Akemi made a She spotted me! Bring out the tetsubo and the armor now! face at Kyoko that she answered by making insistent "no" and "calm down" signs with her hands.

Since no one was apparently on her side, Akemi unclenched her teeth and went for some sort of diplomatic approach.

"Hi samurai-sama. A flower? I don't have a vase on me sadly. Nice day today isn't it? Are you visiting Asakaze for a very short business trip that will be over, like, tomorrow? I heard the sun of this planet is not good for pale complexion."

Nishida cringed internally.

Why couldn't you just ignore her, he thought.

He thought about letting the Hida sort it out herself and to continue to ignore the spider. But letting a Hida sort out such matter was like letting her go in blind into a porcelain store with a tetsubo.

He stood next to her and put his salesman On on. waiting for Akemi to introduce him. He hoped that she had so much insight into etiquette.

"A vase is just a holder, anything can be a vase if you believe it to be! I also don't a vase, or a flower, so you'll have to accept my apology and a promise to bring you a flower next time" she bowed "unless you want a flower off my head? I have no thorns I swear" she giggled, a smile on her face bringing out her pretty features. "I don't know how long I'm here for. How long is a miai?"

"Oh yes the miai. Of course the miai."

Please no, no, no, grandpa would kill me.

"So I'm, like, Hida Akemi. And, this is Yasuki... Nishida-sama. He is a very important businessperson. To who do we owe the hon... the pleasure?"

When he got introdruced he gave the Spieder a slight bow and in turn waited for her to introduce herself.

"Heee, Akemi is a nice name. I knew an Akemi, she was lovely. Nice to meet you Heee-daaa-San" Nara hopped up, bowing first to Akemi then to the Yasuki "and Ya-zuu-ki-sama! Busy busy businessman, are you here to sell you wares?" There was a sparkle of joy in the girls eyes before she stood up straight.

"I'm Su-su-mu Nara!"

"Well, Susumu-san, do you, uh, happen to know if a lot of your brethren are expected to this miai? I, uh, wouldn't want for you to feel lonely."

"At least one more of her bretheren will be there Hida-san but your concern is touching." Came a voice from not too far away where an unassuming man sat in simple black and gray robes reading a densai he had not yet looked up from. He was handsome in a bookish way with glasses covering his dark eyes as the illumination from the screen reflected off of them.

His tone was mildly sarcastic, maybe a touch playful. He had been quiet and kept to himself on the shuttle so it was no surprise he had been overlooked till now.

There was a small hop as Nara turned, having not known one of her own was even here.

"Hee, more friends!"

She smiled brightly at Akemi.

"Hee-da-san is interested in us all? Is Hee-da-san hoping to marry? You can meet the others! I don't know who is coming but more there will be. We can all be friends~"

Akemi looked behind her just in case a third Spider was waiting in ambush. Not for now at least.

"Oh. Hello. Nice to meet you. I'm Hida Akemi and this is the great Yasuki Nishida."

She managed a half-bow this time. Maybe the next surprise guest she will manage to greet properly.

"So... What do you two do in live?"

Outside drinking the soul of the innocent she thought.

"I'm a military woman myself. Infantry, shock troupes, the good stuff."

Satoru sighed softly and powered down his densai sitting it next to him "Honored to meet you Hida-san and Yasuki-sama. This one is Kuchiki Satoru. I am a priest to the kami and a combat medic, a surgeon. When you shock troops shoot each other or get mauled by megafauna im there to stitch people back up. If damage is too great I am also a modest fleshcraft engineer."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Susumu-san. In Fact I'm here for the Miai too. May i inquire what your duty is for your clan?" he asked her.

When the other spider made itself noticeable, Nishida's hand twitched imperceptibly. By reflex he almost called Akechi to him. But they were not in a shabby alley and as long as Akemi was there, he had at least a small feeling of security.

After being introduced by Akemi he gave Satoru a bow too.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kuchiki-san. A Surgeon, Priest and Engineer you say? That seems like a handful of duties. You will surely become a popular candidate in the Miai."

Tetsu glances up and makes a sound along the lines of "arrgrrrunt", seeing a situation begin to arise in front of him. He falls in with Akemi and Nishida.

Who had the bright idea to put all the Spider and Crab stuck together for an hour with no way out?

"Well, I don't think I introduced myself. Kaiu Tetsu." Tetsu offers a stiff, short bow

Satoru smirked "I am glad you think so Yasuki-sama, it is said the Yasuki are excellent at judging the worth of goods and commodities, what is a samurai but a commodity for his lord?" He asked with an eyebrow raised "as for my jobs, when you serve the Empire in such a way as we do one must wear many hats to be useful in many situations."



Satoru had a similar thought. "Honored to meet you Kaiu-san. It seems we are one Hiruma and kuni short of a full crab delegation." He joked but his hand was slightly fidgety playing with his robe. He didn't like this much attention. Hence why he had stayed quiet for so long.

Akemi nodded.

This guy totally is a necromancer. Need to make sure nothing remains of the head when I will be done.

"Oh, yes, fleshcrafts. Big technological leap. Has changed the life of many maimed."

She stretched her own mechanical arm.

"As my grandpa would say A missing arm is no excuse anymore."

Satoru nodded "indeed a modern marvel that allows even the most grievously injured to continue to serve. I scarce believe we got along before its invention when a debilitating wound meant the end of your career." He took solace in the familiar medicine, flesh craft he could talk about these. Better Crab than Crane at any rate.

Nishida gave a smirk back "I try to learn more about the value of each competitor and their performance. After all, every commodity should be thoroughly examined before you acquire it, right?"

Nishida relaxed a bit, the Surgeon seemed alright, for a Spider. When Fundai introduced himself and Satoru made a joke, he took out another cig from his pack and lighted it on. He listend to the conversation about fleshcraft and made some mental notes.

"You see Kuchiki-san, the Samurai of ancient times adjusted to their injury. Adapted themself to their condition and contributed to their clan in other ways." He took a puff. "Also, most Samurai didn't survived recieving grave injuries like loosing a leg or an arm." he said dry.

"Sure they did, but that was more of a compromise than anything else. I'm sure the lords of the past would have loved for their best young warriors to return to the front instead of starting a new career at 20, losing the benefits of about a decade of training in a single unfortunate first battle.

Plus, artificial arms are a Crab tradition. Remember Hida Yakamo? Kisada's son? He had a rad as heck animated jade hand!"

In spite of the seriousness, Tetsu cracks a smile. "Well, with the Kuni I suppose that depends on whether Koryn-kun took the bait. The man needs this more than he knows. But that's the nice thing about Crab...we have a diverse set of ways to kick ass"

Multiple conversations was never something Satoru liked doing, hell usually one conversation was taxing on him. His hand fiddled with his prayer beads instead of his robes as he kept his On in place three small charms woven into the beads "Yes it is known the Crab are some of the best fighters in the Empire." he said simply to the Kaiu.

"Obviously they made due a samurai doesn't forgo his duties so long as he lives but as Hida-san says fleshcraft allows them to do what they are best at, some even can do it better than before."