Not invited

Meeting people was strange, to say the least. If neither of them knew him, it was fine, but the moment he was meeting someone that Hoku knew? Well, at that point it was just a mess. His brain would be simultaneously telling him that he didn't know them, even as his brain reminded him of all the time they'd spent together and just who they were. The human brain really wasn't meant to deal with two completely different sets of memories at once.

It went without saying that confederation gatherings were a special kind of hell for him. Hoku knew everyone, he knew no one, and the whole thing made him feel ill. The meeting wasn't even important. It was just a basic enough social gathering with a few others who were important enough, more to get them used to his new body then anything else. Some species - especially those more familiar with the maka - were alright with it. Others were a lot more uncomfortable, since they essentially had a third party sitting in on all their conversations. To them, there was no guarantee that Kai wouldn't repeat anything they said, and it was only Hokuikekai's constant reassurances that kept them from leaving entirely.

They were in the middle of setting up in a little side room. At most, there'd be seven people there, but considering that three of them didn't even look slightly human, it seemed appropriate to give them privacy.