The inside of the Hidden Dragon was dim and lit with paper lanterns, the red lamps casting a crimson glow on the faces of those inside. The restaurant wasn't particularly busy – only a couple of people sat at the tables and bar, nursing bowls of noodles and glasses of amber liquid. Weiss and Ruby got several strange looks as they entered the shop, bells above the door jangling as it opened and closed behind them. Not for the first time that night, Ruby sent out menacing glares to the people who stared towards them. Weiss did the same, though her glares were actually the ones that caused people to look away (Ruby was about as menacing as a cloud).
The restaurant was warm, a distinct flavour filling the air – the unmistakable tang of spices, which caused their noses to tingle slightly in reaction. It was standing in the entrance of the shop, feet implanted on a worn "welcome" mat, that Weiss realized she was in a great deal of danger. She wasn't the most sensitive to spicy food, even if it wasn't her favourite, but she certainly couldn't claim to have a particularly high tolerance to it – and the fact she was reacting to the smell of the shop alone was testament to what she was about to endure.
Beside her, Ruby was still sending gazes around the restaurant, daring anyone to judge them for their peculiar situation – though the potted plant probably didn't have any thoughts on the matter. The redhead had been to Ren's family's shop several times in the past, but had never really ventured into the hotter end of their meals. She'd always drifted more towards their sweeter dishes, her mouth never really suited for spicy temperatures.
That was more up her sister's alley, Yang and Pyrrha having competitions over who could handle spicier dishes, each time the red hue of their food growing more and more vibrant. It was safe to say Ruby had never taken part in those competitions, and was pretty apprehensive about trying those dishes. Tonight, however, it seemed like she wasn't going to have much of a choice in the matter.
"Good evening."
The low, mellow voice sounded from behind them, Ruby and Weiss startling and trying to spin to see the source, before the handcuffs reminded them that their shoulders could not bend that far. Taking a begrudging moment to decide on their orientation, the pair of women turned together, Ruby making a wide arc around Weiss.
Ren stood before them, magenta eyes curiously studying the pair. The man had always been the most soft-spoken of the group, choosing to keep the majority of his observations to himself – and now Ruby could feel him scrutinizing the pair, quietly studying them as they stood before him. After a moment of silent inspection, Ren smiled, the expression soft on his features.
"Welcome to the Hidden Dragon," he began, raising a hand to the pair, "Miss Rose, welcome back. Miss Schnee, I believe this is your first time here, and I hope we live up to your standards."
"My standards," Weiss shot back, "do not include a free set of handcuffs with my meal."
Ruby winced at the harsh tone, Weiss clearly uncomfortable once more. Whatever semblance of agreement they'd reached on their walk to the restaurant was gone, swept away by the new setting. Ren, however, did not react to her words, aside from blinking understandingly.
"Ah," he replied, his voice steady with slight sympathy, "yes, that isn't usually included in our menu. Unfortunately, I do not possess the key, and am under strict orders not to help you escape them."
"Nora's orders?" Ruby asked, receiving a gentle nod.
"That may or may not be true," Ren answered honestly, before he let out a soft sigh, "I understand that this might not be the best way to share a meal, but I'm sure that if you two keep an open mind, you might actually enjoy the experience."
"I sincerely doubt it," Weiss muttered, before she returned to full volume, "but it seems you have no other option for us, so. What do we have to do?"
Ren smiled as he pulled a card from his sleeve, holding it up in front of him as he read the words aloud.
"What is a date," he recited, "without a dinner? And what's a dinner without learning something new about your date?"
"Excuse me?" Weiss interrupted, looking both confused and displeased.
"It's on the card," Ren explained, flashing the written side towards the pair before he cleared his throat and continued on, "in this challenge, you two will be faced with some of the spiciest dishes that the Hidden Dragon has to offer. How you choose to eat them is up to you – but all the meals must be consumed, and we will be watching to be sure of it!"
Ruby raised her eyebrows at her friend.
"I'm guessing you're our supervisor?"
"You guess correctly," Ren answered, before he read the last bit of information, "now, here is where you two learn a bit more about one another. How do you each handle spicy food? How do you balance the heat? And how, most importantly, do you manage when one of you has your dominant hand cuffed to another?"
