Banquet Song [Fuuen, Yugiri]

California. Hadn't Fuuen been here before? In fact, he was fairly certain he had even been in this exact same city, at some temple nearby. Had he fought someone here? No, that was elsewhere. Some young girl, he was fairly certain. An eyepatch? That seemed right, but he didn't know why. Regardless, this was not the first time he had been in this part of the world, and that gave Fuuen some faint degree of confidence.

"Shio ramen, please, with a mugi shochu."

If there was one thing to be called especially pleasant about this place, it was that it carried with it a bit more culture reminiscent of Japan, and of Soul Society. He didn't especially know why he always preferred that atmosphere, but he certainly did. It brought him some faint degree of comfort.

In truth, Fuuen had grown a touch unhappy with eating alone of late. It felt...hollow. Empty. How strange.

Food time. She had grown used to eating normal people food, once upon a time she would've never imagined herself eating at someplace like this when she was younger. Some pedigree noble like her would never be sitting in the human world eating food not made a chef that had proven his worth yet here she was walking through.

She had adjusted to the more culturally appropriate cuisines of the places she travelled but Yugiri did not find that they hit the spot the same way the food she grew up on did. It was just nicer and then there was also the kid issue, stressful but somehow she always remained the same apathetic way she did.

"One bowl of Ramen."

"What kind?"

"Doesn't bother me."

Yugiri responded and rested her head in her elbow. It was always tiring to come off training when she always pushed so hard. It was much nicer with her shorter hair though, it was way more annoying with longer hair to deal with it going everywhere and being too much to manage. That's what she got for going with ankle-length hair as a younger woman. Ugh, that naive girl was really stupid. It bothered her that the two of them were so closely related, to think she used to be that girl.

Did Fuuen know that voice? He thought he did, but that wasn't exactly a useful metric for him to go by. He glanced over, studying the woman at the same stall as him, but in truth that had been a fruitless endeavor the moment he even attempted it. Of course he didn't recognize her face. He never recognized any faces. Well, apart from one.

Pulling his usual little notebook from his coat's inner pocket, he flipped through the pages and sought out any sketches that would have the information he sought. If nothing else, she was certainly a very striking young woman from an aesthetic stand point, so if he had seen her he surely would have--

Ah, there she was. Yugiri. The name rang a bell only as he read it on the paper, his notes and the sketch by his own hand cementing at least some scattered memories of their prior meeting in his head. Better than his typical attempts at recollection, really. How long had it been? Had he marked a date? Ah, not terribly long. That was good.

"How pleasant to see you here, Yugiri. A bit more peaceful than our previous encounter, hm?"

If nothing else, he was very adept at covering for how little he actually remembered at any given time.

"Oh, it's the sword master."

She said, referring to him by the memory of their time together rather than his name. Frankly Yugiri struggled to recall it. It was a while ago and she had gone through a testing circumstance in addition to fighting in Jefferson. Is this what women around these parts called baby brain? Even if such a condition was not really applicable to her.

"Mhm. So what have you been up to?"

"A quite kind label to attribute to me, but I certainly appreciate it. I can hardly say I've been up to much of anything, if I am being perfectly honest with you. Practicing as always, and doing what I may to improve both as a swordsman and an individual."

Most people probably would have thought of that as some sort of self-righteous kind of boast, but as far as Fuuen was concerned, it was just true, and he didn't say it to Yugiri with even the faintest modicum of undue pride. He simply spoke in the same composed, refined manner as always, that of a man who did not seek any sort of external validation.

"And you? Ah, do let me pay for your meal, if I may. Consider it a gift, or repayment for your assistance last we met."

Was it? It just seemed fitting to call him his title. You know, like her own title. The Flash Goddess Second Bloom! In time everyone would know that title and she'd be the greatest user of Hoho ever in the whole wide world. Her imperfected Shikko was just the beginning of that. Though this train of thought did have her looking a little dazed and absentminded she could already see the end result in her mind's eye.

"Oh? Meal? I suppose so."

It didn't seem that crazy, it was just polite to receive a gift from a guy. At least it was a lot more common during her nobility days on the rare chance that she was actually given one. The whole vizard thing did make it a little bit awkward for that and she was a lot more focused on ulterior motives with gifts back then but there wasn't any reason to be so guarded now, he was very plain. Not in a bad way thought.

"Wonderful. I do quite prefer a meal such as this be had with company, and yours is all too pleasant."

With a cordial smile, Fuuen moved over a few seats so as to be closer to the woman who was now his meal partner, though naturally he left a polite berth of one seat between them. After all, it was always uncomfortable to eat a meal so close to someone else, wasn't it? He saw no particular reason to move closer, given this place was not especially busy, though he felt the nagging sensation in the back of his mind that tended to accompany something being forgotten. Well, he could not control that.

"I don't suppose you've any more tales of gallant heroism since last we met? Any new techniques which merit particular praise?"

Most probably would have called that kind of thing "small talk," but Fuuen spoke about it all as if it was quite far from trivial. After all, one who used their skill in such a manner as he did could only ask such questions, a strange fusion of excited curiosity and impending judgement. He did, of course, hope she had not veered from what he considered an honorable path.

She didn't think too much about his comment of her company as particularly pleasant. It could've been because he thought that she was hot but Yugiri was mostly in it for a free meal and the swordmaster was pretty cool. She did like his style after all. It was pretty pleasant in its own way - and he was pretty, so eye candy was always nice.

"Hmm. Ah yes, I fought this really strong demon after saving a little girl who now follows me around. She's a weirdo but I guess she's well behaved for the most part but anyway, back to the actually cool part. I adapted my Rashomon Ken in the middle of the fight. The actual product of the change being that it twists the target's lungs and heart over itself like you're opening a door with a knob."

Yugiri sounded pretty proud of herself as she explained it to him. It was a moment of absolute creativity on the fly in order to optimise a preexisting attack.

"How about you, sword master?"

"That is a commendable development, yes. It is rather regrettable that a technique be adapted for such violent purposes, but these things are necessities in circumstances such as that. To avoid violence for all of one's life is ideal, but simply not feasible. What matters is to give our best attempt."

Drinking down his glass of shochu, Fuuen did his best to focus on the last time he had been forced to kill. Mifune Soan had fallen by his hand, but it had not demanded he innovate. He had not sullied the Fugaku Sanjuurokkei, merely relied on the brutal fundamentals of swordplay. And that, now, was rather far away, so far as he could tell.

"No, I am afraid I have little to share. My efforts have been dedicated to the refinement of my current knowledge. I am something of a perfectionist, I suppose. To know a single technique so completely as to perform it without even a thought is my intention. Ah, but I do hope that does not seem a bit too intense for this conversation."

Despite his polite apology, it was rather impossible to miss Fuuen's passion for his craft.

"Sure is."

She said without hesitation and didn't actually think too heavily about the fact that she had used it for violence, if anything she was far to focused on about how she thought it was really cool of her to be able to adapt it on the fly like she did. Maybe she could be the best at Hakuda and Hoho if she kept up with this. Okay, maybe that was a bit too bold of her. She was pragmatic enough to hold her silly idealistic fantasies in check.

"No I get it. With Hoho, you spend so much time just practicing the basics of stepping that you forget about trying to develop different applications of it. Compared to Hakuda and Zanjutsu, there aren't actually a lot of techniques that fall under the realm of Hoho in the shinigami schools. Well, besides the secret techniques of the Onmitsukido."

Yugiri mentioned off-handedly before digging back into her bowl. Awaiting his own response to the thoughts she had on her actual passion - Hakuda didn't compared to her dedication to the simple practice of perfect steps and being the fastest shunpo user to exist.