December 23rd
Kuriyama Ace takes on as one of the director of operations at Iris next to Yayoi and he is also a substitute guardsman for the headquarters before being promoted, having experience and training within the Iridescent guard, thus, he is acquainted with Mamoru, Saeko and Renka, but he is close friends with Ohmiya Yoshio, having gone to the same middle and high school in the past. When he isn't working at Iris, he fulfills character roles for Glassvale Entertainment and recently returned from a five month shoot in China. He has told his close colleagues of his arrival, but asked for them to keep it from Shizuka, since he enjoyed teasing the Iridescent King and testing her abilities.
Yayoi had left Ace to fend for himself at Iris while she headed out to Tres Spades, but he was accompanied by Yoshio, joined by Saeko and Mamoru.
"Ho~ You really are back." Saeko shields her eyes from the sun as she looked up at Ace with a beaming smile.
"Welcome back." Mamoru says in a calm tone.
"You shouldn't really be out here for too long if you don't want other people seeing you, even though lot of the members are out, it's better to be safe than sorry if you want to surprise Takahiro." Yoshio comments. "Come on, I'll take you out to a bar or somewhere else as an early celebration. There won't be any alcohol at the party and there's only going to be finger food, so take advantage of this treat."
"Ho ho, my kouhai taking me out to eat, huh? This will be good." Ace snickers and Yoshio grumbles, scowling at him. "I'm just kidding."
"We'll take your stuff to your room then, but be back before the party!" Saeko grabs Ace's luggage and drags it off with her into the building, Mamoru following after gesturing a bow to him and following her inside.
"Those two haven't changed." Ace scratches the back of his head while looking at Yoshio. "And neither have you. Still looking bored as always."
"Five months isn't really a long time when you're busy working on projects. It felt like it's been about three weeks to be honest." He answers as both he and Ace begin walking towards the doors and entering the building. The two pass by the front desk and head towards a door leading to the underground parking lot and garage, which could also be accessed by the elevators. They pass by several empty lots until they come upon Yoshio's car. He unlocks it, the lights flashing on and off and he opens the driver side while Ace navigates around to the other side.
"Do you have a particular place in mind?" He asks, looking over at Yoshio once he stepped inside, seeing him seat-belting and shoving his keys into the ignition. The engine roars and Ace fiddles around with the heater.
"The Sunset Pearl." He answers, shifting the gears in reverse and pulling out of the parking space. "It's in Shizume City and Ito recommended it since she often goes to that place. I haven't been there before but the reviews are good and it looks alright. Their menu is all western food, which might be a change from eating all that Chinese food." He drove slowly towards the exit of the parking garage, stopping the car to wait for the gate to slide up. Once it sensed their approach, it opens and he accelerates forward on the smooth asphalt road out of the property.
"Shizume City huh. Well, I wasn't expecting to head into HOMRA on my first day back." Ace comments, rubbing his hands together.
"That's too damn bad, isn't it?" Yoshio declares with a blank expression, making Ace laugh and he comments.
"Smart ass."
It was a short drive from Iris to Shizume City and it was as bustling as ever. Yoshio drove carefully through the traffic and with the help of Ace, they manage to find a parking spot near Shizume Crossing where The Sunset Pearl was somewhere located. After settling, he shuts off the engine and they exit the vehicle, heading to the crossing. Ace and Yoshio head down the sidewalk and were halted by traffic lights, joining a large crowd awaiting for the light to turn green.
"It should be right over there." Yoshio points at a building diagonally across from them and Ace glances over to it while adjusting his scarf but he wasn't able to look for very long when the streetlight turns green and the mob around them begins to shift forward. The two navigate to the next light, awaiting for it to switch signals and once again surrounded by more strangers. After a few minutes, they finally make it to The Sunset Pearl.
It was a large and simple two story building with wide glass windows. Inside, there were counter tops connected to them so people could sit down and face the crossing while enjoying their meals.
They enter the restaurant and were greeted by a hostess. At first, she looks at them, dazzled with their handsome features and nearly forgets what she was supposed to be doing until reality snapped back to her quickly. Her face was flush and she avoided eye contact with the men as she leads them to an area on the first floor. She wasn't the only person who was bedazzled by the men, Ace and Yohsio could see people glancing at them, mostly women as the hostess sits them down with a nice view of the cooks in the kitchen.
"Your waiter will be with you shortly." She bows before heading off. Ace takes a moment to look around the place. It had a familiar ambiance. The floor was a cream marble color, giving the impression of clouds in the orange and pink lighting. There were paintings on the walls referencing clouds or close ups of white pearls, some having the reflection of sunsets and clouds within them, and there were white, drape covered hanging lamps coming form the ceiling, giving a nice warm glow.
