Chapter #4 - And back

Sengoku-period, Japan, Atsuta-shrine

”Hime-sama! We just got a word that the Viper has relieved Mino to the daughter of Oda, things seem to be going like in your vision. Should we send a messenger to Oda to inform her about what's to come?” Two miko can be heard talking while tending to their duties at the Atsuta-shrine. One is small and meek-looking, always cowering a little and other one has more height, gentle look and clouded eyes. Without any change in latters expression, she says something that makes a small smile appear on formers face and she totters away.

Sengoku-period, Japan, Nagoya castle town

When I open my eyes I feel sharp pain somewhere around my temple and when I try to move my legs and arms it is like they're made from lead or dipped into a bowl of concrete. Turning my head I see my newest companion, tiny ninja girl called Goemon bustling around with a vat of water and a wet cloth, I try to open my mouth but all I can manage is some kind of weird groan, that catches the attention of the girl running around me and she immediately arrives next to me. For some reason she is wearing the shirt I wore when I came to this period instead of her usual black ninja-attire.
”You shouldn't try to move, nin~.” She says to me, clear worry in her voice. ”You and Toukichirou-dono got summoned to castle to meet Oda-dono, nin~. But seeing how you were tossing and turning and drenched in sweat last night, Toukichirou-dono asked me to look after you and said that she'd explain the situation to Oda-dono, nin~.” After this she supports my upper body to sitting position with some cloth towels and pillows, helps me to undress and starts to wipe sweat from my back with the towel she was carrying.
”Toukichirou-dono got barely a wink of sleep because she was looking after you, when I arrived it looked like she was ready to collapse at any moment, nin~.”
I didn't really pay much attention to what she was saying, pretty much only thing in my mind was identifying what I had caught. During this era the research for medicine wasn't to the point it is in the time where I am from, so actually serious illnesses ran rampant and there really were no vaccine for them, lowering the life expectancy around this period to very low, not many people lived to be over 50. Of course I've gotten mandatory vaccination against the modern mutations of these diseases, but who can tell if they work against the viruses and germs 450 years to the past.

That's pretty much all I can think before groaning from a spiking pain behind my temple. I need to do something to my headache, so I gesture to Goemon so that she'd fetch my bag for me. I should at least have some aspirin or something somewhere in there. The girl stops her backwashing and retrieves the bag I carry with me, I have not allowed Goemon to look inside and after she came to the house I've also denied Toukichirou her delvings into games.
I open one of the side pockets and rummage through it, finding a small plastic bag with bandages and some over-the-counter medicine, like cough drops, skin lotion, tiny bottle of disinfectant and some triangular pouches of aspirin, the sight makes me very happy. I knew I've gotten into a habit of carrying these around, I even remember pondering if I should get an actual first aid kit so that I'd be prepared to pretty much everything.
I rip the corner of the pouch and pour the contents on my tongue, can't say I enjoy this taste. Afterwards I down it with some water Goemon had prepared for me at some point and settle down to my state of helpnesness again. I hear Goemon questioning the contents of the pouch and my bag, but as I can't answer I just shake my head a bit. Seeing this she apparently decides that questions can come later and she should just take care of me the best she can and resumes her activity of cleaning my body from sweat. I don't know if it is the aspirin or the care Goemon showed to me, but I feel like I can at least think clearly again and start recognizing sounds and voices around me. I don't think this is more than just a really nasty flu or some kind of food poisoning, examining my arms or legs do not reveal any rashes or scarring or other kinds of skin damage usually involved in more serious illnesses. Of course those won't just appear overnight, but that's how I calm myself down at least. After a while and feeling like I've been dumped into a bath with wet teddy bears because Goemon going a bit overboard with her care, I sigh and get back to lying down. Goemon informs me that she is going to produce something to eat and that I should try to sleep, in my mind I agree to the latter idea with my whole heart but to the former I can't help but worry if I get some herbal leaves or roots brought in front of me because Goemon thinks that those'll do good for me.
The thought of this questionable future of sustenance makes me smile a bit and I close my eyes.

I dream of a night with bright moon, a full moon to be exact. I look around and time seems to be stopped, everywhere colors just seem blurred and bleeding from the scenery to create something that looks like I am standing in Edward Munch's¹ painting. I try to figure out where my companions are and slowly the face of Toukichirou appears in front of me, she has her trademark grin on her face, but I can see tears at the corner of her eyes, looking even closer notice that she doesn't seem to have a visible body, but something like a shadow or a swirl of dust or something like that. The sight makes me sad. One after other people I know from this era start to pop out the same way, distorted but their faces. Everyone is smiling with tears flowing down their faces. It makes me want to cry too.
I look up to the moon, it has turned to bright red and seems to be shedding something towards earth. Liquid-like matter gets ever closer to the earth, and the moment it touches the ground, everything around me turns into a sea of viscous red liquid that is undoubtedly blood. The faces of Toukichirou and Goemon get closer to me, but when the liquid reaches Nagahide-san, Shibata-san and Nobunaga-dono, the faces I see turn grotesque, filled with anguish, pain and loss and when they open their mouths to scream, everything fades to black and I can not see anything else, I just remember Toukichirous and Goemons faces getting really close to mine, still smiling.

”I have no idea what she is going through right now, her physical condition, outside looking anguished, doesn't seem to indicate anything too serious.” A male doctor sent by Oda-clan is filling me in about the state of my companion who is lying in front of me, tears in her eyes, tossing, turning and sweating like possessed. I hope no one actually gets the impression of her being possessed, I could go without the fuss that it would cause.
”Kinoshita-san, I will be visiting her daily, you should continue with your duties for Oda-dono. She will get the best care I can offer.”
”And I am here too, nin~” Said the cute little ninja living with us, who just now had stopped her loud sobbing that had been accompanied us as noise in the background while doctor went through Sana-chans body. Pretty much the only reason why we even were here was because Goemon stormed Nagoya castle where I was meeting with Oda Nobunaga and discussing how to proceed with her unification plans. I had already told her that my companion was ill, but at some point they brough panicking Goemon in front of us and after hearing from her that Sana-chans situation got worse, Nobunaga-dono dispatched a doctor and relieved me to go with him: ”I gave Inuchiyo the task of being with Saru all the time, at the moment it works other way around too. Go to her and return later with a report telling how she fares.”, she said to me before I left and sent me and Goemon off with a smile only she could give.

When we arrived to our lodgings, Sana-chan was lying there, still sweating a river and had fallen of her futon. Doctor scolded Goemon telling her that rather than leaving Sana-chan here alone, she should've called for guards stationed nearby and told them that one of the Oda Nobunaga-donos retainers had fallen ill. They've been informed about retainers living around this area last night so they would've without a doubt sent a message to castle after confirming the situation. That caused Goemons sobs turn into more audible ones, I wanted to hug her and tell her she did fine.

After the doctor left, I and Goemon were left with Sana-chan to make her as comfortable as possible. Goemon barely left the side of her and I was preparing some food, something had been bothering me for a while and I asked Goemon:
”Hey, Goemon-chan?”
”Nin~?”
”Why are you wearing Sana-chans clothes?”
”A ninja hides her identity when working in public, nin~”
”In other words, you got curious and wanted to try them out.” I say and can't help but giggle. I've done that a lot lately. Being in this situation somewhat calms my nerves and makes me feel easy, it has been so ever since I first got acquinted with Sana-chan. After hearing my reply, Goemon visibly blushes and answers:
”These are very comfortable, nin~.”
”Those are way too large for you, and you're only wearing the top piece, do you have anything to cover your legs?”
”The bottom piece didn't stay on, so I thought I'd wear this like a yukata, nin~.” I smile at her and throw her a mochi that Sana-chan brought when we returned from the meeting with Saitou Dousan last night. The atmosphere seems to have calmed down with our banter and even though we still were worried, neither of us showed it as much and everything seemed to return how they usually were, outside Sana-chan being ill.

While Goemon was munching on her mochi and the water was waiting to boil I started to write a letter to Nobunaga-dono as to inform her about Sana-chans current situation. I've never been good at things like these and I've never learned how to write difficult, polite sounding words² so when I finished Goemon had eaten her snack and was drooping over Sana-chans body, trying to not fall asleep and the water had begun to boil. Smiling at Goemon, who really looked like she could go for a nap I returned to preparing food. It was just plain rice and dried fish with miso again, but it tastes good and we have no money to buy luxury things like meat or spices any ways at the moment.

After finishing our meals, Sana-chan still hadn't woken up. I added a line to the letter addressed to Nobunaga-dono and gave it to one of the guards to be delivered to castle as soon as possible. After I got saluted in a manner I've not gotten used to, the guardsman left and I returned inside. Goemon had fallen asleep on her futon next to Sana-chan, about which I really didn't blame her.
”Now then.” I say to myself and head towards the corner of the room. The only table we have is actually quite messy, the top is filled paper I've not seen around here. It is thick and has lines going across it, forming a grid. These papers are something that Sana-chan was staring at fairly intently before the meeting with Saitou Dousan was decided. I slam my hands together and think ”sorry, Sana-chan” quietly in my mind and start going through things on this table.

I knew Sana-chan was from the future, at this point it would've made no sense to try and deny that after seeing so many things I've never seen before. I was only one who knew about this, I think it is better for the fewer people to know, rather than go around announcing her being from future and being beheaded for being a lunatic. I just can't help myself, these papers may reveal things that help Nobunaga-dono with her quest of unification and I want to help her as much as possible.
The contents of these papers were what I was not expecting, lists about things one would need for living and how much one would need to earn to be able to have a good life, some of the papers were just filled with lines and numbers and symbols I do not recognize and others had detailed information about food ingredients she'd want to acquire.

But couple of pieces caught my attention, first one was detailing the encounter before meeting Saitou Dousan:
”Dousan wants to test Nobunaga → Teach morse code to Goemon → Make sure Nobunaga doesn't get ambushed → Have Toukichirou intimidate and surprise Dousan with her information.”
This was pretty much how things went, there were some words³ there I did not understand, but apparently these were the simplified plans that Sana-chan came up for the meeting with Dousan. Intriqued, I look through the next piece of paper gasp from surprise:
”Oda Nobuyukis last revolt (MUST BE STOPPED PEACEFULLY!), Katsuie will be with her → psychological warfare? → Make sure that Nobunaga doesn't kill Nobuyuki, Katsuie should be safe. → Hope for the best, stop Nobunaga from becoming a demon.”
Again, words that I do not understand, but the ones I do are alarming. I heard at the castle that Nobuyuki-dono tends to start revolt wars every time she gets discontent about something involving Nobunaga-dono. But what does Sana-chan mean by ”the last revolt” and such.
”So, what are you going to do, nin~?” A shiver creeps up my spine and I notice Goemon standing behind me. I gasp and drop papers from my hand, while she looks at me, looking very serious, I am sorry Goemon-chan!
Before I actually manage to say anything, she smiles at me and says:
”Actually, I went through these papers too, nin~. I've kept my promise and not peeked into that fabric container of hers, but these papers just were on the plain view so I couldn't help it, nin~nin~” After this she mimics my actions earlier and slaps her hands together, I am confused, but soo return her smile.
”Well, I guess we both have a scolding waiting for us later?” Goemon-chan gives me her super sweet smile and begins re-checking the papers in case we missed something. I can't believe this girl is already fourteen. I continue speaking to Goemon:
”There are words I do not understand, and even if we showed this to Nobunaga-dono, I bet she can't make out much of this either. I know that this is about Nobuyuki-dono revolting, but when will it happen and how was Sana-chan prepared to deal with it, with her in that state we really can't ask.” I look at my ill comrade and sigh. Goemon-chan instead looks at me and asks question that I've known she'd ask at some point:
”Itori-dono isn't from here, isn't she?”
”Sorry Goemon-chan, I've already stepped out of the line too much by going through her stuff without permission. I'd lie if I said I didn't know the truth, but I want her to be the one to tell you of her origins, not me.” After this I smile at her and she nods.
”Then I will ask her when she wakes up, nin~!” She gives me a cheerful smile and we return to the papers.

After a while and when it seems like there isn't much more in there outside what we've already uncovered as the rest of the papers are pretty much empty, outside the grid that they all have, we decide to talk about how to inform Nobunaga about the situation, but do not really reach any conclusion, which makes me annoyed so I decide to vent it a bit by going to carry some water for bath and heating it.
After being on my task for a while, Goemon-chan stops me, with a paper on her hand, telling that it had fallen from the table on the floor. It had a picture of an Oda-clan warrior on a horse, waving an Oda-clan flag on top of a razed castle. Underneath the picture was a text: ”Nobunaga is the only one fit to lead!” In very beautiful strokes. The paper also was more like what I had used before, but the tool that picture was drawn with wasn't a brush, it was not a quill either, probably one of the Sana-chans ”future tools”. I didn't really understand it, but it was certain that Sana-chan had used a lot of time to this. Some parts were smudged and there were small rips here and there.
”This was attached to it, nin~” Said Goemon, handing another piece of paper to me:
”Instruct Toukichirou to show this picture to Nobunaga and have her hire an artist to mass-produce something similar → When Nobuyuki revolts, have them delivered to castle where Nobuyuki resides and spread them everywhere → Have soldiers chant for their loyalty to Nobunaga when they surround the castle and Nobuyukis troops. Nobuyuki is more weak willed than Nobunaga and we can use the loyalty of Shibata to our advantage, she will without a doubt turn to our side because she doesn't want to be stuck between a rock and a hard place with a mindset like that.”
The note was written so that even Toukichirou and Goemon understood it, maybe Sana-chan planned to either refer this to Nobunaga-dono or to me or Goemon and do her own part some other way. I still did not understand what pictures like these would actually help, but Sana-chans plans have always more or less worked perfectly so far, so I saw no reason to not believe in her this time either, especially since she was in that bad of a shape.
I sat on seiza next to Sana-chan, who looked like she was in pain and brushed her hair out of her face and wiped sweat off her forehead.
”Goemon-chan, will you help me in place of Sana-chan this time?” I asked, still looking at my companions sleeping face.
”That's given, nin~. You two are my masters and I follow you everywhere, no matter if you wanted it or not, nin~nin~.” She said, placing her own hand on Sana-chans head. The scene was like we were making a vow in front of her. With all the seriousness we had in our voices, I couldn't help but laugh and Goemon-chan joined me, even Sana-chan seemed like she got a momentary lapse of relief, having her lips curve slightly. I don't know if she heard us, but that warmed my heart as I prepared to leave for the castle.

I think I heard Toukichirou and Goemon laugh somewhere far into the distance, does that mean I am not dead yet? That's good.
In this blackness that surrounds me, a cheerful sound like that was like a drop of light, it made me feel happy. Hopefully I can see everyone again soon.

The next few days flew past very quickly. I delivered the picture and instructions Sana-chan planned to give me to Nobunaga-dono, who after going through them accepted to follow through with surprisingly few questions, I was also fairly sure that I saw straight up relief on her face after she figured the plan out. I decided to leave that other note back to our lodgings as it called Nobunaga-dono a demon and had words even I didn't understand, so I thought it would be better to not Nobunaga-dono see that. After that me and Goemon pretty much took turns looking after Sana-chan, dealing with the doctor that visited us and the pictures artists around the kingdom drew. Because they didn't have the tools Sana-chan has the pictures were more like I was used to, very beautiful brush works with same kind of calligraphy Sana-chan had used written on and around them, only difference was that they were painted on paper, that was stacked and glued together and not canvas like usually. After a week we had around five hundred or so pictures finished by multiple people, I was not sure how many we needed, but I was starting to think that this was more than enough.

