17 Serpent 1189

Today was the Iaijutsu tournament, the final event of the championship, and a strange day it was.

The tournament was going well right up until the quarterfinals, when I came up against Hiruma Tamotsu-san. I saw through him. I struck first. But as I drew my ankle turned. My strike wobbled. Hiruma-san dodged it easily and defeated me. He then went on to defeat both Kakita Toshiaki-san in the semi-finals and Toku Jun-san in the finals, so I am somewhat mollified. I think, between Hiruma-san and myself, we may have broken Kakita Toshiaki’s “unassailable” confidence.

Grandfather had come to watch, though. He was stern as ever. I came in second for the tournament, by only two points, to Hiruma-san. (Ironically, if he had lost to Toku-san I would have taken the championship, but I think I prefer the smaller blow to my pride.) First he asked me “You’re not satisfied with this, are you?” Of course not! I came to win, after all. Then he asked if I might be tractable enough to join the clan army. I might have, had a better offer not come along that very evening.

I, and my companions from the road save Kakita-san (who appeared to have little interest in the “fate” Iuchi-san believes binds the five of us together), were called in for dinner with Bayushi Soushichirou-sama and Kitsuki Mai-sama – and Prince Tadashi-sama! I was very honored to have been a part of that dinner, as nerve-wracking as it was.

When I return home, I will have to convince Father and Grandfather of why I prefer to go on a musha shugyo, rather than joining the army. I expect they will understand.

15 Serpent 1189

Another day, another disappointing athletic performance from me. I did not even manage the top eight in the race, although I was close. My stamina failed me on the straightaway before the wall, and I could not recover. Then in jiujitsu I fell in the first round to Usagi-san. As much as I would like to blame fatigue, the voice of Mirumoto suggests even lack of sleep should not have dulled my reactions that badly. I attempted to recenter myself over lunch, but I could not concentrate even well enough for that.

It is worth noting that the Sumai tournament was won by Bayushi Mirai-san, who faced off agains Hida Haruko-san in the final round. I think everyone was surprised by this; certainly Hida-san was, and I think Bayushi-san was, too.

The afternoon was somewhat better. My companions from the road and I were all a part of the same hunting team, and I am now even more convinced that the kami have had a hand in bringing us all together. We also had Toku-san, Bayushi Mirai-san, and Daidoji-san on our team, and the eight of us hunted well together. Hiruma-san is an excellent tracker, and despite the interference of another group of ronin*, we managed to bring in three of the four wani in the field, as well as a clutch of eggs.

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*Emerald Magistrate Kitsuki-sama has sworn us to secrecy on this matter, and so while I record the events on this page for my own memory, anyone discovered to have broken this seal and read the contents of this page before the appointed time shall feel the full wrath of the Mirumoto Niten.

I do not believe these to be actual ronin. While they wore Rokugani armor, and carried katana, not even ronin would behave in such a fashion.

Toku-san commented early on in the hunt that he thought we were being shadowed. I thought at the time he could have been noticing the Daidoji Iron Warriors who were refereeing the hunt, but that proved not to be the case.

On the trail of the second wani, Toku-san spoke up again. I rather like him, despite the way he tried to peep on us last night. He’s clever and brave, like one might expect of a Monkey, and if that is sometimes misapplied, well, he took his punishment with good humor. All of that aside, this time he was pointing out that the trail was far too easy to follow. Sure enough, the second wani was all-too-obviously bait for a trap.

Hiruma-san vanished into the bushes to scout the hollow; it seems the reputation of the Steel Hummingbirds is well deserved. When he returned, it was decided we would split into two groups and reverse the trap. They had killed one of the Daidoji shadows, and only Bayushi-san was willing to just walk away once we learned that. She’s all right, for a Scorpion, but she is still a Scorpion.

I must admit, a small part of me was glad of the fight. In some small way I feel like it redeemed my performance in the melee yesterday.

When we launched our attack, one of the “ronin” shouted something in a language none of us had ever heard before. Kitsune-san said it wasn’t the tongue of the Ivory Kingdoms, and it didn’t sound like anything Iuchi-san had heard among the Unicorn. I think they are almost certainly gaijin, and I worry that they have come to try and destabilize Rokugan. At any rate, they all fell in short order, like the dogs they were. They fought strangely, though, as though they were somehow able to attack while defending, which shouldn’t be possible. One of them managed to get a lucky stab in on me, but I put him down in my next strike.

While Daidoji-san’s team pursued the last living member of the ambush, Bayushi-san finished off the wani they had used as bait for their trap, and Hiruma-san noticed that the gaijin had a watcher who was out of range and running. I do not think we have seen the last of these foreigners.

Trouble piled upon trouble in that hunt. Hiruma-san tracked the third wani for us, but as we were putting it down a scream rang through the forest. My feet carried me to it before the coherent thought to help had formed, and my teammates were only moments behind. What we found was horrifying.

In a tiny clearing I found the body of Daigotsu Kurami-san, the lone Spider in the Championship. Four teal-green fletched arrows protruded from her back. According to Kitsuki-sama that fletching is characteristic of Tsuruchi arrows, but I do not think Tsuruchi Kouji-san dishonorable enough to kill another samurai – even a Spider – in such a way. I know little of the Kitsuki method, but enough to suspect that Kitsuki-sama believes that answer to be too easy. While there is no love lost for the Spider, the fact that a contestant has been murdered during the contest is . . . troubling.

