Bokuden moved through the mist to engage his assailants, using their panicked state and the loss of their vision to his advantage. It was like a dance, Bokuden darting in to strike then vanishing again into the mist, his long sweeping slashes knocking his opponents around with each swing. Bokuden chose not to unsheath his blade, instead beating his attackers down with his scabbard still on. The swordsmen were decently skilled, but they were not shinobi and were unprepared to fight in these kinds of conditions. It didn't take long for Bokuden to take advantage of their inexperience and incapacitate the men. He wasn't particularly gentle with them, but it would at least send a message. These men would not be coming after him again. As Bokuden began to wade through the mist and back to the restaurant , two masked men jumped down from the rooftop and landed behind him. "What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be strutting about out in the open," Bokuden said without turning back to face the men.

"Well thanks to your jutsu, we have perfect cover," one of the men answered, "But on to more pressing matters. What do you intend to do with this lot?"

"Nothing," Bokuden replied, "The fight is over."

"Nonsense!" the second man exclaimed, "These men dared to raise a blade against the Ryuzoji clan, their insolence must be punished. Such lenience will not stand!" The man then revealed a kunai he had been hiding in his sleeve and pointed it down towards the ground where the three men laid.

"You forget your place!" Bokuden snapped back, "I exacted a punishment that I saw fit. I determine what will stand. If you so much as touch those men I will consider it an act of insubordination. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal sir..." the second man answered through his clenched teeth, squeezing his grip around the kunai he was holding before putting it away. The two men then jumped out of the mist and disappeared out of sight.

Bokuden then made his way back into the restaurant as he dispersed the mist. He made his way back to the table and petted Satomi's head before addressing the rest of the group. "Miss me?" Bokuden said with a smile, hoping to diffuse any awkwardness and avoid answering any questions about what happened.

If Misoka's thin-skinned nature hadn't been apparent before, it became clear as she seemed to lower her head in a mixture of dejection and irritation as Satomi castigated her as she asked if Bokuden would be alright. Jishin scowled slightly as the Karisuma then, for all intensive purposes, apologized for her question, which was entirely justified, and accepted her treatment from Satomi. While it was rather lamentable, she decided against badgering the two, it wasn't her place to force people into confrontation; instead, she chose to quietly sip her water.

A few minutes later Bokuden returned from his duel, immediately asking the group if they had missed him, in an obviously smarmy manner. "Ryuzoji, I've missed you like a farm-fly misses a horse's ass." If he was going to be smarmy, she was going to be jocular, a slight smile sat upon her face. Of course, she also managed to state that she knew he was a Ryuzoji, not that it was covert before, it wasn't like he had denied that he was member of the clan, they hadn't really asked him.

Looking around the table, she found it rather funny at how diverse they were leading her to joke a bit, "A duelist Ryuzoji, vagrant Karisuma, pedagogical Sōseiji, and finally an impertinent Dākuchairudo, we're quite the motley crew." it seemed that she was beginning to lighten up a bit. "Anyway, we ordered without you." Taking another sip of her water she emptied her glass, awaiting for the waitress to return.

Bokuden finally returned from his battle, and casually re-entered the building, asking if they had missed him in a sarcastic tone. Nagare's eyes scanned the immediate vicinity to examine all of the crowds dispersing, all either leaving the building or returning to their tables with enthralled expressions and quick glances at Bokuden. He looked to Horui again, who was still unconscious, and then turned to Jishin as she replied to Bokuden's comment with an even more satirical simile. She then took a pause to look around the table before saying, "A duelist Ryuzoji, vagrant Karisuma, pedagogical Sōseiji, and finally an impertinent Dākuchairudo, we're quite the motley crew. Anyway, we ordered without you." Hmm, Nagare never thought of himself as "pedagogical"; he was hardly wise in his own opinion, barely worthy of educating others. Or maybe she was right, and he just couldn't see it in himself. Eh, it was just a statement, nothing to take too seriously.

Nagare felt that it was his turn to ask a few questions of Bokuden before the food arrived, although he planned on leaving as soon as the meal was finished, not only because Horui was still rather sickly, but also because he was growing tired of the whole sociability thing. "So, Bokuden. What was that whole fight all about? You had half of this restaurant watching, it must have been a big deal. Random bandits or....?" he highly doubted it was bandits due to them knowing his name. He had heard them call Bokuden "Ryuzoji", as Jishin just had. He looked on into Bokuden's ocean blue eyes with his own blood-red ones, awaiting a definitive answer.