One evening I was with Nagahide-sama and Nobunaga-dono in a tea room conversing about what is going to happen when a courier arrived, informing Nobunaga about Nobuyuki-dono holing herself up in Suemori Castle and revolting about the main family. Shibata Katsuie apparently had joined up with him, as the main family had made her the guardian of Oda Nobuyuki when she still was young, so Shibata-sama didn't really have any choice in it and is now roped into this revolt war.
”This is the moment we've been waiting for my lord.” I say the moment courier leaves. ”I suggest you dispatch couriers to Suemori and ask them to spread the pictures prepared to people living around there, to soldiers and inns too. I also have Goemon-chan sneak in and have her spread them around too, closer to the people in charge. We really have no time to lose, we have to get these through before Nobuyuki-dono manages to gather her army and start marching.”
Nobunaga-sama nodded and put the word out. She was acting like a leader and way stronger than she actually looks like. It is amazing how much strenght and spirit that small body held in.
When Nobunaga-sama left the room, I begun conversing with Nagahide-sama.
”I trust Sana-chan, I just wish that she was the one who explained all these things. If I make mistakes in what she had planned, this all may fall apart. Do you think I did the right thing, Nagahide-sama?” She smiled at me, the usual warm smile on her face felt really good.
”I think it is good for you to make some decisions yourself and not just rely on Itori-dono too much. She has wits and will to grasp the stars, but your approach on things is really important too. I've been with Nobunaga-sama since she was small and I know that she'd do anything available to not having to go into war with her siblings.” She sighed, like remembering something from long time ago.
”I doubt we get through this without any kinds of hitches, but I trust you to keep Nobunaga-sama on the proper road when the time comes.” What she said made my insides churn. I felt so much pressure from responsibility, but I had to get used to it. I had to show everyone, Nobunaga-dono, her retainers, Goemon-chan and Sana-chan that their trust towards me is not misplaced!

Goemon returned from her mission couple of days later and at the same time Nobunaga-dono was preparing to march fer forces towards Suemori Castle to besiege and surround it. I had suggested about making the first move, as it will be easier to fulfill the instructions I was given by Sana-chan if Nobuyuki-dono is still in the castle with her forces and has to fight a defensive battle, instead of an offensive one. Nobunaga-dono agreed with this and started mobilizing her forces. I told that I'd wait for Goemon-chan to return, but if she hadn't done by the end of the week Nobunaga-donos forces could go ahead and we'd catch up.
But as I mentioned, it was only couple of days and Goemon returned, after resting for a while and leaving her to take care of Sana-chan, I left for the Nobunaga-dono and prepared mentally to the task ahead.
We left when it was still dark. Suemori Castle wasn't too far, but still there was a good four to five hours of marching before we would arrive. I wanted to be able to surround the castle by the dawn so that the plan would have most effective results.
When we arrived everything was set up by my orders. It felt so pressuring that I was about to faint. I was given an insane amount of forces under my command for this, there were at least four or five thousand heads in the army, where as Nobuyuki-dono at most has two thousand men, so even if it goes to the war, we have an overwhelming advantage.
I had the Oda Forces immediately surround the castle, lord Nobunaga and Nagahide-sama overlooked the situation from a hill further back with a small force to give backup to us if need be and when everything was set up I gave the signal.

A booming voice left the Oda forces, chanting the name of Oda Nobunaga and words written on those pictures we sent to this castle some days earlier, even I started shouting. Soon the gates of castle opened and Oda Nobuyukis forces poured out to take defensive positions with Shibata Katsuie as their head. Nobuyuki forces seemed confused, some put their hands in the saddle pouches they had on their horses and pulled out wrinkled pictures of an Oda warrior inside and stared at them, not really knowing how to react.
We didn't stop at this sight, we just stood our ground and kept chanting, brandishing our weapons and making as much noise as possible. It was like someone was firing cannons in a thunderstorm. I could feel the ground tremor underneath my feet.

I stepped forward, towards Shibata Katsuie, who clenched her spear, I kept my distance and just kept chanting, straight at her, not removing my eyes from hers. Her expression showed clear confusion and discomfort. The shouting had been going on for hours now and even I was starting to wonder if this was working, but looking around the opposing forces, I was starting to notice that even amidst their ranks some soldiers were opening and closing their mouths in the rhytm of the chants of Nobunaga forces and soon the noise had grown to much, much louder with Nobuyuki soldiers, their morale in the mud and wills broken decided that their chances of survival would be better with the Nobunaga troops.
Turning their backs to their supposed enemies, even they had joined the chants and the more this happened, the more pained was the look on Shibata-samas face and then she walked to me, with tears in her eyes, stood to my side and turned towards Suemori castle and started chating the name of Oda Nobunaga with her loud and clear voice she so rarely let anyone hear.

It didn't take even an hour until the last stragglers who retreated inside the castle after their general had joined forces with enemies returned with a word from the castle that the aides of Oda Nobuyuki and Oda Nobuyuki herself will give up Suemori Castle and surrender to the forces of Oda Nobunaga-dono. That I took as a cue to send some forces in to capture the young Oda and bring her to Nagoya to be heard. In the end, decision what to do with her was with Oda Nobunaga and I had a bad feeling about this. Especially since Sana-chan had left such an ominous warning in her notes: ”Do not let Oda Nobunaga become a demon” was what it said.

I opened my eyes and sat up, my body feels light and I feel like I haven't eaten anything in ages. I stand up and start tottering in a random direction in hopes of finding a fridge and something to snack on. I don't get too far when I hear a loud gasp and feel someone hugging me around my stomach and saying something. I am so hungry that I really don't care and try to shake the pest away.
”Itori-dono, you need to lie down! You haven't been well for so long, nin~! To suddenly stand up and start walking around is no good, at least wait until the doctor gets here, nin~!”
The source of voice doesn't yield and I look down to see a small girl in a t-shirt that is way too large for her, the sight is actually kind of sweet. I sigh and let her guide myself to a seat. I ask if I can wash my face and she brought me a vat full of cold water that I splash on myself. Then, after finally waking up properly I take a look around me and start remembering things.
”Oh.” I say.
”Good morning, Goemon, what's the situation?”
”I am angry at you Itori-dono, why are you acting like nothing happened?” says the small girl, pouting, ”does it hurt anywhere, nin~? You were quite ill.”
”I was sick? I feel like I just had a good nights rest. You saying that I was out of comission for a while?” I ask, looking confused and Goemon shows clear desperation on her face.
”Maybe we really should wait for the doctor, but I do not want to lie you down again, nin~. I don't want you to fall asleep and then not wake up again.” She says, still pouting but I can hear a tinge of fear in her voice. What the hell happened to me? Didn't we just last night come from the meeting with Saitou Dousan?
”Toukichirou's at the castle with Nobunaga now?”
”Nope Itori-dono, she is at war with Oda Nobuyuki-dono, nin~. While you were ill, we found your papers describing the situation and Kinoshita-dono took it to her to see that your plans come true. She has been in talks with many artists and sending pictures to Suemori ever since, nin~nin.” I feel shocked, I've been sleeping for God knows how long and Toukichirou decided to try her hand at propaganda posters in Sengoku-period without knowing their true purpose? I sigh.
”How did Nobunaga react?”
”She accepted the plan surprisingly easily, apparently, nin~. She pretty much gave Kinoshita-dono free reign with this plan, she really doesn't want to fight her siblings, nin~.”
Well, that makes sense. Who in their right mind would want to kill their siblings? Unfortunately in my history Nobunaga killed her younger brother after this situation and turned into a emotionless machine that killed pretty much everyone who opposed him, no matter if friends of family.
”I need to see Nobunaga, now.” I say to Goemon, who shakes her head.
”I will not let you leave the house Itori-dono, nin~.” I sigh and pray in my mind that Toukichirou shows up the wits and will of the one I know from my history and is able to pull this one through. I've been out of it from the beginning, outside of making some rough plans, it is Toukichirou who decided how to decipher them and how to deal with the situation and I trust that she will return victorious, in one way or another.
”Hey Goemon-chan we have anything to eat? I feel like I've had nothing in days.” After which she smiles and brings a bowl of rice, miso and fish with some bread in front of me. I kindly accept the offer and start eating.
”Don't think that you two have escaped a scolding yet by the way.” I say in between mouthfuls of rice, Goemon turns to me and looks apologetic.
”Especially you, don't you think you should ask permission before wearing someone elses clothes.” I say, smiling at Goemons current outfit, which is pretty much the t-shirt I had under my school uniform when I arrived, tied with a sash to look like a yukata or kimono. Funnily enough it was long enough for her to wear it like that. After hearing that she blushed, and I wonder if this girl is actually a ninja at all.

When we return to Nagoya, I have no time to visit my lodgings to check on Goemon-chan and Sana-chan as my presence is required with other retainers when Nobunaga-dono is hearing Nobuyuki-dono about her treason and deciding for what kind of punishment she should receive. When looking at the situation and how long she has apparently done these small skirmishes, she'd lose her head without a doubt, or has to perform a harakiri.
”Do not let Nobunaga become a demon.” I start to see what those words stand for, but how should I deal with this. If I speak too much out of the line, it is my head that will roll as well as Nobuyuki-donos. I decide to ask Nagahide-sama who is riding back with me:
”As I told you earlier, Nobunaga-sama doesn't want to fight her siblings. She also doesn't want to kill them either. Yeah, siblings do quarrel every once in a while, but she still wants to act like a aneue⁴ she is. During this evenings hearing she may want to put on a tough look. I've never been able to break it down and only been there to calm down the storm in her afterwards. I believe that you are able to make sure it doesn't get that far. My advice would be just to speak up your mind, I promise to make sure it has no dire consequence against you. Nobunaga-sama isn't like that who'd punish you for speaking up anyways.”
”But Nagahide-sama, I've never been good at speaking. I rather my acts speak for me rather than words. What should I say? I feel so lost right now. Even Sana-chan warned in her notes: ”Do not let Nobunaga become a demon”.” I finally feel the pressure and responsibility in me and the corners of my eyes start to moisten, after which Nagahide-samas expression becomes even more warm and motherly.
”I am not sure how Itori-dono saw this happening, but I am sure what she ment about those words is that Nobunaga-sama shouldn't become a demon who slays her own kin. There are people in this world who do so to make sure that they get the spot as daimyo in place of the head of the family, but those people always end becoming borderline mad and warmongering. Itori-dono doesn't want to see Nobunaga-sama become like that.” she smiles, and her expression changes into somewhat mischievous one, I didn't know she had that kind of expression in store too. I am shocked. She hands me a folded fan, when I open it, it isn't made of silk or steel but wood. It also has word ”punishment” written on it. Then Nagahide-sama starts riding away and says one last thing:
”You said you like to have your actions speak rather than words, maybe you can figure something out. Keep that as a charm.” She raises her hand as to wave before heading towards the back of the army to check for Nobuyuki-dono and her retainers, as well as Shibata Katsuie who are being escorted towards Nagoya.
”A charm?” I say to myself and look at the fan with very ominous words.

When we get back to the castle, we are immediately asked to go to the throne room and wait for the criminals to be brought in front of the lord Oda Nobunaga, so that's what we do.
In the throne room are just me, Nagahide Niwa, some ministers I've only seen in passing and Oda Nobunaga, who looks conflicted. After which some guards bring in Shibata Katsuie and Oda Nobuyuki, Katsuie looks like she is going to die from her inner conflict alone and Nobuyuki, small in stature like Nobunaga-dono, but with much paler skin and brown hair that is only tinted towards red.
Before anyone manages to open their mouths, Shibata Katsuie says:
”My lord, I've acted against your will and even betrayed Oda Nobuyuki-dono that I'm supposed to be guarding in place of your father. I was supposed to die on the battlefield and here I still am. Please give me a blade or take my head.”
I totally had forgotten about that case too, this is a problem. I do not want any heads to roll tonight if possible and just as I am about to open my mouth, Nobunaga speaks:
”I need you Riku. I need you in my dream of the unification of Japan. You've always been loyal and I feel like you're in this situation because of unfortunate circumstances. If you feel guilt and shame, then learn to live with those feelings and finally leave them behind you. Stand by me and give me your strenght once again. That's all I am asking. De gozaru.”
She reverted back to her ”De gozaru” way of speaking, like the first time we met her. What could trigger those patterns of speech I wonder. But any ways, it seems like Sana-chan predicted, Shibata-sama should be safe with this.

With Shibata-sama leaving the room, only Oda Nobuyuki was left. When everyones gazes turned towards this small girl, Nobunagas eyes were full of pity and sadness. I was pretty much able to see the inner struggles going on inside her.
”Nobuyuki, you've revolted against me multiple times, de gozaru. You do not agree with me being the head of the family, you've told me that many times, but I am not planning to give this spot up until my dream is fulfilled.” Despite how she looked at this situation, her voice was still strong and clear, it was actually kind of impressive.
”I've had people perform harakiri when they've revolted against me once, but I wanted you to understand. I wanted to be with you!” I saw tears in her eyes and right afterwards it seemed like her vision clouded, she was about to step over the line that allowed her to distinguish people between friends and family and enemies.
”I have you executed today, to show respect to Oda-clan and you as my sister, I myself will be the one who takes your head. Please step forward.” She was pulling her katana from its sheath and Nobuyuki was brought forward. I had to act now or things were to get messy. Nagahide-sama shot me a look of encouragement and I stepped forward, grabbing the now revealed blade with my bare hand, which caused pain and bleeding on my palm. Well, that was rash.
”Saru, what is the meaning of this?” Nobunaga-dono asked, cloudiness disappeared from her eyes and her expression turned into straight on surprise. I removed my hand from the blade and looked straight into the eyes of the person I admire the most.
”Nobunaga-dono. Before we continue, let me ask one question: Do you really want to kill your imouto⁵? Do you want to break the family apart over trivial quarrels between siblings?
”I have to!” She was now shouting, with big beads of tears dropping from her eyes. ”How else would I stop the future rebellions and such! I have to show people that I do not fear to take drastic measures to finish my dream!” To what I pretty much shout back:
”If another rebellion happens, we will stop it! I will stop it, no matter what! So please Nobunaga-sama, do not become a demon who slaughters her own friends and family!! There must be a better way to punish her, something that doesn't require any heads to roll!” by reflex I pull the wooden fan from my waist and the moment Nobunaga sets her eyes on it, she pales and starts stuttering and her sobs get louder.
”Of course I do not want to kill my sister!” She yells as loud as she can and pretty much every single person in the room get a start, ”who in their right mind would like killing their own imouto?” She quiets down her voice and asks the question I've already heard before. I answer:
”That's pretty much all I wanted to hear, I know you can make the right decision, Nobunaga-dono.”

Oda Nobuyuki who sits in front of us in seiza⁶ and in white robe⁷ and who has been quiet this whole time, outside of some sobs here and there, now speaks: ”Aneue, I've reflected everything I've done and regret my actions immensively. I wish to help you with your dream, even if it means leaving the clan behind. I will take a new name and give my life to only you. So I am ready to accept any punishment, but please do not kill me and even if you do, save my men and ministers, they were only following my whims and deserve better by working under you.” After hearing that Nobunaga sighs heavily and looks upward, towards the tall ceiling of the throne room:
”I have you take the family name of Tsuda, who are relatives to Oda-clan. I have you swear wealthy to the main Oda house and I leave the physical punishment to Saru and Machiyo. Make good use of that fan.” I really didn't understand what she meant about the fan part, but she wiped her tears and smiled very brightly, while looking at me. It made me feel like I've finally managed to show a part of myself and what I can do to all the people in here. Thank you, Sana-chan, I hope you're already better when I get home so I can tell you about all this!
After this I and Nagahide-sama took Nobuyuki with us and I gave the fan back. It seems that the fan was familiar to Nobunaga-dono from her youth, at least that's what I could guess after seeing her reaction during the hearing and feeling pity towards tiny Nobuyuki-dono, who after about fifteen minutes left the room holding her buttocks and tears in her eyes. I need to remind myself to never anger Nagahide-sama too much, even one slap from that fan looked painful.

