The restaurant was a place that Yuki frequented more than he did. This was not for any particular reason relating to the quality of the food. More specifically, it was because other than breakfast, Inaho and his sister often did not eat together anymore. Sometimes, he came back early, and cooked, but often, he'd get back later, and she had already eaten. She often sent him messages asking when he would be back, but they had a general understanding that there was no need to wait for one another for meals. When he wasn't around to cook for her, and she didn't have the regular stalk of unhealthy snacks that he always attempted to limit, she came to this restaurant. That did not mean that he was not a regular patron to this particular establishment, but that Yuki-nee was simply a more regular one.
When the four of them entered, the proprietor greeted them, asked about his sister, and then promptly led them to a table with booth style seats. He noticed that Inko seemed to struggle where to sit, before Rayet shoved her at one of the booths, and then sat beside her. That left him and 'Lucia' together on the same booth. He contemplated if she should take the window seat or he should -there were pros and cons to each scenario- but before he had made a decision, she gracefully sat down, taking the seat by window and across from Inko. He took the seat next to her and watched quietly as the three girls browsed over the menu.
His mind was elsewhere when Lucia looked over at him with a smile on her face. He wasn't distracted enough not to notice, so he looked over at her in response. "What tastes good here?" He saw something else on her lips, she was going to say more, but a momentary glance over at Inko and Rayet stopped her. He found this horribly inconvenient.
"The Omurice here is affordable." He pointed at the item in question. "For the portion size, it is cost effective." Not as cheap as making it himself, but that was not the issue. They were here to socialize, not for him to cook. He almost regretted the thought. At least with cooking, he had a reasonable time table to expect. Socializing could take an exceptionally long, or short time to accomplish. He made a point of not checking his phone for the time.
Inko giggled. "Inaho loves eggs."
He opened his mouth to explain that personal preference had little to do with his preference for eggs, but when he did, he saw Rayet roll her eyes, and thought better of it. The action seemed to surprise both of the girls on the other end of the table. As they both blinked over at him, Lucia diverted the situation with another harmless question. "Should I try some juice? These drinks look very fancy." She was doubtlessly looking at the beautiful images of fruit juices and iced drinks that were on the menu.
"Water is best." Rayet stated, taking the words right out of his mouth. He looked over at her, wondering why she had answered a question aimed at him, and somehow pleased that she had said the same thing he would.
Rayet looked at him impassively. "You were going to say the same thing anyway."
He cocked his head at her. "Does that mean it was a predictive statement of what I would have said, or a statement of preference?"
Rayet did not look pleased or unpleased. "Guess."
Inko interrupted them. "Iced coffee looks good." Inko said, taking a look over at Rayet. Inaho noticed that Lucia was still looking at the menu, then focused his attention back on Rayet and Inko. He didn't understand them at all. "You should just try whatever looks good, Lucia!" Inko stated cheerfully.
The four of them fell into silence. He could tell that Rayet had already picked out what she would order, but Inko and Lucia had yet to make their decision. They were still perusing the menus. For a while, it was just he and Rayet, looking over at one another impassively. He realized that he did not like how she was looking at him, and didn't know why. Silence was usually something he could handle reasonably well, but with her eyes on him, he found himself needing to say something. "You went to the museum the other day."
Rayet raised one brow at him. "Yeah." She was supposed to continue talking after that. She didn't.
"I've heard it is a nice museum." He responded, after giving plenty of time for Rayet to keep talking.
"Yeah." Now he was positive she was doing it on purpose. Was she unhappy with him? He looked over at Inko for some sort of clue, but she had her face completely obscured by the menu. In fact, it looked like she was intentionally hiding her face with it. He blinked back over to Rayet.
"How was the museum?" It was Lucia that stated the question. He looked over at her and noticed that she had placed the menu down. Now, it was only Inko who was still making her decision.
Rayet's eyes lingered on him, before her gaze shifted to Lucia. "It was nice."
Lucia's green eyes seemed to brighten. "What sort of things do they have there?"
"Pottery, statues, old paintings." Rayet answered plainly.
He saw Inko put down the menu, and smile over at Rayet, before directing her attention back to Lucia. "They had a display of calligraphy too! I liked that exhibit best." She giggled. "But Rayet didn't. She can't read much kanji, so I had to explain a lot of it to her. It wasn't easy."
Rayet shrugged. "What's the point of writing if no one understands it. Even you and Yuki had trouble reading a lot of them."
Inko scowled. "It's art!"
Rayet shrugged again, before turning her attention back to Inaho. "What was so important that you couldn't come yesterday? You said you'd go with us."
"Work. It's-"
"Classified." Rayet did not look pleased. "Yeah, we heard. So what's really going on?"