Blue and silver eyes immediately shot to the handcuffed wrists, raising the pair of limbs up slightly as if to confirm the truth of the statement. It was, incredibly unfortunately, true. Weiss's left and Ruby's right were trapped together, effectively trapping the use of the white haired woman's dominant hand – their eyes met in brief panic, before both heads whirled back to stare at their informant.
Ren raised his hands in surrender, indicating that he had no way of remedying the problem. They were trapped, with no way around it.
"I'm just going to keep reading," Ren said, his words quicker than before, "now, you've probably both just realized this fact for yourselves. This might be pretty difficult, but hey, we do have a proposition for you."
At the demanding glares sent his way, Ren swallowed and continued.
"If you successfully complete the challenge, you have the option to attempt to finish off the spiciest dish that the Hidden Dragon has to offer – and, if you complete that, we'll give you the chance to change whose dominant hand is rendered useless, if you wish it to be so."
"Yes."
"We accept."
Ren raised a hand to ward off their responses, reading the last bit on his card.
"But before you can accept, you must first finish the original challenge – eating a full course meal of our spicier dishes. Good luck!"
He lowered the card, finding two women glowering back at him. He pointed to an empty booth off in the corner, smiling as sympathetically as he could at the doomed pair.
"Shall we?" he asked.
Weiss and Ruby shared a look of begrudging acceptance, before nodding in defeat to Ren. He lead them to the round booth, the pair sliding in next to one another, awkwardly bumping shoulders as they did so. With glances of apology, Weiss and Ruby looked back towards Ren, waiting for the dark haired man to speak. He didn't leave them hanging.
"Are you two ready?" he inquired, looking slightly taken aback when Weiss raised her hand in response.
There was a moment of awkward pause, as Ruby attempted to trap flies with her mouth, and Ren tried to reboot his brain. After a couple of seconds, he nodded to Weiss in acknowledgment, words still a bit beyond him at the action.
"I just have a question," Weiss stated, completely oblivious to the reactions of the dark haired duo, "is there unlimited refills on water?"
It was a perfectly understandable question, but it still took Ren a moment to answer – in all of his years of working at his parents' shop, no one had ever asked such a blatant question. He nodded again in reply, stifling a smile at the way Ruby was still staring at Weiss in surprise.
"Are there any other… questions I can answer for you?" Ren supplied, looking between the pair.
"No, I think that will be all," Weiss answered, still not aware of the atmosphere around her, "Ruby?"
The redhead blinked in response, her brain taking a moment to process the question. It clicked a second later, Ruby visibly startling as she closed mouth, shutting off the free passageway for flies down into her lungs.
"Oh, uh, no!"
Weiss raised an eyebrow at the unexpected reaction, but chose not to comment on it, instead turning back to address Ren.
"There you have it," she stated.
Ren nodded in reply, taking a few steps back as he spoke.
"In that case," he answered, "I'll fetch your first course. Talk to one another in the meantime – remember, this is a date!"
With that, he disappeared off into the kitchen, leaving the pair on their own. Ruby turned to glance at Weiss, who at least seemed to have caught on to the strange tension around them.
"Uh, Weiss?"
A white brow perked in response.
"Why did you raise your hand?"
The woman seemed bewildered that her handcuff partner would ask such a ridiculous question, her brow furrowing as she turned to fully face Ruby.
"Do you not do the same when you have a question?"
"No," Ruby replied honestly, "usually the only place I ever need to raise my hand is in class, and even then the professors just tell you to yell out the answers."
"Oh."
Weiss looked genuinely confused and concerned at this – it seemed the prospect of looking foolish was more worrisome than simply being wrong.
"Er, but don't worry," Ruby continued hastily upon seeing her partner's reaction, "I'm sure lots of people do it, too. And you could have done worse – you could have… uh…"
At the lack of a proposition, Weiss glanced at Ruby dubiously, watching the redhead flounder for an answer.
"Well, I can't think of anything right now, but I'm sure someone's done something worse!"
Weiss smiled at Ruby's lame attempts to console her.
"Well, that's comforting," she said sarcastically.
"Yeah!" Ruby replied enthusiastically, before she realized what Weiss had meant, "oh, wait, you were being sarcastic, weren't you?"
Weiss rolled her eyes in response, Ruby giggling slightly at her own mistake.
"No, but really, you could have done something weirder," Ruby elaborated, "I mean, raising your hand is odd, but at least there's reason behind it, right?"
