[Jihatsu]
Wataru checks his phone while on bathroom break from the weirdest dinner 
he's probably had in his entire life... and Oh No! Izumi needs an out!

_IZUMI YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE EVENING I'M HAVING. DO YOU REMEMBER 
SATOSHI WATANABE, THE HOCKEY CENTER FOR SAKURAGAOKA. DO YOU WANT ME TO 
CALL you, I can pretend to be your landlord again_

[Ardweden]
Izumi texts back after a minute:

_Y! then tell me about this!!_

She obviously does not have a keyboard.

[Jihatsu]
Wataru phones her.

[Ardweden]
Izumi picks up after three rings. "Hello?" She sounds a little harried.

[Jihatsu]
"Ms Motobuchi." Wataru sounds stern. "I'm very sorry to bother you in 
this busy time BUT you are not at your apartment. Did we not discuss 
this? It was very difficult to schedule an electrician at this hour."

[Ardweden]
"Ohmygosh! I forgot! I'm sorry! Uh, hang on, I need to... just hang on." 
Izumi pulls the phone away from her ear and Wataru can hear things like 
'sorry' and 'landlord' and 'electrician, I forgot!' and then she's back 
on the phone. "I'll be right there!" And click. She hung up on him! Does 
she always hang up on her landlord like that?

A minute later, text: _thx! ur my fav landlord <3_

[Jihatsu]
Wataru takes this to mean Disaster Date is safely out of the picture, and 
replies,

_Any time. Can I call you later tonight? I am seriously at the weirdest 
dinner but it's awesome. SO MANY SAKURAGAOKA GRADS. And that hockey 
player is sitting right next to me and I might pass out. Dunno if it'll 
go late or what. When's too late to call?_

[Ardweden]
_? sakuragaoka = awesome? OMG THAT GUY is he into u?_

_Call w/e I wont be able to zzz._

[Jihatsu]
_I DON'T KNOW BUT I AM SO INTO HIM OMG. but don't want to be a weirdo 
spending like 20 minutes in the toilet, so I'm gonna go back. I'll call!_

[Ardweden]
_k! gl!!_

[Jihatsu]
It is very likely, no matter what happens later (barring major disaster), 
that by the end of the evening Wataru will have a well edited version to 
share...!

He phones Izumi!

[Ardweden]
Izumi picks up after one ring. "Did you kiss him?!"

[Jihatsu]
Wataru bursts out laughing. "Oh god, I wish. Aaaahhhhhhhh. He's amazing." 
He looks around, making sure no one's nearby to hear him as he walks 
high-speed down the darkened street, breath leaving puffs of condensation 
in the December air. "He's just like I remember him, but I swear he's 
gotten taller. And more punctual." Punctual is their code name for when 
Wataru wants to talk about how hot a guy is, without fear of people 
understanding them. 

[Ardweden]
Izumi laughs on the other side. "No way! He was the most punctual guy 
ever! Is his smile still the best? What was he like!"

[Jihatsu]
"His smile is absolutely the best. It was crazy!"

He then begins to detail how he was leaving Midori's and saw a girl drop 
her wallet, and he picked it up but she was already gone - on a 
motorcycle! - but there was an invitation folded up in it, for tonight, 
so Wataru hurried to the meeting place - Ueno park - and was super lucky 
and recognized the girl by her coat, and gave her her wallet, and then 
WHAT THE HELL SATOSHI WAS THERE OH AND ALSO KYON SORATA????? 

AND THEN EVERYONE WENT OUT FOR YAKINIKU AND THEY INVITED HIM TO COME 
ALONG?

Oh and there were some other people too and they all had gone to 
Sakuragaoka.

AND THEN HE GOT TO SIT NEXT TO SATOSHI ALL EVENING.

[Ardweden]
Izumi listens and chimes in when appropriate to keep the story moving 
along! After Wataru finishes she's free to ask questions, which she does, 
like, "Was the food good? Was Sorata-san still really cute - what was 
*he* doing there? Is he friends with Watanabe?!"

