#oetsu

Shigeaki hated getting home at dawn. The only thing anyone wanted to do after a long night was to crash, but the gradually rising light made it impossible for him to drift downward into sleep, pulling him back toward consciousness with every brightening shade. He complained about it frequently, always in a sour mood the next day, until finally, one day Oetsu and Tatsunaga showed up at his apartment with a set of blackout curtains and swiftly installed them despite Shigeaki's sputtering protests. Exactly who gave them permission to redecorate his apartment, anyway? Tatsunaga had told him that at least this way, everyone could get on with their lives in peace the day after Shigeaki Kusafuka had a red-eye mission. Apparently it was endemic to the whole block.

As he kicked off his shoes at the front door and hung his scuffed jacket on the hook, he was starting to feel a little more grateful towards his friends. His small apartment was still comfortably dim, no bright stabs of light to interrupt the half-asleep reverie he was already falling into. He tugged his hair loose from the tie holding it back and collapsed promptly onto his futon, face pressed to his pillow. God. He could sleep for a whole day.

And then the birds began chirping.

Shigeaki rolled over, cracked his eyes open, and groaned. If they wanted him to sleep after a red-eye so badly, he was going to crawl in through Tatsu's window and kick him out of his own bed next time.

Well, there was nothing doing now. Shigeaki dragged himself upright and toward the tiny kitchen. He cracked open the can of instant coffee next to the sink only to discover it was down to crumbs. He peered into the narrow cupboards, but all he could find for food were four tins of sardines, a can of soup concentrate, and a box of oats with a thin but distinct layer of dust. When he opened the fridge, he was instantly assaulted by the cold smell of rotten food. Shigeaki slammed it shut immediately and doubled over, trying not to heave on the linoleum floor.

Right. Not only had he not gone shopping before leaving for a mission he knew would take him away from Yuugure City for at least a week, he hadn't even bothered to throw out the leftovers in his fridge. Now he was home, tired, and dirty, he was out of coffee and anything immediately edible, and his tiny kitchen smelled like liquefied cabbage. The cafeteria it was.

He was just locking the door behind him when he heard footsteps clanging down the aluminum stairs. Hnnghh no. It was too early.

"Yo, Shige!"

Oetsu's voice had a tendency to carry even when Shigeaki wasn't feeling a sleep deprivation migraine coming on. With a groan, he rested his forehead against his front door. In an instant, she had him in a headlock, knuckles digging into his scalp. Shigeaki let out another sound closer to a yowl and tried to wrestle away, but she outweighed him by half and was nearly a head taller to boot.

"Cut it out, Oetsu, I just got home!"

Oetsu let herself be shaken off without fuss as Tatsunaga caught up to her, his pack slung over one shoulder. The two were nearly a matched pair in terms of build, both clocking in at over six feet and looking more like bouncers than spooks. Oetsu's dark-tinted glasses only completed the look for her.

"Oetsu, give him a break," Tatsunaga sighed. She just grinned, holding up empty hands, and the sunlight glinted off her glasses as if in attestation to her innocence. He just shook his head and looked sidelong at Shigeaki. "Shouldn't you be asleep right now?"

"I'm being harassed by birds," Shigeaki muttered, combing his hair more or less back into place with his fingers. It had a tendency to stick up on its own when he hadn't washed it in a few days, and the last thing he needed was to walk around the compound with a massive cowlick. "Strongly considering pioneering tiny yakitori as a local delicacy."

"Oh, we'll just get you some earplugs," Oetsu said, then slapped a fist into her palm. "Oh, right! I brought you back a souvenir from our mission."

"You know you're the only one who does that, right?"

"That's what I keep telling her," Tatsunaga said as Oetsu fished a waxed paper carton from her hip back.

"It's right — aw, man! It got totally crushed!"

Sure enough, the flimsy paper container had caved in on itself during its journey, and judging by the bits oozing out through the sides, it had once contained tiny filled sandwiches of some kind.

"I told you those wouldn't keep," Tatsunaga sighed, shaking his head, and unslung his bag from his shoulder. "Here, I got you something else."

"You're just enabling her, you know," Shigeaki said. Tatsunaga handed him a brightly colored can wrapped in a paper bow. It was instant coffee, Shigeaki's usual brand. "Hey, getting someone's groceries is not the same thing as bringing back a souvenir!"

