"You...Slept with it?" The Commander asked. "It? Please, refer to her as Kurumi. I hope you weren't expecting details, sir." Shawn said.
The following morning, I woke up feeling like shit from all the liquor, but warm from Kurumi. I was also really hungry. With all that happened the day before, eating never even crossed my mind. I looked to my side to see Kurumi sleeping. I had to take a moment to admire her. That was the first time I ever saw her sleeping, and she looked so peaceful. When I felt ready, I reached over and picked up the phone on the nightstand. I placed my usual breakfast order and hung up. Kurumi slowly started to wake up. She slowly sat up, looked at me and smiled. "Good morning." she said. "Good morning." I said, playing with some of her hair. "How are you feeling?" she asked. I smiled. "Like I made a deal with the Devil. And hungry." I said. "Me too..." she said. My hunger kind of sparked the question in my head. "Have you ever thought about just eating normal food? You know, the kind that doesn't walk on two feet? Just to see how it would work out?" I asked. It may have just been the hangover kicking my skull, but I got this crazy idea that maybe, just maybe, she could gain her spirit energy by just eating a steak or something. She giggled. "Are you still drunk?" she asked.
She then got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, picking up some clothes on the way in. As she walked, I took the time to admire her figure. After she closed the door behind her and started the shower, I decided to also get out of bed and get dressed. After dressing myself, I laid back down on the bed and closed my eyes, relaxing. About ten minutes passed before the food arrived. The hotel was always good with making quick meals. I got the food and started eating. But while I was eating, that crazy idea popped in my head again. I don't know if I necessarily liked killing people with Kurumi. So I figured I'd try to stop as much as I can, just to see how I felt. My plan started with me only eating half of my breakfast. I saved the rest for Kurumi.
A couple moments later, she came out of the bathroom, wearing that elegant black dress of hers. "Hey Shawn, can you zip up the back please?" she asked, holding her hair up. I quickly got up and walked over to her. That intoxicating smell of strawberries punched me in the face again, much to my delight. I started to zip up the back of her dress. As I did, she noticed the unfinished breakfast. "Lost your appetite?" she asked. "Actually, I saved it for you." I said, finishing with her dress. "Well, I'd hate to be rude." she said, walking over to my bed and sitting on the edge.
She picked up the unfinished plate of food, fork in hand, and took a bite of some of the eggs. I watched her as she went from the eggs, to the bacon, then finally the toast. She cleaned off the plate entirely. "Well?" I asked, sitting on the edge of her bed, facing her. "I don't exactly see what the appeal is. There wasn't even any blood." she said, putting the plate to the side. "That was the point." I explained. "I'm not entirely sure about the food you eat." she said.
I could have said the same.
"I was hoping you'd be willing to try other foods today." I told her. She took a moment to think. "So what you're suggesting is, we spend the entire day eating?" she asked. "Well, not all consecutively." I said. She smiled. "I feel as though we've only been doing what you felt like lately." she said. I smiled. "Not that you mind." I said. "I do not." she said, giggling.
We later left a little bit before noon. We made our way to the cafe' Kurumi first brought me to, maneuvering past all the snow on the ground. Being back inside the cafe' reminded me of who I was and where I would be if it wasn't for Kurumi. I used these thoughts as motivation for my plan.
We were seated soon after walking in. We ended up sitting in the same table we sat at the first time we went there. A waitress came up to us and asked what we wanted to drink. We both agreed to have some water. When the waitress walked away to get our drinks, we both picked up a couple menus on the table to look through. "See anything you might like?" I asked Kurumi. "Nothing in particular is catching my eye. Do you have a recommendation?" she asked. "The pasta I had the first time we were here was pretty good." I told her. She nodded and put her menu down.
The waitress came back with our glasses of water. We both placed orders and she walked away. I looked around the cafe', and it wasn't nearly as full as it was the first time we were there. I looked back at Kurumi to see her staring at me. "Anything on my face?" I asked her. "Nothing, aside from some hair." she said. "I was just wondering why you're trying to get me to like human food."
I don't think telling her 'because I don't know how I feel about killing people' was the best answer. It sounded kind of selfish when I thought about it. "I just thought you'd like to experience different foods. That is one of the experiences of life after all." I said. She took a moment and smiled.
"Maybe, for the wealthy. Meanwhile, from America to the other continents of the world, many people are lucky to find food every few days. If there is anything I have noticed in my travels, it's that you humans have a terrible habit of wasting food." she said. And she was absolutely right. "You have a terrible habit of being philosophical at random times, Ms. Tokisaki." I joked. She giggled a bit. "Thank you, Mr. Ecker."
Some time passed before the waitress came back with our food. For Kurumi, a fine pasta dish with a side of bread, whereas I ordered a sirloin steak, burnt to a crisp. I picked up a bottle of ketchup on the table and poured some on the side of the steak. I liked ketchup with my steak. As I began cutting my steak into smaller pieces, I noticed Kurumi taking bites out of her pasta.
Some time passed before we finished our meals. We both cleaned our plates completely. We both sat for a moment to talk for a bit. "Well? How was it?" I asked before finishing my glass of water. "Well, it didn't taste absolutely terrible." she admitted. "So you liked it." I said. She shrugged. "I'm not sure." she said. "And how was your steak?" she asked me. "Burnt, just the way I like it." I said. She smiled. "So what's next for today?" she asked. "Maybe a dinner? Or we could skip that and go right to dessert." I said. "We'll see what we feel like doing." she said, smiling.
We payed the bill and walked out. As we did, we saw a familiar face walking in our direction.
It was Yoshino.