Chapter 20: Ping's Sushi and Japanese Kitchen

The rest of that day was spent learning to keep from falling asleep while meditating and keeping a clear head without having a conversation or interacting with something to keep me preoccupied. I eventually got fed up and faked it until Venus thought that I'd had enough for the day—she probably saw through my act and just concluded training since there wouldn't be any more progress made, or, at least, I wouldn't have tried. By the time evening came around, I was mentally exhausted and nobody really bothered to ask what Venus and I did for the past six hours; maybe they already knew what it was like to sit still like that for hours on end and didn't really need an inside scoop. I walked around the Lair tiredly observing everybody doing their own thing—Venus dismissed me without following me out of her room, so she was probably still in there, I guessed that Raph was in the weight room based on the booming bass of intense rap that echoed from it, Donnie was in his corner of computers, hunched over something and mumbling to himself, Leo and Splinter were nowhere to be found, but I didn't go looking for either them for fear of invading privacy, and Mikey was vegged out on the pizza box couch with a leg propped up on the back of it and watching some obscure show with what seemed like half-interest. I walked around the makeshift couch and plopped down at the opposite end without saying anything and blankly watched the cheesy gameshow on the TV, I felt like a mindless zombie—just spaced with nothing happening upstairs.

"'Sup?" Mikey asked with a nod in my direction as he propped his head up in his hand to look at me.

"I feel dead inside." I mumbled without taking my eyes off of the TV.

"Like… Soulless dead or tired dead? Because that can mean two totally different things."

"Exhausted," I sighed and rolled my head in his direction. "How does she do it?"

"Bruh, that is beyond me." He chuckled. "I'm surprised you were even able to make it as long as you did."

"Me too," I smiled. "Do you know where I could something to eat around here?" I asked to change the subject.

"Do you even know who I am?" Mikey asked as he swung his leg off of the back of the couch and sat up with a growing smile.

"Maybe not completely…" I shrugged. "I do know that you're one heck of a cook."

"Well, yeah," He nodded nonchalantly. "But I am also a pizza coinsurer," He put his fingers up to his lips and kissed them like a pleased Italian chef as he adopted the accent of one. "I know the best eats in town! So what are 'ya hungry for? You may also want to choose wisely, I have a feeling that either Leo or Donnie are going to put you on the super-food diet that excludes all of the fun things to help with your training."

"Oh…" I sighed. "Well, I guess I'd better enjoy it while it lasts then…" I love carbs and wasn't all that much into salads and avocados. If I was going to enjoy my last tastes of anything good, then it'd have to be good. "But I don't know… Probably nothing too greasy and I do not do spice."

"Okay, well, that cancels out about all of the small hole-in-the-wall shops, Indian, and half of the Mexican joints." He commented as he put his hand on his chin in thought. "Asian or Italian work?"

"Eh…" I shrugged. "Are there any good sushi places around here?"

"Oh sure! There's a great little place not too far from here that we're pretty regular to. He knows about us and doesn't mind serving any of us." He exclaimed with a smile. I was a little surprised at this—a human who ran his own restaurant didn't care about the giant turtles who would come in for food and the possibility of scaring off his other customers? Was this man blind or simply didn't give two shits about who he served? Whatever his motif, it was nice to know that we could go in without the threat of judgement or even being thrown out like how I guessed they often were with other similar small businesses.

"What about everyone else?" I asked after snapping out of my tired state of thought.

"What about 'em?" Mikey asked as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow and got up from the cardboard sofa.

"Do you think that they'll notice that either of us are gone? I know at least Donnie would have a conniption over me leaving the Lair and Leo might get mad for disappearing without telling anyone." I said sheepishly as I looked over my shoulder out into the rest of the Lair.

"Don't worry about it," He waved me off. "We usually disperse and do our own thing around this time of night—alone time if you will."

"Oh…" I said quietly.

"So if I were to go and get say, a pizza, now would be the time. We typically end up doing our own thing for dinner as well, so they wouldn't question my absence."

"Yeah, but what about me? I'm the one everybody's concerned about."

"Then we can make it look like you've already gone to bed. I mean, you did meditate for an unnaturally long time, so the fact that you'd want to sleep would make sense." Mikey smiled as he came around the side of the couch and wrapped an arm around my neck. "C'mon, you'll be fine." I still wasn't convinced. "Alright, how about this: we set up your bed to look like you're out cold? Rearrange some pillows and the covers."

