The Right Things
By saicho_18
December 23, 2002
"Don't give me that," Fuuko replied, stepping back and pushing Mi-chan forward. "You go in first!"
Tokiya looked back at her with a bemused expression. "Shy? Well, I never thought that you possessed that gift, really."
"Shut up!" the irked reply from Fuuko. "Just go inside already!" And here, she gave him a shove inside the door.
She stepped into the door behind the slim figure of Tokiya. The minute she took notice of the surroundings, only one word came to mind: cozy. The place was quite bigger than the outer façade had let on, but it still wasn't that big. Well, not as big as she had imagined, but it what she imagined had marble flooring and chandeliers.
The tables were made of wood and the chairs were made of some thin metal, padded with some gray cushion that promised to be soft to the bum. And on one side of the whole place was a bar, sort of, where three small chalkboards were hung (written there were the specials of the place, mostly pasta and coffee, Fuuko noted). Behind the bar was a lady, who, basing from her face, looked like she had her share of experiences in this world.
The minute the lady saw Tokiya walk in the door, her face lit up and she smiled immediately. Of course, her attention wasn't the only one they caught. Quite a few people were dining in La Montmartre, but not enough to fill the whole place.
"Come for your usual lunch, I presume?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.
"Good day, Akina-san," Mi-chan replied politely with one of his rarest smiles. It wasn't just a twinge this time; the smile was real. "And yeah, lunch as usual."
"Table for?" Akina-san asked when she noticed Fuuko trying to obscure herself from the rest of the restaurant. Akina-san walked towards them slowly.
"Two." Tokiya replied. Funny, the lady now beside them had this meaningful look. If she's thinking what Fuuko thinks she's thinking, well, Fuuko didn't want to think about it. (A/N: sorry . . . ^__^)
The Right Things
By saicho_18
December 30, 2002
Akina-san handed them both their menus but Tokiya gave his back to the elderly woman.
"The usual, I suppose?" she asked.
Mi-chan nodded and smiled.
Fuuko looked at the menu, and saw that, just as she had seen in the chalkboards, it was full of pasta dishes. Unfortunately for her, she didn't know much about pasta. "Um, I'll just have whatever he's having," she said with a humble smile as she returned her menu back to Akina-san. "I trust that his taste isn't as bad as I thought it to be."
Akina-san nodded and left their table. She walked inside a door that Fuuko failed to notice when she first scouted the place. There was no doubt that the door led to a small kitchen.
Mi-chan rested his elbows on the table and looked at her pointedly.
"And you are looking at what?" Fuuko asked, very unused to Mi-chan's stare.
"Nothing, actually," he replied. "Just wondering what color would suit you."
Fuuko sweat dropped. "Nani?"
"I mean for the Prom, silly," Mi-chan answered, in a way that sounded as if the whole topic was the most obvious thing in the world. "I was just wondering what color your gown would be."
"And you are thinking of this because?"
"No reason," he said, an amused smile playing about on his face.
"Right, whatever," she said, laughing. "Red, blood red, apparently." Her answer was thus because of what Kurei had said to the gay guy back at the mansion.
Tokiya was about to say something but Akina-san was already walking towards their table carrying a large tray on her hands. She set one plate and one glass of something front of Tokiya and the other one in front of Fuuko. She nodded to them and with her smile. "Happy eating, you love birds," she had said just as she turned her back towards them.
"Hey! We're not --" Fuuko started to protest to the back of the owner of the cafe, a faint red tint creeping in her cheeks.
"Save it," Mi-chan had said nonchalantly. Evidently, he had already put is attention to his food. "She's always joking around."
Either Fuuko's eyes were playing tricks on her or she had lost her mind, but she could have sworn that she saw the same red blush on her cheeks on Mi-chan. Too bad, because before she had a closer look, Tokiya had wiped his face with his napkin.
"Mi-chan, are you blushing?" she dared to tease.
"Don't be dense, Fuuko," came the stony reply. "Like I would do something as silly as blushing. And if ever that I would indeed blush, I promise that it wouldn't be over some monkey."
"Why you--" Fuuko's ears was steaming. How dare this jerk say such things? Even Kurei never insulted her like this! Granted, he forced her into be some kind of a guinea pig and her held her parents hostage, but still . . . come to think of it, why was she even thinking of that thing right now, anyway?
"What's the problem, monkey?" Tokiya asked, taking a short break from his eating and looking up to her. "Don't you like the food?"
"No, it's nothing," Fuuko quickly replied. She then looked at the plate that was in front of her. It was full to the inner brim with pasta, covered with thick red sauce and had basil on the side. Man, Akina-san sure knew how to present a dish. Fuuko took her fork and started digging in. "Good," she said truthfully, smiling at Mi-chan.
Tokiya only smiled and continued to eat. It seemed that Mi-chan was the silent-eater type. Well, who was Fuuko to disturb him, right? So she just ate quietly, occasionally taking a sip from her glass of chocolate shake.