"So how have things been at Glassvale?" Ace asks, his sitting posture was uniform compared to Yoshio, who was leaned back in his chair lazily.
"Che, you wouldn't believe how long your groupie of fans were crying when you left." He grumbles, but Ace wasn't falling for his tricks.
"Not to be full of myself, but although I'm polite to women, I don't remember having a group of women chasing after me...though that'd be really nice." He chuckles with a grin, leaning towards the table with a hand under his chin. Yoshio looks at him blankly while he continues laughing to himself.
A waitress finally came to their table and handed them menus while asking what they would like to drink.
"Lemonade" Both Yoshio and Ace say at the same time and she chuckles happily and writes it down.
"With a side of water for both of us, please." Ace adds.
"Alright. I'll be back with your drinks." She says with a smile, walking off and Ace and Yoshio begin browsing through the menu.
"It's been a while since I had western food...well, aside from fast food." Ace says, flipping to the next page in his menu.
"I bet." Yoshio replies. "I'm getting the Santa Fe Skillet. What about you?"
"A skillet, huh?" Ace flips back to a previous page in the menu to find the skillets. He finds the Santa Fe Skillet, which had crumbled chorizo sausages, fire-roasted bell peppers and onions, mushrooms and seasoned red-skinned potatoes served on a skillet. Topped with cheddar cheese and two eggs. He scans over the other skillets offered, but wasn't so interested. Prior to the skillet page, he was looking over the steaks and settled on the sirloin steak, choosing sauteed zucchini and squash and red-skinned potatoes as his choice of side dishes.
The waitress returned with their drinks on a tray, handing them straws before sipping the tray under her arm.
"Are you two ready to order?" She asks politely, reaching for her notepad.
"Yes, we are." Ace answers, looking up at her as he explains thoroughly to the waitress of his choice of dish. She then asks how he'd like his meat cooked and he asked for it as medium rare. Afterward, Yoshio orders with simplicity and once the waitress jots down everything she takes up their menus and excuses herself.
"She's pretty, don't you think?" Ace grins, but Yoshio gives him a doubtful look.
"Seriously?"
"What? Don't give me that." Ace glares back at him and Yoshio turns his attention elsewhere, observing the other tables and customers around them. He then glances to the kitchen and watches the cooks, catching sight of some chefs rushing back and forth, often glimpsing short sparks of flames now and then.
"Anyways, anything interesting happen lately? Come on, don't be a kill joy and tell me some stuff." Ace interrogates Yoshio in a teasing manner and he glances away from the kitchen and looks at his friend.
"Hmm...not really." He replies with an apathetic expression, disappointing Ace until he slightly raises his eyebrows, remembering something. "Oh, well I guess there's that," He declares and Ace lifts an eyebrow. "We had a teenage model who got into it with the police a few days ago. Somewhat popular among girls his age because of his looks...uh...what was his name again?" Yoshio questions himself while Ace looks at him confused.
"Huh? How did that happen? Did Takahiro do anything about it?"
"Ah, his name was Hazuki Ryu." Yoshio points his index finger in the air, seeming accomplished but his expression was as dull as ever and he tuned out Ace's questions; however, his conscious knew he was talking. "Were you saying something?"
Ace's eyebrow twitches and he scowls at him. "Yeah...how did that happen?"
"Eeh, we just got the call from both the cops and his parents, so we had to shred his contract, and they didn't give any details about his arrest, sorry to say."
"Sokka...(I see)"
"Also...there's a rumor about Scepter 4 being involved. Theoretically, there isn't any articles and such on the case so I understand why something like that would be floating around. Where the cops are, there's Scepter 4, and when they're around, the media can't get scoops."
Ace narrows his eyes and looks down at his drinks.
"Yeah, that makes sense..." He says in a low voice. "Well, he wasn't a Clansmen so it doesn't matter. If Scepter 4 was involved, Takahiro-san...might not have been happy with that...you know how she is about the other Clans." As Ace speaks, he sees Yoshio glance away, his attention back to the kitchen.
"I guess..." He grumbles, catching their waitress returning with their food in a tray and he straightens up as she draws closer.
"Okay, here is the Santa Fe Skillet but be careful, it's hot." She gently places a sizzling black skillet on top of a matching plate in front of Yoshio, the food was steaming and cracking from the lingering heat. Next, she presents an ivory plate before Ace and his eyes almost seemed to sparkle as he lays his eyes n his steak, looking over his side dishes, but he finds that his zucchini and squash was missing.
"Excuse me, but I'm missing the zucchini and squash." He looks up at the waitress, her expression turning concerned.