Weiss hummed in agreement, before she explained in further detail.
"I'm used to meetings," she elucidated, "you don't exactly blurt out questions in front of important business partners, so I have a habit of raising my hand whenever I have one. I don't go to casual things like this often, so I guess I kind of forgot that it wasn't the usual mode of communication."
Ruby made a noise of understanding, looking thoughtfully up to the patterned ceiling.
"So you're in business, then?" she asked, letting the conversation move on easily, "are you still in school?"
Weiss nodded.
"Working on my masters," she said, "I finished my undergrad a couple of years ago."
Ruby whistled in impression, lifting her brows in appreciation.
"What about you?" Weiss continued, to which Ruby grinned wide.
"I'm in my last year of my undergrad," Ruby clarified, "studying in engineering."
White brows shot up at the last portion of the statement, surprised by the choice of study. The redhead didn't really seem suited to the field of engineering – then again, Weiss contemplated, she couldn't exactly picture her in anything else.
"I mostly made it through on scholarships," Ruby continued, when Weiss hadn't replied, "and what that didn't cover, Yang did. A lot of people used to tell me that engineering wasn't really meant for me, but Yang always said not to listen to them – and it turns out I'm good at engineering, so I guess she was right!"
Weiss hummed in understanding, tracing a finger along the napkin on the table as she replied.
"What focus are you studying in?" she asked, cyan eyes glancing to the girl in curiosity.
"Biomedical engineering," Ruby replied easily, no hesitation in her words. Weiss's eyebrows shot up in surprise – that was a rare field to hear of, and one she expected to be associated with the bubbly redhead even less.
"I'm really interested in prosthetics and nerve system integration," Ruby explained, "what got me my scholarships was a project I started up back in high school, with a friend who'd lost her arm. She had a bionic hand, but it didn't work all that well, so I started to look into ways to improve it."
Weiss had been listening with a mixture of surprise and awe, admiring the way in which Ruby spoke of her work – there was no boasting, no over the top pride; there was simply a woman who wanted to share the results of her research.
Ruby finished her commentary, waving her free hand slightly in a gesture.
"I would explain it in further detail," she continued, "but it probably won't make a lot of sense, and will just sound like a lot of scientific jargon."
She paused for breath, focusing her gaze back to Weiss.
"What about you?" she asked, "Do you study anything specific?"
Weiss shrugged at that, the answer to the question lying somewhere in between 'yes' and 'no.'
"I used to," she answered carefully, "but more recently I'm taking a wider range of courses, trying to figure out exactly where I want to take my work."
Ruby nodded in agreement, and Weiss was thankful for the redhead's easy acceptance – had the woman asked for more detail, Weiss wasn't sure how she would have turned her request away.
"That's fair," Ruby replied, "people change their minds all the time about what they want to do. I mean, Yang went to school for a year, but she never went back after that."
"She dropped out?"
"Nah," Ruby elaborated, "she finished a really short degree, then decided to work just with that. She's a mechanic – our dad was one too, and taught her most of what he knew, so she didn't need as much schooling. She doesn't exactly have a lot of official requirements, but most places still hire her on anyways, even if it's just for advice. Our dad's name was pretty famous, so she's well known too."
Weiss frowned slightly – that was a pretty loaded statement: a great deal of information on Yang, a mention of specific names, and the concerning fact that Ruby kept referring to her father in past tense. Choosing not to delve into complicated and emotional matters, she focused on the second topic, tilting her head as she questioned further.
"Wouldn't you be well known for it too, then?"
Ruby laughed uncomfortably at that, raising her free hand to sheepishly scratch her neck.
"I don't have my dad's last name," she explained, "I have my mom's."
Before Weiss could ask anymore about it, however, the rattling of plates interrupted their conversation. Both latched onto the sight of Ren coming towards them, balancing on a palm a tray with two dishes on it. They were small plates, with a familiar food placed on them – as Ren slid them onto the table in front of the women, Weiss voiced her thoughts aloud.
"Spring rolls?" she asked, looking back up to Ren, who had an expression on his face that belayed a cross of amusement and acceptance.
"Sure, let's call them that for your sake," Ren answered, prompting a frown from the white themed woman, "this is the first course of the night. One of our most popular appetizers, complete with the 'Xiao Long' sauce."
Ruby giggled at the name, before she leaned slightly towards Weiss to explain.
