[Date: December 1, 2003.] [Time: A little before 1 PM] [It's sunny but cold, and the weather-man promises that a white Christmas will eventually arrive in Tokyo, but not just yet. Katie and Kaede have decided to have their weekly lunch meeting outside, near a collection of vendor carts and a few scattered picnic tables on the edge of campus.] [And go! There is totally a sushi cart there if you want, and some guy selling hamburgers, not even Katie knows if he's dressed like a king or a clown from this angle.] 06* Katie is there! She browsing the carts while waiting for Kaede to show up from class and is dressed warmly, in a wool overcoat and scarf, with her hands tucked into her pockets. 06* Katie also seems to be looking for warm food. Sushi? Not warm. Pass. 06* Kaede wanders into the courtyard, blowing softly on his hands, which actually has mittens on for once. He has his own scarf and a tight jacket as he looks down slightly with where he's going. Coats are the thing for here. He turns his gaze over to the carts to see if there's a good decision to be made here. 06* Kaede considers the sushi cart for a moment but really. Anything you can fit in a cart (that's not ramen) is probably not worth the rice it's cooked on. So, burgers and vegetables seems to be the way to go. Do they serve teriyaki? [Other stalls include Tempura, Curry and Naan, and what's probably a Teriyaki place called On a Stick] 06* Katie waves at Kaede and walks up to him. "There isn't any oden," she says. "Why isn't there any oden?" 06* Katie is wearing gloves! Kaede could see that when she waved. 06* Kaede glances over Katie's way, not cracking his expression in the slightest. Except to adjust the glasses. He gestures with his head a little bit back towards campus. "I could go to a vending machine and pick up some coffee..." 01 That's not oden *either*. 06* Katie looks at the burger... guy... thing. "Are you getting a burger?" 06* Kaede pauses slightly and glances sideways towards the burger guy. "I might..." He then looks at Katie. "Are you not eating if I can't get you some Oden?" 01 No. I can get my own oden. 06* Katie looks at the empty bowls being picked up three tables away. "Eventually. They've been out for a while." 06* Kaede sighs and folds his shoulders down, putting his hands in his pockets. "Look...we'll...we'll get oden. You can get oden. I'll find it. Just..." He reaches up and pinches his nose, squinting. 06* Katie looks at Kaede strangely. "What's wrong?" 06* Kaede shakes his head slightly then blows out another breath. "I need coffee. That's what. You sure you don't want any?" 06* Katie smiles a little. "No." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her wallet, from which she extracts a few bills. She presses them into Kaede's hand. "Something with chocolate in it. And then you'll tell me what's wrong, okay?" 06* Kaede gives her a hard look. "And you're *certain* something's wrong then..." It's not a question. 01 Yeah. I'm pretty sure. Go get some coffee. 06* Kaede is just acting like regular old Kaede really! Least he'd like to think so. He pinches the bridge of his nose again and then goes wandering off, a little tense. But tense is nothing new. 06* Katie watches Kaede walk off, then looks around again, her hands in her pockets. [Not much happens for a few minutes until Kaede gets back. All of the people eating oden have finished. Most of the stalls are doing okay business, but the sushi stand's only made a couple of sales. Most of the discussion is about class and student level drama.] 06* Katie hangs out at a picnic table, listening in on alllll of the drama. 06* Kaede comes back after a few moments. He's holding the coffee, two cans of Boss, one definitely with chocolate in it. He's also holding a third can that, yes, seems to have a picture of oden on the outside. [Evidently somebody named Hibiki has been attempting to have three girlfriends at once and two of them have found each other. They are NOT happy with him. Given that one of them has a key to his apartment it isn't going to end well for him tonight.] 06* Kaede tilts his head as he approaches Katie. He *knows* that look. He leans in and adds in a low tone, "Anything good?" [There's also a student claiming to have found all the answers for all the tests in a Trig 2 class on the internet.] 