Akemi had to wake up far too early to catch the first shuttle of the day. But Kyoko had received strict instructions from grandpa to make sure she would show some punctuality during the miai, and she might have thrown her out of bed quite literary.

As master and servant walked through the station to reach the promised transport, Akemi complained about the fact, knowing in advance she wouldn't win an argument against her granddad, even from the other side of the galaxy.

"Consider this a battlefield Hida-sama. You wouldn't oversleep on a battlefield would you?"
"I've seen actual battlefields Kyoko. That's not one."
"Hida Kinichi-sama appears to differ."
"Can I disagree?"
"Sure. I am to tell you You can disagree, but that doesn't make me any less right. would you say so."
"Damnit grandpa!"

A slim figure in a business suit was standing in the station, impatiently waiting for the shuttle that would take him to the planet's surface. At regular intervals he pulled out his communicator and looked at the clock. With him stood a man in his forties, also in a business suit, but without a Wakizashi, who had a suitcase and a dog box beside him.

Nishida looked at his communicator again, annoyed and grumbled. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and took out his lighter, a nice piece that was decorated on one side with the mon of the Yasuki family and on the other side with the kanji for Daikoku. He lit a cigarette, inhaled heavily and blew the smoke into the air.

"Yasuki-sama!"

Akemi waved her mechanical arm enthusiastically at the two men. Inner Kyoko sighed while outer Kyoko kept a stern face and bowed appropriately.

"I didn't know there was to be other Crabs at the miai. That's awesome! I'm Hida Akemi, daughter of Hida Norika and granddaughter of Hida Kinichi. This is my servant Kyoko. Nice to meet you!"

Nishida kept his On on and gave Akemi a proper bow: "Greetings, Hida-san, i'm Yasuki Nishida. I am glad to have a clan cousin at this event, it gives you support, don't you think?" Nishida gestured to his servant, "This is my Servant Akechi"
Akechi made a deep bow before Akemi.

When Akemi mentioned her grandfather, Nishida pondered briefly. "Am I wrong to think that you are family to Aoishi Industries?" he asked, taking another puff.

Tsukiko is walking around the space station with a look of awe far more deserving than the worn space station should deserve, not even upset in the slightest at having to be woken up at some god forsaken hour, unlike the crab girl with the fleshcraft arm, suppressing a grin at the misfortune of losing an argument to someone who wasn't even here. Well, okay, maybe she's a bit upset, but only because there seems to be a lack of personable figures this early. Everyone appears to be in a rush to the first shuttle or looks far too busy to chit chat. Well, she can always settle for waiting to actually get on the shuttle. She breaks away from her servant to view more of the station with her holorecorder, giving it a nice, long pan of her surroundings. One would think she was here for vacation from the way she's acting, and in a way, she was.

"Bayushi-sama, this way," her imposing servant speaks up.

"Naoki, don't you think that we haven't seen enough of the space station though? There's so much to see still..."

"If you say so, Bayushi-sama. However, the more you delay the longer it'll take for you to get to a food vendor. Did you change your mind about wanting to try the renowned otori?"

"I hate it when you remind me of things I've said, you know," she grumbles, making her way briskly towards the shuttle station now. At least she's not the only one that lost an argument to a servant. Hooray...

"I'm merely doing my job, Bayushi-sama."

She narrows her eyes at him. "Are you smiling?"

"I am, Bayushi-sama. Is there something wrong in taking pride in one's work?"

Tsukiko groans. Twice. She got bested by her servant twice in the span of not even a minute. It's a good thing her brother isn't here, or he'd never let her live it down. She checks her holorecorder as they walk, confirming that she'll have to delete that section later before sending the files to her brother. Well, nothing to be missed, he probably goes on space stations all the time anyway.

"Let's just get to the shuttle, alright?"

Naoki leads the way and, without further detours from Tsukiko, they arrive promptly. Perhaps a bit too promptly as the shuttle isn't even here yet.

