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Kanbei: Oh, Mai.

Mai: Kanbei-san...... good morning.

(She looks even sleepier than usual this morning.)

Kanbei: You seem to have worked quite late, didn't you?

Mai: Ah……………… no, not really.

Mai gave an awkward smile and hurriedly walked away.

(Other than her eyelids looking a little heavy, she seems the same as usual......)

Kanbei: Here, lie down. It should be more comfortable than standing.

Mai: Thank you...... I just felt a little dizzy, that's all.

Kanbei: I asked the maids to prepare some rice porridge earlier. Eat that, and get plenty of rest today.

He gently laid Mai, whom he had been carrying in his arms, down onto the bedding.

(It ended up like this after all. I wonder if the exhaustion finally caught up with her?)

Kanbei gently stroked her forehead and cheek with a tender touch.

Her soft cheeks were dyed red by the setting sun, but they did not feel particularly warm.

Kanbei: Is there anything else you'd like me to do for you?

Mai: ......No, not particularly......

Kanbei: I'll do anything for you. Go ahead and make a selfish request with that cute mouth of yours.

Mai: Fufu. You've already done what I wanted you to do. I'm satisfied.

Mai: More importantly, I think you're busy too, Kanbei-san, so please go back to your work.

Mai: Besides...... I've already caused everyone a lot of trouble, so I can't impose on you any further......

Kanbei: .......

(That couldn't be further from the truth, though.)

Mai immediately fills his heart with her delicate thoughtfulness.

(It's endearing, and I think she's adorable...... but I wish her heart would be filled with nothing but me.)

Kanbei: Mai. Do you want to sleep peacefully?

Mai: ......? Yes.

At his quiet question, Mai nodded.

Kanbei: Good. I understand.

Kanbei placed a kiss on her eyelids and watched as she closed them, looking relieved.

(So that is what Mai wishes for.)

(Then I will grant it for her with my own hands.)

(To let you, my precious one...... sleep peacefully and serenely.)

Man: Um, well, uh...... Why is Kanbei-sama personally......?

Kanbei: Because I have business with you.

Kanbei had visited the merchant who was currently making a haori for Mai.

Recently, Mai had been holding the same piece of fabric night after night.

Kanbei: That's because you kept adding unreasonable requests after the fact, isn't it?

Kanbei: Humans find it difficult to clearly understand what they want, as well as to convey it to others.

Kanbei: But that doesn't give you the right to take away her precious time.

Man: Th...... that's......

(Oh, how pitiful. He's gone completely pale.)

Kanbei: Humans are foolish and imperfect creatures. That's what makes them adorable.

Kanbei: But right now, I can't turn a blind eye to your foolishness.

Kanbei: So I'll show you the true desire that lies dormant within your heart.

Man: Your desire, you mean?

Kanbei: Do you want to continue living peacefully within these walls?

Man: ............!

(The rest should be obvious without me having to say it.)

Kanbei: I will guide you myself now that you have finally become aware of your own true desire.

Kanbei calmly smiled at the trembling man.

(Well then—by dawn, everything should be taken care of.)

(All of the things that have been troubling Mai.)

————The next morning.

Kanbei: It seems you slept well.

Mai: Yes. ......Since I ended up sleeping, I need to get back to work right away.

Kanbei: Mai.

Just as she hurriedly tried to get up, Kanbei gently pushed her back down.

Mai: ............! W-what's wrong?

Kanbei: There's nothing left to worry about, so you can relax. Get some more rest.

Mai: Nothing left to worry about......? Mmh......

He silenced the lips that were about to ask what he had done with a kiss.

Mai: Mm, ah......

(......That sweet voice. Good girl.)

While stroking her head and deepening the warmth in a way that spoiled her, Mai's body gradually relaxed.

Kanbei, pleased by her reaction, slowly pulled his lips away.

Kanbei: There is no need to ask.

Kanbei: I respected your sense of morality. That should be enough, shouldn't it?

(That's why......)

(Once in a while, you should surrender yourself to my affection and become a being that simply feels happiness.)

