Basho-sensei,

I have left this message with Iwata. I know he will deliver it to you quickly. I would have seen you myself, but delay would have been troubling to all involved.

The last few weeks have been hellish, with my possession at the hands of the Lich Lord and your capture, but finally things may be returning to normal for Jojii's Sword. It is good to know that everyone will be out of the immediate danger of Shadows or undead. There will be time to relax and discuss matters of the heart and soul near a warm fire... if only I could take part in such peacefulness...

I am leaving, Basho-sensei. I know that before when you received such a note, it was written by those damnable Gharuns in Uziz, but by delivering it to Iwata myself, you know it to be true. These past few weeks, since my possession, I have been dying inside. While the Lich was destroyed, the damage to my mind was not. They say an infection hits hardest in those places already made weak by past injury, and I know that to be true now. I came to Dereth under... troubling circumstances, and there is a lot I will have to answer for someday.

It has always been my way before to ignore the wrongs I have done, to simply go on while placing blame on others. That always protected me before...but in knowing you and the rest of Jojii's Sword, I realized that responsibility has its own advantages. I must face who I am, what I have done, and I must do it on my own terms... I leave you all now, to find my true self and all that I have denied. I pray that the answers I seek will come soon, for I shall return. But I cannot see you all again until I am right with myself and free from guilt.

Forgive my absence from the ceremony tomorrow...I know that Murasaki-sensei meant a good deal to you, and I will say a prayer for his soul on my way. But if I stayed a day longer, I might change my mind and return to denial...the time to change must not be delayed, lest it never occur.

I await the day we meet again.

Kikuchi Kentaro

Just like that, he was gone.  Where, no one knew, and not a word came from him for some time.  Then, at the next meeting of Jojii's Sword a woman appeared.

She would not speak, but she handed a letter to Basho.

No one could make her speak, and she only listened with contempt on her face.  But Basho-sensei found the words to make her react.  "It seems that Kentaro has taken a liking to a Gharun'dim woman named Sayyima."  With that, Masako bolted up and spat, "Enough!  I shall return and tell him that his friends are all fools!"  She bolted out of the room to the sound of Basho's laughter.