(D4 MM) Poems in the Memory - Open/Expecting

[Asahina Sanaharu]

Sanaharu, being on the remembering team, wore a different kimono from yesterday. But maybe he had not an order on wearing those, thus if he remembered or not only by sight was a mystery.

He did seek the bushi, though, scratching on the shoji of his door.

[Kakita Masao]

Kakita Masao had slept soundly through the night, exhausted emotionally from a terrible day, and so was just rising when the scratch came. He rose and went to the door, finding Sanaharu there.

"Good morning, Asahina-san," he says with a light smile. I feel like I just saw you. Wait, is there word of my cousin? Is she..." His eyes widen as he realizes how much there is to do today. Grandson, slow down. You need to listen to your friend.

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He shrugs.

"Today seems farther
From home than ever before
Tomorrow awaits"

And then chuckles. "Feels like a fitting greeting for today. I guess you have not yet eaten your rice either. Banter aside, I cannot find my poem on my belongings. Did I leave it with you and don't remember? The red freesias one."

[Kakita Masao]

Masao looks confused, both from his inner voice and Sanaharu.

"Asahina-san, I barely understood your poem. Why would I take it from you?" He looks back into his room, and then notices something off. "Wait a minute... My..." He shakes his head. "My daisho is... there, on the stand. By the flute. But when I went to sleep, it was..." Grandson, you need to listen to your friend. Things are not as they seem.

"Asahina-san, when you awoke, were your things where they were left last night--or were they where you'd placed them the day before?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He nods. "Thro... Throw a kimono over yourself and follow me. You don't need to fit it too much, it is just to come with me to my bedroom."
He had a good on, fortunately, and it worked for holding back tears. He knew not what was happening, but it was above him, and it made him enter in panic.

On his bedroom, things seemed pretty normal: Two unpainted wagasas next to his futon, a tea mug, a table with makeup, perfume and jewels, his biwa and a lot of kimonos.

[Kakita Masao]

The bushi looks at Sanaharu still confused, but quickly pulls himself together, unbrushed and unbound hair askance and daisho untouched.

Looking around the room, he keeps the confused look on his face. "Asahina-san, answer me. Is this how you left things last night? Or is this where they were to start the day? Because mine are back where they started the day. I don't know why, but with ghosts and whatever else..."

That's right, grandson. It is like yesterday never happened. But you know it did. All of it. Masao's mind reels, and he closes his eyes and rubs the bridge of his nose.

"Asahina-san, you remember talking to me last night about poetry. We didn't do that the day before. So you know that yesterday happened, just like I do." He takes a deep breath. "We need to find out who remembers, like we do." He sounds tired from trying to make things make sense, but resolute about the next step. His voice is the one he uses to command his squad on the battlefield.

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"I would show you that there are only two kimonos on my used ones side, but you figured it out already." His eyes brim over with tears. "Thank the Fortunes. It's not just me. We need to call the Kuni and the Asahina immediately. Asahina Seido isn't far from here, remember? Just a few days on boat, over the Sacred Fields of the Sun? It should be even faster to get by on land."

"I think it is something from Sakkaku. People cursed by them suffer from pranks like that. Maybe one among us has such spiritual weight and knows not? I know it is not me, for once. I was practically examined every day on the temple. They would know."

[Kakita Masao]

"Alright, understood. First, let us check on the rest of the delegation. If we're the only ones who know, we can't leave them all. We... Oh, Fortunes." Masao stops for a moment. That's right, grandson. It could happen again.

The Kakita closes his eyes and takes a ragged breath. "If... no, no, we can't worry about that just yet." He forces himself to focus, to be the soldier and take one task of the mission at a time.

With another heavy breath he looks Sanaharu squarely in the eyes, although it probably unsettles the man. "Asahina-san," he says, speaking slowly and clearly. "We will check everyone in the house. Simply ask them about the pepper festival, or about the welcome banquet. If they remember yesterday, and what happened," he bites back a reaction that there is no time for. "What happened to Daidoji Yushoko-sama yesterday, you will see it in their eyes. There will be no joy or celebration in the eyes of those who remember yesterday." Masao feels quite confident in the test he's describing.