"You're probably out anyway, so just thank me." He shouldered his pack and nodded toward the stairs. "You getting breakfast too?"

"Yeah, that was the notion. Bring me some milk next time, huh?"

Tatsunaga rolled his eyes and turned for the stairs. Shigeaki left the can of coffee in front of his door and then hopped the railing, dropping partway down the stairs just behind Tatsunaga and Oetsu. The downward swing made his stomach churn unpleasantly, and he instantly regretted it.

He paused as they hit the landing, staring at the apartment at the end of the row. There was a modest little doormat in front and a woven reed talisman dangling from the doorknob. The place had been vacant when he'd left for the mission. It'd been vacant since Shigeaki joined.

"Did someone move into 2R?"

"Oh, hey, yeah!" Oetsu snapped her fingers. "The new recruit moved in yesterday, right?"

"Hm, yeah. Oyori did say something about that." Tatsunaga rubbed his chin, glanced at the newly if sparsely decorated door, and headed down the last flight of stairs. "I guess he passed the interviews after all."

Shigeaki wrinkled his nose, an expression that looked somehow grotesque in combination with effects of sleep deprivation. "What new recruit?"

"That kid from the Sen clan," Oetsu said. "Some kind of sword prodigy or something."

Shigeaki's mouth opened in a scoff. "The Sen kid? I thought that was just a rumor."

"Nope, it's the real deal. He's, what, sixteen?"

"Fifteen," Tatsunaga said. "Youngest recruit in the Black Masks' history, according to Captain Yui."

"Seriously? They're letting fifteen-year-olds in now?" Shigeaki rubbed his cheek, his expression descending into a scowl. "This is black ops, not a temple internship. What's next, letting literal children enlist? How does a fifteen-year-old pass the interviews? In what world is a fifteen-year-old stable?"

"Would it make a difference if he was sixteen?" Oetsu said. Shigeaki glared at her.

"No!"

"Stable is a high bar to set around here, all things considered. If he got past Captain Yukari, he's sound enough." Tatsunaga's usually serious face lit with a faint smile, a little grim around the edges. "You're not jealous, are you, Shige?"

"Why would I be jealous?"

"Oh, I don't know." Tatsunaga shrugged. "I mean, you were only eighteen when you joined up, and you were always pretty proud of that, so..."

Shigeaki's brows drew down in a sour look. "You were both over twenty when you joined!"

"Yeah, 'cause I had a few things I wanted to do with my life first." Tatsunaga paused as they exited the apartment complex into the courtyard, his mouth pulling into a frown. "Still, you have to worry about someone who wants to get into this line of work at his age."

"Exactly! That's what I'm saying. There's no way someone like that would actually be able to handle the work we do. Honestly, it's practically neglect to let him join."

"Nah," Oetsu said. "The captains know what they're doing. If the new recruit were really some kind of liability, they'd turn him away. Besides, it's not like the bias is in his favor to start with."

"Exactly," Shigeaki said through his teeth. It sounded like she was agreeing with him, but it didn't feel like it.

"I bet he's some kind of badass," she said, swinging one arm in an energetic downward chop. "I mean, those interviews are pretty grueling. Plus, there's no one who doesn't look cool with a sword."

"I won't lie, it would be interesting to see the Sen sword style firsthand," Tatsunaga said, tapping his chin. Shigeaki rolled his eyes fiercely and stalked off across the courtyard to the cafeteria. Oetsu and Tatsunaga kept on behind him without any apparent care for his obviously very not sensitive feelings.

"I heard he's pretty good with magic too. According to Oyori, he's got experience with spirit mediation."

Oetsu nodded with conviction. "Of course he'd be considered as a candidate. We don't really have that many people with extensive experience with spirits."

"Yeah, because that's not our job," Shigeaki pointed out over his shoulder. "We deal with people, not spirits. If you want to spend your days purifying the earth, you don't join the Black Masks."

The doors to the cafeteria swung shut behind them. The three of them headed for the counter, but Oetsu stopped suddenly, slapping both Tatsunaga and Shigeaki's arms.

"Hey, isn't that him? That's gotta be him, right?"

