>>5318317>>5318314>>5318305>>5318301>>5318291>>5318246>>5318242>>5318354>>5318366>Help Research? In your tent? Ara Ara.>Why can’t he just order the spirits to stop like with the kappa? They’re both river spirits.>How are you supposed to aid him? He’s the professor. You're a ronin."You want to conduct <span class="mu-i">research</span> in your tent? Ara, ara." You raise a brow. “But that’s not the kind of job you hire a ronin out for. You’re the college professor here. How do you expect me to help you?”
“Yes, well, as an associate professor, I’ve an abundance of literature on yokai studies to help solve this conundrum–both collected works and my own transcribed field notes, information on feeding habits, instruction on handling, standard behavior patterns.. but the sheer berth of that research is too great to peruse through on my own at a reasonable pace.” He sighs. “And the locals here, well.. let’s just say that written words elude them.”
“So you want us to help look for information on the spirit with you?” Natsumi cuts in.
“Exactly. I’ve already compiled all of the works in my collection on river spirits, and that topic alone has produced some stacks so high that they scrape my tent’s roof. If I’m to cross the river and reach the capitol before the dry season, I’ll need others to help interpret the research with me. But since I’m without my students, that topic falls on the vulgar ronin and her little sister here. I’m sure that, as a former samurai, you can read?”
“Of course!” Natsumi remarks with a smug shrug, hands on her hips. “My brother taught me how when I was kid–all sorts of big books on poetry and war and stuff. Just because we live in the country doesn’t make us illiterate bumpkins. And Lady Tomoe’s a strategic genius, so it figures–”
“Why can’t you just get the kappa to help you? He’s a river spirit, right? What separates him from the ones in the water now?” You cut in, your cheeks red with embarrassment. It’s not that you <span class="mu-i">can’t</span> read–you like manga and books with illustrations–but the heady sort of scholarly books a professor would have are tough to parse out. So, really, it’s not embarrassing at all.
“Yes, well, yokai can range from more physical, material spirits, with real world biologies and presences, to the far more powerful, deeper spiritual creatures that compose nature. My work largely concerns the physical yokai as the ones that can best benefit people.” He huffs from his pipe. “The spirits here are not mere kappa. They are old, powerful, and very angry lords of the river that would just as easily cut through stone as they would kill us.”
>Step into the tent with his professor. It might be cooler than the sweltering heat out there.>Ask if you can sit this one out. Maybe you’ll just take a look through the river yourself.>Write-In. 
