Fairly certain no one would be using the baths at this hour, Fuichi made his way down to the hold in order to serve his punishment. Armed with a brush, sponge, and a floating barrel of water, the intrepid Crane boldly ventured below to explore the mysteries of drudgery.

Sugita came only to see Fuichi. Figured this was as good a time as any. "Ohayo," he greets simply. With great apathy, Sugita leans on a deck support while Fuichi comes up from his ordeals.

Looking tired--no, exhausted--but also clean and smelling nice, Fuichi bowed by way of greeting.

"Good..." He looked up. "...Morning, Kakita-san. What brings you to this part of the ship?"

He shrugs. "Words. Lots of words. Not really important ones either."

"How's ship life feel?"

Fuichi raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn't press.

"Well, it is uncomfortable and does not lend itself well to peaceful contemplation, which is to say it is new and exciting. But it's old hat to you, isn't it?"

"Much more of it than you might think." With a touch of humor, he gestures to the buckets and sponges and whatever else there is to assist Fuichi in his tasks. There can only be a few reasons why the heimin aren't taking care of the space down here. "The how definitely. Maybe even the why."

Fuichi wasn't sure that he understood.
"You've had a reputation so far for speaking plainly. I believe it could stand you in good stead here. Was there an implication you were trying to make?"

"A reputation so fast? I'm honored."

Terribly funny, but Sugita obliges.

"There's only a few reasons you'd be here, right now, doing what you're doing. What'd you do?"

He bowed his head. "Overslept," he mumbles.

"Yeah, been there, done that." Sugita chuckles. "Done worse. Figure many will oversleep here soon. Happens when you're getting used the the sway of the sea."

"Some ships whip for it."

Fuichi tilted his head to the side in consideration. "I see." What else was there to say on the matter? "Well, correction is sometimes acieved corporally, it is true. I do not always see the need for it, but it is not my place to question the methods of others."

"'salright! Count yerself lucky." Sugita's mood is hard to dampen. "So, have you heard anything about that debris yesterday?"

"Debris? Was the ship damaged?" That got his attention. After all, damaged ships meant an opportunity to practice his craft.

"No. I think we'd have heard about that. You must have been below deck during the commotion... We came across a bunch of stuff in the water. Pieces of ships. Not our flotilla. I was on the opposite end of the ship from everything."

Sugita sighs over not having his curiosity sated.

Fuichi nods. "Ah, that would explain the gaijin."

"Gaijin? What gaijin?" Sugita is half surprised and half appalled.

"One of the heimin brought in a gaijin who was half-dead from exposure yesterday afternoon. He must have been pulled from the wreckage. He didn't say much, but he did respond to 'Ivory Kingdoms'."

Sigh... "Gaijin. That's bound to cause trouble."

"Well, we are headed to a land full of them, Kakita-san. It stood to reason that we would encounter one. I suppose that the circumstances might have been better, but still."

"Sure, but we're not landing there are we?" He wears his disconcerted frown.