Chapter 10: A Unlikely Partnership

Orihime Shima

Orihime slowly started orienting her thoughts. To give herself time to gather her thoughts she steered the conversation as smoothly as she could towards what her customer wanted to eat. Gon ordered a rice ball sampler, which consisted of a variety of filling options for the rice balls, and some Oolong tea. While she prepared his meal, she dove into her thoughts, analyzing what she knew.

She had heard of Eleanor, she was the face of a new booming business, and in her early life had been a prodigy powerhouse, seeming to be the next face of the Soma clan. As an adult she had slipped into obscurity dropping her prodigy child title for the prodigal title. There seemed to be little information about Eleanor at the surface of the interwebs. She assumed this was because of the Soma Clans connections with the Sodomite Clan and the Sodomite connection/ employment of Muskian employees. She searched deeper into the interwebs concentrating on any news about Eleanor Soma.

Orihime continued her dive into the interwebs as she stuffed the rice balls. She soon found that Eleanor’s company had risen from alleged obscurity after changing titles about fifteen years ago from Aragonian Sports and More or A.S.M to E.A Sports, or Eleanor’s Sports and Activities. She then tried to research the Aragonian clan but couldn't do much aside from the faction losing individuality and joining the reformed Japan movement, and moving from their traditional lands into the rebuilt Tokyo. She did manage to find that some of the clan refused and had their land stripped and were forced to the fringe edges of the city. It was along that fringe that the E.A Sports headquarters was located. With all these thoughts swirling rapidly in her head, a plan started to form. She smiled as she brought the young man her food, placing it before him saying, “ Thank you for your patience.”

Gon

I shoveled rice balls rapidly into my mouth. I did this not only as a sort of prank on the seemingly refined Orihime but also because I was always wiped after sparring with my Uncle Escanor despite our age gap. She had watched me seemingly indifferent to my behavior. It seemed she had recovered her composure after seeming flustered after our initial interaction. She leaned forward, and said, “ So… I did a little thought processing, and you really are more than meets the eye.” I looked up from my food with pieces of rice sticking to the side of my face. “ Oh?” I asked, trying to sound innocent, as I wiped the rice from my face. Smirking at my apparent lack of tact, she said, “ You really are a member of the THE Soma family aren’t you?” I shifted a little in my seat and responded, “ Yes, as I said earlier I am Gon, Son of Eleanor of the Clan of Soma.” She nodded, “ You did say that but I thought you may have been joking, because like who talks likes that?” I laughed and countered, “ I don’t think you really have a foot to stand in the department of making fun of traditionalism.” I gestured at our surroundings as proof. She blushed, it seemed she wasn’t used to having someone banter with her. “ I suppose that is a fair point. But at least people can make sense of why I do what I do. Unlike you who seems to be shrouded in mystery and obscurity. My actions can easily be understood if you know anything about me and my family.” She refuted. I smiled and said, “ Well you have a point given what I know of your family and of you, I assume you are going to try to use me, to get back at your mother for sentencing you here.” She looked stunned, and blushed deeply. 

I knew that I had stunned her, years of having my thoughts stripped bare and dissected by the likes of my father Duran, and my Uncle Escanor had taught me how to pick up on the subtle things that people let slip when they were distracted while accessing the interwebs. Of course this seemed to only be the case if you were in close proximity to the person, for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with the interaction of the brain waves with the massive public network that was the interwebs. I hadn’t quite figured out the logistics of it but I had figured out how to infer what people were researching in particular if it had something to do with me. And I had been through enough drama because of my lineage that I could then make many more inferences based off of my past interactions.

Orihime Shima

In a way Gon’s crazy level of intuition was helpful for what I had planned but also caught me completely off guard. Luckily a timer beeped in the background, indicating the rice cooker that I had been using before Gon showed up was ready. I excused myself and slipped into the back. I slumped against the kitchen for a second, calming myself down. He must have known that I would research his background, and did the same to me and inferred what I was going to ask. But there shouldn’t have been much about me and especially about me and the ball tomorrow on the interwebs. “ Is he a mind reader somehow?” I asked myself. Perhaps while I was researching him I had allowed some of my thoughts to leak out into the interface? Either way, I guess it couldn’t hurt to carry my plan forward. I finished processing and preparing the rice and slipped back out of the kitchen towards the small seating area in front. “ I don’t know how much you know about me or how you know what you know about me. But I might as well be blunt. I am participating in the ball at Sodomite Villa tomorrow. I have my family's traditional duties, and also am looking for a partner for the Soma hosted western ball after. My mother wanted me to secure a political partner for appearance sake mostly but I am sure she was hoping it may lead to future interactions as well. And it seems that you are technically a member of the Soma family. What do you say? Want to cause a stir at the ball with me?” He smiled and said,” I suppose it has been a while since I made a public appearance at a function besides things related to E.A Sports. Perhaps Escanor has had the Muskian IT department wipe out enough info about my family that I can pass as a respectable member of the Soma family.” I blinked a couple of times but tried to hide my surprise. He really was the real deal, but to think that he had connections to the practical face of the Soma family Escanor. I really had managed to catch a big fish, in this little shop of all places. “ Well I am sure you will be fine, I am pretty low on the Shima hierarchy so most people probably won’t even notice us. And you are obscure enough that most people probably won’t know anything about you.” He chuckled, “ Calling me obscure doesn’t exactly make me feel good but I suppose you are right. My dad’s name caused me trouble when I was kid and my mom’s name brought me to much attention so I have kind of just spent most of middle school sticking to myself, and my business. But on either side of my family, I am seen as only the traditions we keep, and the drawbacks/benefits that come with them. As a member of a traditional family yourself, we really are going to put on a show.” He paused and said, “ I must admit I don’t know if I have anything in my wardrobe that is up to snuff for a ball. I have traditional garb and tracksuits.” She laughed and said, “ Well I happen to also be in traditional garb for the dance I am forced to be in before the Western style ball starts. I was going to change, but hey wear what you want and we can stand out for once how about that?” And that is how I was going to my first public ball ever. I thanked her for the food, and went to pay but she refused me saying, “ No one ever comes here anyways so they won’t be surprised that I made no profit and only prepared stock. Honestly they basically just use this stall as an extra resource for our main restaurants.” After promising to meet with her after Dengaku and before the couple's ball kicked off we went our separate ways. I headed home to tell my parents about the unlikely events that had transpired. All the while the rain poured washing away my worries, and doubts, after all in the scheme of things, who cared about whatever past the Aragonian clan had in the first place?

Author’s note:

And so an unlikely union between two clans steeped in tradition that had once been at conflict. The Aragonian’s and the Shima’s come together for the first time. Will the lost fabled interaction of Strider and Hiro ever come to light again?