Half joking: "Did a bunch of them look like they were assholes?"

[Jihatsu]
"IT WAS SAKURAGAOKA ASSHOLE PARTY. I counted at least three, maybe four 
assholes. But they all knew each other in high school! Sorata-san and 
Watanabe-san were like, in the same class or something. It was some kind 
of reunion. And, you know Sorata's not my type. Smug's such a turnoff." 
He chuckles. "But yeah, you'd probably have drooled. He has a crazy 
girlfriend, though. I wouldn't mess around there."

[Ardweden]
"Aw, figures." Izumi doesn't sound too broken up. Kyon's about five 
hundred miles out of her league, which basically consists of people she 
bails on before the end of the date. Then a little frown in her voice: "I 
hope she's not, like, violent-crazy."

[Jihatsu]
"Please don't start rumours, but she is definitely storm-out-of-the-
restaurant crazy. Anyway, relationships are hard. So."

[Ardweden]
"Wow, what the hell. Sakuragaoka." That one word covers it all. "Sooooo 
you got invited to their reunion thing even though there was a critical 
mass of assholes... are you seeing him again?"

[Jihatsu]
"I GOT HIS NUMBER." (feel free to edit if this is not true, but was there 
an implication being thrown around of everyone having exchanged number 
with Wataru?)

[Ardweden]
(I think there was!) "WHAT HE IS SO INTO YOU."

[Jihatsu]
"I got everyone's number though, not gonna lie. BUT I TOTALLY HAVE HIS 
AND WE TALKED ABOUT HOCKEY A BUNCH AND I'M GONNA TRY TO ASK HIM OUT FOR 
COFFEE OR SOMETHING. YES? IS THIS CRAZY?"

[Ardweden]
"NO. NOT CRAZY. And you can call on me if you need to bail thooooough I 
don't think you're going to need to. AT ALL. But I want details!"

There's a pause as Izumi's brain catches up. "Wait, all of them? You're 
not gonna turn into an asshole on me, are you?" Her tone is teasing.

[Jihatsu]
"Man, I hope not. It was, I am telling you, a weird evening. Kyon's crazy 
lady is American, and so WE talked a bunch, and then there was beer, and 
so much meat, and we ended up playing cards and... Yeah, it was just .. 
Not the kind of evening I tend to have, you know? I think the phone 
numbers thing was politeness mostly - Katie - the American - she started 
it, and kinda guilted everyone else into it, but I wasn't gonna turn it 
down because SATOSHI. So now I have his number." Aaah.

[Ardweden]
"Hey, just 'cause you have their numbers doesn't mean you need to call 
them!" Katie, huh, an American, an American at Sakuragaoka... "OH MY GOD 
I KNEW HER she's the one who told me not to hurt Sorata or her friend- 
she's DATING him now?!"

[Jihatsu]
"Yes!! Who was he dating before, not her?"

[Ardweden]
"No... Unless she was lying." Izumi's pretty clearly trying to remember 
the incident. "She said it was her best friend. I don't remember them 
doing anything couple-y."

[Jihatsu]
"Huh. Well they are definitely dating now. Oh, yeah, they did mention 
you. I can't remember if it was her or someone else, but when they found 
out I'd been to Shunyo... Actually, I think Satoshi mentioned Hiroki 
first, and then you came up."

[Ardweden] 
"That makes sense. Hiroki's on the hockey team. OH, did you know he's 
their starting left wing this year? I don't remember if I told you!"

[Jihatsu]
"Omg, no! Congratulations!"

[Ardweden]
"It's true! He even got a winning goal two games ago! Oh man, we should 
go to their next game together, it would be *great*. I think he's really 
come into his own this year..." And then Izumi's off, talking about how 
awesome her brother is at hockey these days.

[Jihatsu]
And Wataru is happy for her, and for how happy she is about her brother, 
and decides to keep the news that Satoshi is playing college hockey in 
America and hoping to be scouted by the NHL for another time. ^_^  He's 
no thunder-stealer!

[Ardweden]
And so, they talked into the night. End!