infinite_reflection | (no subject)

"No reason. I just thought I recognized you, so..." He wasn't the best at idle chit-chat, that much was probably clear. Gregory produced the money regardless, handing over exact change, and then collected his bag. "I'm 2nd year. A transfer student, that is. I just started this year. Uh, if that... If you recognize-- You get it."

Aaaah an underclassman! Seiya grinned, actually showing a bit of life in her usually apathetic stare. "Oh! You're the one I heard about then. Miho-chan told me." She nodded as if this explained everything.

Dusting the card display off, she tucked it under the counter. "I suppose if you needed a tour guide, I could volunteer." Seiya took his money, plunking it in the register. Struggling, she managed to get it to close on the fourth try.

Told her... What, exactly? Hmmm. Miho seemed innocent enough, though, so he could operate under the assumption it was all good. Greg took note of the dust on the display while Seiya put it away. Seemed like he was the only customer interested in this sort of thing, then? Well, he'd be back for more so that could only be good for the store. "A tour guide? I've seen a bit, but... I suppose it couldn't hurt. You seem to be working right now, though."

Greg fetched one of the cans of cherry soda from his bag and cracked it open; he didn't want to wait until he got home and it was going to get warm if he didn't drink it soon.

Seiya stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Ahahahaha!! WORK?" She threw her hat off to the side, hopping over again with enthusiasm. "Not anymore!"

Flipping the sign to closed, she twirled the keys around her index finger, leaning in the frame of the door. "Come on... uh." she trailed off, having not asked his name.

Whoa, there. Where'd all this excitement come from? The boy cast her an odd glance, then lifted the soda can to his lips and had a small sip. "I guess that works." It seemed he wasn't going to raise his energy level to match hers anytime soon! "My name's Gregory Harman. Or... Harman Gregory, technically, I guess. You are..?"

Another sip, while he leisurely strolls over to the door. Greg supposes this counts as 'making friends'... His father will be pleased.

"Guru... gure..." She scrunched up her nose in frustration, holding the door open for him. "Wow dude I have no idea how to even go about trying to say that." Seiya laughed, locking up. "I'm Yamada Seiya."

Heading down the sidewalk, she began to stroll backwards, keeping an eye on him. "So, what HAVE you seen?"

Yeah, there was often trouble with his name. That's nothing new. "Uh... Just call me 'G'. That seems to be easiest for everyone." He stepped outside so she could close the store, taking note of the name and then... Having some trouble figuring out what to call her. Well, he'd just avoid saying it until he could get home and figure it out with his much more well-versed father.

After having another sip of the soda he listed off the places he'd been... The large mall downtown, a few of the smaller trading card shops (this guy really liked games), down to the shore twice and then to school and back. "I spend a lot of time at home, so..."

"You had lunch yet, G-kun?" Seiya bounced along the sidewalk, nearly tripping on her shoelaces. He seemed a bit reserved, but she'd fix that soon. "And I mean a real good lunch, no convenience store bentos." Sounding like a protective mother hen, she grabbed his sleeve, hooking arms.

"I've--" Oh. Well, she was good at predicting his usual diet. "I had a snack, yes... But not a real lunch, no." Greg grunted slightly with the sudden contact; it made the gesture sound a little unwelcome. He didn't protest physically, though, beyond simply staying rather limp and un-enthused. "I haven't had the chance to sample anything... And I haven't gotten any recommendations, either." He'd already finished one small can of the soda, and the boy crushed it in one hand before tossing it into a nearby waste basket. It hit the edge, bounced upward, and then landed in the thing quite neatly. Yeah..! He totally planned that. Wasn't just luck.

Clinging gently to his arm anyways, she synchronized their steps, leading him towards a little restaurant on the corner. "Miho-chan and I come here after school sometimes. Or during, if you catch my drift!" Seiya was using an awful lot of loose speaking. Hopefully Greg at least got the jist of it.

Shoving the door open, she rested against his shoulder. "You'll love it!" This girl had absolutely no standard Japanese respect for personal space.

Thankfully he was able to pick up most of what she meant! Gregory had more problems with speaking the language than understanding it... Reading was also no problem at all, while writing tended to be slower. Typical of someone learning any language! "Is that right..?" If Seiya was talking about skipping school, he'd never dream of it! Not that that was something he vocalized.

"It's not too expensive, uh, I'll assume?" Considering he just dropped two thousand yen on games, Seiya might've easily assumed he had money to throw around. The truth was that he kept a close eye on his spending, just to make sure he had enough for the games and other related things at the end of the day. "Well, either way..."

"Psh, it's my treat, G-kun." She rolled her eyes as if this was a given, taking him to a seat. She flopped beside him, tapping the menu three times. A waiter appeared, grinning. A hearty man he was, standing 6 feet tall and every sense of the word large. He beamed down a them, licking the tip of his pen.

"Welcome! Sei-chan, this you new boyfriend?"

Seiya laughed, ignoring the question. "We'll have... two of the usual." She decided for both of them, propping her feet up on the table.

"Oh..." Was it rude to object to that? Something told him it might be, but then he really didn't want to cut into someone else's paycheck. Nnnf. By the time Greg finished arguing in his head, though, they were seated and there was the waiter. Oh, god, he was huge. "Uh, no, I'm not--" And then he was ordered for. Well, okay! Hopefully it was good.

Gregory sort of reflexively took out his phone, that's just what he did in places like this, though he didn't bury his nose in it just yet. Instead the boy spun it in one hand, absently. "You seem a lot more... Excited, outside of the shop." Just an observation.

With that said, he took his first look around the actual place...