I was about to leave the castle, when I heard Nobunaga-dono call me from behind:
”Saru, you have been a huge help this last week. I sincerely thank you, de gozaru.”
”It was nothing my lord, Sana-chan helped a lot with her plans.”
”I truly hope that she wakes up soon, the doctor doesn't know if there is much more he can do to make her feel any better.”
”I trust in Sana-chan, she will wake up very soon. And Goemon-chan is there with her, I have no reason to worry.”
”I admire the way you trust each other, maybe we can get to the same level of trust one day? De gozaru.”
”I already trust you and your judgement my lord, and if I ever see you stray from the path that paved that trust, I will be sure to pull you back, just like today!” I say with my voice full of pride and Nobunaga laughs, such a serene voice, I could listen to that for eternity.
But why has she reverted back to using ”De gozaru” again, that's a mystery.
”Do you have anything you wish Saru?” She asks me, smiling.
”Not really my lord, if something I would like to have a family as both my parents have already died and I do not have siblings.” I kind of blurt out, maybe I am bit jealous to Nobunaga-dono and after seeing how much she cared for her imouto.
”Yeah, I really would like an imouto of my own.” I say longingly, without even really meaning it, to which Nobunaga-dono replies: ”De gozaru, I see.” Gives me last smile, and urges me to leave to Sana-chan. I truly feel confused and embarassed because I went and blurted out such nonsense.

I am happy that Nobunaga-dono praised me, and when I get back home I see even more things that make me even more joyful. Sana-chan has woken up and is now sitting down, chatting with Goemon-chan who is happily nibbling away on mochi, again I can't but wonder about that girls age.
”Oh, welcome back Toukichirou, what an eventful week it has been I assume?” She doesn't smile any differently than usual, she replies like she'd just been here normally waiting for me to return and not writhing in pain in bed. It is kind of a surreal to think her act that way, but I do not pay it not much attention. I just go at her, give her a chop on top of head and then hug her tightly:
”What's with you collapsing all the time and making people worry? Don't you think that we have nothing better to do than look after you?” I say and grin. It is good to have her back. She looks confused and returns my smile, after which I get my own head knocked by a ladle and then I and Goemon-chan get scolded by going through her stuff without asking for a permission. It isn't very convincing when she is smiling the way she is while giving us a lecture I think.
I look outside the window, full moon is rising up, it seems that I was at the castle until quite late.

After Toukichirou returned from the castle, I felt happy that everything went over quite smoothly. I never expected Nobunaga to give Nobuyuki spanking as a punishment. Nagahide-san also sounds quite a sadist when I was listening to Toukichirous explanation on how the punishment went. I think I got shivers of some sort, I do not want to make Nagahide-san angry.
After chatting for a while and having a late meal, we decided to take a bath as the water was already heated up for today. The bathtime went over the usual antics of me trying to protect Goemon from the assaults of Toukichirou who was ”running out of her Goemon-energy.” I gave her a chop on top of a head and she quieted down. When we finally went to bed, I could've sworn that the futons were moved closer together. Well, no matter.
From my futon I glanced out of the window, it looked to be around midnight with full moon pretty much on its peak. The light was flowing in from the window and when Goemon and Toukichirou crawled under their futons, I felt that both of them had grabbed my hands each side. It was actually kind of uncomfortble to lie on my back, without being able to move my arms, but I allowed it. Apparently I've been asleep for around a week and they must've felt like I never get up again. If it is just this one night it is fine.
Now that I think of it, hasn't it been around month since I first came to this era?
After this, I black out.

Present day, Japan, Kyoto

”Hey call an ambulance!”
”There are people here!”
”They do look unconcious, have they drank too much?”
”They do look underage though.”
”What's with their clothes? Cosplay⁸?”
”Where is that ambulance?”

After I woke up, it didn't feel like I was sleeping on a futon, when I was moving around I could hear something like paper moving under me. I also was able to smell chlorine and disinfectants, a hospital? Something was not right.
My eyes pretty much open instantly and I notice that I am at modern hospital room, I can see electric lights, I am sleeping in electrically controlled hospital bed and there is an TV above me. There are all kinds of wires taped on my body and I have a tube going in my arm. After being away from all the electric marvels for month, I'd think it would be easy to return to present day, but now I just have questions popping in my head: ”How I got back here and why am I in the hospital?” Is the first one that pops in my head, but it is quickly replaced by desperation and I pretty much shout: ”Toukichirou? Goemon-chan? Are you here?” it takes about two seconds for a nurse to get in from behind the curtain around my bed and start asking questions, but I didn't care. I wanted answers and make sure that I really returned alone, the thought actually stung fairly hard. The nurse took hold of my shoulders as I was trying to stand up to go and check the place out, in my mind I was calling for my friends who've been with me for the last month to answer me, the sudden emptiness when they were just holding my hands when falling asleep last night hurt so bad, I felt my eyes moisten and throat dry out. The nurse was still going on about something, but then I heard a familiar tone behind all the noise around me:
”Can you please calm down so I don't have to knock you down?”
”Itori-dono, we're both here, nin~.” I seem to have forgotten how to breath as the nurse was finally able to ease me back to the bed. When I got my glasses back on my head and saw awkwardly smiling nurse trying to calm me down and saying that I should settle down and that my friends were both ok.

It took about fifteen minutes for the hospital staff to decide that I had calmed down enough, they opened the curtain to both sides of my bed and here were two girls from Sengoku-period donned in hospital gowns with open backs and having same kinds of electrodes stuck in them as I did. They both seemed confused, but unharmed. They also seemed like they didn't dare to move because of the weird situation they were in, but after seeing me they smiled and Toukichirou said something about looking like we were attacked by an octopus with very thin tentacles. At some point a doctor came to check my condition and told that for some reason police was here to ask me some questions and about an hour later, after we got some food in front of us couple of detectives approached my bed I was lying down. Toukichirou and Goemon had fallen asleep so I didn't dare wake them up. The information overload must have been quite severe, I had to make sure to ease them in this world as it seems that they were pulled here with me.

”Itori Sana-kun, I assume? How do you fare, do you think you could answer to couple of questions for us?” Said a pleasant looking plump detective who first talked to me and introduced himself as Detective Date Koujirou.
”But you can call me ”Washi” like everyone at the prefecture do.” He said and laughed merrily, for some reason this guy reminded me of Santa Claus. He didn't seem like he had any ill will, so I nodded.
”People have been worried you know, apparently your school staff has been in a minor panic for the last month and your parents have been looking you with dogs and cats and eagles⁹ in this case.” He laughed again at his own joke.
I could go with the ”I lost my memory” -thing again, but I doubt that'll work at this point so I took the reckless approach and:
”I got sent to Sengoku-era Japan and have been living there for the last month.” The detectives looked worried and scribbled something down.
”I see.” Said Washi, he didn't look like he believed me, I don't blame him.
”Can you tell me who these two who were with you when you were found are then?” asked the young female detective who accompanied Washi.
”Kinoshita Toukichirou and Ichikawa Goemon, I've been living with them for this last month..” they again seemed really confused and scribbled something down.
I saw no reason to lie, but I also knew that there was no way they'd believe me, so I chose the route which had less likely not too troublesome outcome, at worst they'd have a doctor to take a look at my mental state and that's about it.
”So, where are these two from? Where did you stay?” asked Washi.
”Close to Nagoya castle, we had a small house arranged for us.”
”By whom?”
”Oda Nobunaga.” This time they didn't even try to hide their disbelief, sighed and finally said.
”We would like to do some tests to you with the help of these doctors here, have you done any hard drugs or drank alcohol lately?”
”Nope, not to my knowledge.”
”Do you have anything against testing those? If you're not lying then there is no need to deny the test, right?” Washi said, smiling and having the jolly feeling flow out of him towards me. He was just worried. Also the suspicion of drugs or alcohol wasn't too surprising. I accepted to take the tests.
After this they asked doctors to wake my two friends up so they could question them but the nurses denied detectives saying that those two were incredibly exhausted and haven't had anything to eat yet so they could come back next day if they still wanted to ask questions.
Washi nodded and smiled warmly back at me. I was happy that I wasn't instantly carried to a room with padded walls and relaxed a bit.
”Itori-kun, if you remember anything else, please tell it to doctors. We will come back tomorrow to check on you guys too so we can chat even then if you feel like it.” He waved his hand and the detectives left hospital. I inqured the doctors about my stuff, apparently my bag was found close by so they gave it to me. I checked its contents and nothing seemed to be missing. Also some stuff like the tea set we had in our lodgings and Sengoku-era money were scattered about, some of the cups were broken but the ambulance staff had still collected them with them. Apparently weapons of Goemon and Toukichirou were also close by, but those were with the police. I just hoped that we wouldn't get into a trouble because of those. All in all, stuff from the room we were in was pulled in with us. I still wasn't able to make any sense in the logic behind me coming back here, nor how I got to Sengoku-era in the first place. Well, we'd discuss about it with Toukichirou and Goemon when we got out of here.

I took a nap and later people from my school, like classmates and even some teachers visited me. They seemed really glad that I was safe and sound. Toukichirou and Goemon woke up at some point and rather than shocked about the new situation were incredibly curious about everything, they asked questions from everyone from nurses to my visitors and espicially Toukichirou was asking to get to eat more of hospital food, nurses were happy that both of them were so energetic. Later that evening my parents arrived and pretty much the moment they saw me, mom throw herself at me, weeping and repeating how happy she was about my safety. My father also seemed happy and when I introduced Toukichirou and Goemon he muttered under his breath about his dissatisfaction of the parents who name the young girls as Sengoku warlords, such ungirly names. But he seemed to accept both of them and my parents showered them in thanks for looking after me while I had disappeared. They really didn't know how to answer, but looked happy about being praised.

My parents didn't really ask any questions about where I had been or what had happened to me, they just wanted to take me back home as quickly as possible. I told them about Toukichirou and Goemon not being able to return to home and that I would like for them to be able to live with us until something else was figured out.
”Care to explain the situation then?” Asked my father, and surprisingly it was Goemon who opened her mouth first:
”We come from Nagoya, but that's all we remember, nin~.”
That was the same cover-up story about losing their memory that I used when I arrived, well if anyone was able to keep a poker face with a lie like that, it would be Goemon and Toukichirou, just brushing everything away with a smile it was hard to argue against them.
”Yeah oyaji¹⁰, maybe there are already missing person search going on in Nagoya, so could they stay with us until that is resolved. I would feel bad for them to get carried into an orphanage or something. Plus they are really close to me, I wouldn't want to separate from them. You can ask the nurses how I acted when I first woke up in here.”
”Yeah, she was about to roll over the doctor trying to clam her down.” Said Toukichirou giggling. Even my mother looked worried.
”Dear, if they really do not remember about their families, maybe we should let them stay over. They also seem to treasure Sana and they looked after her when she was missing. I feel like it is the least we could do to pay them back.” My heart made a backflip, thank you very much mom! Dad chuckled:
”Well, when it four pretty ladies against just one old me I guess there is nothing much I can say. I talk to doctors about this and I am sure everything will turn out just fine.” Well, that was that dealt with, now to figure out when we get out of here and how to deal with the information overload that is waiting for these two Sengoku-era girls when they step out of their beds. Luckily they asked so many questions about totally normal things that their story about losing their memories really seemed to go through everyone. I guess it is easier for me to look back than for them to look forward when it comes to things like these.

We chatted with my parents for couple of hours before they left, doctors wanted to keep us here until tomorrow because the detectives were going to visit and they wanted to do the drug tests and such, so my parents left and we were finally alone.
Goemon was first to speak.
”Itori-sama, where is this? I've gotten some answers from people around me, but I still find it hard to believe, nin~.”
”Well, apparently this happened before I was able to tell you the truth. Welcome to 450 years into future and to Kyoto.” Goemon looked shocked and Toukichirou laughed.
”Well, if you traveled back in time, I guess it is our turn to travel into future. Still, how did this happen?”
”Beats me, I am just as clueless as when I arrived to your time.”
”Itori-dono is from the future? No wonder she knew so much! This is exciting, nin~nin~!”
”You two seem way less shocked than I expected you to, aren't you worried that you won't get back?” I laughed at their reactions, but still asked the question I felt like needed to be asked.
”You know, situations like these just don't happen. And if we got here, there must be a way to get back. And Sana-chan is here with us, if we'd pop in here alone I guess the story would be different, but we have someone we know and who we trust with us here, there is no need to worry.” Toukichirou grinned from a bed next to me, I smiled back. What a positively thinking miracle this girl is, people should take couple of pages from her book.
”Even if this is hard to believe, I must, because all this is happening in front of my eyes, nin~. And I already vowed to follow Itori-dono and Kinoshita-dono to the ends of the earth, so going to future isn't a big deal, nin~nin~!” added Goemon and smiled too. I wanted to hug both of them, I felt blessed.
”But these little tentacle-like things are inconvenient. I feel like I haven't moved my body at all.” Said Toukichirou while examining her body. She had already asked about them earlier from the nurses and they said that it is ok to move as long as she doesn't disconnect them, but apparently she felt still unsure about this whole ”disconnecting” thing and decided to stay as still as possible. I showed her that you can pretty much move freely, even though the cords will get in your way every now and then. She seemed relieved.
”I want to see future Japan, nin~!” Said Goemon and looked like she was about to leap off the bed, I told her to stay put as we'd get into trouble if we just ran off from the hospital, we'd get out next day and I'd teach them things. Goemon started pouting and said that she needed to move her body or she'd wither, I laughed.

It already was late and even though the two young samurai had been sleeping for most of the day, they spent so much energy in exploring their bedside and talking to people that they quickly nodded off. I also, even after taking a nap earlier felt tired. But I was trying to piece together things about this thing that happened to me, apparently time still was going on in present day while I was at Sengoku-era, meaning that I was a missing person for a month, so that means that time will probably keep going back there also. That could be a problem because thanks to me, history in that world had already been messed up for quite a bit, well not much I can do to it now.
Second, I was there for about a month and got transferred at the night of full moon, but when I got there I remember it being midday in present day, so I don't think moon phases have anything to do with this, so other than the time period of ”month” tied together me being here and there. I need to keep that in the back of my head. Third, stuff in the room we were got pretty much all transferred here. But when I got sent to Sengoku-era, only my bag was with me. To my knowledge no other people got there with me.
The more I thought about this the more confused I got and it made my head hurt. I'll have to take some paper and pencils and try to fit all the pieces together when I get home.
After these thoughts I closed my eyes and fell properly asleep for the first time after returning to present day.

Sengoku-era, Japan, Nagoya Castle

”Lord Nobunaga, there is a messenger from Atsuta-shrine head priestess, apparently it is something very important.” One of the guards told me this when I was preparing to sleep after the day. It is unusual for a messenger to arrive this late and even more so for it to come from the head priestess of Atsuta-shrine. I return to the throne room and receive the courier.

”To the daughter of Oda
Please leave for Atsuta-shrine as soon as possible, I have something important to talk about. It concerns your dream of unification and your new retainers.
You will be denied much if you won't reply. It is about your future as well as the future of your retainers.”

I do not believe in Gods or Buddhas, but I still respect the world of one in such high position, I inform Machiyo and Riku about the contents of the letter and we head out with night covering our trip. Machiyo told that she had a bad feeling about this, seeing how neither Saru nor Inuchiyo weren't present today in the meetings. Maybe Inuchiyo had gotten so ill that she won't wake up again? That truly worried me. I urged the horse to run faster.

Present day, Japan, Kyoto

Even when hospital beds tend to be uncomfortble, after sleeping month on just a futon I felt like I had been floating on top of clouds after I woke up. Toukichirou and Goemon were already up and they had the monitoring equipment taken off them. Goemon had tears in the corners of her eyes when she greeted me after I sit up:
”That was horrible, nin~! It really hurt when they took those off!” She looked even more like an elementary schooler after her first injection, but at least they were able to walk around now, not that either of them had left the bed yet. I pressed the nurse call button that was located at the back of my bed and a nurse came pretty much immediately and after checking something from her notes, she also took the cords off me. Yeah, ripping the glued electrodes of hurt and they left red marks all over my body. Only Toukichirou seemed fine.
”That felt like peeling leeches¹¹ of your skin after they started sucking your blood, did those things have similar purpose?” I sighed and ignored her. Then I suggested we'd take a stroll and get something to eat, both of them agreed heartily. They clearly wanted to see more.
We were given slippers and I started guiding my companions towards the hospital cafeteria.
I had been here couple of times before, mostly for general checkups. This hospital wasn't too far from my place so it would've not been hard to do some exploring outside the place, but because we were to expect the detectives to return and I still had tests to do, it probably would've been a bad idea to just disappear from the hospital.
Goemon and Toukichirou were like sponges, they absorbed and saved every sight, sound and smell in their brains and especially Toukichirou stopped frequently to chat with nurses and patients who welcomed the energetic young girls chats to cheer their morning up.
It was about fifteen minutes of exploring later until we got to the cafeteria, and this time both of them gasped from surprise. The scents were so much different than what Sengoku-era had and they probably had no idea how everything worked. It was little bit troublesome to try and explain how the food tickets¹² that the nurses gave us worked and then they spent way longer than any normal person just deciding what they wanted to eat. While they were deciding I noticed couple of familiar faces: The detectives were at the cafeteria with cups of coffee in front of them, I waved towards the two and Washi answered with a hearty smile and beckoning us to join them.

