They met Rayet, Inko, and to Inaho's surprise, Nina, at a nice restaurant, after a car ride where Inaho took the back seat, and Yuki and Calm did the rather expected thing, and caught up with one another. That was not inherently strange, but it made him wonder. If they hadn't covered this while he was gone, before he'd come home to find Calm sitting nonchalantly on their couch, what had they talked about? He had a decent idea, and would have rather left that unsaid and unasked.

Yuki, ever the social devotee of their small family, asked all of the pertinent questions, and Calm dutifully, and politely answered most of them. Inaho noted that Calm only avoided a few of Yuki's questions, but he didn't focus on what they were, or why Calm had avoided them. Calm liked Yuki, perhaps not necessarily as a woman, but as a person, and people acted weird when they genuinely liked another person. It made sense that perhaps Calm wouldn't want to answer certain things. His closest male friend had always gotten along better with his older sister than with him. They talked more, and it unnerved him that sometimes those conversations were about him. What did they say when he wasn't around? It was a hard thought to dismiss, which was odd, since he usually didn't care what others would say or think about him, it was all inconsequential, but between his sister and his friend, it felt far more important.

Inaho had to stop his train of thought, and remind himself that Yuki had been Calm's teacher, as she had with most of his friends, and thus, she had a vested, professional interest in their futures. Inaho was not one of her only interests, and she likely didn't go around everywhere talking about him like a proud mother. It made sense for her to show interest in Calm, not only as Inaho's friend, but as someone she had taught, and seen grow in the war. The thought reminded him that he was being rather self centered and petty, so he tunes out most of the conversation in favor of clicking away on his cell phone. He could still hear most of what they were saying, but he didn't really pay too much attention to it.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Inaho found Nina a particularly interesting distraction, but only in the sense that he didn't understand why she was there at all. She had already sent regards in relation to his injuries, hadn't come with Rayet or Inko, hadn't mentioned coming at any point, and to be quite honest, she was more Inko's friend than his. Unless friend by association was more of a social norm than he expected, Nina didn't have much reason to have come, and wasted the money to do so. Perhaps she had been bored, or was particularly worried about Inko. It didn't make much sense to him regardless, and he found himself casually pondering the reasons over dinner. Thankfully, there were enough people at the table, that there was little to no need for him to actively participate in conversations. Most of their group - he and Rayet excluded - were social butterflies, and had no problem entertaining each other without his input. Yuki was also having an animated conversation with Rayet, so he wasn't even needed in that department. It was nice, and almost reminded him of the time before the war, where 'hanging out' consisted of his friends being social with one another, while he played on his phone, soaking up their companionship with occasional conversation or slight additions to existing conversations. It was nice.

That was generally how it went, until he looked up, and Nina was smiling at him, in that cute way that she often did. Nina liked being cute far more than any other girl he'd ever met, though he admitted readily that Inko was far cuter without trying. Nina cocked her head slightly to one side when he looked up and noticed her, and her smile didn't falter. "Did you take my advice?" She cooed over at him.

Inaho almost answered 'I never asked, nor received advice from you' but refrained from saying exactly that. He rephrased it. "In relation to what?" is what he answered instead.

Nina's mouth went into an oh shape, before Calm on his right butted into the conversation, much to Inaho's relief (though he didn't show it). "He did." Calm answered across the table to Nina, before turning back to him. "The message I sent back, that was Nina. I was going to reply after, and explain, but I thought I'd give you the chance to shoot down the idea first. You didn't reply though, and I sorta forgot." Calm shrugged and scratched his head sheepishly.

Inaho simply blinked at him a few times, before turning back to Nina. "Then yes. I did."

Nina's smile brightened. "Both of them?" She asked, her eyes almost sparkling.

This time, Inaho shook his head. "Your first suggestion has proved highly effective, but your second required some changes."

It was at that point that Inko moved her attention from Yuki and Rayet over to their conversation, a confused look on her face. Calm piped in to enlighten her. "Inaho asked me some strange question, and Nina suggested getting a pet." Calm then looked over at Nina again. "He got a kitten. You should see it, she's really cute!"

Inko quickly looked over at Nina, and beamed. "You suggested the kitten?"

Nina nodded softly. "I suggested a pet! Not exactly a kitten-" She turned to look over at Inaho for a second. "but I'm glad you decided on a cat." Her eyes settled on Inko again, before she continued talking. "My mom and me had a cat before the war. It really helped me adjust to Shinawara before I met you and everyone." She paused there, and her smile turned wistful. "I like to think he made it out of the bombardment, and that there are tons of little Coco's running around Japan right now!" Her smile seemed genuine, and her eyes twinkled.

"Animals are very resourceful." Inaho found himself saying, instead of how unrealistic Nina's speculations were. Both would have been true statements, but leaving things vague seemed to be the best option at that moment. Animals did tend to find ways on their own to survive. Though, he supposed that all animals had a high sense of self preservation, but that went without saying.

Inko, ever mindful of those around her, chimed in at that moment, but Inaho didn't miss the smile Nina gave him. "I've never had a cat before!" Inko said, gently resting her hand on Nina's shoulder. "Why don't we get one for the apartment? I've just adored Inaho's kitten! She's so cute and sweet and playful."

Nina nodded, a bright smile on her face. "Sure, we should! I'm sure we could get Rayet to agree too!" But before Inaho could object to Inko's incorrect wording, Nina was turning back to look at him inquisitively. "Is she your pet, Inaho? Calm was convinced it would be for you, but I thought it was for someone else."

Inaho spared a look over in Calm's direction, but he wasn't looking at them. His eyes were off looking at nothing, but he shrugged one shoulder. Inaho turned his attention back to Nina. "It isn't mine, though we would have kept it if my co-worker had declined the offer." 'Seriously declined,' he amended in his head. 'for rational reasons that he could explain.'

Nina frowned. "You mean you didn't ask first?"

Inaho could see Inko's eyes on him, but he could only guess at what that meant. Had she thought about asking him the same thing before he'd purchased the cat, and had simply refrained for some reason? It was a strange guess on his part, but the look on her face was strange, and he was having a hard time placing it. "He is very lonely, and hasn't taken the initiative to solve these problems himself." Inaho stated, his attention back on Nina.

"Oh" Nina said, her eyes also taking on a strange sort of look. Inko and Nina seemed to share that strange look for half a second, before both of them squarely turned back to look at him. This time, Nina smiled slightly, and shrugged her shoulders. "Okay. Well, hopefully he's a cat person then."

Inaho looked over towards Yuki for some sort of back up, but she and Rayet were talking together in hushed tones at the end of the table. Their expressions looked pensive and serious. Inaho hadn't thought anything of why she'd chosen not to sit next to him, but now his suspicion was peaked. As if sensing eyes on her, Yuki looked away from Rayet for a few seconds, and their eyes met. In that brief instance before her features softened, and she excused herself to the restroom, Inaho was positive she was up to something. A look at Rayet seemed to confirm it.

Maybe getting Yuki alone would have been a better idea after all...