Kyuden Shika

"We all face such things," Nesshin says. Then, shifting the mood, he grins. "All the more reason to enjoy what we may while we may!"

Light refreshments are served.

"Wisdom."

...He felt like he had said that before.

"So, what delights are we to indulge in?"

He said, inquiring as the food arrived.

The server speaks to the lightly fried ginger tofu atop a green salad with a sesame soy treatment. Nesshin nods to it, shrugs at the Kitsu, and says "I receive it humbly."

He adds before digging in "One of the younger staff here has taken up an interest in dance and has a talent for it, if you'd care to see such. Others, of course, play and sing."

"I meant the food, Shika-san."

Finding a bowl of spiced ramen before him, he accepted it with thanks.

"But I have often used geisha houses as a crutch for my work, if you need an impartial judge."

"People take their pleasures where they can," Nesshin says. "And some have...balked at the attentions of some of the geisha here, I know."

He takes a bite, chews, swallows.

"There's a staffer here who's an excellent masseuse, for example, but mentioning as much to...one person elicited an...adverse response."

The Kitsu nodded as he ate. Once he had swallowed, he commented

"Interestingly enough, did you hear? Apparently the attic I sometimes rest in has become the mourner room."

He chuckled again at the name.

"The mourner room. Honestly."

"Well," Nesshin says, "there're worse sobriquets. A few floated around early on in the miai, after all.

"But are you concerned about that, that it is known for you and you are known for mourning?"

The Kitsu shaked his head.

"No, not at all - although they write it a different way, my name is literally 'the mourner'. So in the most literal sense, the room was named after me."

He took a quick drink.

"It's just amusing that the room is a dreary yet well maintained attic with no natural light where one is simply left to their own devices, yet I do feel at peace in it."

"It suits you, harms none, and doesn't keep you from doing what you need? Not a problem, then," Nesshin says. "Although it is good to think that this place will remember you after you leave.

"A person likes to feel they've left a mark."

"It is nice." Moshu confirmed. "I never presented it as a problem, more as an... amusing anecdote, I suppose."