"We will meet in the sitting room in a little while, when we know better what the situation is. Do you understand?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"Let's seek Yuuwaku-senpai. I had met her the night before last to buy two wagasas and yesterday to paint them. She would remember the disaster I made on our last meeting for sure."

He looks back at the bushi's eyes, drying his eyes on his long sleeves, now back at the straight on. "Do you remember what Doji-sama said? That we would face suffering again and again until it dissipated... The magistrate even asked me to do a speech on thunders and overcoming the darkness. It came across to my mind what to say on my instant. Granted, I was trained to do that, but what if it had happened before and I had prepared this speech before? How many time haven we been stuck until we realized, and why was this cycle broken? Are we really on the frist day?"

Easy to panic Crane, right on your door. But he ultimately nods.

"We can ask about it on the meeting. Kakita-bugyo will call it again, right? And ask me to speak the same thing again?"

[Kakita Masao]

Masao's in his element now, the mission set and the tasks assigned. "There may be more of us. Perhaps all of us, and it is only items that are affected." Unbecoming as it is, a soldier on a mission won't be slowed by sad civilians, so Masao gently pushes Sanaharu back out the door. "Go find your friend. Check on her. Whether she remembers or not, take heart. If Kakita-sama remembers then all will be well."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

Sanaharu could, in fact, be described as a sad civilian. On Kakita-sama he was talking about the magistrate. "Ah, right. Sakkaku spirits can't affect memories as I can remember." He chuckled at his own stupidity. "My courage needs work. I will go find her, Masao-ue." He replies as he takes both unpainted wagasas and stratches over Yuuwaku's door.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku answers. She is dressed well, and there is breakfast service waiting in her room, as if she was to be entertaining.

"Ki--Asahina-kohai!" she says, looking surprised--and worried. Then she sees the umbrellas and says "Did you get more umbrellas already?" with a look of deep confusion on her face.

[Kakita Masao]

The nikutai nods encouragingly, then spins on his heel to check more of the house. He is not running, but walking with purpose.

(OOC: Masao will return shortly, after determining the servants are here, setting out tea and breakfast foods as normal, and completely oblivious to the samurai's concerns.)

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"Yuu-senpai." He bows respectfully. "Someone, or something, swapped our objects to the way they were when we woke up last day. On we, I speak of myself and Masao-dono, which is why I have two red wagasas and no painted one. Did it happen to you too?"

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Sana-kun, it's not that," Yuuwaku replies, voice shaky as her eyes go wide. It's not just me! I'm not crazy! Or am I, and this is part of it?

"It's the same day. It's yesterday. I don't know how, but it is, I know it. I know it!" Her voice begins to grow shrill, and she bites it off, breathing deeply to master herself.

"Something is wrong."

[Dapper Dog]

The nikutai nods encouragingly, then spins on his heel to check more of the house. He is not running, but walking with purpose.

(OOC: Masao will return shortly, after determining the servants are here, setting out tea and breakfast foods as normal, and completely oblivious to the samurai's concerns.)

It is all as it should be.

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"Oh, I thought so, but everyone seems to remember it and apparently only items were changed. I believe it is a prank called by sakkaku spirits, which implies that one of us here may be cursed by them. We need to contact the Asahina and the Kuni, but first, Masao-ue is interrogating people."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"We need to talk to Kakita-bugyo, too, and, yes, the priests."

She looks around, closes the distance to him.

"Sana-kun, I'm scared. I feel like it's worse than a trick."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"I'm too, Yuuwaku-chan, I'm too. But if everyone remembers everything, and the priests say there is nothing to worry... I think just the objects were swapped."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Big ifs, those."

She looks around again.

"Who else have you talked to about it?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"Masao-dono. I wanted to see if he had a poem I showed him yesterday."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku nods.

"Kakita-nikutai is a good man and solid. Still, I would be more eased did we have more reports."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"He is looking for it. I know there is a shugenja on the castle. We could ask him to ward this house."

He stopped by some seconds.

"We can try to divinate the future again."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"I have not such skills, Sana-kun. Never did pick up that class."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"I did not either, but I am Asahina. I have seen others do it a thousand times."