Well, I guess that could work... I thought with an uneasy shrug. I didn't want to get in trouble, but sushi sounded so good…

I followed Mike from under his arm back into my room and let him do all of the pillow positioning. If we were to get caught, it'd be all his fault. It wasn't my idea to sneak off necessarily, I was just hungry, and it was all his idea to make a faux me out of pillows to fool everyone I went to bed early. After switching off the lights and making sure everything was in its perfect place, he snuck me out of the Lair through a back tunnel and took me up and on to the streets. After climbing up the fire escape of a quiet apartment building, we stopped as my brother looked out over the skyline.

"A breezy, but beautiful night." He sighed with a smile and put his hands on his hips. I came up beside him and looked out over the city with my arms wrapped around me as my hair was tousled by the wind. It really was a beautiful sight, the lights in the skyscrapers' windows were lit up like small fireflies against a tall and ominous figure of the night, neon signs were just different colored shapes from afar, advertising above their businesses, helicopters and planes blinked in the sky, everything seemed to be full of light and moving even if they weren't. Maybe it was just the distant sound of cars and sirens that gave even the buildings that sense of movement.

"It really is." I said quietly. "It's a different kind of beauty compared to back home and the stars there… A modernized, chaotic beauty."

"Ahh, yup." Mike stretched as he took in a lungful of air. "Anyways, let's get some food." He down looked at me with a smile. I returned a look with a raised eyebrow of expectation, I had no clue where we were going or how we'd get there, but I did know that I was hungry.

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"Ping's. Mr. Ping is the best sushi chef around! His shop is just a few blocks down the road." He pointed down the sleepy street which took a soft turn and disappeared behind the corner.

"Okay… Then why did we come up through that manhole when there's probably another one that's closer?" I asked. It's not like we could just walk the streets under the lights where we could be seen, we were fine in the sewer where we couldn't be seen by passersby.

"Because one," He turned to me and held up a finger. "The tunnels by his shop smell awful, two: it's cleaner up here—we don't want to walk smelling bad with even worse funk on our hands," I didn't know that Mikey could be so concerned with hygiene when he was probably the messiest one, but then again, I've been wrong about him before. "Three: running rooftops is always better."

"Running rooftops?" I asked nervously. "Like, jumping from one to another without any kind of safety?"

"Yup." He said simply.

"B-but I can't—"

"Sure, you can! I heard what you did earlier today, if you can do that jump, then you can do these buildings."

"But that was jumping down, not across." I really did not want to do this. I was surprised that I even made it out of that room without my shins going through my kneecaps.

"It's the same concept." Mikey shrugged. "Run, jump, and land with your feet together. Simple." I uneasily glanced at the edge of the roof with a small whimper. "It's not even that big of a gap! You'll be jumping much bigger here shortly, I can guarantee you that. Leo and Donnie will be running you through jumping drills for both science and training, trust me. He's evaluated how each of us jump, you're gonna be no exception." He smiled half-heartedly. "Look, if you don't jump by yourself, I'm gonna throw you across." He was getting impatient.

"Please don't."

"Well, then go."

"Y-you go first. Let me watch how you do it." It was half-truth and half procrastination for doing the inevitable. Mike sighed, dropped his shoulders, and rolled his eyes like a young, angsty teenager who had just been told "no." He took a few steps backwards and sprinted at the edge of the rooftop, leaping over the ledge of the roof, flipping through the air, and sticking the landing like a trained circus acrobat. He then turned around and looked at me expectantly with his hands on his hips and a raised eyebrow from the neighboring roof.

It was now my turn and I knew that if he had to come back over and shove me off that dinner wouldn't be as enjoyable as originally intended. I shuffled to the ledge of the roof and looked down into a dark alley with fire escapes on either wall and litter fluttering in the draft between the buildings. I stepped backwards and looked hesitantly over at the orange masked turtle who was looking at me with more sass than a flaming gay man, his hip now popped out to the side. I sucked in a lungful of air as I worked up my courage to jump. What was the worst that could happen? I fall into a damp alley and dislocate my knees or completely split my shell on a handrail and then get suffocated by Donnie's medical attention and Leo's nagging for going out without his knowing? Not to mention that putting me out of commission for saving the world and all. Compared to the possible consequences of a fall versus sucking it up, jumping, and getting food, reaching the other apartment building seemed like the better outcome.

Before I really knew what I was doing, I was already running towards the edge of the apartment roof; there was no turning back now, I had too much momentum and would end up as pureed turtle if I tried to stop. I held my breath as I stepped up on the ledge and propelled myself forward as hard as I could, aimed for the next roof with reeling arms and Mikey watching and opening up to catch me as I came in for the landing. Apparently, I was leaning too far forward and was on a path to eat concrete and roofing asphalt. So instead of landing on my feet like I was supposed to, I fell awkwardly into my brother who had gotten in front of me and collided chest-to-chest, effectively pushing the held air out of my lungs and forcing a grunt out of Mikey.

