The New Winds

After the morning's efforts to repair the shoji, the Kuni collected up paper and paste once more to see if any more holes were around to repair or if any of the repairs fell away from the holes. He didn't want anything bad to happen again tonight, hoping everyone could get restful sleep.

All the screens repairs have held, and no new holes are in any of them.

With a nod to himself, the Kuni goes to the rest of the dojo to look for more holes in paper walls, wherever they might be, checking on the Sensei's rooms next.

Noticing the Kuni walking through the hallways, the Kaiu approached — not running, but at a slow pace of sorts. "Are you searching for holes?"

"I am. The shoji in the student dormitory all seem to be good, but the creature may linger if there are others in the complex. I don't want to leave that to chance if I can help it."

Investigation (Search) / Perception, TN 8 to find any new holes anywhere inside the dojo complex

The Kuni doesn't seem able to locate any further holes in the complex, but waits to see if the Kaiu finds any as well.

D2 Monkey, Looking for Paper Holes, Investigation / Perception, TN 8: 2d10o10k1 7

Aiichirō searches, but his eyes were not sharp enough. "I assume they are good. Even the walls are well kept here."
D2 Monkey - Inspecting the Paper - Investigation TN 8: 1d10 3

"Okay. We should let one of the instructors know. Which one helped last night?" he asks Aiichiro, not remembering who they said in the morning.

"Asako Himeya-sensei. She can also cast void spells. I don't know what they do, but you may do. I know where her barrack is." He walked in the direction.

"I have no clue actually. The elemental kami are interesting but they're not quite the same as spirits," he replies, shaking his head. "Not sure how void spells work though. Never knew any Kuni that did that."

"I see. It seems more like a Phoenix thing by what I remember my father telling me. He was quite knowledgeable on those shugenja things, although far from being one. Didn't get to talk with you before. Have you met the other Crabs?"

"Not really, no. I've been very focused on the training and other stuff. I needed to get permission to go to the temple before bed as well," he says with a shrug. "Since I can travel to the different spirit realms, it's important to ensure I don't carry any of their effects on my soul."

"I see. I have devoted my time until now with meeting other people. There are as well two Yasukis, one trained with the Hiruma and another with the Hida. You travel to the spirit realms? Didn't knew shugenja could do that but it makes sense. Everything about talking with ancestors."

"Oh, I'm not a shugenja. I am training with the Wardens," he replies. "Some overlap in duties, but we go about it in a completely different way. And most people can't travel to the spirit realms. There are portals between realms that exist that folks can go through, but I don't need those. I can send my spirit to other realms by attuning my soul and focusing my mind. There are even fewer people like me than people that have gone through portals."

"I see. You are more rare than a shugenja then. My sleeping times are all messed up due to last night. I could sleep earlier to guard you on the middle of the night if that is your wish. Last night that was what I did anyway. But I was guarding everyone."
He took his bottle of water in hands.
"Which spirit realms are there? My education was pretty basic on this area. I don't know much aside Jigoku and Yomi. I mean. I obviously know the names of the other realms, but don't know their meaning."

He shakes his head. "No. We should be okay with the holes covered. I think that you should just rest during the normal hours. I'll be out at the temple during the hour of the Dog anyway, to be purified of any effects that might be lingering from Yume-do last night."

"They've all got different purposes and effects on those that visit or come from them. Meido is the crossroads between the realms where spirits wait to be judged before being sent to their next realm. Tengoku is, of course, the home of Lord Moon and Lady Sun, where all the Kami that founded the empire were born. Chikushudo is home to animal spirits and one of the closest realms to Ningen-do. Sakkaku is the place trickster spirits like bakeneko and tanuki call home. There are a lot of spirits that live in both Chikushudo and Sakkaku. Chikushudo might be one of the closest to our realm, but it's even closer to Sakkaku. Gaki-do is home to many ghosts and evil spirits that want to feed off of people from Ningen-do. Toshigoku is the place where spirits of rage, anger and revenge go. Everyone travels to Yume-do when they sleep, but the effects of that realm make it nearly impossible to control or remember much of what you do there. It is a very flexible realm and spirits there shape the world around them quite easily. Yomi is where honored ancestors go if they have earned the right to do so in life, though most people are simply reborn in Ningen-do. But with the collected history of people, it still has many worthy and heroic souls beyond counting. And as you say, most of us Crab learn a thing or two about Jigoku."

He keeps himself shit whilst you explain, nodding with his head as if it was a greeting. "I see. Thank you very much for the patience of explaining it to me. I usually too go to the shrine to pray during night. Perhaps I went out too late, but didn't find you there. We could go together. You are good and knowledgeable company."
He had more questions, but didn't want to overload the Kuni. So he changed subjects, and as always, this being Aiichirō, to something... surprisingly, this time, not Wall-related.
"I assumed you were a shugenja because of your face paint. I know the shugenja do wear it, and thought it was something of them exclusively because I never saw a bushi wearing it. I have heard that each pattern is unique. Is it true, or is there a limited number of templates with different meanings or so?"

"Ah, not the shrine. The temple, outside the complex. It's only because of my ability that I was given leave to go to the temple outside the complex. The shrine inside the complex doesn't have any priests tending it so there is nobody to perform a purification ritual. So I will be going there and back quickly each evening to keep my soul clean of spiritual influence. It uses up all of my evening free time, and I suspect that no other students will be allowed to come with unless something happened to them that caused a spiritual impurity."

"And the face paint is something both the shugenja and monks of the Kuni do. The Wardens are monks. The face paint is made up to look like one's teacher, but with a few personal changes. It honors them as your sensei, but identifies you as an individual. My master does not have the dots under his eyes, that was what I added. Someday, if I train a student he'd use a similar face paint to me and he might remove the water drop from the forehead or add embellishment around the mouth. It would be up to them. I have a dot under each eye for each spirit realm, excluding Ningen-do. I chose to do that because I have the ability to see all of them. Each pair represents my 'eyes' to see that realm."

"I see." He walks in silence for a while, taking a sip of water as he sorted things out. "Wait. So you can go to Jigoku, Tengoku and Yomi? Like, seriously?" He asked, trying not to look surprised. "Can you see the spirits there too? Seeing the ancestors, Lady Sun and the Dark One? Wait, I think it was dumb to ask about Lady Sun. You can see her in the sky. Can you... Can you search for people too? Have you ever seen the kami? Is Atarasi there? Osano-Wo? Where do the Fortunes stay?"
He guarded the bottle, tucking it on his obi, reminding himself to fill it later.
"Too many questions. I am like that sometimes, beyond my notice. Feel free to ignore some, or all of them."