AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The first half of this chapter is in many ways the last half of Chapter 36. On the other hand, it works the way it is, too.

StariChanx, please note the return of Chizuru's perspective...

Thank you to nakigaoyuu and AzureArchxngel for your reviews! I appreciated your support on the challenges of developing and writing Saitou's and Chizuru's relationship.

And thank you to all my readers! Your patience and input is much appreciated.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)

- ImpracticalOni

Chapter 37 – Perspectives (A Boys' Night Out)

[I - Among Friends]

After Hijikata-san left, Chizuru made a point of vigorously washing her face and rinsing her eyes. She was feeling very unhappy, as her thoughts tended to veer between her father's probable complicity in the deaths of her family and clan and heartache over Saitō-san's abrupt departure. In fact, the latter bothered her more, which she knew was wrong, but somehow the very scope of Yukimura Kōdō-sensei's alleged betrayal seemed to make it easier to set aside for the moment.

Hijikata-san had been very kind, she thought. Once he had gone, she had realized that he was keeping her busy on purpose; moreover, by being forced to see everyone she would have less time to be shy over what they might or might not guess had happened to her over the last two days. And she should have found a way to see Heisuke sooner, when he had been her best friend and companion during those lonely first few weeks.

Saitō-san had come by quite often too, but always with a purpose, never just to talk. But maybe even then he had wanted to spend time with her? She had no idea. And Okita-san had often come by with Saitō-san in the afternoons when they weren't out on patrol; or he had lain on the bench while they worked in the garden. There had been a few months, she thought, when things had been quite comfortable. Harada-san had often visited as well, and until she was eating dinner regularly with all of them, he had frequently brought her dinner.

She found Heisuke lounging on the engawa (1) in front of his door. He brightened when he saw her and that lifted her spirits.

"Hey, Chizuru-chan! How are you?"

He straightened up and patted the space beside him. Chizuru sat down and smiled at him.

"I'm fine, thank you Heisuke-kun. But how is your head. I heard that it was doing much better… Actually, I'm kind of amazed…"

"Yeah, I know. I mean, you patched me up first, right?"

The bright aqua eyes dimmed along with his expression. Hijikata-san was right, Chizuru realized. He was feeling unhappy about the injury for some reason.

"Yes, I did," she responded, a little uncertainly. "I was so glad you were alright."

"As in not dead? But yeah, me too. Still, he didn't even have a weapon!"

Chizuru stared at him.

"But, Heisuke-kun… I've met Amagiri-san once since then and he is very intimidating; you were very brave."

"You mean stupid?" asked Heisuke bitterly. "Not that I knew he was an Oni, right? Or that he'd be showing up here and chatting with everyone while I was still unconscious. I mean, isn't he our enemy?"

"Um…" Chizuru didn't know how to respond. She had the impression that her friend was really bothered that the man who had almost killed him had shown up the following night as a special guest.

"I know," Heisuke said, cutting in on her thoughts. "I do know that he was there to help Hajime-kun – at least, that's what Sōji heard from Sano-san and Shinpat-san, and Shinpat-san was just telling me the same thing again a few minutes ago."

They sat together in silence for a few minutes, neither one of them fully aware of the other's preoccupation. Heisuke spoke first, his smile a little forced.

"Chizuru-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay? I've been sitting here thinking of myself – and really, my head's a lot better – and, uh, you look kinda down."

"Oh! No, just – there seems to be a lot going on, and I'm sorry that people got hurt…"

Chizuru looked at Heisuke more carefully, noting the dark circles under his eyes and unusual lines of strain.

"Heisuke-kun? Is your head really healing better? You look very tired."

Heisuke rubbed gently at the back of his head.

"Yeah, it's way better – much better than it should be, unless you and Yamazaki totally overstated things in the first place. But, I'm having weird nightmares. Don't tell anyone, okay?"

Chizuru nodded solemnly, then added: "I won't."

"Well… all I see is a wild shore, not beach, rock; and then there are these weird scary guys with wild eyes and really old-style swords and weapons I don't know; and then there's a lot of blood and… yeah. I can't figure it out. I keep waking up as if something really hurts – but it doesn't. And nobody's said anything to me today, so I figure I'm not waking anyone else up, even though I feel like I've been screaming."

Heisuke trailed off. Chizuru was staring at him, concerned.

"That sounds really bad," she admitted. "And you've dreamed this more than once."