Kanbei gazed into Mai's eyes, which had melted with desire, and once again cast a shadow over her.

Two months later.

Rikyu: ...So? The great shogun who made such a grand declaration is staying behind like a good boy?

Hisahide: He's special. Whether it's because of his bloodline or simply the whim of the gods and Buddhas, that extraordinary presence of his draws people in.

Hisahide: If we bring him to the capital, it'll almost certainly cause a commotion.

Rikyu: Even so, the Kanrei-sama is going out of his way to travel together with a tea master like me?

Hisahide: .....................Because you're the very embodiment of disrespect.

Rikyu: What a ridiculous misunderstanding.

Hisahide: That's rich coming from someone who only stopped pretending a few days ago.

Rikyu: We're equals, aren't we? We get along just fine, and it seems like we'd hit it off.

Hisahide: It's the other way around.

Rikyu let out a scornful snort at Hisahide, whose face twisted into an obvious frown.

Rikyu: Then why did you ask someone like me, who clearly doesn't get along with you?

Hisahide: My wallet.

Hisahide: A merchant and a tea master—you wear two faces, and you possess abundant wealth and influence over powerful warriors.

Hisahide: And lately, I've heard you've been playing around with the information you gather there and using it to conduct experiments on the battlefield?

Rikyu: You sure did your homework. What are you, some kind of monster with ears everywhere?

Hisahide: And what about you? Don't you have eyes at all? No matter how you look at me, I'm just an ordinary human.

Rikyu: .....................I see.

Sensing the fervent gazes of the women they passed fixed on Hisahide, Rikyu narrowed his eyes.

Rikyu: You've got quite the personality.

Hisahide: That makes two of us.

Rikyu: So? After digging up that much, you're not going to pry into my past?

Hisahide: I did have your background looked into, just briefly. But there's no need to pry any further than that.

Hisahide: Unnecessary information is just that—unnecessary. This isn't some gathering where we spend the whole night pouring our hearts out and comforting each other.

Rikyu: Hah, you're pretty cold and straightforward, Hisahide-chan.

Rikyu: But that only makes me wonder even more. If this is just a businesslike relationship, there must've been easier ways to bring me over.

Rikyu: Like using this so-called history alteration to conveniently rewrite my past.

Hisahide: ...That would be meaningless.

Rikyu: Hm?

Hisahide: If the path a person has walked is what shapes who they are...

Hisahide: Do you really think the person left behind after their past has been tampered with would still be the same person?

Hisahide: I remain myself. And you remain yourself. I wonder if that's possible.

Rikyu: ........

After a brief moment of silence, dry laughter echoed almost immediately.

Rikyu: Who knows.

Rikyu: It's not like either of us has walked such a noble path. Me... and probably you, too.

Rikyu: At the very least, from where I stand, you have the same look in your eyes as those people.

Hisahide: Those people?

Rikyu: Isn't it ironic? The more you hate someone, the more you end up becoming just like them.

Rikyu: Well, don't worry. It's only a little.

Hisahide: ...We really don't seem like we'd ever get along.

Just as an unmistakably heavy sigh escaped him, the main street suddenly grew lively.

Rikyu and Hisahide held their breath and slipped into the shadows to hide.

Rikyu: —There it is.

He pointed toward the group making its way down the center of the path the people had opened by bowing with their foreheads to the ground, walking with an oddly unhurried pace.

Rikyu: The Shogun-sama certainly wields tremendous power.

Rikyu: But whoever came up with something like that has quite the twisted sense of taste.

Hisahide: You're the last person I want to hear talking about someone's taste. This was Yoshiteru-sama's order.

Rikyu: ...Yoshiteru-sama's?

Hisahide: Rotten sweets have no place in this capital. They must be disposed of along with the container they're in.

Hisahide: To do that...... you need time to smoke them out, and a puppet to use, don't you?

—————At the same time.

Outside the capital, on the outskirts of a certain settlement, Kanbei and Saizo had arrived.

Saizo: ......Is that the hideout you mentioned?

Kanbei: Yes. The hideout of those who are planning a rebellion in the capital soon.