Shigeaki turned to look, and his mouth opened in disbelief. Oetsu was right, it had to be him — he was the only unfamiliar face in the sparsely populated room, and he was certainly the only one under twenty. But this kid was decidedly not a badass. He was a skinny little thing — Shigeaki might even be inclined to say shrimpy — his toes just barely touched the floor from the chair in which he sat. Dark hair hung around a pale face, looking ruffled and uneven, down to the bangs that hung heavily over his forehead. It had the looks of an awkward self-cut. His face had a generally dull disposition, serious and uninterrupted by any smile, and his eyes, though lidded, were focused on the book laid out in front of him. With the owlish way he blinked and the faintly bruised circles under his eyes, he gave off the distinct impression of someone about to fall asleep.

Next to the book was a small plate with a single slice of toast on it. Just toast, nothing else. Not even a smear of butter. What kind of teenager ate plain toast for breakfast? For some reason, Shigeaki found that detail the most offensive.

"Ooh," Oetsu said, her mouth twisting uncertainly. "Kind of anticlimactic-looking, isn't he?"

The new recruit turned to cough into his elbow, a wheezing, dry cough that suggested he ought to be in bed and not upright and in public. His wide-sleeved jacket wasn't oversized, but it seemed to hang off his frame nonetheless. Oetsu made a face, wrinkling her nose. Tatsunaga looked kind of disappointed, too, but he had the grace to try and hide it.

"I mean, appearances aren't everything, necessarily..."

"Yeah, but he doesn't really give off a sword vibe, does he?"

"You were the one who said anyone could look cool with a sword."

"Yeah, but I mean...he really doesn't give off a sword vibe, does he?"

The corners of Shigeaki's mouth drew up in a smile. All that fuss over this little wisp of a thing. He looked like he might be toppled by a stiff breeze. The captains must be getting desperate, or they were losing their touch. Shigeaki's hand drifted toward his hip pack. He hadn't bothered to change before heading back out. Tatsunaga caught the movement and gave him a hard look.

"Shige." His voice had a warning tone. Shigeaki scoffed.

"What? I'm not gonna hurt him." He withdrew a thin metal dart, twirling it between his fingers. "Relax, Tatsu. I'm aiming for the wall. I just want to see what happens."

"That is a terrible reason. If Captain Yui - "

But Shigeaki had already sent the dart sailing with a neat flick of his wrist. It whistled through the air at almost invisible speed, rushing to meet the wall.

Without looking up from his book, the new recruit raised his left hand and caught the dart out of the air. He looked at it with a slight frown, then followed its trajectory back to Shigeaki and the others. Aside from that downward tug of his mouth, his expression hadn't changed.

Shigeaki's eyebrow twitched, his expression morphing quickly from brief surprise to annoyed. He could hear Oetsu fail to stifle a snort behind him. Just who the hell did this kid think he was, exactly? Who did that? Who just caught shit out of the air without batting an eye? Besides them, anyway, because that was exactly the sort of shit Black Masks did. The show of skill grated on his nerves. He'd been hoping to rattle the kid.

The new recruit placed the dart at the very edge of the table and returned to his book as though nothing had happened. Shigeaki clenched his teeth, his lips drawing back in an expression that could only generously be described as a smile.

"Shige." This time Tatsunaga's voice was more plaintive than reproachful. Shigeaki ignored him and headed for the kid's table. Tatsunaga looked at Oetsu, sighed, and waved her away from the coffee bar.

"You practice catching flies with chopsticks, too?"

A shadow fell over the book, and the new recruit looked up at Shigeaki's tired smirk. Truthfully, he probably didn't look any less like shit than this kid did, but he at least had an excuse. The new recruit's brow furrowed slightly, and he frowned that little frown again.

"No."

What the hell kind of categorically uncool response was that? It wasn't even a comeback. Instead of returning the banter volley, the new recruit had just kicked it out of the court and walked away. Shigeaki was at a momentary loss for suitably cutting return fire, and when he didn't respond right away, the new recruit's brow only furrowed deeper.

"You can have your dart back."

He had so carefully deposited it on the edge of the table, after all. His voice was thin and reedy, only just loud enough for Shigeaki to hear — as understated and flimsy as the rest of him. The new recruit was watching Shigeaki with a guarded look now, as though trying to assess whether he was actually dangerous. That should've been Shigeaki's line. Who'd thought admitting another member of the Sen clan was a good idea, anyway?

"So you're the Sen kid, huh? You don't look like much to me."

The new recruit's guarded look was turning into something more dubious, although it was hard to tell exactly what he was thinking. There was something opaque about that dull gaze. His mouth pinched, and he asked plainly, "Did you want something from me?"

