After defeating the Hakkā in the morning, the rest of Saturday was an exercise in frustration. I arrived at Ichimen only to have my chain break almost immediately. I went back to Castle Noriaibasha for a new one… but of course, Satonori wasn’t there to get me into the armory, so I could do nothing.

I looked through the lists of specifically identified enemies and determined a few that could be assigned to Satonori and Haruna. And I did some major work on the revised version of our Bright Square technique, which would be useful on Monday.

That took until sundown. Then I left the castle, wondering if anyone would contact me on Sunday to say, “We can get you into the armory now!”

Sunday passed uneventfully.

Then I went in yesterday morning and showed Kento the new Bright Square techniques, and he passed them on to Seijun. And Satonori got me into the armory, and I picked up fresh weapons and went to Ichimen and slew two fierce enemies before meetings took over my day.

And as I was getting ready to leave, there was an urgent call from Seijun. It seems his team was trying to use the new Bright Square technique, but they were getting carved into sashimi by the opposition. They needed help, urgently, and perhaps it was all my fault? I raced to Ichimen to see what was happening…

…and it turned out that only half of Seijun’s troops had been briefed on the new tactics! No wonder they couldn’t coordinate with each other! This was most definitely not a flaw in the kata I had devised.

This is one of the things that drives me most insane about working with Clan Noriaibasha. The moment anything goes wrong, urgent messages are sent hither and yon, and everyone must drop everything they’re doing, even if it means abandoning the pursuit of another enemy that we’re just about to kill.

They say that I might have access to the armory today. I pray that I can make progress against the unending tide of bureaucracy.

On Thursday, we finally found a way that Satonori can vouch for me with the armory guards so I can have weapons. He and Haruna are now both assisting me in Ichimen. They are both carving a path of blood and death through the kama-wielding Ayamari, while I take on the rooftop fighters.

On Friday morning, I awoke to news that the shrine of Amaterasu had once again been occupied by an oni. I could do nothing about it; my duties to Clan Noriaibasha required my presence in Ichimen. So off I went, to slay Ayamari — and then to be called into no fewer than five meetings, consuming most of my day.

At least one of these meetings was useful, though: We went through all of the assassination orders and target descriptions supplied by the Sōtō Zen monks, and were able to identify many cases where two different orders described the same target. “The man in the green kimono? He’s the same as the kama fighter with a slight limp in his left leg.” “Ah, then we will combine these orders.” When we were done, the number of enemies had dropped from 35 to under 30.

But one of the worst problems is still the rooftop fighters. Before I left the castle on Friday evening, Kento presided over a meeting with me, Haruna and Satonori. We agreed that we would divide up the enemies yet to be fought, and that I would spend my weekend in Ichimen clearing off the rooftops.

Then I left, and did not go home. I went directly to the shrine of Amaterasu, where I drove off the oni. I arrived home late at night, and Akane poured me a vase of sake and put me to bed. The next morning, I knew I would simply have to arise and go back to Ichimen.

When I have time, I must tell the tale of this morning… and then the tale of this afternoon.

The Teitōken campaign is in a shambles.

For all of its history, the Teitōken campaign has been part of the greater, overarching Futa Jūichi-yon schedule. In order for us to meet that schedule, all enemies in Ichimen and the surrounding forests and wilderness had to be neutralized by June 20th.

On Thursday, as it became clear that this was never going to happen, the nobles made a decision: The entire campaign was shifted to the Mitsu Jūichi-rei schedule. This would give us another full month to get everything complete…

…but things are never that easy. In addition to all the foes we’ve been worrying about, there has been a resurgence of the Mōjin resistance movement. We can no longer ignore them.

To make matters worse, the Tendai priesthood is insisting that we capture the suburb of Koyōshi, on the outskirts of the Keishutsu district. Kento is quite upset at this news; he asks, “Where were they during all the strategy meetings? We showed them the maps, we asked them if there was any other territory we might need. They said nothing! Why do they think they can suddenly ask for new conquests now?!”

I agree with him completely, but there is no arguing with them.

Finally, because I am now a full member of Clan Noriaibasha, I must have entirely new weapons with the clan crest on the pommels and scabbards and so forth. I am sure it doesn’t matter to my enemies if the manrikigusari I strangle them with has a tassel in the Noriaibasha clan colors just behind the grappling hook or not, but it does change the weapon’s balance and slows me down.

That’s not even counting the fact that I spent almost all of Friday waiting around for the quartermaster to issue me weapons, and the weaponsmith to sharpen and polish them for use.

Finally, Seijun still has the idea that we will somehow vanquish the previously-identified Ayamari by the old June 20 deadline. Seijun is deluded. I will have to explain this to him on Monday.

Now that I am a full member of Clan Noriaibasha, I am allowed to attend the special meetings that happen twice every week. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, we city fighters of the Keitai Team meet with the Nichiren priests, the artists and carpenters and the tea masters. We discuss matters of philosophy and artistry and strategy and battle, and how all these things are interrelated, and how they affect our Way and our relations with the peasants in the areas we control.

These meetings are — with occasional exceptions — restricted to full clan-members only. Kento allowed me to attend one early in my tenure here, and it was most enlightening.

Now, I can attend whenever I want… except that I am so busy trying to rid Ichimen of Ayamari, there is no time for me to spend in meetings that aren’t directly related to the Teitōken campaign!

On that score… there are 32 Ayamari that we must kill by the end of the day tomorrow. And fully half of them are ones that I must slay, by myself. I will be quite busy.

