A year after the emperor vanished, Kaito's life among the Reckoners still revolved around finding her. Pursuing Tameshi's research brought him into Jukai Forest with Eiko, whose Imperial duties did not erase her concern for her brother.
Tameshi was exploring connections between kami and technology. His tanuki drone was not the living spirit it resembled, and the kami refused to merge merely because the experimenter wanted it. During the Reckoners' attack, protecting her became more important to Kaito than delivering another useful discovery.
The kami then chose the continuing search for the emperor. She entered the drone, revealed herself as Himoto and transformed it into the mask through which Kaito first travelled beyond Kamigawa. His new ability expanded an existing promise; it did not mean he had already found the friend he sought.