Lunchtime comes around on a Friday and he finds himself aimlessly walking the school corridors. The droning hum of classmates and some giggles here and there are simply vague background noise; he registers none of it, just looks ahead, hand holding his jacket over his shoulder absently. The throng of bodies part before his steps and he comes face to face with Minako, exiting a room. She raises her irises to his, a question in her gaze, and he looks around, mildly confused.
"What are you doing here? … Oh wait, this is your classroom… Huh…"
He really had no idea where he was walking to begin with, just going through the motions. Akihiko's ears whined like a bad monitor feed and he blurted the first thing that came to mind.
"Are you busy after class? There's no club today and I know a really good place to eat."
Nodding in acceptance with a smile, she briefly took in the dagger stares directed her way, then made her way energetically in the direction he came from, while he continued down the corridor the opposite way. The chatter was maddening today, perhaps he would eat in the clubroom after all.
Minako was pursing her lips and side glancing his way teasingly in front of the Beef Bowl shop, making him self conscious about wanting to bring her to one of his favorite haunts. The twinkle of amusement in her eyes held no malice, only a reddish warmth, so he took it in stride.
"Honestly, it's really great here. The servings are big, and the sauce they use on the meat is just…"
Groupies chose this exact moment to screech like harpies in a sing song voice, they had been unfortunately spotted.
Swooping in, they quickly crowd his space and Akihiko recoils, uncomfortable. A sickly sweet perfume is cloying to them like a second skin and two colored faces rise to look at him, all red smiles and shiny teeth. They probably went to Gekkoukan but had changed out of their uniforms.
"Akihiko-senpai, what're you doing here?" The bun-haired schoolgirl asks.
Her companion chips in joyfully.
"Oh, I know! You're here for the beef bowls, right? It's like, so funny that you're always eating here!"
He bristles at that one, the food here is amazing and perfect for an athlete like him.
"…What's funny about that?"
His tone probably comes across as rude, but he is getting irritated. This whole exchange feels like someone forgot to give him a copy of the play's script.
"It means that you're totally cool!"
"Look, can you get out of the way please? We can't get in."
Perhaps he can grab Minako and rush in, fleeing this interaction and be done with it, but he hesitates. His eyes flicker to hers, uncertain, he can't quite read her expression and his toes starts to jitter in his shoe.
The girl with her hair clipped up steps between the door and him, almost desperate.
"Hey, hey, you don't have a girlfriend, right? We're like totally looking for guys to be with right now."
He shakes his head, thoroughly confused. A girlfriend? What does this have to do with anything? Despite Minako not saying anything since they arrived on the scene, both the groupies turn on her with menacing glares, clearly hostile for some reason. Figuring that was just about the limit of his curtesy, he speaks in a slightly ominous voice.
"Just let us through, please. Let's go, Minako."
He opens the door, forcing the bun haired girl to get out of the way, and holds it for his team leader as she pushes through stoically, eyes unblinking. He then enters after her, acting as a shield to the burning stares directed her way.
This whole debacle dampens his mood considerably, he feels like a bystander to his own life at times and his companion is too silent for his comfort. Minako looks him over quickly then plasters on a smile as she inhales the nearby meals, biting her bottom lip in anticipation. Maybe she's as hungry as he is, the wafts breezing in from the kitchen could raise him from an early grave.
"Do you mind if I order for both of us?"
"Ah, go ahead senpai, I trust you know what's best on the menu!"
Once two of his favorites are on the way for them, he fidgets with one of his gloves under the table, rubbing his thumb on the seams at his wrist back and forth. He should be talking, but his thoughts are stuck in a loop of jittery sparks, his throat choked. If only there was something he could punch here with no consequence, ideally repeatedly.
Akihiko regrets exposing her to the previous debacle but can't pinpoint the exact turmoil assailing him when he thinks back to their arrival and how it all unfolded. Minako suddenly clears her voice to catch his eye.
"By the way... I was wondering if we could discuss tactics. I have some ideas for our next visits I'd like to run by you, and now that Mitsuru will join us, I could use some pointers on her preferences in combat. We're growing to be a pretty large team to handle as well, so I was thinking…"
Her excitement shrugs him out of his reverie and his fidgeting stops. He tilts his head in reflection, everything else blurs out of focus and he directs all his energy at her musings.
"You bring a good point, there's quite a few of us and it could get hectic. I assume you want to split us up to cover more ground?"
Someone places two steaming bowls in front of them as she raises her finger in affirmation.
"Precisely!"
They banter quite a while over their meal, talking about team composition, previous mistakes and who could work best with whom. Changing it up at times was the consensus they came up with, mixing things around could help her foresee future friction points.
The sun was almost set when they exited the restaurant in high spirits, the previous intruders long gone.
"Thank you senpai, that was great!"
Akihiko smiles, content in her appreciation of his culinary preferences. She deserves all the best, working as hard as she did. He glances at the space next to the door and his mind goes back to the early onset of their escapade and their ambush with the girls. He might have misread the situation, and he feels a little guilty.
Minako is looking at him with a calculating gaze.
"Thinking about what happened before?"
He grunts sheepishly. She, with uncanny precision, saw right through him. The more they rose through Tartarus, the pointier her observations. Was he so easy to read?
"…Yeah, I mean, what if I just spooked them out of eating here?"
"I don't quite think that kind of meal is what they were really going for, senpai." She sounds somewhat amused in her reply, ramping up the static coursing through his veins.
He grumbled, fell into step with her toward the streets, jaw clenched as they both waited on the green light to cross to the other side.
"So, what's you type?"
He jerks his head up in surprise. Where did this habit of riling his system with a few choice words come from? Or is she impishly trying to distract him? Takeba did mention her pranking streaks, or Iori, he can't remember, might be both.
"You mean what kind of… oh. Oh, you mean… girls…"
He falls deep in thought, he never even considered anything of the sort before. A girlfriend has no space in the scheme of his life, not like he has what it takes to handle everything it would entail. At least he thinks so…
They both cross the street, passing under a tree. A previous conversation of his is imposing at the forefront of his mind and he can't help but mumble the content of his inner voice.
"I've been told that whenever a girl asks that, the right answer is always…"
His lips barely move as he murmurs the rest embarrassingly.
"Girls like you… But I can't bring myself to say it! Argn!"
His groan is somewhat more audible, and she bursts out laughing like a pealing of silver bells.
"Oh my, please don't take advice from Junpei, he is hopeless!"
Akihiko isn't quite sure if unbound hilarity is the expected reaction of the asking party, but Iori certainly has it coming now.