"See? Told 'ya you could make it." He panted painfully as he set me down so that I could catch my breath. My hands immediately went to my knees as I bent over and gasped for air. Not only did I hit him hard enough to empty my lungs, I hit him so squarely that the impact squished my boobs through my plastron, which opened up a whole new world of womanly pain. I may be a turtle now, but, apparently, sensitive places will always be sensitive, no matter your species. Once I got over my mammary discomfort, I straightened up with a sigh to give Mikey a well-salted glare.

"What? You'll have to do it soon anyways." He retorted. "Be thankful it was me, Leo would've barked at you until you jumped or let Raph throw you off, so the fact that you did it willingly was for the better." He wagged a finger as he walked across the roof.

"I wouldn't say that I did it willingly," I grumbled. "It was more like peer pressure."

"It was still better than what it could've been." Mikey shrugged. "Plus, it'll get you more brownie points from Leo for "mustering up the courage" to actually jump by yourself without this much persuasion."

"Who says that I'll more comfortable jumping? Just because I did it tonight doesn't mean I'll want to later." I said as I put a hand on my hip. Sure, I was brave, but I also liked my security, the whole reassurance thing that included not dying doing ninja parkour.

"Eh, it'll come easier;" He shrugged. "Now, off to food!" It was more of a transition that said "I'm done with this, lets change the subject" than anything.

We walked across the roof to the other side which was met with another roof. Mikey hopped across no problem, but I hesitated for a minute, not so much scared, but angry that I had to jump again and I didn't want to have to go through the conversation that we just had and it didn't help that my brother was watching me expectantly with crossed arms. So I sucked in a breath and took the leap with my eyes squeezed shut. I landed hard on my feet which completely jarred and locked up my knees, making me fall forward onto my already painful joints. I winced and shook my head and gratefully took Mike's offered hand up as I stiffly got back to my feet.

"See? It's not as bad as the first." He smiled warmly; I rolled my eyes with a huff and limped across the roof behind him. That jump wasn't as far as the previous one, but it was still kind of embarrassing that I hesitated over something that I'd already done and made an unnecessarily big deal out of. We continued across the quiet skyline, with me steadily becoming more comfortable with jumps, even with my questionable grace and efficiency, until we stopped on the corner of a building facing a small line of closed shops illuminated by pale, old, fluorescent bulbs behind their glass storefronts and dark bowels that could send eerie chills down someone's spine. All were black except for a single shop directly in front of us; there was an illuminated sign above the store in large, red, letters that read "Ping's Sushi and Japanese Kitchen" with a temperamental bulb flickering behind the white plastic. Inside the small shop was white, which was only emphasized by the fluorescence of the long tubes in the ceiling, a counter that took up the back corner of the store with a display filled with different foods was visible from the roof along with simple tables and chairs and booths.

"Ahh…" Mikey grinned as he took in a deep breath of air. "Can you smell it? The cooking of Kaito Ping—it wafts so wonderfully." He inhaled again and wore the face of someone who was smelling the best baked bread of the century. I sniffed the air and all I caught was the smell of burnt motor oil and street grime with a hint of seasoned chicken broth, stir fry, and steamed rice in the background.

"I guess…?" I shrugged as I continued to sniff the air. Even though the scent of food was overpowered by car exhaust and a rancid dumpster from a nearby alley, I was enough to make my hungry stomach growl.

"On to it then!" He proclaimed and jumped off the building and did a grab-and-drop on the handrails of the protruding apartment patios below. Even though Mikey's way was definitely quicker and more direct, I opted for the fire escapes on the side of the building which were closer together and farther out of sight. Sure, I was gaining confidence in jumping in between buildings, but I wasn't to the point of trusting my new body that much just yet.

When I finally got to the ground, I peeked around the corner of the apartment building to look for my brother; when I didn't see him around the first-floor patios, or the front of the building for that matter, I slowly began to enter panic mode. I frantically looked up and down the street for the giant turtle and saw nothing but dark stores and flying newspapers caught up in the evening breeze, then I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Across the street was a Mikey casually waltzing up to the store's doors like he didn't have a care in the world.

That son-of-a—! I thought angrily as he swung the door open bounced his happy self in. The least he could've done was wait for me! So, with a few weary glances up and down the sleepy street, I bolted across and to the store front. I peeked through the window and saw Mikey casually conversating with a small Asian man behind the counter, with a final glance around over my shoulder, I pushed open the door and slipped in and straight for Mike's arm.

"'Bout time you got here!" He exclaimed cheerfully.

