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[Well. He's not wrong. So he's just getting a little nod at that because yes, she is quite classy.

That said she's just going to nod a little bit...]

I-It was good! I didn't want to remain in your debt forever, so...!

[Except she's totally just making this up as she goes along.]

Alright, alright, if ya say so. ( He's laughing, okay? You win. For now. ) Where' ya going?

[Conditional victory is hers.

But she's just going to relax a little bit at that, deflating ever so slightly even as she adjusts the bag that's on her shoulder.]

Work... Why are you asking?

[Still a suspicious little shit - even though she trusts Mutsu with her safety at the very least. But why is he interested?]

Work? Where? ( And aaaha, don't mind that fake tail of his shifting a little shly?? Awkwardly? Heh heh. ) Maybe I wanna visit some day.

[ . . . a glance to his fake tail before back up at him. What a weirdo.]

Why would you do that? It's a flower shop. Do you have an interest in those kinds of things too?

[One that Lili has decided to claim as a rival to Vietnam's.]

Why? I can't just come see ya?

( And maybe check out the competition too? )

But maybe I just wanna see. My master was a merchant so I like seeing how people work.

Why would you want to?

[Lili still doesn't know how to friendship. The road to being a real person is hard.]

I didn't realize he was a merchant.... did he have you for self-defense?

Most famous merchant in Japan!

( HUFFS and look at him... look at him!!! He's proud as heck. He's practically glowing. He's sparkling. )

Ya wouldn't think a merchant'd need a sword, right? I stayed home most of the time but then Ryouma decided to go out and follow his dream so I went with him. ( For protection, of course. ) Heh heh... he didn't really need me, though. He wasn't much of a fighter, ya know? ( Probably not since they're from different worlds but ya know!? YA KNOW??? ) Didn't like fighting unless there wasn't another choice and then he used his gun instead so he could get out fast and run. Those Shinsengumi guys couldn't keep up!

( Finger guns-- whoops, almost dropped the bag right there he was too excited. )

[Oh dear god, what sort of sparkly happy landmine has she stepped on here. Lili blinks, honestly amazed at that. It's a lot to take in.]

Oh.

So that's why you don't like Kashuu - [That clicks into place.] You were on opposing sides back then....

[ . . . wait.]

Why?

[She likes the gumis??? But also Mutsu seems like a Good Sword. What on earth happened in the world that would put them against each other?]

Huh? ( Oh, has no one ever mentioned that? He deflates a little bit if only because the Shinsengumi are a massive buzzkill. ) Yeah, we were.

( And he's not ashamed of it? But he likes Lili and LIli likes Kashuu and then Mutsu's relationship status with the Shinsengumi has been "It's Complicated" for centuries. )

Those guys... were stubborn. Real stubborn. And Ryouma was a revolutionary.

( And Ryouma was wanted for leaving the domain without permission? And wanted to overthrow the government that was supporting the Shinsengumi? So the Shinsengumi were doing their jobs as the police trying to stop rebels like Ryouma? Also Ryouma was killed and his faction blamed the Shinsengumi but... )

[It's impossible to get Kashuu to talk about the past, Mutsu. Who do you think would care to tell her?

Still though, Lili's just going to pause and consider that. Stubborn? Sounds about right. They uphold their code and their honor - they protect citizens and whatever else. As long as they don't attack civilians, they're not bad by Lili's standards. Still, it's that sense of honor that has her respect the Shinsengumi.

But.

Lili is almost always on the side of revolution and change. So she's genuinely interested as she asks:]

What was he a revolutionary for?

D'ya wanna know or do d'ya wanna get to work on time?

( Or both? He didn't plan this but he's a merchant sword! If he has an opportunity, he's going to take it. )

Both, obviously. What kind of question is that?

[SORRY MUTSU?

DID YOU NOT WANT TO ACCOMPANY HER?]

Sorry, sorry!

( And he'll follow? Lead the way? Either is fine with him. But he'll explain either way, )

He wanted to do everything. Japan was pretty old fashioned and isolated back then... He wanted to open up the ports! Make sure we could trade with other countries and grow strong like the other nations in the world. Our military was pretty weak too... we couldn't even defend ourselves from other countries, really 'cos all their weapons were better than us. So Ryouma got himself a navy and started trading arms so we could stand up for ourselves against the westerners. He wasn't lookin` for a fight or nothing like that... really, he didn't like fighting but he just wanted to make sure we'd be respected, ya know?

But a lotta people didn't like what he was doing there... 'cause swords were getting old fashioned by then. Everyone was using guns and he knew if wanted anyone ot take us serious, we'd have to switch over. But a lotta people were real proud about their swords for a lotta reasons and didn't wanna give those up.

... The Shinsengumi were guys that really liked their swords.

And that's just some of what he did, heh heh...

( There's a political and social side too!! His old man did a lot, okay. )

[Yeah, that's what she thought. Lili's still confidently leading the way to her work, too wrapped up in his story to realize that she's... leading him to her work.

Oh well.

Rather, everything that he says resounds with her in a way that she - doesn't want it to. Mutsu and she are very different people in her head. He's loud, brutish, and forward whereas she was told to be demure, graceful, and mature. Except... when he speaks about his master - the person that he inevitably takes a few of his traits from - she can't help but understand entirely.]

... I see.

