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Dans-Prosemaxx-Cowriter-S

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[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write four sentences sentences in the style of Akahige Namban spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A fire was lit, and samples of the pure grains were burned. Charms were read over Satsuki's supine body, and mystic signs were traced on her skin in sanctified ink. The droning of the chants, the conch blasts, and the jangle of instruments lulled Satsuki into a trance. As the fire died down in its brass bowl, Hasegae drew Satsuki's legs apart." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He inserted himself slowly and smoothly into her moist channel while chanting the appropriate verses." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He rolled them onto their sides. His hands loosely caressed her breasts and back, then dipped lower to her ass, spreading her cheeks like the two halves of a peach.\n\nChanting too, Tsuneyoshi laid himself behind her. He inserted his prick into the flexible ring of her ass." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Slowly, still chanting, he eased his way into her. She felt the hardness of the two pricks in her as they nestled into the channels of her flesh. Gently, softly, she enclosed them within herself, squeezing them as lightly as she could.\n\nTwo pairs of hands now stroked her body." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Rising higher, they found her throat and lightly fingered her mouth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She opened her soft lips, and Daisangyoja's prick was gently inserted into the warm waiting cavern. It slid forward, resting on her relaxed tongue. She breathed easily through her nose while laving the full morsel of flesh with the moisture of her mouth. Daisangyoja touched the top of her head approvingly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The doors were closed, and they lay that way dreamily through the night, Satsuki slowly urging her men towards a climax by tiny motions of her body, by minute shiftings and clenchings of herself." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As the rooster crowed the dawn she was inundated by streams of come from all three men, who were shaken in turn by her climax." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "expand on the story like Akahige Namban would" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Okiku crouched on a branch, motionless." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The stalking yamabushi crept closer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Midori's keening teased him on, When the man was directly below her, parting the bushes that hid the brown-haired girl, Okiku slipped from her perch silently as an owl." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The yamabushi died with a snapping crack of the bone in his neck. Okiku stepped off the warm, twitching body, then immediately leaped high, tumbling in the air as she rose. A second mountain ascetic slashed down at the spot on which she had been standing. Her feet hit the ground, and she flexed her knees and leaped again. The yamabushi leaped high too, and they met in midair." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her hands moved swiftly and a bright length of steel whispered through the air as it was withdrawn from concealment in her pilgrim's staff." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The yamabushi shrieked and fell in a heap." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Midori ran to Okiku's side. Her sash was off her waist in a flash as she tried to stanch the bright stream of blood that gushed from Okiku's arm and side.\n\n\"Are you all right? Mistress Okiku, are you well?\"\n\nOkiku grunted. The cuts were superficial, but her arm and side would soon stiffen. Another yamabushi ran into view and headed for the two women." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 6 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Midori hastily interposed herself between Okiku and the attacker. Hands extended into claws, she tried to block his approach, screaming incoherently. The yamabushi batted her aside, concentrating on Okiku's blade. Midori swung her head, and her fine brown hair blinded him for a critical instant. The man hesitated. There was a double whir through the air. The yamabushi screamed. His eye sprouted a metal star, and his throat gushed scarlet." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with 8 sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of Akahige Namban.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next 8 sentences in the distinctive voice of Akahige Namban.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going 8 sentences at a time, also im going for a Akahige Namban sorta thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We were terribly worried!\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Okiku said as she greeted Rosamund. \"Where have you been?\"\n\nRosamund smiled and said nothing. Okiku shook her head in despair. Her foreign friend sometimes had these moods. Willful and headstrong, she was unwilling or unable to explain them to anyone.\n\nRosamund went into the house. The villagers had provided them with food, and she ate ravenously." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 9 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Satsuki was sitting on the veranda, admiring the view when she finished. Okiku had gone off to tell the men Rosamund had been found. Without a word Rosamund took out a small folded kerchief from the bosom of her robe. She placed it on the floor before her, then unwrapped it and pushed it forward to Satsuki. On the white kerchief rested a bunch of short, dark pubic hairs tied together by a longer strand of head hair. Through the bundle was stuck one of Rosamund's elaborate hairpins.\n\nSatsuki touched the bundle with her fingertips, then looked at Rosamund's face.\n\n\"Thank you,\" she said, and turned again to watch the view. There were faint smiles on both women's lips." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode: Collab writing\nAmount: 2 sentences\nVoice: Laura Joh Rowland" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Saru-waka-cho theater district had been selected as the location of the miai.\n\nHirata and his father, wearing their best silk robes and finest swords, walked up the street with Segoshi, a palace guard captain whom Sano had engaged as a substitute go-between." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Behind them followed two family retainers, Hirata's mother, and her maid.\n\nThe district sparkled with life in the bright, clear weather." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Theater buildings sported colorful banners that announced the current plays. Bursts of song and applause emanated from windows." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In towers on the roofs, men beat drums to attract customers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "People jammed the teahouses or queued at ticket booths, lugging quilts to keep them warm during the performances that lasted all day. Fragrant smoke wafted from outdoor braziers where vendors roasted chestnuts." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But Hirata and his party walked in somber quiet. As they neared their destination, anxiety clenched his stomach tighter and tighter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They stepped aside to let a wedding procession pass." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A palanquin carried the bride in her white kimono. Friends, relatives, and lantern-bearers accompanied the palanquin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What an auspicious sign for the day of a miai,\" said Captain Segoshi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A good-natured older samurai, he obviously wanted to lighten the mood of his companions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"As far as I'm concerned, the sight of a wedding procession is a bad-luck omen,\" Hirata's father said in a grumpy tone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He walked with a severe limp, caused by an accident that had necessitated his retirement from the police force." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I attend this miai against my wishes, and I'd rather turn around and go home before we take a step we'll regret.\"\n\n\"But everything has been arranged,\" Hirata said, alarmed by his father's attitude." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Backing out now would be a terrible breach of courtesy. And you won't regret beginning my marriage negotiations. Midori-san is a good, honorable match for me, for our family.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This was but another argument in the dispute which had begun three months ago, when Hirata had told his parents that he wished to marry Midori and asked their permission. They opposed the idea, and had only consented to the miai because the formal request had come from Sano, whom they couldn't refuse." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Disapproval darkened the broad, lined face of Hirata's sire." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Honorable matches can only occur between families of similar tradition, and that's not the case here. We are hatamoto—hereditary Tokugawa vassals. Lord Niu is an outside daimyo. His clan didn't swear allegiance to the Tokugawa until after it was defeated at the Battle of Sekigahara.\"\n\n\"That battle ended almost a hundred years ago,\" Hirata said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ever since then, the Niu have been loyal subjects of the Tokugawa, just like us. Can't we forget the past?\"\n\n\"Tradition is too important to forget.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His father's voice sharpened with reproach. \"It's the mainstay of our society. And surely the Niu clan desires this alliance no more than I do. If you marry this girl, you'll never really be accepted by her kin, nor she by ours.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hirata glanced backward at his mother. Small though sturdy, dressed modestly in gray, she gave him a smile that said she sympathized with him, but agreed with her husband." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Captain Segoshi looked embarrassed to be caught in a family dispute.\n\n\"Why can't you be satisfied to marry into one of the suitable families who've offered their daughters to you?\" Hirata's father said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When Hirata had left his lowly position as a doshin and become chief retainer to the ssakan-sama, his status in the marriage market had soared. His family began aspiring to a better match for him than they could have expected before his promotion." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After Hirata gained a place in the shogun's inner circle, proposals from high-ranking clans had inundated Hirata and his parents." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd attended many miai, but Hirata had spurned all the fine young ladies introduced to him.\n\n\"Niu Midori is the woman I want to marry,\" he said now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I love her. She loves me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His father gave a disgusted snort. \"Love is unimportant in choosing a bride. Social position and duty to your family are what really matter. If you marry a woman who's right for you, then the two of you will learn to love each other after the wedding, as your mother and I did.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He halted in the street. \"I can't approve of this match, even though the ssakan-sama does. You should marry someone I choose for you, because you're unable to choose wisely for yourself.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hirata's mother bowed her head, silently seconding her husband's words. Desperation forced Hirata to employ the one argument that could aid his cause." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I respect your opinion, Honorable Father,\" he said, \"but I must remind you that my marriage to Niu Midori would solve a big problem for us.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "That problem was their chronic shortage of money." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hirata had elderly, ailing grandparents, two widowed sisters with small children, and many destitute relatives, as well as longtime retainers and servants to support. Unfortunately, Hirata's father earned little by teaching martial arts to police officers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hirata contributed as much to his family as he could, but even his generous stipend didn't go far enough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He needed to make a financially advantageous marriage, and he'd hoped that this need would convince his parents to allow him to wed Midori.\n\nAlthough the Niu clan had been subjugated and stripped of its ancestral fief after the Battle of Sekigahara, it remained one of Japan's most powerful families." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The first Tokugawa shogun had realized that unless he pacified his conquered foes, they might later rebel. He'd granted the Niu a fief in Satsuma, and the right to rule that entire province." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lord Niu Masamune, the current daimyo, possessed huge wealth, and whoever married a daughter of his would gain a valuable dowry.\n\nNow Hirata's father glowered at the knowledge that he needed this match he repudiated." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's the only reason I'll even consider a marriage between you and this girl,\" he said, resuming his awkward, limping pace down the street.\n\n\"Here we are,\" Captain Segoshi said cheerfully, as though determined to get the family through the miai." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Morita-za Theater.\" This was a large building with painted scenes from plays above the entrance. Outside stood a squadron of soldiers who wore a dragonfly crest on flags attached to their backs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Look: Lord Niu has arrived. He and his daughter must be already inside, waiting for us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Such an ostentatious display,\" muttered Hirata's father. \"Typical of his kind.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hirata cast him a look that begged him to put aside his envy and prejudices." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Captain Segoshi bought tickets from the attendant in the booth, and the party entered the Morita-za." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Inside, a drafty, cavernous room echoed with a roar of voices." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A play had just ended, and on the stage, a lone musician plinked a samisen. Tiers of box seats along the walls held crowds of people awaiting the next performance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More people occupied the floor, which was divided into compartments, separated by raised dividers. Hirata scanned the audience, then saw Midori in a compartment near the stage." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The light streaming through windows along the upper gallery illuminated her scarlet kimono. As their gazes met, his heart lifted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She smiled, but quickly turned away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The miai was supposed to seem like a chance encounter, so that if it failed, both families could pretend it had never occurred, and thus save face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hirata led his party along the dividers, past refreshment sellers bearing trays of drinks and food. He halted above the compartment where Midori sat with an elderly woman, two slightly younger female attendants, and two middle-aged samurai." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Stricken by nervousness, Hirata knelt on the divider and bowed to the group, as did his companions." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Midori darted a wide-eyed, solemn glance at him, then looked at the floor.\n\n\"Greetings,\" Hirata said in a voice that quaked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The group bowed and murmured in polite reply." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Captain Segoshi said, \"What a coincidence that we should meet.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "As he ably assumed the role of go-between and managed introductions, Hirata learned that the crone dressed in black was Midori's paternal grandmother, and the other women her ladies-in-waiting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The elder of the samurai, a dour man named Okita, was Lord Niu's chief retainer. Hirata barely noticed these people because his attention focused on Lord Niu." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The daimyo was small, but his torso was broad, his posture regal in maroon garments emblazoned with his dragonfly crest in gold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His tanned, square face disturbed Hirata. Its two sides didn't match." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 3 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The right half was slightly askew; the eye gazed off into space.\n\n\"Please join us,\" Lord Niu said. Only the left half of his mouth smiled at Hirata." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with 4 sentences in the style of Laura Joh Rowland." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria\n\nLife in Yoshiwara can be such a bore. Even though I am Lady Wisteria, the favorite of the quarter, I see the same people and do the same old things time after time. But last night, something interesting happened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I was at a party, playing cards with the guests, and I was tired and wishing I could just go to bed, when I felt someone watching me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I looked up and saw a man standing in the doorway. He was so handsome that my heart began beating fast and hard. I stared at him. He stared back, with a little smile on his face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I turned away because I was ashamed that this stranger had seen my feelings." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But I can tell when a man wants me, and I knew he did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While I dealt cards, I waited for him to approach me.\n\n\"Who is that man in the doorway?\" I whispered to one of the other courtesans.\n\n\"What man?\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When I looked up again, he was gone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I have seen him often since that night. Three days ago he was standing on a balcony, watching me promenade to the ageya. Two days ago he came to another party where I was entertaining. Yesterday, while I was dressing in my room, I looked out the window and saw him pacing the street in front of the house." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But he always vanishes as soon as he knows I've seen him!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He never speaks to me. No one seems to know who he is, and I've asked everyone. What does his strange behavior mean? I fear him, but not as much as I want to know him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I, who have known so many men and never cared about any of them!\n\nToday I was shopping with my yarite in the marketplace, when I sensed him near me. Instead of looking at him, I turned and hurried away through the stalls. I heard him following, but I didn't look back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I didn't stop until I reached the alley inside the back wall. I turned around. There he stood, so handsome and strong, his smile so mysterious.\n\n\"Who are you?\" I said, frightened and out of breath. \"Why are you doing this?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am the Herd Boy,\" he said in a strange accent." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You are the Weaver Girl. Today we finally meet on the River of Heaven.\"\n\nHe was referring to the legend about two constellations that are supposed to be lovers. They cross once a year in autumn. Well, I've heard a lot of poetic speeches from men, including that one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Usually I just laugh inside because they sound so silly. But there was something about him that made my legs go weak and my heart pound. We stood there gazing into each other's eyes. Then I heard my yarite calling me." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I must go,\" I said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He nodded and bowed, and I left." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But we had already fallen in love.\n\nHe's from Hokkaido, in the far north, and that's why his accent is strange. I won't write his name, because someone might read this, and I would rather keep him as much to myself as I can. I don't want every nosy gossip in Yoshiwara chattering about us." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Since that day in the alley, we've been meeting often, always in secret, because he has no money for appointments with me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I sneak out of parties to the alley where he waits. When my clients fall asleep, I steal downstairs and let him in the back door. We make love behind the screen in my room, careful to be quiet so we won't wake up my client.\n\nYesterday, after we'd finished and were lying together in the moonlight, he whispered: \"When winter comes to Hokkaido, the snow piles up in deep drifts that almost bury the houses.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He ran his hand along my hip." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Your body is as white and pure and beautiful as those snowdrifts. I wish I could show them to you. How would you like to see Hokkaido?\"\n\nMy heart filled with joy, because I knew he was asking me to go away with him.\n\n\"In Hokkaido you'll be my wife,\" he said. \"You'll never come back to this place of shame and suffering.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But you can't afford to buy my freedom,\" I said. \"And there's no escape from Yoshiwara.\"\n\n\"Love will find a way,\" he said, and he smiled.\n\nTonight is the night." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All our plans are made. I will put the sleeping potion in Lord Mitsuyoshi's wine. After he's asleep, I will steal outside to my beloved. We will flee Yoshiwara forever." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I know this is a dangerous undertaking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But he's clever. He has friends to help us. There's a man who owns a teahouse in Suruga. He'll let us stay there until I can buy new clothes and my beloved gets money and provisions for the journey. If the teahouse turns out to be unsafe, there's a noodle shop in Fukagawa that will take us in." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But we won't stay around Edo for long. Soon we'll be on the northern highway, bound for the snows of Hokkaido.\n\nI tremble with excitement.\n\nHow can I bear to wait the long hours until night, when my beloved will come for me?\n\nAh, freedom!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around six sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of Laura Joh Rowland.Produce six sentences using the prose and structure of Laura Joh Rowland every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There it is,\" O-hana said as the palanquin carried her and Reiko down a street lined with large houses. \"The next one on the left.\"\n\nReiko called to the bearers to stop. She was glad they'd reached their destination, because the trip from Edo Castle to the Nihonbashi merchant district had been unpleasant. The cold had seeped into the palanquin and through the quilts that covered Reiko and her companion. And O-hana had chattered all the way here, clearly enjoying her ride in the palanquin, and striving to rise above her station by attaching herself to Reiko." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Stifling her dislike and trying to feel grateful toward the poor nursemaid, Reiko climbed out of the palanquin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She and O-hana walked up to the house.\n\nThe house and its neighbors were residences of the affluent merchant class. Built of wood and whitewashed plaster, they fronted directly onto the street. Heavy brown tile roofs peaked above their second stories and sheltered recessed entrances. The district wasn't what Reiko had expected, because Sano had said Wisteria came from a poor family who had sold her into prostitution.\n\nA young maid, dressed in a blue kimono and carrying a broom, appeared in the doorway." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She gazed in surprise at O-hana, Reiko, and the troops who'd escorted them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"O-hana? Is that you? What's going on?\"\n\n\"My mistress wants to see yours,\" O-hana said in a self-important tone. \"Go tell her that the wife of the shogun's ssakan-sama is here.\"\n\nThe maid hurried to comply. Soon two older maids seated Reiko and O-hana in a warm, stuffy parlor full of ornate lacquer tables, chests, and screens, silk floor cushions, shelves of porcelain vases.\n\n\"Isn't this beautiful?\" O-hana whispered to Reiko as they waited for Lady Wisteria's mother." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Reiko nodded, although the decor exemplified the vulgar taste of the merchant class." