Interesting. Itou gave her a long, thoughtful stare, not even bothering to hide that he was assessing this strange reaction to him. She knew as well as he did that she had given herself away in some manner, he just needed to figure out what.

"I'm from about that year," he replied slowly, rolling the words in his tongue. "But yes, we must be from rather different worlds, given your reaction to the name. Is it because you're using foreign influences in your medicine?"