Akemi had kept relying on her servant Kyoko to enter contact with the businesspersons (or more exactly the families of businesspersons) her grandpa had listed for her as attendees to this miai.

Kyoko had called a bit earlier to say she had successfully convey her invitation to... She checked on her densai... Someone related to Asahina Arms. Interesting.

Sat in the common room of the elegant restaurant, Akemi waited for her guest while sipping some tea.

Only a few hours ago, Fusako had been here for a much different meeting. After going back to her rooms, she was back once again, wearing her same outfit as earlier. The host motioned her to her new table and, spotting the Crab, Fusako gave a polite smile and approached, offering a graceful, slight bow.

"Hida-san, konnichi-wa. Your letter was well received. I pray I am not too tardy."

For once, Akemi bowed properly:

"Hida Akemi, granddaughter of Hida Kinichi, of Aoishi Industries' fame. Not at all. Please take a seat. Do you desire some tea?"

Moving to sit, Fusako gave a small nod. "Just a bit would do nicely, arigato. Something simple."

She put her elbows onto the table and leaned forward, chin on her hands as she smiled faintly. "So then, while we wait... your letter did not specify what this was about Hida-san. Have I stricken your heart from afar perhaps?"

"In a way. Am I right to think you are personally tied to Asahina Arms?"

The Crane raised a fine eyebrow at that. "My, someone's done homework. I am not personally employed by them, nor have I worked for them, but my mother is the eldest daughter of the company chair. While she no longer directly works as an employee, she is still quite connected."

"Why?"

"My grandfather would like it very much if you could take some of your time to look at this."

Akemi handed up her densai to the Asahina. On it was displayed a standard supplier contract for certain alloys, with Aoshi Industries as the seller and Asahina Arms as the buyer. One with business acumen would easily notice it is currently heavily in favor of Aoshi, but also that it leaves some room open for negotiation.

"According to him, this is a very good deal, especially in that context."

While Fusako was a designer like her father, she had learned quite a bit from her mother about finances and expenses. Her eyes flitted over the sheet as she sipped at her tea idly, tapping at the cup. Finally she nodded. "For what it is, I can agree... but that is cross clan exchange prices, and long distance too. My mother would never show her family this when she could get the same product from trade partners, or even Daidoji sellers, at a more reasonable price. Aoshi has Crab quality to it of course, but you must realize that much of AA's budget goes into safety and testing. They can't be so cavalier with their supply budget."

Akemi nodded:

"Understandable. I can give you my cousin Go coordinates should the situation evolve and this deal be reconsidered in a new light. He is the one overseeing our inter-clans contracts."

Fusako nodded faintly. "I can of course forward any such information on to my mother, for her to bring to AA's attention. A bit of a round about way to it, but reliable enough."

Taking a new sip of her tea, she looked over her cup with a slight tease to her gaze. "Is that why Hida-san is here then, business dealings?"

"I'm just a miai participant like you and everyone else. But grandpa would have killed me if I didn't use the opportunity to increase his business reach. So kinda killing two birds with one stone here?

I'm surprised you aren't using this opportunity yourself to..."

She quickly looked at her notes on her densai:

"... To increase Isora Fashions' reach by having it sponsor one of the events. But maybe you are?"

"I would never be so gauche as to try to make the miai into advertisement dear. I have plenty of dresses I brought with to do that for me without throwing koku at the Phoenix." She gave a smile. "I designed this one myself, as I have all the ones I have with. Perhaps connections will be made, but that's more what the marriage part is for, ne?"

"You can only marry one, but you can establish ties with many. Even within our own clans, as the universe is gigantic, and there are cousins here we might have never encountered otherwise.

Speaking of which, did anyone catch your attention? For such a prestigious lady as yourself, suitors must be in abundance.

Oh, and, uh... My own grasp of fashion might be... Limited. Like owning 10 times the same suit limited."

"Now now, of course there are other connections to be made Hida-dear. After all, I'm hardly the sort to put all of my rice into one bag. I've made it a point to get to know as many as I can since I've arrived, which is in part why I was so readily agreeable to this meeting."

Leaning back a bit, she looked thoughtful before grinning just a bit. "Any that have caught my eye... mmm, I am not the sort to needlessly gossip, or kiss and tell. I will note at least that the Spider seem to be here in abundance, and many have come to me for talks." She paused. "You are quite fetching as well Hida-san. Perhaps I should carry you off to become a Crane?"

"Grandpa would open up the very best sake bottles of his reserve if I was to marry such a prestigious lady as you. But might I hazard the guess simply asking for your hand won't be enough to acquire it?"

Her lips twitched at the mention of Spider:

"It's no surprise the Spider wants to woo you indeed. As it's no surprise either that, as a Crab, I will advise you to reject their advances. The Crane and the Spider might be allied at the moment... But it's not a deal I can see lasting long, by simple virtue of the Spider being the Spider. About any other clan would be a better match in the long run in my opinion."

"Quite the advisement against Hida-san." she noted with a slightly smirked smile, setting her tea cup down as she did so. "I would not comment on my clan's erstwhile ally, other than to note that I am capable of weeding out trouble quite well enough on my own, but on more level topics; yes, it would take quite a bit more than that. There is still an entire week of decisions and demonstrations. I would hardly be a good business woman if I went for the first, or even the second or third, deal that I'm offered."

"Highly reasonable indeed. Might I be so bold as to ask which qualities you are looking for in your mate? As for myself, you would have understand by now that the prestige of one's line is one of my foremost criteria. Next would be... Empathy I guess? To be able to understand my spouse's feelings and obligations, and that they might understand mine, even if we disagree."

"I could find a use for many things, but if a person lacks vision and wit, I'd have only a token use. Creativity helps, and analytical thinking. Looking good doesn't hurt either of course." She ticked off fingers as she thought up good qualities.

"That's a lot to ask of a single person. I'm not sure anyone here has all these qualities. Unless you're describing someone you've already met, in which case I would very much like to meet them too.

Closest I can think of on the spot is Yasuki Nishida-sama, businessman and informal head of our little delegation. He definitely got the vision, the wit and the analytical thinking parts going for him.

I could oversell myself of course, but that profile kind of points to a courtier or an artisan, not someone whose daily job is to bash anything in the wrong colors that goes past them. Though I do intend to rank up to a position where I could see the whole battlefield and beyond instead of just being tunnel vision to the next problem."

That elicited a chuckle. "Oh, it is hardly a list of all my requirements Hida-san, merely things I appreciate. I've already met Yasuki-san actually, and he IS quite a fine participant. Still, the Crane would not have sent me here if I was expected to marry a courtier or artisan. After all, bushi were favored in their invitation. I think you have plenty of qualities going for yourself, even if you are humble about them."