((Expecting))



Few would recognize Yoritomo Kenta as he walked into the bluebird and claimed his reservation for room 4 at the Bluebird. But then there likely weren't even any fans if BangBang in the city. Some of his friends might recognize Tsuruchi Hayato under the outfit though.

Walking into the room Hayato called the front and ordered a round of beers telling them to bring them when his guests arrived. This was probably a night for love and moonlight walks in the gardens, but Hayato at least had decided to have a little fun with it.

The door opened, revealing Yul and Mumei, Yul still wearing the same clothes he'd worn at the festival. He was laughing as he opened the door, looking at Mumei, his eyes bright. "I know, right?" He said, grinning. The two of them were standing very close; not actually holding hands, but their hands did happen to brush together from time to time.

He looked up, almost surprised to see Hayato there. "Oh. Hayato-san. Hey." Yul gave the man a relaxed wave and a smile; it seemed likely that he'd had at least one drink already. He cleared his throat. "Mumei-san, this is Tsuruchi Hayato. Hayato-san, this is Nakauchi Mumei."

Mumei pauses for the introductions, and bows, a small flicker of not-quite-recognition crossing her face before being dismissed. If she's seen the Yoritomo pop star, it was mostly on the cover of magazines, and this would be a very out of context scenario to recognize him in.

"Tsuruchi-sama," she says quietly, and certainly not with the warmth of the conversation heard from the hallway. "I hope you've had a pleasant Tanabata."

The festival was fancy enough for her single formal outfit A long, flowing, ao dai in cornflower blue over wide-legged tan pants...with various fussy details in the mix, including the mon of her school on the high collar, and of the Osprey on the back.

"A pleasure to meet you Nakauchi-san." Hayato offered with an easy smile. The pair seemed just about ready for a wedding already and he beckoned them inside and gestured fir them to take a seat.

"It was quite fine." He replied with an easy time. "Though I suspect you two had an even better time. Isn't that right Yul-san?"

Fashionably late, Hyeon-ju was still wearing the purple furisode with a bold pattern of peonies she had worn for Tanabata. White lacey gloves and a small brooch at the crossing of her collar added some accessorising touches to make it more personalised for her. Hair was swooped back in a fashionable chignon, secured with flowerpins and a comb.

"Minna-san, good evening," she said, giving the others a wave as she arrived.

"Utaku-san." Hayato offered the Unicorn woman a soft smile as she entered. It was the first time he had seen her in more traditional clothing and he had to admit she pulled it off quite well. "You look, lovely as always."

He glanced between the three. "Seems like I'm the only one under dressed honestly."

Yul shrugged, smiling. "We had a good time, I'd say." He cast Mumei a quick sidelong glance. If an animator had chosen to draw that moment, there would be a good chance Yul would have been drawn with his eyes as little hearts. As it was, his look was decidedly fond, at least.

He lead the way to their seats, his hand briefly at the small of Mumei's back. "Wasp." Yul acknowledged his wingmate with a nod and a smile. "I just hadn't changed from the festival, myself."

He looked at Hayato. "Did you have a chance to- oh, there we go." Yul grinned as a server brought in the round of beers on a tray. He helped to pass them out before taking one for himself.

Hyeon-ju didn't raise an eyebrow at the pair, but Yul was given a very disapproving look. One he had seen many times before.

Someone had heard a certain rumor.

"Nakauchi-san, it's good to meet you in nicer circumstances." The Utaku seemed much more put together now than she had been last they met, and she carefully picked up a beer, wary of spilling on her attire. Cleaning traditional wear was a nightmare.

Hayato smiled slightly as the Utaku frowned, reaching forward to take one of the beers from Yul and pop it open. A touch and not even two minutes in. That was a win for him.

Taking a seat on the couch the couple hadn't claimed he took a sip of his drink. "But as you can see I did. I hope everyone is happy with beer?"

"Beer is fine, Hayato-san. Thank you for making the efforts for this little gathering, but karaoke sounds like a fun way to round off this miai, with its ups and downs."

It was going to be an interesting nights to see which bets would be met first.

Mumei nods to Hyeon-ju, "It is. I hope the Fortunes have granted you better days since that one." Because hoping she'd had a good time since then just seemed odd when you knew she'd been out hunting mushroom zombies.