06* Katie hums softly to herself. She recognizes that last name. Ken? Kaede walks up and a corner of her mouth turns up in a smile. "I don't think the guy I went on a pity date with would date more than one girl at a time." She keeps listening in, trying to grab more clues. "Plus," she says softly, "he's kind of interested in Haruko... Also, why would someone need to cheat at Trig *2*?" 06* Kaede plops down the cans, one at a time, oden first. "Because they're not all super geniuses like you. *Who's* interested in Kinsha- san?" After the last can, he actually slaps down the money in front of Katie too. All the money, yes. [Unless Ken has changed his name to Ichirou, this is probably somebody else. Also is it even cold enough to freeze somebodies bed?] 01 Ken. He... hey, I was supposed to pay for some of that. 06* Kaede doesn't crack an expression or anything. Just sits casually down across from Katie as there's a snap of cracked open coffee. "Vending machine discount." [There's scattered cheering as a familiar looking figure in a chefs uniform pushes a food cart into the gap between the burger stand and the unpopular sushi cart. It's the triumphant return of Oden Guy! "Hey, every-bo-dy! I'm back! Just give me a mo-ment to get everything set up!" He starts fussing about inside the cart while a line starts to form in front.] 06* Katie sighs a little and tucks her money back into her wallet. "There's the oden." She cracks open her mocha. "And you don't have to be a super genius to pass Trig 2." 06* Kaede gives a small shrug and goes back to sipping his coffee. He really *does* look more relaxed. "Wheel. What can you do?" He doesn't look at Katie as he presses, again, "So *who's* interested in Haruko?" 01 Ken. Ken Hibiki. I think she likes him, too. 06* Katie sips her own coffee, some color returning to her cheeks. 06* Kaede pauses and then looks incredulously at Katie. "The asshole?" 01 He's not a *complete* asshole. 06* Kaede waves his hand, as if it doesn't deter his point. "80%? 70%? We're arguing semantics here, Katie Andrews." He then looks over at the burger cart. "...I still should probably get something." 01 Then get something. I'm going to get some oden, myself. 06* Kaede pauses and looks at Katie, then gives her a slight frown. There's a glance at his can, untouched. He worked so hard for it! [The vending machine is going to sad that it went to waste! You don't want to make a vending machine sad, do you Katie Andrews?] 06* Katie doesn't really give a crap about a vending machine. But she does give a crap about Kaede. "I'll save it for later. You know canned stuff isn't as good as that." She points out the cart, which has delicious soup smells wafting from it. 06* Kaede sighs and his shoulders sag. "I know...just..." He stops himself from continuing and just goes back in the direction of the burger cart. [The burger cart is doing pretty swift business and there are only two people ahead of Kaede in line. And now that he is IN line he can see that the person inside is wearing a US military uniform with a Colonel's insignia on the collar.] 06* Katie watches Kaede go with a tiny frown, then stands and goes to get oden. Just like she had said she would. If someone steals canned coffee, they clearly need it more than Katie and Kaede do. [Oden guy gets his cart running again with a practiced hand and starts serving food shortly before Katie gets there, but there are still quite a few people in line ahead of her.] 06* Katie tucks her hands in her pockets, noting how quickly Kaede gets his food vs. the end of the line. 06* Kaede returns with his burger first. Presumably. They'd best have teriyaki burgers. He will plunk down on this bench and enjoy this burger, there's no stopping him. [The GM fails to stop Kaede enjoying his burger, and Kaede can eat with that satisfaction that he wins at efficiency.] 06* Kaede is totally smug about it too. He's almost 152 milliKyons of smug as he eats his burger. Except not really. 06* Katie waits for her oden, please. [People presumably not named Katie get Oden! Soon it's her turn. "He-lo! What can I get for you?"] 06* Katie smiles at the soup guy. "One oden, please." [Oden guy tells her the price while he fills a bowl full of soup, noodles, and a few other things before dropping in a hard boiled egg.] 06* Kaede turns his eyes up to look at Katie and watches her cautiously for a moment. 