Day 7, Mid-Morning, Open, Yard, Practicing at the crack of..

[Bayushi Nobuyoshi]

....Well, so not dawn. It was said that a Scorpion in sunlight was either very good, very confident, or both. That still didn't give Nobuyoshi a desire to greet the Jade Sun's return to the sky.

Practice, however, had to be done daily. Kata practice, strength practice, sword practice, bow practice, anything to keep his combat skills at their peak. He had no choice, they had to be kept up.

So far on this trip he'd practiced on a boat, and in a gaijin dirt training yard, and now, with the weather turned rotten again, he trains in the embassy yard. The embassy yard was certainly the most familiar, if least visited.

Still, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered save keeping his skills at their peak, and being the best. Grandfather wouldn't hear of it.