She takes one of the offered drinks. "Just fine, thank you for the hospitality, Tsuruchi-sama.
_____
(Sorry, quick lunch post, work will run long tonight. I also have lost track of seating arrangements available, feel free to ghost the Osprey into whatever)

"Cheers." Yul said, raising his drink, taking a generous sip. He shifted a little, his knee brushing Mumei's, just a little. It was a small couch, really; they couldn't be blamed.

"Hayato-san, you put this little gathering together." Yul shot the other man a smirk. "I feel like that gives you first choice on song, if you want it. What do you say?"

"Sure." The Mantis replied taking a big gulp out of his beer before settling it to the side. "Though I hope you don't mind if I try to woo you, with a cheesy old love song, in honor of the night of course. " He added with a playful wink.

Rising to his feet he moved over to the machine and cued up a old Phoenix song about a yojimbo that fell for his charge. The first notes were probably recognizable to most as the cued up, and while it was old. The mantis actually did a pretty fine job singing it.

Fluffy singing 11 EN void for skill... cause why not: 4d10o10k3 18

Yul's eyebrows went up as he cheered. "Wow, Hayato-san. That was really something. I didn't know you could sing like that. Full of surprises, huh?"

A quick glance at Mumei, and then Yul rose to his feet. "Okay, time for me to give it a try." He, too, took a generous sip of his beer, then set it down, taking the microphone. "This one's a classic; I bet Hyeon-ju will recognize it." He shook his arms out, then lifted up the microphone...

It was an energetic song, which suited Yul well, the pilot striking a different kinetic pose at the end of about half of the lines. "Great balls of fiiiiiiiire!" Yul exclaimed, more enthusiastically than tunefully, but actually not bad. He grinned as he finished, shooting Mumei a quick wink. "Thank you, thank you." He said, twirling the microphone in his fingers.


D11EN Karaoke, unskilled, ENTHUSIASM!: 2d10 14

Secretly, Mumei is kind of glad nobody's singing in the range of Izumi as she sips her drink and cheers the singers along, laughing at the spots where someone--ok it's Yul-- inevitably forgets a word and mumble-slurs on through.

She shakes her head, laughing as Yul sits down. "I mean...you're not planning to switch careers I hope? Though I shoulda pulled out the recorder for some of those poses. Your sister'd probably get a kick out of them."

Hyeon-ju was surprised at how good Hayato was at singing, and she took a long time carefully drinking her beer.

There was applause and cheer as the Mantis finished, and then Yul's choice made her grimace slightly. She had heard that one before. Many times.

Too many times.

"Fitting song, Cricket. Fitting song," she said, applauding the perfomance. "You two set a high bar... do you want to follow up first, Nakauchi-san?"

Yul laughed, gently nudging Mumei with his elbow. "Actually, I was thinking I could be the Empire's first pilot singer. Sing while flying. Hitting a high G while feeling high Gs." Yul's lips twisted; he couldn't keep a straight face with a pun that bad.

He chuckled, picking up his beer again, and taking a sip. "And just so long as it's picture only. Geriel might like the pose, but 'something something something balls of fire' wasn't exactly my best moment."

At Hyeon-ju's question, Yul looked back and forth between the two ladies, eyebrows up.

Yul's joke spared her the dilemma of figuring out the polite way to say 'I was planning to defer to all the great clan folks, cause that's the usual order of things?'

Instead, she winced and gave Yul a pained look. "I don't know...I might have to recover a bit from that first." She plucks the mike from Yul's hand to pass to Hyeon-ju.

"Ah ok..." she wasn't quite ready to follow up, feeling a tad nervous this time around.

Taking the microphone, she stood up and chose a rather childish song, as it was from one of the many itierations of Starlight Miko Crusaders. A familiar song for any fan.

Now, she was nervous, so Hyeon-ju figured she'd amp up the drive to hide that to sing with twice the energy and enthusiasm. It was nearly comical, more so than it was terrible.


----------

D11 EN Untrained karaoke singing!: 2d10 10

"Thanks." Hayato offered simply at the polite applause. "I'm not great or anything, but most times I hit all the right notes" He retook his seat after passing the Mic to Yul falling silent as the man sang.

"Not bad." He offered a smile and polite smile to the other man, as he lifted his beer to his lips for another drink. Then he fell silent as they three bantered for a bit. Hayato did offer Mumei a smile at her comment and added. "Any more puns like that and we might need to call an ambulance for Nakauchi-san."

He fell silent as the Utaku started to sing, offering assume polite applause as she finished. "I thought you'd pick something from Yakumo." He grinned. "I like the choice though, it was cuter then I thought you'd go."