Pah, shows what she knows. 

"Is there anything I should know before we get to this place, sensei?"

"They don't like demanding or disrespectful people, so you'll need to watch your tongue around them."

"I think you're more the danger when it comes to demands and disrespect."

"You want to do the talking, then?"

"Might be safer."

"I'll allow that."

Then onwards.

Homura does not seem like a bustling center of production nor trade. The stone pavers of the path leading to it are cracked, with weeds growing in the gaps. There's no sounds of an active village, just a largely undisturbed woodland. And when they get there - the village looks abandoned. The buildings are in disrepair, and several have plants growing on the roof. There's no people evident.

But...

There's a single thin line of smoke from near the center of the village. 

"Is this the right place...?"

"This is Homura... But it was better inhabited last time I was here..."

"We're lucky it looks like there's someone still here then."

Hm... "Let's go say hello, then."

Then onwards, towards the trail of smoke.

There's a small cluster of buildings in better repair - one with its traditional style doors open, showing a young man with long pale hair looking at a shelf of pots. His back is to them. 

"Hello?"

He turns, sees her and Nyanko, and smiles. "To think that such a young guest would come to visit this rural kiln. Is there something you need?"

(...There's a brief flicker of his eyes, almost like he's looking straight at Nanami, too.)

(He is pretty cute...)

"Well. I was hoping to get a doll made."

"Oh?" he asks, then his gaze drifts as if of its own will to Nyanko again. "Is that cat yours?"

"It is."

- And then there's a sound of a door slamming open, and someone running up behind them, and an older man's voice calling, "Hey! What are you doing here? I told you to leave!"

-Huh? She turns to look.

There is indeed an older man, dressed in traditional clothes - he fits in to their surroundings far better, and he's glaring at the younger man that Tsubaki had been talking to as he steps into the display room. 

The younger man just keeps smiling. "Oh, hello," he says. "Since I came all this way... I figured I should take a look at some of them, at least, even if you won't sell."

"I told you! There's nothing here besides simple pottery," the older man says with a scowl. "Certainly nothing interesting to a 'collector' like you." He spits the term.

The younger man just smiles wider. "Perhaps not in this warehouse..." is all he says at first.

Oh, ick. Not cute at all, actually.