Nakahama

"I don't know, that seems like an awfully raw deal for me" Tetsu replies, with an equal smile on his face. "What do you have to sweeten the pot?"

He pauses the smile wavering for a second. "You know the rules better: Is Taraka Tetsu a legally distinct person occupying the same body?"

"Awwww, really? You don't want to live for my every whim?" she teased.

She gave him a playful shoulder nudge. Totally by accident. His fault for being so close.

"If things go well, Tesu-san, we can explore other varieties of mergers and acquisitions." she promised. "Let's just hope Asako-san was wrong and the Scorpion come through."

"We have servants for that. I'd want a partner" Tetsu is knocked a bit askew by the nudge, his hand steadying on Taraka's back. They were just falling over each other like this. "I know you're a better bargainer than that. I expect better" His tone is still light though.

"I wouldn't rule out anything, but the Scorpion were playing it smart even before they bargained for your help. Nothing is decided but..." there is a pause. "Do you want to run the numbers to see what we might get?"

Taraka nods, pushing the laptop over to the Kaiu.

She, however, pulled an abacus out of her purse.

"Sure, I'll race you Tetsu-san." she offered.

Tetsu mans the computer. "On your mark...get set...go"

Almost immediately he is reaching around Taraka to push away an abacus bead and isn't trying to hide it"

That'd net him a playful slap on the wrist without so much as a pause in the fingers dancing along the abacus.

"Hey now, hands off the ancestral abacus." she chided him. "These beads have seen my family's fortunes rise throughout the years and was my mother's most cherished possession.

She wasn't really annoyed with him, but it WAS special to her.

"Ok onto something else then" Tetsu lightly rests the hand on Taraka's side as he continues to type with the other hand.

"Are you keeping up?"