"'Xiao Long' is Yang's last name," she clarified, "one of the times we were in here, she declared the sauce was so hot it should be on fire, and then lit it aflame."
Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Classy."
Ren continued on, ignoring the woman's comment.
"It's a simple start," he explained, "and not much to take in. Enjoy!"
Ruby and Weiss both snagged a pair of chopsticks before them, Weiss taking an extra moment to fumble with the pair of wooden utensils, unaccustomed to eating with them. She wasn't one for multicultural restaurants – the most cultural variations in her meals usually came from dinners with clients, and those didn't have wild, unfamiliar foods, so as not to put off the guests.
Almost immediately, they hit an obstacle – chopsticks were hard enough for Weiss to use with her dominant hand, and with it being cuffed to Ruby's, she had no chance. Ren cleared his throat – when both women glanced at him, he looked away, his hand subtly pointing to the forks laid on the table in front of them.
Well. It did appear that the man with the magenta streak did have a bit of sympathy to him, after all.
Less than acceptingly, the pair picked up the alternate utensils, inelegantly stabbing the spring rolls and raising them up towards their mouths. With one last, shared, apprehensive glance at one another, they both took a bite.
Now, it was safe to say that while Weiss didn't eat spicy food very often, she still had a moderate handle on her sensitivity to it. She didn't particularly enjoy heated flavours, but she'd had her fair share of them – both on the rare occasion that her business meetings had it, and the times people had dared her to drink Tabasco sauce, knowing how red her face would turn.
Even those experiences, however, paled in comparison to what she had just put into her mouth. She coughed instinctively – which, arguably, only made things worse – dropping her fork to cover her mouth, forcing the flaming food down her throat. Immediately it felt like a trail of fire had just drawn a line from her mouth to her stomach, a burning sensation making her eyes water.
Beside her, Ruby wasn't fairing much better, the redhead swallowing visibly before taking an audible breath.
"Oh my god," the woman choked out, her voice tight, "now I know why Yang calls it 'giving Satan a blowjob.'"
Weiss snorted at the crude comparison, the action making her cough harder – Ren winced sympathetically and pushed the glass of water towards her, which Weiss happily accepted. Ruby waved hers away though, causing Weiss to pause before taking a drink – the redhead pointed to Ren, tears in the corners of her eyes.
"I know what game Nora has told you to play," she growled, her pitch noticeably higher, "and I'm not falling for it. Bring us the damn milk, Ren."
Weiss blinked in surprise at the curse, while Ren smiled knowingly, chuckling lightly at her response.
"Nice catch, Ruby," he replied, "I'll go get it for you two. Just make sure to tell Nora that you figured it out on your own, if she asks."
With that, he withdrew, making his way out of sight once more. Weiss turned to glance at her red-faced, red-haired partner, speaking around a sensitive tongue.
"Milk?"
"You don't know?" Ruby replied, nudging away the glasses of water, "water doesn't help spicy food at all; if anything, it can just make it worse. Water and oil don't mix, so at the very least, it does nothing – and at the worst, it only spreads the heat. Milk neutralizes it the oils though, or something, so it helps with the burn."
"That's more or less it," Ren confirmed, making his way back to the table with two tall glasses of the white liquid. He handed it to the pair – Weiss took a sip, internally sighing at the slight relief; Ruby gulped nearly all of hers down in one go.
"You are one hundred percent going to have to pee by the time this meal is over," Weiss stated flatly, staring at her partner, who shrugged and licked away her milk moustache, missing half of it.
"Don't care," Ruby replied, though her words were half obscured by the way her tongue protruded beyond her lips, attempting to catch the last of the drops. Weiss stared at the sight for a moment, before she made a noise of exasperation and all but threw her napkin towards Ruby. The redhead caught it in surprise, then caught the meaning afterwards, smiling sheepishly as she used it to dab off the rest of her dairy facial feature.
Ren kept down his smile at the sight, suddenly believing more and more in Neptune's words of reassurance over the 'candy cane duo balancing themselves out.' Speaking of the themed duo, they'd both turned back to face him – he pointed to the unfinished rolls on the plates.
Weiss turned back to face him, pointing to her half-filled glass, and Ruby's empty one.
"There are free refills on this too, right?"
