[ ah… hideyoshi. the air immediately seems to weigh down, and hanbei pretends he doesn’t see the concern in hideyoshi’s very presence. ] Yes… [ his tone is already a bit regretful. the cool light from the window tells him the hour, but, of course, he’d much rather see the sky in person. ]

I’m sorry I can’t search the streets myself, Hideyoshi. [ with a joyless smile. he apologizes, but doesn’t actually want to talk about why he has to to begin with. it’s probably telling in and of itself that he fails to offer any sort of assurance about his recovering– he hates to be so helplessly transparent.

but he continues on. ]

It’s strange… these books aren’t written in Japanese, yet I am able to read them. [ he closes one, contemplative ] We shouldn’t underestimate the influence of whatever force is at work here… if it is capable of this as well.