Banchou nodded, took the bamboo to twirl thoughtfully around his fingers, and then seemed to come to a conclusion. He put the sprig back in his mouth, faced her again, and offered her a very serious thumbs-up.

Fuyuhiko caught the gesture out of the corner of his eye this time but made no comment. "Ah, so I got Belaire to thank for the pleasure of your company. Well." He shoved at Kazuichi with one paw. "You can tell Belaire no one's ass is getting kicked on this team. I'll be kicking the asses here. Hell, I'll kick the mountain's ass if I have to to get shit back to normal."