Sorry for the delay. It's not that I haven't been writing, i just haven't been satisfied with said writing. Grammarly is my only editor.
Night owl activities once again.
Yknow, York and Shafer always had this little thing they did whenever they were off missions, usually, it was because everyone was in some sort of hostile zone or area with little connection to outside entertainment, so they brought along puzzle boxes, but they didn't do each of them separately, in fact, they mixed them all into one gigantic pile of mess in which they got their entertainment, just finding fun at sorting order and a grander picture out of a handmade chaos.
Ichika felt like this would be a pretty good way to visualize his own situation, excluding the enjoyment bit. In the beginning, he just had one big puzzle which he had all sorted out, and now people were just stomping on it and dumping their own pieces and sets into play while completely ruining what order he had, yelling at him. Challenging him to get back into that pretty picture that he was used to.
Not to mention those new recent additions who had their own visions of what the puzzle should look like that might not even like his idealized vision of the future.
There was a reason why mind games weren't his passion. He could tell people, sometimes even play them out straight. But he wasn't exactly fond of moving around them to what they were showing, weren't showing, and most definitely pretending to show just to throw him off their trail. He liked it all nice and upfront.
He's been talking to that type of person a lot.
At least it helped out the people he was talking to spit out superficial valor and bravery for almost every single line they spoke. In fact he was just close to leaving the conversation and finding another way out of pure spite for Charles(otte).
But now… he's here. Killing his late afternoon "offshore leave" from the classroom and going through the unnecessary opulence of this mall.
Ironic because he came to this one specifically just for the sheer fact that it was the "smallest" and "emptiest" one there. The girls in his class talked about the rides and the literal waterpark hidden away in this getaway vacation for the would-be "warriors" of tomorrow.
Disgusting. Touting around their strength, looking down on Owl because they were in control, them with their manicured nails and unscarred faces…at least he got equal with one of them.
Ichika was getting ahead of himself. There were worse things to be in the world than sheltered, like… well he'd say dead. But, he could feel like there was one worse thing that he really couldn't wrap his mind around.
Something terrible… was in the back of his mind… still, sheltered meant protected from the evils the world had. (And opened with exploitable vulnerabilities)
Whatever. It wasn't important anyhow. He made it here, to the smaller mall area that still had sizeable stores, the only thing was that there were a visibly noticeable if not slightly underwhelming lesser amount of people.
What's the objective of this mission? Make some food to begin a proper armistice with the enemy, and hope Laura doesn't kill both him and the Frenchie dead.
…maybe she'd throw a punch or two and he'd happily let her while watching on the sidelines (hopefully). But this was (hopefully) necessary to cool things over.
What's on the menu? Schnitzel. It's fried, greasy, and filling, make a bunch of it, and he… needed to eat something, it wasn't healthy for him to skip food this often, some home-cooked goodness might rub off on him.
That was why he was here, wasn't he? Just avoid whatever classmates manage to slip in, and try to get in and out with a maintained supply line. A must in warfare!
What's on the mental list?
-Pans
-Meat
-Almonds
-Vegetables
-Spices
-...Pans?
-Meat? What type again? Like specifically.
Ugh, for every new addition the one before it came slipping away. It's better not to think about something that made him think harder than he wanted to. It made his brain go wobbly like it was working overtime not to.
Let's see, he was barely at the entrance of this what could he buy? Wandering down he found many expensive-looking clothing shops, furniture stores, and even a cat cafe…? That's… (Ichika quickly contemplated the implications behind the paw print door) new… huh, alright. Ichika made a small subconscious mental note on that.
All the stores were big and bright and simplistic and modern and expensive and everything that made him dislike this place. A focus on style over substance. It did not befit such a place of warfare.
He should get used to it if he wants to even pretend to be happy here. In and out, a smooth operation. hoodie for concealment while under the cover of a late(ish) night. He could do this.
A few looks here and there but they seemed to be ignored. Just in and out.
Just kept looking left and right for whatever looked like a store that sold food, one that would let him leave as fast as he could and do this stupid dinner that he would never do again.
A small store caught his eye as he was walking, A large handpainted sign had the words "Small Town Americana." Emblazoned proudly on it, it seemed interesting enough…
The exterior of the place had brick-lined into the walls feeding into the more smooth and desolate white walls that surrounded it on both ends.