Saizo: Rebellion............

Kanbei: Now then, we arrived a little early, so shall we go over it once more?

Kanbei: Right now, in the capital, a man from a samurai family who claims to have received a direct order from Ashikaga Yoshiteru himself holds great power.

Kanbei: After taking charge of the capital's reconstruction, he used his abundant wealth to carry out renovations of the palace where the Shogun resides, while...

Kanbei: He has even provided aid to the people who were struggling to make ends meet.

Saizo: But...... that's only what he shows on the surface, isn't it?

Kanbei: Yes. There is a hierarchy within the capital.

Kanbei: And through that tyrannical rule, even the former guards who gathered after hearing of the Shogun's return have been divided.

Kanbei: Those there are the ones who hold resentment toward the current system.

Saizo: I can understand how they feel. But if they do something like that, the capital will quickly become a sea of flames......

Kanbei: That's why we will guide them.

Kanbei smiled compassionately and tilted his head slightly.

Kanbei: What we must determine, Saizo, is...

Kanbei: Whether they are merely pawns that only know how to suck up the honey.

Kanbei: ......Humans are all precious, though. Including you.

“His seemingly gentle smile hides a mind that's impossible to decipher by human standards. A strategist who treats warfare as a mere game of life and death, he views humans as "cute playthings" to collect.”

Shingen is also a strategist, but war isn’t a game to him. He also doesn’t like overlooking the humanity in others, trying again and again to keep the spark of life from going out in his friends, Kenshin and Kennyo.

Shingen’s flirt mode is set to perma-lock, so it would be interesting to see if Kanbei is also a ladies man.

In Shingen’s route, he does the standard otome kidnapping, so you’re a hostage for a while.

As for the ages, there is no official age for IkeSen characters, but Shingen and Kennyo are considered the oldest of them all.

Here is Saizō’s description:

“A timid, pessimistic young man by day, but a lethal specter of death by night. He spares no one on the battleground―whoever crosses blades with him is beyond the point of no return.”

Kenshin is just as deadly on the battlefield, but where he is seriously and thoroughly convinced that he cannot be killed, Saizō is apologizing for still being alive, every chance he gets.

Kenshin isn’t really quiet or mysterious. He’s quite vocal about the things he dislikes, and is almost always issuing some manner of threat (usually to Sasuke, but Shingen also gets yelled at).

He’s pretty easy to tame, despite his yandere ways. Just tell him whatever cheapo alcohol you have is “the best thing ever” and he’ll believe because you said so.

No one would ever describe Kenshin a “timid,” but he is initially suspicious of your modern disposition and he is set in his maladaptive ways until your help him overcome some of them.

Kenshin does hold you captive for about 10 tickets worth of story (it might have been longer).

I get strong Ring-like puppy vibes from Saizō, so I’m really looking forward to playing his route. I want to uncover what happened in his ninja village when he was a child.

And finally, Rikyu and his unfortunate Scatman glasses:

“A flamboyant warlord renowned for his mastery of the tea ceremony. Beneath the gaudy decor, he manipulates information gleaned from others in the tea room to bring calamity and misfortune, all with a twisted smile on his face.”

Both Rikyu and Mitsuhide are shadiness personified, but Rikyu is more chaotic, while Mitsuhide is very calculated and controlled, regardless of what it personally costs him.

As one of the three (Sasuke and Ranmaru are the other two) characters who is in love with you regardless of who you pick, Mitsuhide firmly believes that, due to the nature of his work, he cannot be allowed to have someone like you in his life.

His heart doesn’t care about all of the logic his brain is trying to spit out, though, so he can’t keep himself from yearning.

Mitsuhide falls immediately, and he falls with the speed of an Indiana Jones-sized boulder going off a cliff. He’s not afraid of self-denial, however, so he’s prepared to love you from afar to keep you safe.

SA can vary on the extreme, the first screenshot below is SA but on a lesser scale which can be unwanted physical affection. But rape is the most extreme level. Rikyu doesn’t rape Mai in his route but continues on with the SA, leading it to mess with Mai that her judgement is clouded/corrupted.