When we finally had some bread and juice, we joined the detectives Toukichirou and Goemon introduced themselves and were way too polite, which made me feel awkward, but Washi and the other detective just laughed it off as kids being energetic. They then asked Toukichirou and Goemon the same questions and when Washi heard their names from themselves he furrowed his brow and had pretty much the same pitying reaction as my oyaji had. That made me smile.
In the end even they accepted to take the drug tests, even though they didn't really have any idea why and what those were, but after Washis explanation and their meek expression after hearing about urine samples they decided to drop the subject and accept their fates. Afterwards I told Washi about taking the two in to my place until their situation clears up and apparently Washis superiors had already sent a word to Nagoya branch office to inquire about two missing kids in the area. Of course there weren't any with their names, but that's just what I wanted.
”Well, I am sure their names pop up somewhere. They're quite unique after all!” Washi laughed his hearty laugh and patted the shoulder of Toukichirou who was sitting next to him.

Later afternoon were the drug tests, we got our blood samples taken, both which horrified Goemon and Toukichirou and they really didn't know how to react about their blood being taken. I took a chance and used leeches as an excuse.
Then came the urine samples that actually went fairly well, outside of Toukichirou and Goemon looking really embarassed afterwards, I told them that in modern day those are just normal procedures and only trained doctors saw those, so there was no need for such a feeling.

After the tests were over, my parents came to pick us up, Goemon was again like an elementary schooler heading to class trip and Toukichirou was surprisingly meek when she was with my parents. Was she not good with adults or was there something else behind that? Now that I think about it I do not know much about her family.
Apparently my parents didn't come by car, not surprising as the hospital is close to my place. This was also a good chance to explain the common things like nowadays, like transit and architecture.
First time we arrived outside, Goemon who was chattering away this whole time immediately shut up and Toukichirou looked astonished. Again, not too surprising. Everywhere you looked were tall business skyscrapers and concrete buildings. Even the hospital was quite large. There were cars parked everywhere and even planes which left from Kyoto international airport were seen flying overhead. Goemon grabbed into my hand and Toukichirou for some reason got closer to my mother, who gently pet her head. I had into changed my school uniform I had with me, Goemon still had my shirt on and Toukichirou was wearing her yukata.
”You know, I think you two could use some clothes.” Said my mother, she truly is a great person. Always thinking of others, no matter what the situation.

With all said and done, we started walking towards a shopping mall close by and while walking I explained to both of them about stuff we had seen. I used the classic ”horseless carriage” explanation about cars and promised to show that they weren't dangerous at some point, I thaught them about how to move in a city so they do not get overrun and other basic stuff like that. I didn't want to have them take in too much information in a short period, so after making sure they won't die by randomly running in the middle of a highway I turned the conversation to a small talk with my parents and them. Goemon, still holding on my hand didn't look like she was only two years younger than I and Toukichirou walking quietly next to my mother was a scene I never expected to witness. My father chuckled:
”You know, if you have Sana teach you about all the normal things again your memory may never return, that girl is such an airhead some times that she'd forget her head home if it wasn't stuck on top of her neck.” I pouted at that, ”baka¹³ oyaji~.” I replied and everyone laughed, my father was always so good at making the mood less tense in situations like these. Even Toukichirou started asking questions from my mother and Goemon, acting like an elementary schooler again rand ahead of us for couple of steps.

We arrived at the shopping mall, and needless to say Toukichirou and Goemon were again speechless, it didn't take too long to get used to their cluelessness and even my parents started to teach them things so that I didn't have to bear the brunt of the load. Goemon again appeared next to me and we followed my parents to a clothing store at the first floor. That took quite a while because of the flood of the questions two Sengoku-era girls kept asking and wanting to check everything out, but once inside they were like kids in a candy store, going from clothing rack to another, I stayed with my father near the entrance and my mom went to help them choose outfits for themselves.
”Quite an energetic bunch are they?” he chuckled, ”they almost feel like you suddenly got sisters, I think your mom got the same vibes from them.” I smiled, only my father would use a word like vibes nowadays, he is so embarrassing.
”I think of them as family, we were together for the last month you know.”
”I think that is a long story, so we probably shouldn't talk about it right now, lets just get you three settled back to normal life first, then we can take all the time we need to discuss what happened to you.” He seemed worried, but I really appreciated the thought. I leaned on my fathers shoulder and sincerely thanked him.
”Whoa, where did that come from?” My dad chuckled again and pet my head, I missed my father so much. I couldn't help but cry silently. I am sure my father noticed that as he kept caressing my head and talking calmly about all the things we would do after we got home and returned to normal life. The thought made me happy, I wanted to include Toukichirou and Goemon to that life too, but I knew that they did not belong here and I had to figure out some way to return them to their time, but for now, let's enjoy it all we can! That's what I decided.

It took a while, but finally my two friends had chosen the outfits of their liking. I expected Toukichirou to go wild with colors, but she had a grey tank top and white skirt and a plain denim jacket, but surprisingly it suited this new meek Toukichirou quite well, she had became this classic ”class representative” -character you see in manga, it was actually quite funny. Goemon on the other hand had pretty much the same t-shirt on as she had before, but now it was the correct size and she had some shorts to go with it. I couldn't help to think that mom deliberately made her look even more like an elementary schooler. But what surprised me the most was how happy both of them looked, they were pretty much radiating in their new outfits and my mom beamed at them.
”Such sweet girls, I kept insisting that they'd wear something flashier as they're so pretty, but they said they liked what they have on now so what was I to say to that.” said Mom and the two in question blushed.
”These feel easy to move in.” Said Toukichirou and I smiled, yeah, you can't rid a tiger from its stripes. Still going for practicality.
”I liked the clothes Itori-dono was wearing, I wanted something similar, nin~.” Said Goemon, it warmed my heart to be looked up as some kind of role model. I also blushed a bit because of what Goemon said and my father laughed: ”So you are ”Itori-dono” now, so would your highness want some ice cream or something to celebrate your release from the clutches of the doctors?” I laughed and hit my father on arm.

We stopped at an ice cream parlor next door to our apartment, my two friends had never had ice cream so they were extatic about the sweetness and gobbled their portions down without a second thought, which caused me some wicked joy as they got a minor headache from eating something so cold so fast and I was able to tease them because of that.
Afterwards we arrived to front of the apartment complex I lived in. It was a higher-middle class building with ten floors and we lived on the eight one. My family wasn't too poor so we were able to live fairly comfortably. My father was the one who hooked me on tinkering, he did some robotics stuff that I wasn't too sure about, but every time he got a job it paid fairly well. He also taught me how to make lights flash with circuit boards and such and thus it became my hobby very early on and I plan to follow my father when I finish schooling, my mother teaches history in university and is pretty much just as big Sengoku-era geek as I am, we always compete with our little collections of figures and little trinkets, I find it really fun and enjoyable.
But yeah, when we arrived and went inside the first thing Toukichirou asked was something about buildings standing up so tall and it took father a good five minutes of explaining before she was satisfied. Second period of explanation came when we had to get on the elevator and Goemon didn't feel safe in a small metal box, but she calmed down after being explained everything by me and my mother.

”Well, until your situation clears up, I guess we can say: Welcome home.” said my father, chuckling while holding the door to our apartment open. It was spacious middle-class apartment with two bedrooms, a guest room, livingroom, kitchen and a bathroom with a tub. It also had a balcony overlooking the city. Oyaji immediately went to set the guest room to be suitable for our two new residents and mom started bustling in the kitchen for dinner. Goemon and Toukichirou started exploring the house and I sat on the livingroom sofa and sighed. I missed home and I am glad to be back, but I also have the feeling that I want to go back to Sengoku-era as there is so much that I feel like needs to be done. I wasn't even say goodbyes to Nagahide-san or Nobunaga-dono and I wanted to try to make a living in that era and so many other things. But isn't it still better to be back, I wonder?
I still am really glad the two that came with me were able to adapt into their situation fairly well. Of course there will be questions and problems coming on to line, but we will deal with them later. I also think I should at least try to explain the situation to my parents at some point, they may not believe me, but if Toukichirou and Goemon are with me it may have some effect.

Later we ate some beef stew my mother had made. Goemon and Toukichirou were extatic about the flavours that were so expensive at their times that they just kept asking for more. The scene made me happy and I couldn't help but smile. My dad noticed that and said:
”It's been a while since you've had a smile this sincere on your face.” He then smiled and announced while raising his glass, ”welcome home you three! Now, eat as much as you can, moms beef stew is the best!”
And so, the evening went on, I taught both of them about television and we chatted for a while while watching some movies before mom urged us to go to bed. I went to guest room with the two of them and laughed at their reaction of an actual bed. Compared to hospitals own, which already was an improvement of just futon, this must've felt way more luxurious than what they never imagined being able to use. And while sitting at the edge of the bed and chatting with my two friends, it was truly hard to believe that one of them was a future unifier of Japan and another one was a ninja running away from her clan and possibly assassinating the former. I stood up, smiling and said the good nights and went to my own room. It was pretty much just as I remembered it being, nothing had been touched except that my mom apparently has been keeping it clean. Well, I wasn't able to give that much thought because as soon as my head hit my pillow, I drifted to a sweet slumber, I truly had missed this feeling.

Sengoku-era, Japan, Atsuta-shrine

”Nobunaga-sama, wait a moment!” Riku called from behind me, I had arrived at the shrine and they were still a bit behind me, I didn't feel like waiting, that letter was really ominous and I wanted answers, but it would be bad if I went in alone in case of a trap. So I climbed down from the horse and waited for Riku and Machiyo to do the same, after which we walked through the shrine gates. Pretty much right after that a miko approached us, urging us to follow. She was very quick on her feet, we were almost running after her and when we arrived at the large ceremony room at the back of the shrine, a voice came from somewhere:
”This may take a while, I suggest you sit down and have some tea, daughter of Oda and her retainers.”
And thus begun the night that I expected to leave with more questions than answers. Even Machiyo, who usually was so level headed looked troubled. I truly have no idea what this is about and I hope my worries are for naught.

Writers notes:

1. I am quite sure you've heard about Munch before. He is a Norwegian painter born in 1863 and his most well known painting is ”The Scream” (1893)
2. Toukichirou coming from a farmer family was never taught the proper etiquette required to do any actual presentation of herself or her people. That was actually quite common back in the day.
   
3. The kanji (Japanese writing method where one symbol stands for a whole word. Unlike hiragana and katakana you use like alphabet, kanji is used with them to make sentences cleaner and shorter.) Sana uses in her notes include some terms that make sense to us in the modern terminology, but are hard to understand back in Sengoku-era. It may be hard to understand via English text, but that's the gist.
   
4. Aneue = very polite way to refer big sister
   
5. Little sister
   
6. Style of sitting that is seen very polite. You sit on your shins, in my experience it gets very painful if you do it for long periods at once and your legs tend to fall asleep. A big problem when doing stuff like playing go or shogi (board games that require you to do so) or drinking tea in official servings. Criminals also were made to sit in seiza to show respect to the one who is judging them. As a side note, sitting cross legged or changing your position while sitting on seiza is seen as extremely impolite.
   
7. Back in the day if you were made to perform seppuku, you were to wear white clothes. It has something to do with the amount and color of the blood it gets stained with, but I actually wasn't able to find much about the reason itself. That's just how those things worked back in the day.
   
8. Costume play, you dress up as an anime, game or movie character. Often seen in conventions and other such events. People tend to take this very seriously. I respect cosplayers greatly. The amount of dedication they put to their hobby is kind of amazing!
   
9. He made a pun of his nickname. Washi (鷲) stands for eagle.
   
10. Oyaji stands for ”old man”, but is used for overly familiar way of talking to your father or someone in the similar status.
    
11. Refers to way of treating illnesses by having leeches suck the blood from the infected area. I am not sure if there actually are any records of this working, but it is still being done in some beauty salons and such.
    
12. In some schools you buy a bundle of lunch tickets at the start of the year and use those in exchange for lunch.
    
13. Baka stands for ”an idiot”, but in this context it is used as affectionate and teasing way, closer to ”You jerk” or something like that. Man, Sana and her father have such a close relationship, I am jealous!
    

Afterword:

Man, this was probably my favourite chapter to write. I was waiting so much to actually be able to bring our heroine back to the future (Haha! Here we could make a pun about certain movies, but let's skip that!). I played with multiple different scenarios and thought a lot who to bring with her and ended up with Toukichirou and Goemon, I was planning to keep them in Sengoku-era for a while longer and stick them with another character that I have yet to introduce, but she'll have to wait. I've been writing chapter 5 all this time and I have to say, it is REALLY hard to write about the current time period and make it interesting. Even with guests from the past it is hard to just go ”Yeah, I need to explain all the normal things to them.” all the time and I kinda fell to that. I will try and mix little illogicalities to the scenes where we are not in Sengoku-era, so bear with me! I try my hardest to figure things out as I go and try to bring my vision to daylight!
Well, that's about that. I had a blast writing this one and I hope you enjoy it too!



Now a bit about how I will be working with these chapters. When fixing C1 I noticed that it is actually incredibly hard for me to work with multiple files at once. I am quite proud of my skills of multitasking, but for some reason reading multiple things that are almost identical to each other just messes with my head, so it has been very slow. Because of that I will keep releasing these ”raw” and non-proofread versions to blog as I write them and keep fixing the old chapters as I finish with the proofread versions and fix all the errors my proofreaders point out. I think that'll help me as a writer and you guys can get the chapters in more rapid pace as you don't have to wait for me to fumble through my own text.
Maybe at some point I actually get used to working like that and I can start releasing fixed chapters the moment they arrive in my email, but for now: Let's do it this way!



Oh yeah, we do have a twitter account now! It is kind of barebones at the moment because I haven't dared to ask my illustrators for twitter avatars and such because of the workload I want to deal with first, but I will be announcing new chapters and everything else related to the novel in there! So go and check @SengokuAndBack at twitter if you want to keep in touch! Don't worry, the egg will hatch sooner rather than later.



Now, 'till the next time!



Kim

Small update - Pieni päivitys: Help wanted!

Engl:
Hello everyone, Kim here!
So, now after I've released three chapters of this and after I've actually gotten some feedback on my writing (and for having my "help wanted" tweet up for couple of days) I decided to actually go through why and what kinds of help I would like with this project!

First and foremost: A dedicated proofreader, I've heard the feedback about typos and grammatical errors. Of course those come from me and even though I read through my chapters and try to fix all the most glaring mistakes, I know that one should not proofread their own text. So I would really love if you had some time in your hands and would like to proofread the future (and the chapters already released) for me, I would be extremely thankful.
This task pretty much only involves of making a list of the spelling and grammatical errors I've missed and delivering that to me. Of course that means that you'll see the chapters before everyone else as you will be given the draft before the mistakes are corrected. You are to go through the text and inform me where the corrections should be made.

Second: A translator, I actually really tried to write this in Finnish at first but I just couldn't get it sound good. No matter what I tried the text just didn't work. So if you are a Finn and want to translate my chapters then I would be happy to give the chapters to you for this job. Of course you'd see the new chapters before others, like proofreaders (and probably right after the proofreading for the chapter is done!), so this task has its merits too! Translating isn't the most important thing at the moment so there is no hurry with that, just tell me if you are interested and we'll see what to do!
I hope you can get my text look better in Finnish than I was able!

