Ruhe was rather spent after the race, at least for a while, so after a shower he came down to the lobby and flopped on the couch to watch whatever was on. Oh, a musical. H9 was not his niche but inspirations should be sought everywhere. He got himself up to get himself a can of something bitter to drink from the machine, and flopped again.

Eriko was making her way down the stairs and out the door until caught glance of what was playing at the lobby. She figured that if she was going to get into the musical mood, this was good as any, and it also came with a side of cringiness that would further prepare her for karaoke too.

She threw her blazer over her shoulder and sauntered over to where the Moto was seated. "Oh, man...the Heavenly 9. I thought they were going to play this on repeat all week. That would be too on the nose at a miai."

"Why so? It's like a matchmaking product placement or something?" Ruhe was clueless about the tropes in the show. He reached out to offer a handshake. The Crab weren't usually grossed out by Unicorn customs. "I mean, I expect some level of cringe, but maybe of the amusing type? Also, want me to get you some soda or anything?"

Eriko looked at the hand cautious for a moment before humouring the Moto with a quick shake of his hand. "Well met, Kuni Eriko and hey, if you're paying, I'm drinking. Just nothing too sugary."

"No...not product placement but I'm sure they got plenty of that. I mean more like the boys and girls of the group live in some magical worlds where all clans are friends with each other, live together, flirt with each other, have adventures and they always sing together. It's always sunshine and rainbows for the Heavenly 9. Ugh, so artificial."

"Moto Ruhe." He got up to get her the bitterish thing he also enjoyed. "Guess the miai is a bit like that. We're not at each other's throats, we go around doing fancy challenges, flirting and seeking spouses. It's quite the neverland even if the planet is quite metal. But hey, let's watch it and compare."

"Heh, thank you, Moto-san," she grinned as she magically earned a free drink for just commenting randomly. Now, if she only could achieve the same outside of this situation, "cheers!"

Seeing as she had time, she settled down at a seat. "I guess you're right about that, no need for the Miya to run this on repeat if we're kind of living this life, now that you've really put it into perspective. Could do without the sudden musical numbers with dancing and this show has some cheesy ones. I think I'm going to show my age when I even remember when they were holding tryouts all over to find the perfect candidate for each Clan to make the group."

"I could do without shitty music but not really without a good one. I have a feeling their numbers are not my style, but hey, no prejudice!" He glanced at her, then snickered. "I don't know for how long this has been around. But you showing your age? If it's the case, I must compliment your makeup because not in the world would I guess you're anything older than very early twenties. Anyway, should I know the cast from other things?"

Eriko smirked, "They say that the make-up takes off 10 years at least but okay, I'm not that old. It wasn't that long ago when they were made, less than a decade ago when they were form. It seemed that everyone wanted a shot. I got messages from some cousins who were even trying for the Crab position. Needless to say, they went with a Hiruma. Best dancer but worst singer in the group, which I guess it's not the worst but she often only gets the chorus."

"The cast is dedicated to this full-time. They're almost never on tour, I think. I guess they do get a few parts here and there on the Miya Network. I hear Yoritomo Akane is doing her own thing now."

"I'd hate this model. You give up freedom of artistic expression for some contrived popularity. I like dancing, I could appreciate a good dancer. What do the say about the Unicorn on this group?"

"It's a bigtime Imperial production, I'm sure they whip them up to follow a routine and tune at their beck and call. I'm not an artisan like yourself, Moto-san, but I could only imagine that it must either take a vapid individual or someone with a lot of internal fortitude," she gave a small shake of her head as there was a scene with Hiruma Ayame strolling on the modern Wall of the Crab. The festering pit was done but the wall was still maintained and militarized, just in case. Clearly, they were at the visitor part of the Wall where it lent itself more to be a tourist area, unofficially.

She gulped her drink and snapped her fingers together as she tried to recall the name. "Oh, uh...Moto-whatsherface? Oh, Moto Mika. I guess she's the sporty member of the group, does a bit of singing and coincidentally gets all the stunt-involved scenes?"

Ruhe watched the Wall scene with some attention. It's not like he had seen it before, fake or not. "I mean, it almost sounds good, about the sports and stunts. Should I expect some good action sequences here, bike chases or something like that?"

