[ The more Kim learns about the ayakishi, the bigger his headache will get, he thinks. It just makes no sense to him. Life that gathered because of human worship? It's something he's heard of in much vaguer concepts, but to hear that it's true is simply bizarre. But he won't voice any of that to Matoba; questionable attitude aside, he's been an incredibly helpful source of information thus far - assuming that this world works like his own, which Matoba seems fairly certain about - and Kim doesn't want to discourage that. Frankly speaking, he'll probably owe the man a beer at some point for telling him all of this, pulling the truly ignorant into the fray of the supernatural.

When he glances over at the kasa-obake, he does not voice his private thought either, which is that it's terrifying. He should get used to this at some point, but if not for his pride and a sense of self-preservation, if he saw one of those heading up to him in the dead of night, he'd sprint as far as he can in the opposite direction. As it is, it would take someone very practiced in reading expressions to see how much this unsettles him. At least the shopowner seemed... organic. ]

I see. It's convenient for me, I suppose. This is enough to get used to without having to sort out an entirely new power structure as well. [ He taps a foot, thinking, then starts to mimic Matoba in weaving the streamers together. ] I'm sure it's much the same as what I'm familiar with back home.

[ Gang activity. Nothing he thought he would ever have to get involved with. ]

You really do know a lot about them, don't you? Is it something you learned about from a young age?

[ He speaks like an expert -- but he's really not that old. ]