Story[]
Ibaraki Douji reflects on Lady Shizuka's most recent travels to Onigashima, Kumaso Village, and Yamataikoku and thinks you wouldn't expect her to have been locked up in a castle in Edo her entire life. Ibaraki Douji wonders if this could be seen as a backlash from the stifling environment of her childhood.
Ibaraki Douji finds it strange that Lady Shizuka, a princess of the Shogunate, is traveling with a drifter like herself. She would not have been able to meet Lady Shizuka let alone talk to her in a normal situation. Ibaraki Douji reflects on how she once saved Lady Shizuka when she was younger.
It began with Ibaraki Douji's trip to Edo and her taking refuge for the night in an old abandoned temple. She heard a girl crying and found the cries to originate under the floor boards. Reluctant to get any sleep with the crying, Ibaraki Douji decides to investigate the hole in the floor to find a really pretty girl at the bottom, bawling. Apparently, Lady Shizuka stepped on a rotten board and fell through the floor and stayed there crying. Ibaraki Douji pulled her out and decided to lead her back to her home to find that the house was a huge Shogunate mansion. When Ibaraki Douji reached the gates, she didn't find praise, but uproar for the scrapes on Lady Shizuka's body. The guards arrested Ibaraki Douji thinking that she assaulted Lady Shizuka and did not save her. Lady Shizuka was able to explain the situation and without her, Ibaraki Douji would have been in jail for the rest of her life.
Through this experience, Lady Shizuka grew attached to Ibaraki Douji and she was allowed to stay in Lady Shizuka's home whenever she visited Edo. Though she was allowed to stay, she was still placed under guard and Ibaraki Douji did not mind due to the great food and soft beds. Ibaraki Douji sees Lady Shizuka as her friend and doesn't care if she is a princess or not, they were meant to meet each other.
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