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Into the room minced a small woman perhaps forty years old, trailed by two different female servants." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her face, round with a pointed chin, was covered with heavy white powder. Rouge dotted her cheeks; scarlet paint brightened her thin, prim lips. Painted brows arched over unusually round eyes. Clad in a gaudy red floral kimono that would have better suited a younger woman, she was pretty in the same vulgar way as her parlor.\n\n\"Welcome, Honorable Lady!\" Bowing to Reiko, she smiled, revealing teeth cosmetically blackened in the manner of highborn wives. She ignored O-hana. \"This is an unexpected honor.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Allow me to introduce Madam Yue-san,\" O-hana said to Reiko, looking miffed at their hostess's slight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Madam Yue knelt near Reiko and offered refreshments; maids served tea and expensive cakes on fine dishware. Reiko had counted six attendants by now. If this family could maintain so high a standard of living, how could they not have afforded a daughter's keep? Was this really the home of Lady Wisteria?\n\nWhile Reiko and O-hana ate and sipped, Madam Yue chatted with Reiko about the weather. She spoke and smiled with affected elegance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Presently she said, \"May I ask what brought you here to see me?\"\n\n\"I've come about your daughter,\" Reiko said.\n\nThe woman's smile vanished; displeasure thinned her lips. \"My daughter isn't here. It's been many years since she's lived in this house.\"\n\n\"She is Lady Wisteria, the courtesan?\" Reiko said, wanting to make sure they were both talking about the same person." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Madam Yue looked away and nodded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You know she disappeared from Yoshiwara the night when the shogun's heir was murdered?\"\n\nAnother nod from Madam Yue; she twisted her dainty hands together at her bosom and frowned into space.\n\n\"My husband needs to find Wisteria,\" said Reiko. \"I was hoping you could help us.\"\n\n\"I haven't seen her, and I don't know where she's gone,\" Madam Yue said. Her elegance had deserted her; she spoke in a flat, common voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm not surprised she's in trouble, though. If you find her, I would appreciate it if you would tell her not to expect any help from me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Though Reiko was disappointed that this expedition wouldn't reveal the location of Wisteria, the woman's attitude intrigued her. Clearly, there had been trouble between Wisteria and her mother. \"Maybe if you tell me about your daughter, that will give me a clue to where she is,\" Reiko said.\n\nMadam Yue's mouth twitched and her gaze darted. She looked anxious to avoid speaking of Wisteria, yet afraid to offend the ssakan-sama's wife. She sighed in resignation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How did Wisteria come to be a courtesan?\" Reiko asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That kind of thing doesn't usually happen in our family,\" Madam Yue burst out. \"But she deserved it. I'm glad I sold her to the brothel!\"\n\nThis woman had willingly delivered her own daughter into a life of degradation. Reiko was horrified into speechlessness.\n\n\"When she was a little girl I loved her so much, but she went bad.\" Madam Yue spoke in a rush, her round eyes glittering with shame, tears, and a need to justify herself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I did without things so I could buy pretty clothes for her, and she repaid good with evil!\"\n\nThe woman sniffled angrily and wiped her nose on her sleeve. \"It started when she was thirteen, after her father died. He was a laborer in a boatyard. He hurt his leg there, and it festered, and the sickness killed him. I didn't know how Wisteria and I would live, because we had no money or family. But then the owner of the boatyard offered me a job as a maid—in this house. He let me bring my girl to live here with me and help with the work. It turned out that he fancied me. The next year we were married. I became the mistress of the house.\"\n\nShe smiled through her tears, proud of her advancement in society, but then her expression turned bitter. \"I should have noticed how Wisteria looked at him, and how he looked at her, and bought her things, and paid more attention to her than to me. But I never suspected. Then one night I was wakened by noises in the house." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You'll understand what I mean when I say they were the kind of noises that shouldn't have been coming from anywhere except the room where my husband and I sleep." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was supposed to be working late that night." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I thought one of the maids had sneaked in a man. So I got up and went to throw them out.\n\n\"But I discovered that the noises were coming from Wisteria's room. I looked inside. And I saw them. They were in bed together—Wisteria and my husband!\" Indignation blazed in Madam Yue's eyes. \"I grabbed him and pulled him away from Wisteria. I began hitting him, and I shouted, 'Leave my girl alone, you beast!' \"\n\nPantomiming her actions, Madam Yue beat her fists at the air." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Reiko winced, imagining the innocent child mistreated by her stepfather." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He fell on the floor,\" Madam Yue continued. \"I hurried to Wisteria and said, 'Are you all right?' And the sight of her froze my heart. I expected her to be frightened and crying. But she stood up, stark naked, with her head high.\" Madam Yue rose, her manner cruelly triumphant. \"She said, 'I love him, Mother. And he loves me, not you. He only married you so he could have me, because I'm the one he's always wanted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And now that I'm old enough, he's going to marry me.'" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I couldn't believe what she said. I was so shocked that I stood there gaping at her, shaking my head.\" The woman's attitude altered to suit her words. \"Then Wisteria said to my husband, 'Tell her it's true. Tell her you're going to divorce her, like you promised, so we can marry.\"\n\nWhile Reiko sat amazed by this story, Madam Yue said, \"I turned to my husband. 'She's lying,' I said to him. 'Tell me she's lying.' But he just hung his head and sat there. And I realized that Wisteria had seduced him into betraying me. I rushed at her and shouted, 'Wicked slut! How dare you steal my husband?' I slapped her face. I pulled her hair. I threw her to the floor and trampled her. She called to my husband to save her. But he didn't move, he wouldn't look at us. Wisteria started crying. I cursed and beat her until my strength gave out. We all sat in that room, without speaking, for the rest of the night.\"\n\nMadam Yue sank to her knees, her expression murderous. Reiko pictured the guilty man, the raging wife, and the weeping girl, characters in a tragic play." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You can see why I had to get rid of my daughter.\" Madam Yue turned a defiant gaze on Reiko. \"My husband wasn't really going to marry her and throw me out, but if she stayed, she would make him always want her instead of me.\" Bitterness curdled the woman's voice. \"I couldn't just put her out of the house, because she would come back and persuade my husband to take her in again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And she deserved to be punished.\n\n\"When morning came, I told them what we were going to do. Wisteria begged my forgiveness, but I ignored her. My husband took us in a ferry up the river to Yoshiwara. We walked to the gate, and I said to a guard, 'I want to sell my daughter.' He fetched the brothel-masters. They fought over Wisteria because she was so pretty. I sold her to the one who offered me the most money. It was enough that I thought she'd be trapped in Yoshiwara forever. As the man took her into the quarter, she begged my husband not to leave her. She cursed me and screamed that I would be sorry for what I'd done, but I just walked away. My husband followed me. We went home.\"\n\nReiko was appalled. What Madam Yue had done was worse than poor peasants selling children they couldn't afford to raise. Those peasants gave up the children so they would be fed and clothed at the brothels, while Madam Yue had sought to condemn Wisteria to a lifetime of prostitution. Reiko glanced at O-hana, who gave a smug nod, as if to say, I told you that lies sound better than the truth. Wisteria must have created a new personal history for herself because she didn't want to tell people that she'd brought about her own disgrace and her mother had won their battle for the man they both wanted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Reiko pondered what implications the courtesan's falsehood had for the murder case." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At the very least, it suggested that Wisteria was a more complex woman than Reiko or Sano had thought.\n\nA man dressed in the dark, respectable cotton robes of a successful merchant peered through the parlor doorway. Madam Yue saw him, and a look of guilty chagrin came over her face. \"Honorable Husband. You're home early.\" Flustered, she introduced him and Reiko.\n\nThey bowed to each other, murmuring polite greetings." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Reiko noted that the man was some years younger than his wife, and handsome." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His diffident manner suggested weakness of personality, and Reiko perceived that he would always yield to the person with the strongest will. His young stepdaughter hadn't stood a chance against her outraged, overpowering mother.\n\nThe man withdrew. A moment passed in uncomfortable silence while Madam Yue twisted her hands nervously. She said, \"I don't like to talk about the past when my husband is around,\" then forced a bright, artificial smile at Reiko. \"Many thanks for the honor of your visit. I hope you have a pleasant trip home.\"\n\nShe was obviously eager to see her guests gone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Reiko thanked Madam Yue for her cooperation and allowed the woman to escort her and O-hana outside. The afternoon continued sunless and bleak; moisture in the air condensed into icy droplets that chilled Reiko's face. Pausing before she climbed into her palanquin, she turned to Madam Yue.\n\n\"Was that day at Yoshiwara the last time you saw your daughter?\" Reiko asked.\n\nMadam Yue hardened her mouth. \"I wish it had been. But Wisteria came back here about four years ago.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She did?\" Reiko said, surprised. \"How?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Courtesans were forbidden to leave Yoshiwara, except in special cases. A tayu could only go home to visit fatally ill parents, and that circumstance didn't apply to Wisteria.\n\n\"I came home from shopping,\" Madam Yue said, \"and I found Wisteria in my room. She was all grown up, and beautiful, and dressed in the highest fashion.\" The murderous look darkened the woman's features again. \"She was slashing my clothes with a knife. There was a big pile of shredded fabric on the floor around her.\n\n\"I said, 'How did you get here? What do you think you're doing?' Wisteria said, 'I've been freed. And I'm paying you back for what you did to me.' Then she urinated on my ruined clothes. I shouted, 'Get out of here!' She laughed and said, 'May you be reborn into the life of degradation that I suffered.' And she swept out of the house. That was the last I've seen of her. And good riddance!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Madam Yue snorted; fury glinted in her eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Though Wisteria's violence and crudity disgusted Reiko, she could sympathize with the courtesan's need for revenge. And the story offered a possible clue.\n\n\"Who was it that freed Wisteria?\" Reiko asked.\n\n\"She didn't say. Later I heard he was a wealthy, high-ranking official.\"\n\nOne aspect of the story perplexed Reiko. She said, \"If this man freed Wisteria, why did she return to Yoshiwara?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't know.\" An unpleasant smile twisted Madam Yue's lips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But I'm glad she did.\"\n\nReiko decided she must find out the identity of the man. Perhaps he and Wisteria had kept in contact, and he knew where she was. \"Did Wisteria have any close friends I might talk to?\" Reiko meant to continue probing Wisteria's past, which seemed a rich source of enlightenment.\n\n\"There was a girl named Yuya. She lived down the street when she and Wisteria were young. I heard she went bad, too, but I don't know what became of her.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Hey can you write like Laura Joh Rowland and use whatever i write as a jumping off point?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Although Sano usually traveled with an entourage to assist him and uphold the dignity of his rank, Edo Jail was a place he preferred to go alone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Edo Jail, a fortified dungeon surrounded by deteriorating stone walls and watchtowers, reigned over the slums of northeast Nihonbashi. Inside, jailers tortured confessions out of prisoners, and convicted criminals awaited execution. The jail also housed Edo Morgue, which received the bodies of citizens who perished from natural disasters or unnatural causes. There Dr. Ito, morgue custodian, often lent his medical expertise to Sano's investigations. Because the examination of corpses and any other procedures associated with foreign science were illegal, Sano wanted as few people as possible to know about his visits to Edo Jail.\n\nDr. Ito met him at the door of the morgue, a low building with flaking plaster walls. \"What a pleasure to see you,\" Dr. Ito said.\n\nIn his seventies, he had white hair like a snowfall above his wise, lined face and wore the dark blue coat of a physician." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Years ago he'd been caught practicing forbidden foreign science, which he'd learned through illicit channels from Dutch traders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The bakufu had forgone the usual sentence of exile and condemned him to work for the rest of his life in Edo Morgue. There Dr. Ito had continued his scientific experiments, ignored by the authorities.\n\n\"However, I might have wished for a better occasion than another violent death,\" he said.\n\n\"I, too,\" Sano said. \"I wouldn't ask you to examine another body now if I had any choice.\"\n\nThe Black Lotus disaster had taken its toll on Dr. Ito even though he hadn't been at the temple that night, when over seven hundred people had died. Their bodies had been taken directly to a mass funeral outside town, but many nuns and priests had died from injuries or committed suicide in jail, and Dr. Ito had prepared their corpses for cremation. His horror at the Black Lotus carnage had put a halt to his work—the one solace that made his imprisonment bearable—and the spiritual pollution from so many deaths had weakened his health." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dr. Ito smiled reassuringly and gestured for Sano to enter the morgue. \"Justice for a murder victim takes precedence over personal feelings.\"\n\nInside the morgue, a large room held stone troughs used for washing the dead, cabinets containing tools, a podium stacked with papers and books, and three waist-high tables. Upon one table lay a figure draped by a white cloth. Beside this stood Dr. Ito's assistant, Mura, a man of some fifty years, who had bushy gray hair and an angular, intelligent face.\n\n\"We're ready to begin, Mura-san,\" said Dr. Ito.\n\nMura was an eta, one of the outcast class from which came the wardens, torturers, corpse handlers, and executioners of Edo Jail. The eta's hereditary link with death-related occupations such as butchering and leather tanning rendered them spiritually contaminated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Most citizens shunned them, but Dr. Ito had befriended Mura, who performed all the physical work for Dr. Ito's studies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As Sano went to stand near the table, he battled an impulse to run away. He'd not yet recovered from the horror and nausea he'd experienced upon finding the body. He dreaded examining the corpse of a woman he'd known intimately.\n\nMura peeled off the white cloth from the corpse, beginning at the feet. The rigidity of death had passed, and the woman lay flat on her back, limbs straight. Her feet were bare, their skin a bluish white; dirt and cuts marked the soles. As her clothes came into view, Sano observed red-brown splotches on the kimono's purple and green floral pattern. The woman's fingernails were broken and crusted with dried blood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mura uncovered her top half, exposing the hideous mutilation where her head should have been. The sweet odor of rotting meat struck Sano; his stomach lurched.\n\n\"Where did you find her?\" Dr. Ito asked.\n\nSano related the details of the murder investigation, explained how he'd discovered the body, and described the scene.\n\n\"Was there blood around the body?\" Dr. Ito said.\n\nAn indelible picture of the room haunted Sano's mind. \"Not much. Some spatters on the floor, the wall, the futon, and the mosquito net.\"\n\nHe knew Reiko was worried about him, and he'd wished to act normal in front of her last night, but all his energy had gone toward keeping sickness and emotion at bay." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Closing himself off from Reiko would drive them farther apart, but he couldn't explain the murder's extreme effect on him without telling her what would make matters worse.\n\n\"To determine exactly what happened, we must view the rest of her.\" Dr. Ito gestured to Mura.\n\nThe eta fetched a knife and cut the kimono off the woman. He removed the white under-kimono, exposing her naked body. It was an ugly patchwork of huge red and purple bruises that had erupted under the pale skin on her abdomen, breasts, and ribcage. Smaller bruises blotched her neck, arms, and thighs. Sano inhaled sharply through his teeth; Dr. Ito murmured in dismay, and even the stoic Mura looked shaken." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please turn her on her side, Mura-san,\" said Dr. Ito.\n\nMura obeyed, and they silently viewed the bruised back and buttocks. Then Dr. Ito walked around the table, his expression pitying as he studied the corpse. \"This brutality indicates a male rather than a female attacker, because it required considerable strength. Those bruises were made by fists. The small ones on the arms and neck are fingerprints.\"\n\n\"She fought back,\" Sano said, observing the woman's hands. \"Her fingernails are broken and bloody because she clawed her attacker.\"\n\nIn his mind he saw the blood on the floor and walls, smeared with two sets of handprints and footprints, one large, one small—the victim's and the killer's. If this was Wisteria, what responsibility did he bear for her death?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Note these dark, deep bruises along her back. After she fell, he kicked and trampled her,\" Dr. Ito said. \"She probably died from the rupture of internal organs.\"\n\n\"So he beat her to death.\"\n\nSano wished more than ever that he'd bothered to find out what had become of Wisteria after their affair ended, and not just because he might have saved her life. His sense of responsibility extended to what she might have done, as well as what had been done to her.\n\n\"The removal of the head was performed after death,\" said Dr. Ito, \"because otherwise, there would have been copious blood in the room.\"\n\n\"The dead don't bleed,\" Sano concurred, forcing a matter-of-fact tone even as he saw bits of gore clinging to mosquito net. \"After he killed her, he laid her on the bed, then decapitated her.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And see how the neck is hacked and ragged at the edges.\" The concern in Dr. Ito's eyes said he guessed that something troubled Sano. \"Whoever did this must have been in a violent frenzy of rage.\"\n\nFrom the jail drifted the howls of the prisoners. Sano envisioned Wisteria, her beautiful face contorted in terror, trying to ward off a shadowy attacker. He heard her scream as fists hit her, saw her clutch the wall as she went down under a storm of blows and kicks...\n\nWith an effort Sano said, \"Now that we know how she died, we just have to figure out if this really is Lady Wisteria, and whether Fujio killed her.\"\n\n\"Let us first determine whether this woman matches the missing courtesan's description.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dr. Ito paused, clearly on the verge of asking Sano what was wrong; but either Sano's expression stopped him, or courtesy precluded prying. \"How old is Wisteria?\"\n\n\"Twenty-four years,\" Sano said. Her age was the one thing she'd told him that he thought he could take as fact.\n\n\"This woman was young,\" Dr. Ito said, studying the corpse. \"Her flesh is smooth and firm. Twenty-four years is a reasonable estimate of her age.\"\n\nThe similarity in age could be a coincidence, Sano thought; but the spreading hollow in his stomach said otherwise.\n\n\"What is Wisteria's physical size and shape?\" Dr. Ito said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She's small.\" Sano raised his hand at shoulder height, assailed by a memory of embracing Wisteria." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He tried to compare his knowledge of her naked body to the dead woman's, but the absence of a face, as well as the bruises and the pall of death, made recognition impossible." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He swallowed and forced himself to continue: \"She's slim, with narrow hips and small breasts.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"As is the victim.\" Dr. Ito glanced at the part of the woman's body where Sano had avoided looking and said, \"Her pubis is shaved. She was a prostitute.\"\n\nSo many points of resemblance indicated that the dead woman was Lady Wisteria, even if they weren't final proof. Sano felt his hope that Wisteria was still alive yield to desolation; he turned away from the body.\n\n\"Cover her, Mura-san,\" Dr. Ito said quietly.\n\nWhatever lies Wisteria had told or evils she'd committed, she'd been a proud, courageous woman. Sano recalled her aloof behavior the last time he'd seen her. Might she have had a premonition that her remaining time on earth was short?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Do you think the hokan killed her?\" Dr. Ito asked.\n\n\"It's hard to imagine Fujio being capable of such brutality. Hirata went to question him this morning. We'll see what happens.\"\n\nSano stared grimly out the window as he pondered the consequences that the second murder held for him. His investigation could now continue, because even if the shogun believed that the killer of his heir had already been punished, he would expect Sano to solve the case of the decapitated woman. New inquiries might turn up new evidence to prove who had killed Lord Mitsuyoshi. Yet this prospect caused Sano dread as well as satisfaction.\n\n\"Mura-san, please leave us,\" Dr. Ito said. The eta complied, and Dr. Ito stood near Sano." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can I be of further assistance?\" he said gently." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The need to confide overcame Sano's reserve." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I knew her,\" he blurted, then told Dr. Ito his secret." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's hard to be objective when the victim could be someone who was once my lover,\" he admitted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But if I go on with this investigation, I'll have to keep my mind open to the possibility that the dead woman is Lady Wisteria—and that Wisteria was a murderer.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Dr. Ito nodded in somber understanding." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 9 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If the treasury minister was innocent, then Wisteria, Fujio, and Momoko are the only suspects left. Wisteria may have stabbed Lord Mitsuyoshi.\"\n\n\"In other words, my former lover killed my lord's heir.\"\n\nSano felt sicker than ever. \"There's another problem. My wife doesn't know any of this. I never told her about Wisteria and me because I thought it wouldn't matter. But if Reiko keeps on with her inquiries, she may find out that I freed Wisteria and think I haven't told her because I have something to hide.\"\n\nFraught with anxiety, Sano clenched his hands around the window bars. Never had he expected his minor omission to grow into a major threat to his already shaky marriage. \"I wish I'd told her at the start. What should I do now?\"\n\n\"A tiny pebble rolling down a mountain can start a landslide,\" Dr. Ito reminded him. \"I suggest you tell your wife as soon as possible, because the longer you wait, the worse your problems may get.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write 6 sentences like Laura Joh Rowland would, using user's text as beginning" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Revulsion halted Reiko's reading. She uttered a sound of indignant denial. This wasn't her husband described in the pillow book. The Sano she knew was good and kind, not mean nor violent as the story portrayed him. He would never mistreat a helpless woman nor take pleasure in forcing himself on her. But doubt eroded Reiko's disbelief." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She realized how little she knew about Sano's relations with other people. His personality might have a different side that he kept hidden while at home. Nor did Reiko know anything about women in his past. She'd never wanted to find out and shatter her fancy that Sano had never loved a woman until her. Now her ignorance left her defenseless against suspicion, and her inexperience with men made her a poor judge of male character.\n\nHad Sano really spoken so disparagingly of her to Lady Wisteria?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Had he indeed loved Wisteria and meant to keep her as his mistress after he married?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Reiko swallowed the sickness that rose in her throat. Bracing herself, she resumed reading.\n\nWe quarreled again and again. My rage annoyed Sano-san, but I couldn't give up trying to convince him to break his engagement, even though nagging would drive him away.\n\nThe day before his wedding, I made such a scene that he left in disgust. And he didn't come back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A month passed. I thought my heart would break from missing him. Another month went by, and the landlord threatened to evict me because Sano-san hadn't paid the rent. The servants left because they hadn't received their wages, and I had to feed myself on tea and noodles from a nearby stall. The little money Sano-san had left me was running out. I wrote his name on a paper and hid it, but the old charm didn't work. Sano-san didn't come. I would starve to death in the streets!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then one night three months after his marriage, as I huddled over a fire made from the last of my coal, the door opened, and there he was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I was so overjoyed that I threw myself into his arms and wept.\n\nSano-san laughed. \"This is a nice welcome. Maybe I should have stayed away longer.\"\n\nHis mocking hurt, but he made love to me with such ardor that I knew he'd missed me. He also paid the landlord, rehired the servants, and gave me money. His visits resumed, and I realized that unless I wanted to lose him entirely, I shouldn't nag him. I must use better means of persuading him to divorce his wife and marry me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Whenever he was with me, I dedicated myself to his satisfaction. I caressed the nether region between his buttocks with my tongue. I paid a hunter to bring me a live wolf and hold it while I coupled with it and Sano-san watched. Often I would hire young girls to join us in the bedchamber. When we were apart, I worked a charm to make him faithful to me. I drew a picture of his private parts and boiled it with sake, vinegar, soy sauce, tooth-blackening dye, dirt, and lamp wick." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But a year passed, and although Sano-san always came back to me, I seemed destined to spend my life on the fringes of his.\n\nStill, I forced myself to be patient, even on the night when he said his wife had just given birth to their son. This was proof that he bedded his wife even though he said he didn't love her. How jealous and miserable I was that she had borne him a child, while my love for him was barren! And the child bound him more tightly to her, dividing us.\n\nBut I smiled and congratulated Sano-san and hid my feelings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Patience and perseverance were my only hope of winning him, and eventually they paid off.\n\nIt was in the year that the child was born, during the month of leaves, while Sano-san and I sat on the roof viewing the full moon. He was in a thoughtful frame of mind.\n\n\"I've accomplished more in my life than I ever expected,\" he said, \"but it's not enough. The shogun treats me like a flunky. That despicable idiot will never give me a higher rank, more wealth, or my own province to rule because he likes keeping me where I am. When he dies and I lose his protection, my enemies will jump at the opportunity to destroy me. My only hope of survival is my son.\"\n\nA cunning look came over his face. \"The boy is strong, bright, and handsome. The shogun has no sons of his own, and therefore no one to succeed him. I shall persuade him to adopt my son as his official heir to the regime. It will take time, of course. My son must grow up and earn the shogun's affection. There are obstacles to clear out of the way. One of them is Lord Mitsuyoshi, the shogun's current favorite. But I know just how to deal with him. Eventually my son will be dictator, and I, who raised him to power, will be secure for the rest of my life.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I was shocked by Sano-san's nerve, then delighted at my good luck." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sano-san has put himself under my power! All I need do is play my cards right, and he will give me everything I wish." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Job: User writes start, you add ~six sentences sentences. Style: Laura Joh Rowland" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Various inquiries took Sano from Edo Morgue to the palace, to the official quarter and daimyo district, and finally to Yoshiwara. Now a sentry at the gate clapped two wooden blocks together to signal midnight and curfew. Lanterns still blazed along the streets; hawkers called customers to teahouses and brothels; samurai and commoners still loitered, flirting with courtesans in the window cages. Gay music spangled the air. A small group of men who didn't want to spend the whole night in Yoshiwara streamed out a small door in the gate. Among these were Sano, Hirata, and the eight detectives they'd brought." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As they rode along the dark causeway toward the city, Sano and Hirata exchanged news.\n\n\"The woman we found in Fujio's house was beaten to death,\" Sano said. \"She may or may not be Lady Wisteria.\" But he'd grown more certain that the dead woman was indeed the courtesan.\n\n\"Fujio may not be the killer.\" Hirata described how he'd interviewed, then arrested the hokan." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Today I talked to his wife, in-laws, friends, and mistress. They confirmed that he was with them when he says he was. Unless they're lying, he couldn't have committed murder in the hills.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe Fujio didn't kill Lord Mitsuyoshi either. Maybe Treasury Minister Nitta was guilty, and a third party murdered Wisteria.\" Sano had difficulty believing that the murders were unconnected. Still, he couldn't ignore the possibility.\n\n\"I've checked the stories I heard from the Council of Elders and other officials,\" he said. \"It's been hard to investigate Mitsuyoshi's background without appearing to do so. But I learned that Lord Dakuemon and several other men mentioned to me were in Yoshiwara the night of Mitsuyoshi's murder. Some are former clients of Lady Wisteria. The next step is to determine where they were during the time between Wisteria's disappearance and the discovery of the body.\"\n\nThis would be simple if not for the shogun's orders." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "ill start, then u do 3 sentences in Laura Joh Rowland's voice ok?" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As soon as Sano and Hirata had left her to begin their inquiries into Lord Mitsuyoshi's background, Reiko had gone to the palace to begin hers. She'd hoped to coax her cousin Eri and friends among the shogun's concubines and their attendants into telling her what they knew about Lord Mitsuyoshi. But the chief female palace official said everyone was too busy to talk." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her cold manner told Reiko the unhappy truth: The women had heard that Sano was on the brink of ruin, and they all had withdrawn their friendship from his wife because they didn't want her troubles to infect them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Visits to friends and relatives in the official quarter ended the same way, and Reiko went home feeling like a pariah." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As she sat in her parlor, terrified that she'd lost her power to help Sano, one of Sano's detectives appeared at the door. He said, \"I have information that the ssakan-sama told me to report to you if he wasn't available. I've found the bathhouse where Lady Wisteria's friend Yuya works.\" He gave a location in Nihonbashi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I searched the place this morning, and there was no sign of Wisteria. Everyone denies knowing anything about her—but I think Yuya was lying.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Reiko was thrilled, because her visit to the courtesan's family had produced a possible lead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Perhaps if she talked to Yuya, she could get the truth. \"Please summon an escort to take me to the bathhouse at once,\" she said.\n\nThe detective went off to obey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Reiko hurried to her chamber to dress for the trip." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd just strapped her dagger under her sleeve, when the nursemaid O-hana sidled into the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're very busy lately, Honorable Mistress,\" O-hana said.\n\nReiko frowned at the intrusion. She suspected that O-hana had been eavesdropping." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, I am,\" Reiko said in a tone that discouraged conversation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She noted that O-hana seemed nervous and her eyes were brighter than usual.\n\nO-hana ignored the hint that she should go. \"Are you going out again?\" she said eagerly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes.\" Reiko's dislike of the girl increased, even though O-hana had done her a service by introducing her to Wisteria's family. Her senses stirred alert to a new malevolence about O-hana. She inwardly rebuked herself for feelings based on fancy, not reason." }, { "from": "human", "value": "How could she break the spell of the Black Lotus, stop imagining threats that didn't exist, and concentrate on the ones that did?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I heard that the ssakan-sama has been accused of murder and treason.\" O-hana edged closer to Reiko. \"How awful!\"\n\n\"Indeed,\" Reiko said flatly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "O-hana had overstepped the bounds of courtesy by mentioning Sano's problems, and Reiko resented O-hana's obvious hunger for sordid details." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm so sorry. You must be very worried about what's happened.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "O-hana knelt cautiously, like a cat settling down in a place where it feels insecure. \"I hope I haven't upset you more by speaking of it.\"\n\nInstead of heeding her wish to order the girl back to work, Reiko forced a smile and said, \"It's all right.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "O-hana was only offering sympathy as best she knew how." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Personal problems were no excuse for ill temper toward an innocent servant.\n\n\"You and the ssakan-sama have been good to me, and I'd hate for anything bad to happen to you,\" O-hana said. An odd, furtive note echoed in her voice, almost as if she felt the opposite of what she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After a pause, she blurted, \"I wish I could make all these troubles disappear.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Reiko fought her suspicion, because there was no reason to think O-hana meant her harm. \"Thank you,\" Reiko said more warmly. \"I'm sorry if I seemed harsh. I am a little worried.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "O-hana blushed, hunching in inexplicable shame. \"I don't deserve your apology,\" she mumbled.\n\nBut there definitely was something off about O-hana that Reiko couldn't attribute to her own overactive imagination." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What's the matter?\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Nothing!\" The girl sat up straight, as if jabbed in the back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's kind of you to ask, but I'm fine.\" She gave Reiko a too-bright smile. \"It's your situation that concerns me. What are you going to do?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Unconvinced, Reiko eyed her closely." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll try to discover who killed Lord Mitsuyoshi and prove my husband's innocence.\"\n\n\"Maybe I can help,\" O-hana said. \"Shall I go with you?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her readiness to intrude again aroused new suspicion in Reiko. \"You can help me by staying here and attending to your duties,\" Reiko said.\n\n\"Yes, Honorable Mistress.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "A look of pique and disappointment flitted across O-hana's face, but she bowed meekly, rose, and sidled away." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Reiko hurried outside to her waiting palanquin." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "yo can u write like Laura Joh Rowland using my stuff as a starting point?" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as Laura Joh Rowland" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sound of Hirata's voice outside froze Lightning with his sword poised to kill Wisteria." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sano halted his rush to stop the gangster." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wisteria hunched on her elbows and knees, arms shielding her head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She cautiously looked up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sano held his breath while silence pervaded the warehouse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Lightning!\" Hirata called again. \"Ssakan-sama!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sano watched the anger dissipate from Lightning and satisfaction dawn on him as he recollected that his primary goal was escape, and understood that the means of escape had arrived." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lightning lowered his weapon, seized Wisteria by her collar, and yanked her upright." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He backed away from Sano, toward the front of the loft, dragging Wisteria." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You come, too,\" he ordered Sano, then warned, \"Try anything, and she's dead.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As Sano followed, his mind worked frantically to think how he might use this circumstance to capture Lightning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Open the window,\" Lightning commanded him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sano obeyed. Fading daylight brightened the warehouse; icy wind blasted inward." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Still gripping Wisteria and his sword, Lightning leaned out the window. \"Hey!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he shouted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hirata shouted back: \"Before I give you the money, I want to see the ssakan-sama.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lightning moved aside, pulling Wisteria with him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He jerked his head at Sano. \"Go on.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Stepping up to the window, Sano spied Hirata standing in the street, holding a cumbersome box, his face worried." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He smiled in relief when he saw Sano alive and unharmed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I had to go all the way to Tobacco Lane to get the money,\" he called." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His emphatic tone suggested a hidden meaning, but Sano was baffled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He couldn't understand why Hirata would mention Tobacco Lane, a street of tobacco shops and warehouses that had no moneylenders." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then Lightning's sword poked his armor tunic, prodding him away from the window." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bring the money to the door and knock,\" Lightning shouted to Hirata. \"Then go home.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Very well,\" Hirata called." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Suddenly Sano remembered an investigation that had taken him and Hirata to Tobacco Lane." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Enlightenment struck him. As he comprehended Hirata's intent, three loud knocks on the door echoed through the warehouse." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lightning hesitated, clearly wondering how to get the money and control his hostages at the same time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His breath huffed and his gaze darted with accelerating rapidity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His grip on the sword and on Wisteria's collar tightened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sano saw the gangster's quandary urging him toward more violence instead of rational action." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wisteria shut her eyes and bunched up her face, as if she anticipated a fatal lash of the blade." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We'll all go downstairs,\" Sano said, thinking fast about how to help Hirata's plan succeed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You can hold onto Wisteria, while I bring in the money.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "After an instant of deliberation, Lightning said, \"All right. You go first.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sano descended; Lightning and Wisteria followed several steps behind him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They all crossed the warehouse." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sano unbarred and slowly opened the door, while his companions waited in the shadows." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His pulse raced; expectation thrummed along his nerves." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The wooden chest sat outside the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sano bent to lift the chest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then came a scrambling noise on the roof." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What's that?\" Lightning exclaimed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Panic edged his voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Turning, Sano saw the gangster spin in a circle, his gaze on the ceiling, as he clutched Wisteria against him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The skylights opened, raised by Sano's troops, who'd climbed onto the warehouse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In dropped several dark objects the size and shape of turnips." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Each had a short, flaming tail." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As they fell, Lightning cried out and ducked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The objects plopped to the floor around him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sano lunged for Wisteria." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He caught hold of her hand, just as the bombs exploded with multiple thudding noises." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Dense, yellowish smoke billowed, clouding the air." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lightning emitted an enraged, terrified yowl." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wisteria shrieked. Sano tugged her toward the doorway, a rectangle of brightness that was barely visible through the smoke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But a hard yank from the opposite direction tore her hand out of his." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sulfurous fumes stung Sano's eyes, obscured his vision." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Though he heard Hirata calling him and Lightning and Wisteria coughing, he could see nothing but smoke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wished he'd managed to remove Wisteria from the building and let the smoke flush out Lightning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His lungs constricted, and coughs wracked him; yet he couldn't go and leave Wisteria in here with the gangster." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Help!\" she screamed, retching." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve, Sano groped blindly toward the sound of her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Light from the lanterns filtered through the smoke clouds." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sano's instincts blared a sudden warning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He crouched, and Lightning's blade flashed out of the smoke, over his head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "More pleas for help came from Wisteria; Lightning alternated curses and wheezes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Blurred shapes flailed like ghosts in the smoke, while the blade whistled around Sano." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He fell to the floor, rolled away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wisteria loosed a scream of agony." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Loud, splintering crashes reverberated as Sano's troops hacked the window shutters open with axes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While the fresh air dispersed the smoke, Sano clambered to his feet in the center of the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He saw Lightning lurch toward the door, choking and gagging, just as his detectives charged through it, their swords drawn." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lightning staggered into their midst, wildly swinging his blade in a desperate bid to escape or die trying." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sano launched himself at the gangster." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He tackled Lightning around the knees." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lightning crashed to the floor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sano's men fell upon him and wrested his sword away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He struggled like a captured beast, uttering incoherent protests." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you all right?\" Hirata asked Sano." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nodding, Sano panted from exertion and coughed up phlegm as he stood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Where's Wisteria?\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then he heard a moan, and saw her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She lay on her side, torso raised on her elbows, inching toward the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pain wrenched her features." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her legs were soaked with blood, injured by Lightning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now pity overrode Sano's ill will against Wisteria." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He and Hirata walked over to her." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she saw them, she strained her body and groaned with a last, futile heave toward freedom. Then she collapsed, weeping in defeat." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Hey can you write like Lucia St. Clair and use whatever i write as a jumping off point?" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro sat cross-legged in the shelter of the straw mat he had thrown over a bamboo pole propped up by a forked stick." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Upriver from Kawasaki, he shared the grove of bare willows at the Yaguchi ford with a big bronze bell hanging under a wooden roof with upswept eaves." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The willows didn't stop a cold wind from blowing in off the river." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now and then dusty travelers stopped to dip water from a small stone basin in front of the bell." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They rinsed their hands and mouths, purifying themselves for a small act of worship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They pulled on the cord that swung the horizontally suspended log into the bell." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The low-pitched tolling vibrated in Hanshiro's chest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He could have stayed at the shack that served as an inn here at the ford, but he knew it was infested with fleas." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And when possible he preferred to keep watch himself instead of hiring someone to do it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "So this lean-to under the rustling, bare branches of the willows had been his home for the past three days." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Frankly, as the old saying went, his teeth were itchy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was impatient and irritable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro was impatient with his impatience." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Time is an illusion invented by the mind, he reminded himself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The past didn't exist." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The future didn't exist." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The only reality was the moment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But the moment was cold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He leaned over the river embankment and dipped a broad section of green bamboo into the fast-moving water." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He fed willow twigs into the tiny fire he had built between three flat rocks." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then he balanced the bamboo container on the rocks and drew closer for the warmth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While he waited for the water to heat, he mended a torn tabi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He used his thumbnail to push the needle through the seam in the canvas." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He knotted the cotton thread, bit it off, and wrapped the remaining length around the needle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He stowed it among the packets of ginseng and bear gall and powdered horn in the inro, the set of small nested lacquered boxes hanging from his sash." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He put the tabi back on and tied his straw sandal on over it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He measured tea leaves into a small cup." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Using his towel to insulate his fingers from the heat, he picked up the bamboo pot and poured water over the leaves." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He let it steep, holding the narrow, cylindrical cup in his big hands and enjoying the warmth emanating from the porcelain." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He stared out at the parade of humanity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the middle of the deep ford four porters were demanding more money to carry an enormous wrestler across." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro could hear them complaining about his weight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were threatening to tip the platform on which he rode and spill him into the icy river." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was an old ruse; and given the fact that the collected intellect of the five would not have filled a sake cup, it was comical." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But Hanshiro was not amused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With a willow withe he drew a circle in the sand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was lopsided. The circle was a test of clarity of mind, and Hanshiro had just failed it. He sighed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This woman was interfering with his rhythm, with his concentration." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Where had she gone?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How could she vanish in less than two and a half narrow ri of road?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Losing her was like losing an ant on a bell rope." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A detour west across the mountains was unthinkable." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were precipitous and uncharted and infested with brigands." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe she went by sea or hired a boat to cross the river, although he knew Kira's men had been questioning all the fishermen between here and Edo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No one admitted to seeing her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And if Kira's men were inept at swordplay, they were very able at intimidating the lower classes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In fact, they must have visited Nakamura Shichisaburo again, and Shichisaburo's memory must have improved." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kira's agents were now asking about a komuso, a priest of empty nothing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro knew Kira's men hadn't taken Cat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Three of them were waiting near the ferry, and two of them were here, lounging in the shade of a roofed well on the approach to the ford." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They scratched themselves frantically as they squatted over dice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They had been staying at the inn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro continued his methodical analysis." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was trying to slip into the body and mind of the small fugitive as he had just slipped into his own tabi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was finding it much more difficult than usual." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro had a young informant at the ferry, and so far he hadn't reported seeing a wandering priest of Cat's description there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe she had changed disguises." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe a procurer had kidnapped her or lured her back into service." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe she had been sold and now sat in one of the lath cages in the maze of brothels back in Edo, but Hanshiro doubted it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro was used to looking beyond appearances into the essence of a matter, and he had revised his initial opinion of the runaway." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This woman was surrounded by mysterious deaths and disappearances." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had a naginata, and she would not, he was sure, allow herself to be captured without a fight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Any such incident would have been a prime topic of conversation among the travelers and denizens of the Tōkaidō." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Both Shichisaburo and the old woman who sold grilled eels had said she was alone; but maybe they were wrong." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe unknown accomplices had hidden her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro decided that was the most logical explanation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He took the blue silk scarf from his jacket and untied it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The coil of black hair inside was still glossy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He raised the scarf to his face and breathed in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The hair no longer had an aroma." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After three days of separation from its owner, it had lost her essence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was neutral and uninformative." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wrapped it up again and returned it to his sleeve." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With the willow twig he began tracing characters in the sand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was amused by the cynical old verse that came to mind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It descibed three impossible things." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sincere courtesans," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Square eggs, and a fat full moon" }, { "from": "human", "value": "On the month's last day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even the act of writing such a foolish verse calmed Hanshiro." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It gave order to what was turning into a disordered affair." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He drew another circle, much more symmetrical this time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The wind plucked at his sleeve and funneled down the neck of his old coat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He erased the verse and wrote one of Bashō's." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The salted bream" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Looks cold even to his gums," }, { "from": "human", "value": "On the fishmonger's shelf" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He felt like that bream, cold and waiting on a shelf." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Tosa!\" A boy dodged through the travelers gathered in small knots to haggle with the river porters." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He raced across the sand and into the willows." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He carefully avoided the poem Hanshiro had just drawn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He dropped to his knees and bowed low." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Tosa, the priest came to the ferry landing. Four men attacked him.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro rubbed the stubble on his chin and stared out at the river." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had given Lady Asano too much credit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had walked into Kira's men's trap." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He beat them, master,\" the boy said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Alone?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro hissed, maybe in surprise, maybe in warning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The boy had never lied to him before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Was he doing it now?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He's a naginata player.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The boy jumped to his feet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He made whistling noises as he flung his arms about, imitating Cat's fighting style." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're calling him the Devil Youth. They say he's the ghost of Yoshitsune and he studied with the mountain demons.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The boy had been enthralled by a lad, not much older than he, beating three samurai and one sword-wielding lantern painter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Maybe he was a different holy man.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I think he was the one you seek, master. The whole village is as excited as a madman stung by a hornet. The magistrate is shouting about all the reports he'll have to write.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro ducked out from under the mat and began to roll it up, along with the one on which he had been sitting. \"What happened?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He was splen...\" The boy hesitated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't want to insult Hanshiro by praising another." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He defended himself well enough for one so young. But of course a naginata is a woman's weapon. It gives the wielder an unfair advantage.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro tied a cord around the ends of the roll of mats, leaving a long loop in the middle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He put the loop over his head and adjusted it across his collarbone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Where did they take him?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He escaped.\" The boy grinned." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They were too busy picking up the ears and hands the Devil Youth left scattered about.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is that right?\" Hanshiro stared hard at him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Was the boy teasing him?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's true.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro held out a packet of coppers, and the boy bowed and accepted them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Where did he go?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't know, master.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy was apologetic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No one rode across in the ferry with the mad priest, except the ferryman.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Within three or four minutes Hanshiro had packed his meager gear, buried the fire, and turned to leave." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Let me go with you as sandal bearer, master.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy dreamed of being Hanshiro's disciple in the Way of the warrior, but he dared not ask for such a privilege." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll serve you well.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I want no one trailing after me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please, master. I ask nothing. Not even that you teach me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro knew that that was exactly what the child did want." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But he didn't have the temperament to be a teacher." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He felt no need to pass his skill and knowledge to others, certainly not for money." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Besides, the country was full of out-of-work rōnin setting themselves up as masters of this school or that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro had watched many of them and had decided that if they were masters of swordsmanship, dragonflies were birds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I cannot take you with me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro turned to go, then relented. \" 'While riding the ox the boy looks for the ox,' \" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When you can explain this, come find me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, Your Honor.\" The boy was rigid with concentration but hardly able to contain his excitement." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He knew the task Hanshiro had given him might take him years, and he was eager to start." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro gazed across the river." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then, with the toe of his sandal, he rubbed out the circles and the poem." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He put his swords into his sash, hitched up his hakama, and settled the roll of mats on his back." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He took off his sandals and tabi and tied them with a straw cord to his sash. Then he waded into the icy water." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Keep going w/ 4 sentences more" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro walked along Totsuka's crowded main street, past the government office and the big, roofed board out front with the latest of the government's notices. He stopped to see if anything had been posted about the Asano affair or the fugitive holy man. The only placards tacked up, however, were the usual platitudes that everyone had memorized by now. They admonished families to be harmonious, servants to be faithful, and masters to be just." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For good measure, they exhorted all citizens to be frugal, industrious, and mindful of their stations in life." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro heard the clatter and squeal of wooden shutters being slid across doorways in the darkening alleys." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Flocks of children ran laughing down the narrow streets. They darted through the openings left before the last heavy panels were slammed into place. Hanshiro smelled the mélange of odors from a hundred evening meals. From the upper story of a house he heard the hesitant notes of a samisen's strings being strummed by a beginner." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Totsuka's inns and tea houses and rice shops were just rousing for the evening's business." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hungry travelers clustered around the itinerant peddlers of noodles and tea and rice cakes. Totsuka was fourteen ri from Edo, and it was where people usually spent their first night. It was bigger than the other villages. It had more inns and restaurants and back streets." }, { "from": "human", "value": "More places for a fugitive to hide." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro passed the street of the medicine-box makers. He would not be enjoying the light-hearted favors of the Bamboo Inn's mistress or the soothing skill of her nimble fingers. He shook off the waitresses who darted out from the doorways, begging him to sample the hospitality of their establishments.\n\nHe walked to the Wisteria tea shop, a large, open building in a less crowded part of town." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rice paddies reached almost to its rear door. The tea shop and the inn behind it were built near a marshy stream. A granite column stood next to a stone lantern at the foot of a wooden bridge over the stream. It marked the turnoff for Kamakura to the southeast." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The place was bigger, busier, and costlier than Hanshiro would have preferred, but it was located where he could watch the crossroad." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Besides, five or six of Kira's men were staying here. If they should catch Cat first, Hanshiro wanted to be nearby so he could take her from them.\n\nThe front of the tea house and the side wall nearest the stream were open to the weather, with tracks for the wooden shutters that closed it off at night. The view there was obscured only by the double sets of posts." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They supported the second story and the narrow roof extending from the first floor to keep rain from blowing in on the customers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The front part of the tea house was earthen-floored so travelers in a hurry didn't have to remove their sandals. It had five long, low, scarred tables for them to sit on. In the rear was a raised area of tatami mats for those who wanted to dine with more style and leisure. At center front the open kitchen formed a square, steamy island." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bream splashed with soy sauce were grilling, and a huge pot of red bean soup simmered fragrantly.\n\nA squat, perspiring man performed at the stove. The sleeves of his brown cotton jacket were folded up over his shoulders and the collar opened wide. He had tied a knot in each of the four corners of a small square white cloth and now wore it as a cap." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He snapped his big round paper fan with a rhythmic syncopated popping as he fanned the flames under the fish." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At the same time he tossed noodles in a huge pan over a flame that roared and leaped. As he worked he carried on an irreverent banter with the customers and the waitresses. The sizzle of the noodles and fish blended with the waitresses' cries and the hum of conversation. Whenever a customer left, the staff sent him off with shouts of \"Good luck!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "and \"Good-bye!\" and \"Thanks!\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A line of kago bearers waited to discharge their passengers at a narrow gate between the far wall and the bamboo fence that extended out from it. Travelers who wished anonymity could exit from the kago through the gate. Without being seen from the road they could walk through the garden behind the fence to the inn's rooms in back. Today, however, a pair of policemen checked the passengers before allowing them to pass." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro dipped a ladle of water from a bucket at the well and rinsed his mouth and hands. Then he sat on a small platform while a waitress washed his feet. But he still smelled decay over the aroma of the noodles and grilled fish.\n\nA large bench was positioned on the other side of the room so one end of it stuck out beyond the eaves." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A bowing, perpetually smiling waitress stood next to it and welcomed mounted customers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Two merchants were using it to climb stiffly down from their rented horses while the postboys held the reins." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro chose a wide, low bench near the open-sided front corner. He laid his short-sword next to him and sat cross-legged on one end and glared at the merchants when they tried to sit at the other. They bowed and muttered apologies, then moved on. They lowered themselves gingerly to a rear table's wooden surface." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They weren't used to riding horseback." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Irasshaimasu. Welcome, honored guest.\" The waitress spoke in the falsetto chirp so beguiling and indispensable to her trade. She bore above her head a footed tray of tea things, which she set down in front of Hanshiro. She poured an aromatic, straw-colored tea into the cup." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What would you like, Your Honor?\"\n\nHanshiro grunted and studied the list of house specialties and prices posted above the flaming stove. \"Sake, if you please. And writing materials.\"\n\n\"Shall I bring you sake at thirty-two coppers, or at twenty-four?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mix them half and half.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro's appetite had deserted him. He felt as though the stench of old death clung to his clothes and the lining of his nostrils. It coated the inside of his mouth and throat. To wipe out the taste of evil he would need quantities of sake, the stuff called \"hot water of transcendental wisdom.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He decided that when the outside lanterns were extinguished and he could no longer see the passersby, he would take a bath." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He would have the attendants scrub him until he was as red as a boiled lobster. Then he would soak in the steaming water through the hour of the Dog. He would soak away the clinging odor of death and deceit.\n\nSince leaving the temple across the river from Kawasaki, Hanshiro had spent two days in fruitless questioning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had canvassed Totsuka thoroughly and discreetly. He had heard many versions of the exploits of the naginata-wielding priest, but no information.\n\nThe rainstorm the previous night had driven to shelter even those travelers who were on grass-pillow journeys, who camped along the way. The only roof available had been pilgrims' lodging at a small temple that claimed miraculous cures." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Rather than lie elbow to elbow with the diseased, the raving, and the lice-infested, he had slept on a roofed-over woodpile behind a potter's shop." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So far this had been a tiresome, grass-pillow journey for Hanshiro, too. He was ready to spend some of Old Jug Face's money on a proper bath, clean bedding, and a room shared with no one.\n\nA servant arrived carrying a small brazier with a kettle of sake warming on it. The waitress brought a long-handled tray of smoking supplies and set down a second tray containing an ink stone and a bowl of water, a small bamboo mat with two brushes rolled inside, and several rolls of heavy, pliant paper." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Do you want me to prepare the ink for you, sir?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No. But bring me another jar of wine. And tell me, are the police looking for that fugitive priest from Edo?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir.\" The waitress glanced toward the police and the line of kago whose bearers were complaining loudly about the delay. \"But you needn't concern yourself. This is an honest establishment. There are no criminals here. Although...\" She leaned down to whisper. \"The young westcountryman at the third table over, the one with his head bandaged, he actually fought with the rogue priest.\" The waitress bowed and retreated to the kitchen area." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The artist was sitting by himself also." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like Hanshiro, he had left his long-sword on the rack in the entryway. His pole, festooned with collapsed pleated painted lanterns, lay under the bench on which he sat.\n\nNot much of the man's face was visible through the swathing of bandages, but his eyes and nose were dark purple. He was using a reed to take his nourishment in liquid form, fermented bean paste broth and a lot of sake." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From the corner of his eye Hanshiro studied him. He had fought with Lady Asano, if the mendicant priest had indeed been she. By now Hanshiro had his doubts. He was beginning to think she really was in hiding and the priest was just another madman loose on the Tōkaidō." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With deliberate, circular motions of his wrist, Hanshiro rubbed the block of pressed black powder against the moistened, polished slate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While the ink collected in the trough at the end of the stone, he composed his letter to the police at the government office.