Hyeon-ju rolled her eyes at Yul's tone. She was watching his back and as always he repaid it with getting rude in return.

Whatever.

At least she nodded approvingly at the last attire. The color suit him. "Very good. Something for you to wear on the final day when making your pick, if you didn't bring anything else that's nicer."

"Yeah? You think?" Yul spread his arms, looking down at himself. "It's not quite my usual style. But it looks pretty good, huh."

He looked back up at Hyeon-ju. "I brought my dress uniform. You know, the one with that damn high collar. You think this would be better?" He waved a hand at himself.

"Hmmm... you know Nakauchi-san better. Would she prefer something like this, or a man in uniform?" she asked thoughtfully. It wasn't unknown that people thought that uniforms were sexy.

Yul grinned. "Good point." He said. Apparently that cinched it, one way or the other.

He started to step back into the changing room, but then he hesitated. "Wasp..." He began, chewing his lip. "Thanks for the help. I really mean it." Given the mild tightness in his voice, thanking was clearly a bit of an effort, even if entirely sincere.

"Think nothing of it..." she replied, a touch softer than her usual tone. "I'm sure you would've done the same for me. Not that you'd have the fashion sense to do this, but well... you know what I mean."

Yul couldn't see that she was smiling while he was in the dressing room.

A chuckle came from inside the booth. "That's a good point. Well hey, you ever want any cattle-herding tips, just let me know."

He emerged from the changing room, the two most recent sets of clothing he'd tried on folded over one arm. "This seems like plenty for me. I mean, I only lost one set of clothes and my jacket. It's not like I need a whole new wardrobe, right?"

"Mm... I would disagree, but I don't have nearly enough funds right now to completely overhaul your style of dress."

Hyeon-ju shot him a wry smirk. "But you probably want to get out of here now, huh? Once I've paid, that is."

"Oh, man..." Yul made a face. "How'd I manage to give you that clear of a shot? I probably should have seen it coming."

He nodded. "But yeah, let's go. I mean, I can pay you back tomorrow. All those ornithopter rentals just got costly." Yul snorted. "I'm glad insurance was included, though. I'm not sure whether I'd have paid for it, otherwise." And then he'd really needed it.

"Don't worry about it. You paid for the ride yesterday," she waved off the offer of repaying her. It wasn't like either of them were starved for money most of the time either - the Unicorn gave them both fairly generous stipends to work with.

Walking over to the register, the wallet was back in her hand again. "Insurance sounds like something that should always come with you around. I suppose it's too hopeful of me to assume you might've learned a lesson from what happened? Like, run away when a giant monster tries to take a bite out of you?"

Yul swallowed, even as he set the clothes on the counter. The shopkeep bowed as they began to ring them up.

"I don't know." Yul said quietly, his eyes downcast. "I didn't even think about it. I just did it. And Mumei had to deal with the consequences..." His jaw clenched noticeably. "I don't know. It's something I need to think about." It was certainly the most introspective Hyeon-ju had ever heard him be about it.

To her the unusual introspection meant that just maybe he was finally reconsidering his reckless ways. She didn't need to remind him what could've happened to the Osprey samurai.

Items were ringed in, and Hyeon-ju paid for it with no fuss. Payday would be nice tomorrow as she'd seen a few things she wanted herself.

"Here." The fancy paperbag with his new wardrobe additions was dangled in front of him.

Half-grimacing, half-smiling, Yul took the bag from her. "Thanks again." He said, only half-grudgingly.

He looked around. "Anything else you want? From here, or somewhere else?" He smiled. "If you want, I'd buy you some milk tea. I can afford that before tomorrow, anyway."

"I'll settle for some milk tea and cheesecake." Her own half-smile was a touch smug in return.

"Some things I'd like here, but I'll do that tomorrow. Got a date with Matsu Chiyoko-san then."

Yul, chuckled, shaking his head with a grin. "Alright. You're on. Milk tea and cheesecake."

He started to lead the way to the cheesecake place, setting a casual pace, clothing bag swinging. He gave Hyeon-ju a sidelong glance, eyebrows going up. "Matsu-san, huh? Still figuring things out?"

"Mm, yes," she nodded, looking thoughtful. "Maybe it will help to speak to her more privately. I'm also meeting with Akodo Akihiko-sama tomorrow as well, so... double up on Lions tomorrow."

Likewise, she hadn't had much chance to meet with him privately, so she was interested to see how that would go.

"In the end, someone has to make some choices, after all."

And she wasn't sure if she would be picked.

"The Lion here are pretty cool. And I liked Matsu-san. Akodo-sama..." Yul chewed his lip a moment, then grinned. "Well, I feel like you and he might suit each other."

He paused a moment, glancing at a mall kiosk, nodding once he mapped out the path they'd take. "Yeah, that's the weird part of it, huh? Maybe we'll be picking, maybe someone will do our picking for us." Yul frowned. "Probably not in my case," and he hoped not, "-but you might get picked, huh?"

"Maybe."

She didn't seem too thrilled about having to get picked. Though it might've been more the matter of not getting to decide herself, rather than having to marry out of the clan.

"Well... still some of these contests left to do. Not that I'm stoked about the robotics-thing tomorrow, though. Hopefully they'll ask us to fly something one of these days."

Yul looked at her curiously, but let it pass.

"Yeah, that'd be something." Yul said. "We'd get the chance to show everyone what a pair of Unicorn pilots can do." He gave her a sidelong smirk. "And I guess one of the two of us would probably do better than the other, huh?"

"It would certainly be a raise to the top," she agreed, finding herself smirking too.

Perhaps command were onto something that this miai would be good for Hyeon-ju to chill down a few notches.

"Just don't forget that I often performed better than you back in flight school." It was a thin margin, but her performance numbers had been slightly higher than his. Of course she said this with her usual smugness.

"Barely." Yul said, flashing one of his slightly feral grins. "And not in targeting."

"Hmmm..." Yul said, still smiling, even as his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Maybe we should have some kind of wager on it. What do you think?"