Entry 2 - 1125 hours

[agent_fumoffu]

Since protecting Chidori is my mission, being able to attend the same facilities that she does is necessary. So, this is part of my mission, too.

But...

*pages through notes fruitlessly*

I don't understand Japanese Classical Literature at all.

Comments

[a_young_legend]

...you know, it would probably help if you weren't holding those upside down.

What's there to understand about it? Didn't you learn about it at school?

[agent_fumoffu]

No. There wasn't anyone in Helmajistan or Cambodia who could read the Man'yoshu or the Tosa Diary.

[a_young_legend]

Helmajistan? I read about Cambodia in a textbook once, but I've never heard of that place. So you're not Japanese?

[agent_fumoffu]

I'm not Japanese. I grew up in Afghanistan, Helmajistan, Lebanon, Cambodia, Iraq, Russia, and Colombia, before moving here.

[a_young_legend]

Wow... that's a lot of places. It must've been hard moving all over the place.

Hm. Let me see your notes a sec.

Man'yoshu is poetry, basically. A lot of it is based on religion, or at least my teacher said so. Lots of people wrote it, and over a lot of time. It also had some unique writing system to it.

And the Tosa Diary... well, it was written by a girl, first of all. It talks about the return of a governor from the Tosa province to Kyoto, which is a big city in Japan. Japan's separated into lots of areas, like provinces, prefectures, and districts.

Did that help any? I can't saying I wasn't paying too much attention during literature class, sorry...

[agent_fumoffu]

I've been making some notes on the beginning of the Man'yoshu...

"Waga seko o" uses the characters for "my", "child", and "back," so a child on my back... but I'm not quite sure what "Yamato e yaru" means. The Yamato was a super dreadnought used during the Pacific War, so maybe the author was carrying an injured child to the ship?

There's still a lot that I don't understand, though. Why would he take the child to a ship? Where there no field hospitals nearby? And furthermore, wasn't the Man'yoshu written before that era, anyway?

This doesn't make any sense.

[a_young_legend]

Yamato was just the name of the ship. Yamato itself means "ancient Japan". It might mean that the author was carrying him during those times, or to a particular location in ancient Japan. Of course, it could also mean something else entirely.

It doesn't make sense to me, either, but I don't think it's supposed to. Literature's not straightforward like math, so you have to draw your own meaning from it.

[agent_fumoffu]

Draw your own meaning from it...

*looks thoughtfully at notes for a few seconds*

...I'd rather do math problems, all things considered.

[a_young_legend]

Same here. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just do your best.

So, have you had much time to see Japan? I'm Shinji, by the way. I don't think we've met.

[agent_fumoffu]

Sgt. Sagara Sousuke, of Mithril, sir! *salutes*

[a_young_legend]

S-sir?! No, it's okay. I'm just Shinji.

A soldier, huh? That explains why you thought of that battleship earlier. And why you've moved all over the place.

[agent_fumoffu]

Yes, I have been a soldier for all of my life.

[a_young_legend]

I take it you like fighting, then.