\n\nA murderer lies with the evidence of his crimes. Pass through the bamboo grove behind the distillery. Look for a cave in a thicket of azaleas by the big pine tree at the foot of the mountain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The cave entrance is covered by rocks." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not very poetic, Hanshiro thought. He didn't mention the old couple who were the intended victims. They wouldn't want to become involved with the police. No one wanted to become involved with the police." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tsunayoshi's justice had a way of turning and biting those who sought to set it on someone else." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Death by horror. Karma piled up. Maybe the thief would be alive when the authorities found him, and maybe he wouldn't. His trip to hell would be unpleasant in any case. Perhaps his fate was to return as a maggot, Hanshiro thought, to spend another lifetime living off the dead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro folded the letter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then he balanced two small silver coins in the palm of his hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They weren't worth much since Tokugawa Tsunayoshi had debased the currency to pay for his eccentric extravagances. But one of them would still be more than the waitress earned in two or three days. He laid the coins inside one of his paper handkerchiefs, twisted the ends, and gave both to her.\n\n\"Pass the letter to a servant to deliver to the police station,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Divide the contents of the other paper with him.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you, Your Honor.\"\n\n\"Tell the servant that a traveler gave you the message, then continued his journey toward Edo. You don't know who he was.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\nWhen she left, Hanshiro unrolled a second strip of paper." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He anchored the top corners with the polished river stones supplied for the purpose and renewed the supply of ink." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With firm strokes he drew the characters, spelling out part of an ancient poem. The words had been rattling in his head for two days.\n\nI call myself\n\na man of spirit," }, { "from": "human", "value": "but on this journey," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "grass for a pillow,\n\nmy thoughts keep going back.\n\nBut his thoughts went back only two nights, to the abbey and to the boy and to the look that had started an aching warmth in his loins. Hanshiro was chagrined to realize that the heat was spreading to his heart." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was ridiculous. He was too young for infatuation with boys." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He completed the poem.\n\nAnd like the fires that burn\n\nwhen fishergirls of Ami bay\n\nboil down their salt," }, { "from": "human", "value": "these memories burn" }, { "from": "human", "value": "deep within my heart!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The waitresses were lighting the small lanterns inside and the big square ones outside when Hanshiro heard music approaching. It was a courtesan's song. And a very old one at that. The melancholy of courtesans went back a long time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Things that pierce the heart:" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "night travel, boat travel, being on the road,\n\na roadside inn,\n\na voice reciting sutras from a mountain temple\n\nin a dark wood," }, { "from": "human", "value": "a lover who leaves you before you're tired of him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lanterns outside cast an artificial light on the facade of the buildings across the way and on the street between. They gave the Tōkaidō the appearance of a stage. The travelers were extras entering and exiting. Dancers were about to open the program." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When the seven women passed, drumming and singing and dancing, several of the tea house customers applauded. Musui had taken off his big hat, and it hung against his back. His page's face was still covered by his hat, but Hanshiro recognized his clothes and the lithe body inside them. He took deep, slow breaths until the merry caravan passed and the music and laughter faded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was time to forget about boys. It was time to see who the bandaged painter of lanterns really was. Hanshiro picked up his kettle of sake and affected the exaggeratedly upright manner of someone drunk trying to appear sober. He wove a tipsy course to the bench where the artist sat brooding." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"'To keep silent and act wise,' \" Hanshiro recited, holding up the kettle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"'Still not as good as drinking sake, getting drunk, and weeping.' \" The artist finished the poem through clenched teeth. He was in pain from the blow inflicted by the butt of Cat's naginata.\n\nHanshiro introduced himself as the Cup No Man Can Finish, rōnin and underpaid fencing instructor for the spoiled brats of minor nobility. The westcountryman confided that he was called Mumyosai, Nameless, rōnin and underpaid painter of Benkei on the Gojo Bridge." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As the evening progressed Hanshiro and Nameless drained a few more jars of sake and drank toasts to the old days." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were waving their bowls in rhythm and chanting ancient Chinese poetry about overflowing wine when the inn's servants closed the big front shutters. They were still chanting when teams of waitresses heaved them to their feet and half carried them, half led them to the steaming bath." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Expand the story by adding 6 sentences." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"A beautiful woman is an ax that cuts off a man's life.\" But even as he said it, Gobei the gambler studied the portraits in the album with care. He turned the heavy, pleated pages slowly. The wrestler Mountain Wind looked over his shoulder.\n\nThe rest of the card players crowded around. The fifteen-year-old artist Okamura Masanobu hadn't included just any women in this collection." }, { "from": "human", "value": "These were twelve of the most beautiful courtesans of Edo's Floating World." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Masanobu had caught each in a gesture, in a moment stolen from time and fixed for eternity. They were gazing into their mirrors or lounging with robes draped carelessly. They were walking in high lacquered geta through new-fallen snow or smoking a pipe on a riverside balcony and staring pensively out over the water.\n\n\"Which one ran away?\" someone asked.\n\n\"Number seven.\"\n\n\"I was there the night she escaped.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mountain Wind pointed a thick finger at the page and began again the tale of his experiences at the Perfumed Lotus." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro could hear the men's loud conversation through the floor of his upstairs room. He knew that his prey, the young Lady Asano, was in the album of Masanobu's women. It was a copy of the book Kira's retainers had been discreetly showing to innkeepers, kago bearers, and postboys all along the road.\n\nOne of those retainers had bet it and lost it to Gobei two hands ago. He had gone out into the rainy night with his shoulders bunched against the cold and his thoughts written on his face. He was trying to invent a lie that would save him from the unpleasantness of disemboweling himself to appease his irascible lord." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro had disdained to approach any of Kira's lackeys, so Cat's picture had eluded him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He refused to join the crowd now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He stayed where he was, alone in the small room at the back of the house." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The gambler Gobei had been dealing cards in the room beneath him since the hour of the Cock.\n\nHanshiro knelt with spine straight and with his legs folded under him. He held a paintbrush poised, resting lightly between the tips of his thumb and index finger. He seemed entranced by the sheet of white paper on the low writing stand in front of him. To draw bamboo he knew he must see it first in his mind. Then he must transcribe what he saw as quickly as the hawk stooped on the hare." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was so engrossed he barely heard the shoosh, shoosh of Gobei's stockinged feet on the polished boards of the corridor floor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Isogashii?\" Gobei called politely from the doorway. \"Busy?\"\n\n\"Irasshai. Welcome.\"\n\nGobei entered and sat on the other side of the clay-lined firewell. The coals in the well spread a welcome heat into the damp chill of the room. Both men sat sideways to the door, so that neither would have his back to it.\n\nGobei crossed his legs, bringing his feet under his baggy yellow hakama stenciled with dark blue ginkgo leaves." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He laid the folio, its cardboard covers tied shut with gold silk cord, on the tatami." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro drew in a deep breath. His hand dropped suddenly, and he drew the bamboo with swift, sure strokes—strokes called by names like \"goldfish tail,\" \"startled rook,\" \"stag's horns,\" and \"fishbones.\" He was using the technique called \"flying white,\" painting with a fairly dry brush so that the paper could be seen underneath. He worked unperturbed by Gobei's presence.\n\nGobei shook back the sleeves of his quilted silk jacket and poured himself tea. \"Aren't you done dabbing at that paper yet?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He added more tea to Hanshiro's almost empty cup." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Confucius said a work is finished not when the last thing has been added, but when the last thing has been taken away.\"\n\n\"As one whose business it is to take away the last thing, I can only agree with Confucius.\" Gobei shifted his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. He had full lips nestled in a black beard, a high, narrow nose, bushy brows, and eyes that were little more than slits in his broad face.\n\n\"Have you finished taking away the last things from the unfortunates downstairs?\" Hanshiro asked.\n\n\"I left them the hair in their anuses and their manly organs.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Gobei grinned wolfishly. \"Peasants are not called the 'great august treasure' for nothing. It is their fate to give, mine to take.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He reached for the tobacco canister on the wooden, boxlike tray the waitress had set beside him. He packed the bowl of his oversize pipe and lit it with an ember from the firebox on the tray.\n\nHe held the big pipe horizontally in the palm of his hand, with his fingers folded diagonally over the stem. Brigands carried large pipes and held them this way, and it was an affectation of Gobei's.\n\n\"You can work with me, you know,\" Gobei said. \"My offer stands, old friend. You can be a rich man and live with a fan in your left hand.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hanshiro's mouth twitched in a shadow of a wry smile as he bowed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His nod expressed refusal, but with just the proper balance of sincere regret, irony, and condescension.\n\nHe added an elegant tracery of characters down the upper right-hand side of the page, a poem of his own composing. He should have been offended by Gobei's effrontery, but he had known him too long for that. And he found him amusing.\n\nBesides, Gobei was the head of the gamblers' syndicate. His word was law along the Tōkaidō among the hundreds of men who were considered members of the guild." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Some of the men in the guild made their livings by more nefarious means than dice and cards." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Taking issue with their leader would have gained Hanshiro nothing and could have put obstacles in his way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Gobei leaned over to inspect Hanshiro's ink painting of bamboo bent before a wind. \" 'When calm, paint iris.' \" He quoted the ancients. \" 'When angry, bamboo.'\"\n\n\"Anger is like breaking wind in a typhoon,\" Hanshiro said. \"It provides temporary relief but avails little.\"\n\n\"This fleeting world is temporary; but temporary is better than nothing at all. As the poets say, 'Enjoy life! Tomorrow we may end as sea wrack on the rocky shore of Oya-Shirazu, Not-Knowing-Parents.' \" Gobei lifted the large folio to his forehead with exaggerated courtesy, then bowed as he held it out to Hanshiro.\n\n\"I brought you the book,\" he said. \"But you need not leaf through it by the light of the night lantern while you bedew the palm of your hand. Self-pleasure is like scratching your foot through the sole of your sandal. Allow me to show you Odawara's garden of night-blooming flowers. I will introduce you to Lotus.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Gobei molded the air sensuously with his hands." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Her buttocks remind one of a ripe peach.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Another time, Gobei-san.\" Hanshiro laid the unopened folio aside. At least with Gobei Hanshiro didn't have to bother with punctilio.\n\n\"From your interest in young Masanobu's art, I assume you're hunting the yakko, the samurai courtesan, and not the boat-swallowing fish who's been reducing the population of late.\" Gobei leaned forward and grinned across the firewell. \"I hear that rascal made soldier soup of two Edo men in Hiratsuka.\" Gobei laughed in delight at his own pun on the words for soup stock made of dried bonito and the word for soldier." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm hunting the impossible, a night's sleep in a dry bed free of fleas and cutpurses.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro cleaned his ink stone. He washed out his brush and laid it on a silk pad. He emptied the dirty water from his gourdshaped porcelain container into the wide-mouthed jug placed there for that purpose. With a silk cloth he wiped each item in his writing case and replaced them in their proper compartments.\n\n\"You needn't have rushed to Odawara through that tantrum of a storm in the dark of night. This story of the Asano wench's escape is a ruse, Tosa-san.\" Gobei lowered his voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sound carried through paper walls. \"Kira had her kidnapped from the brothel. He has dispatched her spirit to the Western Paradise and her body to the burning grounds at Hashiba. You're chasing her smoke, my boy. Kira's conducting this hoax of a search to allay suspicions. Everyone knows it.\"\n\nGobei knocked the dottle from his pipe into the bamboo container in the tobacco box. \"Do you really think a woman would be foolish enough to attempt the Hakone barrier,\" he continued, \"to tread on the tail of the tiger?\"\n\n\"I have no pressing engagements. I shall wait by the road and see who passes.\"\n\n\"Have a care, my friend. This murderer has the authorities in an uproar.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you for the warning, Gobei-san.\"\n\n\"And now I shall pay a visit to the white-necked ones. I stayed away from the House of the Wisteria several days last month when I was ill with stomach pains. When I returned, my sweethearts there held me down and threatened to cut off my topknot for neglecting them.\"\n\n\"If that's the worst they threaten to cut off, you have nothing to fear.\"\n\n\"Would you honor a miserable wretch by allowing him to add this magnificent painting to his collection of works in the Tosa school?\" Gobei bowed. When Hanshiro handed him the rolled paper, he stowed it carefully in the gap where the left side of his jacket overlapped the right.\n\nGobei rose and shut his fan with a clack of farewell." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As he left he opened it again, gesturing with it in the slow dance of the No drama." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With his other hand he slapped his rear end to keep time. He took the part of Ono no Komachi, an old woman possessed of the ghost of a former lover. The words to his song, however, were of his own invention.\n\n\"I... am... the... Devil... farting,\" he declaimed in the nasal singsong of No. The technique made the words sound stretched and distorted. \"I am the ba-a-a-stard child of the god of swi-i-indlers.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "As Gobei disappeared down the hall, Hanshiro could hear his singing and slapping and tongue clicking in imitation of wooden clappers grow fainter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The maid appeared to lay out the bedding, trim the lamp wick, and lower the wooden nightshade over the lantern. Then she bowed and wished him a pleasant rest.\n\nWhen she had knelt in the corridor and closed the door in front of her own bowing face, Hanshiro sat alone in the shadows a while longer. He listened to the night crier clapping his wooden blocks and warning against carelessness with fire. He watched the slow undulating pulse of the lantern's shadow on the wall.\n\nFinally he untied the cord and opened the folio." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He turned the pages slowly and stopped at the seventh portrait." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It carried the red, gourdshaped seal and the words \"From the genuine brush of the Japanese artist Okamura Masanobu.\"\n\nCat was posed in front of a latticework bamboo fence covered with wisteria flowers. Her body was half-turned toward the right edge of the page, but she was glancing over her shoulder to the left. Cat's sumptuous robes and sash were hand-colored in heron's-egg-green and rose tints.\n\nShe was holding a half-opened paper umbrella at an angle off from her left shoulder. She wore a man's headband rakishly tied at the side in a large, flat knot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A wind was blowing her robe against her left hip and thigh and lifting her hem to reveal the men's gaiters that women of fashion were sporting in the Eastern Capital.\n\nMasanobu had spared no detail of Cat's dress. Her face, however, was difficult to distinguish from the others in the album. Masanobu had given all the women the stylized features considered most desirable. He had painted Cat with brows thin as black silk thread, tapered eyes that were little more than slits, a long hooked line for a nose, an impossibly tiny mouth, full cheeks, and a round chin.\n\nBut Masanobu had captured something in Cat's face that none of the other women had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As she stared over her shoulder, the look in her eyes was defiant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the pose and the look Musui's handsome young disciple had given Hanshiro the night he'd discussed poetry with the monks at the temple near Kawasaki." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the look he had mistaken for lust. Suddenly Hanshiro realized why the boy had seemed familiar. He resembled the nun he had seen near Lord Asano's grave at Spring Hill Temple.\n\nThe heat that reddened Hanshiro's face was as much chagrin as a surge of desire mixed with admiration. The young Lady Asano had made a fool of him, just as she was making fools of Kira's men. Hanshiro didn't like being reduced to the level of Kira's men, but he had to admit the Lady Cat was very good." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Perhaps she had mastered the art of sai-minjutsu, hypnotizing her enemies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro closed the book and retied the cords around it. Then he took from the front of his jacket the flat brocade case like the one in which he carried his paper handkerchiefs. Inside was the silk cloth with the crossed-feather crest. He unwrapped it and held it in the palm of one hand. With his fingers he stroked the coil of Cat's hair, black and glossy as a leopard flower seed.\n\nNow he could combine the perfume of the incense in her room and the cool sleekness of her hair with her face and her form." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He could construct her from memory and his own heart's yearning. Like the image of the bamboo he had just painted, Cat appeared in his mind's eye.\n\nHe could imagine this length of hair flowing in a cascade down her slender back. He pictured it lying along the curve of her haunch. He saw it swaying as she walked in the \"floating step,\" the hesitant, hip-swinging gait of the courtesan on promenade.\n\nHanshiro felt as though a loop were tightening around his heart." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A rope woven from the locks of a woman's hair, the old poem went, would bind a very elephant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "What was he to do?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lady Asano's quest was madness. She would surely be caught, and even if she weren't, she could accomplish nothing. No vendetta had been registered in her father's name. Her uncle was in exile. The Akō retainers had scattered. Their leader, the Councilor Oishi Kuranosuke, had sunk in a mire of debauchery." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lady Asano would be shamed and executed for her folly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hanshiro saw, suddenly, this lovely hair crusted with blood.\n\nHe decided to start a rumor in the morning to throw Kira's men off the trail. He knew he would have to find Cat before she reached the Hakone barrier. But he also knew he could do it. He now knew what she looked like.\n\nHe would return her discreetly to the Perfumed Lotus before she was connected with the attack at the ferry and the murders in the bathhouse." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Some rich merchant or lord would redeem her." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 4 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could start another life as an outside consort or a daimyō's pampered woman of the province.\n\nHanshiro convinced himself that what happened to Her Ladyship after he returned her was a fire across the river. It was no concern of his. Even so, a woman's laughter in another room set his heart to pounding." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise in the Japan, nonfiction, memoirs, 1300s genre. I'll provide a starting point, and you'll continue with seven sentences in the style of Lady Nijō." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For all that, even if it were only a princess and not a prince who was born, the child's grandfather, the Retired Emperor Go Saga, made a great fuss over her and had the Fifth Night and the Seventh Night ceremonies performed in a magnificent manner.\n\nAfter the Seventh Night celebrations, the Retired Emperor was talking with the ex-Emperor in his apartments at the Tominokoji palace when, about two o'clock in the morning, a great wind began to blow in the orangery with a sound as of waves beating wildly on a rocky shore. I was told to go out to see what it was. I did so, and this is what I saw. Jumping up and down were ten or so brightly shining objects, each about the size of a wine bowl, bluish white in colour, with heads looking rather like jelly-fish and with long slender tails. I shrieked with fright and rushed back inside.\n\n\"Why are you making such a din?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "the courtiers in the anteroom said. \"They are just death-watch fires.\"\n\nOther people reported seeing something like slimy seaweed scattered about under the great willow tree. As a result of these omens, the ex-Emperor called in the soothsayers and had rituals for long life performed as they are at the temple of Taisan in China.\n\nAbout the ninth month, the Retired Emperor Go Saga was reported to be very ill. His legs and feet were swollen. He was cauterised with moxa a number of times, but to everyone's great alarm this had little effect and he grew worse every day. The year drew to a close and New Year's Day came, but no one had any heart for celebrations with the Retired Emperor so ill." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His condition was so threatening that about the seventeenth of the first month, the Retired Emperor was taken by palanquin to the palace at Saga. The ex-Emperor followed him in a carriage. I was in the same carriage. The Retired Emperor's consort, the ex-Empress Omiya, and her sister, the ex-Empress Higashi Nijo, were in another carriage, accompanied by Lady Mikushige, who was at the moment the ex-Emperor's favourite lady-in-waiting.\n\nIn the presence of the ex-Emperor, the Retired Emperor's physicians, Wake no Tanenari and Wake no Moronari, had prepared medicine for the patient to drink on the way. This had been poured into jars which were carried by the Gon Chunagon, Yoshida no Tsuneto, and a guard, Nobutomo. When they arrived at Uchino, the site of the ancient Imperial palace, they wished to give the patient some of the medicine to drink, but both the jars were found to be empty—completely dry." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a mystery where the medicine had disappeared. This incident added to the patient's depression and possibly aggravated his illness.\n\nThe ex-Emperor stayed at the Oi mansion within the precincts of the Saga palace and was constantly sending people, men or women, high or low, to enquire how his father was at that moment. One had to go along a roofed connecting passage to the palace, and I well remember how I dreaded this walk alone at dead of night with the roar of the river Oi in my ears.