"Really? I make my way here and forego exploring more of the station just for the shuttle to not be here when I arrive?"

Sighing as she takes a seat in the waiting area, she swaps out her holorecorder for a densai and stylus and looks around for something or someone interesting to draw... Oh! The fleshcraft girl is also waiting here. Well, better her than nobody, she supposes, and starts sketching her general outline, glancing up at her every few seconds.

Tetsu had gotten word that plenty of other Crab would be joining the shuttle trip early, and he was still on Deathwatch time, the overnight watch handed out to those who had proven some level of competence but had zero seniority.

The Crab he sees do not match his personal experience: fashionable clothes and servants.

Huh boy, competition even with them

He is feeling slightly awkward, but notices a girl sketching. Curious, he peers over her shoulder.

"Hello there honored fellow traveler. What are you drawing, if I might ask?"

"Yeah! Grandpa and grandma help found it, uncle and aunty are board members, cousin Go is expected to join them soon. You're in the business too? That's great! I'm more of a military woman myself though."



One instant Tsukiko was looking at Akemi. The other she was looking at her densai. The next she was looking at Akemi... From far closer than previously as the Crab was now standing only a few inches from her face. She rebounded on Tetsu's question.

"Yes lady artist! What are you drawing? Can I see, can I see?"

She was smiling, overly enthusiast, and her servant desperately trying to find a way to make her understand the concept of personal space without making her lose face even further.

"I work as a procurement specialist for YamadaCorp, we are a weapons manufacturer, moment I have a holoslate"
Nishida was about to take a holoslate with information about YamadaCorp out of his pocket when he saw that Akemis attention was focused on the sketching samurai. He put it back and took another puff.

What a strange Hida, he thought.

He was suprised to yet another crab, he took a mental note and followed the crowd. If he has to wait here, he might as well evaluate the competitors and possible marriage candidates. He nodded to Akechi and followed the Hida, to assess the sketching samurai.

Tsukiko glances over her shoulder before pointing at the subject of her art while Naoki watches the young man closely, ensuring he's not up to any unsavory business.

"Hm? Oh, just the girl with the fleshcraft arm over there. She lost an argument to her servant earlier, which was pretty funny to be honest. Do you happen to draw too?"



Caught off guard, Tsukiko snaps her head back to create some distance from the overly energetic girl and motions to Naoki that everything's fine before he tries to intervene.

"Woah! ...Ah, sure, you can see too. It's you."

She turns her densai toward the girl and on it can be seen a rough sketch of the girl crossing her arms, although it is missing many details, not even started on facial features yet. She waits to see her reaction, hoping for praise, although she'd be fine as long as it's not anger or disgust.

"It's so cool! Where did you learn to draw like that? Want me to pose?"

She flexed both her arms while saying that.

She then turned to Tetsu:

"Oh sorry Crab friend, I had missed you were there. So many Crabs! Is that a pincers-only event? Where are you from yourself? My family's pretty split through the Crab lands personally, lots of business trips and moving around for business reasons."



Since it seemed her mistress was not about to trigger a diplomatic incident (yet), Kyoko stepped back to Nishida's side, bringing out a densai:

"Thank you Yasuki-sama. If you don't mind, I will take that slate so my mistress can take note of its content in due time. In the meantime, here's are the relevant information about Aoishi Industries should you want to have a look at them."

"Something like that." Tetsu pulls out a pack of sketches, which while not exactly artistic a highly detailed. If there was any awkwardness about the subject of the drawing being a person present it's broken as she comes over and addresses them directly.

"Oooh, is that the Mark VI? I have been having trouble keeping up on ship duty. Oh, I'm being rude." Tetsu bows. "I am Kaiu Tetsu of Fundai. Please watch over me"

Getting the early shuttle made sense; means she would get to the location earlier. Akemi had slipped onto the shuttle as one of the last, getting plenty of attention as she did so. No, not because of her fame (well maybe partly). More likely because of the very standout attire and makeup she was wearing that day.

