Among the digital flowers (D5ME expecting)

[Susumu Sumiko]

Having been messaging throughout the day, Senshuken had asked her to pick a spot for a date. The Scorpion was likely thinking something like a club, or the sake house.

Sumiko however picked the opposite. Knowing that the weather meant most people were going to the beach, she picked the garden she had been planning to visit.

She still dressed a little warmly, just in case.

Sitting down next to the water, she made some notes on her densai while waiting for the Scorpion girl to arrive.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The characteristic sound of the robots stepping aside for a human to pass can be heard as Bayushi Senshuken approaches. The young Scorpion is dressed in a short, checked, pleated skirt in black and red colors, a red oversized sweater with a hood, a black biker's jacket and red sneakers, her usual street style. She has chosen a very simple black silken mask and she holds a red rose with two ribbons, a black and a white one.

Once she's close, the Bayushi takes her mask off and smirks. "Excuse me, samurai san, I'm looking for a girl, my date. She's sweet as the mochi you dreamt as a kid, the yummiest of the lot, and smarter than anyone I hang out with. She's probably studying something weird while waiting for me. Have you seen her?"

[Susumu Sumiko]

Studying something weird? I don't study weird things!

Sumiko looked up at Senshuken as she spoke.

"Someone that is sweet, yummy, smart and studying? Hmm..." she looked thoughtful, before grinning.

"I don't know anyone like that, sorry. Perhaps I'll do as company instead?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Oh, but I'm loyal to my date. Forgive me. Perhaps another time." She smirks and turns to leave, but she stops and speaks again. "Heh! Wait a minute.. Aren't you the famous 'that other Spider girl' that everyone is talking about?"

[Susumu Sumiko]

Sumiko chuckled.

"Well, I am another Spider girl, and I'm not the wonderful and famous Susumu Yakumo. I can't imagine who you're talking about though, I don't think people talk about me."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken sits in seiza across the girl and acts troubled. "Who is this Susumu Yakumo san? I only know one Susumu going by the name Sumiko."

She offers the flower and grins. "This is for you, Sumi chan, the Susumu that has stolen my heart. Please, give it back in the first chance you get. I am told that I need it."

[Susumu Sumiko]

"I don't think anyone has said 'who is Yakumo' for a long long time" Sumiko laughed, then tilted her head looking at the flower.

"That's such a pretty flower, are you sure it's for me?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"I know who she is. I met her at the Wicked Wasp a few days before, but there's another Susumu that has my full attention."

She smirks and offers the flower again. "I am 100% sure that it is for you and no other. It would warm my heart if you had it."

[Susumu Sumiko]

Sumiko smiled.

"It is a very beautiful flower Senshu-chan, and you are a beautiful woman. I think it would suit you more than it would me, no?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Oh, but I would be very sad if I kept it for I have dreamt the image of you holding it in your hands." She offers the flower for the third and last time and smiles back.

[Susumu Sumiko]

Sumiko smiled more warmly, reaching out to accept the flower - and gently hold Senshukens hands for a few moments.

"Thank you, both for this lovely flower and honouring an age old tradition."

After a few moments she moved her hands back with the flower, admiring it for a few moments before holding it against her cheek and looking back at Senshuken.

"Does it suit me?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

The Scorpion grins, her whole body enjoying the view of the girl with the flower. "You look sweeter than chocolate itself and I never knew that I would find anything sweeter than that. I will totally bite you the first chance I get!" She winks playfully.

"So? Is Sumi chan much into tradition?"

[Susumu Sumiko]

Sumiko giggled.

"Sweeter than chocolate? Surely not!"

She added quietly "and maybe I'll let you bite me later" with a wink, before nodding at the question.

"I'm a historian, I enjoy reading and studying history, but I also like being a part of it also. It's why I own a lot of kimonos in an old style, and still perform a lot of the rituals of olden times like visiting shrines to pray in the morning, offering prayers of thanks for food. I'm sure that sounds very weird in a modern world, but I like it. It's kind of like paying respects to the past."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"What... No, not what. Whom do you pray to?" Senshuken asks barely managing to distract herself from the intense thought of biting the Susumu. Not just biting, but also... Focus! She coughs to clear her throat and mainly to gain a few moments. "I used to pray daily before my gempuku. It was what my sensei taught me and she really insisted on it. She's my older sister and my mother's heiress and too tough to go against her." She chuckles. "For the last year, I don't do it that often. Not unless I feel lost or something."

[Susumu Sumiko]

Sumiko chuckled as Senshuken got a little lost for words.

"Well, I pray to each Dark Fortune, and I finish my prayers with a prayer to Benten. Why did you stop your prayers?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"I haven't entirely stopped." She clarifies again. "While I was living with my sensei, I was made to do it and now I'm not." She replies with a shrug.

"Do talk to me about the fortune of passion, though. I'm collecting thoughts on the matter. Taiguno san mentioned that he prays so that he avoids the fortune's attention or something like that. To whom should one pray to find passion? Do you also revere a fortune whose attention you don't want or are your prayers of a different nature?" She raises an eyebrow playfully." And, please, do tell me, does Lady Benten reply to your prayers? Has she ever sent a special someone?"

[Susumu Sumiko]

"Ah, my apology for the misunderstanding" Sumiko dipped a head in apology .

"Hmm...you want to be noticed by Kyoso, The Undying Passion of the South, Grand Fortune of Obsession? Many do indeed pray to the Dark Fortune to avoid the curse of obsession. My prayers are similar, to avoid obsession and keep my passions close to my heart. As for Benten...you ask if I have had someone special to me before? What if I have, would Senshuken-chan be jealous?" Sumiko grinned "I could ask you the same, I wonder what your answer would be also."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Nothing to worry about, don't apologize and of course I don't want," an oni's, "her attention. I just want to find passion in something particular." She explains and then she stops for a moment.

"I didn't want to interrogate you, like really really interrogate you. No, I have never fallen in love and of course I wouldn't be jealous if you have." She scratches her head for a moment. "Perhaps I would be if you were still in love with someone."

[Susumu Sumiko]

Sumiko looked at the flower for a few moments, thinking, before she spoke.

"If you want the truth, I can give you that. It's only fair after all."

She took a small breath.

"I have been in love before. I won't go into details about who, or when or where. It's not a person that I will ever be with in terms of marriage or any kind of future, we are far too different in life and position. It would have required both of us to give up everything, and there was maybe a time where that was considered, but that time is gone."

She looked up at the sky.

"It's in the past now, but I still wish her well."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"How did it feel? Being in love?" Senshuken asks. "Did it make you happier? Did life seem brighter? Were you more passionate about day to day activities?"