\n\nAt the beginning of the second month we were just waiting for the last moments of the Retired Emperor. The two High Commissioners, Hojo no Tokisuke and Hojo no Yoshimune, arrived on the ninth to express the sympathy and concern of the Military Government at Kamakura. The Dainagon Saionji no Sanekane made public announcement of the fact that they had shown grief and expressed their condolences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The reigning Emperor Kameyama arrived on the eleventh, stayed for the twelfth, and returned to the Capital on the thirteenth. Everyone was very busy. There was no sound of music in the palace. The Emperor and his brother, the ex-Emperor, met and wept together, all the bystanders being moved to weep in sympathy.\n\nAbout six o'clock on the evening of the fifteenth day, a great column of smoke was seen rising in the direction of the Capital. I asked whose house it was and was told that it was the house in Rokuhara of the High Commissioner, Hojo no Tokisuke, which had been suddenly attacked and set on fire.On the morning of the seventeenth everyone was greatly alarmed by a sudden change for the worse in the patient's condition. The learned prelate, Keikai, of the Enryakuji temple, and the abbess of the Ojo-in temple came and exhorted him to put his trust in the invocation of Amida Buddha." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Forasmuch as in your previous existence,\" they said, \"you faithfully observed the Ten Virtues, Your Majesty has in this life enjoyed all the blessings and glories which appertain to an earthly throne and you are well assured of a life of bliss in the next world. Take, therefore, your seat now on the exalted throne of the Lotus Flower so that you may be a guide to Paradise for those who still sojourn in the prison-house of this world.\"\n\nSo they tried, sometimes with gentle persuasion and sometimes with warning exhortations, to convert him to faith in the invocation of the sacred name of Amida, but in vain, for the Retired Emperor refused to sever himself from the ties of earthly relationships and effect a last-minute change of heart.\n\nSo at last on the seventeenth day of the second month in the ninth year of the Bun-ei era, he breathed his last at six o'clock in the evening in the fifty-third year of his age. The whole sky was suddenly overcast, and the whole nation overwhelmed with grief. Gay floral dresses were discarded, and black mourning robes were donned.\n\nOn the eighteenth, the body was removed to the Yakuso-in temple in the palace. Fujiwara no Sanefuyu, Director of the Imperial Archives, arrived, bearing messages of condolence from the Imperial Court." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All the sons of the Retired Emperor who had entered the religious life came from their temples, the Ninnaji, Emman-in, Bodai-in, and Shoren-in temples, to take part in the funeral ceremonies. The grief expressed at the ceremony that night was beyond the power of pen to describe. Everyone was expecting that the Gon Chunagon, Yoshida no Tsuneto, who had been such a special favourite of the deceased and had mourned his passing more deeply than anyone else, would take the opportunity to renounce the world and enter religion. People were therefore much surprised to see him in his formal dress of soft silk crepe carrying the late Emperor's ashes in an urn to the Yakuso-in temple. The ex-Emperor's grief was very deep, his tears flowing without ceasing night and day so that all the people round him were moved to tears. During the period of national mourning, there was no music, and no loud shouting was allowed, not even by forerunners calling out to the people to clear them off the roads as a procession approached. One felt afraid that even the cherry trees when they bloomed that year would put on a mantle as sombre as any monk's habit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "My father, the Dainagon, wore deep mourning and suggested that I should do so too.\n\nThe ex-Emperor disagreed. \"She is still very young,\" he said. \"She need not go into deep mourning. She can wear just the ordinary mourning.\" And I did as he wished.\n\nMy father made several applications to the ex-Emperor and his mother the Dowager Empress Omiya for permission to retire and enter the religious life, but they refused, thinking this step was not warranted by the circumstances. His grief seemed deeper than other people's and he visited the grave every day. He renewed his appeal through his cousin, the Gon Dainagon, Minamoto no Sadazane." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "AI Prompt: Generate eight sentences sentences. Emulate Lady Nijō. Adhere to Japan, nonfiction, memoirs, 1300s genre conventions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Since the Military Government at Kamakura was receiving reports that relations between the two ex-Emperors were not good, the new ex-Emperor, with a view to improving these, came on a visit to see the ball-court and enjoy seeing a ball game." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What has to be done?\" the ex-Emperor asked the Great Lord Konoe. \"What preparations do we have to make?\"\n\n\"Refreshments should be served early in the game,\" said Lord Konoe. \"Dried persimmons soaked in wine should be served by a lady-in-waiting while the players are changing their clothes.\"\n\nOn being asked to suggest the name of a lady for this service, Lord Konoe thought that from the points of view of age and rank I should be the most suitable for this duty. I decided to wear a set of seven robes of dark red lined with violet pink, a scarlet robe over it with a cloak of yellow lined with deeper yellow and a blue mantle and a skirt of raw silk. Underneath I wore gowns of red shading off to pink." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When the new ex-Emperor arrived, he found his seat placed opposite his host's. \"This is not as it should be,\" he said. \"When the late Emperor was alive, he decided how we should sit.\" He then had his own seat moved down to a lower place.\n\n\"In The Tale of Genji the Emperor has his host's seat moved up to face his,\" the ex-Emperor said when he came in and saw how the seats had been placed. \"It is strange that today you should have moved your seat to a lower level than your host's.\" People thought his allusion to the change of seats both graceful and cordial.\n\nThe banquet proceeded uneventfully, the wine-cups being offered formally three-times-three." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Crown Prince arrived and the ball game began. Then, at half time, the new ex-Emperor went through the eastern door to the pavilion. Betto went with me carrying a wine-cup in a basket-work cover and a kettle containing the wine with the persimmons soaking in it. She wore a set of five robes of light green lined with purple, a scarlet over-robe, a white cloak lined with blue, and a yellow mantle lined with light green.\n\nI offered the wine to the new ex-Emperor. \"You taste first,\" he said, kindly offering the cup to me. He sat watching the ball game till twilight and left for his own palace with torches burning.\n\nNext day he sent his retainer, Nakayori, the son of my old nurse, with a letter to me written on thin red paper attached to a willow twig with the poem," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "How can I believe\n\nIt was in reality\n\nThat I saw your face?\n\nRather was it in a dream,\n\nA dream that will never end.\n\nI could not be so impolite as not to reply. My poem in answer reminded him that the cherry blossom, however beautiful, begins to fall as soon as it blooms, so fleeting are the things of this world. This I wrote on a sheet of pale blue paper attached to a spray of cherry blossom," }, { "from": "human", "value": "What does it matter" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If it was in reality\n\nOr a passing dream?\n\nRather think how the cherry blossom\n\nNo sooner blooms than it falls.\n\nFrom this time he often wrote to me, but I discouraged his approaches, and finally had my carriage made ready and left the palace for the home of my cousin the Dainagon Minamoto no Morochika." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise in the Japan, nonfiction, memoirs, 1300s genre. I'll provide a starting point, and you'll continue with 3 sentences in the style of Lady Nijō." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The hall of the Rokujo palace having been rebuilt, the Emperor moved there in the fourth month. The service of dedication took place before a picture of the Mandala symbol hung on the wall with the Tendai High Priest Kogo presiding and twenty priests assisting. Later another service was held in the Jocho chapel at the palace with the priest Kenjichi officiating." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The removal had been made just before. There were five carriages of ladies in the procession. I rode in the place of honour in the first carriage, with Lady Kyogoku in the second place on the right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I wore a set of seven robes of scarlet with a purple lining and a blue cloak lined with light red, Lady Kyogoku a set of five light purple robes with a blue lining.\n\nFor three days after the removal, we remained indoors wearing white with dark scarlet mantles and skirts. A competition of garden-plot flower arrangements was organised to mark the occasion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The courtyard was divided into plots and allotted to each of the lords and ladies of the middle and upper ranks. I was assigned two small plots on the eastern side of the main building near the Jocho chapel. In my plot I placed a beautiful little arched bridge, but to everyone's amusement my uncle Takaaki stole it in the night and placed it in his own plot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the eighth month the ex-Emperor fell ill. At first it did not appear to be anything very serious, although his appetite was poor and he perspired a good deal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Still, the symptoms continued for a long time and we began to get rather worried. Doctors were called in and he was cauterised at as many as ten points. Nevertheless, his condition showed no signs of improvement." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Services of intercession for long life were held for seven days from the eighth day of the month, but at the end of the period his condition remained unchanged.\n\nThe Erudite Priest who now came to visit his brother was the same priest who had come to visit him in the spring and who had declared his attachment to me with his words and his tears. He had reminded me of this on every occasion whenever I had been sent with a message to him by the ex-Emperor, but I had so far evaded any further intimacy on one pretext or another." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On one occasion I had received an affectionate letter from him urging me to make the response to his pleas which he desired. The letter had embarrassed me so much that I had torn off a piece of hair-tying paper, had written on it the one word \"Dream\" and left it near him as if I had accidentally dropped it. On another occasion when I had gone to the temple with a message for him, he had thrown towards me a spray of star anise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I had picked it up unobserved and found written on the leaves the poem,\n\nRising up betimes\n\nTo pick this spray of anise," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I find wet with dew\n\nThese sleeves long since drenched with tears\n\nThat my dreams have not come true." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I thought the poem very cleverly contrived, and after this I found myself more inclined to think tenderly of him, and rather looked forward to having the opportunity to see him whenever I was sent to the temple with a message for him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When I was there, I found too that I could sit and talk to him and answer him without any feeling of embarrassment.\n\nWhen he came to visit the ex-Emperor at this time, he was grieved to find that the ex-Emperor's health was not improving, and asked that some article of clothing that had been in contact with the ex-Emperor's body should be taken into the chapel before the service began.\n\nI was therefore told to take a robe which the ex-Emperor had been wearing\"Where shall I put His Majesty's robe?\" I asked him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Place it in the reading room next door,\" he said. I went into the room and found it lighted up. Then to my surprise he followed me in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"'Buddha leads us even when we go along dark paths,'\" he quoted, weeping, as he took me in his arms. I was shocked at his action, but he was not someone whom I could push away or tell to take his hands off me. Resisting the impulse to cry out, I could only whisper a reminder of the warnings of Buddha, but no plea of mine was of any avail." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Our dream of love was, however, of very short duration and the memory of it now too faint to recall, for it was interrupted almost immediately by the priests calling out that the service was about to begin.\n\nAt this he fled out by the other door. \"See me again after the service at dawn,\" he said as he left." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The service proceeded uneventfully, but it was horrifying for me to think how unworthy he was to be there taking part in this solemn service. The shadowless bright light of the candles contrasted so startlingly with my thoughts of the darkness of the world to come that I was still further saddened.\n\nI was not exactly burning with love for him, but after the midnight service I went to his room unobserved." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The service was over and we could meet with less apprehension. I was sorry to see him weep so pathetically.\n\nWhen the noise of people moving about at dawn disturbed us, he pressed me to exchange with him the gowns we had worn next to our bodies so that we might have something to remind us of this meeting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The sadness of parting when we got up and left did, however, seem to be somewhat one-sided." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was true that I could have wished that he had been able to stay longer with me, but it was with a look of despair on his face that he went away. I could never forget that look.\n\nWhen I went back to my room, I found a poem on a torn-off scrap of paper attached to the hem of the gown which he had given me in exchange for my own," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In sorrow gazing\n\nAt the autumn moon at night,\n\nI wonder whether" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was in reality" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or in a dream that we met." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I wondered when he had found the time to write it. I could no longer doubt the strength of his affection, and taking advantage of every opportunity while he was at the palace, I visited him in his room every other night.\n\nThe priest must have carried out this series of services with a lack of devotional purpose which must have been most displeasing to Buddha, but in spite of this, at the end of the twice-seven days of continual intercession, the ex-Emperor showed definite signs of improvement in health, and after the third period of seven days the prince went back to his temple." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"When shall we have another opportunity of meeting?\" he had said to me the night before he left. \"I am afraid that the dust is going to collect on the floor of the chapel of the invocation of the Sacred Name of Amida and the fire on the altar will become dim. If you feel about me as I do about you, you will put on a habit of the same dark hue as mine and retire with me into the depths of the mountains where we may spend in peace our remaining years in this transient world.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "This proposal showed a sad lack of worldly wisdom on the part of the prince and was really too shocking even to consider." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yet I could not help being moved by his words, wondering how long he had been turning over this scheme in his mind. It was sad indeed to watch him getting up on this last morning as the bell for dawn rang out and see him trying to hide his tears which, I was much afraid, might reveal to all our secret. So with the last day of the prayers for the ex-Emperor's well-being, I was left alone with new worries added to a heart already overflowing with griefs and anxieties." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the ninth month the Ceremony of Offering Flowers to Buddha was held, the shining newness of the Rokujo palace adding beauty to the scene." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As the new ex-Emperor had asked that a lady might be selected for his service, all the ladies were vying with each other in attracting notice, but I remained gloomy and unapproachable." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After the ceremony the two ex-Emperors went to the new palace at Fushimi to plant pine tree seedlings. Lord Konoe was to have accompanied them but instead he sent a poem expressing the hope that the newly-planted pine trees might flourish for thousands of years to come,\n\nMay the young pine trees" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Planted now at Fushimi" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Live a thousand years" }, { "from": "human", "value": "And flourish, together with" }, { "from": "human", "value": "the palace of Fushimi." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ex-Emperor replied with a poem also praying for the prosperity of the Fushimi palace,\n\nFor a thousand years\n\nMay the Fushimi palace" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 4 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Flourish and prosper\n\nAs do the ancient pine trees\n\nStanding upon the mountain.\n\nThe two ex-Emperors stayed two days at Fushimi, held a drinking party together happily, then returned." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "user starts, u write ~three sentences more. copy Lady Nijō's style" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The child was born on the sixth day of the eleventh month and the prince continued to visit me every night. This was causing me a good deal of uneasiness, but he took no notice of my complaints and late on the night of the eleventh he came as usual.\n\n\"The whole nation is in a state of turmoil,\" he said. \"Rumour has it that the sacred tree of the Kasuga shrine which was brought up to the Capital by armed monks the year before last is to be taken back to Nara.We spent the whole night talking together in this strain with no sleep at all, and when he got up to go, it was already broad daylight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The house in which I lived being inside the same fence as the main house, anyone who left my house could not avoid being noticed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He therefore stayed with me all the day so that his visit could be kept secret. I was much afraid that he might be seen and recognised, although no one in the neighbourhood knew his identity except his page. He was therefore quite at his ease sitting with me, undisturbed by any fear of discovery." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As for me, I could not understand how he could be so unperturbed; my heart was in a flutter all the day." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We talked on and on all through the day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He told me what he had done when we parted in bitterness under that morning moon. We spoke of my disappearance. \"It was a great shock,\" he said, \"when I heard that you had run away from court and that your whereabouts were unknown. There was no one to whom I could talk about it. So I set myself the task of copying out the Five Great Mahayana sutras. Copying characters from your letters I fixed one to each volume of the sutras in token that I had undertaken the task of copying these sutras to further my ardent desire while still in this world to spend one more night with you in exchanging pledges of love. That shows the measure of my improper love for you. I finished copying the sutras, but I held no ceremony of dedication to celebrate the completion of the work, for I wished to celebrate that together with you when we were reunited after our rebirth. For if I give these volumes of the sutras which I have copied, over two hundred of them, into the safe-keeping of the Dragon King in his palace under the sea, they will surely help us to be reborn into this world together, and then we will hold the ceremony of dedication together. So if I die, use these sutras with the wood on my funeral pyre.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The utter depravity of his ideas terrified me. \"Let's content ourselves with the prayer that we may be reborn together in Paradise on the same lotus leaf,\" I said.\n\nBut he went on with his wild ideas." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, I cannot give up thoughts of treading the way of love with you in this world,\" he said with the utmost sincerity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am determined to be reborn as a man in this world. The smoke that rises from my funeral pyre will turn to you and will not depart from you to disappear into the sky.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He dozed for a little while and then he awoke with a startled look and broke into a perspiration.\n\n\"What is the matter?\" I asked.\n\n\"I have just had a dream,\" he answered, \"in which I was a mandarin duckJust before dawn he prepared to leave as I did not think it proper for him to stay another day." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The morning moon was about to set behind the mountains, and a bank of cloud on the western hills was whitening as those in the east were disclosing themselves." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He went away as the dawn bells rang out, and I missed him much more than ever before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Soon the page who lived in the neighbourhood brought me this poem,\n\nNow that I have left\n\nMy heart behind with you," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No part left in me,\n\nYet why is it I am still\n\nPensively longing for you?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I felt a greater sorrow at parting from him and a greater love for him than ever before, greater than I could bear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With this filling my mind, I wrote a poem in answer," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Set my sleeves with yours\n\nAnd see which is drenched the more\n\nWith tears of sorrow," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then tell me which one of us\n\nMisses the other the more.\n\nLater in the same day I heard that he had gone to stay at the Tominokoji palace, and on about the eighteenth day I learnt that the doctors had been called to him as he was suffering from the epidemic which was sweeping through the country." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then to my great distress I heard that he was dangerously ill." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On the twenty-first I received a letter from him. \"I did not think,\" he wrote, \"when we met the other night that this was to be the last time we should meet in this world. It seems to me now that the strength of the ties which bind me to the things of this world is more sinful than the impure life I have lived. What can be the meaning of that dream I had that night?\" At the end of his letter he added the poem," }, { "from": "human", "value": "My body may die" }, { "from": "human", "value": "But my longing heart is left" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Behind with you here," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "My last prayer that my smoke may\n\nTurn towards the place where you are.\n\nHow could I possibly describe my feelings on reading this letter?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "My grief was unbearable when I realised that our parting the other morning was in all probability for ever." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I wrote a poem in answer to his," }, { "from": "human", "value": "If I live till then," }, { "from": "human", "value": "I hope I shall see the smoke" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rise and turn towards me\n\nBut the question still remains,\n\n'Can I bear to live so long?'" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the circumstances I thought it best not to write all I felt, for I was still not without hope that this was not the end of everything, but on the twenty-fifth day of the eleventh month I learnt that he had passed away. Everything now seemed to me as ephemeral as a dream within a dream. I could not tell whether it was reality or whether everything was a dream." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I did not know what to do, because perhaps my whole life had been such a life of sin.\n\nI pondered over all the details of our relations from the time when he had complained that his love for me had found no answering love. I recalled our meeting when he had left me with such bitter feelings." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If only I had never met him again after that sad parting, I should not have grieved in the way I was doing now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sky was overcast that evening with fast-moving clouds and occasional showers. There was a deep gloom everywhere. The last letter he had written me hoping that the smoke of his funeral pyre would turn towards me lay as a forlorn reminder of him in my writing case." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His perfume still lingered on my sleeve which he had used as a pillow. I longed for him and missed him more than ever. I wished even more than before to renounce the world to enter the True Way, but to do that at this present moment might revive the rumours and injure his reputation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I felt thwarted and frustrated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At daybreak next morning I was told that the page boy had come." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More or less in a trance I hurried out myself to see him. His robe of yellow lined with blue with a design of pheasants embroidered on it was creased and crumpled, his sleeves wet with the tears he had shed through the night. It would be impossible to set down on paper the story he told me with tears that day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That night, when he had parted from me, leaving me the poem beginning, \"In sorrow gazing at the autumn moon at night,\" we had exchanged gowns. Mine he had always kept neatly folded small beside him on his prayer desk while he was at his devotions. Now on the evening of the twenty-fourth, he put it on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Have my body cremated with this gown on,\" he said to the grieving page boy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the same time he handed him a letter for me with a present." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The page then handed me a large letter case, gold-lacquered with a design of a sacred sakaki tree. In it was a letter, if it could be called that. The handwriting resembled nothing so much as the footprints of a bird, the meaning impossible to decipher." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It began with the words \"For one night more\" and I could hazard a guess that the next words might be \"in this present world\" but the rest of it was completely indecipherable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "My tears fell uncontrollably at this evidence of the writer's extremity, and that made the characters even more impossible to read." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I felt that I was being washed away by the same swift current as he, and my thoughts expressed themselves in the poem,\n\nIf to the next world\n\nI could go to meet him there" }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the Three-Way Stream," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then would I willingly go,\n\nSacrificing my own life.\n\nIt seems that even at such a time and stricken with grief, my mind was still capable of composing poems." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Inside the letter case too with the poem was a bag of gold dust.\n\nAfter telling me how the prince's body had been cremated with my gown still on it and how his copy of the five sutras had been placed on his funeral pyre, the page left the house, still weeping bitterly. Looking after him as he went away, I felt that I should go crazy with grief." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The prince's death must have grieved the ex-Emperor very much, for the two brothers had been very close to each other." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How are you taking the news of his death?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he asked in a letter to me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was obviously difficult to give a simple plain answer to such a question as that. The poem accompanying his letter read,\n\nNow that from your sight" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He has faded completely,\n\nStill to the mind's eye\n\nThe face of Wan Morning Moon" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Must still remain clear to you.\n\nTo the poem he added the words, \"The world is truly a world of sorrows. Great was his love for you, and deep must be your grief at his passing. From my heart I feel for you.\"\n\nThere was nothing, I felt, that I could say in answer to that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I sent only the poem,\n\nImmeasurable\n\nIndeed my grief at his death;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In my mind's eye though\n\nNot alone seen clearly is\n\nThe face of Wan Morning Moon." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Finding both my heart and my words incapable of expressing my feelings of grief, of love and longing, my days were passed in tears from morning till night.\n\nThe ex-Emperor continued to send me a messenger from time to time. Formerly he had urged me to come back to the palace as soon as possible, but now he only asked me why I was staying away from him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I gathered from his words that his love for me had grown weak, though he did not say so in so many words." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It seemed natural that he should have become indifferent to me, because my misconduct had been repeated more than once, though not quite of my own will." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I was not willing, however, to return to the court, and at last the time came when it was only a day or two to the end of the year. I was sorry both for the departing year and for my own self. I was engaged in copying the Lotus Flower sutra on the back of Wan Morning Moon's letters to me, recalling that he had copied the Five Great Mahayana sutras on the back of my letters to him, but that he would not dedicate the copied sutras to the campaign of people's enlightenment on Buddhism." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a thousand pities that his endeavour was all for his own life of pleasure in this world." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The New Year came to my grieving anxiety." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Literary Collaboration Request:\n- Sentence Count: six sentences\n- Stylistic Inspiration: Susan Spann\n- Genre Adherence: mystery, historical fiction, Japan, historical mystery, 1500s" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro and Father Mateo rolled the corpse onto its stomach.\n\n\"Don't do that,\" Akira objected.\n\n\"Don't worry,\" Hiro said, \"I'll turn him over again before anyone sees him. We need to know exactly how he died to determine who killed him.\"\n\nSaburo's back looked cleaner than his chest. The single wound between his shoulders had barely bled enough to stain the surrounding fabric.\n\n\"That's where the dagger was found?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro indicated the wound." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't know,\" Akira said. \"I wasn't there. Is that the wound that killed him?\"\n\n\"No,\" Hiro said. \"He was already dead when this happened, or very close.\"\n\n\"You can tell that?\" Akira asked. \"How?\"\n\n\"Men don't bleed after death,\" Hiro said. \"Blood drains from the wounds, but only for a little while and only in the direction of the ground.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Which means Ashikaga-san died facedown,\" Akira said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He straightened as if remembering that death defiled everyone who came in contact with it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How can you stand to touch him?\"\n\nHiro smiled. \"Fortunately, I live with a priest who can bless the defilement away.\"\n\nFather Mateo gave the shinobi a sideways look. Hiro would rather receive a beating than a blessing.\n\nThey rolled the corpse back to its original position. Saburo's blood-drenched kimono left smudges on the pale floor, but Hiro doubted anyone would notice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With all the blood, some stains would be expected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had learned all he could from the body." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He stood up and studied the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Neatly organized bookshelves covered the western wall. Bound volumes occupied the upper shelves while the lower ones held both books and scrolls. Spaces revealed where volumes had been removed, though Hiro didn't notice an obvious pattern.\n\nSaburo's desk looked equally in order. An inkwell and a pitcher of water sat in the right-hand corner, alongside a round ceramic container of pasty vermilion ink. A cylindrical marble seal stood upright beside the container." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The seal represented Saburo's official signature, and Hiro found it interesting that the murderer didn't steal it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A tray of dirty dishes sat on the floor beside the door to the outer office.\n\n\"Did Saburo often eat here?\" Hiro asked.\n\nAkira followed his gaze. \"I wouldn't know. I didn't have much contact with this office.\"\n\nHiro noticed some tiny particles on the floor between the desk and the doorway. He picked one up and rubbed it between his fingers as he raised it to his nose." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What are you doing?\" Akira asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro inhaled, then lowered his hand and balanced the speck on his finger." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is sawdust. Cedar, to be exact.\"\n\n\"Carpenters' dust,\" Akira said. \"It gets everywhere from the construction.\"\n\nHiro remembered the spotless floor around the construction site. Before he decided whether to mention it, Father Mateo asked, \"How often are these offices cleaned?\"\n\n\"Every evening.\" Akira frowned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Someone must have tracked that in last night, or this morning when they moved Saburo.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We would like to speak with the carpenters,\" Hiro said, \"and also with the maid who discovered the body.\"\n\n\"The carpenters should be here soon,\" Akira said, \"but Hisahide sent the girl to spend a few days with her parents.\"\n\nHiro noted the use of Matsunaga Hisahide's given name. It surprised him. Most men would never refer to their superiors so casually, and until that moment Akira had seemed unusually polite by nature.\n\n\"Does the girl's family live far away?\" Father Mateo asked.\n\n\"I believe they live in Kyoto,\" Akira said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Would it be possible to send a messenger for her?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro asked. \"I would like to know exactly what she saw.\"\n\n\"A wise request,\" said a voice from the outer office.\n\nA samurai stepped into the room with the silent grace of a tiger. His graying hair was pulled back from a shaven forehead that crowned a handsome, emotionless face. He wore a black kimono adorned with the double-diamond Miyoshi mon, and his swords were sheathed in expensive scabbards. His confident posture and slender but muscular build suggested unusual fitness, especially in a man of middle age." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro bowed. Father Mateo followed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The samurai merely nodded in return.\n\n\"Greetings, Matsunaga-sama,\" Akira said, using the higher honorific expected of an assistant addressing a master. \"May I introduce the foreign priest, Father Mat-teo Avilo, and his translator, Matsui Hiro.\"\n\nHiro bowed again, an unnecessary gesture but one that obligated Hisahide to speak first.\n\n\"You are the man who captured Akechi Hideyoshi's murderer.\" Hisahide looked at Hiro as he spoke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Father Mateo solved the crime,\" the shinobi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I am merely his translator.\"\n\nHisahide smiled. \"You are Matsui Hiro of Iga Province, second and only surviving son of Matsui Jiro. Your father served his daimyo with honor, though his early death forced you to come to Kyoto and seek employment as a scribe. Three years ago, this foreigner hired you as a translator—a most unfortunate turn of fate, though reports suggest you bear the burden honorably.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Matsunaga-sama,\" Hiro said with another bow.\n\nThe information was mostly wrong, but it accurately reflected the story Hiro had planted upon his arrival in Kyoto. He was glad to know his cover story had fooled the Miyoshi spies.\n\n\"The shogun expects me to find and punish the man who killed his cousin,\" Hisahide said, \"and I expect both of you to help me do it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We would be honored to assist your investigation,\" Father Mateo said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hisahide turned to Akira. \"You may leave us and send a messenger for the maid who found Saburo.\"\n\nFrustration flickered across Akira's face, but the man bowed and left the room without a word.\n\nWhen he had gone Hisahide said, \"The shogun believes there is no real need for investigation. The dagger that killed Saburo belongs to a man named Ito Kazu.\" He looked at Hiro. \"I also know that Ito-san is a friend of yours.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro returned Hisahide's stare." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He suspected the Akechi investigation was just a convenient excuse to get him to the shogunate. If Kazu couldn't be found and punished, a friend or family member would have to do.\n\n\"Ito Kazu is an acquaintance,\" Hiro said. \"We met at Ginjiro's brewery shortly after I arrived in Kyoto. When we realized we were both from Iga, Kazu offered to help me find a job. Unfortunately, his efforts were unsuccessful.\"\n\n\"I am told you drink together often,\" Hisahide said.\n\n\"Sometimes,\" Hiro said. \"We reminisce about Iga. All men miss their ancestral homes.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hisahide's face revealed nothing." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 4 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Where is Kazu this morning?\"\n\n\"If he murdered a man, he probably fled the city,\" Hiro said. \"It's what I would have done in his place.\"\n\n\"Perhaps, but your response does not answer my question.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Provide 8 sentences as a continuation." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you for speaking with us,\" Father Mateo said to Ozuru.\n\nThe carpenter bowed and returned to work as Akira gave the Jesuit a disapproving look.\n\nHiro and Father Mateo followed the samurai back into the passage that passed Saburo's office and several other shoji, though the doors were shut, obscuring the rooms beyond.\n\nAt the opposite end of the passage from where they entered, they emerged from the mansion onto a covered veranda abutting a graveled courtyard. A covered walkway led to a one-story kitchen.\n\nHiro looked down and saw his geta, and Father Mateo's, waiting at the edge of the veranda, along with a third pair of about Akira's size.\n\nAkira followed the shinobi's gaze. \"I had a servant bring our sandals.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro nodded and stepped down into his shoes. Akira and Father Mateo did the same.\n\nThe air carried a smoky odor of grilling meat. Hiro's stomach growled as he followed Akira across the yard and up the two wooden steps to the kitchen entrance. The samurai pushed open the swinging doors, revealing a servants' chamber.\n\nThe six-mat room provided a place for maids and other servants to wait between duties. A kettle hung from a chain above the central hearth, as it would in the common room of a home. Tatami covered the floor, though the mats were of lower quality than the ones in the bakufu mansion." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The paneled wooden walls did little to muffle the chopping and clattering from the adjacent kitchen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A woman knelt by the hearth. She wore a blue kimono and orange obi, and Hiro placed her age at almost twenty. She had an unusual face, the features attractive individually but mismatched as a whole. Full lips overwhelmed her almond eyes and her hair, though glossy, was far too unruly for beauty.\n\nShe saw Akira and bowed her face to the mat. As she straightened, she noticed Father Mateo. She smiled and clasped her hands in supplication.\n\n\"Do not stare!\" Akira ordered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I apologize.\" She ducked her chin and looked at the floor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"These men have questions about Ashikaga-san's murder,\" Akira said. \"They want to hear about how you discovered the body.\"\n\nThe woman nodded. Her nose turned red. Pink blotches appeared on her cheeks.\n\nHiro knew Father Mateo could persuade the girl to speak, but only if Akira left the room. Few maids had the courage to speak in front of highly ranked samurai, and the girl's initial reaction wasn't encouraging.\n\nHiro bowed to Akira. \"Miyoshi-san, may I beg a favor? I have heard that the bakufu keeps detailed records of visitors. Could you obtain a list of the people who entered the shogunate yesterday?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Every one?\" Akira asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Every one who did not leave by sunset,\" Hiro said. \"I regret the inconvenience, but we would be grateful if you obtained this information before we leave.\"\n\nAkira frowned.\n\n\"We understand if you cannot do it,\" Father Mateo said. \"Please let us know who else to ask.\"\n\nThe Jesuit seemed unaware of the insult in his words. No samurai could accuse another of weakness or incompetence without consequence. Fortunately, in a foreigner's mouth the comment seemed only an ignorant oversight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Still, Hiro wondered whether Akira would take offense." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After a moment, the samurai nodded curtly. \"I can obtain the information.\"\n\nFather Mateo bowed. \"We are in your debt.\"\n\n\"Do not leave this room until I return.\" Akira turned on his heel and left the building.\n\nAs Hiro hoped, the maid relaxed the moment Akira departed. She unfolded her hands and laid them in her lap. A quavering smile flickered over her face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"May I offer you tea?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She raised her face to Father Mateo.\n\n\"No, thank you.\" The Jesuit knelt opposite the maid. \"May I ask your name?\"\n\nHiro noted with approval that Father Mateo did not introduce himself. No samurai would offer his name to a woman of lesser rank. Few enough would bother to ask a servant's name at all, though Hiro knew the Jesuit always would.\n\n\"I am called Jun,\" she said.\n\n\"You serve the shogun?\" Father Mateo asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am a maid at the shogunate.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her gaze fell to the floor. \"I have never seen the shogun. This is because I am not beautiful. My father says I look more like the pit than the peach.\"\n\n\"Yet when the peach falls away the pit remains constant,\" Father Mateo said.\n\nHiro doubted any woman would fall for such awkward and obvious flattery, but Jun blushed and covered her smile with her hands.\n\n\"My translator and I are trying to learn who killed Ashikaga Saburo,\" Father Mateo said. \"We would appreciate any help you can give us.\"\n\nJun's eyes widened. She shook her head. \"I didn't see the murder. I don't know.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She bit her lip." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Don't be frightened,\" Father Mateo said. \"Just tell me what you saw.\"\n\nShe swallowed hard and took a deep breath to calm herself. \"Last night I took a tray of food to Ashikaga-san in his office. He often ate meals there when working late.\n\n\"Early this morning, I went to retrieve the tray. Ashikaga-san does not like dirty dishes in his office when he arrives.\" She paused. \"He was there, on the floor. There was blood...\"\n\nShe raised her hands to her mouth. Tears welled up in her reddening eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her shoulders heaved with her efforts to keep from crying." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Father Mateo waited while she regained control.\n\nAt last she lowered her hands and continued, \"I screamed. Someone came and pushed me out of the room.\"\n\n\"Who was it?\" Father Mateo asked.\n\n\"I don't remember. I was crying. Ashikaga-san was dead when I found him. I don't know who did it. May his ghost haunt me forever if I lie.\" Jun's breathing grew rapid. The pink spots on her cheeks flushed crimson.\n\nHer tears looked real, but Hiro thought her story sounded rehearsed.\n\nFather Mateo waited in silence as Jun regained her composure yet again." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 9 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro became impatient. The interview wasn't proceeding as effectively as he hoped. In fact, he believed the girl was playing a role. Before he figured out how to prove it, Father Mateo asked, \"Can you think of anyone who wanted to kill Ashikaga-san?\"\n\nThe girl looked horrified. \"No.\"\n\n\"Did you ever hear anyone argue with him?\"\n\nJun's eyes widened. She shook her head. \"No. He was a good man.\"\n\nAnd you are a liar, Hiro thought, but he had no chance to say so.\n\nThe door slid open behind him. Akira had returned." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "AI writing task: user input -> one sentence sentences. style: Susan Spann. genre: mystery, historical fiction, Japan, historical mystery, 1500s." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Father Mateo leaned toward Hiro but fixed his eyes on the boy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Do you think that's Saburo's son?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he whispered in Portuguese." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've never seen a stronger family resemblance,\" Hiro said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A second rider entered the yard, a samurai woman whose face bore a strong and unfortunate resemblance to her aging mare." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her gray-streaked hair was pulled back without adornment, though she wore an expensive gray kimono cut in the latest style." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Masao approached the woman's horse, bowed low, and held the animal steady as she dismounted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy didn't wait for assistance." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He slipped off his horse with practiced ease and pulled the reins over its head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He patted the animal's neck and turned to Akira." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The samurai ignored the child but bowed to the woman." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Good morning, Ashikaga-dono. I am sorry for your loss.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Father Mateo stepped closer to Hiro and whispered, \"-Dono? Not -san?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro switched to Portuguese." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"-San implies the speaker's inferiority to the person addressed. Polite self-deprecation, if you will. -Dono implies equal rank—it's less polite, though permitted when a samurai speaks to a woman.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy took a step toward Akira." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What about me?\" he asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I have lost my father. The least you can do is bow.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro hid his surprise as Akira complied with the child's demand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"My condolences, young master Ashikaga.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy watched Akira's bow with a critical eye." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He seemed disinclined to return it, but Saburo's wife gave her son a look and the boy bent forward gracefully." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As he straightened, he noticed Father Mateo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His mouth fell open in surprise and he hurried toward the foreign priest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he reached a comfortable speaking distance he stopped, pulled his hands to his sides, and bowed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bun dia,\" he said in strongly accented Portuguese." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You are not Father Virera, though you are from his country, I think.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The boy's pronunciation needed work, and he mangled Father Vilela's name, but few Japanese spoke Portuguese at all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bom dia,\" Father Mateo said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The boy cocked his head to the side like a bird inspecting an interesting seed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bom dia,\" he repeated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This time he pronounced it perfectly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And to you.\" The Jesuit bowed low and switched to Japanese." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"My name is Father Mateo.