Chapter 5: Invitations and Insanity
November rolled in crisp and cold, and when Takashi stepped into the Cracked Pot for his daily cup of kukicha tea Ikeda was waiting for him, wearing an actual parka and mittens.
"G-good aftern-noon, M-morinozuka-s-s-san," she said, her teeth chattering with cold.
"Good afternoon Ikeda-san. Cold?"
"S-s-shut up. I feel l-like sh-shit today. Y-you kn-know h-how easily I get c-c-cold."
"It's quite warm in here," he commented, and sat down just as Sato-san came over with their teas.
"Oh, Sumiko-chan! Do you want a blanket?" Sato-san asked, her wrinkled face full of concern for the shivering girl.
"O-oh no, S-s-s-s-s-Sato-s-s-s-"
"It's all right dear. Drink your tea, it's warm."
Ikeda nodded and began to take small sips of the warm liquid, the porcelain making little chik-chik noises against her chattering teeth.
"Takashi-kun, your usual?" Sato-san asked, and when Takashi nodded she hurried to the tiny window set in the wall between kitchen and restaurant to tell the brewer the order. The brewer was a small, shy woman whom Sato-san called 'Tokiko-chan,' and Takashi had only seen her once. Most of the time, she sat in the small kitchen and boiled water and tea leaves.
"So how are you, M-morinozuka san?" Ikeda said, the tremors in her voice dissipating as she drank her tea.
"Fine," he replied, "You?" He gave Sato-san a brief smile of thanks as she returned with his tea. Apparently the brewer had already had it ready.
"Better," she commented, gesturing to the steaming cup in front of her. "Kami, but I hate this weather. I feel like I'm going to become a big icicle one of these days."
Takashi snorted into his cup. "Maybe you should get a haramaki," he suggested.
"I already have one," Ikeda complained. "I'm wearing it now." She shrugged her coat off, and gestured to her midriff. Sure enough, there was piece of red cloth wrapped around her stomach (Takashi tried to ignore the way that the haramaki accented the curve of her hips, and failed miserably).
"See?" Ikeda said, and took another gulp of tea.
"Mm." Takashi grunted, and stared rather fixedly at the picture above Ikeda's head (she was his friend, he shouldn't stare at her assets, although they were admittedly very nice).
They sat in a comfortable quiet for a few minutes, until Ikeda suddenly said "Morinozuka-san, I was wondering-" She broke off as Sato-san came back to their table with a tray of tea cakes for them. After the elderly woman had left, she continued. "I was wondering if you'd like to come to a kyudo tournament that I'm going to be in on Saturday. It's at the Maruyama dojo, not far from campus." She bit her lip slightly, something she did when she was nervous. She was obviously quite hopeful that he would come.
"Oh, do please!" she exclaimed after a moment of silence. "You're the only person I know who has an interest in martial arts apart from Otoo-san, and he can't come to see me because he and Okaa-san are on vacation at an onsen!"
"All right," Takashi said calmly.
"I mean, it's okay if you don't want to, I mean, you're not a kyudo practitioner yourself, so you can have other plans, but it would be really nice if you could…What?"
The tall boy smiled slightly to himself. 3…2..1…
"Really?" Ikeda was actually bouncing up and down in her seat, her cheeks flushed with excitement (she looked extremely pretty in that moment, but Takashi was not thinking about that). "You'll come?"
"Ah."
"Oh huzzah!" she cried, and took a large bite of one of the tea cakes in celebration. "It's always nice to have someone you know watching when you perform, don't you agree? Otherwise, it's just a sea of staring, alien faces."
Takashi nodded. When he was performing kendo, it was a great comfort to know that his family was sitting on the sidelines, cheering him on.
"By the way, how's Haninozuka-san?" Ikeda inquired, taking another bite of her tea cake.
"Fine. He's watching his girlfriend's play today, or else he'd be here as well."
"Mm. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I'm still kind of flabbergasted that Haninozuka-san managed to get a girlfriend. I'd consider him too cute and childlike to think of in a romantic way."
Takashi ducked his head. Truth be told, he had been pretty flabbergasted himself when Mitsukuni had bounced in one day and announced "I have a girlfriend! Her name is Asami and she's super cute!" He had sat frozen in place for a full half-hour before the news fully made its way to his brain, and even then he had had some trouble comprehending it. And when he had actually met 'Asami-chan,' as Mitsukuni had called her, his brain had almost shut down completely. Asami Kobayashi was the total opposite of Mitsukuni. She was quiet, shy, and a good five inches taller than his cousin's diminutive stature. In fact, he was still kind of shocked at the fact that his cousin was in college. It seemed like only yesterday that he had been cleaning the mud off of Mitsukuni's face when they were children. He felt like a father being told by his daughter that she was engaged.
"Morinozuka-san?" Ikeda said, interrupting his thoughts. "Are you going to have that last cake?"
He looked down and saw that he had apparently finished off almost all of his tea cakes without noticing. One solitary manju cake remained, and Ikeda was eyeing it hungrily.
"You can have it," he said pushing it towards her. "I've got to go. My Economics class starts in about twenty minutes, and if I don't want to sit in the isles, I've got to get there early."
"Hurry then," Ikeda said, her voice muffled from the enormous piece of the manju cake she had just stuffed in her mouth. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
It occurred to him while he was walking down the street that proper manners said that he should invite her somewhere as well. Somehow, that made him think of a date, and that led his mind to thoughts that were definitely not appropriate, so he started going through his class schedule to see what class he had after Economics. Maybe he would just buy the tea two times in a row or something for an obligatory thank-you.
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Author's Note: I am really sorry, but unfortunately, I won't be able to update Snow on Red Maples for three weeks. Yes, I know. Three weeks. But to try to make it up to you guys, my darling beloved readers, I will post chapters three times this week: one today, one on Friday, and one on Sunday.
And don't worry, to all of you who want the rest of the Host Club to make appearences: They'll show up eventually.
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Some Things of Note: A haramaki is a tube of cloth that is wrapped around the midriff as a stomach warmer. An onsen is a hot spring resort. And finally, a manju cake is a small sort of bun filled with red bean paste.