The Pizza Date

Today’s UN Training --- Never let outside influences alter your schedule

An important part of properly managing the very intricate details of political life at the highest level, is the ability to stick to your schedule despite the many pushes and pulls of the world around you.

If one has an important meeting at a certain time, one can not afford to let anything keep them away from said meeting. To Tani it is no different than choosing to play video games with a friend instead of turning in a school assignment on time, any situation that could alter his scheduled plan is within his control.

And something within his control is always avoidable, he will never let it be his downfall.

Because of this, the last few years has been spent within extremely strict boundaries in regards to his time. He exists in an objective based world that has yet to invite anyone else in.

But how long can he sustain it?

It has obviously taken him quite far, becoming fluent in 6 languages, (soon to be 7) in under four years is evidence enough that his way of life has brought him tremendous results; yet it simultaneously gets in the way of other things that are steadily becoming more prioritized.

He doesn't know it yet, but he's been thrust into another battle.

Whether he likes it or not, now there are other people existing within the sphere he has created for himself. It will take a herculean effort to continue down the path that has worked best to this point, especially when faced with someone who knew him before he even started living in this little world of his.

Kimura Ume might be his most formidable opponent yet...

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Akihiro Tani’s Saturday started early, it began with studying Norwegian and translating next week’s school curriculum for Anita. Shortly afterwards his focus shifted onto making language assignments for his club, and as of just an hour ago, he finished it by going to the Lawson to grab some new ingredients for a petit four he is going to bake for Shirai-sensei tomorrow.

A busy morning to say the least, but a standard Saturday ever since he started his club, the only difference is that he has completed all of his tasks hours earlier than normal.

It is currently 1pm, and he finds himself sitting on a bench in front of the Ryogoku Kokugikan National Sumo Arena.

His phone alarm rings from within his pocket, pointing out that the designated meeting time for he and Kimura Ume is now. Despite setting this arbitrary alarm, Tani made sure that he got here an entire hour earlier than she planned, he felt it pertinent to get up before sunrise to complete his tasks just to make sure he’d arrive here early.

He'd never be the one to miss a meeting time after all...

From the bench in front of the Sumo Hall, he can view the train on the yellow Chuo-Sobu line as it drops off this particular minute’s batch of people. He watches as they exit the Ryogoku station near the 7/11 and quickly disperse in many different directions.

He can’t help but wonder what they’re all up to; if they have work at the hotel down the road or are tourists visiting the local shrine, or if they are simple day travelers enjoying a walk along the nearby Sumida River. Tani often lets little dreams of distant lives entertain him when he gets the chance to people watch. As a main character in his own narrative, putting himself in the imaginary shoes of others has become a connecting pastime to strangers and a means to achieve much needed perspective.

When 1:05pm comes, he looks at his phone to confirm the time. People are no longer flowing out of the station, and with the boredom of nothing particularly interesting to look at, he begins to feel impatient.

While tapping his foot on the ground he mutters, “She’s late for her own job.”

1:10 comes, a new batch of people.

No Kimura Ume.

This cycle repeats itself for another half hour, and Tani almost considers leaving. He is a busy man after all, he can think of quite a few productive things to get done instead of waiting around here today.

And yet, 2pm’s train offloads its people, and Tani still remains.

Although he’s been here for two hours, he still waits for her to arrive.

“Okay seriously, next train I’m out of here.”

Two more trains pass, Tani still remains.

He leans back on the bench and looks up to the sky, releasing a dreadful groan. He can’t convince himself to bail.

While looking up at the puffy spring clouds rolling gently along, his view is interrupted by the huffing and puffing face of Ume looking down on him.

“Tani!”

He doesn’t even think about her tardiness upon her arrival, because the first thing he notices is how well her makeup is done, along with a different hairstyle and a painter's hat worn atop her head, she borderline looks like an entirely different person.

“H-Hey.”

Having only seen her in school clothes since their reunion last month, he’s stricken by the stylish outfit she's wearing. Tight fitting jeans that billow at her ankles contrast against a baggy white V-neck shirt that doesn’t fall far enough to cover her exposed belly button. Hanging loosely on her shoulders is a beige knit sweater that drapes behind her in a cape-like fashion.

“Tani, you’re here. Thank goodness.” She takes a moment to catch her breath. “Uwaa I’m so sorry!! Last night I got called in to do the shoot two hours early, I tried to get in contact with you!”

“I didn’t get your text.”

“That’s because you haven’t given me your new Lime* number! I even tried your Instergram* profile that we messaged on before.”

Tani sits up on his bench and lets out a sigh. “I deleted that right after you joined my club, my DMs were getting blown up with inappropriate messages from one particularly annoying person.”

Somewhere in Tokyo, Shirai Keiko has been struck by an arrow.

“I also hit you up on Facebook!”

“Facebook? I haven’t had that since middle school, only old people use it now.”

