Hayato waited near the entrance of the Red Carp Mall, an umbrella over hsi head to keep off the storm, or at least the majority of it. He was dressed well, in modern fashions a well fighting vest, in light brown over an off white collared shirt and a pair of slacks. A watch set on his left wrist, it's ivory face complementing the color of his shirt.

His hair had been combed and styled, and one could see a flash of chest where the top two buttons of his shirt had been left open. Perhaps it wasn't exactly what the Unicorn had meant, but sometimes a little experiment was in order.

A purple umbrella stood out amongst the various Phoenix-colored ones, or the plain black ones, indicating that Hayato didn't have to keep waiting too long. Hyeon-ju didn't like tardiness and she wasn't about to be tardy herself.

Even if she looked like she could've spent some time already getting ready in front of the mirror, and today her makeup had a more fun and colorful vibe, with pink and green in sharp colors, and turqoise-colored fake-crystals underneath one eye. Which complimented her choice of outfit well, a modern and hip twist on the hanbok of old, with splashes of colors and decorative tassels added on.

"Good afternoon, Tsuruchi-san," she greeted, lowering the umbrella to close it as she stepped under the roof of the mall.

"Utaku-san." He replied, stepping under the roof with her and closing his own umbrella. "I hope you've been well since the last time we had the chance to speak?"

He knew she had looked a bit worse for wear after the biathlon, but one couldn't even tell if they looked at today.

"It's been an interesting couple of days since we spoke, but I've been well." In truth, while she had looked very ragged after the biathlon, she had in fact enjoyed herself.

Her hazel eyes scanned him up and down. "My, Tsuruchi-san. I would say you're dressed to impress today. Taking note of my tips and applying some of your own."

"Well, I'm glad to hear." He replied, standing perhaps a little bit straighter for her inspection. When she was done, he turned to start leading her through the Mall, his eyes shifting to take in Hyeon-ju and her outfir for a moment.

"Why thank you Utaku-san, though I admit it would be poor manners on my part if I hadn't at least made the effort." He offered her a smile. "I suppose I should say that you look quite amazing yourself, likely the peak of fashion at least on this planet."

"Thank you, it's kind of you to say so." Someone had mentioned to her that there was a Crane fashion designer on visiting for the miai, but it wasn't someone she had heard of or knew. Maybe she had heard wrong? Or they did more traditional garments.

"By the way, excellent showing yesterday in the biathlon. I should've expect a Tsuruchi to prove an expert marksman."

"Thanks, my sensei always said I was a good shot." Which was true enough, "Though I think I can do with spending some time on my physical fitness. I didn't do as well there as I hoped."

The Mantis' path too k them past various different stores as he led the way towards the destination. "If I recall you did fairly well on marksmanship as well. I guess I didn't expect that from a fighter pilot, you and your clan mate preformed quite well."

"Hm, well, Yul was always a better shot than me back in flight school," she admitted honestly, though with a hint of rivalry in her tone. "But we do train a lot at marksmanship too, as our primary weapon when on the ground, and for improving our accuraccy with the ship's gunnery."

She let him lead the way to their destination, curious to see where they would end up.

"Oh? The two of you went to School together" That was a bit surprising. "That's got to be a odd bit of chance to end up at the same Miai together too."

The destination wasn't far, and soon enough they arrived in front of a trendy little Cafe known as the Amber Otori. "Sorry it's not the Snow-Moon-Flower. It just seemed a bit presumptuous of me to invite you to the most romantic restaurant in town."

"A bit yes. I feel like command has a strange sense of humor sometimes in sending two Sky Riders from the same squad." A humor she didn't comprehend, but they had more or less said in polite words that they hoped she'd learn to be less of a stick in the mud at this miai and that a spouse would help mellow her out. Internally, Hyeon-ju sighed.

"It's no trouble at all, Tsuruchi-san. A bit more casual like this is a little more towards my preferences these days - as you say, it is a bit presumptous to take a romantic dinner date this soon. I imagine Snow-Moon-Flower will see more and more visitors as the miai nears its ending."

"Sometimes I think strange is the only kind of sense of humor command has." It was afterall the only one he had ever encountered from them. "You two are from the same swuad too though? The Insect Squadron wasn't it?"

