The Perk, Thursday Afternoon

[notanaxemurderer]

Kiem didn't have classes until tomorrow, so he had taken a walk to the town and stopped by The Perk for a coffee, and ended up being so indecisive about what to have along with it that the barista finally said:

"You can't go wrong with the carrot cake."

"Right. Carrot cake. I'll have a piece of that."

It turned out to be a good choice and Kiem let the barista know he approved, then pulled out his phone to check for cute animal pictures to send to Sakaki.

[Open. I'm home sick, please distract me.]

Comments

[kawaii_complex]

Sakaki had a new camera and a homework assignment to get some pictures for class next week, so of course she was intending on going over to the shelter to get some photographs of cats, but when she passed by the Perk and idly took a glance inside and saw who was there, she decided she definitely needed to make a detour and walked in.

"Hello, Kiem-kun! It's been a while!"

Between her having gone home during the break and everything with the new semester and her new boss, she'd been a little caught up in things!

[notanaxemurderer]

"Sakaki-chan! Hi!"

Kiem put his phone down on the table, grinning at Sakaki. "How was home?"

[kawaii_complex]

Despite herself, Sakaki felt herself still flushing with happiness over his choice of honorific, even if part of her felt it did sound a little ridiculous attached to her.

But she wasn't going to focus on that right now, and she smiled back, even if it was twinged a little with sadness for the subject matter.

"It was very nice," she said. "I really missed everyone; it was..." The blush deepened a little, as she wasn't sure she should admit this, but Kiem-kun was always easy to talk to, so if she was going ot say it to anyone, it would be to him. "...a little difficult, coming back, if I'm honest, though.

"Oh!" Another thought struck her, and she reached into her pocket, to pull out a small little toy of two cats, one on top of the other, about as big as her palm, to hold out to him. "And I won this, at the New Year's festival."

And of course almost had a melt-down of guilt when Kagura had said that Sakaki had 'totally killed it,' not realizing that the other girl had meant in the context of the shooting game itself, not that she had actually killed the poor kittens!

[notanaxemurderer]

"Aww, that's cute," Kiem said, patting the smaller cat on the head. "You went to a New Year's festival? With your friends? What are your friends like?"

He realised with just a little pang of sadness that he didn't really miss the people he had been friends with at home. They had been fun to spend time with, some were nice, and some he knew mostly wanted to be his friend because he was royalty. It made a difference not having to be royalty.

[kawaii_complex]

Sakaki beamed almost like a proud mother as Kiem complimented the Neco Coneco toy and patted it on its head, before almost wishing she hadn't mentioned the festival, because now she was going to start missing everyone all over again.

She nodded a little to comfirm that she did, indeed, go to the festival with her friends, before giving Kiem a break-down. "Well, they're all my old school mates," she explained. "There's Chiyo-chan, she's actually quite young for our grade, but she's very smart, practically a genius, so that's why she's in our class..."

Should she still be saying 'our class'? She wasn't in their class anymore, and that realization made her seem to go a little teary eyed, but she tried to push past it.

"Then there's Tomo, she's...very..." She tried to think of the nicest way to put it, "energetic, and Yomi, she's almost as tall as me," but not quite, because no one back home was as tall as Sakaki!, "Osaka is...well, she's from Osaka, which is a different part of Japan, but she moved to our never named city a few years ago and joined our class. Kagura joined our class not too long ago, too, and she's also pretty energetic, and very good at sports." But not as good as Sakaki, which would forever drive Kagura insane, especially since Sakaki didn't even really try. "And then there's Kaorin; she's very nice."

And almost seemed to be following Sakaki everywhere she went while she was home, but Sakaki was pretty sure she was only imagining that. It was probably just a coinicdence.

[notanaxemurderer]

"It must have been fun," Kiem said, having to admit to himself that he felt a little jealous, not that he wanted Sakaki to ever notice that.

"So, any plans for now when you're back here? I was thinking perhaps we could... go on a day trip somewhere."

He just made that up on the spot.

[kawaii_complex]

"A...day trip?" Sakaki asked, blinking a little. "To where?"

And, as if remembering that Kiem had asked something else, too, she added, "And no real plans, no. Just getting used to my new classes and working at the shelter."

And trying not to live in constant fear of her new, large, terrifying boss.

"What about...you?"

[notanaxemurderer]

"Maybe... to somewhere on the mainland? I haven't been to the mainland."

Kiem had no idea what it was like, but there should be something there to do shouldn't there?

"Which classes are you taking?"

[kawaii_complex]

"I haven't really been to the mainland, either," Sakaki admitted, making a note to maybe checking the internet to see if there was something interesting they could do there. It might be a little fun, exploring a new city like Baltimore.

"And this semester, I've got Engineering, Photography, and a class about...guiding powerful but...not bright," the word used had been stupid, but she felt bad using it, "people..."

She frowned a little, now that they were all laid out in front of her.

"They're a very...strange bunch of classes, though, aren't they? What are you taking?"

And, since it was clear that they were going to get themselves into a conversation, she went ahead and finally pulled out a chair at Kiem's table to sit down. She didn't think he would find her being rude, she just didn't like standing there towering over someone while they talked for any longer than she had to.

[notanaxemurderer]

"There should be something fun to do there," Kiem said, picking up his phone to search for something. "Oh, and I'm taking Home economics and Drama. Do you know what Home economics is? I'm not sure who signed me up for classes this time, but I don't think it was my mother or the emperor. Why should you guide the powerful but not bright?"

[kawaii_complex]

"I'm not really sure," Sakaki admitted. "My teacher back home was a bit like that, but she's not my teacher any more...

"And home economics," she said. "That's things like sewing and cooking, things about family and keeping a home. It's a very important part of everyone's education back in Japan, actually thanks, google!."

[notanaxemurderer]

"Sewing and cooking?"

Kiem sucked at both. Well, he probably sucked at sewing since he had never tried.

"You know how to do that?"