Hey!


Can you come over to talk about something today? There's something I need to talk about in person with someone I trust.


Don't worry, I'll have lunch ready!

Tea? Check.
Light lunch? She had some scallion pancakes and dumplings ordered over, so check.
Dressed? Well... mostly. She'd never set foot outside dressed like this, but she liked having her habits on concert days - and one of those was lounging around in workout tights and an oversized t-shirt, following that Ath-Leisure fashion. The t-shirt was one of her favorite Starlight Miko Crusaders-shirts, since it had a print of all the Miko gathered in a group-action shot.

So for now Yakumo waited for Rei and Koyuki to arrive, idly turning Mineichi's business card between her hands as she did.

When Koyuki arrives, she proves herself more a creature of habit than one willing to bend itself in certain situations. Sending the common "here" message. Only likely to arrive before Rei because she was closer, and also already on the move when the message hit. Half-down the steps of the embassy out into the afternoon sun. Having stopped there, and then immediately changing direction when she saw it. Standing now at the door, her painted face still a little fresh but overall dry and one hand on her hip.

Free hand fretting with the end of her kimono sleeve.

To: Susumu Yakumo

<<Usagi Rei: haha those spiders >>
<<Usagi Rei: I'll be there>>

Rei pretended at a certain amount of lackadaisicalness, but it was almost entirely an act. Between his actually good attention to detail and his quick walking speed, he tended to arrive right on time. This was no exception.

Dressed very professionally in his usual modern greys, shaved and showered and tastefully cologned, Rei found himself walking through the hallway of the House of Blooming nightshades, this time with a bit more familiarity as he moved towards Yakumo's door.

He paused a moment as he recognized the other guest waiting there. "Kaiu-san?" Rei asked, blinking in surprise as he closed the distance. "This is unexpected..." He half-considered sending Yakumo a message. Look out, Kuni at your door! But, well, something in him made him trust Koyuki.

The "here" message from Koyuki got an eyeroll again, accompanied by a smirk. Didn't Crab know what knocking were? Or maybe they need tetsubo to do that?

The door opened, and much to her surprise there was not only a Kuni but also an Usagi! Wow, he was fast.

"Good afternoon, Usagi-san, Kuni-san. Please, come in." Just the usual politeness in case of eavesdropping hotel workers. Once they were both inside and the door was closed though, Yakumo seemed visibly relieved. "Phew. Wow. I can't believe you both arrived at the same time. Rei-san, did you run all the way here?"

Rei did pause to give Yakumo a quick glance up and down, smiling as he did so. "Good afternoon, Susumu-san." He stepped inside as invited, casting one more curious glance at Koyuki as he did so.

The question made him grin. "Not quite. Although I find that most people have trouble keeping up with me." He shrugged. "But in truth, I was already out and about. It wasn't far."

But then his eyes narrowed. It was the little cues of body language and tension, the way she seemed relieved, but not completely. "... is everything alright?" Rei asked, frowning in concern.

"I'm alright," she quickly assured the two of them. Then glanced from one to the other, seeming a bit nervous as to how to do this. "So, uh... right, as I said, you two are the ones I trust the most here. I like you both, I trust you both, you both already know some stuff about me that like only a handful of people know."

Yakumo made a small motion with her hands to show what she meant. Hands that were wearing gloves though, as she did feel more comfortable that way.

"... You guys have any experience with ghosts?"

That fretting at the edge of her sleeve had stopped the first time when she quickly turned to see Rei, and a second when the door opened from Yakumo. As the other two conversed briefly Koyuki manages barely to recognize her own state. Inhaling deeply, exhaling twice slowly. Bringing that calm center back to herself while the other greetings were given. It would have been impossible to say that the reassuring sight of her didn't have some effect.

At the question, Koyuki first glances to Rei, then focuses back on Yakumo. "Why do you ask?"

Finding herself something to lean on, Koyuki anchors herself to the nearest wall. Arms crossing over her midsection she ruminates on the thought, looking more at the space between Yakumo and Rei than anything while she does so.

Rei cast a glance at Koyuki, then back to Yakumo with a frown. "Not... much, I'm afraid. We focus mostly on human threats, although there is an emphasis on the mental training for dealing with the supernatural.

