Finding her way here with a small set of instructions she'd received in a quick back and forth with Chiruha, asking where the woman was. Ichika presented herself as far as she could get before people would start asking questions which was likely with how unfamiliar she was with the area. Not that she worried much, a smile and a few words usually got her most places without incident!

The Robotics Club were given their own space by the dojo in form of a workshed where much of the hand-me-down equipment went from the dojo actual. There were boxes about, most with various electronics and discarded junk that could be repurposed here.

Inside, Chiruha would be found working at one of the old terminals that were older than some grandparents, clacking away on the mechanical keyboard as she went through what looked like lines of code on the screen of black and green text. There were some children here, who sat either under or on some of the workbenches as the perused their renga. Chiruha perked up when the door creaked open.

"Oh! Doji-san, hello!" she greeted her with a small bow in her seat. "I don't expect to find you here but you are very welcomed!"

"Good afternoon Asako-sama!" Ichika greeted with a cheery looking smile and a half-raised wave. Stepping in through the door she turned about to close it gently. Giving a wave to the younger among them in passing and walking over to Chiruha. "With you so busy was only right that I came to find you, yea?" she said with a small smile.

Glancing around she looked for a seat as she continued, "How have you been, Asako-sama?"

"Oh! Right!" Chiruha gave her forehead a slap at the mention of how busy she was, suddenly feeling embarrassed that she dragged out the Doji on her terms once again, even as the host's daughter. She stood from her seat and bowed. "Thank you for come out here, Doji-san. It's not...much here but at least it's cozy and comfortable. The children seems to think so!"

She chuckled as she gestured to the others in the room.

"I've been doing good, I guess trying to do some catch up with the coding here. I should probably go out more but this has been keeping me awake at night. Maybe, maybe I'll get it working as intended before the end of the miai. How about you?" she asked curiously in return.

"Oh, mrmm..." she murmured to herself as she felt a faint vibration in her pockets. It was message from a heimen but she did like to keep tabs on the ranch. "Sorry, one moment, Doji-san."

She pulled out her communicator and angled it so that Ichika wouldn't see it. Samurai listening to heimen, what would she think?



"How about we walk and talk? I should be getting my fresh air anyways," she chuckled as she pocketed her communicator.

"Of course, Asako-sama," she said with a pepped little step to the side to let Chiruha lead them out again, wherever she needed to be. In passing she gave another little wave to the younger in the room. "I'm glad they take so well to the place," she said, just as they'd pass them by.

"I've been well.." she looked to Chiruha, the little touch of concern notable in her eye. "I was coming by to speak with you about Yasuki Nishida-sama but.. are you busy Asako-sama? I wouldn't want to get in the way of anything important."

"Maybe one day they'll catch interest in robotics!" she chuckled out loud, "but we do manage to catch a few of their interests when they get older. It takes one of their friends to do it and then usually everyone gets roped in. I mean why read about Super Sky Mecha Sentai when you can build it?"

"Oh...uhm, just something came up but it's not a big deal," said downplaying the situation. The last thing her father needed was visitors thinking that there was even more trouble in the neighbourhood, "But! I've been really looking forward to hearing from you!"

She opened the shed door and made her way out but walked at a leisurely pace so that Ichika could follow without effort. "Half the time, my meetings are done on foot, believe it or not."

Day 10, Late Afternoon: Sincerity/Awareness with void spent: 5d10o10k4 18

"I do! You don't really seem like the kind of person to sit around," she laughed a few notes, happily following along. Raising both her brows, "Which is a good thing! In this situation at least, yea?" she glanced around as they stepped outside. Smiling as she took in the unexpectedly pleasant day.

"Anyway.. I spoke to Yasuki Nishida-sama! Heard that you and him spoke a little too, yea?" she said, leaning in to give the light tease to the suggestion. "How'd that go, before I start spilling the beans?" she added with a chuckle.

LA 10 | Investigation[Awareness],Unskilled vs Chiruha 18: 4d10 9

"Oooh..." she murmured as she looked a bit bashful at the question. "We only met up on the day after the Robotics Rally and he showed me his drone. It seemed he was really good at engineering and programming, which seems surprising since I had to insist that he joined. I guess he was being humble? But it went well and he even supported me at Fan-Con, too!"

"Well, he thinks you're really nice and that you're capable soo," she smiled as she leaned in toward her while they walked. Scrunching her nose a little bit she shook her head, teasing just a tad. "That's good," she chuckled. "But! Not the most important thing you wanted to know, hmm?"

"For starters, if you want my opinion, I think he'd actually be a pretty amazing match for you Asako-sama," she said confidently with a smile and a nod. "Yasuki Nishida-sama has an appreciation for nature. One that extends a bit more than what you'd expect for a Yasuki actually.. when I asked him about the state of Asakaze he had some belief that was toward balance, yea? Which is good, important too, hmm?"