"Yes, only the last couple of nights. Last night was worse. Well, actually – I'm not sure if I really remember the night before. But I feel like I've had the strange dream before. Anyway, probably just still getting over that big Oni, right? Was he really here? What happened to Hajime-kun? I haven't seen him since this morning – ah…"

The youngest captain suddenly stopped abruptly. For some reason he seemed embarrassed. Chizuru wondered Saitō-san had been saying to Heisuke that morning.

"Amagiri-san was here," Chizuru confirmed, avoiding the more difficult question. "Did Saitō-san seem alright?"

"Oh, yes, Hajime-kun was just fine – better than Sōji and I, that's for sure. Whatever happened to him he was out practising as usual this morning. Sōji was just kind of teasing, you know, but Hajime-kun made us breakfast. I think he – Hajime-kun – was waiting to get his swords back." Heisuke trailed off, remembering that he wasn't supposed to be talking about that incident with Chizuru-chan – it was probably embarrassing for her.

Chizuru was looking down at her hands. She wondered what Okita-san had been teasing Saitō-san about – and she afraid it had something to do with her. Okita-san always seemed to know things, and Heisuke-kun seemed slightly red-faced.

"Well," she said with another smile that she didn't feel, "I have to go make dinner now. Are you well enough to eat with everyone or shall I bring it to you?"

"You're cooking Chizuru-chan? Awesome – I'll be there!"

"Thank you, Heisuke-kun! I'll see you there."

Chizuru made dinner with Nagakura-san, who was either too tactful, or too oblivious, to notice that she wasn't quite herself. After the third time she saw him look sideways at her while they worked she realized that it was tact.

However, after a quarter of an hour in his undemanding company, she had relaxed enough to become more genuinely interested in his story about the spy he had caught earlier that day.

"How did you manage to pick out that one man, Nagakura-san?" she asked.

"I don't know." Nagakura paused in cutting up vegetables, a task that he did very well and that Chizuru had learned to assign to him. "I just knew; like, I could tell he got very nervous as I got closer, you know?"

Chizuru nodded, but she wondered very much. She might be preoccupied with worrying about Saitō-san and her father, but she was starting to have the strange impression that there might be more part-Oni within the Shinsengumi than just Saitō-san, Harada-san and Hijikata-san. She hoped that none of them would have to go through what Saitō-san had.

At dinner, Chizuru automatically sat between Harada-san and Nagakura-san as usual. She had not been able to prevent an automatic glance towards Saitō-san's usual place, and even though she was feeling much calmer than before, she wasn't sure if she'd managed to preserve her expression. He wasn't there. Had he gone out? Wasn't he going to eat? Was he avoiding her?

Beside her, her companions easily sensed her turmoil. Nagakura looked across at the empty space, and then at Hijikata-san, who shook his head slightly. A little further over, Sōji had a pensive look; Nagakura doubted that he'd missed Chizuru's red eyes and strained expression. Finally, he glanced at his best friend over Chizuru's head and discovered Harada looking back at him, amber eyes a little amused.

"Makes you wonder," said Nagakura, tentatively.

"Hmm?" responded Harada with a patently innocent expression.

A distraction was provided by Heisuke, who in defiance of all past experience, took the largest piece of fish from Nagakura's tray and ate it. Everyone saw it happen but Nagakura, who was too busy trying to find out what Harada thought about the potential for a problem between Chizuru and Saitō. Even Chizuru saw what happened, since she had turned to look at Nagakura when he'd spoken, and was consequently looking down the seated row of people at Heisuke.

There was an almost inaudible ripple of laughter and a few coughs and Nagakura immediately whipped around, too late. Heisuke waved his hands defensively.

"I'm just healing up, Shinpat-san, I need it more than you do!"

After that, things went their usual course, except that everyone was rather more quiet than usual and Chizuru didn't think Nagakura tried in earnest to seize compensation for what he'd lost. Of course, she knew that the Second Division Captain had eaten while they cooked, and was genuinely worried about Heisuke-kun, so she wasn't surprised.

Harada-san was thoughtful all through dinner, but although she felt a little shy with him after what had happened with Saitō-san he was as kind as usual. She was relieved that he didn't blame her for having been attacked. While Nagakura had his half-hearted argument with Heisuke, Harada leaned toward her and asked how she was doing.

