After spending so many weeks on paperwork with Eiko, Yuzume decides to drop in on Ide Rise shortly after she returns to Hirosaka. Aside from wanting to visit a family friend to take a break from work, she wants to know if Rise has any knowledge of what the Unicorn’s plans for the city are. Over tea, Yuzume discovers that Rise will be ‘retiring’ to the city, though this isn’t by choice – she has been sent here by higher-ups. After some banter, Rise makes a noise complaint about a neighboring Lion samurai, and Yuzume inquires about Mako and Yoshi, but Rise doesn’t know who they are.
After leaving, Yuzume goes to the house of the Lion samurai Rise takes issue with, a Matsu woman in white building a shrine all by herself, every other building a ruin. There are a lot of urns next to her, and so Yuzume opts not to act on the complaint and offers the Emerald Office’s help with reconstruction instead.
Minoru manages to gather his yoriki to attend a meeting with the local governor, revealed to be Miya Sora, who is pleased to see the group, calling them the heroes of Hirosaka. With him is Seppun Ishima, and a woman called Otomo Kazuko, the chancellor. Sora hands Minoru a letter, informing them that Doji Satsume has passed away, and as such Sora’s request to be transferred out of the city can’t be considered until the autumn, after a new Emerald Champion has been appointed.
Kazuko seems unconcerned abut the news, and is only focused on restoring Hirosaka. She focuses mostly on Hajime throughout their conversation, even when talking to others, trying to measure his reactions and pointing out that she’s heard the rumors about his past. Eiko and Yuzume try to switch the topic to the administrative and legal details so as to shift her focus way from Hajime, but she’s able to keep up with them – she’s clearly been planning something for Hirosaka for a long while now.
Miya Sora talks to Minoru about the neighboring clans (the Crab, Unicorn and Crane), and explains that they’re all contesting ownership of the land. He wants Minoru to give control to one of these clans, and points out the local Minor Clans as possibilities as well. Otomo Kazuko has another proposal: an Autonomous Administrative Zone. She believes that an independent council of stewards would prevent struggle and war from breaking out in the region as a claimant is chosen.
Sora dismisses the idea, and Ishima takes the opportunity to change the subject to mention that there are guests in the city who want an audience with him, and open cases with the Emerald Office. One is Isawa Nobuo, the Phoenix that Shiba Kizuki works for, and a Dragon named Agasha Touma. Both want Minoru to look into what happened to the Moth. Kazuko tries to dissuade them by saying that the Moth should be looking into this, but Minoru reminds her that even if he doesn’t take up the case, he should still hear them out. Before the meeting ends, Miya Sora tasks Minoru with visiting the neighboring clans to ask them for resources to help them rebuild the city, and to gauge which one would be best to take over the region.
As they’re getting ready to leave, the group hears the sound of something collapsing outside and rushes outside. It’s come from a large iron ship too large for the rivers breaking through the banks and ruining some of the structures along it. When it reaches the docks, a Crab man announces to the people gathered there that he’s brought food for them, and the group realizes that the clan has made their first move for control of Hirosaka.
Minoru and Yuzume go to meet with the captain, Hida Kunohide, over drinks, while Eiko and Hajime control the crowd to prevent them from just snatching up all of the food, making sure it’s taken to the right place. Kunohide is upfront about why he’s there, and says there’s an entire fleet of iron turtle ships nearby to secure the nearby town of Maemikake, a holding of the Hiruma. Minoru informs him that Doji Satsume is dead, and Yuzume realizes that this has ruined the Crab’s plans – they wanted to move in quickly so they could get Miya Sora’s recommendation, and now there is no one to make the recommendation to. They part on friendly enough terms in spite of this, and Yuzume does so having had far more to drink than perhaps she intended.
As Eiko and Hajime make sure that the food is properly stored, they notice two Dragon inspecting the wreckage of a nearby brewery. One of them, Mirumoto Sanae, has family in town but says that she came back to meet Hajime specifically, to study his storied unusual sword techniques. After some sword-flirting, Eiko approaches the other Dragon, who’s chatting to the kami fairly nonchalantly. This is Agasha Touma, one of the people who wants to speak to Minoru. He claims to want to rebuild the brewery, even though he doesn’t own it, and tells Eiko that he is a relative of the Moth who wants to make his claim as the clan’s new daimyo.
Sanae is unhappy with how upfront Touma is, and Eiko subtly implies that she needs to keep a better eye on him before talking about red tape with Touma. Sanae takes Touma away, but makes it clear to Eiko that she’s not happy with his behavior. Eiko and Hajime talk about the possibility that the Dragon are also making a move on the city, and Eiko implies that he might need Hajime to act for him in a duel, given how he’s pissed off Sanae.
At the docks, a very drunk Yuzume yells at Minoru for how he had earlier pushed her wheelchair without asking her permission, because sometimes social protocol is allowed to fly out the window when bodily autonomy is at risk.
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