And lastly: An illustrator, I think just plain text looks little bit boring. Maybe I'm just used to light novels with the illustrations here and there, but this is something I truly would like at some point. So if you feel like you enjoy my story and characters and would like to draw some illustrations for the future (and why not to already released) chapters, please feel free to contact me.

Now a small word about compensation of your troubles: I am doing this for a hobby and I barely have money to feed myself, but I try my darnest to give at least something, be it a game from steam or something like that when I get money, but unfortunately I am not able to pay a salary or something like that. Knowing this, help would be insanely appreciated!

If you are interested, please contact me at tosengokuandback(a)gmail.com. That will also be where you can send your feedback if you feel like you don't want to write them on the comments in this blog.

Fin:
Moi kaikki, Kim täälä!
Nyt kun oon lopultakin saanut kolme lukua tätä tarinaani julkaistua ja saanut jopa palautetta parilta ihmiseltä (ja pitänyt twitterissä tuota "apua tarvitaan" -tööttiä muutaman päivän ylhäällä), päätin että ehkä voisi olla hyvä oikeasti vähän kuvailla että mitä varten ja mihin tarkoitukseen apua tarvitsen.

Ihan ensimmäisenä: Oikolukija, ensimmäisenä palautteesta mitä olen saanut on kohdalle noussut tieto minun typojeni ja kielioppivirheideni määrästä ja vaikka itse luenkin chapterini läpi ja yritän saada näkyvimmät virheet pois, mutta kun puhutaan oman tekstin oikolukemisesta niin siitä ei tule ikinä yhtään mitään. Ihminen tuppaa tulemaan sokeaksi omille virheilleen, sen olen huomannut. Joten mikäli sinulla on aikaa käsissäsi ja haluat auttaa tän tarinani kanssa ja koet että englanninkielentaitosi on riittävä ratkomaan minun epämääräiset kryptaukseni tekstin keskellä, ota yhteyttä! Luonnollisesti saat tulevat chapterit käsiisi ennen muita, joten mikäli tarinastani pidät niin tämä ei ole huono diili!

Seuraavana: Kääntäjä, yritin kirjoittaa tätä aluksi suomeksi, mutta en vain saanut tekstiä kuulostamaan hyvältä. Minulla kuitenkin lähipiirissä on ihmisiä, joilla ei englanti taivu, mutta jotka haluaisivat novelliani lukea, joten mikäli englanti ja suomi sujuu sinulta ja luulet onnistuvasi saamaan tarinastani luettavan kuuloisen suomennettuna niin ota yhteyttä! Tällä ei ole hirvittävästi kiirettä, mutta tahtoisin kuitenkin jossain vaiheessa käännättää koko läjän! Taas kerran, saat chapterin eteesi ennen muita, luultavasti heti kun olen saanut kappaleen oikoluetettua ja korjattua virheet.

Ja viimeisenä: Kuvittaja, olen ehkä tottunut nätteihin kuvituksiin kevytnovelleissa, joita olen lukenut viime aikoina ihan liikaa, mutta minusta paljas teksti on hyvin tylsän näköistä ja arvostaisin kovasti kuvitusta novelliini, tärkeistä tapahtumista ja hahmoista. Again, kuvittajana saat luvut eteesi ennen muita.

Kompensaatiosta vielä pari sanaa: Koska kirjoitan tätä tarinaa ihan vain harrastusmuodossa ja elän rahallisesti varsin kädestä suuhun, en pysty oikeaa rahallista palkkaa maksamaan vaivasta, mutta yritän parhaani edes jotenkin kompensoida teitä tulevaisuudessa, oli se sitten peli steamista tai jotain muuta vastaavaa, asiasta pystytään keskustelemaan kun sen aika tulee sitten!

Mikäli kiinnostuit, ota yhteyttä: tosengokuandback(a)gmail.com, tähän osoitteeseen voit myös laittaa palautteen ynnämuun mikäli et sitä halua blogin omiin kommentteihin laittaa.

So kiitos and thank you for your support and I hope to see you with the next chapter, soon!

EDIT: 8/17: Proofreaders and a translator slots have been filled. If I need more help with those positions I will keep this post updated.

EDIT: 8/20: And illustration slots filled up too, I am so happy! I don't know when I actually get some illustrations, but they'll appear at some point and I will be attaching them to the relevant chapters when that happens. HUGE thank you to everyone helping me with this. I will be giving you exposure in a thank you -section when I confirm what you want to be called and what you want to be linked to. :)
And everyone else who are reading these, thank you very much! I keep trying hard and getting better at this type of writing. Hopefully there are people already waiting for chapter 4 to be released!

Again, if slots open I will edit this post.

Chapter #3 - The ninja and The Viper

Present day, Kyoto, Japan

”Has there been any word from Itori-sans parents? I heard that the police investigation got started, but they've not made much progress with that. I am starting to get worried.” This was heard in a faculty room of a certain all-girls high school that had their student disappear mysteriously couple of weeks ago. And even though the student was silent and didn't stand out much, in a school that small if a student goes missing from a class for a long period of time, it causes a stir.

Kyoto is a large city with multiple schools dotted around it, some of them are large and famous and others are smaller, with just as small budgets like this one. They're all normal schools and different kinds of people attend them. This certain school was at the lower end of popularity polls, especially when looking at public schools¹, it never flaunted with any major achievements, but its headmistress and faculty still tried to offer their students as good of a education as the budgetting allowed. Of course there always are the usual troublemakers, tardies and hikikomoris², but they all were kept tabs on and at least their parents knew about their whereabouts so a crisis like this is actually something they've never heard of, which means there is a small scale panic going on between the faculty, students and their parents so the school staff would like to get some news on the missing girl.

She wasn't a straight-A's student, but she wasn't slacking in her education either. She was quiet and didn't really deal with her classmates, she had a healthy interest in physics, math and history and took care of her homework properly, so it seems illogical for her to run away on her own accord, so everyone is suspecting a kidnapper or a killer being on the loose. Such pressure to a small facility isn't easy to deal with.

”Itori-san, where are you?”

Sengoku period, Japan, near Nagoya castle town

”This is where you will be staying for the period of your visit to Nagoya and negatiotions with Nobunaga-dono.” That's how we were instructed pretty much the moment we got out of the carriage and heard the details from Nagahide-san. The house looked like well maintained middle-class house, it was made from wood, but had stone supports so it seemed to be more high-class than what the buildings closer to the edge of the town were. There is one room, with cooking spit for a cooking pot in the middle of it and stairs to something like an attic, where futons and some pillows were stacked, apparently this was meant to be some kind of sleeping space. Seeing inside made me truly realize that I was sent to past, no electriciy, barely anything on walls, no real beds and it was kind of breezy, even though temperature outside was fairly warm. The inn we stayed at at least had something resembling hospital beds hastily put together. But still, we got a house for pretty much free to our use without much trouble, so I don't think I can complain too much.

My name is Itori Sana, I am 16 year old freshman in all-girls school and I come about 450 years from the future. That last fact was actually fairly easy to accept, I've read enough manga and novels with the same setting so it really wasn't too hard to deal with the situation after the panic at the beginning. Of course I've been shot, almost got tramped by horse and almost got beheaded by a female version of future unifier of Japan Kinoshita Toukichirou who got attached to me way faster than I thought was possible. We've only been together for about two weeks and she already acts like she's my sister or my best friend I've known since childhood. She showed genuine concern when I blacked out out of stress and panic earlier and has been helping me with navigating around this Sengoku-period world I have no idea where anything is. She also is the only one who knows that I'm from future and I rather keep it that way as long as possible. The fewer people know about my situation the better. Even though I think Nagahide-san may have a hunch that not everything about me is like they should be. For example, using the knowledge from video games, anime and manga, as well as some physics and psychology theories from the future I've been able to show combat tactics that no one in my status should be able to show and in the end that led us to being able to meet with Oda Nobunaga and get where we are now.

”It is hard to find a place this close to the castle and market, even if it is temporary I think we should sit back and relax for a while” Said Toukichirou to me when we finished checking the place out and I agreed, after all we really don't have anywhere else to go so this is pretty much as good as it gets plus when we get the audience with Nobunaga, it doesn't take too long for us to deal with traveling to castle and back, same with daily necessities, market is close by and Nagahide-san gave us some money to buy food and clothes and such, I think we'll be fine for now.

”So, what now?” I say as I sit on a chair near small table in the corner and stretch my limbs, it feels like I haven't had time to just sit back and relax in a while. I take my laptop out of my bag with a portable charger that gets power from sunlight and set it on a windowstill. I haven't used the laptop since I got here so it still is quite full, but the charger needs a full day of direct sunlight to get charged up and be usable, so I should be careful with that. Unfortunately I can only use that to power my laptop and Vita so it isn't much of an electricity source in a long run.

After booting the laptop I decide to do some studying of the time period, of course Internet won't work, but at least I can play Nobunaga's Ambition or go through my notes for school to refresh my memory. Toukichirou watches me and my fiddling with the weird looking box and looks confused, coming closer behind my back her eyes widen and she looks like she'd has so many questions that her head will explode if she doesn't get them out, but I leave her at that and launch the game, the music comes out of the speakers and first time after getting here I actually feel home, this is my own way of relaxing and closing everything else out. Outside of tinkering with small electronics of course, but there is not much chance for that.

”Well then, since Nobunaga has already born, I think there is no reason to start from the beginning of the game. But from what I've gathered this is before the battle of Okehazama, so I think around the second or third starting point should be fine.” I click through the menus and start the scenario. After playing for a while I realize something and turn back to Toukichirou who is just staring at the screen and say to her apologetically: ”Maybe you shouldn't watch. You know that I come from the future and this is something called computer game that follows the history as I know it. Of course this Sengoku-period is different from what I know and I can't say that everything will go like I know they do, but just in case I do not want you to see anything that either of us will regret. I show you how to play a different game later on, but for now, want to try my Vita out or read some of my manga? I'll show you how.” Dodging the possible disaster in the future, Toukichirou aknowledges my reasoning and then gives her usual super wide and bright grin: ”I am just amazed because I never would've imagined seeing anything this pretty! Just look at all the lights and pictures! All those weird symbols, this looks like magic from the west.” She truly sounds extatic and I dig my Vita out of my bag, boot it and start Final Fantasy V³ for it, quickly walk her through how to operate the system and tell her the goal of the game, comparing it to a book or a story where player controls characters and progresses by following clues in the story. Being an RPG I think she can grasp it fairly quickly, especially since it is an older game so it isn't as complex as the some newer ones I have on me.

After she starts happily clicking away and staring at the screen of the handheld looking way immersed than I think I've ever seen anyone look before, I return to my own game and start going through Sengoku-era history. This continues for couple of hours until I get enough and start yearning for some stretching, so I decide to head out for a walk and possibly buy some snacks and supper. Closing my computer and puttin it back to my bag I tell about my plans to Toukichirou who is still playing the game apparently not wanting to come with me. I check for her progress and teach her how to save the game as it seems like the battery will run dry any moment and the charger hasn't still been on the sunlight for long enough. After that she promised to watch the house and continues clicking away. I exit the house, smiling. That girl knows how to get excited about stuff that are totally normal for me.

It already is evening and most of the people are coming from fields to buy rice and other necessities, I walk between the stalls, tasting things here and there. It was a totally different feeling when I took strolls around the settlement we were living earlier. This is an actual town with tons of people in it, life everywhere, same with smells of food and noises of people coming and going. I am still wearing clothes I got before we left the place we were staying in before, but I think my glasses looked little out of place, well not that it matters to me. After walking around for about 30 minutes and deciding to sit down under a tree close to the stalls and eating an onigiri² I bought I feel a like someone is staring at me, I don't think there are any anti-Nobunaga soldiers hanging around too openly in Nagoya, and I don't think they'd be stupid enough to attack in the middle of town with all these people around. Still, I feel clear danger, almost like bloodlust or killing intent that makes the strands of hair at the back of my neck stand up. I keep quietly nibbling at my rice ball and when I finish and prepare to leave back to the place where we are staying a gentle wind blows towards me, carrying with it some sakura³ petals and appetizing scent of food stalls with it, reminding me that I still need to buy rice and stuff for us to eat later. I've stayed out fairly long and started to wonder if the battery already died on my Vita that Toukichirou was playing, or if she just had gotten bored to it. This thought made me smile, but that changed quickly. The wind turned more fierce and the petals started swirling in front of me, rising upwards and scattering everywhere. It caused me to fall backwards on my butt and wince from the sudden stinging pain directed to my tailbone from uneven ground around here.

”You noticed my precence earlier, why did you not react? Nin~nin⁴” A voice comes from out of nowhere and I furrow my brow. Why am I hearing a voice like an elementary schooler that's playing ninja? The voice was clear and childish, but it still carried some strenght in it, the feeling of dread still hung in the air. After that the whirlwind subsided and petals fell to ground, in their place there was standing a small girl in black outfit. She had black hair that was tied up in buns and had multiple long, thin metal needles through them so to keep their shape. She was also sporting an eyepatch to create this confusing mess between a pirate, geisha⁴ and a ninja, so instead of being impressed or surprised I mostly felt like I should be choosing between pity and being impressed of her nerves, result I end with is just tilting my head to side, narrowing my eyes and giving a questioning ”What?” before getting back up to my feet. Did I really feel such pressuring aura of bloodlust from this little thing are my current thoughts summed up. She clearly sees my confusion in my expression and looks hurt, puffing her cheeks before changing her mood from I am trying to be intimidating here, show some respect to just plain pouting before opening her mouth again: ”That took a while, I've been following you since you left that burning village with that samurai, nin~nin. Goemon has been watching you from distance and started to get annoed when neither of you didn't notice Goemon, nin~. That's unacceptable!” Still pouting, she sat on ground cross legged and turned her back at me, I really didn't know how to react to this new revelation and the absurd contrast with her actions, way of speech and attire and grandiose entrance all I get from this exchange is her name and if I am correct, she is supposed to be Ichikawa Goemon, Sengoku-era outlaw that tried to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi (aka Kinoshita Toukichirou who's currently traveling and living with me) while he was on his way to unifying Japan after Oda Nobunaga's death, when Hideyoshi caught wind on his antics he boiled Goemon alive, there are also rumors that he tried to poison Oda Nobunaga, but that doesn't really have any solid ground. If that's true, this girl may be way more problematic than what she looks like, I may need to thread carefully with this one.

”So, what is a nukenin⁵ from the clan of Iga-ninjitsu⁶ practitioners Ichikawa Goemon doing here, tailing couple of random travelers? Need easy assassination targets?” I ask, my voice unnecessarily cold, I kinda forgot that one I am talking to is a kid, my history knowledge took better of me and I decided to tread way too carefully.
”How do you know Goemons full name and history, nin~?” she asks, surprised and clearly a bit shaken, I do not know if it is because of the tone of my voice or because I knew about her before she managed to introduce herself properly, but she really does look like she is going to cry for some reason. But that only proves that I hit a bullseye. She continues:
”Goemon doesn't want to assassinate you, nin~. Goemon wants to know more about you and the one you're traveling with. Goemon has been without master for so long and would like to offer her services to you two because you seem interesting, nin~nin!” I still can't get over this ridiculous way of speech and her appearance, heave a sigh and say: ”You are trying too hard with your speech, speak normally. It takes me like ten seconds to process even half a sentence you spout.” Still being unnecessarily strict at this small kid I try to make some sense of the situation and continue: ”Don't answer question with a question, it makes you seem dumb. It also is kind of hard to swallow your story, no matter what kind of impression I've given of myself, I am not very trusting person and it requires more than just appearing in a blizzard of sakura to convince me about your intentions. I also don't think someone who is practicing assassination techniques should just pop out and calmly introduce themselves, it makes you kind of fail at what you're supposed to do.” After this statement her mouth is clearly twitching and her eyes are moistening up, maybe I went too far? With a loud sniffle she says: ”Goem- I am really sorry, nin~. I really just want to offer my services, I can do many things, just test me, nin~!” She turns around, looks me straight into eyes, I can't believe that the famous puppydog eyes are being used on me around 400 years before they actually became a thing. I scratch my head, sigh and say:
”I can't pay you.”
”Doesn't matter, nin~.”
”We have no permanent place to stay.”
”I am used to travel, nin~.”
”We're planning to become retainers to Oda Nobunaga.”
”I will be loyal to only you, take orders only from you, nin~nin.”
I sigh again, this kid is really determined and I have no idea what I am supposed to do, we're also starting to cause a scene with our exchanges. I probably look like a mother scolding her daughter or something like that, plus she is wearing such an outrageous outfit. In the end I tell her to come to our place later tonight. I need to hide all the future stuff, even though she probably has caught glimpses of them after following us so long, but I still want to be careful. I also want to talk with Toukichirou about this situation, she is from this era and knows how to deal with situations like these. She also will be the target of her assassination attempt years later, but I think that's better to be kept from her.

