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

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

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.

[evilontheloose]

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

Some people, really...

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

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.

[evilontheloose]

"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.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"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?"

[evilontheloose]

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

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

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"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.

[evilontheloose]

"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.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

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.

[evilontheloose]

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

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"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.

[evilontheloose]

"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."

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"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."

[evilontheloose]

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.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"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."

[evilontheloose]

Jordan smiles. "A fare ticket should not be a problem... I think I exchanged enough dollars for yen."

She peers into her unipack, pulling out a wallet and checking it. "Yeah, plenty."

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

"You can always borrow some from--" Eiji and Ōishi both cut themselves off at the same time, realizing that they had been talking in unison.

It's a little awkward for a moment. They laugh kind of nervously. "Sorry. That was weird, wasn't it?" Ōishi interjects casually.

Anyway, Jordan probably caught that they were going to offer to lend her some money if she needs it. But Eiji got a glimpse at her wallet and realized that she's probably good to go.

She might still be able to goad them into paying for lunch, however...

[evilontheloose]

Goad? "I think I am good for the train and books..." Jordan just flashes the boys her best, sweetest smile.

"Let's go?" Who needs goading? Just go along and let them do it themselves!

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

It takes Eiji a minute to figure out that she's not planning on paying for her lunch. In fact, it takes him until he sees his doubles partner counting out extra money from his wallet.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Eiji objects. "I'm paying for hers." He immediately gets out his own wallet and starts counting out coins.

"It's okay, Eiji; you don't need to spend the money." (The hidden implication here is extremely subtle, but Eiji does have a tendency to let money slip through his fingers...)

Eiji picks up on it, though, and rather resents it. He glares at his doubles partner. "I can pay, Ōishi."

"We'll split it," Ōishi concedes, diplomatically.

"Fine," Eiji says, but he's still pouting a little bit.

[evilontheloose]

Hopefully the pout will go away when Jordan gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Eiji-san."

Of course, Ōishi will get a peck too.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

Both boys blush and give each other rather startled looks. They weren't exactly expecting that.

(All the other members of the team are staring, too. But Eiji and Ōishi try to ignore that.)

As they get up to leave, Eiji attempts to distract from the unexpected kiss he's just received. "Hey, what're you calling me 'Eiji-san' for? Just 'Eiji' is fine."

Ōishi seems to have lost all power of conversation for the moment.

[evilontheloose]

"Oh, okay!" She nods and smiles. "Come on..." They are burning daylight, after all.

Jordan shoulders her pack and starts out: she will wait for them on the street.

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

She might have to wait a few minutes, since the rest of them still have to pay. And since they've asked to pay "betsu-bestu" (splitting up the check), the shop owner has to figure out what everyone ordered.

Kaidō-- the scary-looking kid with the bandana-- is the first one to finish paying, and comes outside to wait with Jordan. After a few moments, though, it becomes clear that no one else is going to copy his strategy, and the rest of the team is going to stand around the cash register until they've all paid.

So it might be awkward for a couple of minutes. Kaidō's not very good at conversation.

He even scowls slightly. Why does it seem that things like this always happen to him?

[evilontheloose]

Awkward? Not at all, she is humming some j-pop and smiling, all relaxed. "Chill. They will be out soon!"

[seigaku-no-neko.livejournal.com]

It's good that it's not awkward for Jordan. But it's still awkward for Kaidō, because he has a way of making things awkward for himself.

He doesn't particularly appreciate being told to "chill," either. But he doesn't say anything... He just hisses. (Yes... hisses.)

But Jordan's right, and the rest of the team appears momentarily.

"So where are we off to now?" Fuji asks, not having heard the conversation about the manga shop.