The kitchen table had been booked a day and a half in advance, and the meeting had her as a required attendee, so here she was at seven in the evening instead of hanging out with Motoko. Her mother opened with a typical topic statement.
The entire omake is awesome, but my favorite part is probably the fact that Hiromi's family actually has to formally schedule a meeting to use their own kitchen table lol. During annual family reunions does the entire extended household wear formal suits and meet in a large conference room to discuss the earnings and losses the clan experienced in the year and derive ways they can increase net income?
...wait, I meant that to be a joke but that sounds like something that could actually happen...
It was the dead of winter, and thus the proper hour for the annual Mitsunashi family reunion. The clan mansion was prepped and the itinerary was properly filled out and included the usual fares of a family investment meeting, five course clan dinner, individual family member performance reviews and the proctored shogi tournament where the winner gains 10,000 reward points for purchases in the clan's luxury gift shop: House Mitsunashi's internal loyalty program was the envy of the other corporate families within the Arasaka umbrella so the shogi championship was a must.
The oldest member of the family, Chika Mitsunashi, was currently on stage and was finishing up summarizing the clan's fortunes for the year.
"Overall, the fourth quarter earnings for our clan were slightly better than average, but there is obvious room for improvement. While the dividends from our investments in Seattle, Portland and Honolulu were disappointing, I must give credit to our family division in Night City which performed better than anticipated."
A brief period of polite clapping from the sullen members of House Mitsunashi was initiated. The clan's corporate conference hall was crammed with hundreds of black haired men and women wearing identical gray and beige clothing ranging from suits and ties, conservative dresses, and even the occasional kimono - besides the restrained colors, the clan's symbol of three black pears* over a gray background was also omnipresent. An austere symbol befitting the quiet excellence of their shared bloodline.
The elderly women on the podium continued after the clapping ceased in exactly 2.7 seconds instead of the agreed upon 2.5 seconds - clearly some more training was needed. "Of particular note, I must congratulate our young earner of the year, little Hiromi, who broke several family records when her age is taken into account."
Another round of polite clapping ensued while the aforementioned girl, wearing an uncharacteristic gray kimono, blushed and bashfully rubbed her carefully modeled hair in embarrassment.
"Whoa! Way to go Hiromi, you rock!" Three teenagers sitting next to her yelled out along with wild applause that completely eclipsed the clapping of the rest of the family. Their loud bellowing easily echoed throughout the stunned clan hall as all the other family members collectively stared in shock. The elderly Sōsobo** watched from the stage in shock as two boys, wearing festive summer yellow and blue yukatas, and a teenage girl with purple hair, fuchsia eyes, and wearing a haphazard purple kimono depicting ghostly spirits and seashells (what odd symbolism) continued to chant praises on their increasingly embarrassed friend who nonverbally begged them to stop. They then started quietly chanting obscene drinking songs in passable Japanese.
Some of the family had frozen expressions at the commotion, but Chika's growing grin was more legitimate.
Ahhh, so those are the delightfully infamous members of Section 9 that clever Keiko and boorish Albert informed her about before the reunion started. The male assets Ichi and Malcolm and, of course, the notorious female asset Motoko Kusanagi - both an aspiring solo and accomplished netrunner. Little Hiromi clearly has a bright future in foreign talent acquisition if nothing else.
*The surname Mitsunashi apparently has the kanji for "three" and "pears" so I just went with it.
**Great-grandmother in Japanese.
I'm pretty sure Section 9 would behave themselves better if they were actually invited to an important meeting like this but I decided to have fun with the scenario and imagine they didn't to win a dare or something.