Both my team and Hida Haruko-san’s team have been sworn to secrecy on this matter. Hopefully it will be unsealed soon, but I have my doubts. Perhaps I am being paranoid, but her murder so soon after the gaijin ambush suggests a connection to me.

14 Serpent 1189

Noon

I have neither excuse for nor understanding of my poor showing in the grand melee this morning. Despite everything, I was caught off-guard by the starting bell, and before I managed to gather myself the Ikoma next to me had grazed me rather impressively. I joined Ryouko and Hikari in the center of the field, but my slow start continued to hinder me. My friends eliminated those in the center, and I took what I thought was a daring move to engage Daidoji Yuuka-san. I thought to eliminate one of the threats from the battlefield, and given the infighting among the Crane, clustered in their corner, I thought I had a chance.

I cut her, but I do not believe I cut deeply enough to trouble her, and not even Ryouko was quick enough to aid me. Daidoji-san knocked me flat in one blow, and my honored ancestor has seen fit to scold me all morning for it.

Ryouko and Hikari showed well, at least, even if Ryouko did lose her temper at Daidoji-san after I fell. She was eliminated nearly as quickly as I was by that woman.

Amazingly, the grand melee came down to Hikari and a Yasuki courtier. Hikari had been wounded by Hida Ryouta-san, though, and Yasuki-san had emerged thus far unscathed. When they traded blows it was Yasuki-san who remained standing, much to everyone’s surprise.

After my poor showing in the melee I decided I would prove myself in the horse race. It quickly emerged that the one to beat was Daidoji-san. Kakita-san says she has a reputation among the Crane for gambling and risk-taking, and after watching her race I believe it.

I nearly managed. Emboldened by my race to Tsuma yesterday, I took the course at a full gallop. I made every hit, I threaded the obstacles with the grace of a Shinjo (no, really, I watched Shinjo Khan-san go through, and everything I had done I saw mirrored in his performance) . . . but I could not make the final jump. In the end, Shinjo-san and I tied for second behind Daidoji-san. He seems like an interesting fellow. Perhaps if I can become friends with Iuchi-san and Shinjo-san, relations with the Unicorn will relax a little?

At any rate, I know now what my first goal must be on my path to proving the superiority of Niten. I must surpass Daidoji Yuuka-san.

To that end, Ryouko, Hikari and I all agreed to cram together over lunch today for law, history, and heraldry. . . and perhaps later tonight I will let Ryouko give me some pointers on jiujitsu. Practicing jiujitsu with Ryouko, though, can be a little hazardous.

. . .

Well. That was an eventful night. I’m glad nothing untoward happened to Akodo Takamichi-san, but I do wish I hadn’t had to go looking for him. It is now well past midnight, and the footrace is happening first thing in the morning.

At any rate, I managed to do passably well on the Law and History test, although I will forever be embarrassed about calling my wakizashi my “duty” instead of my “honor” like a Scorpion. I could have explained it away. Enten is my soul, and Hyoten is my honor, but honor – like justice – burns like fire. It is duty which is an icy bound. But saying that to the Herald . . .

I did rather better than I expected on the Heraldry exam, and won the full four points. I was somewhat surprised to realize that my performance there tied me with Asahina-san for the lead.

After dinner, just as I was about to suggest jiujitsu practice to Ryouko and Hikari, I overheard Daidoji-san organizing an informal girls-only match. That went well, and I feel a little more confident about the sumai competition tomorrow, but that was also where the night started to get eventful.

I was up against Daidoji-san in the ring, and she managed to suplex me. This was annoying, but it did put me at exactly the right angle to see up into the tree branches. Some of the boys had evidently decided it would be fun to spy on our match. We caught Kitsune-san and Toku-san, and Bayushi Mirai-san and Nanbu-san had a brilliant idea for their punishment. They spent the rest of the night hanging by their ankles from the eaves in nothing but their underwear, their faces done up like geisha. A suitable punishment, and one which would injure nothing but the boys’ pride. I let Kitsune-san down to aid in the search, so I guess it was only Toku-san who spent the whole night that way.

There was hardly a pause before I overheard what was about to happen between the Crabs and the Unicorns, and it sounded like something that might get people disqualified. I don’t mind if someone gets injured competing – that’s just a part of the game – but the Crabs were talking about luring Shinjo-san and another Unicorn outside the city to administer a beating, and that’s a different animal entirely.

I’m not going to defend Shinjo-san’s friend; drunk or not, it was a truly terrible insult he offered. However, I saw no good that could come of the planned beating. So I got the Crabs involved in a haiku drinking match. I am too tired right at this moment to recall exactly how I began it, but thankfully they were also drunk and the game was a sufficient distraction.

There is not much to tell about the search for Akodo Takamichi-san, I’m afraid. I wasn’t there when he was found, but Hiruma-san assures us that all was well and he returned to the Golden Carp without incident. And now I must sleep, or I will never manage the race tomorrow.