[Date: Tuesday, May 11th. Incidentally also the day Satoshi will be returning to Japan, but for now we're focused on Osaka.] [It's been a fairly sunny day, and even in the evening, warm but pleasant air wafts in from the balcony. Mikage is at the table, presently doing exercises out of her "Fundamentals of Forecasting" book. She's been in and out doing laundry, which may be related to why she has an hourglass resting on the table tracking the passage of time.] [Start!] * Taki's in the kitchen stiring things around in a frying pan and paying a tiny bit of attention to a sauce pan, no practical classes today, so no leftovers. * Mikage, not too long thereafter, stretches and lets out a breath before packing up her book and finished homework back into her bag. Done? * Mikage nods and stands up. "Yeah, I don't know if all the fundamentals really click in my head yet, but the problems are getting a bit more routine to me." * Taki nods. "So, you're good until something strange gets thrown in." * Mikage gives an enigmatic smile, "Yeah. A principle that I suppose explains why I seem to unnerve some of my T.A.s. How were your classes?" So so. I know we have a sister school in France so it makes sense to have a couple of forign teachers, but Durand-sensei's accent makes it hard to understand what he's talking about sometimes. I think I'm going to wind up adding French to the lest of languages I want to learn. * Mikage's eyes widen a bit at the thought, but then she purses her lips for a few moments before responding. "A few phrases with a passable accent would go a long way to making people think you're sophisticated. People pay more for sophisticated." * Taki nods. "True, and it's not like I can afford the semester abroad anyway." * Mikage glances over at the hourglass. "You able to hit a pause point in the cooking in several minutes? Not really important or anything, but..." "Thought I had the timing better." She holds up a clear glass with a couple of beaten eggs in it. "Give me two minutes to finsh? Fried food's fast. Just not healthy every day." She pours them in. * Mikage smiles and sniffs at the air. "No complaints here." * Taki mixes the eggs and, the veggies, and the chopped squid in the frying pan into an omelette, and then turns off the heat. "Okay, let's go before these get too lukewarm." * Mikage nods and smiles with satisfaction as she notes the hour glass timer run out. She hands Taki a three-quarters full hamper and carries a set of towels herself, slightly puzzling as that's an amount Taki's roommate can normally handle in one container that's just a little overflowing. Speaking of timing, have I mentioned our highly efficient apartment neighbor? If you have, I've regretably forgotten. * Mikage shrugs. "Probably making it out to be more than it is, I'm just a little surprised to see a guy our age that knows how to properly fold his stuff and, even better, doesn't leave it lying there when I have a load." Mikage leads you both to the elevator and hits the button with an elbow. Really? I thought everybody here just shoved everything back into their basket without even bothering to check if it was theirs. On a probabilistic basis, you aren't wrong. [The elevator pings and Mikage steps in, hitting the button for the upper floor laundry room, again with her elbow, but contorting slightly to do so.] * Taki follows with the laundry basket. Sometimes it's good to be wrong, this sounds like one of them. [The trip is fairly fast, actually slightly disconcertingly so, as is the way of this building's new-fangled elevators. When the doors pop open, you can see that there is indeed a young gentleman in the laundry room. Moreover, he's actually one of Taki's classmates. Family name Guan, first name isn't immediately coming to you. Lithe on his feet and notable for making it the longest in one of the practical course challenges to see how many dishes you could manage at one time.] Ah! Hello Guan-san, I didn't realize you lived in this building as well. * Guan pauses his folding to glance over. "Oh, Shimiru-san?! Are you roommates with Hasegawa-san?" That I am. [Guan does have two full loads of laundry he's taking out, including a mix of styles, and is laying out some pieces while others he's tossing into the dryer. There's a door at the end of the hallway that leads to a stair up to the roof, which has clothes lines for coin- free drying.] * Mikage dons her enigmatic smile again, "Ah, yes, I foresaw that we would have a further connection." * Taki gives Mikage a mock-glare. "There are, in fact, easier ways to get me to introduce you to my classmates. Or introduce me to my classmates or I've totally forgotten where I was going with this." * Guan chuckles and carries on his efficient sorting, he does a good job of getting the creases out of the pieces of clothing he's putting in the laundry basket to go upstairs. Mikage meanwhile carries the the towels and linens over to one of the now open machines and starts loading it up. "When have you known me to take the easy way, Taki?" I can hope, can't I? * Guan glances over to Taki, "Haven't seen anyone else from school here. Not too many people our age even, aside from my high school friends. There's also supposed to be some sort of diminutive samurai that protects the building around, but I think Itsuki just made that up so he'd have an interesting story after he talked to the super." * Mikage says nothing. Nothing! * Taki asks slowly, "... How metaphorical is that?" * Guan shrugs, his shirt draping nicely on his physique as he does so. "Highly, I'd imagine. But some of the street punks seem to avoid this place, so I'll take it." * Mikage finishes up with her load and takes Taki's basket. "I like it. Who doesn't appreciate a little mystery in their lives, anyways?" * Taki nods and turns away from Guan to hand Mikage the basket. "Absolutely." * Guan finishes his sorting. "So, I hate to