He was saved the trouble of stating the same thing twice, when the waitress came over, and took their orders. He noted with pleasure that Lucia picked the Omurice, but also noted that she picked one of the many blended fruit juices instead of water.
Once the waitress had taken their orders, Rayet's eyes were back on him, and she didn't give him time to respond. "You're planning on going back. Is the UFE going to send you again?"
He was almost relieved that her assessment was wrong. He shook his head. "My work is classified. The UFE has not made any such request." In fact, they never had. It had not been the UFE that had sent him to Vers before. It had been him pushing to go, on request of the Empress. He had been lucky that the UFE had approved, and footed the bill for it. He doubted they would do it a second time.
Rayet's eyes narrowed, and Inaho noted that both Lucia and Inko looked very uncomfortable. Lucia was trying to hide her discomfort, but it was plain as day on Inko's face. Inaho looked back to Rayet. Rayet continued to look at him suspiciously. "I told you not to go the first time. You aren't going to make relations better by going again."
"Rayet!" Inko whispered the reprimand, and elbowed the other girl. Inko then turned her eyes to Lucia, and made an obvious change of subject. "Lucia, how did you meet Inaho? He isn't exactly good at making friends." Inko smiled good naturedly, but he could tell she was trying to dispel the situation by force.
Lucia looked over at him questioningly, and he blinked his gaze over at Inko. "I helped her evacuate Shinawara at the beginning of the war." That left enough openings for personal interpretation. It was also factual.
Inko looked confused for a moment, switching between looking at Inaho, then back at Lucia. "Have we met before then?"
Lucia gave him a soft smile of thanks, before looking over at Inko. "I'm sorry, I do not remember. I sustained serious injuries during the war. My memory is not very reliable." The statement didn't sound like a lie, but Inaho wondered if she really had suffered memory issues relating to the war. He'd never asked her, and hadn't ever contemplated the thought. Once she'd said it, it seemed entirely rational. He'd have to inquire at some point. He would be more than happy to fill in any holes she might have. "I was lucky that I was able to remember Inaho when I did. I heard of his injuries, and decided I would come to see how he was doing."
He certainly hoped she had come for some other reason than that, but even if it wasn't the whole truth, it was still a very nice thing for her to say. He knew she was a politician now, but he didn't think she could lie so well. It was likely there was some truth to the statement. He wished the situation was different, so he could give her the time she deserved, but his mind wandered to other duties.
"Vers medical technology is on par with Terran equivalents. I had the best initial care that Vers could provide." Was the response he ended up giving, both to her concern, and that of the two other girls at their table.
"And you were smart enough not to make any public appearances after." Rayet huffed. All eyes were back on her, and she shrugged. "Assassinations on Vers are not that uncommon. What you should really be looking at, is that the person tried to shoot you when you were in front of an audience, instead of trying to off you somewhere more private." It was a factor he had considered. Certainly there were better ways.
"I'm sure that the person responsible will be caught." Lucia stated, her eyes on Rayet. The emotions on her face were something Inaho couldn't read.
Rayet scoffed, and her eyes were on Lucia, but they seemed unkind. "I'm sure they'll find the trigger man, some starving person from the lower classes, probably. They won't find who gave him the gun, and they won't find who's been feeding his family for the past year to pay for it." She shook her head. "They won't find that person. They'll find the person who pulled the trigger. Then they'll have a cute little trial, because that's what's fashionable right now, and so they can paint him in an unfair light for the whole world to see. It'll look good, Vers being hard on crime. They'll give him the death penalty, and have a public hanging, or maybe they'll even try and do it more humanely. Regardless, it'll be neat and tidy, then they'll all walk away from it without a care in the world." She shook her head, and Inaho could tell the emotion in her eyes was bitterness, deep, unhealthy bitterness. She looked up at Lucia, and Inaho almost wanted to stand between them. "Vers won't solve its problems. It'll try to make it look like they have, but that's not solved."
Inko hadn't dared stop Rayet while he was in the middle of what she was saying, but the minute she'd finished, Inko took the opportunity. "Sorry Lucia, Rayet loves her politics. She doesn't mean to be so rude." Inko leveled a concerned look over at Rayet, who was looking away from the table, obviously distressed. But quickly, Inko's gaze was back over on their end of the table. "She's just worried. But it's not like you'll be going back, right Inaho?"
The hopeful, pleading look in Inko's eyes contrasted with the bright smile on her face. It was enough to give him genuine pause. He spared a glance over at Lucia, whose posture was prim and proper, but her green eyes were clouded, as they stared over at Rayet.
"I haven't made any such plans." It was a true statement, he hadn't. It didn't mean that he wouldn't, if the right people requested it. He knew he wouldn't be able to ease Inko's worries with anything more concrete.