AskGinko

      It had been weeks since I'd had a bed to sleep in, and the people in this village didn't seem too keen on letting an outsider into their homes. I had almost resigned myself to another cold night on the ground when an elderly woman approached me and offered to let me stay in her home. I was so grateful I even offered to do any kind of favor she needed—from cleaning to cooking to ridding her of mushi, if she needed it.      "No need, no need," she assured me. Her house was just outside of town—a small, cozy place with only one bedroom and a main room, along with an adjoining bath house. There was also a small locked room in t