NOTE: Originally, I had just gotten bored and written the contents in "Part 2" a very, very long time ago(maybe three or four years), and found it a few hours ago and decided to spruce it up and submit it here. I then started imagining this as something Souta would read in school, like some kind of required significant literature or historical reading, and this is what happened as a result.

There are some things that obviously will appear strange; for instance, Souta scratches out parts of a name letter by letter at one point, but the Japanese would actually scratch out by "kanji" character. I tried to keep the name pieces which he removes consistent with what would be a Kanji character, but since I am an American and haven't taken Japanese, it may just look funny to those who know both languages.

Read and Review; I appreciate constructive criticism. This is my first upload since 2008.


Souta Higurashi, a High Schooler, was bored.

It was the same story every year; work, make good grades, repeat. It had been one year since his sister Kagome had run off to get married, and sometimes the house just seemed boring without having her to bicker with.

He looked down at his day planner. Homework on the first day of school? What a joke. But he remembered his sister, who worked very, very hard in school even before she became stuck in their time, even when she wanted to prepare for a future in which she didn't need any of the knowledge given.

"History book, story one, pages 15-20. Read and write a short essay naming and defending which Feudal Era legend you believe it describes. Three possibilities are given at the end of the reading, however you may choose to name another legend if you are aware of one which may fit the selection."

Souta opened the book. The first page contained a short description of the author, known only as Po Tsune.

"Po Tsune was one of the more revered artists and poets of the Japanese Feudal Era," he read aloud. "Po's early poetry often revolved around mythical demons and short epic battles, while his later work tended to center more around peace and the Buddhist idea of nirvana. Some works for whom the author is not determinable are thought to belong to Po due to the similar styling and topics, however there is not enough evidence to connect these writings to Po directly. Po is believed to have frequented the areas surrounding the Goshinboku Shrine, though there is evidence to show he probably did his studying in the North.

"This work is particularly vague and it is widely unknown which legend Po refers to. It is somewhat different to his other works, however, as it is an obituary speech written for people who we can assume are good friends to Po. The vague writing has often been speculated to be due to the many wars going on at the time, and the possibility that Po did not want any specific knowledge to fall into the wrong hands."

Souta had heard of Po Tsune before; their father had always admired his work, and even had one of his paintings, which, after his death, Kagome hung in her bedroom. It had since been moved to the living area, because his mother wanted to admire it as a memento to her only daughter. Souta looked up at this painting now, at the swirls of color depicting a bright half-moon shining from behind a tree that resembled Goshinboku. If Po had once frequented these shrines, perhaps it really WAS modeled after the sacred tree. He filed this thought away to share with his mother, and began to read Po's obituary speech to his friends.