Harumi hadn't slept last night. She was so scared that the enemies army would come knocking on their doorstep in the middle of the night. And she had just way to much work to do. Yesterday she came up with a plan, and she hoped for her dear life that it would work. The idea was fairly simple. There needed a few things to be done. One, the people in the castle town needed to be protected and two, the castle needed to be protected. Since Nobunaga was gone with most of the army they had neither soldiers for defending the town or the castle. With her plan she hoped she could kill two birds with one stone. Use the castle to protect the towns people and use the towns people help defend the castle. In the morning a clerk was send to the village to spread the news. Hopefully tomorrow everyone would be arriving. But for now, she had still so much to do. She had to find sleeping quarters for everybody, make sure there was enough food. Check what needs to be done in the castle before the battle. Hidemasa's men hadn't returned jet so Harumi had no idea where the enemy was at the moment. Maybe they were days away, maybe they were just around the corner and captured Hidemasa's men.
Harumi had a screaming headache when Masa-kun entered Nobunaga's study with lunch.
"Nohime, you should eat something." She said concerned while she took the untouched plate with Harumi's breakfast on it away.
"Yes, in a bit." Harumi mumbled while reading a document.
"No, now." Masa-kun said while she put the damping hot soup before her. As soon as she smelled the soup Harumi's stomach began to growl. She hadn't noticed how hungry she had been.
"Thank you." She said with a smile while she pushed the papers away.
"itadakimasu" Harumi said with a small bow before she picked up the spoon and began to eat the soup. Masa-kun put some rice and a few side dishes next to the soup. In between mouths full of soup she ate some rice with the side dishes.
"That was wonderful, thank you." Harumi said when her stomach was full from all the delicious food.
"No problem, we are here to help you. Right now you are looking after everyone and it is my job to look after you." Masa-kun said while bowing.
"That reminds me." Harumi sighted. "We have to check with the kitchens and see how much food there is. Could you accompany me?"
"Of Course!" Masa-kun answered immediately. With Masa-kun just behind her they made their way to the kitchens. Everybody in the castle was already made aware of her plan so everybody was busy. In the kitchen they were busy with doing inventory, to see what they could possibly need. They weren't completely done but they already estimated that there would be enough rice for everybody for at least a few weeks. The people of the town were also tolt to bring food with them so they had a bigger food supply in the castle, and the enemy couldn't use it when they arrived.
After checking in with the kitchen Harumi went back to Nobunaga's study. One of Nobunaga's advisors had given her a layout of the castle, to see where she could put everybody. After some consideration she came to the conclusion that she couldn't put every family together in a room. So she started to look for different ways to divide the towns people. Eventually she came up with the plan to divide everybody. All the men would sleep in the big dining hall while all the women would sleep in the big meeting room. Elderly, children and pregnant women would sleep in Harumi's own quarters. Apart from Nobunaga's privet quarters, were those the safest place in the whole castle. Everybody would have to work together. The only place Harumi wouldn't use were Nobunaga's private study and sleeping quarters. She would use them for the time being, hoping he wouldn't be mad at her when he returned.