Nakahama

Slightly tipsy Kuni sat at a low table on his own, holding a glass of cold beer in one hand and his tabako inhalator in the other. He would occasionally lay down the glass to reach for the salted edadame he had ordered for himself. His attention was one of the informators, chuckling as a Yasuki rakugo master went through his skit regarding the young Doji boy who had married his cousin.

Kuni Iwane wrote: Tue Nov 04, 2025 12:02 pm Slightly tipsy Kuni sat at a low table on his own, holding a glass of cold beer in one hand and his tabako inhalator in the other. He would occasionally lay down the glass to reach for the salted edadame he had ordered for himself. His attention was one of the informators, chuckling as a Yasuki rakugo master went through his skit regarding the young Doji boy who had married his cousin.

Rakugo Artist looking to the left, speaking in a lower voice: "But, my love, I gave my esteemed uncle a key already to the third guest house.

Rakugo Artist looking to the right, speaking in a higher voice: "But my love, I gave my father a key already to the first guest house."

A young Yasuki woman, dressed in casual, but trendy attire, paused by the Kuni's table as the skit hit it's big reveal and chuckled.

"You know, no matter how many times they tell that story, there's just something about their delivery that makes it funny every time." she mused aloud.

"Yeah, Tanitaka-Sensei is great," Iwane replied with a nod and a smile. "I must have seen this thing at least a dozen times." He took a sip from his glass. "As they say, shitting on the Crane never gets old." His tone dripped with a cultured opinion. "Perhaps Yasuki-san is a fan as well?"

Taraka nods.

"You could say that, I suppose. I mean, It's hard NOT to make fun of a clan who thinks that the highest state of being is being pretty, as long as they set the standards, and no one is paying me to say that....." she joked.

She flashed the Kuni a grin.

"Or did you mean a fan of Tanitaka-Sensei? He's pretty good too."

She offered a polite bow.

"Yasuki Taraka. Mind if I sit down and enjoy the show with a fan?"

"A low-hanging fruit sometimes, yes," he replied with a nod. "No, I meant to ask if Yasuki-san is a ventilator," Iwane replied with a straight face, a soft smirk creeping on his lips a moment later.

"Kuni Iwane. By all means, take a seat," he told Taraka, indicating an empty chair. "Unlike you, I am fairly sure I am human."

There was the briefest of pauses as the words clicked into place.

Taraka took the offered seat, ordering a couple of beers when she had the chance.

"Ah well, You WOULD be the one to know, would you not? Have you heard about the Kuni that asked the Togashi monk if he was human?" she prompted.

"I would, yes," Iwane replied, eyeing Taraka with a smile on his lips. "I believe that colleague of mine got whacked." He chucked softly, taking a puff from his inhalator. "For all their talk about the Way and the Shinsei, the Togashi sometimes have a temper."

"Then again, some of those monks really like fleshcrafts." She could hear a disdain in his voice, Iwane pushing the edamame closer to Taraka. "Please help yourself."

Taraka nods.

"It's true, for all of their long-windedness, it's amazing how often the final answer to a philosophical problem is: a staff upside your head." she agreed.

Two beers arrived, and Taraka took one of them, as well as some edamame.

"Hmm, I wonder if we're going to be seeing more of that, especially with at least a couple of Spider nesting in the convention center. Ran into one of them at the street festival yesterday, as a matter of fact." she said thoughtfully.

"There's no arguing with pain," Iwane mused dryly. "You can argue that greed is just a man trying to cling to something he cannot or shouldn't have. Fear of losing something or never having something. A regret, perhaps. A thought you can push to the side." He took another puff from his inhalator. " Hard to ignore a broken nose, I give you that."

"Fucking Spider." Iwane shook his head, his disgust tangible. "That's my professional opinion." He turned to glance at Taraka. "Now, you courtiers might have a more nuanced view of the situation." Long fingers drummed the table. "I'd still recommend against literally fucking the Spider."

"Your professional opinion is noted and respected, Kuni-sama." she said sincerely.

She took a sip of the beer.

"Nuanced. Hm." she said turning her gaze back to the informator.

"While court would certainly be shorter if we solved it with sticks to the head, I think it's more like Tanitaka-Sensei." she offered.

She turned her head to the left.

"The Spider are a menace that should be crushed with the full might of the Crab Navy." she said with anger.

She turned her head to the right.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Spider-sama that your embassy building construction site caught on fire, fell over and sank into the ground. Our work crews are all booked for the season, but if you pay us for expediting some of these other projects, we'll get right back to work on a new one." with enough sympathy to drown a house cat.

She turned back to the Kuni.

"Two voices, but one storyteller. Not as honest as a stick, to be sure, but just like Rakugo, these are the format and rules we've agreed to abide by." she mused. "And at the end of the day, the Yasuki want what's best for the Crab first."

"I could drink to that," Iwane murmured gleefully when Taraka mentioned crushing the Spider fleets. "Yet the children of Yoritomo dally with the blighted little fucks. Mighty as our fleet is, I don't think we can fight them both at the same time." His voice brimmed with bile.

"We are thankful for your service, of course." The Yasuki had always been the leverage that allowed the Crab to perform their duty. In many ways, without the Yasuki, the Crab could not wage wars or guard the demon worlds.