His lips parted, then closed. If Koyuki was asking the question, he wouldn't need to. He did, however, give Koyuki a curious look, pale eyes searching.

She let them both respond first, and sighed somewhat... it was nerves, mostly. "Alright, let's sit. It's kind of a complicated thing." Judging by how Rei and Koyuki seemed to interact, she went off the hunch that they seemed to know eachother. And besides, weren't Crab and Hare kind of somewhat-friends?

Gesturing to the low table with cushions on the floor around it, Yakumo led the way over there first. Tea, scallion pancakes, and various dumplings was set out for them to pick at as they pleased.

"Right, so... hmmm... this is going to sound strange, but I've kind of... always had these, uh, ghosts. Or spirits. They've been with me as long as I can remember, and they're kind of, always there in my head. They're awfully pushy, really." A small smile to try to ease the tension and weirdness of the topic. "They're not bad, as far as I know. But yeah, they're almost never quiet."

Yakumo poured some tea for them all as she continued. "So, as you know," she looked at Koyuki, "I had a date of sorts with Bayushi Mineichi last night. This is a private thing, but I trust both of you to not be gossips about it. Anyway!" focus, "those ghosts? They were absolutely intimidated by him. Or something there. It was... incredibly weird! They've never done that before, and I feel like there is something very wrong, but I don't know what!"

She took a deep breath, clearly a bit shaken by the whole thing.

Rei listened, a thoughtful frown on his handsome features. But it was Yakumo's distress that he responded to first. "Hey. It's okay." He said. His right hand twitched ever so slightly towards Yakumo, then clenched, then relaxed, Rei giving the Kuni a sidelong glance.

He looked back to Yakumo. "Kuni-san and I are experts. We'll get this sorted out." He nodded to her cup. "Sit down, have some tea. Do you need anything stronger?"

His forehead lightly creased as he considered implications. "Ghosts... aren't usually scared of people, so far as I'm aware. Not even a little." For the moment, he pushed aside questions like 'wait, how many ghosts do you have'. That could wait for another time.

Yakumo saw the movement Rei had, and then put her hand forward towards him, and then the other towards Koyuki. It was a clear sign for both of them how much she trusted them both, without saying it out loud.

The touching of hands did seem to give her some comfort too.

"No, no... nothing stronger. I need my mind ready for tonight," she brushed it off with a shake of her head. "And yeah, that was my thinking too. It's never happened before. They can get angry, agitated, or..." no, that was it, nothing more to share, "but never frightened. It was as if they were cowed, or intimidated."

She didn't want to say by something scarier than them, but the unspoken thought was there.

From the point of the tale, Koyuki simply follows along obediently at Yakumo's insistence or instruction. Listening while she thought to herself on all that it could mean, and for all that she may have or must have missed when she'd been close to Mineichi. For all she knew, the very voices she heard could not be spiritual at all and just the result of her incredibly traumatic experience. It was impossible to tell, she felt, and so her concerns drifted to those of the current. Yakumo's extended hand imposed a bit of an awkward moment, she half hesitated uncertain she understood the signal right but when she looks up toward Yakumo enough to see the other extended toward Rei she couldn't deny it was what she believed. There was an unease in that, the affection being in display in front of another that fretted at her but she didn't let it stop her.

Taking Yakumo's hand into her own was sure to scooch close enough that she might lay it down on her own lap. Covering her hand with the other, and almost fully concealing it like it was something truly precious to protect. For, in a sense, it was. Still.. that all but distracts her from the begging question for a few moments before she mostly settles again enough to continue considering what could be the explanation.

"I.. did not notice such a thing when I was beside him," she says, but there's that uncertainty to her voice. "I must think on it some, Y-" her lip twitches, looking from her, to Rei, back to her. Uncertain and not willing to break trust she just doesn't finish.

Rei, too, shot first Yakumo and then Koyuki a somewhat confused look. Then understanding flashed in his pale eyes. He looked back to Koyuki and then back to Yakumo one more time, his expression strange. Well. Surely there were stranger pairings.

He took Yakumo's hand in both of his, squeezing it reassuringly, bringing his forearms in contact with hers. "It's okay. We're here." He said, smiling. If he was to be a part of a thing, he would be the best part he could be.