This week has been very busy. There are Ayamari all over Ichimen, just like there were last week. I eradicated at least a dozen last week, and left for Iga Province feeling good on Friday. Then, over the weekend, something happened. I don’t know if our scouts found a new squadron of Ayamari that they’d missed before, or if the foul rabble sneaked in under cover, and actually hadn’t been present before.

Either way, I am desperately trying to kill them all. It is slow going, because something has gone wrong in the armory. We must have gotten a shipment of substandard steel for our weaponry, because my blades constantly need re-sharpening, and my chain’s links keep coming loose. I keep having to return to Castle Noriaibasha and wait while the smiths repair and resharpen them.

I have also had some of my time and energy taken up with attending the rites of initiation that induct me into the clan, and reading and signing various scrolls of welcome and suchlike. Between the ceremonies and the armory visits, I have spent very little time in Ichimen… It’s no wonder the Ayamari are flourishing there.

I will not be in Ichimen or Sakai tomorrow, for there is a grand festival weekend in Iga Province. I have already informed Kento that I will be away. And Monday is the day of rest decreed by the Emperor.

I shall try very hard not to worry too much about the situation in Ichimen. Not until I return to Castle Noriaibasha on Tuesday. I can only hope our enemies will be easier to slay when I am better rested.

It has been a long, hard week of battling Ayamari in Ichimen. For the first part of the week, it seemed that every time I killed one, I would receive a message from one of the Sōtō Zen monks informing me of two more. But by Thursday, the number of newly-discovered foes leveled off. Throughout Friday, I slew the remaining Ayamari, until none were left in Ichimen.

There are still some of them out there in the forests, bedeviling poor Seijun and his team I wish there were something I could do to help him, but the forest problems are a job for katana-wielding samurai.

Instead, I have to worry about a few other enemies that are still within the city. Though ask the Ayamari are slain, there is a rōnin who comes from Mikawa Province. There are also a few undercover agitators from Clan Shimasu, who even the Sōtō Zen monks have not yet noticed. If I can kill them quickly, it will help to ensure that our plans succeed more smoothly.

But first, on Monday morning, I must continue demonstrating my kata for the other warriors’ approval. I am far less nervous this time around.

I was right to be worried about misfortune yesterday… I was simply wrong about just what shape the misfortune would take.

My demonstration was not a failure. Not a great success, either, for there were so many things to show that we ran out of time, and I will have to schedule a second session. But certainly, it was more of a success than a failure.

Unfortunately, many other things yesterday were failures. In particular, I discovered that there has been a massive incursion of Ayamari into Ichimen. The messages from the Sōtō Zen monks had not been reaching me. Someone within Clan Noriaibasha has made a grave mistake, but tracking down the culprit will have to wait. First, we must retake the city.

And, while I was busily trying to curb the Ayamaris’ numbers, I received a message from Hoshiakari: More trouble in the shrine of Amaterasu. Once again, I had to cancel a dinner with Akane and go deal with the hateful oni’s mischief.

This time, however, Akane offered to come with me. Even if we didn’t have the dinner we’d been hoping for, we did get to spend some time together. With her help, driving away the demon was even easier than usual.

But still, this situation cannot continue. We must find a way to kill the thing.

On Friday, I wrote about the “great and deadly battle” that awaited me… or so I thought. And shortly afterward, I wrote one of my short messages, in which I mentioned that winning that battle had been almost disappointingly easy.

On Saturday, a friend of mine came to visit. She asked how my battle had gone — which made it clear that she had not read my short message.

For some time now, I realize, I have been using this — my main scroll — as a place to start stories, but not to finish them. This is an unwise practice. In particular, it means that those who don’t read the short messages are given only the beginnings of my tales, but never their conclusions.

For this, I most humbly apologize. I am sure it must have been quite frustrating.

In the future, I shall ensure that this chronicle is complete in itself, self-sufficient. The short messages will serve only as a supplement to this journal, never a replacement for it. This also means I will be writing more often here — sometimes more than once a day. (For example, on Friday I would have posted the conclusion to my battle with the rōnin from Hikone, making a second post in a single day.)

I knew I’d have to fight this guy some day. The Sōtō Zen monks have now identified him as a major obstacle to our Path. The day is today.

He is a rōnin from Hikone, skilled in rooftop fighting, and a master of the Bright Square tactic. I know I should be worried but… honestly, I’m kind of looking forward to the challenge.

This is the late part of the campaign, where all our careful planning turns to chaos. All military campaigns go this way eventually. And any conflict that you avoided in the beginning eventually becomes inevitable. The toughest foes become the only ones left.

And defeat them you must, or you will never achieve victory.

My kusarigama is sharp and my tabi laced up tight. I’m off to the rooftops of Ichimen, to find this enemy who lurks — according to the monks — in the Shiryō-no-Hako district. It may take until Monday before I find him, but when I do… one of us will fall.

Good news this morning! I arrived at the castle to find a message from one of the Nichiren priestesses in charge of the Teitōken campaign, to all campaign personnel. It says that the campaign is no longer considered “red status” by the nobles; it is now yellow. And if we continue with successful operations over the next week or two, it may even become green.

This is very good news, for the status has been red ever since the planning meetings stretched on and failed to be finished before their deadline.

This is also good news for me personally (as well as for the other fighters like Seijun and his team), because this message acknowledges our hard work and dedication. There is still much to be done, but it is beginning to seem that this campaign might succeed.