Hiro almost continued out into the hallway, absorbed in planning what to make for his much-delayed lunch, but stopped when the voice followed him. Wait, the man was talking to him? That almost never happened--he was starting to think that rookies were actually invisible, or something. Usually he had to work to be so ignored.

He turned around and started to look up, before realizing that the blinding smile attached to the voice was actually only around eye-level. Now that was different. Also different was the seemingly unending torrent of words, as compared to the more typical grunts and monosyllables that he'd gotten from the other veterans when he tried to strike up a conversation. But... this could be good; finally someone in ANBU who was genuinely friendly. It was always best to learn the way of things from an insider, after all, and he wasn't so foolish to expect that he'd picked up everything he needed to know from a bare two weeks in the service.

He paged through his memory, calling up details and images from his visual scan of the building. Sakamoto Ginta: apartment 301, just down the hall from his own. Lacquered wood furniture and calligraphy on the walls, candy and scrolls and rich silk sheets. The grandson of Sakamoto Gousuke, Hiro recalled--and he'd better make a positive impression. "Pleased to meet you, Sakamoto-senpai," Hiro bowed, then looked up with a polite smile. "Coffee sounds great."

He didn't actually like coffee. But to talk to a friendly veteran, he would drink as many cups of the bitter, stomach-churning drink as he had to.