It seemed to try to be different and more "rustic?" is that how one would describe this sort of style?
Ichika figured that he could indulge in his curiosity and substitute his dream pleasure trip to America with this for now. (Excluding those other times. They didn't count.)
He walked toward the wooden French doors (ugh.) and entered past a handwritten chalkboard sign that held several deals.
Inside was very "country?" in appearance, it was still pretty hard to tell if it would count. Ichika didn't have much experience with this sort of thing maybe he should read up on it so-
"How are you doing hun? How can I help you?"
Ichika was caught off guard slightly and his quick reactions activated making him turn on the spot.
"Woah! Scared ya there huh?"
A lady's voice. He needed to be well isn't that a peculiar accent? Perfect Japanese somehow managed to intermingle and maintain American drawl, combining the two into a semicoherent mess. Impressive.
Ichika after a moment's pause decided to respond in English likewise.
"Only for a bit miss, never again, promise you that."
The woman's eyes ignited a slight bit at the response. "Scared to see, never to speak eh? And what's with that speak? Came from the States as well my friend?"
The lady gave back a big grin that was undeniably friendly. She had a round face with freckles, scruffed up hair in a bun, with a slightly "wider" physique compared to all the skinny teenagers he was surrounded with, with a yellow and white flannel shirt.
"Been around them long enough to be so." Wasn't a lie, it might break his heart to lie to someone so unabashedly friendly.
"Nice, always welcome a new brother! Welcome to my humble store." Looking at her reminded him of the bomb sniffer he once came across, a golden pup. Small thing, sucks that he couldn't pet it. Still, they both just radiated happiness.
"Humble?" This place seemed compact, but that just made everything feel like it was overflowing out, A welcome visual overload to Ichika.
" Oh, just a simple store filled with goodness ya know?"
Even with her playing down it was still a nice looking place, with wooden floors with warm lighting from lamps in the ceiling, on the walls were small murals of a town in America, and as for the actual shelves, there was a large amount of wooden crates lined end to end side by side, stretching down the long room.
The cash register in the front, and in the back a small butchery along between that was a small row of knick-knacks that weren't food. Pots (he needs.) Plates. (surprisingly need.) and… something else that he'd probably need.
Along with that, there were some small tables with some memorabilia, they were a nice touch.
"I could use some goodness, some "friends" are coming over and I need to win one over." He had a slight amount of difficulty calling a manipulator and… Laura was grey zone.
"Oh, lover boy aren't you?" She was obviously playing, but the idea prickled him.
"Lover of food more like. Need something very filling for 3." Hopefully the grease makes Laura sluggish enough not to kill him and the Frenchie dead.
"Need a list. Then I can get… the gist!" her voice raised up a pitch at the end. Nothing but happiness radiated out of her.
"Have nothing to cook at all with, need something. I'm planning on making some German food. Fried meat with some simple sides. "
"Great list hun. Pots and pans are over there. " she pointed at a far-off corner. " and over there is some basic good cooking." Pointing again.
"I'll go wrap you up a slab of meat. Any specifics?"
Ichika's brain went into overdrive at the thought of what he'd need. "...boneless, fryable, skinny enough."
"Boneless slab of pork coming right down." She was already making her way down. "Don't let me dally ya, just go get what you need."
Ichika took that advice and just made his way to the pans, he inspected their quality, selected one, and found some oil near it. He put the bottle in the pan and went on his way, grabbing whatever he thought he'd need, potatoes, tomatoes, eggs. Anything under the sun. The pan was getting heavy so he went to the counter and deposited his bounty, one by one going to and fro on these trips collecting what he needed.
"Hey is this good enough- What in the Sam Hill are you doing?"
Ichika turned to look at her with his pan filled with a random assortment of necessities.
"Shopping?"
This didn't crack the lady's smile, it just made her smile with absolute confusion at what he thought he was doing right.
"...the baskets are over THERE dummy!" she pointed behind him.
It was a friendly jab at him, but turning around and looking at where she was gesturing at, he saw… crates.
Crates? Why. Oh, a basket. A basket holds things, designed by humanity to carry said things when one couldn't do so by themselves. Something commonplace that he forgot.
.Stupid.
The lady continued and it agonized him when she opened her mouth at the thought of the bollocking he would receive.
"Is this a fine amount still?" she raised a generous slab of meat.
"Finer."
"Good, get your things and I'll ring you up."