I buy some rice, nori⁷ and stuff to make a quick supper later, nothing too fancy as I do not know how long we have to stay there and because neither of us have any jobs that get paid salary, money that Nagahide-san gave to us won't last forever, especially since we do not know when the audience with Nobunaga is going to happen.
When I get home I see Toukichirou sprawled on floor fast asleep, she seems to have fallen asleep with my Vita on her other hand and some rice crackers we bought earlier on other. I took the console and turned it off. I don't know if she had saved or not, but the visual just awakened my maternal instincts to their fullest. Even though I think she is couple of months older than I am, I couldn't help but think her as this energetic little sister that I have to look after while being here. I go to the attic, pick up a futon and a pillow and drag them downstairs, place the futon on Toukichirou as a blanket and put a pillow under her head, she got so much information stuffed in her head today that no wonder she got tired. Afterwards check the charger, see that it is full, which allows me to continue using my laptop later, but because I do not know when Goemon is appearing, I decide to put all my stuff in my bag and instead start looking for stuff to make food with. There already are all kinds of pots and pans in the small ”kitchen” area in the middle of the room so that's not a problem. I've never camped out so I've never made food over open fire or in a spit, so I decide to leave that for later. I also need to figure out where to get water for bath and food anyways, so I head towards the back of the house from the outside. There is a small, but clean yard with a herb garden and a small vegetable patch, as well as an old stone well. Again, I am stumped for a while as I've never had to draw water from a well, but luckily the contraption isn't too complicated to use, viva old technology! Is what I think at first, but after hauling couple of full buckets in, my hands hurt all over and it feels like my back is breaking. I really am not made for physical labor, I even carried couple of masu⁸ of rice with me when I came back from the town, those were heavy!⁹

Me huffing and puffing around must've made lot of noise as when I was hauling a bucketfull of water in for the third time there was movement at the side of the room, Toukichirou had sit up and was rubbing her eyes, looking tired. Yawning she greeted me and grabbing one of the mochi¹⁰ I brought from the town and apparently my struggling was amusing her as she started giggling again, while munching on the sweets.
”Now that you are awake, wipe that grin of your face and help me!” I shoot at her and continue, ”Those who won't work won't eat either, also those mochi are mine!” I turn put down the bucket, turn my back at her and grin. I am already taking this to two sisters who live together -kind of direction without even really meaning to. In response I hear a mocking ”Yes, obaachan!¹¹” From behind me, this exchange really makes it feel like we've known each other forever and I can't help but giggle and shout ”shut up, ojiichan!¹²” back at her.

We finish carrying enough water for a bath and cooking inside, I light a fire at the spit and start waiting for the water to boil on top of it, and while setting up for cooking I realised how much I would like a gas stove and a microwave right about now, but thanks to Edo-period I currently am habiting, there is of course no electricity or gas around here, nor the stove itself to be honest. Well, Toukichirou is used to cooking on this thing, so I leave it to her discretion and turn the conversation towards my encounter with Goemon earlier this evening: ”Hey Toukichirou, we will probably get a guest at some point tonight, apparently she has been tailing us since we left that village being razed and finds us interesting. If she shows up I let you to make sense in her stories as I couldn't figure out what she wanted at all. I put all my stuff away for that reason, even though she may have seen them because of her tailing us, but I just want to be careful. Apparently she is a ninja that is looking for a master and that's about all I was able to gather from her.” Toukichirou is concentrating on putting rice in a pot full of boiling water so she doesn't turn back, but replies to me: ”Are you telling me you almost got assassinated?” She asks and I shake my head:
”If that was an attempt to assassinate me, it was very sloppy. In the middle of the town and not even trying to be subtle. She also kept babbling on without stopping and looked like she'd cry when I scolded her”
”Ninjas usually work for high ranking officers and daimyo, you happen to hear what clan she was from?”
”Well, her name is Ichikawa Goemon, but we never can be sure. Don't ninjas often use false names to hide their true identity?”
”Well, the Ichikawa-clan isn't familiar to me, but she didn't sound like a bad person. She was young?”
”Around eight or nine, that's what she looked like but in this era I can never be sure, even Oda Nobunaga looks like she'd fit the mold.”
Toukichirou giggled.
”Well, that's true, we shall tread carefully. Ninjas are a crafty bunch.”
I didn't mention stuff I already knew about Goemon, like that she was a nukenin nor that she in my history would try to assassinate Toukichirou. I can only hope that last fact isn't an actual fact in this world.

The evening flowed past smoothly, we prepared a light supper of rice, miso soup and dried fish and sat around the fireplace chatting about what we should do. To be honest, I could get used to slow and peaceful days without fights or any other troublesome or dangerous stuff. Of course there was the encounter with Goemon, but I categorize it under a drunk bum that to hit on me and just put her in the backburner for now. Our conversation with Toukichirou mostly was about the meeting with Oda Nobunaga, we didn't know when we were supposed to meet her as Nagahide-san just told us to wait for a courier in a couple of days time, but that didn't stop us from thinking about how to convince her to accept us as her retainers. Yes, we helped them earlier and may have saved their lives, but that pretty much only allowed us to live here for now and an audience with her. We thought about telling Nobunaga about war methods of the future or even her own actions in major battles coming up, as well as thought about using me coming from a future as a trump card, but these options were dangerous and it really didn't make sense to pull stuff like that in front of her without proof, other than throwing all my stuff in front of her, our heads would surely fall.
”We just need to show her that we can be useful. Words do not get through her as well as actions.” I suggested and Toukichirou agreed:
”But we need to get her to take us with her to the next battle she is attending, or allowing us to attend one of her retainers.”
”Didn't Nagahide-san tell us that she'd support and help us, maybe we can join her on an expedition?”
”We can't just go and assume Nagahide-dono just comes up to Nobunaga-dono and suggests for us to join ranks in a battle, but I don't think there is much else we can do other than try and be as honest as possible. Nagahide-dono has probably already seen through you, that you really aren't around here, but she doesn't know that you are from the future so we have that going for us.” After Toukichirou finished, she left to heat the bath up and I leaned back, allowed some of my weight on my palms and stared at the ceiling, thinking that I really hope we can convince Nobunaga to allows us to be her retainers. I sighed heavily and listened to Toukichirou throwing firewood under the large bathtub that was in the back of the house. When she came back something started bothering me and I quickly realized what it was. The same bloodlust I felt earlier. I sighed, motioned Toukichirou to return to the room and said out loud:
”Goemon, how long have you actually been here?”
Afterwards a gust of wind brought the tiny ninja-pirate-geisha hybrid in front of us, she was holding her stomach that was audibly growling.
Please stop entrances like that, I'll have a heart attack with you! I think.
”I've been hanging from the roof for ages, nin~. Why did it take so long for you to notice my presence again, nin~? I am hungry!” I glanced at Toukichirou who seemed to regressed back to her, now familiar, phase of not knowing how to close her mouth, while looking back at Goemon she was holding her growling belly and looking at me with wet eyes. I opened my mouth to say something, but Toukichirou was faster, she screamed like a rich girl after seeing a poodle, jumped on Goemon and started rubbing her cheek against Goemons own.
”Sana-chan~ can we keep her? Please? She is so cute!”
”Please don't treat your guests as lost puppies Toukichirou, also stop calling me Sana-chan.”
”I can't breathe, nin~nin! Let go of me! Goemon is uncomfortable, nin~nin~!”
I slam my palm at my face, sigh and hit Toukichirou with a ladle, she gives an annoyed yelp and backs of, still staring at Goemon longingly, where as the victim herself scurries behind my back and starts babbling something about unfair ambushes, I ignore her.

”So yeah Toukichirou, this is Ichikawa Goemon, from what she told me she is a ninja without a master, but that's what I gathered. Goemon, this apparent lolicon¹³ is Kinoshita Toukichirou, but after tailing us for so long, you probably knew that already. My name is Itori Sana, I already explained our situation to you earlier this evening, but you should explain your own goal to us now.”

Goemon repeats the story she told to me, while Toukichirou sits there quietly, listening to her, and often glancing towards the speaker, but every time I hear that I brandish the ladle in my hand, causing Toukichirou to cover her head and continue listening.
”Everything I've told to you is true, nin~. But if I had to give you one goal of mine, it is to serve a powerful master and gain fame. When I was in training I wasn't treated very well, nin~. All others in the dojo were older men and as a only female no one expected anything from me, I just wanted to show that I can do just as well as other ninja in there. But because that didn't happen, I ran away in search of a master I could serve.” While talking she is eating some leftover rice and miso we had and looking happy, when you think about this situation, it is kind of an heartwarming scene with Toukichirou giving her seconds of rice and miso and listening intently at this little girls story and her sitting next to me who is poking at the fire pit for it to still keep its heat. It is almost like we have this weird the whole family is spending time together -thing going on. I smile at that thought and Goemon continues:
”I had traveled for about three months, when I wound up at the edge of an battlefield, nin~. Tons of villages were raided and burned to ground, I thought that maybe Goemon could find someone to serve, a daimyo or warlord, nin~. But Goemon found something even better, nin~! A girl in weird outfit and a samurai working together, but what surprised Goemon the most was the reckless and suicidal and nonsensical and stupid plan of the weird girl that allowed them to escape from a situation where they were attacked from pretty much all sides, nin~! That's when Goemon started to tail the two of them and finally ended here, nin~nin~.”
I informed Goemon that she had regressed back to her old way of speaking because she got so excited and gave her a flick on a forehead, she looked like she was sorry about her habit, I thought that was also kind of heartwarming to see. I've never had little siblings, only older ones that were way ahead of me when it came to age, so we never really did any sibling stuff. I wonder if I had a little sister would I treat her like this. That thought made me smile.
I said: ”So Toukichirou, what do you think?”
”I still want to keep her, she is cute.”
I hit Toukichirou with a ladle and reminded her not to treat guests as lost pets.
”Ow! Okay, okay! From what I heard she doesn't harbor any ill will and I can see the determination of forging her own future. I think that if you think she could be of use, it could be handy to have a ninja around.” She rubbed her head, ”I mean, you saw her entrance and she told that she was hanging around for a while, she is young but I am sure she'd grow an excellent ninja one day, she just needs experience.” After finishing her sentence she put her usual grin on her face, took a mochi from a table and threw it at Goemon, who caught it with her mouth. I am not sure if she really is a human, is she really a puppy? I think and turn to little lady in question, who is happily munching away on the sweet treat.
”Just one question Goemon, what was that bloodlust I feel every time before you appear?”
”Oh that.” She says, blushes and turns away, ”maybe it is just so that I am angry that you do not notice me, nin~. And maybe a bit of jealousy too, I haven't been in contact with any friendly people in so long and I've had to sleep outside for so long and I have eaten only herbs and roots for so long, nin~.” After this her eyes water up again and she starts quietly to sob. I can't help but to put my hand on her head and start to pet her. In the end, she is just a small girl.
”By the way Goemon, how old are you?”
”Hm? *sob* Goemon turned fourteen a while ago, nin.”
I sigh and think should've guessed this one, why are there so many loli¹⁴ warlords in this world? And sigh.
”Well, as long as you don't try to stab us I see no problems having you around Goemon, but as I told you, we can't pay you for your services, nor we have much money so it will be kind of tight for a while.”
”That I do not care, I've gathered some wealth myself during my travels, delivering messages and such here and there, I got paid, nin~” She says proudly and pulls a small pouch from her clothes.
”This is money you've earned yourself, I won't be taking this from you, but if you want to I can help you prepare food you buy with this, as well as help with other needs you may have. That's how the world works, you pay for your own things with money you've earned yourself. It is way more fulfilling like that!” There actually is quite a bit of money in there, it actually makes me proud of this small person being able to collect that much by herself in this period. She smiles radiantly at me and I pet her again, Toukichirou disappeared at some point and when we finish our conversation she returns and announces that the bath is ready.
”Since it is so small, I think only two of us can fit, I volunteer going with Goemon-chan!”
”Stop drooling you lolicon.” I say after marching to my friend whose yes have started to sparkle an a visible line of drool can be seen from her mouth, I hit her with a ladle again.
Seeing this scene Goemon bursts into a delighted laughter and when me and Toukichirou, who is once again holding the bump on her head, turn to look back, we can't help but smile.

In the end, we all fit to the bath without any problems and it turned into some kind of water war with me trying to protect Goemon from Toukichirous attempts to hug her all the time. I think all three of us needed a stress relief like this, it has been super rough for these last couple of weeks and a change like this is most welcome.
After a while we all decide to calm down and just stare at the roof while resting our heads at the edge of the tub, I notice that Goemon hasn't taken her eyepatch off yet and ask her about it, she turns away and blushes, she seems to do that a lot.
”I do not like my eyes, nin~.” She says with sadness in her voice: ”Everyone who sees them tells me that I am a demon or that I've invoked the wrath of the Buddha.”
She turns at me and I look at her face, her visible right eye is a brilliant deep blue, it is really calming to look at, so I can't really imagine what could've happened to her other eye if she hates it so much and people who've seen it go as far as to call her a demon, maybe a scar or something? But aren't scars supposed to be marks of greatness shown in war or something, I can't help but ask her to show her other eye to me out of curiousity. She shakes her head and denies me with tears in her eye.
”I do not want you two to hate me too, nin~nin.” she says and I pet her head again.
”From where I come, there are people with all kinds of faces and no one looks down on them, I promise that me, nor Toukichirou will hate you, no matter how your eye is.” I say and look at Toukichirou next to me, who turns towards Goemon and smiles:
”Sana-chan is already weird enough, you probably can't top that Goemon-chan.”
I start poking Toukichirous cheeks annoyingly, while looking back at Goemon who has a complicated expression on her face, she clearly doesn't know if she should laugh or not, but in the end she closes her eyes, reaches to the back of her head and unfastens the eyepatch on her left eye. After dropping it out of the bath on the floor, she looks me straight into a face and opens her eyes. My surprise is great as I notice that her other eyes is just as brilliant in color, but it is deep green one.
”Such beautiful heterochromatic eyes Goemon-chan!” I accidentally let out in way more excited voice than I intented to, ”these are REALLY rare, you shouldn't hide your eyes like you used to, from where I come from, people would be incredibly jealous to have eyes like yours.” Even Toukichirou seems enthralled, even more so than earlier when she was going haywire about her cuteness, she can only let out a quiet ”wow!” at both, my explanation and the visual in front of her. I say to Goemon:
”Goemon, if you want to work for us, then this is my first request: Do not hide your face and be proud of the body you've given! You are ninja and you are expected to be hiding in shadows, but to us close to you, we want to see the face of the one we're talking to.”
Hearing this, Goemons eyes water again, but this time I don't think that's because of fear or sadness, I can only guess those are tears of joy because someone finally complimented her eyes. And thus, our bathing moment returned to normal, with the addition of Goemon smiling brightly and going on about her past and her travels. I still think me and Toukichirou accepted her a bit too easily, but it is hard to see this girl to want nothing but fulfil her goals, and I want to help her get there, and I think Toukichirou thinks the same.

