Downtown Tokyo, with Jordan

[seigaku_no_neko]

Eiji and Jordan exit Milliways into the middle of a large department store in downtown Tokyo.

Eiji blushes a little, remembering that they probably should have exited the fitting room one at a time. A woman walking by gives them a strange look.

"Okay, well just to warn you, my friends are weird," Eiji tells Jordan, pointing his thumb towards the door. "They're in a tennis shop a few doors down."

Comments

[evilontheloose]

"They are not weird, Eiji-san, I am. Let's go." She grins, poking his side lightly.

Japan.

A different Japan, where she is not a hunted criminal.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"You haven't met them yet!" Eiji argues, with a moan.

"And you're cool. You're not weird."

When they've made it outside onto the shopping strip, Eiji stops. "Oh... wait. What were we going to tell everyone, again?"

[evilontheloose]

Oh, planning. Jordan has a very nice plan. "Nothing. We just ignore any questions they ask, all and any about how we met. Later, you tell them whatever you feel is better."

See, nice plan! What could go wrong?

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"Umm... okay." Eiji's not sure how they're going to just ignore any and all questions, but he'll trust Jordan.

"Anyways, it's just over here," he says, pointing and leading the way. He's surprised to see his doubles partner standing just outside.

"Eiji! There you are." Ōishi seems relieved. "Where'd you run off to?"

"Didn't Fuji tell you? I was looking for a bathroom." Geez. Can't count on Fuji for anything. "Sorry I took a while... I got caught up talking..." He looks at Jordan a little awkwardly.

Ōishi's clearly a little confused, but he smiles warmly and says, "Hello."

[evilontheloose]

Jordan smiles and bows to the young man. "Hi, how are you?" Pretty girl with a cybernetic... glove?

Hard to tell, really.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

Ōishi is caught off-guard by Jordan's bow and well-accented Japanese. He somewhat hastily bows back to her. "Nice to meet you! I'm Ōishi Shuichirō." He rubs the back of his neck, hesitating. He's not sure how to ask politely how the two of them met.

Eiji's not helping. He's not going to volunteer that information.

Ōishi also notices her arm, but he's waaaaaaay too polite to even think of asking about that.

[evilontheloose]

"I'm Jordan Kennedy. Nice to meet you." And she offers her normal hand, on a more westerner greeting.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

Ōishi's smile broadens and he shakes her hand firmly. But not too firmly! He's very careful about that. "Jordan Kennedy-san?" he checks. She did very well at pronouncing her own name in Japanese syllables, so that he could understand it easily.

"Is everyone almost done yet?" Eiji asks Ōishi, to which the second boy replies, "Well, it could be a few more minutes... Taka-san's trying on a few shirts. Tezuka was looking at new rackets, too..." He presses a button on the automatic doors, and they open. All three of them get pleasantly blasted with air conditioning from the inside. Eiji steps right in, while Ōishi politely waits for Jordan to go first.

[evilontheloose]

"Jordan is fine." She nods to him, and follows Eiji after the doors open. "Eiji-san was saying you play tennis?"

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"That's right," Ōishi replies. "All of us here are on the school team."

It's not a very big store-- not tiny, but not big-- and it's kind of been overrun by this group of jr.-high boys. Except... wait, two are missing. Where's the kid with the white baseball cap and the genki-looking one with spiky black hair?

"Where're Momo and Ochibi?" Eiji asks, back at Ōishi.

"They went to go get something to eat. They said they were starving."

"Oh, man. They'll take forever!" Maybe it's just as well, though. Momo's nice, but Echizen can be a pain.

(Is there anyone Jordan wants to approach, or will she stick around Ōishi? He'll probably make conversation in a moment. Or she can look around.)

[evilontheloose]

"Oh, nice. Which school?" For now, she will hang around Ōishi and Eiji: the store is just a store, and nor even a manga or anime one, right?

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"Seishun Academy," Ōishi answers. After a slight pause, he asks, "Where are you from? Are you American?"

Eiji doesn't seem to be concentrating on the conversation. He glances over at Fuji, who's standing in front of the little fitting room in the back. Fuji hasn't glanced back yet.

[evilontheloose]

"Yes, I am... come from New York." Jordan gives a smile and nod. "My fifth visit to Japan." Okay, the other four were not for this Japan, but... that's a simple detail.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"Oh, really? Have you been any place besides Tokyo?"

While Ōishi continues to make polite conversation, Fuji comes over and starts talking to Eiji.

"Taka-san can't decide between two," Jordan may overhear. "He keeps switching back and forth."

Fuji's voice is soft and lilting, almost like a girl's. His smile is pleasant, but oddly unsettling-- it somehow makes one wonder what he's plotting.