The place seemed rather run down, a lot like Yamada Mart. Clean, yet dated. It was the host to about 10 tables, not including the bar. The windows were incredibly clean, a few characters written in marker on the surface. It probably dictated the specials, but it seemed present company already knew them by heart.

Seiya wiggled her feet as the large man set down two glasses of soda. "Food'll be ready in a minute."

"Thanks Jumbo." saluting him, she turned to face Greg. "Well yeah, work is boring. Touring a gaijin around sure isn't, though." She shrugged, folding her arms behind her head. "You seem awfully serious, man. Who spit in your rice balls?"

If it looked similar to the mom 'n' pop shop, that meant it probably also had mom 'n' pop prices. Greg was less reserved about having her pay with that in mind, at least. Oh! Drinks. "Uh, ah... Sumimasen-- Wait, no. Uh, thank you, that is." God dammit.

His eyes fixed on Seiya's when she got to talking at him, and G made a slight face at the 'gaijin' comment. It wasn't the first time he'd heard the word and probably wouldn't be the last. "Right..." That small frown didn't last long; it was back to his normal line-faced expression. "Uh, I don't know. Everyone's like me in America." That wasn't exactly painting his country in a good light, but then he had no reason to care about that anymore.

Seiya grinned, amused at his struggle with her language. Sipping her drink, she watched a few students filter in, taking seats and giggling.

"Everyone? Weird." she noted, rocking back on the hind legs of her chair. Jumbo reappeared with some dumplings, setting a plate before each of them. Seiya began to nibble on the food, humming happily to herself. "Well, it'll be my job to teach you how to fit in here, then." Volunteering herself without really asking seemed to be her forte.

Oh, more people. Greg preferred it when they were alone, honestly. "Most everyone. I'm not really looking to change it, so..." He looked over his plate of dumplings and then plucked one up, taking a tiny bite to test the waters. It tasted all right, so he took a much larger one to follow. The phone was still in his other hand, and had been there since they sat down. Thankfully inactive, so at least Seiya could say she was keeping his attention!

(( Holy shit dude the lil reply window here just gets thinner and thinner ))

Seiya eyed his phone, chewing carefully. "If you want to play, you can. I've been told I talk a lot so, if I'm boring you..." shrugging, she wobbled a little on the chair, grasping the edge of the table with wide eyes. Close one!

A few girls across the way eyed them, talking among themselves.

"You know," after all that, she was still talking, "you-- ahhhh nevermind."

((soon it's gonna be like, one word per line))

"Uhh... Oh. I just like keeping it in my hand, I guess." He spun the phone between two fingers with a shrug, then took another large bite of the dumpling in his other hand. "You're not very boring... You keep moving, at any rate." Shrug.

Greg seemed either to not notice or not care about whoever happened to be watching them. Generally if he turned anyone's way here he either got a gasp or a cacophony of giggles, anyways. "I... Don't know, no. What?" He popped the rest of the thing into his mouth and gave Seiya an odd look.

She watched him spin the phone, a bit impressed. Hers usually just ended up on the floor when she tried to pick it up, let alone do little tricks. "About..." Seiya huffed, unsure of how to go about this, "about the crimes? Have you heard about them, I mean."

Jumbo shook his head from the bar, rinsing out a cup. "You're gonna scare him all the way back to Germany!"

"HE'S FROM ISTANBUL, JUMBO. GOD."

'Jumbo' at the bar got an odd look at his strange country-of-origin guess. Or maybe it was sarcasm? Then there was yelling! Good god. Gregory turned back to Seiya with that and raised an eyebrow. "Uhh..." Best to just ignore it, he supposed. It probably made him look pretty lame! "Yes. We were told about it when we moved here... That it was just a passing 'thing', though. Nothing to really worry about."

Truth be told, it didn't sound like Greg entirely believed what he was parroting back to his new... 'Friend'. The slightly dubious frown that followed it confirmed that fact. "It doesn't really sound like anyone here knows how to handle it, though."

"See, Jumbo? Mind you business." Seiya flashed a reassuring grin at Greg, finishing off her dumplings. "I think I saw one of the criminals. I can't be sure though..." It had been dark that night she'd claimed to see someone; and it didn't even really seem like a person anyway. Poor G probably thought she was borderline insane now.

"Have you seen anything?"

Jumbo turned to them again, "If she's bothering you just kick her."

"Uhh... Did you tell the police?" Sort of a dumb question, he regretted asking it the second he was done. Who the hell wouldn't tell the police? "W-- Of course you did, nevermind." Greg spun the phone a few more times while he thought about it, then had a bite of one of his last remaining dumplings. "Mm.. No, I haven't. One of the apartments on the floor below us got vandalized, but I was probably... Uh, asleep when it happened." Probably not, actually, because he often stayed up late!

Jumbo, in the meantime, was getting hard to just ignore. That seemed a little rude, too, so he finally turned to nod slowly at the man. "I'll keep that in mind... Any other tips?"

"Hmmm, interesting." Seiya finished up her drink, narrowing her eyes, "It just seems so centralized..."

Jumbo guffawed, wiping down the counter. "Just ignore her babbling. She thinks the crimes are following her."

Twisting to face the man, she flashed an obscene gesture, "That's because they are! G-kun believes me, right?"

Greg turned back to Seiya, with an very questionable expression. It looked like doubt, in that 'please tell me he's just joking' way. Last dumpling, by the way, and he took a sizable bite out of it. "Mm... That sounds kind of ridiculous. Unless you've got a good reason, or something." In other words, no. G-kun did not believe her.