"I just thought, with everything going on, you're probably feeling a bit lost, you know? It's been like a circus. I think I've already seen Hijikata-san smile a couple of times today – that always makes me nervous. Means he needs more sleep."

Chizuru gave him a grateful look and smiled at the last part.

"Hijikata-san tries to look after everyone, doesn't he?" she agreed. "I wish I could help instead of causing problems."

"Hey – it's not your fault that the Oni decided to hang out at a Chōshu meeting. It all kind of went sideways from there… But we'll put it back together, you'll see."

The red-head watched her for a moment and then sighed a little inwardly.

"Worried about Saitō?"

Chizuru looked down for a moment and then nodded.

"You know it's been really hard on him, right? Not even so much all the life and death stuff but being in a spotlight?"

"Yes." It came out as a whisper and she cleared her throat slightly.

"So just… be a little patient, okay? It'll be fine. Anyway, Hijikata-san told me to go along with him this evening to visit Sen-hime and Amagiri-san. If nothing else, I'll let you know how things go – if Saitō doesn't, which he probably will. Alright?"

"Thank you, Harada-san."

"It's no big deal. I mean, I can't disobey the Vice Commander, can I? Besides, I think he's just trying to get us out of the house so he can get some sleep."

Chizuru laughed a little.

"That's better! Let's see if Shinpachi can be talked into washing dishes as well as creating them…"

"Oh no! I'll be fine."

"Uh-huh…"

In the end, Okita-san insisted on helping with the dishes, Nagakura-san was sent off with Heisuke-kun to make sure he went back to bed, and Harada-san left to meet up with Saitō-san. Wherever he was. Chizuru swallowed unhappily and decided that after doing the dishes she'd see if Heisuke-kun was still up. And if Hijikata-san stayed up late again then she could bring him tea. If she was busy then there would less time to think about problems that she couldn't solve right now.

"Coming Chizuru-chan? Moping over Hajime-kun won't get the dishes clean."

Startled and embarrassed, Chizuru looked up. The room was empty and Okita-san was waiting for her in the doorway. She couldn't quite make out his expression, but the mocking edge was missing from his slight smile.

"Sorry, Okita-san," she murmured, without protesting his words.

He ushered her out ahead of him, but when they reached the small courtyard he stopped.

"I'll go back to the kitchen for soap. Can you set up?"

"Yes," she said, surprised. Usually there was plenty of everything near the well.

But as soon as Okita-san left, Chizuru saw Saitō-san step forward a little from the shadowy place under the sakura. He was almost invisible in the failing light of evening; Okita-san must have known he was there before they came out to the well. She felt her heartbeat accelerate and tried to stay calm. He had waited to see her and she didn't want to make things worse by being too emotional.

She walked to where he was standing, willing herself not to run. Slowly she could make out more of his face, all planes and shadows above the white of his scarf. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, either from his expression or from anything she could sense.

"Konbanwa, Yukimura," he greeted her when she was within an arm's length. (2)

Chizuru tried to return the conventional greeting and found that she couldn't. Her throat was dry and suddenly too tight to speak. Saitō-san took a deep breath.

"I am very sorry for leaving that way. More than just sorry. But I thought, even if you were angry and… disappointed… you would give me another chance to get it right. I had to see you before facing all the others, and Amagiri-san."

"What did I do wrong?" It was the only thing she could articulate, for some reason.

Saitō-san stared at her. Then he gave an unexpected, if tired, laugh and pulled her tightly against him, cradling her head against his shoulder. His heartbeat betrayed the anxiety she had been unable to see or sense before.

"I keep forgetting. It's just… You are not like anyone else…"

She had no idea what he meant, but it didn't matter. Her world was right again. Even if it was a little frightening to feel that way. As the relief swept over her, she became more aware of being pressed against his lean, muscled form and she closed her eyes, shy and at ease at the same time.

"I really do have to go this time," Saitō said softly into her hair. "Harada is waiting for me and he's been very patient already."

"Oh… I mean, of course." Now the rest of her mind seemed to connect again and she blushed deeply, although it was probably less visible than usual in the gloom.

As though he could hear her thoughts, she felt Saitō-san nod. He still hadn't let go.

"And I expect that at least Sōji and Hijikata-san are watching us. But…" He shrugged.

Not long afterward, Chizuru watched him walk silently out of the courtyard. She didn't move for a while, but eventually she crossed to the well and looked around. Sure enough, a shadow detached itself from the far end of the engawa. She was a little surprised to see Hijikata-san rather than Okita-san.

