Kyuden Shika

"Has no one said such things to you before?" Nesshin asks, somewhat quietly. "Has no one valued you?"

"Anoooo... people always see me in an different light, Shika sama... I keep the shrines and most of the time I am busy with Ebisu blessing that well..." She explained. "My value is my work."

"None of us is only our task," Nesshin notes as his player posts from a phone. "Duty is fine and honorable, yes, and you do yours well, but there is more to you than keeping shrine. I believe it, at least."

"I know Shika sama." She nodded. "Yet... I like it... showing compassion to lost souls, mending wounds that I know how yo mend." She looked at the clouds. "Seeing myself in a different light well... it is difficult."

"A different light offers a different vision," Nesshin replies, "and what it shows, well."

He shrugs. "I like what I see. Very much so. And I'd love to see more."

"Ah..." she continued to be abashed. "I am just a simple samurai full of compassion and nothing more Shika sama." She gave the man a nod.

I'll fill you with something, Nesshin thinks. He says, however, "That is not a simple thing, to be sure. To be virtuously stuffed cannot be easy to do."

"Perhaps... but that is what I do... I try to show people compassion and show them a way that may not be of anger but of tranquility and peace." She looked at the Shika and tilted her head smiling. "I like what I am... I like what I do."

"You'll have to show me sometime," Nesshin replies, smiling in return. "I would love to get to know you better. Much better," he adds.

"I will be honored..." She looked up and nodded. "Will you escort me back, Shika sama?"