The kid was supposed to defend himself or get nervous or offended or something. "Excuse me?"

"If you don't want anything from me, then can you leave me alone?"

Shigeaki could hear Oetsu laughing behind him. He was having strong feelings about putting a brick through somebody's window just now. He was underslept and still coated in the psychological film of a mission that had gone on too long, and he would at least have gotten a kick out of rattling the new kid.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, can you leave me alone?" the new recruit repeated with infuriating patience, although the flat line of his mouth betrayed some sliver of displeasure. "I'm in the middle of breakfast right now."

"Yeah, okay, that's another thing, though." Shigeaki could not seem to stop himself now. He pointed furiously at the lone piece of toast that looked like it might as well have been nibbled at by mice. "What the hell kind of breakfast is that, anyway? One piece of dry toast? You don't even put butter on your toast? Haven't you ever heard of protein in the — hey!"

Tatsunaga and Oetsu each hooked one arm under each of Shigeaki's and neatly hoisted him off the ground. "Sorry about our Shige-kun," Oetsu said with almost cheerful ruefulness. "He didn't sleep last night and he hasn't had his coffee yet."

"Will you put me down?"

"Absolutely not," said Tatsunaga, and he nodded at the new recruit. "Sorry, really. We probably shouldn't have let him around other people this early. Since our friend is chemically incapable of being polite right now, can I get your name?"

The new recruit's expression had shifted to suspicious bafflement. If he wasn't sure how to take Shigeaki, he definitely didn't know how to interpret the three of them. "Tsugutora."

Tatsunaga flashed him a smile, if a slightly strained one. "Nice to meet you, Tsugutora. I'm Tatsunaga, that's Oetsu, and this underslept mess is Shigeaki. Don't mind him. Some people just get a little funny after missions." He gave Tsugutora a polite nod and a little salute with his free hand. "I look forward to working with you, Tsugutora."

"Same here!" Oetsu waved as she locked her arm tighter around Shigeaki, who was starting to act less like a bully and more like a stubborn toddler. Tsugutora blinked.

"Um...nice to meet you too," he said as Tatsunaga and Oetsu turned, carting Shigeaki out of the cafeteria. Tsugutora watched them leave, then glanced down at the dart that they'd left behind. After a moment's thought, he pocketed it and returned to his book.

===

By the time they dragged Shigeaki back to his apartment, his physical resistance was starting to wane, but he was making zero effort to help, letting his heels drag along the courtyard path with a surly limpness. Oetsu and Tatsunaga dropped him unceremoniously in front of his apartment while Tatsunaga fished in his pocket for his key. Shigeaki hit the walkway with a thud, his exhaustion-dulled reflexes failing to catch him.

"Warning, please!"

"Your legs are fine, you were just choosing not to use them," Tatsunaga said heartlessly, and pushed open the door as Shigeaki got to his feet, snatching the tin of instant coffee from the doorstep. Shigeaki stuck out his tongue as he sidled past into his apartment and headed for the kitchen.

"Well, I'm choosing to use them now to expedite the process of getting coffee into my body." The coffee in the cafeteria was objectively better than the instant grounds Shigeaki liked according to his friends, but it was okay to be friends with people with wrong opinions. The thought of waking his brain above the overtired buzzing was enough to lighten his mood. He grinned a little and turned toward the kitchen — and then Oetsu was suddenly there. He jumped, nearly dropping the instant coffee.

"What the hell!"

Oetsu's dark glasses glinted. "Shadow tag." She pointed down with a grin. Sure enough, the daylight from the doorway cast a shadow from Shigeaki now directly in Oetsu's path. He gave her a disgusted look.

"You spent mana for that?"

Oetsu shrugged. "Not all of us have the mana capacity of a little kid's bladder."

"I swear to god, Oetsu, if you keep standing between me and coffee, I can't promise what will happen."

"You do not need coffee, you need sleep," Tatsunaga said wearily. "You don't take care of these post-mission jitters, you're gonna wind up dead and everyone will know it was an inside job. Oetsu?"

"Hoi!"

Before Shigeaki could react, Oetsu had executed a neat half-spin and thrust her open hand at Shigeaki's chest. Her palm glowed briefly, and he rocketed across the small apartment and slammed into his bedroom wall, trailing particles of light in a straight line. He toppled forward onto his futon with a little wheeze. Oetsu whistled.

