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"Some good it did to acknowledge the fleeting reign of Samurai authority, seeing their fate today..." She scoffed.
It sounded like the Shogun didn't really care to much about what happened on the lower rungs of Oceanippon.
"I thought the Shoguns were a human faction, though? Aren't they supposed to be on your side?"
"They are." She said. "They are the Emperor's iron fist, bound by the Bushido code, sworn protectors of humanity... Alas, they are lacking in that latter department."
"You know, it's interesting that they're defending the Emperor so much, since he isn't even 100% human."
"But the Emperor <span class="mu-i">is</span> a pure human." Yumi said that as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I heard that the Emperor was a mix between the kitsune, tanuki, and human." You said, recalling some of Ruby's words; your Mastermind having read that trivia about the Emperor of Oceanippon from a book somewhere. And while Ayane talked about the Emperor once or twice, she didn't really dive into the subject of Oceanippon politics.
"That..." Yumi thought about it for a moment. "That wouldn't be too surprising. Not many have seen the Emperor, with only the Imperial family, his servants, or the Shogun himself being the closest. He's always stayed inside that giant city-palace thing, and when he moved around he's carried in a fancy box by Oceanippon's best Samurai. And even then every emperor always wears an enchanted fox mask when going outside, so it's hard to know what he really looks like."
"A fox mask? As in, a kitsune mask?"
"Humans say it's a fox mask, gifted by those rare animals that could talk and unrelated to the modern kitsune. The kitsune say it's a kistune mask, given by a transformed kitsune, claiming it's proof he's a pure-blooded kitsune that hides his tails. The tanuki also claim he's a pure-blooded tanuki, though I don't know what their reasoning is." Yumi said.
"Does he have tails?" You asked.
"The eternally cursed spirit known as Yumi... doesn't know." Yumi shrugged. "If he does have tails, it's not too hard to use invisibility or illusions to hide them."
"What do you think about the Emperor?" You asked.
"Pfft." Yumi gained an arrogant smile to her face. "This so-called 'Emperor'? If he's not merely a human then he's phantom, I suspect. Or a puppet-like fabrication conjured forth by the Shogun's machinations. A royal woven from shadows and lies, existing only within the distorted reality the Shogun seeks to impose upon us."
"Isn't that a bit of an unorthodox belief?" You were surprised by how low of an opinion she had of Oceanippon's system. "Since the Emperor is supposed to be a god and all that. Not to mention Oceanippon still has an emperor." You'd have to ask Ayane about this later. This whole conversation got you curious about Oceanippon in general, since this sounded very different from the Japan you knew from your old world.
"Maybe." She shrugged.
