"Mm." The bottle of green tea was pressed into Peko's outstretched hand, while the canned coffee was set aside for Shinobu herself. "As I expected." It was the beverage of choice, in Shinobu's observation, among people like themselves, of traditional backgrounds and with traditional interests. Certainly, on those rare days when her father and his allies - old men who smelled of arrogance and cigarette smoke - crowded around the table at the family estate, Shinobu sat out of sight with matcha and teacups, prepared to be summoned at any moment. "I confess a certain fondness for coffee myself, even such cheap varieties, so I suppose that works out for both of us, though, given the assistance you're providing, I imagined it more fitting to offer you the choice, rather than cater to my own desires."
It was an oft-repeated mischaracterization to imagine Shinobu Yaguchi as an especially quiet woman. Though she seldom spoke for speaking's sake, she wasn't averse to speaking to others, whether in public or private. Rather, they simply saw no reason to speak unnecessarily, or to unfairly burden those who found her way of communicating off-putting or puzzling. Peko, though, seemed to have a manner of speech not entirely dissimilar from her own in its formality. There was a certain lack of discomfort in that, such that it allowed Shinobu to speak without any lingering self-consciousness as to whether her words would be understood.
With a small sigh, she returned her attention to the papers, eating one of the hoshigaki with a delicate hand, careful not to mar her fingers with any stickiness before handling documents. There really were too many - wasn't this a bit excessive? "As I said, Miss Pekoyama, I have full confidence in you, though I regret that you were similarly dragged into this in the first place." On the balance of things, it was better to have a partner to aid her, given the amount of work that went into everything. It would have been more suitable, though, had the workload been manageable and Peko not been drawn into it. When it came down to it, Shinobu had no issue being moved around according to the whims of others, but surely Peko had other, more important things with which to occupy her time.
To the other girl's question, Shinobu raised a hand to her chin, finger lightly tapping at the beauty mark beneath her lips as she surveyed various folders and papers within them. "Mm... Truthfully, I imagine it's less a matter of where we begin, and rather more that we simple begin at all but-" Abruptly, she was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing from inside her breast pocket. With a look both surprised and mildly annoyed, Shinobu withdrew the phone. "I thought I'd silenced this. I regret the interruption, Miss Pekoyama, and will try to make this brief."
Answering the call and lifting the phone to their ear, Shinobu's expression stayed flat and static, impassive. "Yes, hello, Miss Inoue." It only took a moment before her lips began slowly turning down. "My plans haven't changed. If-" Clearly interrupted by the voice on the other end, loud enough to come through the receiver, even if the words themselves weren't clear, Shinobu scowled, brows knitting together in frustration. "Miss Inoue. If you have a question for me, please properly listen to my answer." It wasn't typical for Shinobu Yaguchi to look especially apologetic or remorseful, but the brief flick of her eyes over in Peko's direction did, at least, have some acknowledgement that the swordswoman's time was being unfortunately wasted.
"Yes. I'll pick you up tomorrow, as planned. That has not changed." With a wrinkling of her nose, Shinobu lowered the phone, moving to end the call. "Goodbye, Miss Inoue." Once the phone was safely stowed back inside Shinobu's pocket, they sighed, running their fingers through their hair until they could more earnestly adopt the poise and posture required of the Yaguchi Dojo's heir. "Again, Miss Pekoyama, I deeply regret that intrusion of our scheduled work time. I'll ensure it doesn't happen again." Explanation would only come if Peko desired it, as talking about herself wasn't something that came easily to Shinobu. Miss Inoue wasn't worth remembering, anyway, as she'd likely be gone from her life overmorrow.
Idly, she wondered if Peko had such intrusions. To her knowledge, the other woman wasn't romantically attached, though that knowledge was lacking in certainty. Perhaps that young gentleman she'd been sitting with? He'd seemed displeased enough, though it was possible that was simply his face. Either way, with her looks, Shinobu imagined that Peko was popular enough with men. "It seems to me most prudent that we secure a choice of venue, as all other decisions will logically follow from there." Placing a paper in-between them, she then split the folders into groups. "I've already compiled a loose grouping of potential locations. Perhaps we could begin by sorting through the available data and removing from the pool any unsuitable locations, according to the requirements here, so that we may decide a viable candidate from the remainder?"