Eriko looked a bit unsure, "Yes, I suppose...we're not talking about the Lockdown here but mostly adorable stuff like 'oh, no, I'm late for a rehearsal or my part in the song, time to realistically speed through traffic to get to where I need to go' or 'oh, I just happen to be on top of this roof when I sang my part' sort of bit. I kind of feel the closes the gang got into danger was when they had to make it to an autograph signing and they were blocked from the entrance by a surly shiba inu. Real adventurous stuff, if you hadn't graduated from gempukku yet."

In the next scene, Hiruma Ayame was dressed in a rather cartoonish looking version of traditional samurai armour and it was clearly a musical moment. "If I was on the Wall, I'll give it my aaalll! Give up my life and fight through the strife..."

She did her best to keep a straight face. "Wow, I can't believe they gave her a solo bit here..."

"Guess it's what younger audiences consider dramatic? Though I imagine doing Crab things is less saccharine." He rubbed his chin. "Not that I think cuteness is absent from your ranks, but I am having a dissonance here."

She gave a nod at the Moto, taking another long gulp of her drink to wash down whatever she saw on screen. "It's cringey all right, for sure. Outside of the show and movies, they make pretty passable music I admit. Not always my type of thing but the cringiness goes down considerably when they aren't on the informator trying to entertain people outside of their musical talent."

After the solo musical number had ended with Hiruma Ayame, it transitioned back to 'real life' and the Daigotsu heartthrob strolling up to Ayame, telling her that she looked really cute when she looked tough. This only resulted in Ayame giving a pouty face and turning her back to him.

"...Yeah, I don't think they are ever going to drop that plotline..."

"You mean it's an ongoing thing, the Spider hitting on the Crab? Guess it's unrequited? Can't really make of much from that pout, at least not the scriptwriter's intention." Ruhe mused. "Are they hitting on each other within the group in general?"

"Ah yeah, it's an ongoing thing," she said with a slow nod after she finished her drink. "Nobody in the show really gets together but they constantly have these cute little teases of possible romances in that animation serial fashion. If I had to guess, it's some Miya agenda probably wanted to the Spider and Crab to get along with each other."

"Which I guess ain't happening IRL?" Ruhe had only superficial knowledge of politics outside his Clan. "Is there even any shipping fandom for these two?"

Eriko shrugged her shoulders, "Honestly, politics doesn't matter in my line of work, so long as everyone is following certain rules that I keep my eye on, you hear me? I guess the Spider must be either really good at watching their own or hiding it when it comes to what I'm watching, if you catch my drift, Moto-san."

"As for fandom, I'm sure there. The fanbase of the Heavenly 9 is so rabid that I'm sure you'll find some ship with one member with another...or three...or four. Obviously, such things aren't discussed among proper company and reserved for the deepest dredges of some overly busy intranet on some cluster city world," she said before launching her can at the nearest bin.

It missed and clanked on the floor unceremoniously. "I'm sure it would have made it if nobody moved it."

"Looks like they're on their best behaviour when you're around, isn't it a credit to your vigilance?" Ruhe smirked. "As for those dredges, let's not get there. My own sensibilities drift toward monogamy." He had his reasons. By then, he had finished forming a chassis of a starfighter out of his can, and get up to pick the one Eriko had thrown. "I'll make wings out of it if you don't mind. The combined thing should have a better drift." He looked at the screen what was going on in the musical.

"Probably, they seem to have a lot of sleek and suave types from what I'm seeing here. Enough so that people are falling for them," she gave a hapless shrug.

"Sure, go ahead and knock yourself out," she nodded when he wanted to get the other can, looking on with some fascination that people were willing to make art from old cans. It was usually gone after a toss in the bin and that was the end of that.

It seemed the tour to the Crab ancestral lands drew to a close and they moved on to the next 'arc' in the special where they were going to travel to the Mantis isles. The segment started with the Heavenly 9 riding in on a seaplane to a seaside city on the coast at night. It might have been fortuitous timing or planning by the production team as there was dark clouds overhead of a waning sunset and suddenly a lightning bolt struck the sea.

"Cool," a green-hair girl said in the group as she looked out one of the windows of the plane.