit still.

Her lips parted, and Kagome gave him a faithful account of most of what had happened.