"Nice evening," remarked the Vice Commander equably.

Chizuru knew that her cheeks were red, but she bowed and tried to ignore her embarrassment.

"Yes, Hijikata-san."

"See you tomorrow Yukimura. Hopefully, we'll all get some sleep tonight. Oh… and I'm afraid you're on your own for those dishes. I sent Sōji back to bed."

"Um, yes, Hijikata-san. Goodnight."

[II - Boys' Night Out]

When Saitō crossed into the large front courtyard, he found Harada waiting for him, arms folded, shoulders and one leg propped against a nearby wall. His spear was beside him, and he appeared to be watching the front gate. He turned at Saitō's approach and picked up his spear.

Saitō's relief at finding Yukimura so completely and transparently happy to be with him despite his earlier behaviour had left him slightly shaken. At the same time, having that situation so positively resolved had restored a great deal of his equanimity. The net effect was that he was outwardly much as he usually was, which Harada found difficult to interpret, since it was patently obvious on the facts that he'd been speaking with Chizuru-chan.

"Everything okay?" the spearman ventured at last.

"Yes. Thank you for waiting."

Harada found himself listening to his companion with more than just his ears. Despite all the worries of the past few days, he felt like he was starting to get the hang of all the extra mental and emotional "noise" he was getting now. He wondered what it must be like for Saitō, who he vaguely understood to be closer somehow to a full Oni. Of course, the man had always had an uncanny ability to sense others while at the same time being able to remain almost invisible to those around him when he chose. Sōji was similar.

Right now, he was reasonably certain that Saitō was content. Rather than dwell on why this might be the case, which was neither productive nor especially pleasant, Harada tried to understand exactly what information or feelings he was getting from the outwardly impassive man. After a few minutes, he thought he was starting to discern some kind of pattern, but it was very difficult to put into words.

"Stop."

At Saitō's quiet but unmistakeably serious command, Harada came a halt and looked around. Seeing nothing other than a few people still out and about in the fine summer evening, and sensing no danger, he turned to the Third Division Captain, who was looking directly at him, thin brows drawn together into a slight frown.

"What are you doing?" Saitō asked him bluntly.

Harada didn't miss the undertone of suspicion – but maybe he was expecting it. It only took him a moment to understand the problem. He had unwittingly been challenging Saitō's mental and emotional defenses. Since that struck him as both rude and potentially dangerous to his relationship with the other captain – and health – he immediately apologized.

"Gomenasai, Saitō. (3) I've been getting a lot of… input… from people around me since the Ikedaya and it seems that I accidentally trespassed – although I don't really know what that means. I'm hoping the Oni can help me sort out how to sort of direct things better."

He shrugged. There wasn't much more he could say. Saitō just nodded, however, and they continued on in silence for a while, covering the ground very rapidly.

"Ah, Saitō?"

The other man looked toward him, which he took as an invitation to continue.

"Did you know that your eyes kind of started to turn gold back there? It's a little scary. Also, how are we moving like this exactly?"

He watched Saitō absorb the first information with a flicker of annoyance. The second question made him frown and come to a halt. Fortunately, Harada had been expecting that reaction and stopped beside him.

"We're not running," the red-head explained. "We're just kind of stepping from point to point. Very impressive, but I have no idea how it works."

Saitō gave him a rueful grimace. Sometimes the man could look downright human. For a demon-in-training.

"Neither do I," the swordsman admitted. "In fact, I didn't notice, which is… disturbing. Thank you for mentioning it."

Harada almost commented that he could understand why Saitō might be distracted at the moment, but decided to leave that kind of teasing alone for a while. It was a bit complicated right now.

"Well, at least we won't be late," he said instead.

"Hai."

They walked on, and Harada got the impression that Saitō was more focussed again. It was actually slightly alarming to realize that Saitō, of all people, could even be that distracted. Harada felt a pang of regret, but set it aside. Whatever was going on between those two was a bit intense; he wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. Maybe he'd picked up more from Saitō than he'd realised.

"Were my eyes really changing colour?"

"Yes."

There was a genuine sigh from Saitō.

"I hope that Amagiri-san is able to teach me how to deal with this aspect of our unusual background."

Harada started slightly at the "our" and shot a glance at Saitō. The other man's eyes were dark blue again, which was reassuring, but there was an unusual gleam in them that surprised the spearman. Was that humour?