06* Katie smiles at the oden guy and offers him enough money to pay for the delicious soup. [Oden Guy exchanges money for goods and services! CAPITALISM! "Have a nice da-ay!"] 06* Kaede keeps watching. Long enough to notice the destruction of communism everywhere at the hands of Oden guy. But goes back to eating his burger quietly before Katie turns around. 06* Kaede may or may not also be checking his phone at the same time. He may actually be using his hands to do so for once. Ah social customs. 06* Katie walks back with a victorious bowl of oden. She plunks it down at her spot and sits, picking up her spoon in one hand and chopsticks in her other. "So," she says, grabbing some noodles and twirling them a bit. "Are you going to tell me?" [Kaede's phone would totally help with that though, and everybody else's phones too. They're worse gossips than the students are. (Also the Trig tests are fake)] 06* Kaede snorts and puts away his phone, going back to his burger. "The trig tests are fake." That's what she wanted him to say, right? 06* Katie just gives Kaede a flat look. He should be used to it. He does it to other people all the time. 06* Kaede glances up at Katie, giving her a calm look back, right through the glasses. He can do this all day. 06* Katie keeps it up for a few minutes before her stomach growls, and she sighs slightly. "Fine," she says with a little shrug. "Have it your way." She slurps up some noodles. 06* Kaede watches Katie carefully and then lets out another breath before going back to his food. "You don't have to know absolutely *everything*, Katie Andrews." 01 Since when was being concerned about a friend the same as having to know absolutely everything? 06* Kaede purses his lips at that and reaches up for his hair, deflating. "You're right..." He sighs and shakes his head, poking his food. "You're much better at faking it than I am..." 06* Katie blinks, puzzled. "Faking what?" 06* Kaede points at her with his fork and gives her an even look. "That's probably why. You don't even notice it yourself." He goes back to his food. "I can't tell whether you're in a good mood or not right now. Or if you came in with a good mood or not. Before you started worrying about me..." 06* Katie sighs. "Kaede." She sets her chopsticks down and looks closely at the boy across from her. "I was in a good mood. I'll be in a good mood again. Just because someone worries about someone else doesn't mean they'll worry *forever*." 01 If you're that concerned, you'll talk to me instead of trying to avoid... whatever it is. That's what we're here for, right? Hanging out? Talking to each other? 06* Kaede looks at her carefully, then frowns in response to that, only a crack then goes down to pick at his food again. Quiet. 06* Katie looks at Kaede for a moment longer, then eats with only a little bit of vengeance. 06* Kaede stops for a moment and sets down his eating utensils. "...sorry. I think I was still thinking about Nanami and kind of treating you like her. That's not fair to you..." He then draws back and picks up his burger. "I don't always avoid though. I have Shiraishi-san too, remember?" 06* Katie mmms and says, in between noodles and vegetables, "She wouldn't let you treat her like that." She scoops up some broth and sips it. "So what's going on with Nanami? Is she okay?" 06* Kaede looks at Katie at the first statement with a bit of "What do you mean by that?" look, but then shakes his head slightly, picking at his food again. "She's a Takeuchi," as way of explanation. 06* Katie hehs. "Yeah. Tough." She swirls more noodles around, then slurps them up. 06* Kaede pauses for a moment in his eating, half holding the burger. "...do you think I did the right thing? Moving out, I mean..." 06* Katie blinks. She finishes chewing on her noodles and sets the chopsticks down again. "I don't know." Pause, then tentatively, "Is she lonely?" 06* Kaede taps his utensils against the plate, looking off to the side. "Extremely. But good luck on getting her to admit it." He frowns a little bit. "And still a bit terrified, I think. But I doubt that's fully going to go away..." 06* Katie moves her bowl aside and leans forward, sleeves and gloves on tabletop. "She's in high school. We all hated feeling alone in high school." She looks at Kaede's face, searching. "And none of us wanted to admit it." 06* Kaede's expression goes blank at that and he looks away from Katie's gaze. Something tells her that's not quite it. 06* Katie sighs and tries a different direction: "Why won't she stop feeling terrified?" 