SHIGEKO'S DOSSIER: A strange young woman. I'll admit that she is clever, honorable and keen eyed - but I fear that the composition of her spirit has too much imagination in the mixture. If she still resides in Ryoko Owari when you arrive, you will soon get to know her along with her outlandish tales of secret cults and mysterious creatures garbed in human form. Be warned; she is persistent, despite a complete lack of concrete evidence for her outlandish tales.
DIARY OF AN OPIUM EATER: Hantei XXXVIII, Second Day, Month of the Ox
When I woke up this morning, I had such a pain in my head
that I was afraid I would die. Then I hopedI would die. Then I
became afraid that I wouldn't die. Apparently I overindulged in
crab water during the Liberation Day festival.
I remembered that Ide Nakatada had said the best cure for
such suffering was to steam out the toxins, so I visited the bath
house.
So debilitated was I that I didn't even realize that the woman
settling into the pool with me was Iuchi Sadako - it helped not a
bit that both of us were wearing those ridiculous gauze masks.
An idiotic custom, but one that must not be transgressed or even
called into question (like bowing, adultery and all venerable
customs). Before I knew what was what she had entangled me in
a long, rambling discussion of her theory about how the Crab
forces were really ejected from Ryoko Owari. According to her
there was a great conspiracy (of course) of sake merchants,
geishas (or people pretending to be geisha - though who would
bother to pretend such a thing is quite beyond my imagination)
and similar lesser people who simply corrupted the Crab soldiers
until they were too weak to hold the city. Naturally there was a
mastermind behind all this - she said, with no hint of jest in her
voice, that she wasn't sure if it was the ninja or the secret cult of
Lord Moon.
In my kindest voice, I told her that I wished my poems had
half the creativity of her "theories': She took it as a compliment,
which just shows she can't be nearly as perceptive as she believes
herself to be.