𝓞TOGAWA .

〈　then perhaps you might settle an old question of mine. the monks at the temple maintained that sparrows grow fond of rice, never of the hand that offers it. ……tell me、did yours still come to visit when you had nothing to give them.ᐣ　〉

round like a snowball.

at the temple, a jest earned a beating、while a sermon went unpunished. hence the unfortunate habit. ……had you been there、i daresay the monks would scarcely have found the time to ring their bells.

〈　quite so. yet now that i know of your fondness for birds、a certain suspicion occurs to me. i should have taken you for an admirer of hawks. or have i overlooked in you a tenderness for sparrows all these years.ᐣ　〉

〈　i also like monkeys.⠀〉 ( ☺️ )

even without a voice、one need never be at a loss for words. besides、a blade swung in jest by the likes of us cuts no less deeply than one swung in earnest. ……or would you have me believe that yours is somehow different, nobutsuna.ᐣ

// furuoki uses the archaic second-person pronoun ぬし / お主 (nushi / onushi) when addressing other people, like how byakuya uses the pronoun 卿 (kei). nowaday nushi is mostly used in jidaigeki (historical dramash) or by eccentric characters in plays, hence, his portrayal.