Suki stares at me with a surprised expression on her face... the pleasant kind of surpise. It almost seems like she's impressed or she was expecting a different reaction from me.
*stare*
"What are we waiting for? I thought you said you were starving?" I ask
She suddenly comes to her senses
"O-Oh ,Yeah. W-where do you want to eat?"
"I hope you like convenience store fried chicken"
"Can we stop by someplace else first?"
"You're paying, so I can't really complain"
She smiles at me and winks
"Don't worry. I have a feeling you'll start liking me more than you expected after this. Let me just put on my socks and shoes"
She takes out a pair of neatly folded socks from her back pocket, heads over to the door and carries her shoes outside.
No wonder I didn't see her shoes when I opened the door a while ago. She put them beside the door where the hinges are. That's pretty clever.
"Close all the lights and don't forget to lock up. I still have your keys with me. Let's get going" she says while putting on her shoes.
"You know, for a trespasser, you seem pretty concerned about the safety of a place that isn't yours" I jokingly reply
Did I just make friends with this chick. Technically, we're just acquainted but who knows, maybe I could make friends with her. For starters, she's not ugly which is a good thing. If she weren't as pretty as she is, would I have lashed out and called the police? Well, everything seems fine now, so let's just see where this goes.
She heads out and waits for me by the door as I switch off the lights and lock the door. I check my window if it's shut and turn the knob of my door to double-check whether it's locked or not. Then we walk down the small lane that connects the building where my apartment is and the main city roads.
I walk with a slightly slower place while she maintains the same pace as mine right next to me. As we pass by one of the streetlights attached to the electric posts near the sidewalk of the main road, I notice something familiar about her clothes.
"Your uniform kind of looks familiar. By any chance, do you study in TIA?" I ask
"Come again?"
"Tokyo International Academy or TIA. Do you study there?"
"Yeah, sort of- Uh, the place I wanted to stop by at is to the left" she calmly replies
We turn left and continue walking.
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That explains the uniform. Maybe she's a transfer student? I might as well ask
"Sort of? What do you mean?"
"Yes, I do study in TIA, but Ionly actually go there to study when I really need to. I don't really go to class everyday." she hesitantly replies.
Hmm...That's interesting. I think she means she only attends the number of required school days before they officially drop you out of the curriculum. I've only theorized on doing something like that. I've always thought students couldn't get away with doing that.
"I think that's pretty cool if you ask me. I mean, not going to school is obviously a bad thing, but how you applied that loophole is pretty clever. I've only theorized about it, but I never really gave it much thought"
She looks at me and smiles.
"It's totally cool. I've been doing it since 10th grade." She says with a small hint of pride in her expression
Shortly after, Suki stops walking and we reach a small food stall which had a small deterioating sign that said "Nigiri". It was a regular food stall which was runned by an elderly couple. The old couple were both wearing a long black apron over a white t-shirt, plastic gloves and rubber boots. The only difference was that the old man was wearing a Hachimaki (鉢巻, a traditional japanese bandana)
I take my phone out of my pocket to wait for her to finish her business, and notice the time. "6:59"
It's been two hours since I got out from class. I should in bed eating my usual chinese take-out, and watching anime.
While I mindlessly scroll through my phone to look busy, Suki walks up to me and holds up a small, transparent plastic bag. Inside it, are two Nigiris neatly packaged with some wax paper.
"One for you and one for me. Now, let's go get some chicken"
She starts walking toward the direction where the convenience store is, and I follow her lead.
"Those are Nigiri... They have those at the convenience store where we're supposed to buy the chick-."
"AH AH SHHH. Quit nagging. You'll see." She suddenly cuts me off.
Her pace starts to get faster as if she were in a hurry or something. We pass by the entrance to my apartment, turn at the corner and pass by the bus station as well. After a minute or so of what seemed like a light jog, we arrive at the convenience store.
I pause for a few seconds to catch my breath, and take a seat at one of the vacant tables outside. Suki seemed rather fine after that short jog. She rushes in and heads over to the side of the counter where the fried chicken is displayed and kept hot inside a glass cabinet.
She gets the chicken, pays for it, holds both of it in one hand, then comes out with a big smile on her face. I stare at her as she makes her way to the table where I'm seated.
In the back of my mind, I was thinking about how this whole thing feels rather unreal. Being out at night with a pretty girl and getting one of my favourite snacks at a CityMart is definitely one something I'd never even dreamed of happening.
She's even cuter when she smiles. She's definitely my type. Kawaii desu ne...
She takes a seat in front of me, takes out the nigiris from the plastic bag and sets it on the table. Then she hands me my fried chicken. I stare at it and realize that it's exactly the type of fried chicken I always get. It's a battered and deep fried fillet of chicken.
"I never told you what type of chicken I liked. How'd you know?" I curiously asked
"Oh. Well, that's the only type of fried chicken I like that they sell here, so I just got that. Anyways, before you into the chicken, take a bite of the nigiri first. Eat it together"
I opened my nigiri and immediately took a bite. Suki stares at me with a nervous expression. I ignore her and take a bite of the chicken. As I chew, the taste seemed fairly normal until I bite into something sweet and sour.
"How is it?" she curiously asked
Woah. This nigiri has pickled radish and plums in it. No wonder she wanted to get these instead of buying ordinary nigiri at the store. This is really good.
She looks at me with a cheeky expression and starts eating as well.
"I told you you'd like me."
"Don't go thinking that I've changed my mind about you crashing at my place" I reply while enjoying my food
"What if I was your girlfriend? Would you let me live with you?
WHAT?