Misoka could feel Jishin's glare on her, perhaps Satomi's too, but she pretended not to notice or care. Her eyes fixated on the table board, she silently began to count. One, two, three. Four, five, six. When she reached thirty, the waiting came to an end.
The murmuring crowd announced Bokuden's returning as he sat down next to his wolf partner and gave them a smile. "Miss me?"
It sounded terribly cheerful as though nothing had happened at all, as though he had been to the toilet the whole time.
Misoka returned his smile, but her eyes were filled with questions and sparks of curiosity. She would've never admitted that she did miss his company or at least felt more comfortable around him. No wonder, he was the only one who seemed happy to have her dining with them. Still, her pride forbade her to say anything like that.

Jishin was quick to make some ungracious comments, shortly before she suddenly described their group in a joking voice. Vagrant Karisuma...
A half-smile scurried over Misoka's face, not because she liked being called a vagrant (far from that!), but because Jishin seemed to lighten up a bit.
She thought of saying something, some funny remark which would go well with Jishin's joking. Nothing special came to her mind, though. When Nagare raised his voice, the moment was over anyway.

"So, Bokuden. What was that whole fight all about? You had half of this restaurant watching, it must have been a big deal. Random bandits or....?"
She looked up, her gaze went to Bokuden. What would he answer?

The smile faded from Bokuden's face as he narrowed his eyes in response to Jishin addressing him by his surname. It seems as though they have been allowed to know more about me then I intended to tell them. Nagare followed by inquiring on the nature of the engagement he was just a part of and letting it be known that he had acquired an audience in the process. Bokuden turned his head to see most of the restaurant gawking at their table prompting Bokuden to glare at the crowd and causing them to quickly turn their heads away and pretend they weren't just staring.

As he turned his gaze back to the table a haughty smirk grew on his face as he looked back at Jishin and replied to her comment. "Aww Dakuchairudo, I didn't know you cared so much. I'm flattered," Bokuden said in a playful and sarcastic manner manner, addressing her by her surname just as she had done to him. He then tuned to Nagare to answer him as well. "Don't worry about that, just a bit of family business. The crowd was just being nosy," Bokuden said with the smile now gone from his face, having given way to his normal expression.

"Don't worry about ordering without me, they already knew what I wanted to start with," Bokuden continued, a slight smile returning to his face, "Besides, just about everything here is good." His head turned back over to see Misoka still staring at him, a look of curiosity in her eyes. "Sorry about all that. I hope I didn't worry you Misoka," Bokuden said in as reassuring a voice as he could muster before reaching his arm over to Satomi and scratching behind her ear.

The crowd's eyes seemed to have converged on Bokuden as he returned to the table, only to be dispersed as he shot them a glance. For a moment she felt a slight feeling of solidarity with the Ryuzoji, aware of the feeling of a mass of people gawking; however, in his case it seemed it was less out of fear and distaste, and more blatant curiosity of the situation. The Herd. She thought to herself, giving a name to all of the gawkers, a name that had been ingrained into her mind through reading countless hours of the 'Shi No Tenrei', the Dākuchairudo holy book. She briefly sighed, pushing her thoughts away.

Her supercilious smile returned as Bokuden replied to her joking, "As well you should be, Ryuzoji." once again she allowed a brief chuckle, before the conversation reverted to what had just taken place. Bokuden let on that the whole altercation was a bit of family business, presumably having to do with the festival she thought. Then he commented on the crowd's fascination with the altercation, which she immediately had to put in her two cents, "Don't know how to mind their own damn business, typical; not that the whole festival doesn't promote watching." her tone holding a fair amount of disdain in it, clearly she held a bit of distaste for people. Not that such a fact hadn't been apparent beforehand... On the plus side, he didn't seem to mind that they had ordered without him

Jishin rolled her eyes as Bokuden stated he hoped that he hadn't worried their vagrant, because clearly she was a sensitive flower that would wilt under the slightest encumbrance of worry.