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am Ashikaga Ichiro, only son of Ashikaga Saburo. This is my mother, Lady Netsuko.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "After a pause he added, \"I have not seen you here before.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I work in another part of Kyoto,\" Father Mateo said, \"near Okazaki Shrine.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy's eyes widened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There are two Christian temples in Kyoto?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He looked at Akira." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Did you know this?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There is only one of consequence.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Akira gave the Jesuit a hostile look." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"These men are helping us find your father's killer.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ichiro looked at Hiro." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And you? What is your name?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro bowed. \"I am Matsui Hiro, Father Mateo's translator and scribe.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy looked from Hiro to the priest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He seems to speak our language well enough.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Simple phrases, yes.\" Hiro offered the standard explanation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But he often misses the finer implications of Japanese speech.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ichiro considered this. After a moment he nodded once and continued, \"Your speech has the accent of Iga Province. Do you know Ito Kazu?\" The boy frowned." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Kazu did not kill my father.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro regarded Ichiro with surprise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Does someone say he did?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Before the boy could answer, his mother laid a restraining hand on his shoulder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My son must have overheard the messenger,\" she said, \"the one who delivered the news of my husband's death. He claimed Saburo was killed with Kazu's dagger.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Kazu did not do this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ichiro looked and sounded like a tiny samurai." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro decided to treat him as one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Why do you think he is innocent?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Netsuko spoke first. \"Kazu was Ichiro's tutor.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He remains my tutor, and I am not a child who needs a woman to speak in his place.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ichiro shook off his mother's arm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You do not know Kazu as I do. He is an honorable man.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ichiro's hands clenched at his sides." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked at each man in turn, as if daring them to contradict his words." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Indeed?\" Hiro found the boy's reaction interesting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Except for his size, Ichiro didn't seem like a child." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You do not believe me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ichiro squared his shoulders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I am fourteen and ready for genpuku.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He paused. His fists clenched tighter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His lips pressed into a line as he took a deep, slow breath." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That is, I would have been, had my father lived to approve Kazu's recommendation.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am very sorry,\" Hiro said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please accept my condolences.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He found the boy's restraint impressive, especially under the circumstances." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you,\" Ichiro said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I am pleased to have this chance to speak with the men investigating my father's death. I will not have Kazu wrongfully accused. I know him better than any of you, and I know he did not do this.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro found the boy's loyalty surprising, particularly since Kazu had never mentioned Ichiro." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then again, Kazu didn't discuss his work in detail. No shinobi would." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro felt a flash of regret for encouraging Kazu's flight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "An innocent man should have stayed to defend himself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the predawn confusion, an execution seemed inescapable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now Hiro wasn't so certain." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But then, he no longer felt sure of Kazu's innocence either." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Father Mateo bowed to Akira." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you for your assistance this morning. We will leave you to escort Ashikaga-san's family and return to continue our work in the afternoon.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The men exchanged bows, and Hiro and Father Mateo left the compound." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They walked as far as the Kamo River in silence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As they crossed the bridge Father Mateo asked, \"What do you think? Is the boy correct about Kazu?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "That very question had bothered Hiro since leaving the shogunate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Kazu claims he did not kill Saburo. As yet, I have no reason to think he lied. I am more concerned about finding the killer before Lord Oda's embassy arrives.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Three days,\" Father Mateo said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Perhaps the shogun would grant an extension?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No chance of that,\" Hiro said, \"and if we fail to find the true murderer, Hisahide will probably execute me instead.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "And perhaps you also." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You?\" Father Mateo raised his hands in surprise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He didn't say that.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not openly, but he made his meaning clear. The shogun wants a dead murderer to impress Lord Oda's retainers, and an innocent corpse looks very much like a guilty one.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But why you?\" Father Mateo asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I know the law permits execution of relatives in a criminal's place, on the theory that the clan should pay for the crime, but you and Kazu are not related.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We are both from Iga Province, and we are friends. That will suffice.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You assumed all that from Hisahide's comments?\" Father Mateo asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't make assumptions and didn't need to. He made himself perfectly clear.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"To a samurai, maybe.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Father Mateo shook his head in frustration." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"A man should say what he means directly.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro shrugged. It was not the Japanese way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If that's the case,\" the priest continued, \"Kazu had better have told the truth.\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Father Mateo said no more, but Hiro had the same thought himself.\n\n\"Indeed,\" the shinobi said, \"I will find it most inconvenient if Kazu killed Saburo and left me to bear the punishment in his stead.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next seven sentences in the distinctive voice of Susan Spann, keeping within the mystery, historical fiction, Japan, historical mystery, 1500s genre." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The wooden chest opened, revealing Kazu's face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How did you know where I was?\"\n\n\"Because I put you there earlier,\" Hiro said, \"and you've never been good at hiding.\"\n\n\"Not everyone can turn to smoke at will.\" Kazu stood up and stepped out of the chest. \"Which reminds me. Why did Hanzo send the best shinobi in Iga to guard a priest?\"\n\nHiro regarded the younger man evenly. \"Should he have sent a novice, doomed to fail?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kazu could wonder about the assignment all he wished." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro would never reveal the truth—even if he had known it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Instead, he changed the subject." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Who killed Saburo?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" Kazu said. \"If I did I would have turned him in myself.\"\n\n\"Ask around when you return to work. You might learn something.\"\n\nKazu's eyes widened. \"I can't go back.\"\n\n\"You must. Hisahide doubts your guilt, and Saburo's son proclaims your innocence. Miyoshi Akira believes you're guilty, but I think we can persuade him otherwise.\"\n\n\"Persuade him?\" Kazu shook his head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I can't even explain where I was without looking guilty.\"\n\n\"I have a plan,\" Hiro said. \"Is there somewhere you can hide for a few more hours?\"\n\nKazu gestured. \"What's wrong with here?\"\n\n\"I won't risk Father Mateo's safety.\" Hiro indicated the woven hat. \"Put your disguise back on and go into the city. Keep moving, and stay by the river—it's less busy in the rain. Don't talk if you can avoid it. And meet me at Ginjiro's three hours from now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How will staying away excuse my absence?\" Kazu asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Because you weren't absent,\" Hiro said. \"You were drunk.\"\n\n\"Drunk?\"\n\n\"Exceedingly drunk. You left Ginjiro's after midnight, already intoxicated. From there you went to a teahouse and drank yourself senseless. You woke up this afternoon under a bridge, with no idea how you got there.\"\n\n\"But I got hungry,\" Kazu said, picking up on the story, \"and returned to Ginjiro's to eat.\" He nodded slowly. \"You know, that might actually work.\"\n\n\"Only if we find the real killer in time.\" Hiro explained about the shogun's command and Hisahide's intent to fulfill it by any means necessary." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When he finished, he added, \"I need you to tell me everything you remember about Saburo. Someone wanted to kill him. The question is who?\"\n\n\"Everyone wanted him dead,\" Kazu said, \"but no one would dare to do it.\"\n\n\"Someone dared,\" Hiro said. \"What do you mean by 'everyone wanted him dead'?\"\n\n\"He never used a gentle word when harshness would suffice, and he thought himself the most important person in any room. No one likes a man like that.\"\n\nIn Hiro's mind dislike didn't translate to wishing for someone's death, but he let the comment pass. \"Did Saburo have any arguments recently?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No more than usual.\" Kazu raised a hand, remembering. \"Wait—he did have an argument yesterday evening." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The carpenters finish their work at dusk, but we heard hammering into the evening hours. Saburo stormed out to see what was going on. I heard him yelling, but couldn't make out the words. He returned to the office angrier than he left.\"\n\n\"Did he explain why?\"\n\n\"No, and I didn't ask, though I wondered what Ozuru said to provoke him.\"\n\n\"What makes you blame Ozuru?\" Hiro noted that Kazu referred to the man by name.\n\n\"The other carpenters leave at sundown.\"\n\n\"Ozuru stays late?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Most evenings, yes. The shogun wants the work completed quickly, and the delicate carvings have to be finished on-site.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Kazu shook his head slowly. \"I don't think Ozuru did this. He's an artisan, not a killer.\"\n\n\"They're mutually exclusive?\" Hiro asked.\n\n\"I'm more suspicious of Lady Netsuko.\" Kazu glanced at the door and lowered his voice to a whisper. \"Saburo was not a faithful husband. Ichiro didn't know, but Netsuko did. Saburo claimed she didn't mind, but recently he complained that she grew intolerant of his mistress.\"\n\n\"But would she stab him to death?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro wished he had looked more closely at Lady Netsuko." }, { "from": "human", "value": "From what he remembered, she didn't seem physically capable of killing her husband in hand-to-hand combat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't know her well,\" Kazu said, \"but she's an unusual woman and stronger than average.\"\n\n\"Physically or emotionally?\"\n\n\"Both.\"\n\n\"Why kill him at the shogunate, risking witnesses?\" Hiro asked. \"That doesn't make sense.\"\n\n\"If she killed him at home, Ichiro might have seen her. She loves the boy. She wouldn't have wanted that.\"\n\n\"It's worth looking into,\" Hiro said, though he had no intention of doing so." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What did you actually do last night?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kazu gave him an innocent look." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I was passed out under a bridge, remember?\"\n\nHiro frowned.\n\n\"I told you,\" Kazu said. \"I left the shogunate and went to Ginjiro's, hoping Saburo would take his temper home and leave me in peace. When I returned to the office Saburo was dead.\"\n\n\"How did you leave the shogunate after you found him?\"\n\n\"Back over the wall, so I wouldn't alert the guards. No one saw me enter or leave.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Hiro said, \"wait ten minutes and leave by the veranda door. If Luis sees you, don't tell him your name. You're a wandering monk that Father Mateo allowed to spend the night in the garden.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He won't question that?\" Kazu asked.\n\n\"He'll find it foolish, but no, he won't ask questions.\"\n\nHiro left Kazu and returned to the common room. Father Mateo sat alone by the hearth.\n\n\"Where's Luis?\" Hiro asked.\n\nThe Jesuit pointed to a door on the opposite side of the room. It led to Luis's chamber." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sleeping, or so he said. Did you finish your business?\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 4 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, and now we need to return to the shogun's compound. I want to talk with Ozuru. After that, we're going to Ginjiro's.\"\n\n\"The sake shop? Why?\" Father Mateo looked confused.\n\n\"To witness Kazu's miraculous reappearance.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise in the mystery, historical fiction, Japan, historical mystery, 1500s genre. I'll provide a starting point, and you'll continue with two sentences in the style of Susan Spann." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro waited for Netsuko to explain.\n\nOnce again she seemed surprised by his lack of reaction." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You don't condemn me for approving of my husband's infidelity?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This time her pause required a response.\n\n\"You doubtless had your reasons.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro decided not to offer an excuse that she might substitute for truth.\n\n\"I married young,\" Netsuko said, \"but old enough to understand my husband's parents did not choose me for my looks.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She stared at Hiro as if daring him to deny her lack of beauty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He said nothing.\n\nShe nodded once, as if confirming he had passed a test. \"My husband had status, and a handsome face, but no one would ever call him a brilliant man." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His family overlooked my appearance because I had the intelligence and social skills Saburo lacked. He complained at first, as any young man deprived of a beauty will do, but when he realized how much I could help him we reached an understanding." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We agreed that once I gave birth to a son who survived to the age of three, Saburo could take a mistress, or more than one if he wished. I imposed only two conditions. First, deniability. He would never parade his women in public, discuss them with friends, or act in any way that might bring shame on me or on our son. Second, I made him swear he would never divorce me and that he would always ensure his mistresses knew their place.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As he listened, Hiro thought of the way his kitten, Gato, toyed with bugs she captured in the yard. He wondered whether Netsuko, too, had a penchant for killing her prey when she tired of a game." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He smiled politely. \"Your arrangement sounds reasonable.\"\n\nNetsuko examined her teacup." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think many people would find it strange.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She looked up. \"Most men believe a wife should not take an active role in her husband's affairs.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hiro noted the double meaning and decided it was intentional.\n\n\"A wise man does not reject sound advice,\" he countered, \"regardless of the source.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And are you a wise man?\" she asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The question caught Hiro off guard.\n\nNetsuko laughed. \"I wondered how far I would have to go to surprise you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her smile disappeared. \"My marriage was a partnership based on convenience and mutual respect. I did not love my husband, as most poets use the word, but our relationship was acceptable and mutually beneficial. To that end, I considered my marriage a good one.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She set her empty teacup on the mat. \"I want my husband's murderer punished. Put plainly, I want her dead.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Her?\" Hiro asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My husband's mistress,\" Netsuko said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"She killed him because he refused to divorce me.\"\n\n\"You know this with certainty?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "As Hiro refilled Netsuko's tea, he realized he hadn't asked Ana to make the painkilling brew for Father Mateo." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Etiquette didn't allow him to leave a guest alone, so unless the maid returned to the room the priest would have to wait a little longer.\n\nNetsuko raised her cup with a nod." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She savored the steam and sipped her tea, as relaxed as if they discussed a business transaction and not a murder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Eventually she lowered her cup and continued, \"Saburo told me everything." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The relationship started innocently—as innocently as it could, anyway—but the girl became unreasonable. She wanted Saburo all to herself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't know how to refuse without causing a scene, though he had no intention of acting on her demands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He asked me to help him discard her.\"\n\n\"Your husband asked you to end his affair?\" Hiro asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why wouldn't he? I helped him with everything else.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She sipped her tea. \"The best lies always hold a grain of truth, so we decided that I would be his excuse. Saburo told the girl I suspected something and that he couldn't risk me making a public spectacle of the affair. He offered her money or to arrange a marriage for her outside of Kyoto.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And she refused,\" Hiro said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She didn't just refuse, she murdered him.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Why didn't you tell Matsunaga Hisahide about your suspicions?\" Hiro asked.\n\n\"You think I didn't?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you had,\" he said, \"Hisahide would not have needed me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hisahide doesn't believe a maid could kill a samurai.\"\n\n\"A maid?\" Hiro asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Netsuko nodded. \"My husband's taste in women was no better than his temper. Neither was very pleasant or well-controlled. I'm sure you've met the girl. Her name is Jun, and she conveniently discovered my husband's body.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Netsuko tilted her head to the side. \"Based on your expression she didn't admit the affair to you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Hiro said. \"Would you, in her place?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Netsuko smiled. \"I would never allow myself to be caught in such a place.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A slip of the tongue, or another play on words? Hiro couldn't decide.\n\n\"What makes you believe Jun killed Saburo?\" he asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Her demands, and that Saburo was killed with a dagger. A man would have used a sword.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But the dagger belonged to Ito Kazu, a fact you acknowledged yourself.\"\n\n\"I regret that accusation.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Netsuko took her right hand off the teacup long enough to rub her left wrist." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I wasn't thinking clearly yesterday.\"\n\n\"Now that you have decided to accuse the real murderer, why come to me instead of Hisahide or the shogun?\" Hiro asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She took a deep breath." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her shoulders sank slightly as she released it. \"The foreign priests have a reputation for discretion. I thought, perhaps, since you work with one...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She trailed off as if hoping Hiro would finish the thought." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't.\n\nJust before the silence grew awkward Netsuko said, \"I hoped you would punish the girl without revealing that I am the one who told you." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ichiro's future and mine depend upon our ignorance of the affair." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A grieving widow receives assistance from her husband's clan, but a scheming woman who pandered to her husband's baser instincts always finds herself an object of disdain.\n\n\"I want Jun to pay for her crime, but I have no desire to suffer with her.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Netsuko looked at her tea." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Pity. It's gone cold.\"\n\nShe set the cup on the tray and stood up, ending the conversation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro escorted her to the door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To his surprise, no horse waited in the yard." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Netsuko saw him scan the street. \"I rode as far as Okazaki Shrine and walked from there. No one questions a woman's need to pray at a time like this.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro found the comment interesting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Grieving widows seldom thought their actions through so carefully.\n\n\"Thank you for your visit.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro bowed, the formal gesture echoing his words." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I will give your regards to Father Mateo.\"\n\n\"Thank you for the tea.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She stepped off the porch and into her sandals. \"And thank you in advance for your discretion.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hiro watched her walk away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As she reached the street the neighbor's akita began its furious barking. Hiro tensed, half hoping the dog would run into the street." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He would have welcomed any excuse to kill it." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 3 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But the dog did not appear, and Netsuko continued up the road without a backward glance.\n\nThe shinobi turned away and shut the door. Father Mateo still needed a painkilling tea." } ]