After Goemon moved in, she actually wasn't home much. On mornings she was doing some kind of training off to somewhere out of our sights and at afternoons she was going around market stalls with either me or Toukichirou. This lasted for couple of days and one evening to our surprise Nagahide-san arrived with a formal invitation to Nagoya Castle to meet Oda Nobunaga. We were supposed to leave at the dawn. While reading through the letter I asked Nagahide:
”I was expecting just a normal courier to bring this, you surprised me Nagahide-san.”
”That's how it was supposed to be Itori-san, but I also wanted to inform you and Kinoshita-san about something that may help you fulfil your goals of becoming Nobunaga-donos retainers.”
Finally, is it time for an event?¹⁵ I think to myself and look at Nagahide questioningly, she continues:
”Nobunaga-dono is supposed to meet with the Viper of Mino, Saitou Dousan, in coming days. The place of meeting hasn't been decided yet, but–”
”The meeting will be held in Shoutokuji Temple¹⁶!” I blurt out without thinking and Nagahide looks at me with clear confusion in her eyes and expression.
”Shoutokuji? You're hearing about this for the first time from me aren't you? How can you sound so sure, Itori-san?” I quickly throw my hands in front of my mouth and sound apologetic, but I think the damage is already done even if Nagahide doesn't really show it.
”Well, that's what I wanted to tell you, we're expecting the message about meeting place with Saitou Dousan late tonight, you will be informed about it when you arrive in the morning. I will be waiting, Itori-san, Kinoshita-san.” Afterwards she turns around to leave, but before that she shoots one last questioning glance towards me, finally walking away.
This time it is I who gets a painful poke to my ribs from the side, culprit being Toukichirou, who scolds me about me having said more than I was supposed to, I feel apologetic.

Goemon arrives not-too-much later and I fill her in about the next day, I instruct her to stay out of sight and keep an eye of things, I also need to prepare some things if my hunch is right.

I stay awake and wait for Toukichirou to fall asleep, when I hear the familiar sounding snoozing, I take that as my cue to start my own preparations. I already told Goemon to stay awake as she will be crucial tomorrow, again if stuff goes like I expect them to.
I dig through my bag and get a small hand mirror from there and give it to Goemon, who looks at it with confused expression. It is just a normal hand mirror, but it will be incredibly useful. The thing I start teaching to Goemon is the morse code. I teach her about dots and dashes and how to use sunlight to send messages using this mirror. She seems extremely interested and pretty much becomes a sponge of information. I teach her couple of simple messages, first one being Beware and second one being No danger, those are what I want her to learn by morning. I feel bad for having her stay up, but because this situation came so out of nowhere I have no choice. Goemon seems to be happy about being able to do something for me and Toukichirou, so that at least is something, I better buy her some mochi later on.

When morning comes me and Toukichirou leave the house, Goemon has already left to predetermined place I pointed out and is doing some scouting around there. We've already checked the route to castle by ourselves before so it doesn't take too long for us to arrive and from the gate we get surprisingly warm welcome from people around there. We're directed towards a tea room and told to wait for Nobunaga and her retainers to arrive. It takes about fifteen minutes for the tea room door to open again, and smiling Niwa Nagahide, stern and for some reason shocked looking Shibata Katsuie and brightly smiling, glasses wearing Oda Nobunaga step in the room. Toukichirou had already prostrated herself, but I really do not even think about reacting to the door opening and just stare at the newcomers, but thanks to this I am finally able to see properly what Shibata Katsuie and Oda Nobunaga look like, both are very pretty in their own way. As I noticed earlier when they charged past us on horses, Shibata Katsuie is lean, tall, well built girl that looks like she is older than me or Toukichirou, she looks stern, but I can see that she carries the aura of overworrying big sister with her, that makes me smile, it suits her image way too well. Nobunaga on the other hand looks like a doll, she has really pretty face and she seems way more athletic from up close than you'd think. She wears namban glasses and instead of yukata¹⁷ or kimono¹⁸ she wears a namban style shirt with a long skirt, it is like a french royalty got mixed with a japanese samurai, it is a weird combination. She speaks:
”It is good to see you again, Itori Sana-san, Kinoshita Toukichirou-san, we didn't get acquinted very well last time we met, are you fine with this situation Itori Sana-san? Do you think we should lessen the people in this room?” She asks me before going further and introducing herself, clear worry in her voice and eyes, for the demon of six gates¹⁹ Oda Nobunaga seems to be actually very kindhearted person. That made me feel good. I answer, with clear voice:
”No, this is fine, Oda-sama. I am deeply sorry about the miserable state you met me last time. I truly am bad with new situations and people and I can't handle war or death too well. I just wish we all could just live in peace under one flag.” I say without any hesitation, I need to make clear that I support her dream of unifying Japan, without even hearing about it first.
Her eyes clear up and she smiles, such a bright smile, I can't believe at some point this girl would turn into a fearsome monster that terrified many, at least the man called Oda Nobunaga was so in our history.
”You recognized me? How great, that saves time! Especially since you seem to share a dream with me! Yes, my name is Oda Nobunaga, daughter of Oda Nobuhide and ane²⁰ of Oda Nobusumi and Oichi. Last time I heard from Kinoshita Toukichirou-san about your will to become my retainers, but you fainted and I wasn't able to hear your opinion or wish, so I would like to ask you the same question than last time when you helped me, Riku and Machiyo²¹ with that small problem involving Imagawa cavalry: What is it you wish for a reward. If it is something I can provide, please, just ask.” She says smiling, with Nagahide-san doing the same. Shibata-san seems like she doesn't know what she is supposed to do and Toukichirou finally lifts her head, looking at me with a mix of her usual grin and confusion on her face. I answer simply:
”I wish that I and Kinoshita Toukichirou could become your retainers and help you with your dream. Oda-sama²²”
”You know that even if I said that you can wish for anything, becoming a retainer out of nowhere isn't really going to work, Itori-san?”
”I do understand that, both of us are ready to prove to you that we are worthy of assisting you and I have an idea on how we are able to do that. Oda-sama.” I finish with my kindest smile and nod at Toukichirou, who in turn returns her usual grin to her face.

Nobunaga and her retainers looked first at each other and then back at me, other than Shibata-san, who still seemed to be really conflicted about the situation, Nobunaga and Katsuie looked delighted, Nobunaga asked:
”Well, what is this plan of yours?”
”I can have The Viper of Mino to give you Gifu without war.” I said bluntly and even Toukichirou reverted back to her shock-state with her mouth hanging open and weird [Wha~ Wha~ Wha~] -noises coming out from there.
”Bold statement, how are you planning to do that?” Asked, to my surprise, Shibata Katsuie, whose expression had turned surprisingly grim. Yeah, I expected something like this so I answer:
”I just need you to trust me, Oda-sama, Nagahide-sama, Shibata-sama. Have you heard about the location for the meeting with the Viper yet?” I ask, put my hands together, like I'm praying and bow my head towards all people present.
”About that.” Says Nagahide-san, ”it is just like you said, Nobunaga-dono is supposed to meet Saitou Dousan at Shoutokuji Temple later today. It still confuses me how you knew about the location beforehand and we will be conversing about this with you later and with Nobunaga-donos discretion necessary steps will be taken.” She looked scary again, but quickly returned her usual, warm and motherly smile. Nobunaga smiled also and turned towards Toukichirou:
”What do you think, Kinoshita-san?” Toukichirou returned to us from her shocked state like she'd been whipped and after pondering for couple of seconds she replies:
”I trust Sana-chan, if she says she can do it, there is no doubt that we can do it. That's what I believe, Nobunaga-dono.” She looks very proud of her friend and I feel like I am going to blush, so embarassing!
After that Shibata-san nods, she seems to have accepted the look on our eyes and is giving us her approval silently, while Nobunaga-sama and Nagahide-san again look at each other and then smile at each other, nodding.
”Well then, shall we get ready?” Nobunaga asks and I can feel question marks floating over mine and Toukichirous heads, to what Nagahide-san replies:
”We're expecting you two to prove yourselves like you told us you would do, we should prepare to leave and meet Saitou Dousan.”

I look at Toukichirou who is now again having her trademark grin on her face, ”we did it!” her expression seems to say so.

Around two hours passed, I was led to stables and Toukichirou went with Nagahide and Shibata, while Nobunaga was with me. I just realised a huge flaw in this plan, I've never in my life ridden a horse before, to be honest, the closest I've been to live horses is are those Nobunaga and her retainers and Imagawa cavalry rode towards us and the couple of steeds that were pulling the carriage on our way to Nagoya. I don't know how I missed this feeling earlier, but these animals are large and do not feel comfortable being close to them.
Apparently Nobunaga had been watching my inner struggling when I tried to stare down my future mount-to-be and looked concerned once again, asking me: ”Itori-san, do the horses not feel satisfactory?” To which I can't help but answer honestly, despite her looks I do not think Oda Nobunaga can be fooled so easily:
”To be honest my lord, I am fairly afraid of these large animals, as well as I've never done any riding before.” After which I avert my gaze from Nobunaga and wait for her answer, expecting my points to fall in her eyes, but to my surprise:
”Would you like to ride with me then?” My face immediately snaps towards the future daimyo of unified Owari and unifier of Japan, who has the biggest smile I've seen ever since I told to Goemon that her eyes were pretty.
”Is that okay my lord? Wouldn't that be inconvinient?”
”Well, we can't have you walk and that gives us time to have a conversation without breaking the formation. I am sure Riku will be a tad bit jealous, but she'll survive.” I can't help but giggle, I can imagine Shibata Katsuie being a jealous type.
”If that is what my lord offers and wishes, then I have no reason to decline.”
”Such fantastic news! To be honest, I kind of wanted something like this to happen.” She says and flashes me a mischievous smile. This girl is someone I really can't read, no matter how hard I try.

I took about an hour more before Toukichirou and others arrived at the stables, Katsuie informed about rifle troops being readied and pretty much everything being complete when it comes to preparations so all that was needed was Nobunaga's word and troops would move.
Nobunaga climbs on her horse, surprisingly gracefully seeing the size difference between the girl and the mount and turns to me. With shaking legs I start wobbling towards the horse and its rider who is patiently waiting for me, with a smile on her face, while behind me I can hear a familiar giggle of Toukichirou, I look to the side and see Nagahide Niwa smiling and Shibata Katsuie scratching her head and asking from Nagahide: ”What's with this girl? Why is she approaching Nobunaga-sama like that?”
I finally get to the horse and Nobunaga extends her hand out for me to grab on and Nagahide-san arrives next to me, with us three I am able to get on a saddle behind Nobunaga and I start to feel faint because sitting on a horse doesn't feel like it is a stable way of travel at all. While in front of us, behind always smiling Nagahide-san Shibata-san seems shocked beyond saving, she keeps letting out some weird noises while climbing on her own horse, while Nagahide and Toukichirou follow suit, she has put on Oda armys armor and has an Oda flag on her back, while I am still wearing my own clothes because me and Nobunaga-sama spent way too much time chattering about dumb things, like how I am going to approach a horse and such.

The view was something else, around 500 soldiers armed with arquebus rifles were walking beside us while we were heading towards the temple. Because I was on a lead horse with Nobunaga, it actually suited my plans fairly well, allowing me to see Goemons morse code as soon as possible. While riding I held Nobunagas waist, probably little bit too tight as she corrected my hands multiple times, I also kept shaking slightly. Me and horses at the moment really didn't see eye to eye, which was a small problem, but I decided to endure this, I needed this to succeed, not just for my own benefit, but for Toukichirous and in some ways Goemons too.
”This has to succeed.” I said in a low voice, to which Nobunaga surprisingly answered:
”I believe it will, I believe in your confidence, Itori-san!”
”Only time will tell my lord, we should be arriving at the first point of my plan fairly soon.”

We arrived into a narrow road with hills and forest to both sides, in our history this was the place where Saitou Dousan set an ambush before meeting Nobunaga to check if she really was a fool and a threat.
This is where I stationed Goemon.

We didn't get too far in, when I saw from the corner of my eye a small flash of light, I couldn't be sure so I turned my head and everything so far has gone just like planned. A series of flashes of light came from the top of the trees.
Great job, Goemon! I thought by myself and concentrated again. I taught her that she should keep a longer break between repeats of the word, so I waited for that so I could figure out the first letter of which of the two messages I taught her.

One long, lingering flash of light, following three short and fast ones.
”Nobunaga-sama! Tell your troops to light their rifles! Now!”
”Are you sure? Where is the enemy? Do you know the risk involved when lighting the rifles and letting them burn? They can explode very violently and that'd just be asking for us to be ambushed.
”Look over there, Nobunaga-dono.” I say and point at where Goemon is still flashing the morse code.
”What causes those flashes of light? Is that a rifle gleaming in sunlight?”
”I have a ninja working under me, she has been doing recon during this morning, I taught her a way to contact me using series of flashing lights via reflecting sunlight from mirror in a pattern. I will not explain it in detail right now, but please believe me. She has figured out an ambush and we need to be prepared. If everything goes properly we can just walk through and put the rifles out when we reach plains outside this forest.”
I can't see Nobunagas face, but she grips my hand with obvious determination (or I am squeezing too hard again, I can't tell.) And a moment later all of Oda troops carrying an arquebuss have lit the fuses on their rifles. We hastened the marching speed so that we can put the guns out as soon as possible, and just as I though, ambush didn't happen and the moment we got out of the woods, the code changed to ”No Danger” -one, it kept going for a while, until it disappeared. Goemon should now be tailing the returning troops of Saitou Dousan and joining me later. That girl truly deserves some mochi when we get back home.

After we reached the temple, we were told to wait for a bit. Nobunaga and others immediately got down from their horses, I otherhand pretty much fell from the mount, kneeled on the solid ground and wept, oh it felt so good to be on a solid ground again. I never, ever want to ride a horse again. While I was recovering my severe mental trauma involving these four legged beasts, I heard a familiar cheerful laugh next to me as well as I felt a hand being extended towards me.
”You truly are a madman, are you sure the title of ”Fool of Owari” has gone to the right person?” Toukichirou was laughing next to me, I haven't seen her in only about four hours, but that smile felt like I was returning home after a long day at work and hearing that there would be mass firing of employees in a company.
”Toukichirou, great timing. I need you in this next part. Only problem is that it is incredibly risky and your life may be in danger, do you trust me on this?”
”Man, I think I've already lost half a lifetime of years when dealing with your ideas.” She grinned, ”what do you want me to do?”
”I need you to give Saitou Dousan information I am about to give you. You know that I am very bad at conveying stuff like that and make it look believable, that's why I have only you to trust with this. If this fails, Dousan may have your head rolling, which would be kind of bad, don't you think?” I smile apologetically, I wish I was better at stuff like this.
”No problem.” She says immediately, ”I trust you and you trust me, didn't we decide this a while ago. If you say this will work, then I believe this will work. Just tell me the stuff and I am sure I can convey it to Dousan.”

About an hour later the doors to the temple were opened and we arrived in a large room built in the temple for monks and miko to perform their rituals. Today there were some silk pillows for sitting and a tray of tea. Inside the room were only two people, an older woman with sharp eyes and a really pretty girl with blonde twintails and a katana. It didn't take too long for me to guess who these two were. The older woman was without a doubt the Viper of Mino, Saitou Dousan herself. Again with important people turning into women, this is starting to be ridiculous, I think to myself again. The young girl then has to be Akechi Juubei Mitsuhide, Dousans advisor and one of the smartest warriors in Sengoku-era, but also the one who betrayed Oda Nobunaga later on his life, causing the Honnouji Incident and leading to Nobunagas death. But again, with this world you can never know.

Nobunagas retainers and me and Toukichirou went in the room first, me and Toukichirou sat to the side as we really didn't belong to the retainers and thus had no real place to speak unless asked. Nobunaga said that she wanted to change before meeting Dousan.
This gave me a chance to assess the situation and get impression about the two already present.
Saitou Dousan was older woman, probably around his fourties, maybe closer to fifty. She wore surprisingly casual clothes, a plain yukata and sandals, no accessories or anything to show off. So far this is going just like it should.
Akechi Mitsuhide on the other hand was wearing a very beautiful dark kimono that looked really good against her pale complexion and light hair. She also don a very long katana, making the combination look like a heroine escaped from a samurai movie and is now sitting in front of me.