"Well, tell him to hurry up!" Eiji whines.

"I tried."

[evilontheloose]

"Tell him to stop being so much a girl and take both already." Jordan pipes up and then answers Ōishi. "Oh, I have been to Hiroshima and Kobe too."

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

Eiji and Ōishi both stare a little wide-eyed at Jordan. Not horrified or anything, just caught off-guard. Fuji laughs.

"I'll try that. Taka-san," he calls out, in a sing-song. "Eiji has a new friend here who thinks you should stop being such a girl, and buy both." He seems hardly able to contain his amusement at saying those words.

"Really?" Comes a timid-sounding voice from the fitting room. "I guess..."

"Come on, we're waiting for you!" Eiji adds, unhelpfully. It's not quite true, besides; the boy with brown hair and glasses is buying something at the register. Though what he needs with eight different kinds of vibration dampeners might be a question worth asking.

[evilontheloose]

Well, if it was Jordan, she would be planning to rig a k-sink to explosion-proof something? Who knows, right? "Come on... if you like both, take both. Don't do like the donkey that starved standing between two sacks of feed."

Boys... Jordan might be a girl, but she does not shop like one.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

Kawamura ("Taka-san") slinks out of the fitting room for a moment.

"I don't know... I think this one's too big," he says, rubbing the back of his neck while looking down at the white-and-teal shirt he's wearing. It is, maybe. "But I like the color better than this one," he adds, holding up an orange shirt, which presumably fits better.

[evilontheloose]

Well, Jordan moves over to have a better look. "Hm. I don't think it is too big, no. And orange is for basketballs, or targets, not for wearing." Really, that is a high visibility color she associates with targets, not with clothing.

"Take this one." She pokes him to indicate the shirt he is already wearing.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Okay. Thank you!" Kawamura ducks back into the fitting room to change out of it.

"I'm impressed," Fuji tells Jordan, with a smile.

The boy who was at the register comes over to join the conversation. Well, not really join... He kind of just stands there. Looking stern.

Kawamura comes back out and goes to pay. So they're almost ready to go, except-- "Hey, Inui!" Eiji calls. "Are you done here?"

The tall boy with spiky hair and thick glasses is currently crouched over by the shoes, writing something in a notebook. The guy with the green bandana is standing over him, waiting patiently. He's kind of scary-looking, but there's something about the way he's holding himself that indicates that the rest of the group are all his seniors.

"What the hell are you doing, anyway?" Eiji asks, still addressing Inui.

"Nothing," Inui promptly answers, standing up and closing the notebook. "I'm finished."

"So, where are we headed now?" Fuji asks, to no one in particular.

"Should we go look for Momo and Echizen?" Ōishi suggests.

[evilontheloose]

"Impressed for what?" She raises a brow at Fuji, then turns to Eiji and Inui, then Ōishi. "They went for food, right? I could use a bite too."

She might even make the boys pay for it.

Or not?

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"Impressed that your suggestion actually worked," Fuji replies. "Taka-san is usually the most indecisive person I've ever met." ("Usually"?)

Ōishi looks at his watch at Jordan's suggestion. "Oh, yeah, I guess it's getting pretty close to lunch anyway," he says. "We should go eat."

"Where did they go?" Eiji asks.

"This way, I think, but I'm not sure exactly where..." Ōishi leads the way outside, turning left down the street.

"I just texted Echizen," Inui mentions. "He should tell us where they are in a minute."

"Yeah, if he's not too busy stuffing his face," Eiji counters.

"Yeah, I doubt they'll be done by the time we get there," Ōishi agrees, sort of addressing Jordan. "We'll have plenty of time to eat."

[evilontheloose]

Jordan gives a shrug. "And even if they are done eating, they can just wait for us."]

"After all, they did run ahead in a hurry..." Is she trying to take the lead?

No, she did already.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

Ōishi and Eiji are right behind her on either side.

"Hm." Inui takes out his cell phone again. "It would seem they're at a ramen shop."

"Did they say where?" Ōishi asks.

"Nope," Fuji responds, looking at Inui's phone. "It looks like all Echizen sent was that one word-- ramen."

Ōishi sighs. "We just passed a ramen shop, didn't we?" Kawamura mentions. He and the stern-looking boy take the initiative to go back and glance into one of the restaurants.

"They're in here," the latter says, in a deep voice that really sounds nothing like a junior high student.

[evilontheloose]

"Ramen is good." Jordan smiles and nods. "Let's go."

Good ramen is very good indeed: she takes the lead again, walking into the shop, looking for two boys eating together.

Yes, she likes to be in control of situations.