| [Feb. 21st, 2015|03:46 am] |
Ueno was sitting on the inner edge of the big U-shaped planter box in the courtyard, radiating chakra like a neutron star, and surrounded by paper sacks of takeout. She stood up and waved with her good hand when she saw Ryouma. Her right arm was still in a sling, but she’d changed out of the ridiculously cute bear-eared hoodie from the night before into an equally cute grey sweatshirt sporting a cartoon elephant with its trunk running down one sleeve. Slim-cut black jeans led to sturdy combat boots.
“Your senpai has that ‘I’m adorable and also well-armed’ look again. It’s working for her.”
Ryouma shot Hakone an alarmed look. “You can’t hit on my senpai!” he hissed.
Hakone raised his eyebrows in innocent surprise. “Who said anything about hitting on? I haven’t even had a proper conversation with her yet.” He smiled and waved as they drew within earshot.
She was cute, though.
“Hi again. I’m Hakone. Team Nineteen. I ran into your kohai doing laundry and thought I’d bring him back.”
Ueno raised one eyebrow over an amused smile. “He does tend to wander off on his own,” she said. “Thanks for returning him.”
“My pleasure,” Hakone said with a bow. “He and I’ve run a few missions together over the last few years, so I’ve gotten pretty good at wrangling him. Feel free to call on my assistance any time you need it.”
“I'm still here,” Ryouma said pointedly. He hitched a seat on the planter next to Ueno. “And it was my orienteering got you un-lost in Mangrove Country.”
“Details, details,” said Hakone. “You don’t mention Mangrove Country again, and I’ll keep the story of Bungobashi Province to myself.”
“Well, you're gonna have to figure out some way of making yourself entertaining if you expect Katsuko to invite you to lunch,” Ryouma told him. He picked up one of the bags and peered at the paperboard containers inside. “What'd you get?”
“Yakitori, egg rolls, and katsudon,” Ueno said. “I got three bowls of katsudon, but two are for me.”
With chakra that burned as hot as hers did, she probably needed a to eat a lot. Hakone guessed it was the size of her stomach that limited her to just two katsudon bowls in one sitting.
“I was going to grab a bento in the mess hall,” he said. “So no one has to go hungry. Should I come find you after I get it?”
Ryouma glanced at Ueno, gauging her reaction before he said, “Sure, I’ll be here.”
“Sounds good,” Katsuko said, friendlier now that her food was in no danger. “As long as you share more embarrassing stories when you come back.”
“I’ll think of some good ones while I contemplate the mystery curry of the day,” Hakone said. “See you in a few.” He headed for the cafeteria, pleased with how his day was turning out. Laundry was washing. Ryouma’s mood seemed much improved since last night. And he was finally going to experience the famous Ueno-senpai. Now he just had to work on not reacting to her chakra while they ate. And come up with a few good stories about his and Ryouma’s missions. |
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