"You didn't wait for me." I hissed quietly.

"You just took too long." He replied in a slightly annoyed tone. "Anyways, Mr. Ping, this is my new sister, Jessie!" I immediately felt my face get hot as the small man squinted at me through thick, coke bottle glasses.

"Hello." I said softly. This was classic five-year-old Jessie when she met new people—quiet, shy, and reserved. It was something that I had outgrown several years ago, an instinctual knee-jerk reaction when I was unexpectedly put into an uncomfortable situation and didn't have the confidence to speak for myself—I was currently in an uncomfortable situation around a new person and had no confidence.

Mr. Ping leaned on the counter and squinted at me with a studious and rather intimidatingly judgmental expression on his face.

"You are new sister?" He asked forcefully with a nearly unintelligible Japanese accent.

"Yes."

"Why you have hair? Why you not bald?"

"Well, uh—"

"Ah, no matter," He waved me off. "All other of you hard to tell apart anyways, all big and green. I only know by how they speak. Mr. Ping no can see, you will be easy for Mr. Ping. You no look like others." He pointed at me with a smile. "Michelangelo say you not come from New York."

"No sir, I don't."

"Where from?"

"Kentucky."

"Kentucky? Like Kentucky Fried Chicken?"

"Yes…" I sighed. That was basically the first and only thing that people associated with the state who weren't from a bordering state.

"That chicken bad." Mr. Ping's face soured as he stuck out his tongue in disgust. He wasn't wrong. Just because the restaurant chain had my state's name in it didn't mean that I liked the food. "Anyways, what I make for you?" He turned back to squint Mikey through his glasses. Mr. Ping was a short man who had to be no taller than 5'4" and looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties with a face full of deep wrinkles that correlated with his constant squinting. His eyes were barely visible from under his eyelids, even with extra strength, magnifying glass-like lenses in frames that seemed to be straight out of the 90s—the man was nearly blind. He wore a white diner hat over a closely shaven head with a white t-shirt and stained apron.

"I'll have…" Mikey scanned a laminated menu on the counter with a thoughtful face. "A spicy tuna roll with an order of pot stickers."

"Oh, so you change up on me Michelangelo?" He asked without changing his somewhat impatient expression. "You? What you want?" He then turned to me; I slid the menu across the counter to look at what all he had to offer. The laminated paper was a simple assembly with headings that included "Fresh Sushi", "Wok Creations", "Authentic Soups", and "Sides" with a list of fountain drinks in the bottom corner. I skimmed the list of sushi choices but went with my default anyways.

"May I have a crab roll and an egg roll?"

"Yes, Mr. Ping have that for you in jiffy." He nodded with a smile and whipped around to start on the orders in the small kitchen area which was all behind the counter. Stove and all with the door of the walk-in fridge next to a small fryer.

"So how did you even meet this guy without scaring him all the way back to Japan?" I asked as Mikey turned and made his way over to the barstools at the other side of the counter.

"We tried it when we were younger, back when we were just beginning to get enough confidence to go up by ourselves and have enough skill to stay out of sight. Mr. Ping is older than what you think," He said as he took a seat at one of the stools and leaned against the counter with his shell facing the store front as I sat at the stool next to him. "He's actually about eighty, so he's seen enough in his life not to be surprised by whatever walks in those doors. Sure, he was a little confused as to what we were when we first came in and asked a few questions, but, pretty soon, he just waved it off. He just doesn't care." Mikey chuckled and watched the little man quickly and expertly flip the pot stickers in a sizzling pan then go on to a small island in the middle of the kitchen space and begin to set up a bamboo mat to assemble and roll the sushi. "There are very few places around here that don't mind us." He said solemnly.

"Well, it's nice that you—er—we have options like this," I corrected myself since I was now a part of the community of mutant misfits. "Where you're treated like an equal instead of…" I trailed off as the idea of what we could actually be called set in.

"It's okay, you get used to the names over time." He said and pressed his lips together with a sigh. I could've finished my sentence, but it didn't seem necessary, he got the idea. We sat in silence for a minute until he couldn't take it anymore "Venus is his favorite though."

"How come?" I asked

"Because she's the one from Japan," He chuckled. "They can have private conversations right in front of us in Japanese since none of us really know enough to understand what they're saying."

"And because she prettiest of you," Mr. Ping piped in with a laugh. "Mr. Ping may not see good, but he see enough to know lady's figure. But you may be competition," He pointed his chef's knife towards me as he paused from cutting a roll of sushi. "You have nice figure and hair." He laughed at himself as he went back to cutting.

Mikey chuckled and shook his head "Did I mention that flirting is a hobby of his?"