[It feels a little traitorous because she hates the idea of swords being scrapped in favor of other weapons - it makes her a little angry to even contemplate the idea of Kashuu being cast aside like that.

Except.]

My tribe... is the Water Tribe and we thrive on trade and visitors coming to see the beauty of our lands. Even though we'd been dealing with outside forces causing trouble, I... couldn't stand for it.

[To put it vaguely. But.]

I understand the kind of world that your master wanted.

( It's strange because if Mutsu should hate the idea of being left behind too. It's easy to forget now after all of these years but he can remember a time when Sakamoto was growing, his views shifting and changing to what they would ultimately end up becoming, and Mutsu can remember feeling the way the others did. It was... scary? Definitely scary. But in the end, he knew he wasn't going to be scrapped or thrown away. He was loved and it's something he can say without a doubt despite everything. Of course, not every sword can confidently say they're treasured and will be cared for with certainty.

Mutsu listens to Lili. He doesn't know a whole lot about her if he's being honest. Yeah, he's pretty good at reading people and seeing their potential but that doesn't mean he knows anyone's full story. )

Yeah... he was always thinking real big. It's why he left home! The guys he was working with were thinking too small for him. They wanted to change the domain but he was thinking about changing the whole country. So he left even if he didn't have permission and that meant he'd be a wanted guy. Hmm... the Shinsengumi were also like the special police where Ryouma was making the most trouble. ( And he pauses for a moment, giving her a glance to see if she's following. So far we have a wanted rebel reformist versus a traditional special police force. Surely that should be able to explain everything for now? ) Ryouma was too good for 'em though. They could never catch him, heh.

Lessee... ya'd never think a guy like that'd come from the bottom of society, right? In Japan, merchants are pretty low. Lower than peasants. But they worked real hard and managed to buy themselves s samurai title. That's how they got me! They became samurai and got a sword to celebrate... but they were still at the bottom and got treated as such. It wasn't fair. Like Ryouma? He was a genius but none of the big guys on top would ever give him the time of day 'cause he was born a nobody.

So he worked to change that too. He worked real hard and got real lucky and managed to find some guys that would listen and back him up. Then he finally got enough support he was able to start making those changes. ( But only start because he died before he could ever see that world come to be. ) Ya couldn't just be born with power anymore... ya had to work for it and ya had to work hard to keep it. Even a low merchant could make his way up to the emperor's side... and even a guy from the slums could become a general if he worked hard and was good enough.

... He was a big dreamer and he wanted to share it with everyone.

[Politics are easy for Lili to understand in comparison to everything else. The idea of feelings, of embarrassment, of friendships and the like have always eluded her - she's never been able to form those types of connections because everything was seen in a political lens for her. The idea of exchanges, of hierarchies, and preferences. She's always been at the top.

But this, she understands perfectly well.

The upward mobility of social class is a novel idea but not one that's impossible - rebel groups had killed the queen of her country not too long ago, after all. Imagine if they were successful in overturning the government and instituted those changes so it's not just the high and mighty (like herself) that made changes. For some reason, she doesn't know how she feels about it.

There's an attachment to the idea that her father will always be safe, but this sort of thinking doesn't guarantee that, even if she does believe that titles and positions should be earned. That people should be worthy of their stations rather than sitting around and twiddling their thumbs.]

... Mm, I see.

[Any anger that might be expected from her - from a noble being told of a world where nobility in its purest form through inheritance doesn't exist - isn't there. Rather it's replaced by quiet complacency, some distant and detached sort of understanding that she's not ready to unpack yet.]

So he was able to make that kind of change, even from the bottom...

[Well. Then as someone sitting at the top, shouldn't she be trying that much harder?]

That's ri~ight!

( He's swelling with pride and if he was following Lili before, he's practically skipping ahead now. Of course, he doesn't even think about how a princess like Lili may feel about this sort of world-- to be fair, it wasn't something that Sakamoto had been able to think about before his death either. And maybe some day, a few days from now, he'll sit and reflect on the conversation and realize his choice of words and go into a small panic of sorts before trying to fix things because wasn't it this sort of thinking that had gotten Sakamoto in danger? )

Without ever drawing a sword! And it took everyone a while to see but... he's a hero now. A great, big hero! Over a hundred years later, people ask, "What would he do?"

( He's certainly heard enough praise while at the museum and even in this life, when he was summoned, others recognized the name of his former master the moment he yelled it for everyone to hear. As much of a "father figure" Ryouma may have been for Mutsu, taking him as a young sword and helping him grow into what he is, it's very much buch the opposite as well. After all, Mutsu had watched him grow from a tiny crybaby boy into a fine man. )

( But, oh, he was going somewhere with all of this and he slows down his step some, )

But some things never change. Like the foods people eat. ( Those sweet, heavy loaves of cake, for example. ) This cake... it was popular where we worked.

( In the ports of Nagasaki where Ryoma's fleet was. )

[Don't slow your step, Mutsu?! They're almost to Lili's work... but regardless she's glancing back at him - even if she's not necessarily going to slow her roll because she doesn't like being late for work. But then it all clicks together and she looks back between the castella and him. Castella. Him.

A pause.]

Mm, no wonder it's precious to you then.

[Distantly, she thinks back to the incident with Mutsu and Kashuu and the strawberry cake--

People's favorites really are indicative of bigger pictures, aren't they?]

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