Holding a very old looking chest to her, it was difficult to make out any clan mons - although it was clear by her wakizashi and sidearm that she was a samurai. She sat herself down, and giggled softly to herself over something...

Nishida took the densai with great interest and handed Kyoko the Holoslate with the Information about YamadaCorp.

YamadaCorp is basically just an Arms provider. They have some industrial plants that produce weapons that are in true crab style, not very elegant, but absolutely reliable. From sidearms to heavy guns, YamadaCorp offers every type of weapon for soldiers. On the pamphlet you will find some offers for both light and heavy guns with technical data on their performance.
YamadaCorp prides itself on its quality and is known in business circles for producing high quality products.

"Thank you, Kyoko. I'm sure you're mistress will find our company very interersting" he replied to the Servant.

Nishida assesed the flock of People that have gathered. As far as he could tel he was by farthest the oldest and most high Ranking. He did not take part of the quarrel and rather observed the younger Samurai.

"Haha, thank you Hida-san, my brother taught me most of what I know. Hmmm, could you cross your arms though? In a very casual manner, if you will."



"Wow, those are pretty good! I really like how detailed they are too! I find it a lot easier to draw using an electronic medium though, is there a reason you prefer paper?"

She resumes sketching, too busy focusing on getting the details just right while she has the Hida's attention to notice the newcomer, flicking her eyes back and forth once again, though Tetsu still holds a silver of her attention.

Tetsu cracks a smile. "I'm glad you like them. They'll hardly get me into a Kakita showcase, but that's not why I do them. As for why paper...may I sit?"

If prompted, Tetsu will sit and join Tsukiko.

"Electronics are fantastic for calculations and final design stages. I'll do my final calculations in there, because it gives me a precision on a final product. But drawing, feeling the ink on paper just helps me figure out how it fits together in my mind, you know?"

Tsukiko motions for Tetsu to sit and moves to the side.

"I haven't drawn using paper since I was... 8? It's been a while... Anyway, I totally recommend that you switch to drawing electronically, some of the high quality apps really help streamline the drawing process. It's not that difficult to get used to as drawing apps can emulate drawing on paper but make it easier in nearly every way. Perfect shapes, undoing mistakes, zooming in and out, multiple styles, the colors, and best of all the ability to easily share your art! What's not to like?"

She pauses in her sketching, some focus lost in her fervor.

"Right, um, I can introduce you to some of the good drawing apps if you want, though some of them require you to purchase the premium version to not be overloaded with ads."

Akemi crossed arms. She was anything but casual, overdoing it in every way at once, trying to appear sympathetic, impressive, detached and cool at the same time.

She kept her awkward pose for far too long before realizing the miai had already started for the two artists, and they weren't according her anymore attention. So she turned back to...

She raised an eyebrow. Who was the girl who had appeared nearby while she was distracted, in her oversophisticated black and white clothes?

Wait.

Black and white?

Akemi looked at Nishida and Kyoko, unsubtly pointing at the... person. Anyone could easily read on her face something alongside the lines of There's a goddamn Spider here, should I quietly break her neck and hide the body in her own luggage or is this considered a no-no in a miai context?.

"Hmmm" Tetsu put a finger to his chin. "Maybe...but I think I would need a personal computer or Densai of my own for that." He chuckles. "Usually my arrangements are spartan, but enough to make do with computer when I want to fiddle on it. I would love to learn a few things, if you have recommendations. You probably know more about programs than I do...I got the basic crash programming course at the Academy"

The pointing got her attention, and Nara turned to face the woman pointing at her.

"Yes? Do you need something? A hug, an autograph, a flower? I don't have a flower, sorry!"

Nishida finished copying the information about Aoishi Industrys onto his wwn densai when he noticed Akemis rather, unsubtle, display of concern. He gave Kyoko the densai back an offered her a shallow bow before going over to Akemi.

"It would be unwise to cause a scene" he whispered to her. "Better wait for her to introduce herself, if anything at all"