"You do need sleep. Not even a spark of defense."

"Why do you hit so hard," Shigeaki gurgled into his pillow, rolling onto his side. A faint aroma started to drift into the room, and he sat bolt upright. "Tatsu! What are you doing in my kitchen?"

"Making you some sleepytime tea."

"What? No!" Shigeaki scrambled to his feet. "That stuff is nasty! I am not drinking — hngh!"

Oetsu laid him low again with a palm to his lower back, this one with a little less excessive force. He went facedown onto the bed.

"Why do you get so punchy when you're tired?" Tatsunaga sighed. "Look, you get the post-mission jitters, you drink the sleepytime tea, you get some sleep, everyone is happy, or at the very least, less pissed off. If you can sleep on your own, great, no tea needed. But man, one way or another, you have got to sleep."

"It's disgusting," Shigeaki protested, lifting his head from the futon. "It makes my stomach feel all shivery. That's going to stink up my kitchen for like, a week."

Tatsunaga emerged from the kitchenette with a steaming mug. "You can drink the sleepytime tea, or Oetsu can Open Palm you into unconsciousness. One of those two will leave you a screaming headache tomorrow. Your choice."

Oetsu brandished her hand at Shigeaki cheerfully, mana sparkling at her fingertips. He sat up with a suspicious look at her, then turned it on Tatsunaga and the steaming mug. He looked like a child being faced with the inescapability of having to eat his vegetables. After an unhappy moment in which he seriously considered kicking the mug out of Tatsunaga's hands and diving out through the window, Shigeaki made a face and took it from him.

"It's offensive to even call this stuff tea," he muttered in final, weak protest.

"You exclusively drink instant coffee," said Tatsunaga. "You don't get an opinion."

Shigeaki stared down at the mug with resignation. The smell was cutting and acrid, and while it probably wasn't actually going to stink up his kitchen for a week, it still churned his empty stomach. Every agent in this apartment block had a box of those packets in their cupboards; it was widely used for general recovery and convalescence, especially in the case of mana exhaustion. The dead sleep it put you under tended to facilitate faster mana recovery, at the expense of — well, being in a dead sleep until it wore off. The powder could be mixed with just about any liquid, but it tasted almost as bitter as it smelled, and it was generally agreed that it was easier to stomach with hot water. Thusly, it had earned the nickname 'sleepytime tea' among the agents. Shigeaki resolved to get it over with as quickly as possible and chugged it down in one go.

Tears were starting to well up in his eyes by the time he finished with an explosive breath, and then he let out a shuddering sort of burp, sticking his tongue out. His stomach lurched, but the tea stayed put. "That was disgusting. I might still die. You don't know. I don't even feel..."

Shigeaki's eyes rolled back and he started to topple over. Oetsu caught the mug with one hand and his collar with the other, and gently lowered his head to rest on his pillow.

"I'll bring some earplugs next time."

"I'll bring a funnel," Tatsunaga muttered, taking the mug from her. "Seriously, that was embarrassing. I've seen him pick fights from time to time, but I don't think I've ever seen him try to haze anybody. I don't think I've ever seen him that...jealous. I'm pretty sure that was some seriously misplaced jealousy. What mission was he on, anyway?"

"Mm...don't know. Pretty sure it was a solo mission, though." Oetsu tossed the blanket over Shigeaki and patted his shoulder. "He's just got a fragile ego. He liked being the baby for a while, even while he was demanding to be taken seriously. I think it was the first thing he was ever really proud of, and he's always leaned on that. It's kind of a rickety foundation for self-esteem. And then this new kid comes along, three years younger than Shige was when he joined, and he feels threatened by that. If Sen can handle himself just as well as Shige at that age, it's like Shige has nothing to be proud of anymore. Ah, he's always making things into a competition."

Oetsu frowned at Tatsunaga, who was giving her a harrowed look. "What?"

"I know that's all true, but you really don't have to lay it out like that." He let out a slow sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "Probably better stay a while, make sure he stays down. Somehow I wouldn't put it past him. Will you go back and grab something from the cafeteria? Pretty sure he hasn't gone grocery shopping."

"Yo," said Oetsu with a salute and headed for the door. Tatsunaga looked at Shigeaki's soundly sleeping form, rolled his eyes with a sigh, and went to wash the mug.