Like Nagare she was beginning to get antsy with the whole social situation, wishing the food would hurry so that she could make her escape. "Absolutely starving." She stated under her breath, only to have her stomach re-utter her statement, via a low growl. She allowed a half-chortle after her stomach moaned out for sustenance, unable to think of anything to contribute to the conversation.

Nagare's patience broke as the waitress returned with a variety of trays. Nagare took his food and tapped the waitress's shoulder casually, asking some sort of contraption to take the donburi and nigiri in so that he could leave. He was tired after a long day, and it was growing dark outside. When she returned, he scooped all of the food into the box/bowl thing (it was very odd, but Styrofoam, from what he could tell), closing it as he waved goodbye to everyone and grabbing Horui. "Well, I really must be going now. I've got something to take care of. See you all another time, and it was nice meeting you, Misoka." and with that, he turned and left, dragging Horui behind him, in a bit of a rush.

(Exit Thread)

Bokuden's happy attitude felt kind of forced, at least when it came to the fight he'd had outside the restaurant. Family business... Misoka's heart filled with compassion. She knew very well how much trouble families could make; her own clan was a perfect disaster.
As Bokuden turned to her, she shook her head with a small laugh. "Of course not... why should I be worried?" Okay, this wasn't true. But Misoka would rather go with a lie than admitting she had been concerned about his safety. Bokuden would probably react like his wolf partner and believe she doubted his skills.

The waitress returned with their orders, her eyes lingering on Bokuden for the most part. She must've seen how he'd accepted the challenge outside. Then Nagare put his food in a box and stood up from his seat. He grabbed his twin's arm, nodded to them and took his leave.

Misoka raised an eyebrow. This was weird. Why had he come to a restaurant if he was going to eat at his own place? Well, whatever.
She threw a glance at Bokuden, who was still being secretly watched by other people. Every now and then, fragments of sentences reached her ears. "...three of them..." - "...took them down..." - "...Ryuzoji are cruel.."
Misoka felt sorry for Bokuden now that he seemed to be the center of attention in the restaurant. Her stomach grumbled, making her turn to the meal in front of her and taking the first bite. It was delicious... she hadn't eaten in so long.

Jishin responded better to his joke than he had anticipated, prompting Bokuden to return a smile back to her as she went along with it. Honestly he half expected her to hit him with something, but he was glad that she was starting to come around. She also mirrored Bokuden's sentiment about the crowd's pitiful habit of sticking their noses where they don't belong. Sheep, Bokuden thought to himself, a smirk on his face as he listened to Jishin. She also noted that the festival itself promoted and nurtured this kind of herd mentality, to which he didn't disagree, so he simply gave her a nod of the head. If Bokuden had it his way this tournament wouldn't even exist, but then again if he had it his way many people wouldn't exist either.

He turned back around to face Misoka who replied to his previous comment by stating jokingly that she wasn't concerned. "I see. I'm glad," Bokuden answered, returning a friendly smile before turning to the food that had jut arrived.

Nagare strangely requested a "to-go" container the moment the food arrive. He wasted no time in packing up his food, saying his goodbyes and leaving, citing "something" as his reason. Knowing most of the staff at this restaurant personally from the years he has spent coming here, he had a far more casual rapport with them than you would normally see in the service industry. Which explained why the waitress walked over to Bokuden and addressed him by name, a bit quietly in order to provide some sort of discretion, once Nagare left, noting that he had left without settling up his bill and asking if Bokuden was going to cover it. "Yeah, just put everything on my tab," Bokuden answered with a smile. The waitress bowed slightly to the table and asked if anyone needed anything before taking her leave.

Bokuden pretended not to notice the gawking of the other restaurant goers, including those of Misoka, as he began to eat his meal. This wasn't his first time going through this ordeal, he was more than used to this kind of attention by now. If it were just he and Satomi he would have allowed it to continue without doing anything, but he didn't want all of the unwanted attention to make Jishin or Misoka uncomfortable while they were eating. Bokuden stood up and began pulling the curtains over in order to section off their table from the rest of the room, stopping midway to glare at the crowd in an intimidating fashion before closing it all the way. He then casually returned to his seat beside Misoka and spoke to the table, forcing out a smile to mask his irritation with the sheep beyond the curtains, "Sorry about that."