To a chorus of clinking glasses and pleasantly muted conversation, Team Moon sat down to eat. A friendly, buxom waitress laid out empty plates for appetizers and complimentary glasses of water to combat the heat. She shot Kirugetsu Hozuki a brief, possibly flirtatious smile before plopping a quartet of menus in front of him. Kirin leaned across the table to distribute them. After tossing the last one at Shisen Inuzuka, she glanced out the front door at the girl’s dog. 

Arashi obviously couldn’t come into the restaurant, so she was forced to wait outside in the heavy midafternoon sun. Kirin pursed her lips at this, since the dog had thick fur and was already panting. Not a good sign. From what she knew about dogs (which was a lot, considering she’d never had one), they got dehydrated quickly in hot weather and needed a constant supply of fresh water. Taking the plate from her place setting, Kirin collected her glass of water and carried them both out. Then she poured the water into the plate and set it in front of Arashi. 

When she got back to the table, she slid nonchalantly into her seat and snapped her menu open to the lunch specials. Kirin had a distinctly unrefined palette, and she couldn’t pronounce most of what was on offer, but she skimmed until she spotted a winner. Shrimp tempura udon was a rare delicacy in the Haranai household, since shrimp was imported out of the Land of Waves. When they did have it, Kirin’s father lightly battered the shrimp in a crispy breading that fried up gold and made the house smell fantastic. And the udon…! Kirin swallowed the mouthful of anticipatory drool that had collected and shut the menu. 

She looked up when Kirugetsu started speaking. “…I killed the head of your clan,” he said, and Kirin’s eyes darted to Maruki. [i]That[/i] would not go over well with him—he had seemed to like Kirugetsu, and now he’d gotten a serious bombshell dropped on his head. She briefly wondered if he’d get angry, maybe even declare vengeance. 

Her own grandfather was still alive, more than likely asleep behind the counter in the bookstore. He nodded off and spent most days that way, so a lot of customers had just gotten into the habit of picking out books and leaving money by the snoring white head. Kirin couldn’t really imagine being without him. To be truthful, she couldn’t imagine being without [i]any[/i] of her family. She loved them all dearly, even though she was irked by her mother’s complete lack of domestic skill and her father’s inability to raise his voice above a soft remonstrance and her grandmother’s constant pushing to become a kunoichi. 

Kirin watched Maruki’s face cycle through a series of expressions as he processed Kirugetsu’s revelation. Their teacher had murdered his grandfather. Even Kirin felt an odd pang when she put herself in his place—if anybody hurt her grandfather… the flare of rage and sorrow was as strong as it was brief, and she was surprised by its intensity. “Did you have to just drop it on him like that?” Kirin asked. 

She knew that he was testing them, that he was trying to pick them apart because it was his job and because it was important. In the missions ahead their lives would be in danger and they would need to work as a team, to know each other and rely on one another, and all that underdog-in-a-sports-movie stuff. Kirin tucked a chunk of red hair behind her ear. She was curious what her sensei had to say about her speaking up.