One minute, Takeda and Jacqui are having a great time as they ate their ice cream. Their seat is a crescent, red couch with a circular table in the middle, and they're facing each other. They're all smiles, chuckling while conversing, giving those eye signals with the wink-wink and sparkle-sparkle.

Seconds later, Jax and Cassie ruins the moment as they arrive with their sundaes. Both are wearing wide grins as they take a seat, with Cassie sitting beside Jacqui while Jax intentionally tells Takeda to stand so he could sit in the middle of the couch. Poor Takeda complies. The sitting arrangement from left to right is Takeda, Jax, Jacqui and Cassie.

"What d'you know. Isn't this a coincidence?" said Jax after having a spoonful of ice cream. "Me and Cassie happen to finish ordering when we spotted both of you."

Jacqui sighs in annoyance. "That's a lame excuse, dad. And we already knew you guys were following us." she turns to Cassie. "How about you? Got an excuse?"

"Nothing, really. I just want to enjoy my dessert as I watch how long this awkwardness goes." replies a smirking Cassie before doing an exaggerated delightful expression after she ate a spoonful ice cream. "Ice cream is so goooooood! Let's enjoy!"

Jax and Cassie are happily eating while Takeda and Jacqui are exasperated. Minutes later, Jin arrives with Kenshi's arm around his shoulder.

"You're late." said Jax as Jin assists Kenshi to sit beside Takeda. "And how you managed to bring your weapons inside the mall anyway?" he adds as he sees Kenshi's sheathed katana and Jin's bow and arrows.

"I had my ways." replies Jin after he takes a seat beside Cassie. "What flavor should I order for Mr. Takahashi?" he asks when the waitress arrives to take his order.

"Just get him a vanilla." said Cassie as she watches with amusement at Takeda's and Jacqui's perplexed expressions when they look at Kenshi.

"What's wrong with your dad?" Jacqui asks Takeda as he keeps calling Kenshi's attention but there's no response.

"I really don't know." answers Takeda. "I'm going to use telepathy." Takeda places two fingers on his temple and uses telepathy to speak with Kenshi.

'Dad. Are you okay? Answer me.'

'... Urr... Rrrr... Wwwwrrgh...'

'Er, dad?'

'... Grrww... Urrrgg... Ffwwwssshh...'

Takeda finishes his telepathy and switches to use his mouth. "He's disoriented." he turns to Jax. "What did you do to my dad?" he asks.

"He's not responding? I must've punched him hard to scramble his brain." muses Jax.

"You punched Takeda's dad!?" said Jacqui, aghast of what Jax did. "Why did you do that that!?"

Takeda realizes what happened to Kenshi. "You caught him warning us." he said to Jax.

"Nice deduction, Mr. Holmes." quips Cassie and laughs at Takeda's and Jacqui's scowling faces.

Kenshi's coming around. He places a palm against his forehead. "Uurgh... What, happened?"

"Dad?"

"Takeda? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on a date with Briggs' daughter?"

"Uh, yeah. But you, Mr. Briggs, Cassie and Jin are here right now, so it's not a date anymore."

"... Ah, I see... And I recalled what happened. I'm sorry for not warning you earlier, son."

Takeda sighs and smiles. "It's nothing and I appreciate your help."

Jax mentioned 'How touching.', which earned him Jacqui's reprimanding look.

Cassie's still smirking of what transpired and decided to play nice. "Now all is settled, why don't we enjoy our ice creams people? Mr. Takahashi, we opted to order you plain vanilla while you were knocked out. Is it okay with you?"

"It's alright. Thank you." replies Kenshi and starts to scoop his ice cream that arrived minutes before. After Kenshi eats a spoonful of ice cream, he grimaces.

"This sundae tastes funny. Is this truly vanilla?" Kenshi said. "Why are all your faces like that?" he adds when he 'sees' the scandalized looks his companions are wearing.

Cassie's the first to break the ice. "Uh... It has, well, blood on it."

"... Oh." Kenshi realizes that blood is dripping from his fixed nose and drops on top his vanilla ice cream.


Oh, hi, folks! Sorry. Very busy with life. As I said, updates are intermittent.