For what it was worth, Junji was most certainly not speaking to someone who was insane, but rather someone who actually held his own personal convictions indeed in high regard. Internally, though, Junji was completely right. Mushiba felt guilt when we stepped on the grass, and hoped that it could recover even from his footfalls.<br/><br/>All of the food that he ate was scraps that would otherwise have been wasted or issued to him by the military unit that he had served with. He aimed to make as small a negative impact as possible. It was interesting, considering the particular branch of monks that he had worked with.<br/><br/>"I take no offense; few people ever want to see a soldier."<br/><br/>Ironically, Mushiba actually followed Aikiko's practice. Due to reasons of his heritage as he had put it, his hands could only remain in the sacred fire and through that smoke for a split second. For the same reason, he could barely come into contact with the purifying water. Nevertheless, still he did these things, hoping at least that perhaps the fact that they caused him pain would be an act of penance for some sin against the universe committed in a previous lifetime.<br/><br/>Fortunately he wasn't going to have to cross the shimenawa line or come into contact with the shime. Even looking at those shime were painful, though occasionally he had actually gazed upon the paper wards. Once more, these actions accompanied prayers begging for forgiveness, considering that he viewed such painful actions as acts that could express sorrow for sins of the past. This was all drastically different from Junji's belief that he would have burst into flames if he touched any of the purification material.<br/><br/>Rather than say anything, he merely bowed his head and acted quite politely in the shrine. His only words were those that he had internally spoken to himself. Constantly he internally repeated the phrase Namu Amida Butsu over and over again, though he allowed not even his lips to mouth the words.<br/><br/>Apparently one of them seemed a little more respectful, and he of course located himself next to the individual in question who said that they had both prayed for guidance. It was a nice change of pace. However, it also looked like a certain ghostly individual wasn't nearly as happy about this promise of cooperation as he was.<br/><br/>Naturally this moment of solace provided him with insulation from what was going on. As with everyone else, he had no idea what was going on elsewhere. Certainly he would have been able to provide assistance had he been made so aware.<br/><br/>In fact, it would have indeed been a requirement of his.<br/><br/>It didn't take long for him to get thrust into the action all over again though. There was a need for some cannon fodder, and Mushiba had a need to be of service. Removing his gun, he started the laborious process of loading it with a carefully placed nod. "We can certainly take care of anything put before us." Ironically he had already started to speak for the team.<br/><br/>Still, he had been asked as well as the samurai so it would have been best to speak this way he felt. As he took out a match, he placed it in the position on the rifle after having filled it with black powder as well as a rather heavy caliber lead ordinance. Though there were of course some houjutsu experts that could take the recoil of such shots easily, it was especially simple for him considering his demonic or perhaps more properly stated otherworldly heritage.<br/><br/>Interestingly he had used the shot paper to ensure that he didn't touch the actual lead piece at all. Each of his bullets was individually blessed, and he didn't want to upset this fact in the least bit. Once it was loaded he made a quick gesture over it and now vocally repeated the phrase " Namu Amida Butsu."<br/><br/>Moroa seemed quite ready for battle with that sword, and he was going to be right there with him to back him up. Once he got into the proper position, he would have taken a shot. For a moment or two an eerie glow would play out across his face, considering that he had to light a slow burning match in order to power his weapon of choice. Gritting his teeth, which once more had the after effect of showing off his fangs again, he turned around to remain focused on the battle that looked like it was going to soon escalate quite quickly.<br/><br/>These sorts of conflicts naturally had quite a tendency to do that, and he wasn't overly concerned by that, but instead stayed relatively still and pensive throughout all of it. The combination of his monk's training coupled with his military experience meant that he had been through this before and always called on said training before in order to prevent an overly emotional response.<br/><br/>Such a response in this sort of a situation could, of course, be quite a problem all things considered. It could have seriously thrown him off his game, and he didn't want that at all. After all, if he was going to be of some help, then he needed to be performing as best as he could. Emotions could get in the way, and that was something he knew he had to control even if his demonic half threatened to interrupt.