Translation by @/ashangotome on Rikyu’s route chapter 2:

Chapter 11 on his premium story (May also be present in his normal story)

I switch to my desktop afterwards, but I suggest to be careful when Rikyu's route comes out. Still, after chapter 10, it will appear more especially during the attire challenges. I will say to be on guard and be ready to log off or skip when you get further into his route.

In truth, everyone in the Ashikaga Forces are way darker, almost on the level of Ikemen Villians, compare to the previous characters before them. Even Sazio, who isn't as dark as everyone isn't exempt from this in my eyes. I touched on this in my AU of my OC, Amaryllis, about what they may represent.

Yoshiteru is about the gift giving, a manipulation. Rikyu is about isolation, another method of manipulation. As you can tell, all of them, at their core, represents a certain type of manipulation. Which can be commonly found in signs of grooming.

But they were influence by adults around them when they were as a child. Rikyu was forced to become a samurai page after a certain attack on his village separated him from his adoptive father. It was only when his adoptive father, who was a doctor, was slain by the samurai's men in front of him. Traumatizing him; forcing his mind to forget it as a whole to survive, making him live both broken and uncertain as he was only left with a rage and hatred towards samurais afterwards. Hence his corrupted nature due to adults acting like around him. From my guess, it influence him indirectly which I can understand, sometimes the victims can become their preparators unknowingly which is sad.

While I don't dismiss the acts that Rikyu did, or any of then, have done, I can understand the influence and lead up that may have been forced upon them or forced to be surrounded with when growing up. My background in living and growing up in an Asian household may have influence my opinions about them, but it depends on the culture, it can be dismissed to keep the peace in the house which happens quite a lot. I think his route is MEANT to be uncomfortable as what it speaks of shouldn't be normalize nor be desensitize; thankfully, Rikyu does change for the better at the end. Slowly changing his way of thinking and stopping his acts on Mai as memories of his forgotten past slowly resurfaces especially in the passionate route where Ranmaru and Kennyo reminded him of how he acted with his adoptive father.

There could be more that I may forgotten due it being months since I read @/ashangotome's translation on his route, but he did left an impression on me 😅

I did mention that him and Amaryllis are like the same coin but different sides knowing how their backgrounds before everything was similar only for it to end in tragedy, leading both of them to change differently despite facing a similar thing. Woofie did also told me Ellara and Sazio are quite similar just like Rikyu and Amaryllis, this time the two was raised to become weapons by their village. So I do wonder if the Ashikaga are also to represent like that but instead of OCs, its with the cast as whole.

“His seemingly gentle smile hides a mind that's impossible to decipher by human standards. A strategist who treats warfare as a mere game of life and death, he views humans as "cute playthings" to collect.”

Shingen is also a strategist, but war isn’t a game to him. He also doesn’t like overlooking the humanity in others, trying again and again to keep the spark of life from going out in his friends, Kenshin and Kennyo.

Shingen’s flirt mode is set to perma-lock, so it would be interesting to see if Kanbei is also a ladies man.

In Shingen’s route, he does the standard otome kidnapping, so you’re a hostage for a while.

As for the ages, there is no official age for IkeSen characters, but Shingen and Kennyo are considered the oldest of them all.

Here is Saizō’s description:

“A timid, pessimistic young man by day, but a lethal specter of death by night. He spares no one on the battleground―whoever crosses blades with him is beyond the point of no return.”

Kenshin is just as deadly on the battlefield, but where he is seriously and thoroughly convinced that he cannot be killed, Saizō is apologizing for still being alive, every chance he gets.

Kenshin isn’t really quiet or mysterious. He’s quite vocal about the things he dislikes, and is almost always issuing some manner of threat (usually to Sasuke, but Shingen also gets yelled at).

He’s pretty easy to tame, despite his yandere ways. Just tell him whatever cheapo alcohol you have is “the best thing ever” and he’ll believe because you said so.

No one would ever describe Kenshin a “timid,” but he is initially suspicious of your modern disposition and he is set in his maladaptive ways until your help him overcome some of them.

