seigaku_no_neko | Downtown Tokyo, with Jordan

"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.

"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?

"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."

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.

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.

"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.

Some of the boys kind of glance at each other before following her into the shop. She's interesing.

She'll find two boys at the end of the 7-seat bar, with two of the biggest bowls of ramen you've ever seen. They're really going at it, too. They keep glancing at each other, fierce determination in their eyes.

This is clearly a competition.

Eiji rolls his eyes. They always do this.

The restaurant, meanwhile, smells delicious. The shopkeeper welcomes them in heartily, "Irasshaimase!"

Competitive eating: one of her favorite sports! Jordan greets the shopkeeper back and orders Shōyu ramen for herself.

Ōishi spends a minute trying to coordinate how they're going to sit. "There's only seven seats here, so I guess Tezuka, you and Fuji can sit here... or back there's fine, too, I guees."

Fuji and Tezuka (the stern-looking boy with the glasses) have ignored Ōishi's direction and gone to sit at one of the tables with Kawamura. Which leaves Inui and the scary-looking kid to sit on the other side of Eiji and Ōishi at the counter.

"Just sit down! Geez," Eiji says, pulling his doubles partner down onto the stool beside him. "You're such a mom!"

The shopkeeper busies himself for the next few minutes taking all of their orders. Those'll be coming up shortly.

Jordan will maneuver herself to actually sit between Ōishi and Eiji if at all possible: the two boys are the most social thus far, so... better to not offend either.

...why yes, she is putting some effort into being social. Blame Milliways.

The girl makes small talk, asking about their school, tennis practice and such, and perhaps impresses the boys with her ability to properly slurp down two large bowls of ramen, using the chopsticks with admirable skill.

It's not hard to get in between them. Ōishi senses her preference and promptly alerts Eiji to it.

Partway through their meal, however, they're interrupted by a loud voice coming from beside Eiji.

"Done! Ha! Momo-senpai, I beat you! Pay up!" The pipsqueak (not wearing a baseball cap today) stands up, his chopsticks high above his head in victory.

Momo slurrrps up one last noodle before arguing. "No you didn't! You've still got more left."

"What? Where?" "Right there, on the side." "Huh? That doesn't count. It's not in the bowl." They proceed to argue, and maybe jab each other on the shoulder a little.

"You lose points for wasting food!" Jordan again pipes up. "Sheesh, you never did a proper noodle race?"

Some people, really...

The short kid turns to look at her. "Hey, who's the chick?" he asks, rudely.

Apparently he didn't see her there before. Fail, Echizen.

"Someone who can beat you in a noodle race anytime. Eating with one hand only." Oh, he did not call Jordan a 'chick'... wait he did.

Poor kid.

"Yeah, whatever." He doesn't seem impressed. He might see about taking her up on that challenge, though...

"Echizen, don't be rude," Ōishi chastises. "This is Jordan. She's from New York."

"Oh, yeah? I'm from around there." Echizen says, switching over to absolutely perfect English. "Where in New York are you from?"

Edited 2010-08-28 12:44 (UTC)

"Greenwich Village." Jordan continues in Japanese, smirking.

"Where we know how to do a proper food race."

"You've already eaten a lot," Echizen mentions, pointing-- and still speaking in English. "I'm not gonna go up against someone who's not at their best."

He then changes the subject, as if it's totally normal. "So what brings you to Japan? You studying here or something?"

Eiji and Ōishi give each other confused looks. They think they understand some of what he's saying, but it might be the most they've ever heard him talk.

"Oh, sure, like I would bother challenging you... since you do not even know the basic rules." Now she is taunting.

And misdirecting away from the question.

Echizen shrugs. And just because he likes calling people out on things, "You didn't answer my question."

But then Eiji interrupts. "Ochibi! Stop speaking in English. She understands Japanese, you know!"

"It's not my fault you don't understand English, Kikumaru-senpai," Echizen tells him, correctly guessing the main cause of Eiji's frustration (and finally speaking in Japanese). "Maybe you should study harder."

"Echizen, that's mean," Ōishi says, actually looking a little stern.

"Nah, not mean. That's showing off, and being condescending too." Jordan shrugs, back in japanese. "Some people are that way..."

"Yeah, well, that's Echizen for you."

The voice comes from beside the annoying short kid, but the guy who says it is smiling.

"Yo, Jordan was it?" he asks, waving. "I'm Momo."

Echizen just shrugs again, and sits back down, apparently ignoring everybody. Which is probably a good sign. He tends to mouth of the most to the people he really can't stand.

"Hi Momo." She smiles, offering a hand to him. "Yeah, Jordan Kennedy, nice to meet you guys." Overall nice, anyway.

"You all are just hanging out?" That is asked to the group as a whole. "I am trying to not be tourist this time."

"That's right," Ōishi answers. "We all thought it would be nice to come downtown and shop for a while."

"As if we don't see enough of each other," Momo teases, laughing.

"I see enough of you, Momo-senpai," Echizen feels the need to add.

"And we're all tired of you too, Echizen." Momo grabs him with one arm and gives him a good noogie.

"Hey! Cut that out!"

"Is there anything in particular you wanted to do today, Jordan?" Ōishi asks, politely. "We all know this area pretty well, so if you're looking for anything, we could probably help you find it."

Jordan watches the exchange very amused. "Hm, I wanted to find a couple good manga stores, then maybe catch a movie later." A girl needs her reading material.

"We were talking about catching a movie earlier, weren't we, Tezuka?" Ōishi turns around slighty to address one of his teammates sitting at the table.

Tezuka raises an eyebrow, like he's not sure why Ōishi's talking to him. "Yes," he answers flatly.

Ōishi turns back to Jordan. "Anyway, we can definitely fit all of that in. I know a good manga store you'll probably like a few stations away from here-- my sister goes there all the time. You okay with taking the train?" Before she can answer, he adds, "If you don't want to pay the fare, we can always just look for a bookstore somewhere around here."

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