“If you hold onto it for a moment I could... Shift the otori to under my arm,” Hide emphasized the statue by leaning over closer to Eriko, clearly wanting the Kuni to grab it. “If you wouldn’t mind, that is.”

Eriko did close the distance to take the statue from Hide before she could have a chance of dropping it. "Got it!"

Now with one arm free(ish), Hide quickly moved the big otori to settle under one arm. Which still looked ridiculous, but Hide didn’t seem to mind. “Okay, now I can safely hold the statue. And then maybe we can grab something to eat... Wait. Oh man, we did this in the wrong order. Eating should have been first! Now our hands are too occupied.”

"A musician? Fascinating," Nozomi commented. "I heard you did my clan a great service yesterday." Her eyes went to Shion's waist and spotted only the wakizashi. She raised a confused brow and then smiled warmly for her to explain.

"Games? Ah, well, I learned my lesson from the arcade. Games are meant to eat up your money." She tapped her chin. "Oh! The saying is that the house always wins."

"Then maybe you should have it to remind you that cheating is bad" Nara said with a frown, although she did pull the giant plush towards herself a little more.

Eriko looked clearly amused by the predicament that Hida found herself in with the festival, their predicament even. "Oh, sorry. Silly me, I forgot you were the master of ceremonies and social gatherings. There's really a solution for everything, especially when you have one hand."

She placed both plushies over her shoulder and held the statue in one hand. "There, I'm set! Are you going to be okay? And what are we eating?"

"I'm sure", he smirked. "And it's punishment enough just to be parted with the prize. Please have mercy from further penalty, Susumu-san." He bowed slightky, but he was still grinning.

She gave Eriko a wary look as she placed their plushies on her shoulders, “I would be careful with them like that. Could drop them! And then someone could step on them!”

Hide then looked around for those heimin that we’re going around with food and beverages. “Well, I’d rather have something with a bit more substance than shaved ice to snack on. So onigiri it is! Don’t know where the vendor went, though.”

"Maybe... sometimes I wish i could split in two... or have the air carry my stuff." Atena shrugged

Eriko only took on the smaller plushes and still left the responsibility of her big otori haul in Hide's arms. "I'll be fine! You should make sure that otori-san doesn't accidentally slug someone as you're turning around! We might just have to cut him loose if that happens. The vendor is probably wandering around...oh, is that the one?"

She raised her free hand and started waving the vendor over so that they could make their orders. Not wanting to comically burden Hide any further, she took the initiative to pay and order for them. The vendors were mobile and the choice was limited to whatever was on hand. However, Eriko did manage to find one delicious black sesame seeds to her liking.

"Which one do you want?"

Hide was thankful that Eriko had decided to show some mercy and wave the vendor down herself. And the onigiri she selected looked pretty good as well. But, Hide felt like being a bit boring, so she gave her order, “just a plain one is fine. Thank you, Eriko-san.”

The otori plush was kept in line, because no one wants to be whacked by a giant otori plush backed with the unyielding force of a Matsu. “How are you even going to get this thing home?”

Eriko was at least kind enough to hand Hide's her rice treat before taking up hers. She took a nibble of hers and watched her manage the otori with continued amusement. "That's a good question, I can't say I've thought that far. You're the one who pointed it out. How about we kind of do a joint custody type of program with it? You can take it now and have back home, then you can ship it to me in three months?"

"Fine fine, if Daigotsu-sama insists, I will keep Maru the Otori" Nara said, pulling the giant plushie to herself and hugging it "thank you thank you" added with a bow, before looking to Atenas haul with curious eyes.

"I can help if there's too many Moshi-san."

"The big ones are the trouble makers." Atena chuckled. "I don't want to impose."

“Joint custody, huh?” Hide thought about that as she took her onigiri and took a sizable bite out of it. Oh, this one had some smoked fish in the middle! That was more than fine with the Lion. “I could live with that. I mean, I fully plan to keep in contact with you regardless.”

"You have to," Eriko said with a semi-stern tone, "I won the damn thing, so I have to keep tabs on what happens to my plush, you know! Not all the time. This thing is bigger than some furniture pieces I have in my apartment! You can have it for half the year."

"But really," her expression softened up slightly, "you think I'm worth all of the trouble?"

“Pretty sure we have similarly sized apartments! So I guess it’s only fair to only have way too much room taken up for half a year,” she gave Eriko a slight smirk at that. But the moment Eriko’s expression softened, Hide couldn’t help but follow suit. She looked the Kuni right in the eye, her own eyes filled with determination, “Eriko-san, of course you are. Nothing good in life comes easy, anyway. But... As you can see by my expert plushie handling, two can bear the wait much easier than one, yeah?”

"Hide-san..." she said softly before making her way over to put her arms around her shoulders.

Then after a blink, Eriko stepped back and now she was holding the large otori plushie. At least, she was attempting with already two other plushies on her shoulder. The otori's neck flopped down and looked like it was attempting to mash its face against the mushroom plush.

She staggered slightly with the mass. "Ugh...Actually, I'm thinking I should take this one first! Then I'll ship it over in three months. I won it, only fair I have it first!"

Hide hadn’t expected that brief bit of contact. Her face red, she watched Eriko in stunned disbelief, when did she take the otori? Huh. It took her a few moments to fully process.

“If you want it first... Then you’ll have to be extra sure to get it to me later!” Hide chuckled as she moved a bit closer to Eriko, still a bit flustered. “Maybe I should hold the others for you? You look overburdened.”

Eriko chuckled at the offer, "Here, I was hoping you'd ask! Here, you can take Kisada-no-kami back. I think it seems more appropriate, considering that you've been very much blessed by him," she readily extended a shaky hand that held the cheap statue by its base.