Eating together

After putting down the phone, Yoshio realized he had overslept. He Did not expect to fall asleep for such a long time. He sat on his futon, scratching his head, thinking I hope we have some pudding I am starving. Why didn't Makio wake me up?

He stood up and dressed in a neat simple black robe and pants, then went to the bathroom. As he appeared in the kitchen afterward, Makio was nowhere to be seen. Nevertheless, everything looked pristine. Dinner was on the stove, pudding was in the fridge. Yoshio smacked his lips, satisfied with his pupil’s efforts.

He did not have much time, as it was almost six. He took out the pudding, ate a spoon of rice, and after washing the spoon, went to the backyard. There, he sat on the table, observing the koi, consuming pudding with satisfaction. A slight smirk appeared with each bite, his detached demeanor softened by a touch of anticipation.

Finishing the last spoonful, Yoshio returned to the kitchen, washed a spoon, and disappeared. The next second he was in the alley near Sora's workplace. He then looked around and walked out in the open.

From a distance, he spotted her. Sora's clothes seemed out of place, given her employment. Yet, she looked cool. At the moment she concentrated fully on something she was reading. That book was unfamiliar to him, so he did not pay it any attention. While he walked closer, he was observing her. He did not think much of his staring, since it was a habit of his. As he approached her, she seemed to feel that, looking up. She jumped up, waving excitedly, then quickly hid her book.

"Adachi-saaaan, I am so glad you are here! Yesterday the snake almost ate me!" She spilled onto him. As always, she was jumping right ahead.

"What?" Yoshio looked stunned, "What snake?"

"I think a fellow yokai. She even turned into half-woman half-snake at one point."

Yoshio frowned, looking at Sora’s face. thinking that they just met several days ago, and she had already gotten herself into trouble. She didn’t seem to notice his concern as she continued:

"...So I looked it up. Do you think she was a Nure-onna?"

"Most likely just a regular Uwabami. I doubt it was a Nure-onna since they mostly prefer water," Yoshio said with interest.

"She mentioned losing some of her powers recently, but she seemed pretty strong to me!"

"Wait," Yoshio felt overwhelmed, "can you start from the beginning?"

"Of course! I was walking home, and you know my friend randomly received this message from his girlfriend, so he had to leave. And the moment he left she appeared, wanting to eat me because of the power. Naturally, I told her I was too weak, and not up to my full potential, so she had to wait until I became stronger."

"Did she really believe that?" Yoshio asked, confused.

"Yes! It worked, but I almost peed myself, honestly," she admitted with a nervous laugh. Realizing Yoshio’s serious expression, she added, "Anyway, I managed to escape, but now she’ll be waiting by my house for my power to grow. Which is funny because I can’t even see it!"

"Yes, I’m working on investigating your power. There’s a fox yokai who—"

"What really? Oh, I want to see them!!" Her eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands.

Yoshio felt a pang in his chest, for some reason, so he looked away.

"Khm, anyway, he can see the past sometimes, and the future mostly unprepared. He was the one leaving you notes because he saw your future accidentally."

"Wow, amazing! I hope he is just like I picture him! Probably has gorgeous hair..." She stopped peaking at Yoshio's head and clothing her eyes at realization, "Oh wait, I am so sorry... I didn't..."

Yoshio stopped and turned to her, "Okay, we need to address this. It seems my lack of hair somehow bothers you? Just so you know, I’ve been bald for many years, so there’s no need to concern yourself with it. It doesn’t bother me either, so you can talk about other people’s hair without apologizing." He stopped, thinking that it was maybe a bit too much of information said on his part. But her eyes, looking at him were so big and deep, he noticed her attentiveness and faltered. "Khm, we should continue."

She hesitated, then nodded, and said, "Wait, Adachi-san, I wanted to ask you to eat with me, I am starving. Would you mind?"

He narrowed his eyes, "Really? I suppose it’s okay, you choose the place."

"Um, that's not the best idea, I have many places I would want to go!" She opened her phone’s maps app, showing numerous restaurant tags in each district. She tapped on one and looked up, "Oh, I know! We’ll have some meat—well, I’ll have meat, and you’ll have vegetables," she added quickly, "and then we can get boba!"

"Boba? What the hell is that?" He looked perplexed.

"OMG don't tell me you never had bubble tea? Adachi-san, it's the drink of the gods! You must try it now! Let's go!" Sora touched his shoulder lightly. He moved away unconsciously. "Ph, sorry, Adachi-san, I didn't mean to..."

"Um, no, it's just nobody..." He bit his tongue, "Never mind, I did not have proper dinner anyway, so I shall follow."

"Yay, great, " Sora looked excited, and it made Yoshio happy, "I really wanted to eat with you for some reason."

They left the campus, and as Sora started talking about something Yoshio didn’t fully understand, he smiled politely, nodding and observing her happy face.

As they entered the restaurant, it was not full yet, so they could even choose a table freely. Yoshio chose the table himself, after looking around. He thus was sitting at the back, facing the whole place. Sora noted that. She did not expect him to care. It seemed interesting to see some new sides of him, unconsciously she smiled.

"What's that?" He looked at her, frowning a bit.

"Em, what? Nothing? Did I say something I don't think I did..."

"Okay, settle down. You didn't I think I misread your facial expression."

"Ha-ha sorry! I did not mean to confuse you. Let's eat!"

The table soon filled with delicious dishes. Sora eagerly took out her chopsticks, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. As they started eating, he again noted that she eats very fast. While he took his time chewing properly. He thought it was not his issue to comment on, so he said nothing of it. As they ate, they discussed the snake issue, and Yoshio told her what he learned so far. About her possible origins, and her power. He finished with,

"Anyway, I still did not manage to get all the info from the fox on the power, so I think Okamura will..."

"Oh, did he tell you? We've met accidentally!"

"Really?" Somehow he did not mind her interrupting, as he had kind of gotten used to it by now.

She nodded. "Yes, in the manga shop. We were in the same section, almost fought for the manga, imagine that!"

"What? Really? I had no idea he was into manga that much!"

"Yep, yep." Sora hesitated, realizing she should avoid mentioning the genre just in case Makio wasn’t open about it, so she just put some meat in her mouth instead.

"Well, I think it's nice he started to meet some people he can hang out with! We have been traveling for hundreds of years together, and only now I was able to you know, see him loosen up a tiny bit."

"Mn, he did not seem like a closed-off person. Very nice, and friendly."

«Really? I guess he could be friendly. I don't know, with me, he is very reserved."

"Oh, I think he is hiding to seem cool, but he is way more than that, I promise!" Sora smiled and ate the cucumber with satisfaction, loudly. It seemed that she already was forgetting to mask herself in front of Yoshio, as she felt more and more comfortable around him.