Katsuko gave a warm smile to fletcher and said quietly, "You're right in a lot of ways, I'd never swap bodies just for an upgrade. It was short-sighted maybe of me to suggest it, and as much as I find your points comforting, I find them haunting. Something I fear, perhaps more than anything is permanent death because it is an unknown - I can't wrap my mind around religion, or belief in some grand afterlife - so it truly is something I fear." She reached across the table and placed her hand over Fletchers, "Your gray crown is well earned, maybe more so than any crown I have worn. It is your choice when you die, I will respect you either way my friend but I see a man who is not done yet, " she commented thoughtfully as their Hors d'œuvre were brought to the table.
"Just maybe consider too that you aren't done yet. As for glamourous jobs, the Empress has the worst job in the Empire. Being Empress is living every day where it feels like you're served dinner, only to have your plate cleared before you lift a chopstick to it. While I hold out that someday a member of my clan may ascend to that seat again, I would never accept it unless Yamatai itself broke and I could lead it from the bridge of a ship and step down when the crisis was over," she reminisced about her time as Empress. For her it was no longer about the shame Kiyoko and Tio brought, it was more about what had been accomplished in a very short period of time. "As for Premier, they should consider giving it to a KAMI with an undeveloped sense of opinion or self, you conduct an orchestra of ego and self-centered expression. The Senators are supposed to represent the people that elect them, but for the most part - they represent their own selfish goals. To be a good Imperial Premier you sit on your hands, it's against everything that I feel I was made for, it lacks action, it lacks delivery, and the system is fundamentally broken as people lose sight of the Empress' voice, her devotion to her people." The former Empress, the former Premier hung her head for a moment, "You have done the most prestigious job in this sector, I promise that Fletcher. By Yui, that cap and rank still mean something, and if it ever stops I hope I'm incinerated like an old unwanted war doll," her words may come as a shock to many, but she meant them.
She paused, feeling a bit bad for her ranting, and pointed out, after a bite and a careful chew, "These mussels are lovely."