[b][i]Ashton Andrews-Hyuga[/i][/b]

“Thank you, Daiyu,” the young man said, even as he noticed the rising annoyance with him within the room - It was clear that his attempts to be liked were potentially leading him to ruin and not the reverse. [i]I need to be cautious from now on. I revealed my cards too early and surrendered to my pride.[/i] A frown at that. [i]Never again - I know what behaviors to avoid now.[/i]

The mask he metaphorically wore caused distrust. His boasting and arrogance just provoked irritation. He didn’t truly get it, didn’t really get why, but Ashton decided to step back his efforts anyway and just sigh and stay quiet. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and listen in, though, especially as Daiyu had a way with compliments. In fact, he’d even believe she was manipulative, which she could be as everyone in power needed guile to survive if they were ambitious. Well, most everyone.

Perhaps he can get lessons from her in manipulation? [i]Bad idea, Ashton,[/i] part of him thought. [i]Manipulative folk don’t share their secrets well, especially [b]trade[/b] secrets.[/i]

At Seohyung’s mini-speech, Ashton nodded, acknowledging that he heard said mini-speech, but said nothing further, sensing the Half-Korean's mood and not wanting to do anything to aggravate it. Nevertheless, in his private thoughts, he said to himself, [i]It seems Kamenashi-san is not interested in anyone except perhaps Takashi. I should not say anything to him lest I anger him.[/i]

Further thoughts: [i]It seems I have to pick and choose my companions carefully - I can't just interact with anyone and expect them to be Nakama/True Companions.[/i]

Then he turned towards everyone else in the room, shifting fully to Japanese as he did so. “Everyone, sorry for my earlier behavior. I let my ambition push me towards… Unprofessional behavior. But I have something new to talk about.”

Ashton inhaled, then exhaled. “Right now, one of our best combat operatives, Kazankova Bykov, is currently in an expedition to investigate… Someone with Takai Shusen, another ‘best combat operative’. But let’s focus on Kazankova-sama, shall we? Basically, it says on her available dossier that she lost her ability to feel positive emotions after her frontal lobe was burnt out in an incident before she came to Neo-Tokyo. This is relevant as I’ve been pondering the viability of growing a new frontal lobe for her using cloned tissue and fiber-optics.”

Remembering that Chris didn’t know Japanese, Ashton repeated what he said in English, before continuing his mini-speech in both of his languages. 

“Takashi, Daiyu, and even Chelsea as she still has a bit of wealth, I will need your help in this regard. By doing this, we can and will foster goodwill and cooperation between us [i]and[/i] improve our combat effectiveness. And I will pull my own weight as well,” He then pulls out another laserdisc, “This one contains all the research I’ve been able to legally acquire on the subject of artificial frontal lobes - And yes, it is legal - As well as some draft software I made for the cybernetic parts of the potential artificial brain.”

A pause, before he continued, “I hope this is a more worthwhile project than my previous… Babbling.”

[@GrizzTheMauler][@Landaus Five-One][@MK2][@silvermist1116][@Smike]