Hare ears were sharp, and so was Rei's mind, as sharp as the look he suddenly gave Koyuki. "You didn't notice?" He asked. He took a breath, adding more gently: "Do you also have ghosts, Kuni-san?"

Feeling both their hands, it was reassuring, knowing that she wasn't alone in her fears and concerns. Because something was not right, but she... was just a useless singer when faced with something like this. What a disgrace she was to her bloodline, in almost all ways. Her lips pressed together, forcing a stoic and almost brave expression.

"It's ok, Koyuki. You two may be as frank as you want with me, in front of eachother." Yakumo couldn't ask them to be totally cool with the situation, as they'd have to take their own time with that.

At Rei's question, she looked to the Kuni with her violet eyes - concern and worry there for the other woman as well.

Looking from Yakumo to Rei, her lip twitches slightly and all the more noticeable due to the red against that white facepaint. Thumb resting atop Yakumo's hand brushing against her idly as she had previously with the edge of her sleeve. Something to distract herself briefly. Considering, considering, eyes were cast down instead of looking at either of them for that moment of thought. Passing by some few seconds before she looks back up first at Rei, and then focuses entirely on Yakumo.

Lip twitching again, "I don't know," she says, in that unusually more unsteady voice. Brushing of Yakumo's hand with her thumb getting a little more intentional than previously. Holding Yakumo's gaze for a moment, and then breaking to look elsewhere in the room. Thankful for the facepaint concealing the warmth she felt in the whole of her face.

"I'm sorry." Rei said, his voice a touch gruff. "It's not something I'm used to asking... perhaps it's harder than I meant it to be." He cast an apologetic gaze towards Koyuki.

Still holding Yakumo's hand, as was Koyuki... what a curious situation. Rei shook his head. "What we can do is some research on the Lord Magistrate. See if there's something that would explain this... phenomenon." He pursed his lips. "I remember his wife died in some sort of supernatural encounter. I don't remember the details; that was years before I got here. But I wonder if there's some connection..."

Koyuki could feel Yakumo squeezing her hand, reassuring her that she was here and that neither of them were alone or had to be alone.

"Mm, maybe," she murmured, agreeing with Rei's suggestion. "He... he did seem to have been very affected by her loss. I don't think he was putting on such emotions just for show when something in our conversation reminded him of her, or he spoke of her. I only have her name... and his personal mon. She might've used that, so it could be a clue of sorts."

Reluctantly, she let go of Rei's hand, and picked out the business card she had gotten yesterday, passing it to Rei's free hand before reclaiming the other again. It was clearly the Lord Magistrate's personal business card, and it had his contact info, but most importantly it had the personal mon she spoke of; a pincer holding a veil.

"I think her name was Kaede?"

That break away was giving her time to think, to consider all that was being said of him and his situation. Ghosts were afraid of him, a dead wife, remorse, she wasn't certain of much of anything yet. However something had to connect those dots, something simply had to. Without really deciding to she releases Yakumo's hand a little, but doesn't let go entirely. Instead flipping Yakumo's hand over so that her palm was raised toward the ceiling. Giving herself access to gentle knead the joints and relieve some of that tension she knew built there.

"I could ask around," she says, not quite turning back. However, with her arms positioning and the closeness of them all the tattoos running up her arms were certainly visible enough. "Ask in the right way, in the right place, I would just need.. well, not to be crass but I would need money. I can't imagine that the streets aren't watched however," she says, finally glancing back to look across Yakumo to get that sight of her but settling on Rei, "could use backup. Just in case."

"Of course." Rei said, nodding. "I'll help however I can."

He smiled at Yakumo, entertained by the business with the card. Well, if she didn't want to let go of his hand, he wouldn't make her. "Kaede?" He echoed. "It's a start, anyway." With some effort, he passed it over to Koyuki to look at as well.

Noticing the pass, Koyuki's hands busy kneading, she just casts Rei a brief look and bit too awkward smile. She certainly tried her best, and if one could hazard to guess that Koyuki could possibly feel embarrassed one might suspect that was the reason she focuses her gaze on Yakumo's hand afterward.