“What is this Chocho business?' Will muttered to himself. But his friends overheard the comment.'It's a term of great respect,' they chorused, and he glared at them.'Oh, shut up,' he said.”

“What the devil is Chocho?' Will whispered.Horace's grin broadened. 'You are. It's what the men call you,' he said. Then he added, 'It's a term of great respect.'Behind them, Halt nodded confirmation. 'Great respect,' he agreed.”

“Come closer, Kurokuma. It's quite safe.'Horace shuffled closer to the edge...'Quite safe, my foot,' he muttered to himself. 'And what's this Kurokuma you keep calling me?''It's a term of great respect,' Shigeru told him.'Great respect,' Shukin echoed.”

“Halt eyed them balefully. They were all being so obvious about not mentioning his sudden reappearance that it was even worse than if they had commented on it...'Oh, go on!' he said. 'Somebody say something! I know what you're thinking!''It's good to see you up and about, Halt,' Selethen said gravely...Halt glared at the others and they quickly chorused their pleasure at seeing him back to his normal self. But he could see the grins they didn't quite manage to hide. He fixed a glare on Alyss.'I'm surprised at you Alyss,' he said. 'I expected no better of Will and Evanlyn, of course. Heartless beasts, the pair of them. But you! I thought you had been better trained!'...'Halt, I'm sorry! It's not funny, you're right... Shut up, Will.' This last was directed at Will as he tried, unsuccessfully, to smother a snigger.”

“What was that, Kurokuma?' asked one of the escorts riding near him. The others chuckled at the name.'Nothing important,' Horace said. Then he looked at them suspiciously. 'What's this Kurokuma business?'The Senshi looked at him with a completely staight face.'It's a term of great respect,' he said. Several others within earshot nodded confirmation. They too managed to remain straight-faced. It was a skill the Nihon-Jan had perfected.'Great respect,' one of them echoed.”

“All we could get out of them was that they were taking us to 'Kurokuma'. We didn't know if that was a place or a person. What does it mean, by the way?''I'm told it's a term of great respect,' Horace said, unwilling to admit that he didn't know.”

“Crowley shook his head. "I sometimes wonder if it was a good idea having Halt train apprentices. He seems to teach them no respect for authority.""Oh, he teaches us to respect authority," Gilan said innocently. "He just teaches us to ignore it when necessary.”