Sakura accompanied Kiyoshi to meet the fabled Nari-chan!

Hopefully. Her feed was weird, again today. At least Sakura knew today that she wasn't mucking around for a change.

"Thankyouthankyouhankyou." She whispered to Kiyoshi. "I'm going to be so grateful to you. And please, don't feel pressured to go into anything." Said the woman who pressured the poor idol into the whole thing.

"It's fine. It should be fun." he said. "I'm glad you're with me, though."

Bayushi Kotone

Someone was all smiles and happiness to have Hotaru Sakura return here, at least that's what Kotone's dazzling smile would say outwardly about her supposed feelings on this. She was waiting in the lobby when Kiyoshi and Sakura arrived, someone else was covering for her previous spot today.

"Hotaru-san! Kiyoshi-sama! Good morning!" She would greet them enthusiastically before presenting a formal bow. "Welcome to Chikushudo House, we are so pleased to have you here. This one is Bayushi Kotone. How are you today?"

Sakura bowed deeply to the familiar figure.

"Well met Bayushi-sama. I hope the Fortunes have been kind to you since my last visit." Let's try and ignore what went down.

"We are doing quite well, I believe. Right, Kiyoshi-sama?" Using the Fox's first name as a shield just in case, Sakura hid behind the familiarity, guilt gnawing at the pit of her stomach.

"We are doing well, thank you." he bowed. The Detective chattered in agreement. "I'm looking forward to this."

Bayushi Kotone

"Ah, yes! The detective as well!" She said with a chuckle and a smaller bow given to the primate. "That's good to hear that everyone is doing well. It is my job today to guide you through the process, acquaint you with my superior, and ensure you have a wonderful stay. Please allow me to walk you through some ground rules so that we can avoid incidents in the future. We wouldn't want to have anything unfortunate happen to either of you, we care about your safety and wellbeing here as our honoured guests."

"First off, I need you to place hand me your communicators, holo recorders, and any surveillance equipment you might have on your person. We value privacy here and so do our lovely and adorable v-personalities from the animal realm."

She then handed Sakura and Kiyoshi a densai each with a contract document. "Secondly, please review these contracts and sign them as an acknowledgment that you've agreed to them. It is an agreement that while on mostly-live stream, you will say nothing that will upset or oppose the Scorpion Clan's point of views. You are a welcomed guest here but this is our domain. A pleasant guest will likewise encourage a pleasant host, after all!"

Kiyoshi handed over the requested equipment and took the densai. He read over the contract with more thoroughness than might be expected. That didn't mean he understood it all, however, he was just looking for anything odd that might stand out.

"Can I add a notation to this?"

Sakura carefully read through the contract, trying to take note of anything odd here or there.

"Bayushi-sama and her superior have come through, to come to such a thorough agreement in only two days...surely there must be a promotion down the line?"

OOC:
D11 LM Untrained Lore: Law/Int, is there anything off on the contract, TN? | 4k4 ⇒ 19 (TN: ?)

The Scorpion Clan was one-half of the founders of law and order in Rokugan (and the modern Empire) and this was reflected in this contract with its rather thoughtful terms. Of course, it was written in a way where all of the backdoor clauses are on their side and very few for the signee. To be fair, there was nothing in it that said that they will be signing their lives away, consent to getting into an exploding car, or anything immediately unpleasant. It does give terms that the Scorpion Clan owe nothing to either of their Clans for this appearance, the favour returned for his appearance will be publicity and an edited recording of the session with Nari-chan.

However, it seemed the contract is also aware of Sakura's previous outburst. She was allowed back here but she must sign that she will not repeat her outburst episode. This could result in the immediate cancellation of her 'show'.


Bayushi Kotone

"Oh, I'm sorry Kitsune Kiyoshi-sama. I didn't write the contract and they are presented as is. If you're not pleased with it, I'll be sure to bring this up to our law team and it is addressed. Perhaps we could reschedule this appearance for next week then?" She offered and then smiled at Sakura. "Thank you very much. We work with haste but there are limits to our abilities."

Sakura glanced towards the Fox. "I am fine with all the details, but it is of course up to Kiyoshi-sama, as the artisan among us, on his feelings on the matter. I support him fully, and the Detective, of course."

He shrugged. "It's mostly a formality. There should be an understanding that this agreement cannot override the terms of any existing contracts that I am currently under. I believe that those are the standard terms for these things, but I've been asked to add that to my signature when possible."

He signed the contract and handed the densai back. "It shouldn't be an issue, really. It just helps avoid misunderstandings."

"Do you have one for the Detective?"