“Uwa what?? But it said you read my message, when you didn’t respond after a few more tries didn’t know what to do!”

“Huh? That’s weird.”

Ume clasps her hands together and bows to him. “I’m so sorry to keep you waiting, I hope you didn’t think I stood you up.”

Tani stands to his feet and puffs. “Ha! In my head I went through many potential scenarios to explain your tardiness, but I figured you got tied up with something, you standing me up never even crossed my mind.”

“Really??”

“Though I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t think about going home.”

Ume shrinks and averts her gaze, letting out an awkward chuckle in the process.

“But…” Tani retrieves her attention. “I knew you’d show up eventually, it’s not in your nature to bail on a friend.”

The first heartbeat upon hearing that is extra aggressive for Ume, she blushes and shows him her cheek. “Thank you for your faith in me.”

“That being said…” Tani puts his hands on his hips and looks to the Sumo Palace. “Looks like I missed out on what I came here for.”

She again bows before saying, “I’m sorry!” 

“So your photoshoot was inside there?”

“It was, today’s shoot theme was ‘Ulzzang girl in awe of Japanese culture’. I remember how you used to like Sumo Wrestling so I thought it’d be fun for you to have access to such a famous Hall.”

Tani is surprised that she remembers such an obscure thing about him, he hasn’t really given Sumo much thought the last few years but in his last year of primary school he was quite interested in matches. At one point he was a big fan of Goeido Gotaro and even had a shirt with the wrestler's likeness printed on that he wore around on weekends.

His interest in the topic was short lived, but back then, just like now, when he finds himself interested in something he dives into it full on. Such passion wasn't lost on Kimura Ume, and her consideration for his interests does enough to flatter him.

Truth be told however, the Sumo Hall would have only been an added bonus. Even though he fought the idea of coming here at first, after giving it some thought he found himself quite intrigued by seeing Ume work. Judging by the outfit she’s wearing he assumes this will be as close as he’ll get in that regard, he's impressed by how well the Ulzzang girl fashion style suits her.

So much so he almost gives her a compliment before thinking the better of it.

Clearing his throat with a timid cough, he instead says, “It’s alright, maybe next time.”

“Can I make it up to you? There’s a super good pizza place around the corner.”

“Oh?”

Now here is a curious development.  

He has study plans at home since he figured they would be going their separate ways around this time of the day. In any normal situation, a preplanned schedule to keep would mean an automatic rejection to any proposal that can get in the way of it

But a little known fact about our resident busybody that Ume certainly knows of, is that he’s a sucker for pizza. Unlike the flash in the pan passion for Sumo Wrestling, his passion for that Italian dish is still as strong as ever.

What she doesn’t know is that Akihiro Tani has wasted a countless amount of rare free time on the quest to find a good pizza spot, even going so far as to take a train in the opposite direction of his flat to try out a rumored hidden gem he found online or heard about in passing. He’s stumbled upon a couple decent ones, but is disappointed more often than not.

Ume can see he’s pondering and tries to nudge him towards her desired result. “Yeah, one of the other models told me it's the best in Tokyo!”

That's a bold claim. One in which he feels compelled to investigate.

Tani has not frequented this part of the city, so he figures he might as well take advantage of his journey all the way out here. But if he goes, will he have time to complete what needs to be done at home? He does the math in his head, and calculates that an extra hour or so can be subtracted from his sleep schedule tonight. The internalized justification for altering his schedule does enough to sap away the guilt of deviation.

“...Sure.”

He has fallen right into Ume’s trap. She clenches her fists and celebrates before guiding him along.

The aforementioned pizza place is just a couple hundred meters away from the Sumo Hall, so they got there quickly. Upon entering, Tani investigates the restaurant as though he were a government employee here to give it a potentially devastating health grade. However, what he’s looking for is more akin to a famous TV chef checking off boxes of acceptable operating behavior.

The area where one orders their meal is small, but the seating arrangements both inside and outside are spacious, and the outdoor spots are even covered from the sun with a vine-covered wooden Pergola.

Aesthetic check: PASS

Next he can see one of the chefs preparing the dough, while another next to him is applying fresh toppings to an already prepared pie, and most importantly is the third chef behind them smoothly placing a pizza into a woodfired oven with a spatula the size of a shovel.

Preparation check: PASS

The smell coming from that oven does enough to make Tani feel weak at the knees, he has high hopes for this place and although very excited, he chooses not to show it.

Smell check: PASS

Ume orders a meat lover's pizza, and Tani orders a margherita. When Tani pulls his wallet out to pay, Ume jumps in front of him and foots the bill for both.

“Some of these modeling gigs pay pretty well, this is my treat.”

Not one to say no to free food, Tani obliges.

“Oh, thanks.”

The two take their seats outside underneath the vines and sip on sparkling water, for the first few minutes not much is spoken between the two. Ume plays with the straw of her water cup between her teeth and shifts her eyes from one surrounding thing to the other.

Tani uses these silent moments to check on his phone.

