A New Challenger Appears! Queen of Eccentricity Meets Hot-Blooded Cooking Emperor!

[ephemeralcolor.insanejournal.com]

Who: Mitsuya, Keiichi (open)
What: Mitsuya is a stalker.
When: The day of the magic incident, after school.
Where: Just outside the front entrance.


It had, all told, been an average day for Mitsuya today, save for one minor detail: she'd decided to drop in on her own club and been rewarded with a folder being shoved at her the moment she'd walked in the door. It seemed that 'someone' (cue eyeroll from the editor) had decided that the clubs themselves could make for sufficiently interesting content, and with the newspaper itself being so short-staffed, the job had fallen to her.

And that was why one of the neatly trimmed hedges next to the school's main entrance was rustling suspiciously as students trickled from the doors.

Not that anyone sane would be able to follow that chain of logic.

Comments

[ephemeralcolor.insanejournal.com]

"I thought I'd err on the side of privacy. One never knows what others don't want aired, after all~"

But she acquiesced nonetheless, emerging from behind what was certainly at this point a very suspiciously noisy hedge, and offering a hand to Keiichi as well. "Somewhere more comfortable, then? A cafe, perhaps?"

[itophoenixking.insanejournal.com]

"I don't have many secrets," Keiichi replied, coming out from the hedge himself -- and ignoring some of the pointed looks he received from classmates who likely thought he'd been engaging in some naughtier activity.

"And a cafe is fine. There's one near campus that's pretty good, actually. Shall I lead the way?"

[ephemeralcolor.insanejournal.com]

"That would be lovely! Do lead on, then, sir~"

If Mitsuya had noticed the aforementioned looks, she certainly seemed to be paying them no mind. After all, why start caring about the opinions of others now?

[itophoenixking.insanejournal.com]

Keiichi nodded, leading the young woman off the school grounds. "It's not too much further," he offered, "but they have excellent bubble tea, if you're into that sort of thing, and wonderful pastries. I know the owner pretty well, so I might even be able to get us a slight discount."

[ephemeralcolor.insanejournal.com]

"You're too kind~"

That more or less summed up Mitsuya's estimation of the slightly younger boy so far. He was nice enough, but so plain. The pun hinted at a little more personality than had shone through thus far, but she'd been hoping for something a little... stronger. More noteworthy.

Perhaps conversation at the cafe might unlock some hidden depths. She'd been pleasantly surprised before.

[itophoenixking.insanejournal.com]

Even by usual Keiichi standards, this one was...odd. Not that he didn't know a cavalcade of odd people (his father included), but he wasn't used to being jumped from an innocent-looking bush and asked about...pretty much anything under the sun.

He led the way, the troubles of the day bubbling in his mind -- particularly the upcoming need for funding for the Cooking Club.

That was enough to make him sigh without even thinking too much.

As they arrived at the cafe, he held the door open for his strange companion. "Reporters first," he offered.

[ephemeralcolor.insanejournal.com]

Mitsuya offered a beaming smile as she passed by Keiichi, not unappreciative of his politeness. She took the initiative in picking a table, however, selecting a two-top right next to the window, where she could people-watch both inside and outside, should her present company prove insufficient.

Really, at this point, she had no desire to ask him about club activities. And Shinozaki ought to have known about her reputation by now. Maybe a few cursory questions at the end would suffice.

"So then, Ito-kun," she began, leaning forward a bit more into Keiichi's personal space than he might've been expecting once he'd sat down, "what attracted you to this place in particular?"

[itophoenixking.insanejournal.com]

Keiichi shrugged -- once at the question, and then again at the young reporter-woman leaning closer to him than he was entirely comfortable with.

"It has good food and drinks," he offered, a confused expression on his face. I'm particularly fond of the green tea cheesecake."

Speak of the devil, the waitress who arrived received his order of a coffee and green tea cheesecake.

"It's nothing complicated or strange or anything," Keiichi said, his eyebrow cocking as he continued to take in the eccentricity in front of him. "You...pardon me if this is out of line, but you seem like the sort of person to want the most complicated explanations to the most ordinary things."

[ephemeralcolor.insanejournal.com]

"It's more interesting that way. Besides," she added, smiling in a way that was at once cheerful and oddly mysterious, "I've noticed that sometimes the most ordinary-seeming things can go far deeper than we imagine."

She leaned back to take a long sip of her Western-style milk tea, savoring the rich flavor.

"For instance," she finally continued, tilting her head slightly, "why cooking? Most would consider it a rather feminine activity, after all."