"Mmmm..." His lips curled into a wry smile. "It was at times, mostly likely due to my failure to live up to them." He had already said as much after all.

"But not yet, father thinks they have too much yet to learn to be fussing after spouses." Not that he particularly disagreed, the twins were.... adults not children. "Perhaps in a few more years something will be arranged."

"If one of them inherits, then yes, most likely it will be some important arrangement made." The fact that there seemed to be some heirs to businesses here surprised here. Normally these things were planned well in advance.

Oh well.

"I can't say I had any more or less expectations from my mothers as a middle-child. Two of my brothers, one older, and one younger, are both shugenja - navigators - so they're kind of favored. Not that it means my sisters and I were ever neglected though. Mom has always been kind of doting on all of us. Right, I have two sisters as well, so I'm right in the middle of my siblings. All of them are Sky Riders, like me."

"Oh, you're right there, and honestly something has likely already been set into motion. I'm just not around the house enough to be privy to all of that."

"Five of you then?" That was a rather large family. "Seems your parents had quite the fondness for children." Yes children, absolutely nothing improper about that. "I take it you all get along?"

"Mirror Marriage. Easier to have a large family when both can bear children," she said with a slight smirk. Indeed, both of her mothers had been

"Mom is the one who has mostly been raising us though. Utaku Sanya. She used to be an Ide, trained with the Iuchi, so she's a bit more fond of being around children and teaching. Mother is nice too, but she's always been more busy with the military. Utaku Jisoo. She's a captain in the 1st Sky Rider Wing."

Hyeon-ju shrugged easily. "I'd say we all get along. We have our fights, but all families do."

A mirror marriage among Utaku, somehow he wasn't too surprised. Not that it was an unusual things, but the stories of the Utaku always seemed to bring up the way they were in the past.

"Glad to hear you all get along. Do you get to see them often?" Hayato asked a bit curious. "I've been away from home more or less since I was a child, so I'm always a bit curious how other families work."

"Not so much anymore, alas. As navigators and pilots, we're not always rotated out of active duty simultaneously, but we try to keep in touch the best we can. I got to see them for a bit before travelling here. But all of us having spent time training before that too it feels like it's been a good while since we were all together in one room for more than just a few hours."

At least there seemed to be a fondness in her voice as she spoke of her family.

"You don't see your family much it seems like? Not even keeping in touch with calls or messages?"

"We keep in touch via messages and calls, when it's possible." He smiled softly. "It's not really possible to take personal calls when I'm deployed in the field though."

"Usually its with my sisters or Mom though. My father is typically busy with his own duties though." He sniled. "Still like you I had a chance to see them before coming here."

"That's good," she said, turning her near-empty glass between her fingers. "Guess they were giving you the run-down about what sort of match you should be pursuing?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He'd already shared a bit of insight there though, so no need to go back over it.

"My sisters had some... gifts for me as well." Something in his tone might indicate that he might of not thought much if them. There were some things little sisters should just never get you...

She smirked a little bit at that last part. "Sounds like they were gifts you didn't like recieving. Mind if I ask what it was?"

That caused him to pause a moment, before he sighed softly. Reaching up to rub at the back of his neck he offered Hyeon-ju a wry smile.

"For the most part, fashion magazines, and other magazines with dating advice in them. They had gone through them and underlined the articles they thought most important. There were of course a few a few knickknacks that they said I could you as gifts. Apparently they thought I couldn't find a." He tilted his head to the side coquettishly and offered the Utaku a bright smile, his hands coming up to form a heart shape with his thumbs and index fingers. "Love Match! All on my own."

He shook his head and smirked. "There was one other gift too, but I think you're going have to convince me to part with that information."

"Ah."

She smirked fully. "Well then. It sounds like I know what I will want if I win our next wager, when we decide what it will be."

"...."

"You just might be an evil genius you know." Now he would need to think of something just as deadly.

"Maybe I am. I prefer to think of it as tactical strikes," she said, giving him a rare but sincere innocent-like smile before lifting her glass to drink the last remains of ice coffe mixed with mostly melted ice.

"We just need to decide on the next wager, of course."

That brought a laugh from his lips, though he couldn't help to take note of her smile. Getting one of those from the Utaku might count as a win even if he lost the bet.

"Indeed, because I think i know what I'm asking for if I win too. Maybe on the results of the contest before our next date? That would be a easy one."

She thought about it, then took out her densai to check the list of planned contests from the hosts.

"Hmm... in four days time then. Who will be the top 3 of the Orbital Defense challenge. Winner will be who was closest to the most correct guesses." Hyeon-ju looked at him. "Does this sound acceptable?"

"Certainly." Hayato replied after a moment. He'd likely do poorly there. Wouldn't hurt to bet on who would do well. "We can send each other our picks the night before."

"Does order matter?"

"Hmmm... I'll say that order does not matter, except in determining a tie if that is needed?" she suggested after thinking it through.

"But yes, it is only fair we have time to think of our choices. As long as it is sent the day before sometime."

"That works for me." Hopefully the guessed the contents of the event correctly to. It'd be be disaster otherwise.

"Gives you time to figure out what exactly we are doing too."

"Mm, yes, that is true."

She turned the empty glass between her fingers. "It seems like we have a plan for when we next meet."