"Weiss, you forgot to raise your hand," Ruby stage whispered, giggling at her own joke, before yelping as Weiss flicked her forehead. Ren chuckled softly, nodding in reply to Weiss's question, before he pointed towards the half-finished plates.
"You do need to finish those, you know," he stated flatly, receiving a pair of displeased, loud groans in response.
"Seriously?" Ruby asked incredulously, groaning again at the nod sent her way. She leaned her head back, rolling it to look at Weiss.
"Try again?" she asked, to which Weiss sighed.
"Do we even have a choice?" the white haired woman replied.
"Nope," Ren answered for her, not even bothering to try and hide his amusement. Weiss shot him an icy glare, before picking back up her fork and staring hatefully at the food on it, as though wishing it would disappear from her willpower alone. Ruby picked hers up as well, shooting Weiss a mournful glance.
"All in one go?" she asked.
"Seems the better way to do it," Weiss replied, "rather than drag out our torture even further."
Ruby nodded, visibly steeling her resolve.
"On three then," the redhead clarified, then began counting down.
"One… two… three!"
On the last number, the pair shoved the remaining rolls into their mouths, chewing as little as possible before swallowing. The fiery sensation returned, but this time, Weiss was prepared, snagging her glass and chugging down the cool liquid. Ruby, unfortunately, had finished off her glass already – she yelped in panic, forcing words around her burning mouth.
"Milk, milk, milk!"
Ren, who had foreseen the upcoming dilemma, had already gone to fetch some as soon as they had picked up their forks. He returned with two tiny glasses, sliding one to Ruby, who immediately swallowed half of it. He let the pair recover, keeping his comments to himself as they got over their near-death experiences.
Eventually, Weiss recovered enough to glare at the glass she'd been given, studying it with a critical eye.
"Did you give us shot glasses full of milk?"
Ren only shrugged in response, answering simply.
"Everything else in the kitchen is dirty," he explained, "this is all we have left."
Weiss shook her head; Ruby didn't have any interest in the conversation, instead staring at the leftover sauce on her plate.
"Say, Ren," she began, "I know I've had this dish before, and there was no way it was this spicy last time. Did you, like, crank up the heat this time, or something?"
At this, Ren could not contain his laughter. His chortles drew the attention of both women, identical looks of confusion passing onto their faces.
"It's less that we cranked up the heat this time," he explained honestly, "and more that we pushed it down every other time."
Ruby looked entirely offended over this truth.
"You mean you've been treating me like the painfully white people who enter this shop?"
She paused, then turned to face Weiss.
"No offence."
Weiss glared back at her.
"I think I'm more offended by the fact you think I'm 'painfully white' than the statement itself," she clarified, but Ruby had already turned back to Ren, who was smiling in clear delight.
"Not quite on the level of the 'mustard is spicy' crowd," he explained, "but yes, we've never made you the dishes at their full level. To be fair, though, most of the group doesn't eat them at full heat. The only people able to are Pyrrha, Yang, and Velvet – and even they can only handle it at a stretch."
"And Nora," Ruby supplied, to which Ren shrugged.
"And Nora," he agreed, "though, to be fair, I think she destroyed her taste buds years ago in that drinking competition with Yang, so I honestly don't think she can sense the heat anymore."
Ruby snorted at that, though it was clear she was still slightly miffed over the information that had just come to light.
"Stupid mixed blood," she muttered, drawing a confused look from Weiss, and a laugh from Ren.
"Blood's got nothing to do with it," he comforted, "or else your sister would be able to handle her meals better."
Ruby stuck out her tongue in response; Weiss only became more puzzled by the family relations. Ren continued on, dropping the debate over spice levels, and moving on to a new topic.
"Congratulations on finishing the first meal," he said, drawing the attention to him as he collected their empty plates, "how do you feel about moving on to the next one?"
Weiss and Ruby shared a look before replying.
"I think we're ready to move on," Weiss answered, "that was relatively bad, but it is manageable."
"Yeah," Ruby agreed, "I think we can make it through the rest of the meal, if the rest are that spicy."
The silence that greeted them was all the answer they needed.
"They're not all going to be that spicy, are they?"
Ren still did not answer.
"Oh my god, that was the lowest level."
At this realization, Ren nodded in confirmation. Both women groaned loudly again, drawing the attention from the nearby patrons – those surrounding them had been intrigued by the handcuffs in the first place, but the dramatic reactions of the pair were only adding to that curiosity.