And he did, grabbing the rest of whatever he thought he'd need, after that, he walked up to the counter and-
The lady suddenly walked closer and got a good look at him from under the hoodie.
"Irk- One second." She put on some glasses that were in her shirt and took a good look at him. "Oh! my stars. You doing alright?"
Deflect, it, please.
"Fine enough for you not to notice." He gave off a slightly forced laugh that was dry even from the beginning.
"It was just a tussle with said friend."
The lady's eyes opened a slight bit, and with her hair it just made her seem like she lost a good year's crop.
"Oh. OH. It ain't a good friend is… I'm assuming she?"
She isn't in the wrong to assume so.
"Bit on the shaky side between friend and very very very enthusiastic sparing partner."
That made her grimace even more.
"They mustn't look as good either do they? Never had the fondness for these types of bouts that my brother's had."
"That's why I need to make sure to cool off… foreign tensions?" A bad joke.
The lady paused. "Foreign?-pfffftooooooo! HAHA. " It took her a while but when she got it she just folded like paper. Her laugh was high and mighty with her forcing her head into the air.
"Alrigh! Let me ring you up nice and proper now." And so she did, and in a blur it totaled a number… in an amount of yen that he could probably translate to dollars if he thought hard enough, but he wouldn't.
"Buck 60 back home ya know?" Turns out she was ahead of him.
That got a slight chuckle from him out of coincidence.
"Yep. Home."
"Just slide that little machine and you'll be on your way." she gestured at the machine. How does he use it? She grimaced with a slight smile when she looked at him again.
He brought out the silver card the diplomat left him when he asked around earlier how he could spend anything. No idea how to use it. He's seen Chifuyu use it when he was… well he'd got the gist at least. That doesn't mean he had an idea on what to
"Well the arrow pointing inward would help ya with the indecision." Oh, she saw him confused and interrupted his train of thought. "Guess the blows blew a fuse eh?" She tried to joke but it was obvious she was very uncomfortable. It reminded him of that other person in the morning.
After a moment longer of comprehension at that last joke, he gave a slightly embarrassed smile and finally got it to work.
She packed him up and he would be on his merry way. Ichika went and grabbed the bags he held and was ready to go.
"Wait." He turned around to look at her. "Alright so when i was living with my family my siblings always found a way to get bloody with each other, and came to me with the need to get better and hide it from my paw. Couldn't stand the sight of blood or bruses and they came to me anyways. Give me a second, watch the store will ya."
She walked away from the counter and went into what was assumedly a backroom. She returned a moment later.
"You might be toughing it out all stoic and such but some of us "don't like watching messed up people" people of course, don't like that." She gave him a small jar. "Here. It was a salve I made that hid it well and healed it better. Homemade. Never was bugged again, they all just rubbed it on themselves whenever the bashed. Now i just keep it for splinters."
Ichika was confused at why she'd give him such a thoughtful gift, a stranger she never met before.
"Act of kindness and convenience, I'm thinking I might see you again, hopefully so. A fellow statesman seems like a good change of pace from the usual workers and hipsters that come by."
Ichika was still slightly quieted.
He managed to push the words "thanks." out of his mouth, but he could tell that he was made dumb by just some blind kindness.
"Well if you want to I could make you pay for it." Joking. But it snapped him out of it.
A genuine person, nay, a genuine American working an honest living. A good reminder of what he fought to protect.
"I'll make sure to do so later when I stop by again."
"That's the spirit!" a big grin came back to her.
He grabbed his things with a smile and wave. He left with the fond reminder that good people still exist.
Ichika walked out and felt slightly rejuvenated by the-wait he forgot her name.
He stepped back in for a few seconds and gave a quick shout.
"Hey, miss. What is your name anyhow?"
She gave him the biggest smile he'd seen yet here. Giving off feelings of nothing but trust and contentment, eyes closed smile wide.
"Caitlyn Cathalyn. And your's?"
"Ichika. Orimura." He tried to matcher hers back.
"Good to get to know ya Ichika."
With that, he stepped back out and began going back to his… well, at least this made him feel better about the oncoming slaughter.
This might just wait- he looked at a window display of a nearby store and stopped midstride. His hands were already full with his groceries, but he knew he couldn't afford not to seize this opportunity for a tactical advantage.
Oh ho. Just Laura wait. A good moment really could get better.