Despite securing the agreement of the cranes to aid his search, a dejected Shota flew east, toward the sea. Rice paddies and marshlands, shadowed by the impending night, spread out below him. Did all cranes believe as these two did? Were all cranes hostile to all comers, or was it just his bad fortune to happen upon a particular crane family that had suffered a tragedy? Would the Crane-girl be hostile, too? Like everything else in his life, this was due to his own miserable karma. That he could do something about. His ears, not as sharp as a fox's but plenty sharp enough, picked up the sound of Buddhist chanting arising from a temple almost concealed by the trees ahead. He decided to drop in, quite literally, spiraling down from the sky to perch on a cedar bough. He would stay here, joinin