Noticing his attention shifting away from her, she tries to tease him about it. “Are you playing a game?”

To which Tani curly replies, “No, I’m just reading an article in Norwegian.”

She scratches her cheek. “Ehhh, sounds enthralling.”

“Well, it’s a little trick I use to teach myself a new language quickly. When I’m away from school I either read, watch clips online, or work on pronunciation at least five minutes once every hour.”

“Wow, you’re so disciplined now. You really aren’t like you used to be.”

“I am the human embodiment of discipline, you are allowed to marvel at my greatness if you’d like.”

“I rescind my words, you’re just as arrogant as ever!.”

Tani smirks and looks back at his phone.

“So then,” Ume leans into the table and again nibbles on the straw of her water cup. “You’re able to talk to Anita-san now, huh?”

“I think I’ll be able to fully communicate with her in about a month or so.”

“Exciting.”

“Yeah.”

Now Ume plays with the fringe of her hair, she feels like she’s sitting on a block of ice and moves in her seat accordingly. 

Tani's attention to his phone and those short replies don't do enough to create a flowing conversation, so she struggles through the awkwardness of dead end topics.

“Um… A margherita pizza eh? I thought you were always a pepperoni guy?”

With a few glances away from his phone and spared towards her, Tani replies, “When I was learning Italian, I went to an authentic gaijin run pizza place all the way in Kabukicho, and the chef told me that a bad pizza can be hidden by a lot of ingredients, but a margherita is the best way to truly judge the taste of a good pizza.”

The cold seat Ume sits on gets a little warmer, she might be onto something here.

 “And how was it??”

“How was it, you ask?” Tani puts his phone back on the table and looks her square in the eyes. “Before that day, I was fine with the big chain pizzas you could find anywhere, after my first bite of that margherita, I vowed to never eat from a big chain again!”

“Whoah!”

Tani swoons and leans back into his seat, “The sauce, Ume, it was so delicious. I’ve been chasing that dragon for over three years now.”

“I know Kabukicho is far from where you live, but why don’t you go back more often?”

Taking a deep contemplative breath into his nose, he expels it out of his mouth with a sigh that seems to sink his entire body into the ground.

“So I went back the next night…”

Sensing his energy build up, Ume is leaning forward in anticipation.

“And it was closed!!”

“Nooooo!”

“Yeah! Apparently I was the last customer, they went out of business right after I left!”

“That's terrible!”

“I was genuinely sad over it, so I dove into learning Italian even faster to cope with my loss. I imagine I won’t be able to experience something like that again until I finally go to Italy.”

“Maybe this place will be just as good?”

“I won’t get my hopes up.”

As soon as he said that, a server walks up and delivers them their respective pizzas. 

“Please enjoy!” The server says with a friendly bow.

The two of them throw their attention solely at the margherita, examining the visual cues of the food item as though it were puzzle pieces scattered across the table that need to be put together.

The dough is raised and the charcoaling looks as pretty as a leopard’s spots, the mozzarella and buffalino cheese rest like little white islands in a sea of red. 

The sauce has such a vibrant color that it gleams up onto their faces as they look down on it like two leprechauns greedily glaring at a pot of gold. The green basil leafs placed sporadically on the pie stands in stark contrast to the competing colors of melted cheese, sauce and dough, but it all comes together with the beauty of a Rembrant painting.

Not only has the restaurant itself passed every inspection Tani has had for it, the pizza having now aced its own test is like the proverbial cherry, or in this case basil leaf on top.

“This looks super tasty.” Ume says in awe, she has completely ignored her own dish.

Tani grabs a slice and puts it on her plate. “Try this with me.”

Ume is taken aback for a moment, but gratefully replies, “Thank you.”

The two look at each other with the zeal of heroes about to set off on an adventure to slay the Demon King. Time slows to a slog as they lift the artwork that is this pizza to their mouths, and in perfect unison the two take their first bites.

“...”

“...”

They say nothing, they react to nothing, they simply eat their entire slice in silence.

Once finished, Tani looks as though he’s about to cry. 

“...Ume, I apologize.”

“For what?”

“I lied to you earlier, I actually had very high hopes for this place.”

“A-And?”

“Tell me what do you think first.”

His glare fires laser beams her way, casting doubts on whether answering him honestly is the best next course of action. Just a little earlier when she was struggling to find a topic to to talk about, she felt that her seat was ice cold, now she feels like she's sitting on a bed of hot coals. Unlike the person so sternly awaiting her answer, Kimura Ume has a distinct inability to lie.

Her face grows hot and she squirms. 

“I-I mean, it was okay I guess.”

“Just okay?”

“Like, the crust was good...”

“Ume.”

Hearing her name said so firmly stiffens her shoulders. 

“Yeah?”

Tani slides his glasses off his nose and throws his face into his hands.

“It sucked.”

Taste check: FAIL

The ** Date ----- To Be Continued!!