Kurumi was trying, she really was, but nothing was coming naturally like the professor suggested. In fact, the only thing that was natural at the moment was her breathing and even that was becoming a little irregular. Erm...

Her grandmother had been a shrine maiden at a Shinto shrine and could spend hours meditating in front of a fire doing whatever sort of meditation that was required for the event. Usually it was the burning of prayer papers written by the other priests and priestesses or, sometimes, the people who came to the shrine. Kurumi had been forced to meditate once in front of the fire...it hadn't gone over too well as the heat had gotten to her and she had nearly passed out.

At least there was no fire here?

How long had they been going at this? For a while now Kurumi reckoned and it was becoming harder and harder to focus with each passing moment. Frustrated with herself, Kurumi sighed heavily. This was supposed to help her keep her emotions in check, not make them go more crazy. Still, she kept plugging forward...hoping that focus and peace would come naturally as Professor Romanos had said it should.