Kenshin does hold you captive for about 10 tickets worth of story (it might have been longer).

I get strong Ring-like puppy vibes from Saizō, so I’m really looking forward to playing his route. I want to uncover what happened in his ninja village when he was a child.

And finally, Rikyu and his unfortunate Scatman glasses:

“A flamboyant warlord renowned for his mastery of the tea ceremony. Beneath the gaudy decor, he manipulates information gleaned from others in the tea room to bring calamity and misfortune, all with a twisted smile on his face.”

Both Rikyu and Mitsuhide are shadiness personified, but Rikyu is more chaotic, while Mitsuhide is very calculated and controlled, regardless of what it personally costs him.

As one of the three (Sasuke and Ranmaru are the other two) characters who is in love with you regardless of who you pick, Mitsuhide firmly believes that, due to the nature of his work, he cannot be allowed to have someone like you in his life.

His heart doesn’t care about all of the logic his brain is trying to spit out, though, so he can’t keep himself from yearning.

Mitsuhide falls immediately, and he falls with the speed of an Indiana Jones-sized boulder going off a cliff. He’s not afraid of self-denial, however, so he’s prepared to love you from afar to keep you safe.

SA can vary on the extreme, the first screenshot below is SA but on a lesser scale which can be unwanted physical affection. But rape is the most extreme level. Rikyu doesn’t rape Mai in his route but continues on with the SA, leading it to mess with Mai that her judgement is clouded/corrupted.

Translation by @/ashangotome on Rikyu’s route chapter 2:

Chapter 11 on his premium story (May also be present in his normal story)

I switch to my desktop afterwards, but I suggest to be careful when Rikyu's route comes out. Still, after chapter 10, it will appear more especially during the attire challenges. I will say to be on guard and be ready to log off or skip when you get further into his route.

In truth, everyone in the Ashikaga Forces are way darker, almost on the level of Ikemen Villians, compare to the previous characters before them. Even Sazio, who isn't as dark as everyone isn't exempt from this in my eyes. I touched on this in my AU of my OC, Amaryllis, about what they may represent.

Yoshiteru is about the gift giving, a manipulation. Rikyu is about isolation, another method of manipulation. As you can tell, all of them, at their core, represents a certain type of manipulation. Which can be commonly found in signs of grooming.

But they were influence by adults around them when they were as a child. Rikyu was forced to become a samurai page after a certain attack on his village separated him from his adoptive father. It was only when his adoptive father, who was a doctor, was slain by the samurai's men in front of him. Traumatizing him; forcing his mind to forget it as a whole to survive, making him live both broken and uncertain as he was only left with a rage and hatred towards samurais afterwards. Hence his corrupted nature due to adults acting like around him. From my guess, it influence him indirectly which I can understand, sometimes the victims can become their preparators unknowingly which is sad.

While I don't dismiss the acts that Rikyu did, or any of then, have done, I can understand the influence and lead up that may have been forced upon them or forced to be surrounded with when growing up. My background in living and growing up in an Asian household may have influence my opinions about them, but it depends on the culture, it can be dismissed to keep the peace in the house which happens quite a lot. I think his route is MEANT to be uncomfortable as what it speaks of shouldn't be normalize nor be desensitize; thankfully, Rikyu does change for the better at the end. Slowly changing his way of thinking and stopping his acts on Mai as memories of his forgotten past slowly resurfaces especially in the passionate route where Ranmaru and Kennyo reminded him of how he acted with his adoptive father.

There could be more that I may forgotten due it being months since I read @/ashangotome's translation on his route, but he did left an impression on me 😅

I did mention that him and Amaryllis are like the same coin but different sides knowing how their backgrounds before everything was similar only for it to end in tragedy, leading both of them to change differently despite facing a similar thing. Woofie did also told me Ellara and Sazio are quite similar just like Rikyu and Amaryllis, this time the two was raised to become weapons by their village. So I do wonder if the Ashikaga are also to represent like that but instead of OCs, its with the cast as whole.