"So, how was the blighted bastard you met? All smiles, I guess?" Iwane scoffed, reaching for the edamame and plucking a few into his mouth.

"Your assessments continue to be spot on, Kuni-sama. She did try bothering one of the local shoppers, but was unsuccessful in that regard at least." she admitted.

She took a long sip of the beer.

"Hm, something else may be of interest to you Kuni-sama. We're running a competition down at Flying Battle Carps. A leaderboard for competitors in aerial duels of our products. Spider-san bought one and entered the competition. So they'll be a Spider banner in our skies. It should be interesting to see if enough Crab care about competing to cut that banner down, or if she'll be allowed to climb to the top of the leaderboard and take a trophy home from us." she informed him.

There was some beer at the event...good...but some time had passed and the buzz was gone. It was time for something with more bite and this place seemed like it had potential.

Bike parked, she walked in. Being at least a head above everyone in the place she did not have any difficulty finding the bar.

''Yo!'' she called to the bartender with a large smile ''A big cup of sochu. Thanks''

The leather clad biker likely stuck out like a sore thumb but...who gave a shit?

Yasuki Taraka wrote: Tue Nov 04, 2025 4:52 pm "Your assessments continue to be spot on, Kuni-sama. She did try bothering one of the local shoppers, but was unsuccessful in that regard at least." she admitted.

She took a long sip of the beer.

"Hm, something else may be of interest to you Kuni-sama. We're running a competition down at Flying Battle Carps. A leaderboard for competitors in aerial duels of our products. Spider-san bought one and entered the competition. So they'll be a Spider banner in our skies. It should be interesting to see if enough Crab care about competing to cut that banner down, or if she'll be allowed to climb to the top of the leaderboard and take a trophy home from us." she informed him.

"I'd expect someone to knock her down," Iwane replied, glancing at the counter. "More than a few people have a bone to pick at them after the war." The Green Carp had several war memorials dedicated to the fallen. "At least you got some coin out of it?"

Taraka grinned at that.

"Need you even ask, Kuni-san? She hesitated, of course, but I won her over. Up til then she'd only bought a single drink at the entire festival. And if they must exist, I'd rather that koku be in our coffers than theirs." she sad, popping an edamame.

"One sale down, countless more to go. So beyond warning impressionable women against the dangers of intimate relations with Spiders and enjoying Rakugo, what will you be doing these weeks with the sudden influx of tourists." she inquired.

"You kin could sell seawater to a drowning woman," Iwane quipped with a smirk on his lips, pausing to wonder what else Taraka might be persuaded to sell. Just as Mokuna's blood ran in Iwane's veins, so did his paranoia. He made a mental note to tell Adachi about Taraka. Have him run a background check, just in case.

"Hopefully enjoying myself," he replied, raising his glass to a half-toast. "I am on vacation for the next two weeks." It was technically true. He was on leave to seek investors for GenYaku's next project. As the advisor to the lead scientific officer, Iwane knew enough about the project to deal with the initial negotiations. "After that, it's back to the office for me." She could tell he sounded a little sour about that.

Taraka chuckled.

"Seawater, Kuni-san? No no no. First you rescue the drowning, then you lobby the government to fund your lifeguard service with the example of the saved woman, then you start building up the tourist industry around the site, 'Come to the Beach of the Water Phoenix. Test your courage in the Waters of Life and Death.'" she pitched.

She took a sip of the beer, finishing the can.

"It's as the saying goes, Kuni san, 'Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime, build a fish farm and cannery and you can realize quarterly profits and a solid return on investment for generations to come." she said clearly riffing.

She opened the second beer.

"Ah, the eternal question, with but two brief weeks to spend on this ephemeral existence called vacation, how should it best be spent before you are back at your desk?"

Iwane could not help but chuckle. "I suppose you could do that. Though the official issuing the permit for your lifeguard service would want a cut. Same with the department of tourism." He glanced up, almost as if lost in thought. "Unless you had relatives in the right places. That way, the money would stay in the family."

"Yasuki-san speaks as if she had disposable funds." There was a question hidden in the statement. "Or is this just idle chatter?" Digging into his sleeve, he presented Taraka with his business card, holding it in both hands as etiquette demanded.

And she received it as was proper card etiquette, with both hands, offering a short bow, and taking time to carefully take in the details, before lying it down face up on the table.

Despite her personal dislike for the ritual, she did have a batch of them, and she'd exchange in return as was proper.

She smiled slyly.

"Both could be true, Kuni-san. Chatter is only idle until acted upon, funds only disposable until the proper use of them identified. And a flick of a card can turn a vacation into a working vacation. But I whole-heartedly agree, family connections are more valuable than koku in hand. You buy a drink with the latter, you buy a bar with the former. Right now my efforts are focused on helping my father with his company, Flying Battle Carps, but I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities." she explained.

Iwane took her card in his hands, taking a moment to admire it as was proper before tucking it in his wallet, which was visibly brimming with similiar cards. He had promised himself to sort his wallet, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it. After all, one of the cards was special, even if he no longer had any use for it.

"And that is why the Yasuki have large families?" he asked her, jesting. "Every child is an investment?"