Thoroughly soaked, the Spider made his way to the common room, to go boxes held safe. He took a few moments to set out the boxes and cups, and awaited his lunch meeting.

The Moshi just sat listening to some music and reading a book while she waited for the Spider. She is not really good at focusing so the girl was also humming the tune. She nodded at the rhythm of the music..

//Translation

Tsugiharu looked over at the Moshi in her own world.

He unboxed the food, allowing the various aromas to waft over to the Moshi to see if that would be sufficient to gain her attention.

The aroma of the food waked her up from her reverie. She looked at the Spider and bashfully laughed. "You are wet Kikuchi san... You should have borrowed my umbrella." Atena shook her head.

"That would have been preferable, Moshi-san, hai, but I think I will survive." he admitted.

He gestured to the spread.

"Miso soup, seaweed salad, grilled fish, rice, umeboshi, and green tea." he said. "Although I think that the umeboshi is some local plantlife, probably a mushroom knowing our hosts."

"Wow... That would hit the spot." She smiled. "You should change though... or at least dry up..."She stood up and went to the towel rack picking a towel. "Here... we don't want our hosts to be annoyed by the wet Spider."

He accepted the towel with grace.

"Arigato, Moshi-san." he said, first drying his face and arms, then spending a decent amount of time on the hair, long hair was a bother that way.

"You seem to have found a nice way to spend this kind of day though. Good music and a book."

"Perfect form to enjoy a rainy day. I just need a throw blanket, nice hot soup and tea... not forgetting good company." She smiled taking a seat on the eating table. "I should apologize for last night... I was hoping nothing would have happened... if I went to the arcade. I guess you know now why I don't play video games." She had to let out that off her chest.

Well that answered that, she knew. Tsugiharu thought.

"Hm, also a practical reason to not retain an Otori. Having an incident while riding could prove life-threatening." he mused.

He served the green tea.

"But what I'm less certain about Moshi-san is, if you knew that there was a decent chance of it triggering an incident, and you knew that both miai candidates as well as the matchmakers' eyes would be there, why did you go? You know that it's not exactly a favorable quality to display. Have you perhaps decided you do not wish to marry at all, and hoped to sabotage any chance of that happening?"

"Ignorance... I just wanted to have fun... and with most people there... I just..." She started shying away. "I... I... I...I know... I know... Baka baka baka." She just looked down and picked a tea warming her hands with the cup.

Tsugiharu looked over at the Moshi.

"Moshi-san calm down. Stop blaming yourself and just breathe. What's done is done, and we can discuss where we go from here, but I need you to calm down first. Just breathe." he said, trying to avoid another incident.

The girl took a deep breath. "Sorry..." She sipped her tea. "I wish..." She took a breath. "I am not wife material for our hosts... I just wanted to help achieve some peace between the clans."

Tsugiharu looked at her consideringly.

"Hm. Keep going with that thought, Moshi-san. I want to know more about what motivates you, and what you're trying to achieve. How were you going to 'achieve peace between the clans'?" he encouraged.

"Well...It is a matter of communication... talking... listening... Interpretation... should just seize with instead of war tournaments and the best win. That would be a silly idea." she sighed at her tea. "Don't you think?"

Tsugiharu considered the communications officer who couldn't communicate. The pieces were falling a bit more in to place.

"So is the Mantis clan...at least it would have been to our earliest ancestors. A great clan that was not founded by one of the children of Sun and Moon? How could they stand as equals with the other great clans?" he posed.

He tilted his his a bit.

"How did the Mantis become a great clan, Moshi-san?" he asked.

The Moshi closed her eyes for a moment trying to remember. "Yoritomo dono... He was granted the power of thunder by the thunder dragon." She chuckled. "You know... The idea that we are not really related directly to the children of heaven is amusing. Even though my heritage is of a minor clan... yet I can withstand a snowstorm." She shook her head. "It is... anoo... the strength... the show... the storm that is stirring inside." She isn't much of a history buff but know where the Spider was coming from.

Tsugiharu nodded.

"That is your heritage, Moshi-san. You can achieve things that others will tell you you cannot. It will not be easy, it will not be without setback, but you can grasp it. You made a difficult choice, Moshi-san. You knew that going to the starcade was risky, but you wanted the company of others. And so you overcame your reluctance to go, and went. Yes, you did not achieve what you wanted when you got there, but just going was an achievement of it's own." he said.

"Hai... Arigatou Kuchiki san." She smiled and relaxed. "That book we found at the library helped me with that. It made me realize I should be a more outgoing. You know... but just small steps... right?"

Tsugiharu nodded.

"Though to be honest, Moshi-san, I think if that's your goal, you should focus on more small meetings like this one. When you gather a bunch of samurai in a group people tend to have their guard up a lot more. They're managing how they're seen in front of the group. If you really want to be more outgoing, you should focus on swaying people to your cause one at a time, rather than en masse." he suggested.

"Yes... yes it should. Small meetings... sounds good." She smiled at that. "Maybe that is a better start."