Atena was still wearing her tanabata kimono. She needed to talk to the Spider because there was something bothering her. Somehow she still believes the friendship was wounded. Something had happened that he seemed distant. She had to confront the elephant in the room.

Just a few hours away from the end of Tanbata, and all over the city there were couples gazing up at the stars. Sweet nothings were being exchanged, fans gifted, and heartfelt promises were being made.

And Tsugiharu got a request to meet in the library of all places.

He bowed politely to the Mantis.

"Good evening, Moshi-san. You look quite beautiful in your kimono." he offered sincerely.

The Moshi smiled politely hiding her blush behind her sleeve. "A... arigatou..." she looked down and back to the Spider. "I was wondering... did I do something wrong?... I feel you are a bit distant." The Moshi could have asked to meet in a better place rather than the library but then again it was here or the cave of her room. Which could be taken a weird twist. It was better for her to avoid the open air where fireworks could tempt her to watch.

Tsugiharu took a long considering glance at the Moshi before leaning up against the wall.

"Not that I'm aware of, Moshi-san." he said. "I apologize if I've been a bit distant, I was a bit distracted with the whole 'evil cult trying to unpacify the planet' business. But it looks like that's all taken care of now. We'll all make it to the end of the miai without being suddenly swarmed by supernatural flora and fauna."

"Oh right... I know that there were stuff happening around. Weird ronin abducting people and the fauna seem not to be happy to be invaded by the humans..." The girl sighed. "Lots of things had happened trying to cope with the loss of friends... on my part." She took a breath. "I don't know what to do..."

Tsugiharu shrugged a bit.

"In a couple of days, most of us will scatter back across the Empire. There are people you've met over the past couple of weeks, that you had a great time with, and yet you'll never see them again, even if you both still live."

He fished something about of his obi, holding it in his closed hand.

"You simply have to treasure the time you were granted to spend with them, and carry it with you. Had things worked out differently, you might have never met them at all."

"Hai... the good memories should be kept... and the not so good ones forgotten... or take them as learning experiences." She nodded. "I was asking my cousin some questions to have some insight on how to procede."

Tsugiharu was not 100% sure who the Moshi was talking about.

"Hm, what did they say?" he asked, curious.

"To do what my heart tells me." She chuckled. "I gave him that advice. He reminded me of it. But the duty of a samurai is not about heart... it is about understanding." She smiled.

Tsugiharu's grip tightened just a bit around the thing he was holding in his hand.

"Hmm, 'Follow your heart' does seem like fairly bad advice for a samurai. It fits well into the theme of Tanbata, but I think people focus on the romance between the pair....and don't think about all the time they spend apart." he replied.

"Hai... Still fortunes work in mysterious ways." She smiled and stepped closer to the Spider. "It is the romantic notion of stepping forward and defy the odds." She moved closer to the man. "I have grown a bit and learned thanks to you."

Another almost but not really confession in the library? Tsugiharu didn't trust this, though he did not move away.

"You know, at the festival I did a little divination. At a raffle string game, I would invoke a name and pull a string, to see what the Heavens had to say." he admitted.

He held forth his closed hand.

"I invoked your name first. Care to guess what happened when I pulled the string?"

She looked at his hands griping something. She took something out of her sleeve, two small netsuke. The girl smiled. "The probability of something value must be low... but then..." She opened her hand showing Benten and Fukurokujin. "Something like this... has more value than one might think." She looked at the Kuchiki. "To answer... your question then... probably a small fan."

Tsugiharu nodded.

"One would think, but I think the divinations revealed some interesting things." he offered, opening his hand.

In the palm of his hand was a little clay figurine of Haruhiko, Fortune of Fishermen..

"What do you make of that, Moshi-san?"

The Moshi shook her head. "I am no fortune teller... but destiny." She placed her pair of netsuke in his hand and closed it and kissed it. "I don't care what the stars say... I care that you care. I care about you. I am not blunt like the earth kami... I am that subtle whisper in the wind you hear."

The kiss was....definitely a surprise. One could almost imagine a little Chibi Akemi warning him, 'She's getting more unstable and loves someone else.' Accompanied by a little Chibi Katsuo extolling him to claim her genes.

He closed his eyes, just taking in the scent of her mixed with the smell of old paper of the library.

He let out a breath.

"I don't know what the future holds, or what the divination means. But on this night, I can confirm that I care about you too, Atena-san. Honestly, since the shuttle ride down, you've not been far from my thoughts."

The girl hugged the Spider. "Tsugiharu san... I hope everything works out." First time she said his chosen name.

There was a moment of stiffness as the Spider was REALLY not expecting the hug.....but he reciprocated after a moment's hesitation. It was actually one of the best places on the planet to hug. It was too hot and sticky most places, but the cool of the library made the warmth of the hug quite pleasant.

He took a moment before trusting himself to speak.

"Things will progress. We cannot control them all. But we can be strong enough to overcome things on our way to what we want." he assured her.

"I know..." She let go. "I want you to keep the netsuke, Tsugiharu san." It was odd for her to use his name but it felt right for the girl. "I am sorry... I am using your chosen name." She chuckled.

Tsugiharu shrugged.

"Not until after I used your's, Atena-san." he admitted. "But it seemed fitting, hugging does not seem an activity well suited for formal names."

He shook his head.

"But it would make me happy to have these fortunes watching over you Atena-san, I cannot accept this gift." he refused.

It wasn't the best time for the game of refusals, but it was required.