| [Apr. 8th, 2017|11:14 pm] |
“You don’t retreat when you’re that close to completing your mission objective,” Ginta said. “Well, unless they’re going to definitely capture or kill you, then you retreat. But I wasn’t captured or killed, so I obviously made the right call.” Ginta grinned, pleased with himself and the world. It was a shame Team Six’s rookies were so bonded at the hip; there was no way he was getting Ryouma home with him until Kakashi was ready to call it quits for the night. He was prepared to wait it out, though.
Kurenai ought to wait it out a little longer, too. Especially if he could engineer some privacy for her and her targets.
He picked up the empty sake cup in front of him and turned it upside down. The sake bottle was drained, Raidou’s beer was three-quarters gone, and the shouchuu was an unknown quality, served in an opaque ceramic bottle, but he was willing to abandon it.
“You know what we need? Crêpes. With peaches. Peaches are in season. I know a place in the park that’s open late.” If Genma and Raidou were sensible, they’d turn down the crêpe option, wait for Ginta to get their rookies out of the way, and give Kurenai a chance to make her own proposition about desserts.
“Are they doing anything questionable to seafood?” Kakashi asked, eye glittering with suspicion.
Ryouma sat up and looked a little more interested at the thought.
“It’s a sweet crêpe place,” Ginta said. “If you want suspicious seafood vendors, we’ll have to find a takoyaki stand.”
“I love crêpes,” Genma said, bright eyed and so very, very tipsy. Not that Ginta’d been counting drinks, of course, but Genma’d had several at the club before the izakaya, and he hadn’t been shy about helping drink that 1.8 litre bottle of sake dry here. Plus there was Kakashi’s flaming lemon thing, and the shouchuu Kurenai had poured when they’d run out of sake. He was going to make a bad decision here, attach himself to Ginta and the rookies, and screw himself out of that threesome before it even got started.
And Kurenai would blame Ginta. He was sure of it. She was already giving him a narrow look.
“I’m thinking water instead of sugar.” Raidou pushed Kakashi’s glass closer to him, refilled Genma’s from the table pitcher, and set it in front of his lieutenant with a pointed thunk. It was true, too much alcohol could interfere with anyone’s plans for the later evening. Ginta was about to acknowledge Raidou’s shrewdness, when Raidou added, “And calling it a night soon, since we have morning training.”
What?
Ryouma’s face melted into a mask of aggrieved betrayal. “Don’t we get time off?”
As if he hadn’t just made a thoroughly self-defeating move, Raidou smiled, eyes alight with wicked glee. “Why would you think that?”
Genma, ever the loyal lieutenant, backed Raidou up. “Exercise is the fastest cure for a hangover.” Because of course he did. This team was hopeless.
Ginta gave Kurenai a sympathetic wince. What could a person do? Although the rookies were still right here watching, so maybe Genma and Raidou were both playing it cagey? Probably not, though. |
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