(D6, ME) D6: Ichiro by Kakita Takeo

[Kitsuki Hajime]

"Perhaps morbid was not the correct term," Hajime bristled just a bit at the well-intentioned lecture. "If my provincial concerns about propriety are baseless, please, answer the question. Does the arrow forge a greater connection between killer and killed than the sword? No, pardon me, than the tonfa?"

[Saibankan]

Once more the lanterns are dimmed, and the play begins!

Ichiro by Kakita Takeo

Otomo Ichiro, son of the influential Otomo lord Shiko has received an invitation to study at the famous Kakita Academy. However, his father sends a dozen Seppun guards with Ichiro to keep him safe from any possible enemies. However, Ichiro complains to his father that such heavy security is interfering with his studies. His father agrees to withdraw the Seppun....but arranges for Shosuro Tadakuni to infiltrate the Academy as a fellow classmate from the Kakita family to shadow his son. The two form a fast friendship which soon deepens to romance. However, Ichiro discovers Tadakuni's true identity. Hurt at the betrayal, Ichiro threatens to expose Tadakuni to the Academy. Tadakuni pleads with Ichiro that his feelings for him were never a lie. Ichiro is moved by the Scorpion's tears, and promises to not expose Tadakuni, as long as he always comes first rather than his father, which Tadakuni's readily agrees to.

[Kitsu Murato]

"Perhaps morbid was not the correct term," Hajime bristled just a bit at the well-intentioned lecture. "If my provincial concerns about propriety are baseless, please, answer the question. Does the arrow forge a greater connection between killer and killed than the sword? No, pardon me, than the tonfa?"

He had not meant to suggest anything lecturelike by it. Only that he himself was extremely comfortable with such talk, so he simply nodded and continued on. "The connection between them, I believe is very different in the nature of how intimate the death is between the two. The arrow allows one to be far more dispassionate and disconnected. It is a weaker connection but one that does not leave as heavy a burden on the mind of the killer. In the same way that a general would be connected to each death on his battlefield, but because he is so disconnected it is almost as if he wasn't involved. Using a tonfa would likely be the most powerful connection, and also the most burdensome with how brutal it would need be in comparison. And in each circumstance... it is something that can be explored and considered. How the deaths connect them. The arrow creates the most impersonal... so is it better to use it to try to avoid some of the burden or is it one's responsibility to try to accept that burden to honor the fallen enemy?"

He watches the story with attention. It was an interesting premise, but he did not like the ending. It felt to manipulative of the love they seemed to share earlier.

[Shika Nesshin]

Another play focusing on Imperials. Risky.

[Usogawa Emiko]

Emiko sighed softly and shook her head. It started so well again, but the ending....

I don't understand what went so wrong.

[Asahina Soyokaze]

Soyokaze was left dumbfounded by the play but had the sense to step outside rather than show any dissatisfaction for a Kakita play.


(Still on premises; tag to approach)

[Kitsuki Hajime]

He had not meant to suggest anything lecturelike by it. Only that he himself was extremely comfortable with such talk, so he simply nodded and continued on. "The connection between them, I believe is very different in the nature of how intimate the death is between the two. The arrow allows one to be far more dispassionate and disconnected. It is a weaker connection but one that does not leave as heavy a burden on the mind of the killer. In the same way that a general would be connected to each death on his battlefield, but because he is so disconnected it is almost as if he wasn't involved. Using a tonfa would likely be the most powerful connection, and also the most burdensome with how brutal it would need be in comparison. And in each circumstance... it is something that can be explored and considered. How the deaths connect them. The arrow creates the most impersonal... so is it better to use it to try to avoid some of the burden or is it one's responsibility to try to accept that burden to honor the fallen enemy?"

He watches the story with attention. It was an interesting premise, but he did not like the ending. It felt to manipulative of the love they seemed to share earlier.

A few moments after the story ends, Hajime sighs in discomfort. "That...was troubling," He pronounces. "I am not entirely sure whether the young man was truly in love with his shadow, or whether he simply wanted to spite his father."

[Kitsu Murato]

"I agree. It felt manipulative on the part of the lead," he says with a nod. "And quite cruel."

[Kitsuki Hajime]

"Marriage seems rather too permanent a thing with which to play such games. I know stories are full of the tensions between parents and children, but this seemed excessive. And it seems strange to me that, when the story extends us an example of a child choosing their spouse, the father still remains the focal point of the narrative."

[Kitsu Murato]

"That's a good observation. I'd not thought about that. But at the same time, even here at a miai our parents are an important part of the selection for the Deer I imagine," he says with a nod. "Maybe it's a cautionary tale that our parents control our fate no matter what we do?"