"Needle seller! You show the way."
"The way to where?" Hiyoshi braced himself against the wind.
"The woods where the scoundrels from Hachisuka are having their meeting."
"Uh, well, 1 don't know where the place is either."
"Even if this is your first time here, I think they know your face well enough."
"Huh?"
"Don't play the innocent."
This is no good, thought Hiyoshi. I didn't fool him at all. Mitsuhide had seen through his lies, and he made no more excuses.
There were no lights in the wood. The wind swept through the leaves, which beat against the great temple roof like spray scouring the gunwales of a ship. The woods behind the temple were like a raging ocean—the trees groaned and the grasses roared.
"Needle seller!"
"Yes, sir."
"Are your comrades here yet?"
"How should I know?"
Mitsuhide sat down on a small stone pagoda at the rear of the temple. "It's nearing the second half of the Hour of the Dog. If you're the only person not accounted for, they'll be on the alert." His spear, caught by the full force of the wind, was right in front of Hiyoshi's feet. "Go show yourself!" Hiyoshi had to admit to himself that Mitsuhide was a step ahead of him from the very start. "Go tell them that Akechi Mitsuhide is waiting here, and that he would like to talk with the leader of the men of Hachisuka."
"Yes, sir." Hiyoshi bowed his head but did not move. "Is it all right if I say this in front of everyone?"
"Yes."
"And that's why you brought me here with you?"
"Yes. Now get going."
"I'll go, but since we may not meet again, I'd like to tell you something."
"Yes?"
"It would be a shame to leave without saying this, because you see me only as a agent of the Hachisuka."
"That's true."
"You're very clever, but your eyes are too sharp, and they go right through the thing they're looking at. When a man hits a nail, he stops where he's supposed to, because going too far is just as bad as not going far enough. Your intelligence is like that. I admit I came to Inabayama with the men from Hachisuka. But my heart's not in it—not at all. I was born in a farming family in Nakamura, and I've done things like selling needles, but haven't reached my goal. I don't intend to spend my life eating cold rice from a ronin’s table. Neither am I going to work as an agitator for some worthless reward. If, by some chance, we meet again, I'll prove to you what I said about you looking too hard at things. For now, I'll go to Hachisuka Shichinai, give him your message, and leave immediately. So good luck! Take good care of yourself, and study hard."
Mitsuhide listened in silence, then suddenly came out of his reverie. "Needle seller! Wait!" he called.
Hiyoshi had already vanished into the storm. He ran into the black woods without hearing Mitsuhide's call. He ran until he got to a small, level bit of land sheltered from the wind by trees. He could see men all about him, scattered like wild horses in a pasture, some sprawling, some sitting, some standing.
"Who's there?"
"It's me."
"Hiyoshi?"
"Yeah."
"Where have you been? You're the last. Everyone's been worried," scolded one man.
"I'm sorry I'm late," he said as he came up to the group. He was trembling. "Where's Master Shichinai?"
"He's over there. Go and apologize. He's real angry."
Four or five members of the gang stood talking around Shichinai.
"Is that Monkey?" Shichinai asked, looking around. Hiyoshi went over to him and made his excuses for being late.
"What were you up to?"
"During the day I was held prisoner by a retainer of the Saito clan," Hiyoshi admitted.
"What?" Shichinai and all the others stared at him nervously, afraid that their plot had been exposed. "You simpleton!" Without warning, he grabbed Hiyoshi by the collar, yanked him forward, and asked roughly, "Where and by whom were you being held? And did you say anything?"
"I talked."
"You what?"
"If I hadn't talked, I wouldn't be alive. I wouldn't be here now."
"You little bastard!" Shichinai gave Hiyoshi a good shaking. "You fool! You blabbed to save your miserable skin. For that, you're going to be the first victim of tonight's bloodbath!"
Shichinai let go and tried to kick him, but Hiyoshi jumped back agilely and Shichinai missed. The two men closest to Hiyoshi grabbed his arms and twisted them behind his back. Struggling to free his arms, Hiyoshi said in one breath, "Don't lose your heads. Hear me out, even though I was caught and talked. They're retainers of Lord Dosan."
They looked relieved, but also still a little doubtful.
"All right, who were they?"
"It was Akechi Mitsuyasu's house. I wasn't being held by him but by his nephew Mitsuhide."
"Ah, the Akechi hanger-on," someone muttered.
Hiyoshi looked at the man, then moved his eyes over the whole group. "This Master Mitsuhide wants to meet with our leader. He came here with me. He's over there. Master Shichinai, won't you go and meet him?"
"Akechi Mitsuyasu's nephew came here with you?"
"Yes."
"Did you tell Mitsuhide everything about tonight's plan?"
"Even if I hadn't, he would have guessed. He's a genius."
"Why did he come?"
"I don't know. He said only that I should guide him here."
"And so you did?"
"There was nothing else I could do."
As Hiyoshi and Shichinai talked, the men around them swallowed hard as they listened. Finally, Shichinai wound things up with a click of his tongue. He stepped forward and asked, "All right, where is he, this Akechi Mitsuhide?"
Everyone talked at once. It was dangerous for Shichinai to meet the man alon. Someone should go with him. Or they should surround the meeting place and stay hidden.
Just then a voice came from behind: "Men of Hachisuka! I have come to you. I should like to meet with Master Shichinai."
They turned toward the voice in stunned surprise. Mitsuhide had approached unnoticed and was calmly observing them.
Shichinai felt a little confused, but being the leader, he stepped forward.
"Are you Hachisuka Shichinai?" asked Mitsuhide.
"I am," Shichinai replied, his head held high. He was in front of his men, but it was common for ronin not to be humble before samurai who served a lord or warriors c even higher status.
Although Mitsuhide was armed with a spear, he bowed and spoke politely. "It's pleasure to meet you. I have heard your name before, as well as the respected name of Master Koroku. I am Akechi Mitsuhide, a retainer of Lord Saito Dosan."
The politeness of the greeting left Shichinai feeling slightly paralyzed. "Well, what do you want?" he asked.
"Tonight's plan."
"What about tonight's plan?" Shichinai asked with feigned indifference.
"It has to do with the particulars I learned from the needle seller, which shocked me into coming here with great speed. Tonight's outrage—it is, perhaps, impolite to call it a outrage—but from the standpoint of military strategy it is very poorly conceived. I can’t believe this is Lord Dosan's idea. I would like you to drop it immediately."
"Never!" Shichinai shouted arrogantly. "This is not being done on my orders. The orders come from Master Koroku, at Lord Dosan's request."
"That's what I assumed to be the case," Mitsuhide said in an ordinary tone of voice
"Naturally, you wouldn't call it off on your own authority. My cousin Mitsuharu has gone to Sagiyama to remonstrate with Lord Dosan. He's to meet with us here. My request is that you all stay here until he comes."