They arrived at the front gate of Sen-hime's Kyoto home. Harada decided to take a chance on Saitō's temper.

"Chotto matte, Saitō. (4) You probably don't want to talk about it, but… what happened to you? That night – whatever night it was. You see, I heard you. Not out loud. In my head. And it sounded pretty bad. What the hell hurt so much?" So much that you were screaming.

Saitō folded his arms and looked down. It wasn't an outright refusal; in fact, he seemed to be thinking. With the sun completely gone, the man was reduced to black and white, and Harada realised for the first time that there was a narrow lock of white hair down the left side of the rather thin face.

"According to Amagiri-san, when I attacked you I used Oni powers that were beyond my body to hold safely. So my body was burning up. Amagiri-san and – I think – Sen-hime helped me complete something the Oni call the Trial of Body. It transformed me from being mostly human to being mostly Oni so that I could safely channel the power that was killing me. Unfortunately, it was a difficult process."

Harada listened to the clear, unemotional summary and heard a lot of what had been left out. Such as fear, uncertainty and suffering. Then again, he had felt the echoes of the event at the time.

"So it's magic?"

"More or less. Amagiri-san says that for the Oni there isn't much difference between the body and what they call the soul."

"And you're here to learn more about it?"

"No, I am here for combat training."

Harada blinked. Saitō wasn't scary enough already?

"You're kidding."

"No… my timing and accuracy are both off, in fact."

"So you did almost kill me?"

"I am truly sorry." Saitō met Harada's gaze squarely, but he looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Then that's done with now, right? Done and paid for?"

Saitō said nothing.

"I want it to be done," Harada said more forcefully. "It's no good being stuck on something that you couldn't control and neither of us can change."

"…You are correct. It is done."

"Well, that's good to know. Alright, time to go."

[II - Boys' Night Out cont...]

Harada stayed for the first part of Saitō's training with Amagiri-san. He wasn't given a choice, and rapidly formed the conclusion that Saitō was in for (another) rough evening. He also came to respect the Oni's abilities.

After just a few minutes of explanation, Saitō and Amagiri-san took up stances opposite each other in a large room. Saitō had changed into hakama (5) and both men had stripped to the waist. The size difference was significant, on top of which Saitō looked painfully thin, in Harada's opinion, which was seconded by Amagiri-san.

"Eat more," he told Saitō flatly. "You are healing but it's going to leave you unfit if you continue as you are now."

"Yes, Amagiri-san."

"Then we'll begin. Harada-san, you will watch."

"Yes, Amagiri-san." No wonder they get along, this guy gives off the same "don't fuck with me I'm in charge" vibe as Hijikata-san. But more polite.

"Usually," the Oni told him, with a calm, sky-blue gaze. "And you may wish to remember that I am quite capable of picking up your thoughts, especially when they concern me."

For most of the next hour, it was all about speed and timing. At first they started with Saitō attacking. He was given free choice of attacks or attack sequences, and Harada watched with interest. He'd forgotten that Saitō had a very respectable command of unarmed fighting styles. Of course, Sōji and especially Heisuke were excellent at combined forms; one just tended to forget that Saitō was quite as capable. Despite this, Amagiri-san blocked everything easily and stopped the training just a few minutes in.

"This will not work unless you stop thinking about your moves – at least for now. Just attack. You have enough basic skill to get by."

That's basic skill? Harada thought incredulously.

"I understand," replied Saitō. "I should have known."

Amagiri-san nodded without comment and they tried again. Saitō improved, to the extent that both men were eventually just a blur. But somehow, Saitō still didn't land a hit with fist or foot.

"Maybe one day," Amagiri commented imperturbably. "But your first love is swords, and what you care about makes all the difference with our kind. Of course, you haven't reached your full speed yet."

For just a moment, Harada thought that the deceptively mild sky-blue eyes rested on him, as if in warning. He wants me to remember this.

During the second round, Amagiri-san was attacking as well as defending. Although he announced each attack, very few attacks missed completely, although the speed and timing of Saitō's blocks and dodges clearly improved. The smaller man was looking very much the worse for wear when the round ended.

"You will heal soon enough, of course," Amagiri said, appearing to be completely indifferent to the bruises flowering across Saitō's torso, face, arms and no doubt legs as well. "However, you will need to assume your Oni form for the next exercise anyway and it will speed your healing. We'll eat first. Please bring the food and water from next door."