"Glad you agree." He repleid with a smile as he stepped inside, and waited for the hostess to show them to the table he had reserved. "You're likely right about the Snow-Moon-Flower too. A canny man might take the chance to make a reservation in advance... Just in case."

"Yes, both from Insect Squadron. More or less the official unofficial name of the group... the official designations are mostly just numbers and letters, so most of them usually get their own real name. Which also has an impact on the callsigns in the group."

Cruel and unusual sense of humor did seem to summarize command quite nicely sometimes.

"Hmm... but are there canny men here? Or perhaps some that are just being very hopeful?" Hyeon-ju remarked with a small smirk. To here, it seemed a bit too ambitious to start making romantic plans already. Kami, she hadn't even narrowed down her own list of who she'd take somewhere like that.

"So all your call signs have something to do with insects then?" He asked raising an eyebrow, he seemed a bit amused my the prospect, especially since the Mantis were a clan where most of the families were once clans named after bugs.

"I'd say canny myself. You might not end up on a date, but you'd still end up with a fancy dinner in a private room at a restaurant. After all these events it's be a good way to relax if nothing else." He really didn't have any idea of who he might take either, but who knows he might just go through making a reservation or too.

"Yes, all our callsigns are insect-related. Wasp, Cricket, Ladybug, Beetle... just to name a couple." She could imagine he'd be even more amused if he knew her callsign was Wasp.

The hostess arrived, and after a quick check of the name, guided them to the reserved table. Two menus were handed out with the usual greetings and gratitude for choosing this particular establishment... and eventually they were left to ponder their choice of drinks and food.

"Might be something to that idea though. Of the Snow-Moon-Flower. At the very least, you can use the reservation for a last night with the new friends you might have made. Or one last ditch effort in winning the heart of your chosen one."

"Now I'm tempted to guess who is who." Hayato replied with a amused smile. "Im pretty sure you aren't lady bug at least."

Accepting the menu, Hayato started to look through it. It consisted mostly of lighter fare, salads and sandwiches, as well as simple rice balls and similar items.

"Exactly, I can't say I'd mind a gathering with those I've become friendly with here. I'd hope at least by that point I wouldn't be needing to make any y last ditch efforts though." He smirked and shook his head.

"Of course I could always give it away to a friend too. Someone looking to make a good last impression."

"Probably some who would appriciate that gesture. Some are not as rich as others." She herself seemed decently well-off when it came to money, but Unicorn were an economic power in the galaxy, allowing for large stipends for their samurai.

Maybe she'd try to be a bit bolder... "... if you manage to guess correctly which one of those is me on the first go, I'll probably invite you to the next date at the Snow-Moon-Flower." Hyeon-ju smirked a little at that, and decided she'd have one of those Otori-sandwiches.

Probably wasn't made from real Otori, as it was probably named that way because of the establishment, but the illusion of it gave her satisfaction.

"Does that mean if I miss the next date is on me too?" He asked perhaos deciding to be a bit bold himself.

There was a pause as he put down his own menu and placed an order for a coffee and a grilled mushroom and cheese sandwich.

Letting his eyes move up to match hers, he smiled. "Something tells me my ancestors will be kicking me for not choosing Wasp. But let's see... Cricket?"

"Something like that," she chuckled dryly. Her own order was placed for the Amber Otori grilled sandwich, with iced coffee to drink.

"Hmmm..." Hyeon-ju scrunched up her face for a brief moment in response to his answer, placing an elbow on the table to lean her chin against the palm of her hand. "You really should've listened to your ancestors."

"Mmm..." That was fairly noncommittal, but it wasn't an outright noo either, which meant she at least was considering it.

"It seems so." He replied with a rueful chuckle. Tilting his head to the slightly side he watched her for a few moments before speaking. "I just thought it might be too much of a coincidence to have two Wasp's in one room sharing lunch together."

"Not that I should likely be refering to you by your call sign of course, isn't it bad luck or something?"

She smirked. "I suppose there is some lucky coincidence with two Wasps in the same room sharing a meal, yes." For a moment she had almost forgotten about the Tsuruchi's origin as the Wasp, so there was a strange irony there.

"Not really. At least we don't think it is. Our callsigns to us become like our second names to us, and we respond to them as easily as our real names. When you got a room full of Utaku and some Shinjo or Iuchi, it gets easier to use other names, instead of saying Utaku-san and have ten people respond."

Surely it must be similarly in other forms of the army?