===

Shigeaki came to slowly, becoming gradually aware of the dryness in his mouth and the heaviness of his limbs. He was usually a pretty light sleeper, and his thoughts slowly gathered into a fuzzy ball of alarm as he realized  he'd been drugged.

Yes, he had been drugged. By himself, with the fucking sleepytime tea. Shigeaki rolled over and wiped a smear of drool from his cheek, blinking heavy eyes. It was nearly pitch dark in his apartment, the blackout curtains shutting out most of the moonlight.

"Yo."

Shigeaki nearly jumped, but his body still felt like stone. It was only Oetsu anyway. She was sitting propped against the wall, one leg drawn up, and she gave him a lazy wave. Tatsunaga was slumped against the wall next to her, softly snoring. Shigeaki blinked bleary eyes at the both of them.

"Have you been here the whole time?"

"Had to make sure you got some sleep." She grinned at him in the dark, her dark glasses catching the scarce light. "How you feelin'?"

Shigeaki sat up slowly, rubbing his cheek. "Better," he admitted grudgingly, wincing as he cracked something back into place on his neck. "Was I a huge asshole yesterday?"

"Big time."

He grimaced, pulling his hands down his face. He needed to massage some of the feeling back into it. He had slept hard. "Sorry."

Oetsu nudged him with her foot, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Stop trying to play the tough guy all the time, Shige. You don't make it to retirement age if you burn out first."

Shigeaki was glad for the dark. He flopped back onto the futon with a thump. "Yeah, well," he said lamely, then followed to come up with a suitable followup. Instead he rolled his head to the side to stare at the opposite wall.

"My man, you are not a trainee anymore." Oetsu sat forward, drawing her legs in. "You are a whole-ass agent. Solo missions and all. What's a new kid coming in and breaking a record got to do with that? Only person in the world who can fuck that up for you is you."

Shigeaki pressed his face into his pillow. If there was anyone he hated being Seen by the most, it was Oetsu. "Gee, thanks."

"Anytime, pal." Oetsu patted his leg. It was probably fortunate, all things considered, that his body still felt too heavy to do anything petulant like kick back. There was a moment of quiet as Shigeaki let out a long breath and turned back to stare up at the ceiling. Oetsu let out a little hum.

"Stability's overrated. You know that, right?" She tented her fingers in her lap, and though Shigeaki couldn't see her eyes through through the dark lenses, he could always feel when she was looking directly at him. "You have to be a little fucked up to do this for long. You either come in fucked up or you get fucked up learning the job. The former's better, 'cause you probably already know what to do when you lose your shit a little bit. That's part of why you were able to adjust so quick. So, yeah, they want to make sure new recruits won't implode in on themselves after every mission, but everyone flies off the handle a little bit here and there. Prime example: cranky agent throwing darts at the new kid for fun."

Shigeaki covered his face with his hands. It was not dark enough in here.

"The point of the interviews and tests and all that is to determine two things: that they can physically handle the job, and that they are one hundred percent sure they want to join up. You really want to be here, you find a way to get the job done. If the Commander approved that kid's recruitment, it's because he convinced the captains of those two things. And you know that's no cakewalk."

Shigeaki was one of a number of agents whose first scars in service of the Black Masks had been received as part of their petitions to join. He touched his fingers to his left ear, feeling the small notch along the side. "You think someone's really capable of deciding that at fifteen, though?"

Oetsu shrugged. "You ever tried to tell a fifteen-year-old what they're capable of? Besides, it's not like our ranks are overflowing these days. Seems like he's pretty serious about it, at any rate."

If there was a single word Shigeaki would have picked to describe the new recruit — well, it probably would have been frail, but serious was next in line. The kid had looked way too serious. Shigeaki made a resigned little noise in the back of his throat.

"I guess I should probably apologize to him too."

"Probably," Oetsu said. "There's no point in alienating new recruits. We all need to learn to work together eventually."

Shigeaki got the uncomfortable sense that that was primarily directed at him. No, not sense; he knew that was exactly what she was trying to say.

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed. "But you've gotta agree — he doesn't really look like a sword prodigy."

Oetsu let out a honk of a laugh that somehow did not wake Tatsunaga. "Oh, yeah. I'll have to see it to believe it. I'm sure we'll get a chance to before long." She cracked her neck and settled back against the wall. "Go back to sleep, Shige. You've got a few hours before the birds come back to heckle you. I'm going to take a nap."