[Certainly the man looks, to Minakami's eyes, maybe only a couple years older than them, and somewhat under the weather -- though now he thinks about it, a good number of people he's seen, especially around the Sutoku residential area, have been looking pale and drawn lately. Maybe something is catching. Surely not because people are hoarding nightmare dolls!]

[Minakami picks up the grass bird, holding its "feet" gently between finger and thumb so the wind doesn't spirit it away, too.] It's very cleverly made, however you did it.

We were both preparing for the Imperial University entrance exams, when we were whisked here. [It's a staggering oversimplification of the circumstances, comically so, but. He nods at his library books:] I was trying to read up on the haniwa, but if there's an answer to why they've sprung up everywhere like mushrooms, it's not in these.