“Lord Imagawa, the Lady Sakura’s manner of brewing tea is wonderful! However, this tea is too thick. Even using the tongue to touch it, I can feel its bitterness.” A duke was taking a cup of tea, feeling too awkward to continue, thus he looked at the host with an innocent eye. All the rest followed his lead and nodded.

But before Yos.h.i.+moto opened his mouth, Harun.o.bu interrupted. “Duke, you certainly don’t enjoy the tea of a military family. So why don’t you stay in Kyoto? There are many good teas there.”

“Wow. . . Lord Harun.o.bu, why do you say such words. . . ?” The dukes were all embarra.s.sed by him. But in order to maintain their dignified facial etiquette, they didn’t retort.

Yos.h.i.+moto saw the situation became even worse, and he spoke immediately, saying, “My dear guests, this brother-in-law of mine is always unthinking like this. But be a.s.sured, he has no bad intentions. Please forgive me and don’t get upset over it.”

Sakura had to smile with Yos.h.i.+moto to apologize. But she kept on looking at Harun.o.bu from time to time, wondering if he said this only because he was angry at her, or if he just wanted to humiliate those dukes. Anyway, his words sounded quite powerful.

“Sakura’s skill is horrible. I am so sorry about this. If my lords don’t like it, let me invite the tea maker of our family to bring some teas from Kyoto.”

When Yos.h.i.+moto heard this, he looked at her; after a while, he nodded slightly with regret. But when the tea maker of Suruga provided his art, Yos.h.i.+moto and all the dukes’ faces took on expressions of disbelief.

“Why is this tea so plain?”

To everyone’s surprise, Harun.o.bu was very calm, and he explained, “Once you’ve tried the Kung Fu tea of the Ming, you will feel that any other tea is tasteless. So, I suggest every one of you to enjoy the Kung Fu tea by Sakura carefully.” He squinted to push away the Kyoto teas and took back the cup filled with Sakura’s thick tea.

How does he know Kung Fu tea? Sakura was wondering in her heart. Is there anyone who had made this for him? Or did he he simply come to love the Chinese tea when he began to read Master Sun's Art of War?

“I am so sorry, Lord Takeda Harun.o.bu, you have a better knowledge base than me.” Yos.h.i.+moto smiled politely, and he ordered Sakura, “Sakura, since Lord Takeda appreciates your tea so much, why not bring some more to him?”

“Yes.” Sakura nodded to take the cup of Harun.o.bu and brought the tea pot to pour a new cup for him.

But before she could send back the tea cup to Harun.o.bu, she felt a strong quiver and the cup fell to the ground and broke.

Before she understood what was happening, someone yelled with panic, “Earthquake!” Harun.o.bu took her right hand to draw her out of the tea house.

Earthquake? A real earthquake?

He took her and jumped down from the second floor. But this height was not a big deal for either of them, who had practice kung fu since childhood.

“Don’t be afraid. We have earthquakes frequently. So the buildings are low; meanwhile, this garden only has some trees and flowers. We will be fine.”

His chest was pressed against her back. Was he preparing to protect her at any time? The familiar scent of him came to her nose. She unconsciously hugged his arms, which were circling her waist.

Release your hands . . . release your hands! She urged herself secretly. Do you still have some feeling for him? But they hadn’t even begun at all. What about this? She had never feared anyone would bully her. So, she thought her reaction at this moment was because this was a time of crisis. She needed someone to be by her side.

While she was thinking about this, a huge roar from the earth came to her ears, and then the noises of the outside guests. She was so shocked, it was hard to differentiate the quiver of the earth and her own shaking. But in the next minute, a huge fissure appeared on the ground, extending to them in a fast speed.

“Foolish Harun.o.bu, you said you are experienced, but this garden is the central point of the earthquake.”

“What?”

“No time, run!”

“I guess the one you like is me.” He seemed to find some secret and spoke it out as he began to run with her.

“Who? No, your brother-in-law knows me better than you.”

“Be careful!”

Sakura was still quarreling with him and kept on running. All of a sudden, Harun.o.bu pushed her heavily. She fell to the other side of the gap, but when she turned back to look, he had already fallen into the huge fissure.

“No! Harun.o.bu, no!

 Give me your hand, and I’ll grab it!” She ran to the side of the gap, reaching out her hand to him. Before he could reach her hand, he’d already fallen into the deep h.e.l.l. Sakura couldn’t suppress her care and pain and jumped after him.

No. . . Harun.o.bu, you can’t die for me. I am not worthy of your life. . . No. . .

She went to a totally dark place. Was this the so-called h.e.l.l? If so, why didn’t she see even a flame of ghost fire? Or was Harun.o.bu still alive, and it was she who had died?

After a while, Sakura saw some blue lights. In the distance, where she couldn’t reach, she saw many people were walking in step with each other. Was this the “よもつひらさか” (land of the dead) of Buddhist lore? She couldn’t see clearly those people’s faces, but she was sure that Harun.o.bu wasn’t among them.

Clap! A hot, wet thing dropped onto her face.

She woke up to find that it was just a dream.

So she didn’t die. Before she could take a careful look at the environment, she used her hand to wipe off the thing dropped on her face. Gosh, it was bird s.h.i.+t.