Firestone Hot Springs kutsurogi no jikan

A voice as gentle as the fragrance that accompanied it, nearly masking the acrid scent of sulfur hanging in the air. The samurai had kept his eyes closed, savoring the moment.

Kaede-san, he greeted her. So young, and already accustomed to mixed baths? The man in the black hood let out a soft chuckle, his chin sinking into his chest.

Already tired of drifting with the wind, Kaede-san? A low, stifled laugh.
I don’t know him well, but Masa-sama doesn’t strike me as the settling kind, he remarked.

...Just as I know very little about you. A young woman traveling alone—such things are rare, he said, whether out of genuine curiosity or quiet intrusion.