Oda retainers looked uncomfortable while being in there without their lord, Toukichirou had her eyes closed and was muttering something to herself, I ignored her and concentrated on observing the place. For a simple ritual hall it was really beautiful, against a wall was a huge stone statue decipting Buddha or something, I am not too familiar with these religious things any more so I can't say for sure. There were many colorful tapestries donning the walls as well as spears and swords. It was very impressive!
I didn't have much time to admire the room before the door leading to it opened again and this time my jaw dropped to the floor. Nobunaga had arrived, she had taken her glasses off and let her hair fall down, she was donning an incredibly flashy, beautiful kimono and was overall looking, with the lack of a better word, like a princess from a fairy tale.
Everyone else seemed to be just as speechless, except for Toukichirou who still kept her eyes closed and kept muttering something.
After Nobunaga had seated, she greeted Dousan, who apparently didn't expect namban loving Nobunaga to appear in such an official looking attire, when she thought she'd show some concideration by wearing something less flashy, expecting Nobunaga to arrive in the same outfit she had while leading her army through the ambush.

”You brough quite the amount of riflemen with you.” Said Dousan.
”I had to think about something to deal with your warm welcoming gift you had lying in wait, dear Viper.”
Dousan laughed, it sounded like a female santa claus.
”So you saw through me, I was wondering if you truly are a fool by randomly lighting your rifles, even with the danger of them exploding on you, without any enemies on sight. But you apparently got a word about my surprise to test you somehow. Well done, daughter of Oda.”
”Your words mean a lot dear Viper, but next time I'd rather have a test that didn't involve a full scale war, those are already troublesome as is.”
Dousan laughed again.
”Well, to the point, why are you here? Daughter of Oda.”
”I decided to take on your dream, Viper of Mino.” Nobunaga said without any hesitation and Vipers eyes flared.
”Hm, and what's your first step with this? You know that I wanted to unify the country and got to where I am now from being just a simple oil merchant. Who are you going to acquire first, Matsudaira²³?”
”I am going for Mino.” Said Nobunaga again.
Mitsuhide gasped and Dousan laughed again.
”The nerve, what makes you think I will give Mino to you of all people?”
”Saitou Dousan. I know of your dream and I am willing to shoulder it now that you've settled down.” Said Nobunaga, ”Mino is an important crossroad in Owari, allowing ease of access to multiple land- and sea routes necessary for both conquer and trade, both being incredibly important for unification of the country.”
Viper said:
”Knowing that, you still insist on trying to get me give Mino to you? You truly are a fool, daughter of Oda!”

Nobunaga didn't seem to get any more words out of her mouth, except:
”I am willing to go to any lenghts to acquire Mino, be it via peaceful means or via war. That's what I've decided!”

After that declaration there was silence, until:
”Saitou Dousan, I think you should give Mino to Oda Nobunaga.”
”Hm, who are you?” Asked Dousan.
”My name is Kinoshita Toukichirou, I am with Oda Nobunaga-sama and I want to support her dream of unifying this country. Please hear what I have to say, I promise to convince you about giving Mino to Oda Nobunaga-sama is the right choice!”
”Mitsuhide, sword.”
Dousan said audibly and received the katana from Mitsuhide.
”I do not care if you are the retainer of Oda, but let's make this interesting. Please, by all means, convince me. Tell me why I would give Mino to the fool of Owari. If you manage, you can keep your head, little lady, Kinoshita-san.” Dousan licked her lips. She was seemingly really annoyed about Nobunagas cheekines and now one of her underlings started talking from sidelines. Nobunagas gaze met mine and I nodded, she stopped Shibata and Nagahide from drawing their blades and sat back to her pillow she had herself stood up from just a second earlier.
Toukichirou took a deep breath and said:
”You already know that your daughter Yoshitatsu can't beat Oda Nobunaga-sama. You already planned to give the Mino to Nobunaga-sama, but wanted to test her. You were thinking: ”Let's tie the horses at the gates of the Oda-clan²⁴.” and watch the result. You feel like you've done enough and I can attest to that. Saitou Dousan will have left her name in the pages of history as a great mind of Japan.”
Afterwards Toukichirou stepped forward, so that the blade Dousan held towards her almost touched the side of her neck.

One second, five seconds, ten seconds. After that, Dousan exploded in a laughter and everyone in the room looked shocked.
”This is my total lost, daughter of Oda. It is almost like she read my mind and saw the future. I will give you a deed about moving Mino to your name, my new daughter: Oda Nobunaga.^Extra”
”Saitou Dousan, are you sure?” Asked Nobunaga with her eyes wide. She was just as shocked about what Toukichirou said than everyone else in the room, Shibata-san dropped the tea cup she was holding, Nagahide-sans expression totally froze and Mitsuhide-san didn't know if she should open or close her mouth, so it got stuck somewhere in between, making her look like a goldfish trying to breath on a land.
”I never expected you to be this brazen, Oda Nobunaga. You have some good followers behind you, please take care of them.” Dousan said, while having her brush move up and down on a scroll in front of her. ”I will send one of my daughters for you to become your official little sister at the later date, I will also inform Inabayama Castle, where Yoshitatsu resides. She will be working under your flag from now on.

Nobunaga was beaming and having a small chat with Dousan, Mitsuhide-san looked glum and Oda retainers both smiled at each other. Toukichirou on the other hand had fainted, she really isn't as strong willed as she looks like. Having a blade on ones neck must have been one heck of an experience. I have to teach her tons of stuff about future as a present when we get home.

Nobunaga and Dousan finished their business and as we were leaving, Nobunaga called me and Toukichirou, who had waken up from her shock-induced black out, to her and spoke:
”You two have done a great deed towards Oda Clan and I don't think there is anyone from the current retainers that can say otherwise. If it would please you two, I would gladly have you as my retainers and generals from now on.”
We beamed at each other. This success felt better than any of my earlier deeds in this time. It didn't involve any warmongering, just basic psychology and little bit abuse of the future knowledge about history and communications. After nodding to each other, we nodded to Nobunaga and she in turn beamed towards us:
”Wonderful! Now that you're officially my retainers, I have to give you a role, and a nickname, that's just how I like to do things!” she giggled, actually a very girlish act from her, first one I noticed.
”Kinoshita Toukichirou-dono, you showed flexibility and ability to follow orders, but you two were scheming something together the moment we arrived, the things you said were actually told to you by Itori Sana-dono, weren't they?” she gave a smile, full of willingness to tease us 'till the end. Toukichirou gave up and grinned:
”I guess you caught me, my lord.”
”So I will call you Saru²⁵, for your mischievous nature and actions seem to suit the name very well. I've also noticed a monkey-like tenacity from you and I believe that will serve everyone well. I would also like to name you my sandal bearer, I'd vager Riku gets insanely jealous from that, but I want to tease her a bit every now and then.” She again gave her mischievous little smile and Toukichirou grinned even wider:
”Well, you start small, I promise to live up to your expectations, Nobunaga-sama!”

Nobunaga smiled and continued:
”Itori Sana-dono, your wits are out of this world, using a new method of communication and coming up a plan this magnificent makes you a brilliant strategist! But your lack of understanding even the most basic things like riding a horse makes you look like a lost puppy, so I think I call you Inuchiyo²⁶ and your role for now shall be helping Saru out with her tasks. I do not mean about each of you carrying one of my sandals, but whatever tasks I give her in the future, I want you to stand with her and guide her, as well as all of us in Oda retainers and clan. I see bright future for you!” She smiled, but I froze in place.
Inuchiyo? Toshiie Maeda, Oda Nobunagas childhood friend was nicknamed Inuchiyo by her. Does that mean that I've taken her place and he or she was never born in this world? That's a problem, Toshiie Maeda also had another nickname that doesn't suit me at all and that was: ”The God of Spears”, he was probably the best wielder of long thrusting weaponry in the whole prefecture during that time and here I can barely swing a kitchen knife to cut a daigon²⁷. This may really mess history up in this world. I am little bit worried.

After those thoughts I did raise my head, looked Nobunaga straight into eyes and promised to work my best for Oda-clan. And with that we headed back to Nagoya. We heard from Nagahide that we could stay in the house we already were in, I decide to travel with the footmen still with us for show as I didn't want to get on a horse again. At some point Goemon appeared next to me and we chatted about stuff that happened for a while, then I noticed her pretty much sleepwalking, not a big surprise seeing how long she was on a move and that practice of morse code over night must've been rough. I gestured Toukichirou with her horse to come, helped Goemon on it and let her rest while Toukichirou carried her on a horse, that girl totally deserved a good rest.

When we arrived back home, I sent Toukichirou to help Goemon to bed and get rest herself too, I stopped by a sweets stand by the market and bought some fairly high quality mochi from there and headed back to place we were staying at, while thinking that now our first step towards the goal of both of us was taken and it was hard to figure out what the future would bring to us, one thing was sure. I was finally able to put myself to the proper time in history with the meeting of the Viper of Mino, that made my calculations about future events that much easier.

When I arrived home, futons were already laid and Toukichirou and Goemon were both sleeping soundly. I placed the mochi I bought on table and crawled in my own futon, not even realising how tired I was after all this.

”Inuchiyo, huh. Well, this just turned really interesting.” I say quietly and quickly fall asleep.

Chapter Notes:

1. Public schools are schools with no entrance exams and usually less desirable when choosing a place for education in Japan. These also come in all-girls/all-boys variety, albeit they are more rare. Usually public shools are like here at the west, open to both genders.
2. Hikikomori, aka. A shut-in, person who refuses to leave their house and in worst cases, their rooms. These are more rare nowadays, but Japan has to deal with people with this problem still fairly often. Usually when talking about hikikomoris it references to students, even though sometimes this happens with actual working adults.
3. Final Fantasy V is a fifth installment in the Final Fantasy -role playing games, originally released on Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but you are able to play it on multiple platforms (like on Playstation Vita, as written on text) nowadays.
4. Cutesy ”ninja-speech”, of course I think no one actually ended their sentences like this back in the day, but the little ”nin”-chant has became a way to show that character really is of ninja-heritage in novels, manga and anime in japan. You can pretty much look at it as ”desu” for ninjas, it doesn't stand for anything in particular, but emphasizes the speakers style.
5. A nukenin is a rogue ninja, they left their original clans and became either self-sustainer by carrying orders from pretty much anyone who asked or tried to settle down somewhere. Nukenin became very quickly disowned by the original clan and more often than not got hunted down for abandoning them and to not let their secrets be spread out.
6. Ninjitsu, loosely translated into ”ninja techniques”, means for study of ninja-arts, like assassination skills and stealth. Iga is a prefecture in Japan where the clan where Hachisuka Goemon is from and is believed to be where he was based in before becoming a nukenin.
7. Nori is the seaweed used in sushi and as an condiment. Salty flavor, really good!
8. Masu is an old unit of measuring rice, it is about how much one person needs for a day. One masu is approximately 0.9 liters (around 30 ounces). Nowadays it isn't used for its impracticality. The amount one person needs for a year is called ”koku” which was actually used as an amount to compare the wealth of a person or a town, depending on how many koku their income was, the more wealthy they obviously were.
9. As explained earlier, one masu isn't really that heavy. She is just whining.
10. Mochi is a traditional japanese sweet, it is made from a rice paste and filled with sweet red bean paste (called anko). Those things are super sweet and stretchy. Very tasty!
11. Obaachan, litelarly stands for ”Grandma”
12. Ojiichan, litelarly stands for ”Grandpa”
13. Lolicon, some times translated into ”pedophile”, but that also references to people who read manga or watch anime whose main points are cute small girls. More often than not those do involve some kind of sexual things in them. In this case, Toukichirou gets called lolicon because of her over the top way of reacting to cute young girl.
14. Loli, comes as an abbreviation of ”lolita” from the novel by Vladimir Nabakov where the main protagonist, a middle-aged man, becomes obsessed with a teenage girl. Over the years in Japan the term loli turned to desribe cute girls that look around 8 or 9 years old and do not necessary have any sexual connotations.
15. Event, in this case talking about something that happened in a game that game developers had already decided the requirements to start it and how it actually ends. Sana uses this word because she makes a connection with a video game in her head.
16. Ok, It was incredibly hard to find actual information but I think this is where this meeting happened. I was barely able to find any information about this temple, but this is what all the sources I was able to find told and what I already knew about this meetings location. I had to even check the Nobunaga's Ambition -game for this event to make sure. It was all kinds of trouble!
17. Yukata is a casual kimono (explained in the next note), that can be worn pretty much daily and is often used in festivals and such. They can be really pretty or really plain depending on the situations it is meant to use. They look like robes that are tied around the waist with a sash.
18. Even though Kimonos aren't something like royalty garments, they are more often than not they are used in formal events and are fairly colorful and extravagant. They are the same type of one-piece robe-like cloth that are used with geta, traditional sandals that are some kind of weird mix of clogs and flip-flops.
19. After a certain point Oda Nobunaga became known as a demon to some for his cruel decisions and ferocious nature. Demon of six gates is a nickname derived from that.
20. Ane, or aneue stands for older sister.
21. Machiyo was a nickname Oda Nobunaga called Nagahide Niwa as. Reminder that Riku was Shibata Katsuies nickname.
22. I already explained this earlier, but it stands for another one. Sana uses an extremely formal way of speaking here.
23. Matsudaira is a clan that was located to southeast from Owari. Clan head during that time was Matsudaira Takechiyo, who later became Tokugawa Ieyasu, picking up where Toyotomi Hideyoshi left after his death and after unifying Japan. At this time and point though, they were just a small and weak clan sandwitched between strong ones to east and west.
24. This is a fairly famous phrase from Saitou Dousan. And is said to be the moment Dousan actually decided that Oda Nobunaga was a proper head for Mino and afterwards he became Nobunagas stepfather. To be honest, no matter how much I researched I never understood what this actually meant. If someone has any more information, I would be glad to know. All I was about to find out was the phrase itself, not its meaning. And I've even heard it multiple times when I was researching the topic.
25. Saru (猿) stands for a monkey. Nobunaga used this nickname from Kinoshita Toukichirou back in the day!
26. Inu in Inuchiyo stands for a dog (犬). As explained in the text, Maeda Toshiie, or Inuchiyo was Oda Nobunagas childhood friend and he gave him this nickname.
27. Daigon is a type of radish grown in Japan.

Afterword

Man, writing this took a while and after I finished about 20 minutes over my deadline, my wrist was actually in so much pain that I wanted to cry.
This was a REALLY fun chapter to write, I got to introduce a new character that I quite like, even though I do not know if her nature actually came out as I wanted in the text, as well as two characters who will become really important later on.

I don't think many chapters will be as long as this one, this may as well become the longest chapter in the whole story! I hope this did show you guys some more into how Sana thinks and uses the future as her reference and how she deals with people when she actually isn't scared to the point of fainting or vomiting. I try to bring her character out even more, be it little-by-little but I want to actually make her go through different situations that are unfamiliar to her in the future and help her grow.

In the next chapter we will get to see something that I hope derivates this story from its inspirations and I am really excited about that. I will now take at least a day full of rest before starting the new chapter and hope I can bring it to you very soon!

About the characters a bit before I leave though!

I wanted to make Goemon this character that conflicts with herself by being a ninja that is unnecessarily showy and talks a lot, works kind of like a stress-relief character and a little sister for Sana and has an honest and straightworward dream. I also really wanted a character to be shunned because of heterochromacy or something similar as those were really thought to be works of demons or evil spirits back in the day. I want Goemon to become a strong character later on and thus I kind of eased her in to Sanas and Toukichirous lives kind of easily. It doesn't really matter though, she is cute in my books!

I actually debated if I wanted to keep Saitou Dousan as a male because of a certain event involving some renaming of castles and towns later on, but I think I managed to think a way around that, plus I wanted an actual stern older woman in my story and Dousan fit the book perfectly. I wasn't really able to bring her out in this chapter as much as I really wanted but I have some plans that bring her to spotlight later on!

I actually am kind of bummed that I didn't really give lines to Akechi Mitsuhide, but we will be seeing her a lot later on. When looking at the history he was the retainer who Nobunaga trusted the most before his betrayal and Nobunagas death. I promise that she will become an important character later. I also wanted to create a contrast with her looks and how she actually acts, but more of that later when she actually doesn't act as meek like in this chapter!

Now then, until the next chapter and I hope you liked this one! It truly had lots of going on and the antics won't end here. See you!