Year of the Boar, Thirteenth Month, Day 18.

 I have thought of little else except my network and how to ensure its safety since yesterday. I have concluded that I must send a note to Aoki. Since he trained the birds, he is the most likely to know if there is a problem with them. I do not know whom I can trust to carry such a note. I suppose I could beg Kaede's leave for a few days and travel to Shimmering Dawn to see him myself but it could be difficult to speak to him in private without arousing suspicion if I cannot warn him that I am coming. No, on balance, that is a terrible idea. I have no good reason to go to Shimmering Dawn. Kaede knows I am bound for Purple Lightning as soon as the solstice is over; she would find it highly odd if I declared a sudden interest in going to Shimmering Dawn. She would realise very quickly what I was up to given what she has asked me to do and my network would be in even more danger. 

Perhaps the best course of action would be to ask Haru how she communicated with Aoki before we trained the birds. I am loathe to involve her since she does not want to work for me any more but I do not see that I have any choice. I must find out what has happened to the birds. If it transpires that Sasanuma has sabotaged my network, I must find a way to warn my people. At least if they know they may be discovered at any moment, they can take steps to protect themselves. Grandmother never warned me about what to do if it all went wrong. Then again, she did not have the extensive network I have built. When I think about my network now compared to the three itinerant merchants Grandmother had spying for her, it is a completely different kettle of fish. I think perhaps I have, once again, bitten off far more than I can chew.

I am disappointed in Sasanuma. I appreciate that he is only looking out for Kaede's interests but why he thought it acceptable to pry into my private papers, I do not know. It is not hospitable. I am a guest. I suppose I did enter the House disguised as a servant and sneak around the library uninvited but I only intended to be here for a day or two at most. Once Kaede had told him who I was, surely that should have been enough for him to cease an investigation? As I sit here and consider this, I realise that Sasanuma knows the details of my intimate life and my cheeks are burning at the idea that he has read those very private things. I have assumed he took my pages while I was bedridden; they were well hidden before that, as they are again. Perhaps that is not the case; perhaps he searched my things while I was out of my room for a while. Perhaps he has had Haru feeding him information. Perhaps I should put myself out of my misery and ask him. Yes, perhaps I should do exactly that...