In a few minutes, both of them had already finished off their food.
"Boy, you sure do have good taste in food, Mi-chan," Fuuko exclaimed rather loudly after setting down her fork.
"Hold still for a minute," replied Tokiya stood up, with a napkin in hand and leaned forward on the table. His face was disconcertingly close as he rid Fuuko's chin of something. That something was undoubtedly spaghetti sauce, since Fuuko was always a messy eater of pasta. It seemed weird that Tokiya seemed to have taken a painstakingly long time to do so. He then sat back down again, looking at her like nothing out of the ordinary happened.
On the other side of the small table, it was a completely different story. Fuuko sat there, blushing for the second time that hour, from the sudden shift of intimacy and lack of thereof. She finished her shake slowly, all too aware that her Mi-chan was watching her.
"You're the one who's blushing, you know," he said. When Fuuko looked up, she saw that he was once again wearing that bemused look.
"As if!" Fuuko huffed hotly, busying herself by picking invisible lint in her pants. She only looked up when she heard a laugh. A real laugh; not one of Mi-chan's sarcastic laughs, but just like the one she heard at the school yesterday. "What are you laughing at?" she asked, not really that annoyed. It was good to know, or in this case hear, that Mi-chan still had emotions.
"You, of course," he replied in between chuckles. "I can not believe that you just said 'as if'! Believe me Fuuko, you'll never live that down."
A sudden expression of horror contorted onto Fuuko's face. "Oh, no! You're not gonna tell Recca, are you?"
"Hey! There's an idea!" he exclaimed, as he pushed his sleeves further upwards his arms. "Thanks!"
"You're mean!" Fuuko said, actually relieved that Mi-chan was playing around with her. "Meanie!" (Does the line sound familiar to you, Strife? ^__^) She shouted as she stuck out her tongue.
"Okay, kids, play nice," said a voice from behind Fuuko had said.
The Right Things
By saicho_18
January 14, 2003
It was (drum roll!) none other than Akina-san, who was now leaning on Fuuko's chair.
"Oh, don't let her bother you, Akina-san," started Tokiya with a smirk. "She's always this immature. Don't be shocked too much."
"How dare you!" Fuuko said hotly. "You--you--you pig!"
"Fuuko Kirisawa?" asked Mi-chan with an obviously fake surprised expression. "Are you st--st--stutttt--stuttering?"
"Tokiya-san, stop that!" warned Akina-san. "I'm starting to think that you're not the same Tokiya Mikagami who has been eating in here for a long time. Heck, I'm even starting to think that Fuuko-san' s statement about you being a pig is true."
It was now Tokiya's turn t o blush unceremoniously. Fuuko did the only thing that she thought was appropriate at the situation. She laughed right at his face.
The Right Things
By saicho_18
February 9, 2003
He cleared his throat, rather loudly at that, and asked Akina-san for the bill. She waved him off and proceeded to tease him some more. Of course, Fuuko, laughed some more too, and so Tokiya blushed some more. It was just some vicious cycle.
The Right Things
By saicho_18
February 15, 2003
When Mi-chan was red as a beet Akina-san stopped teasing but Fuuko, try as she might, just couldn't stop laughing. Akina-san left their side and went over to the counter to fetch the bill.
As the lady left, Tokiya glared at Fuuko, or was trying to anyway. Fuuko actually thought that he was trying to melt her down with his amazing ice glare. Of course, the very thought just sent Fuuko into another fit of giggles.
"Come on!" he almost shouted, his face contorting funnily, only because he was half laughing himself and the other half trying so very hard to keep a straight -- and angry -- face. "It's not that funny!"
"Oh, the crack isn't," started Fuuko, struggling to catch her breath. "But the look on your face . . . really, it's enough to send Noroi in a fit of laughter!"
Mi-chan opened his mouth and then closed it again.
"Cat got your tongue?" Fuuko asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Okay, so here's your tab," Akina-san butted in, handing a small piece of paper to Tokiya.
Tokiya sweat dropped. "Well, that would be that last time I would eat with a pig like you. You're gonna drive me to bankruptcy."
Fuuko didn't bother to retort, but instead, she stuck out her tongue at Mi-chan.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Akina-san rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
"Really," she started. "Kids these days."
Mi-chan took out his wallet, and paid the amount required.
"Well, as much as I would like you two so-called ladies to embarrass me further," he started. "I'm afraid that we have to get going, Akina-san."
Akina-san smiled as Fuuko and Tokiya stood up. "Spoil sport, breaking the dream team apart. Don't worry Fuuko dear, the next time you eat here, we will make Tokiya Mikagami wish that he was never born."
"Yeah!" replied Fuuko enthusiastically, already looking forward to that day.
"Dream on, you two," said Tokiya as he walked out of the door. Fuuko ran to catch up.