Any and all devices handed over would be locked at the front desk. Kotone was sure to take Sakura's communicator.


Bayushi Kotone

"Of course, we understand we aren't your lord and can't have a hold of your true obligation. Consider this a terms and agreement on matters that we can control, such as having you meet Nari-chan, you being streamed with the Detective, and giving us the honoured opportunity to host all of your stay here! Please understand that you will be on our channel and we just ensure particulars are fulfilled. Having guests from outside the Clan are very complicated matters. Thank you very much..." She would say before taking the densai and giving a glance at the detective.

"Oh...my apologies." She said with a bow and did a few flicks of her finger don't he densai to bring up another holographic contract, giving that one to the detective. "Here you go, Detective-san."

She smiled at Kiyoshi. "Shall we call you by Kitsune-sama or...Souta? Just wanted to set the stage in how this will be presented to our viewers."

Kiyoshi pointed out where the Detective should make his mark and he did.

"Kiyoshi will be fine. It would be inappropriate for me to be in character as 'Souta'. The Detective, however, is always the Detective."

Sakura handed everything over, and as she observed it all...a certain giddyness was building up. Still, she contained herself. Be professional!

She did show a quick thumbs up to Kiyoshi and the Detective, but was otherwise silent.

It was really, really strange.

Bayushi Kotone

"Oh, of course. I just had to make sure. Sometimes actors wish to maintain character at all times. However, I suppose it might be a little strange without the rights to the Mystery Five. Regardless, I think we're reading to go inside now. Please ask me any questions you might have during the process. Follow me." Kotone would say and gesturing them to follow her.

She would leave them around the front desk to the set of double doors behind the dividing wall. The doors would open to reveal what looked like a conventional office space with an open-concept space. Each room was sectioned off with dividing glass that could turn opaque on command. There was also an ever-present wilderness motif with its screen walls that made it seem like it was a window to some idyllic wilderness on the otherwise. There was even a running ambiance playing in the background of birds chirping in the background, artificial potted plants, and even the occasional holographic trees.

"The producers have decided that today we're just going to have a casual chatting and interview session between you, the Detective, and Nari-chan. It would be great if you and Nari-chan could play a game together, we have The Wilderness ready for stream. It's a general survival game where you need to hunt, construct buildings, and generally survive the wilderness on an island. Oh, there are also randomly inserted man-eating ogres in the game. Maybe you can look surprised when Nari-chan freaks out." She would say as they walked to the theatre room where Sakura was shown on her last visit. Kotone would turn back to check that they still followed her. "I trust that Hotaru-san delivered you our gifts from the promotional room?"

"She did, thank you." he nodded. "How many streams do you produce here?"

Bayushi Kotone

"Oh..." She gave a gesture to one of the banners in the promotional room as they passed by. It had several characters from the Chikushudo House in a class photo pose, which included Nari-chan, Nyoko-chan, a cat boy, a shark girl, a rat boy, and several others. "Chikushudo House has at least 30 active v-personalities in our contract and we're currently aiming to have that number grow as popularity continues to climb not only on Scorpion worlds but also Crab worlds as well with our broadcasting allies at Silver Fin Productions. This particular branch of Chikushudo House houses 10 v-personalities here with Nari-chan being our most famous. I'd say we almost run around the clock on content, with a few reruns here and there."

Sakura nodded and listened. "I saw Nari-chan and Nyoko-chan team up the other day, do crossovers like that happen often?"

"It's all very impressive." Kiyoshi studied the banner for a moment.

Bayushi Kotone

"They do, from time to time, actually." She nodded to Sakura's inquiry. "They'll often do concerts together but sometimes we'll get a special where they'll play games together, have a talent contest, or even a game show! Our loyal viewers seem to love the crossovers and it allows us to introduce people to other members of Chikushudo House. Nyoko-chan got a lot of traction after her stream with Nari-chan, for example."

As they walked, Kiyoshi and Sakura could see a number of Scorpion lingering in the hallways with some whispering and murmuring to each other. From the looks of it, some of them look like they're either security or technical staff than the regular office staff.

"...It seems that we're pretty busy today. We've been having a bit of a technical issue this morning but we should be up and running again now. We might not be able to do this real live but rest assured we'll make content happen with your valued time here." She smiled optimistically at Kiyoshi and The Detective.



"Kotone-san, can you come here for a moment please?" A suited woman called Kotone over.


Bayushi Kotone

Kotone was all smiles as she bowed to excuse herself. "Sorry, one moment, minisama."

With that, she would walk over to the other Scorpion and have a private conversation...

(Roll Investigation/Perception to eavesdrop!)