"Okay, I'll take it back to get it fixed for you, sire." She reaches out to his plate and takes it up in her hands, but before turning away, Ace looks passed her to see a man approaching them, carrying a pan skillet with him.
"Oi, Mari!" He speaks, his voice slightly raised and she whips around to face him. Yoshio turns his head to the man and waitress, who hadn't touch his food yet as to wait until Ace was served. Both him and Ace analyze the man, who was wearing the traditional chef uniform, but the closer he approached, Ace and Yoshio notice that he looked very young, almost a teenager. He had short ruffled light blue hair with lavender ends and his eyes were royal purple and full of agitation. He was slim and tall and his expression was stern as he stopped next to the waitress.
"Hai? Takahiro-kun." She asks, looking confused and her eyes lower to the skillet, which had the zucchini and squash freshly made.
Takahiro?! Both Ace and Yoshio question to themselves, appalled.
"O-Oi...did she say..." Ace looks at Yoshio who nodded his head, his eyes glued to the young chef.
"Some idiot put that dish out when it wasn't ready to be taken since it's still missing this. It's not your fault, but you should still look over to make sure you have what was ordered so this embarrassment doesn't happen again." The young chef gestures for the waitress to return to the table. At the same time, Ace and Yoshio were a bit shocked of his biting words, but the waitress does as she is told, not bothered by his way of speaking and sets the plate down in front of Ace then steps away on standby while the chef pours the vegetables next to the steak. This gave Ace and Yoshio the chance to get a closer look at the young man, searching and questioning his features. He didn't seem to care for the two and pulled back after finishing dealing with the issue.
"I have to apologize for that. Please enjoy your meal." The chef bows to the men, his face stone cold as he rises back up and walks away, leaving Ace and Yoshio frozen.
Then, the waitress steps up, "I'm really sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it. I didn't think this was the type of place for the cooks to personally come out to do that." Ace says, rubbing his chin while Yoshio picks at his food.
"It happens, but not often." The waitress comments.
"Is that so...did I hear you call him Takahiro by chance?" Ace's tone and expression was serious when he looked at her.
"Yes, I did. He's mature for his age, but he's one of the best cooks here." She says.
"For his age?" Yoshio asks and she nods.
"He's still in high school, but works here with his parents."
"What? He's a high schooler?" Ace asks and she gives a chuckle, nodding. "That's incredible. That kid must really have some talent then." He pokes at his vegetables and takes a bite, his mouth bursts with flavor and he bobs his head in approval.
"Well, some people think that because his family owns the restaurant it's how he got the position, but his culinary skills shut them up." She adds and Ace wipes his mouth with a napkin while Yoshio digs into his meal.
"It seems so. What's his name? I'd like to meet up with him sometime." Ace asks.
"Takahiro Shinobu."
The name halts Ace, but Yoshio takes a slow bite from his skillet, listening to the conversation in silence.
"Takahiro...Shinobu, huh?" Ace mutters, glancing away form the waitress. There was an awkward pause until the waitress speaks up.
"Um...is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Oh, no it's fine, thank you." He brushes her off and she bows before leaving to tend to another table. Ace then glares at Yoshio, who was taking a napkin and wiping his mouth, eventually returning the eye contact.
"What are you thinking?" He asks, seeming irritated that he couldn't enjoy his food anymore. "The name is different from what Takahiro calls her brother. They don't even look a like, let alone their personalities are way too different."
Ace chuckles, taking a knife in fingers and cutting into his steak.
"It doesn't hurt to ask, but you may be right...Takahiro-san can't cook."
Waitress, Odake Mari, made her way to the back of the kitchen to pick up an order. Once she arrived, she catches Takahiro Shinobu setting a finished dish at the pick up area and she quickens her pace to catch him.
"Ne, Takahiro-kun?" She speaks, catching him before he leaves and he stops. "I just wanted to tell you to be careful when leaving today."
"Hah?" His voice was rash but she wasn't intimidated by him.
"The man you gave the zucchini and squash to was...asking questions about you...I'm just taking precautions so be careful when you get off work. You're still a kid anyways." She declares and Shinobu gives her a devilish sneer and a snort.
"Don't worry about that. I know who the guy is and he's not a thug."
"H-Huh? You know him?" She furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Are you a stalker?"
"Gross." He says with disgust. "Stop fooling around and get to work."
She frowns at him when he points at her, taking the dishes into her tray and walking out of the kitchen.
Shinobu returns to his duties up front, glancing over at the table where Kuriyama Ace and Ohmiya Yoshio sat, with a stern expression and then gives a smirk. He knew both of them, but this was the first time he met them in person. How? One would ask.
Because his sister is a King.