The New Winds

Kenji waited for the usual suspects. Before him his bowl of food and his Go board. Yesterday they couldn't meet But there was much to tell. He wondered how Aiichiro would react to the ronin story.

Remembering they needed to reunite after the meeting with Agasha-sama — which he suspiciously noticed that no one commented with him about until now, so he needed to check the progress of the thing.
Kenji was in the usual place, at least.
"Aren't you singing today?"

"Oh i would've but it's quie hot today and i want to save my breath" Kenji replied and bowed briefly to Aiichiro.
"How was your day?" Kenji asked. His Hakama sat a little looser than usual and he had his fan in his hand to fan some air for himself.

"The ashigaru I was paired with today had talent. Same as before, but this time I completed the full training, so I went to seek Asako-sensei the next hour." He replies, posture rigidly maintained straight up.
He had the usual ponytail, some minor grazes, an open water bottle in a hand and the food pot in the other.

Ginkarasu arrived, chewing on his excellent mochi.

Was it the one who almost knocked down Kokyou-san? We need a name for him, if he keeps this up, he could really make it to Budoka," Kenji said to Aiichiro before he turned to Ginkarsu and bowed briefly while sitting. "Hello Ginkarsu-san, how was your training today?"

"Good! Although Ton-san managed a brilliant blow that I couldn't quite avoid. First time they've tagged me." He shrugs a little. "Another reason to remember that every fight holds danger."

Haruki approaches, more pensive than he's ever been. He stops by the table with food in hand, sets it down, then bows. "Sorry I haven't been able to keep in touch with all of you this past week; I was working on keeping my position in the school rankings."

He looked at the mochi the Yasuki carried with him and smiled a little. "He already should have a name, Kenji-kun, you know. And who is Ton-san?" He asks as he sees Haruki approaching.
"Hello, Haruki-san. I believe we are waiting for Kazuko-san?"

"Ton-san is the ashigaru who helped in my training." He bows to the Phoenix.

"You don't need to -san them. Just Ton is fine." He replies.

"He managed to thwap me, I figure that's good for respect, no?" He's a little confused.

"Ton seems like a capable Ashigaru if he could hit you, Yasuki-san," Kenji said.
Then he turned to Aiichiro. "I, know, gomen," Kenji said. "I haven't had the honor to fight him until today, so I should ask him when we have our next combat training," Kenji replied. When he saw Haruki, he bowed briefly: "Greetings, Haruki-san, how does this day suit you?

"I believe today was good, but I do feel bad for Bayushi Jiro. He used to be in the top of the classes, but after today I doubt he even stands a chance of being called a prodigy. Did you know that ashigaru has a brother, I sure didn't until today."

"If they're smart, they'll make sure those ashigaru lead others. Or maybe form an elite unit." He nods assuredly, as one who has relatively little idea of what is going on or how that would work.

Kenji remembered that Haruki was indeed one of the top students. "I didn't realize. I had my eyes on Asako Saburo-san the whole time" he admitted. "You strive to beat him, don't you, Haruki-san?" he asked him.
"I had a small discussion with Asako-san yesterday, maybe they test the Ashigaru in this Dojo too? If that would be the case, some of them could become Budoka" Kenji replied to Ginkarasu.

"I know I probably won't get the number 1 spot, but I'll do my best to come close. It's the least I could do for my clan."

"Same thing, but it is fully understandable that I always got so low. They really value different things here."

Kazuko joins them, carrying her bowl of food and a fan, setting them down with a ka-thunk before bowing. She's in a good mood despite being far outclassed in the morning training. Well, doing surprisingly well on the less surprisingly boring spirituality training is bound to lift up her spirits. After all, who doesn't like doing well in front of the senseis?

"Hey, sorry I'm a bit late, I went to go grab my fan. Did I miss anything important?"

"Nothing too important, beside Haruki-san striving to become number one" he said smiling