"You mean that was the lowest temperature you're giving us?" Weiss clarified, looking almost hysterical over the fact, "oh my god, I'm not going to be able to taste anything for the rest of the week."
"Forget the rest of the week," Ruby answered, "I'm more worried about how this is going to resurface tomorrow."
It took a moment for the meaning of her words to register, but when they did, Weiss's face turned a shade of red that had nothing to do with the heat.
"Ruby! Gross!" Weiss yelped, turning and whacking Ruby on the head lightly with the drinks menu that had come with their table. Ruby apologized amongst giggles, trying to fend off the weak attacks.
Ren blinked, still slightly put off by Ruby's comment.
"And on that delightful note," he said, "I'm going to fetch your next round."
"Bon voyage," Ruby replied, waving her crumpled napkin at him in lieu of a farewell.
Weiss both rolled her eyes and snorted at the action, caught between amusement and disdain. Ruby slumped back in her seat, Weiss doing the same a moment later, albeit much more elegantly. They sat in silence for a brief moment, before Weiss tilted her head to look over at Ruby.
"Did you really have to make the 'resurfacing comment?"
Ruby laughed heartily, the tail end of her giggles turning into snorts.
"I couldn't help it," she defended, "it just slipped out before I could help it."
Weiss groaned at the phrasing, reached up her free hand to reach between her brow.
"Please find a way to say that better," she said, "especially when following recent commentary."
Ruby laughed even louder at that, Weiss rolling her eyes slightly as she smiled, the pair falling into a comfortable silence.
"Hey, Weiss," Ruby said, catching the woman's attention once more, "you really think we're going to make it through this?"
"The courses?" Weiss asked, her brow furrowing. Ruby shook her head.
"Not just the meal," she explained, "the whole night."
Weiss shrugged, looking away towards the hanging lanterns across the room.
"It's hard to say," she answered honestly, "I honestly can't say we will, but then again, I shudder to think about what will happen if we don't manage to finish all the tasks our idiotic friends have set out for us."
Ruby giggled slightly at that.
"True," she agreed, "but hey, at least we're sort of having fun, right?"
Then the redhead paused, frowning in contemplation before she looked at Weiss.
"You are sort of having fun, right?"
Weiss turned to look at her, meeting the silver gaze. She paused before she answering, smiling slightly as she closed her eyes and turned away.
"Yes, Ruby," she answered, "I am sort of having fun."
Ruby let out an audible sigh of relief.
"That's good!" she responded, "I was really worried you'd hate me or something, and really just only put up with me to get through everything, so I'm glad to hear you're actually kind of enjoying the night. Honestly, you were kind of scary when we first met, but I'm glad you aren't as cold as you seem to be!"
Weiss opened her eyes, but didn't reply. Ruby paused, wincing as the thought of possible offence crossed her mind.
"Uh, not in a bad way, of course," Ruby clarified.
"I know what you meant, Ruby," Weiss answered, "It's okay. I was just thinking."
"Oh. Okay!"
They fell in silence – Ruby comfortable, pleased that her words hadn't offended her partner. Weiss, on the other hand, was lost in thought – Ruby's words, whether the redhead was aware or not, had alerted the white haired woman to a peculiar controversy.
The truth was, Weiss was cold at first – and it often took her a very long time to warm up to anyone, especially people she had just met. Even with Neptune, who she had pretended to be in a relationship with for a long time, hadn't had the chance to get close to her for several years. It was how Weiss was, how she was used to being; it wasn't something she disliked or was fond of, but was rather neutral towards – just another part of herself.
But around Ruby, she found it didn't apply; around the redhead, Weiss was different, more relaxed. Words came easier, lighter, and she didn't have the same qualms about what she said or did – aside from the Schnee relations – as Ruby took everything in stride. While Weiss didn't really take this to mean anything overly significant, she did find it curious. Perhaps, she wondered, this was why Neptune had decided to throw them together like this – maybe the blue-haired boy had seen something aligning in their personalities that neither of them could.
Her moment of brief contemplation, however, was once again interrupted by Ruby's phrase.
"Hey, Weiss?"
"Mhmm?" came the hummed reply, soft and quiet.
"I didn't want to tell you in front of Ren, but when you coughed earlier, a bit of spring roll flew out of your mouth. It's still stuck to the other side of the booth."
"RUBY!"