CHENNAI: Ohayou gozaimasu journal, Today, the Lady with the Controller (henceforth, LwtC) took my faithful steed — Kage, and me on a pilgrimage. I had to climb up several rocks, and fall a couple of times (her incompetence, not mine). She made me follow birds, and jump off cliffs “by accident”. As it transpired, the foxes I ran after and the bamboo shoots I was forced to slash were not purely part of my penance.
I found charms during these shrine visits that increased my ability to deal with the ruthless invaders and my resolve which helps me magically heal in battle. Maybe LwtC is unaware of the urgency of the situation to reclaim Tsushima — Uncle Shimura, my friends — Lady Masako, Yuna, Ishikawa sensei, they are all waiting for my calls. But we deviated from my targeted path. A lot. She made me pose in a variety of facial expressions and battle stances.
She changed the weather and sunlight colour. Perhaps LwtC is also unfamiliar with beauty that nature offers (I don’t know where she’s from). She kept exclaiming over how amazing it is that I follow the wind and use it as my “jeepyes” instead of following a minimap. She also kept saying that it was really “aesthetic” when the sunlight peered through the trees and reflected on the flowers and blades of grass. That’s basically the whole of Tsushima.
Does that make my island aesthetic? Is that a good thing? Although hesitant about the concept of stand-offs (which are one-slash timed hits where I stand to gain a lot), she mastered them and built my strength to fight off more of the Mongols. While she concentrated a lot on combat, and “virtual photographs for the ‘gram” — she was extremely short-sighted of other things. For instance, she did not know for the longest time that my musical talents could change the weather.
She has to realise that my true skill-set and the variety of Tsushima can be experienced only when she follows my targeted path, instead of smelling the flowers and appreciating sunlight. But I cannot be completely critical of LwtC’s actions. She understands my apprehension towards taking what lesser soldiers call the “stealth” route.
Samurai prefer to face their enemies head on. Perhaps she is just getting impatient with all the creeping around, but she starts to be supportive of my true honour, even if that means repeated battle failures. I would grant her all seven out of seven bamboo shoots, gift her a straw hat if she ever visits Tsushima. Perhaps she might not visit – she might just be the real “Ghost of Tsushima” overlooking our progress.Will keep you updated, journal. My uncle is anxious for battle and Khotun Khan awaits. Sayonara. Sakai Jin
Anusha Ganapathi
@quaffle_waffle
(This economics graduate spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)