Year of the Boar, Tenth Month, Day 12.

I do not know what the hour is. The sky is darkened by a layer of thick cloud which obscures the moon and when I sat on my veranda for a short while, I could barely see my own hands before my eyes. I have tried to sleep but I am afraid.
I can clearly trust absolutely no one in my own House and the imminent arrival of the delegation from the Sixth Kingdom has me beside myself with worry.
How will I manage to host the Princess Rani when things in the House are as they are? Seira is more interested in her affair with Yuuta than she is in arranging this visit and I just cannot bring myself to make the necessary arrangements myself.
I started some poetry in an attempt to soothe my spirit and calm myself enough to sleep but it did not help and although I desperately want to go the bath house and let the water do its work, I fear what might befall me if I leave my chamber.
I cannot go on like this and I do not know what to do for the best. I want to smoke; to sink into that glorious oblivion that comes with the weed. I want to forget ... about the delegation... about Shigeru... about Hishinuma... about Kenta... about Itsuki and Izumi... I want them all to disappear into the weave of the smoke as it rises and leave me be... I managed to rid my mind of all of them for a while but when I did, my thoughts wandered back to the girl who came to my bed while I was at White Lake. I had not thought of her for a while... I have not done anything to find out who she was except to convince myself it could not have been Nanami. I am not sure that I want to know ... she is just one more unanswered question to add to the list which plagues me...