sound like a provincial, but, well, Durand-sensei..." * Taki doesn't turn around. "Just between the two of us, I caught less than half of what he was talking about today. I think it was a story about his own teacher's cookbook?" * Guan lets out a breath and as he picks up his hamper, slouches slightly. "Well that is a relief. Though I guess there goes my plan to see if I could trade notes with some of the Tokyo students." His accent was a little stronger there, but by now you've gotten pretty adept at parsing Osaka-dialect. * Mikage thanks Taki for the basket and works to finish loading the washer. * Taki takes a deep breath and turn around to face him. "Do any of us speak French? My English is pretty good, but that doesn't help here." * Guan scratches his cheek, pondering. "Not sure. There's a few people who seem to be taking more notes. I could ask the guys all surreptitious- like if you ask the girls. Maybe we find someone." * Taki nods. "That sounds like a really good idea." * Mikage closes the washer, picks her settings, and puts in her quarters. "Well, I forsee, I mean, I think this could be a lovely friendship. If you ever want to come over to our room and share notes, don't be a stranger on my account." She smiles up at the taller young man. * Mikage also quickly glances over to Taki to make sure she wasn't out of line. * Taki crosses her arms. "You can't hide the fact that you just want two Tsuji students cooking you meals from me. Am I just not enough anymore?" * Mikage cheeks redden and she looks away. "I.. well. I'm very lucky to have you." * Taki covers her mouth as she starts to crack up. * Guan laughs as well, "Well, cooking for a group is no harder than cooking for two. Might be fun to trade off dinner parties every now and then. I think I can keep my guys on good behavior." * Mikage puffs her cheeks slightly, returning Taki's earlier mock glare, but she doesn't seem to be displeased with this outcome. That does sound like fun, and I do need more friends down here. And if your roommates do start causing trouble, well, that's what the tiny samurai is for. Just so. And speaking of dinner, Itsuki gets home in another seventeen minutes. I should get these hung and get started on the meal. * Guan gives a quick bow to both of you, shares his phone number which Mikage swiftly takes down. She texts hers over to him. * Taki discovers that she left her phone downstairs. We should be going too, Taki has a delicious meal waiting for me. And her. * Taki waves. "See you tomorrow." * Guan heads off, briefly holding the load of clothes in one hand to wave back. Mikage summons the elevator which opens immediately. Once the doors close, she glances over. "What do you think?" He seems like a really nice guy, and I'm going to die of embarassment when he figures out I'm his "dimunitive samurai." Still kinda glad that happened and we can afford to live her, but... * Taki buries her face in her hands. "That just keeps coming back." * Mikage shakes her head, "C'mon girl. I can say with certainty that he'll just respect you more for it." She then thinks for a moment and punches Taki lightly on the arm, "Unlike what he may think of me for being some sort of hussy that cheats on her chef." * Taki laughs. "I think I can find it in my heart to forgive you." * Mikage looks like she's about to protest that she's not the one that needs to be forgiven when it looks like a dark cloud passes over her happy contenance. But then the elevator pings as it arrives at your floor and she's back to her cheery self, leading the way swiftly back to the room. "Thanks." I'm mostly teasing you know. You haven't done anything wrong. * Mikage opens the door. "Sorry, uh." She then swiftly prepares the table for eating and pours tea. "I think I used to be more confident back when I didn't try to be not weird." She shrugs, "Thanks for coming with me today." * Taki makes a face. "The most miserable years of my life were the ones where I was pretending not to be weird. Please don't do that to yourself. And you're welcome and have the phone number of a good guy because of some of my weird, so it all works out." * Mikage contemplates that for a while. "There are worse things than losing a boy every now and then." She settles down at her seat. "How are things going with Nicola-san?" * Taki sighs. "We can't tell her parents and they want her to bring a boy to a fancy dinner party they're all attending. I know aproximatly three and a half guys I trust not to screw things up, one's taken and I'm a teeeeny bit worried that if he went her parents would try to make a real thing of it, one's really old, and the last one's in America. So I'm asking for a second opinion on the half and suggestions. At least the bullet trains let me visit on some weekends." * Mikage listens, "Oh man. That sucks. Second opinion makes sense. Why is the last one a half?" * Taki shrugs. "I've only met him a few times, he seems nice, but I've never seen him in an important social situation. I mean, if he's the sort who can't deal with having lots of people around or really hates having to make small talk for hours, I don't want to try and force him into it." * Mikage ponders this. "You're very sweet you know. If it were me, I think my biggest worry would be finding someone not at risk of falling for her, not whether the guy would be bored." She's had a lot of practice, but yeah, somebody who's not going to end the night with a drink poured on his head is the qualifier that eliminated a solid 80% of the guys I know. Is there just something wrong with this generation, or do they grow out of that? * Mikage laughs. "I'm not far enough in my Forecasting book to do demographics." * Mikage glances over the stove top and goes back to pondering. Maybe you can make it your thesis. Wouldn't be a half bad way of showing up my classmates. Ack Dinner! [And on that note of lamentation, they dined!] [End!]