It's hard to do a respectful third person until you see it done...maybe you should just translate the feeling of the words into an equivalent modern English? Modern neutral polite dialogue will read as formal

In the interest of a more comfortable narrative, that might be where I end up staying. If I'm not entirely confident in my ability to pull off the formal-respect language smoothly, it's going to show (and probably quite badly).

I think it's safe to say that this...thing...is going to be a WIP for quite awhile yet.

Again, though, I thank you for your input. It gets my brain working in a more forward-thinking direction, as opposed the the stuttering circular patterns it likes to fall into sometimes. I especially appreciate the insights on how things are conveyed in the original Japanese. It's a remarkably helpful perspective. ^_^