Yul laughed. "You're right. Fair's fair." His hand twitched, reaching towards her as she stumbled, but he relaxed as she steadied herself.

He walked along with Ichika, joining her at the edge of the path. As dark as it was, they couldn't see very far into the thicket of mushrooms. "Actually, Hyeon-ju-san and I went clothes shopping as well. I've got a few new outfits myself."

"Get anything good?" she asked, peering off into that darkness that faded so much. Focusing a little each time to adjust to the low light to see everything she could, slowing their pace as they walked.

"Yeah." Yul grinned at her. "Tell you what. Next time we hang out, I'll wear one of them. How does that sound?"

He shrugged as they slowly walked along. "Hyeon-ju's got a good eye for this sort of stuff. She's really into fashion."

"I can see that," her voice trailed a little into a thought. Shaking her head just a little, "I should spend more time with her, I think. She's nice.."

"Well..." Yul pursed his lips, weighing his various options. "She has a way about her, that's true..."

After a few moments, he shook his head, grinning. "I'm sorry. She and I just really don't get along. Or... that's not quite true. We just butt heads all the time. I'm fire, and she's ice, our squadronmates say." He chuckled. "And it really feels like that a lot of the time, too."

Ichika laughed onto the back of her right hand, knuckles touching her bottom lip. "You both say such similar things," she waved the thought off. "You're both really good people, you know? In your own ways."

For a moment, Yul made a face, but then he laughed. "Thanks." He said, a smile on his face.

"I don't know. I'd never call her nice, but she definitely has integrity. I respect her. I just don't like her." After a moment, Yul sighed. "Not exactly, anyway."

"Well," she said, stepping forward a quick few steps and turning around in a graceful twist. "I do," she said with a soft giggle. Wrinkling her nose at him a little bit.

"So," she said, stepping backward now. Slower as to be more careful, "About what I said before.. I feel like I should go there, see what happens when I talk to people. Would you come with me, Shinjo-san? Fly me there?" she asked, tilting her head.

Yul just chuckled, letting it pass.

Smiling, Yul nodded. "Yeah. Sure. I can do that. Just let me know when and where, huh? That's what I do."

He stepped towards her, miming a plane taking off with one hand, swooping it parallel across the space between them.

"Of course!" she said, a little smile with a quick nod. Following that she listened to the quiet of the early night, the setting sun leaving what little light they did have growing ever dimmer amid the garden. Feeling that a bit she smiled sheepishly and turned about, walking forward.

Yul lengthened his stride, keeping up with Ichika.

"So... what do you think." He said, smiling at her gently. "At the end of this, are you gonna be more like 'okay, now I'm really fond of mushrooms'? Or more like 'wow, I hope I never see another mushroom again'?"

"I think.." she said, glancing around at all of the flora in the garden. Taking a renewed interest in each one as she did so. "I think there are memories on this planet I would prefer to forget. One's that I will cherish forever, and.. well," she looked to him with a smile, "I don't think I'm going to blame the mushrooms for either, yea?"

Yul looked away, a strange look on his handsome features. "Not... most of them, anyway."

He looked back at Ichika, once more smiling gently. "Would you share one or two of your favorite memories with me?"

Ichika furrowed one of her brow at that but, she was just about letting it go when he asked the question. Almost start-stopping in how she moved. A little hiccup in the mainframe, she played it off well as she kept walking but it wasn't hard to notice the pause.

"One," she said, starting the story. "When I came here, I didn't really expect a lot, you know? But there was one moment before," she shook her head. "I was sitting on my bed, working on a project. Utaku Hyeon-ju-san was working on Daigotsu Ryuu-san's appearance, and Kuni Koryn-san came in and we started talking about..." she glanced away, and then down, "I don't really remember."

With a soft sigh she picked her shoulders back up, "For a moment, looking at the room.. it was a little surreal, you know? Different samurai from so many different lives and places. We all just kinda.. got together. Almost like our own little family, yea? Maybe.." she said, sheepishly now as she continued, "maybe it was silly to get so wrapped up in it."

Yul's expression, already gentle, softened further at the mention of Koryn.

Smiling, he shook his head. "I don't think it was silly at all. I feel like this whole thing is full of... I don't know what you'd call them. Fated moments, or something. Things that we're gonna remember the rest of our lives."

The smile became a grin. "I remember, for instance, when a lovely young Crane woman read a poem next to me on a shuttle. And then we talked, and we've been friends ever since."

Looking up to Yul, shorter as she was, she seemed to hold the words until the last moment, "Yea.." a soft smile, bringing her hands together down by her waist. "I'll remember that one awhile too. Like you said though.. I don't think I'll remember that moment quite as much as the one when you came and saved me from my troubles," she said with a light laugh slightly choked laugh, a touch elsewhere as she looked away.

Yul smiled. "I'll remember that one too, believe me. Being a rescuer is a pretty good feeling, you know."

His expression grew more serious. "Ichika-san... do you have some idea yet if you're going to remain a Crane, or..." He waved a hand vaguely.

"I-" the word caught in her throat a little, which was strange to even her. "No, I probably won't be a Crane after all of this but.. that's been the plan since well.." she reached down by her knee, waved her hand there. "Guess-" she paused, holding something in. "Probably going to be a Spider by the end, I think. Not really sure, but, those seem to be the ones who are interested," she said, finding something to kick-brush her foot against.

"Oh." Yul said, his smile fading. "That's... kinda hard for me to imagine." This time he averted his gaze, chewing his bottom lip.

Eventually, he cleared his throat. "Well... hey, there's still some time left, huh? Maybe... who knows how things will turn out? And we can keep doing this." Smiling again, Yul looked around. "Maybe we'll have explored this whole thing by the end of the miai, huh?"

"Well," she said, stepping forward a bit in a manner that had her on the front pads of her feet. "I- I thought with all the preparation, all the training, I'd be ready to go anywhere, yea?" she prepped, but rather than continuing she just shrugged. Stopping short she spun about casually, "I'd like that, Yul-san," she said with a smile that lasted but a few seconds.