[Day 7 - Late Morning] Friend of a Friend (Expecting)

[Yasuki Umiko]

"No concerns for our visitors and honoured guests, to be clear, Bayushi-san. I'm sure the magistrate has made sure that you've all passed security clearance with your background checks. Even the Spider Clan guests, it seems. I think my sister has vouched for them, even having scarcely met any of them...there's just sometimes some internal concerns, that's all," she said, trying to assuage any concerns that this could be seen as an issue with him or the Scorpion clan.

Hinata would, unfortunately, not be able to spot her supposed security detail. Maybe they are doing their work if they are this subtle. Or maybe he was just unable to spot the obvious.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know about your situation with your sister..." she said gently on the matter. "I don't see why I shouldn't have been kind to her, especially if she's a fan of mine. If my generosity and small tokens of my career can bridge that relationship between you and her again, that really should be enough to thank me in return. Family is important, and it's surprising how it gets overlooked, especially nowadays."

[Bayushi Hinata]

"Like I said. No offense taken at all." He smiled brightly at her and continued to delight hinself with the quickly dissappearing sweets.

"It's not that you shoudln't, she is a delightful young woman I assure you!" He gives her a playful laugh. "Rather that it served no one but her, so far away from these shores. I'll stop throwing so much praise your way, but I agree with your views on family, that much we seem to have in common."

He takes a big mouthful of parfait and chases it down with tea.

"I couldn't tell you about overlooked. At least not personally, my family is knit quite tightly, my parents met at the Topaz as competitors and fell in love shortly after. I'm one of those lucky samurai who get to be the sequel to a pillowbook." He laughed softly, fond of the memories of his family. "Are things okay with your sister? Your cousin? Father?"

[Yasuki Umiko]

Umiko smiled sheepishly at the topic of family. "Well, I could do better with my family, to be honest. My advice might be a touch hypocritical. My time in Aoi48 and my career in entertainment on behalf of the Clan did pull me away from being on the island for an extended period of time. More so than my sister, who would remain here at the Stringray's Sting Dojo. We haven't really worked together or talked for more than a few years until this year. The same could probably be said about keeping in touch with my father and my late mother. So, in a way, my advice is to cherish what connection you have."

She would slow down her pace with eating the sweets, only taking passing nibbles and a few sips. "I was perhaps able to keep passing connection with Kaito-kun a little more, only because we both worked under the Silver Fin Productions side of the Clan, but the umbrella for the organization is large, as you might have realized with the event, with several branches of entertainment, purposes and different channels. So even then, a little more was just truly a little more. It was good that this event brought us back together, in a way. Even if it was just for one or two sentences more throughout the day than usual."

[Bayushi Hinata]

He looks attentively as she explains her situation. His eyes fall to the sweets between them with a wry smile, here he was being given the tools to mend his bond with his sister while Umiko lamented her own distance. He let's out a soft breath before looking back up at her.

"At the risk of sounding cheesy, or naive, you're probably just in time to stregthen that bond. Court has offered plenty of opportunities to meet with you and your sister, you'll even be competing together later at the Oshidama tournament!"

He smiles brightly at her, positive and warm, a familiar expression among family. He finishes his own portion of the parfait with a delighted expression and takes one last sweet. The tea has almost ran out.

"I hope you and your sister can take some time to reconnect. Family is a complicated matter yes. But ties that are broken can often be one again."

[Yasuki Umiko]

"That was something of Kaito-kun's idea than ours, to be honest," she smiled shyly at the mention of the Oshidama tournament, dreading that a little. "But yes, perhaps it's the first step to addressing that bond if we do more things together. Maybe I'll do better than I think!"

"Oh, the time!" She said with a quick look at the clock in the corner of the tea house. "Sorry, I just noticed."

"Unfortunately, I have to get going in preparation for that, as well as the organization of the bid event. Sorry to cut this short, Bayushi-san, but thank you for meeting me here and giving me a reason to visit the Kappa's Pond once more," she said as she took hold of her bags to make her departure. "Have yourself a pleasant day, and I hope you do well in today's competition. I'll have my office deliver the items to you by tomorrow morning."

"Please excuse me," she said as she rose from her seat and bowed, then made her hasty exit.

/exit

[Bayushi Hinata]

"I've no doubt you have much to do. Thank you for taking your time. I'll amke sure all the sweets here are taken care of."

He gives her a wide smile and bows to her as she makes her exit. His eyes wander the empty space, tarcing the sweets set at the table.

"I hope she can mend things with her sister." He mumbles to himself before scarfing down the remainder of the food with reckless abandon.

(Thank you for the scene!)