Nakahama

The project had a good chance to be approved if their plans were solid. To that effect Shiwahime called in her A-team to meet to begin preparations...

...well more like 'invited' them to where one of them already worked.

Still, she'd pay the lunch for all of them.

Haruhi arrived and smiled at Moto-san.

She was flanked by her three hovering avi-drones - shaped precisely like three different kinds of songbirds - a warbler, a robin, and a flycatcher.

She had her slate and engineering toolkit.

"Good afternoon, Moto-san. I look forward to meeting the rest of the team, and to hear more about the project. I'm sorry we didn't win the race, but it was a good effort. A lot of fun."

''It's the journey, not the destination...as they say'' Shiwahime quickly commented about the race ''Good afternoon Kakita-san, Utaku and Shinjo-sama should be here shortly. They have been kind and accepted to be our pilots. Perhaps Miya-sama will join us as well.''

She is, of course.

It'd be a poor way to treat a friend not to do so, wouldn't it?

So Kisha arrives at Azuma Beach, her holodrone, still taking footage. Packed is the Hope of the People, since this is, after all, a place for drone dueling.

She smiles as she sees the Moto, then bows.

"It's a pleasure to be here," she says.

Haruhi bowed deeply when Miya-sama arrived.

"Miya-sama! It is so good to see you again. I so enjoyed our dancing on my first day here."

"It was nice to dance with you!" Kisha replies, her smile wide. "We've got to do it again.

"And Moto-san here is a good partner, too! Not just on the floor, either!"

The others will have been seen to by Hanae, who will have first received them with a low bow and an offer of last month's top 5 most loved trips, as well as the lunch specials that were now on offer.

If they mention they're there for specific plans, the heimin woman, slightly older than Itsuka, will politely offer the table, water and a few snacks, and tell them to let her know if anyone wants anything else.

The Utaku herself walks through the door some 15 minutes later, coming back from what seemed to be morning practice or something similar, judging from her outfit. The oshidama ball under her arm was a rather clear hint of what kind of practice, too.

"Good afternoon, minasan", she'll say with a bow from the door, taking a look at the crowd gathered. "One minute and I'll be with you", she says, bowing again, then making her way behind the counter to leave some things and gather others, then through the back door She then comes back without the ball, and holding two backpacks that seem to hold drones.

"Right... apologies for the slight delay, everyone! Have you already started talking shop?", she says, still standing after placing the backpacks at a less crowded part of the table.

Shiwahime waved at the Miya when she arrived but otherwise let her catch up with Haruhi.

When the owner of the establishment joined in she turned to greet her

''Thanks for allowing us to do this here Utaku-san. I'll pick up the tab for every one, least I can do. We are just catching up while we wait for Shinjo-san''

It wasn't too long before a scooter bound Shinjo pulled up. After taking off her helmet and making her way to the store proper. "Hello! Utaku-san! Moto-san!" She paused at spying the unfamiliar faces, her laid back attitude shifting to something more formal, "Oh, good afternoon. I'm Shinjo Suh-Hyun, 2nd Testing and Evaluation Squadron." A formal bow was given, dipping a bit further to the Imperial.

"I uh forgot there were more folks involved. My apologies if I disturbed anyone."

Kisha returns the bow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" she says, and she offers her hand in turn to both the Utaku and the Shinjo.

''You ain't disturbing no one Shinjo-san. Come on, take a seat'' she looked over the assembly ''Anyone hungry? Utaku-san has new dishes to offer! Let's order then we can talk business yeah?''

Haruhi bowed to each new person, and introduced herself. "Kakita Haruhi, drone engineer, avi-drone artisan, and performer."

She studied the menu.

"Oh! I saw these on the cooking show! Wasn't that fun?"

"I'd love to try the Mt. Jinsei Ramen with extra snails. That sounds so good!"

"It does, actually," Kisha says. "If I might get that, too?"

After shaking the Miya's hand, with just a moment of hesitation, the Utaku's face takes on a reddish tinge later, when they comment on the Jade Chef dish. But just for a moment. Soon she bows again at the Kakita, then lower at the Miya.

"Right away, Kakita-san, Miya-sama! We hope you enjoy it!"

She then looks at the others, asks them of anyone else has orders before skipping back to the counter to pass them on. The owner and the heimin behind the counter talk in a low voice, but her expressions and gestures are almost like old friends, the others might note. Kanae does bow low to her before going inside - but there's a clear impression that it's more due to the varied company than custom.

"So... Moto-san has mentioned plans for the bon festival, ne?", she says when she comes back, trying to prop things on while waiting for the food.

"She has," Kisha nods. "And I'm working with her on a procession of lanterns, maybe some advertising."

Shiwahime nodded and followed the Miya

''We are planning a light show, based on using drones as the medium. As Miya-sama said, drones will be equipped with light battery powered lanterns and we hope we can plan interesting procession patterns or other choreographies.''

She nodded to Haruhi

''Kakita-san would be in charge of the drone programming to make sure several are linked to one another but we also need talented pilots to help craft and perform the routines...which is why I asked for you both Shinjo and Utaku-san.''

"Also, Kakita-san," Kisha puts in, "there's something else I might need to talk to you about for a minute afterward, if that's okay?"

Miya Kisha wrote: Sun Nov 30, 2025 6:50 pm Kisha returns the bow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" she says, and she offers her hand in turn to both the Utaku and the Shinjo.

Suh-Hyun blinks at the offered hand. When she takes the hand for a shake, there was a noticeable warmth in the Shinjo's smile. A visible appreciation for the Imperial's acknowledgement of the Unicorn custom.

"I'll leave the meal to Utaku-san's preference." She nodded to Itsuka. "Seems I actually arrived at the right time. Sorry again for the delay."

Shinjo Suh-Hyun wrote: Mon Dec 01, 2025 10:38 am Suh-Hyun blinks at the offered hand. When she takes the hand for a shake, there was a noticeable warmth in the Shinjo's smile. A visible appreciation for the Imperial's acknowledgement of the Unicorn custom.

"I'll leave the meal to Utaku-san's preference." She nodded to Itsuka. "Seems I actually arrived at the right time. Sorry again for the delay."

"Three Mt Jinsei Ramen dishes then, Kanae-san!", she'll note to the heimin after stepping back from the others for a bit.

"A procession, then. That sounds interesting! And.... with the drones linked... are there two sets of patterns the drones will be following?", she asked, fully expecting the answer to be negative as she gave a small nod to the Shinjo. They'd probably be able to handle more than one set of drones each, but that started getting into interesting territory.

The Miya's comment to the Kakita is politely ignored, as appropriate. It wouldn't be her place to interfere, other than offer the place for the meeting if required, or even a more reserved space inside if needed.

Rubbing her chin, Suh-Hyun pondered the drones, "Well individually the maneuvers should be really simple. It's keeping it all in sync that's the real issue. If you can network them together then really all me and Utaku-san should be doing is moving the swarm. The real heavy lifting is the programmers making sure the swarm can flow from prearranged formation to prearranged formation."