Amagiri nodded to a door and Saitō obediently went to get the food.

"You may go now, Harada-san," Amagiri told the spearman, his polite bow in contrast to the tone of the dismissal. "I felt it was important for you to see even a small part of what you may face in the future. In both senses: as a human who may one day become an Oni, and as a captain of the Shinsengumi who may have to face one or more Oni as enemies."

Harada bowed in return. His expression reflected a shrewd appreciation for Amagiri's warning. He'd been left in no doubt of what a full Oni could do. So why the hell weren't these guys running the country?

"Because very few of us think like humans. Which is fortunate for all of us. Oni are not human, Harada-san."

Harada saw that Saitō had returned and was listening intently. He wondered if Amagiri considered the quiet man to be human or Oni. Looking at the man that he'd known for several years, he had some doubts himself. Well-defined, almost sharp features, deep blue eyes, dark blue-purple hair – and severe bruises that had already gone from newly-inflicted to black to fading. At that moment, Saitō's aloof, impassive expression, over crossed arms and bare chest, made him seem more alien than familiar.

In the past, Harada had seen Saitō as Hijikata-san's shadow. What was he becoming now?

"Harada."

Saitō was still standing by the trays that he had set down. He hadn't missed the spearman's evaluating, slightly narrow-eyed look. Chizuru would have recognized it at once from her first several weeks with the Shinsengumi.

"Saitō?"

"I haven't changed that much." The tone wasn't quite flat; Harada thought he heard a very faint note of appeal in it.

He glanced over at Amagiri-san to see what he thought of Saitō's assertion and was surprised to see him looking pensive rather than annoyed or disappointed.

"That is quite true, in the sense that it was intended. And now, Harada-san, please give our regards to Sen-hime and Kimigiku-san. I hope that you have a pleasant evening."

"Arigatō, Amagiri-san. Good luck, Saitō." Better you than me.

This time he was watching Saitō and sensed the flicker of wry amusement that indicated that he had been heard. He might get the hang of this yet…

[III - Girl Talk?]

Not far away, Sen was seated comfortably in the large reception room at the front of the house. It was really too big to be used for three people, but the extra space also made it cooler and the scent from the garden was very pleasant.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked Kimigiku in a slightly teasing voice.

"I think that Saitō-san will be extraordinary – if he lives through the next year. Also, it's a good thing that Amagiri is giving him an idea of what he's really up against."

"That's not what I meant. Saitō-san and Chizuru-chan are adorable and they will have lovely, talented babies who will adore their Aunt Osen." Sen gave her bodyguard a provocative, not to say challenging look.

"You really don't have a problem with him being a well-trained killer? I know more about him than you do."

Sen made one of her lightning changes from light-hearted sixteen to serious Princess of the Oni.

"I know that they need each other and that they know it themselves. From our point of view, Chizuru-chan is too vulnerable, too much a daughter of her parents, to restore the Eastern Clans; Saitō-san will be her sword and shield, and he will be utterly ruthless in her defence. Also, the match would greatly appease the Shiranui. They are attracted to strong alliances. As you know. They are far more likely to accept Saitō-san as an Oni and a descendant of their Clan if he marries Chizuru-chan. And they are far more likely to accept Chizuru-chan as the Lady of the Eastern Clans if she marries Shiranui-sama's son."

Kimigiku gave her young charge a satiric look, but she nodded.

"That's an interesting point. You've given it some thought, haven't you? Very well then… You want my opinion on Harada-san?"

"Of course!"

"Well, it will have to wait. He's here now."

A/NOTE: Thank you to everyone for reading!

I should mention that not everything constitutes "mind reading", since a lot of intuitive or experienced people are able to figure out what somebody else is thinking. However, it would be a lot easier if you had some genuine Oni powers behind you! :)

Vocabulary (with my apologies; if I ever do more substantial revisions this will go in prior chapters where it would be more useful)

(1) engawa - wooden covered walkway (like an unenclosed porch) running around the outside of a house; may be used like outdoor corridors

(2) konbanwa - good evening

(3) gomenasai - I'm sorry (more formal than gomene and less formal than gomenasai deshita; still somewhat familiar)

(4) chotto matte - wait a moment please (matte on it's own "wait" is very informal, chotto matte kudasai would be more formal/polite)

(5) hakama - flowing men's trousers; in modern Japan used mostly for kendo and similar martial arts and for formal attire