15. Doji Ren

The Duel

I run after Kiji and I reach the training grounds just in time as Takuya and somew Crab clan Bushu are getting ready for a duel. I learn that people have been talking smack about us, which didn't go down too well with Takuya! The Ruby Champion, Crane and Lion Clan representatives take on the role of the jury. After a few glancing blows back and forth, Takuya is the first the strike first and thus the duel ends. After counting the score he's pronounced the winner!
I now quickly head bak to our sleeping quarters accompanied by Yumako who'll help me study. Kyo and Aki will pay a quick visit to the granery to figure out if they can find out any more about possible poisoned grain.

Weaponry Training

The next morning right before breakfast, Kyo and Aki tell the us what they have found out. Apparantly there's a hidden room beneath the granery where they found assorted poisons and more letters in the same handwriting as what we found in the tunnel leading away from the cave. One letter states that the Green (read "Emerald Champion") betrayed humanity to the Kami.
To find out if suspicious poeple visit this hiodden hideout beneath the granery I send out Kiji to stand guard nearby it, telling him it'll help to find out who poisoned Oji's chickens.

At the breakfast table there's a new face for us, a Crab magistrate going by the name of Hiruma Shigeki. He loudly complains about the challenges the Crab face coming from the Shadowlands and that we should properly defend. From the gossip around me I learn this isn't the first time he's here and quite some people dislike him being present, also when Doji was still alive.

It is time for weaponry training. Sensei Shosuro Koharu, of the Scorpion clan, tells us about all kinds of weapons, starting out with your standard arsenal, but also telling us about the less commonly used kind, often wielded by non-Samurai. She also tells us about her experience in the City of Lies where she worked as a Magistrate.
Eventually it is time for some actual practice. She will attack us each in turn. When I'm up I deftly dodge her attack resulting in her praise. We all receive a the practice weapon as a gift.
Next up, she tells us about an even less commonly used form of weapons: poisons. She considers it really evil to use them, but she was confronted with it quite often in the line of duty.
She ends the session telling us that we can pay her a visit this afternoon for some more indepth information if we wish to do so, conclusing with a statement "Your greatest weapon is your unyielding duty to the Emperor".
I wonder if she would be a suspect for the murder of Doji, given her vision on the Emperor and her knowledge on poisons and their usage. Although she really meant it when she told us about how evil poison usage is... Not entirely sure what to make of her yet, might want to pay her a visit for the additional training this afternoon to get to know her better.

We receive a message from Sensei Miya Kotsuma, telling us to prepare for tomorrows training, by doing some research on famous criminals of the past.

After lunch we head back to our quarters to discuss our current state of affairs. We'll head over to the library for our preparation assignment. I got a feeling we are being followed and I catch a quick glimpse of Kitsuki. I whisper this to the others. Aki noticed the same and immediately turns around to confront him.
Yoshi tells him it almost felt like we were being followed. It doesn't take much for Kitsuki to break down and confess to us he indeed had been following us, from the moment we arrived in thge castle. Oh crud, what might he have learned from this?...
We ask him why he has been following us and he comes up with a story that he considers it weird that we are in the sped up Magistrate training program and it are weird times with the recent death of Doji and all. And he likes to know what's going on.