Chiruha found herself blushing more as she huddled closely to Ichika as they walked, surely more wanting to keep this private than being eager for details! "He does? He does!"

"You do?" she asked afterwards. It was perhaps too much to take in that she stopped on her walk enroute to the ranch and slowly made her way to an off-world tree that was planted in the dojo's courtyard instead. When she was going through her schooling, it was a nice private place to chat with some privacy.

"Those are all good things..." she murmured before turning thoughtful, "but that would also mean that I would be married into the Yasuki if he were to choose me, no?"

Looking up to the tree as they walked under it Ichika couldn't help but smile, was a cute little thought. How far from home both of them were, her and this tree, but it was passing as she came back to the here and now. With a slow nod of her head, "Mmm," she vocalized. Placing her hand onto her chin she thought for a moment.

"It-" she paused, shook her head. "I'm sorry Asako-sama," she looked down, glancing away a moment. As she started fiddling with her finger she looked back to her. "I hadn't thought about that.. I was so excited on how compatible you two are," she said, bringing her hand up to rub the back of her neck.

"It's fine," she said with a bittersweet smile, "nothing you have to apologize for. I was discussing this with a friend some days ago. Marriage is about change and I think most of us have gone into this expecting some change, especially in our own lives, whether big or small. Maybe I am getting more sentimental over it than others but despite Nishida-sama sharing some of the same vision as me, I will be leaving this place. Not for certain but it's likely."

She placed her hand on the tree and sighed, "It does make it harder to do much here when you're destined to be elsewhere. Nishida-sama does have an important position on the Green Carp, which is a world much like this one but not exactly Asakaze either."

"That's kinda why my aim was.." she brought her hands together, "to see how you two might connect? Make each other better, yea?" she said, looking to Chiruha for a moment before continuing. "Growing up I was always prepared for that so it was easy to forget that as.." she furrowed her brow, "well, something to consider, yea? You have a life here and a purpose here that is important and while it might be something you will have to move on from.. it wasn't something I thought to consider when thinking about talking about all this, yea?"

"Anyway.." she said, a little pep returned with a quick bounce on her step. "That is the important thing though, yea? If you're likely going to get married away anyway.. best to do it with someone whom you can work with and even better if you can get along, yea? I think you might have that with Yasuki-sama, I'd put my bet on it'd work out and.. where you might go won't be here, no, but it'll be a new place. Somewhere else you can put your heart into, with it's own problems that you can fix, yea?"

Chiruha gave a shrug of her shoulders as she smiled sheepishly, thinking to herself. To say that Asakaze was perhaps her first love was perhaps too much, likely a hyperbole. However, she did like being here a lot and she was rather attached in many ways. There could be a piece of her heart left here.

She brushed some hair from her forehead and nodded in acceptance. "But you are right too, Doji-san. It's something we should have always prepared for, leaving our place of birth."

"The Green Carp does sound like a wonderful place and Nishida-sama is an amicable person. Hearing that you think so does give me a lot of confidence in that potential pairing. You're right now that you've put it all into perspective. It was really there all along."

"Just.. I still feel like I could have approached it a little better, Asako-sama. Maybe.." she shook her head, "It may not be the best, or what is most hoped for but.. having that ability to mover forward stronger together would be far better than staying here and.." she shook her head.

"There are some at this Miai that make me.. I don't know, their outlooks have been dim Asako-sama."

Chiruha nodded slowly in acceptance, "You're right, Doji-san. I suppose either way, I will be pair up with another eventually and pairs don't work unless they move together. I will risk dragging someone else down if I don't look forward to the future. I admit I've been a bit selfish in that regard."

"Their outlooks?" she asked curiously, "Do you mind sharing?"

"A lot of them worry about the usual things, hmm? There was.. one, one who is afraid of a marriage that reveals itself only in the later years. Knowing his parents barely learned anything of one another until they were later in life," she sighed a little, walking closer to Chiruha and the tree. Looking up into the leaves, "He told me recently how he wanted to meet and get to know the potentials- those who might become his bride, as much as possible now.." she walked up to the tree, turning around so she could put her back against it and look to Chiruha.

"So worried he is, or was, that he'll never get the chance to learn about them or spend time with them later in life. At least.. not until both him and his spouse grow old."

Chiruha gave a bemused blink on the matter and frowned thoughtfully, "Oh...there is worrying and there is really worrying. Would that be something that would be impossible to do, no matter how much someone might know a person now and here, they might be different elsewhere and in the future? There are far too many variables to know someone perfectly, especially when you're not actively participating in your duties here or might not find the same hardships as you would do at home."