06* Kaede frowns and taps his finger on the table. "She wants to be able to defend herself, Katie. She's dug hard into it. Yet...she's had horrible, horrific things happen to her and she doesn't even remember how. She's...we're both very independent. We had to be. We only had each other in the world..." 06* Kaede then flumps forward, holding his head in his hands. "And here I just went up and left her to fend for herself. Her only brother. Ugh. I'm such an idiot..." 06* Katie's eyes cloud a bit. "Not knowing." She looks down at her hands, still against the table. "Yeah. I know how that is." 06* Kaede sighs and nods, drawing himself back. He doesn't react much to that. "...yeah...I knew you would..." 06* Katie falls silent for a long while, then says, slowly, "And you remember what happened to me. I... it's..." She takes a breath. 06* Kaede purses his lips and looks down, clenching his hands. He's quiet for a while, before he adds, "...sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up..." 01 No. It's important that you know this. 06* Katie looks up at Kaede and says, seriously, "I can't stop thinking about it. That I didn't know. That something awful happened to me. But it's not- awful things happened to me, but that thing, that time, it's..." She falls silent, then says, "I could have been raped. I'll never know. And because I don't *know*, nobody cares. Or." Her voice becomes more quiet. "Or it feels like they don't. They care about the things that they know about. They can't care about the things that they don't. I can't care about the things that I don't." 06* Kaede frowns at Katie and looks at her carefully, but not fully. "...feels like they don't." He looks down at his food. "It's not...I care. There's just nothing I can do about it..." He looks up. Are things quieter? He doesn't want to go on unless they're quieter. 06* Katie notices the change in Kaede’s attention, and she looks around, too. [It's kind of gotten awkwardly quite around Katie and Kaede's table, and one of the people being extra awkward is Katie's classmate Doburoku.] 06* Katie recognizes him, and in that recognition, fixes a long, steely stare on him. It stretches. On and on. Until he's absolutely, positively, 150% sure she knows he heard her. 06* Kaede follows Katie's stare for a moment and fixes his gaze on the new challenger who's appeared. It looks like he *wants* to say something, but doesn't. Instead he turns to Katie and gives her a blank stare, then rubs the back of his head and adds, "Wow. That was...that was really good. I didn't expect you to deliver it like that. You'll ace the final for sure." 06* Katie just gives Kaede the same look she gave Doburoku and keeps an ear out for the latter. How *is* that guy reacting, anyway? What is he doing? "Thanks," she says, her voice normal and a little warm, but her eyes so not. "I've worked really hard on it." She softens a little as she falls into the role. "You don't usually get the chance to perform a role that's so raw, you know? I hope they pick this one." [Doburoku looks like he wants to say something, but withers under the power of Katie's stare, he breaks eye contact and starts to pick at his lunch. Clearly not happy about this outcome, but also unwilling to make himself part of this scene.] 06* Kaede doesn't wither under Katie's gaze. He does close his eyes and clear his throat. "I know. It's hard. I'm no actor. But I could really tell, you know? Could tell that it really...hurt..." He opens the eyes on the last one and meets Katie's gaze again. That *last* word, at least, is genuine. [Conversations start to pick up again, mostly to the effect that the foreigner is a really good actress, anybody know when her class is performing?] 06* Katie looks at Kaede quietly for a moment, then says, "Yeah. I just have to imagine myself in her shoes." She picks up the can of oden, tucking it into her bag, then grabs the mocha. "Let's go work on this somewhere else." 06* Kaede gives her a quiet nod and then picks up his coffee and his bag. He starts to head on out, dumping the rest of his food. Didn't even get to properly eat it all. [And Wrap.]