Anju Khanna 6
We enter the restaurant. There's only one table taken, and Izumi-san's on it.
"Sotoka-chan!" Izumi-san yells and points to one of the chairs next to her, "sit here with me!"
We head to her table.
"Let's get out of here, Izumi-san," says Hamano-san worried.
"CHAN! CHAN! CALL ME IZU—
"Yeah, chan, whatever, but let's go; that sales Clerk is going to be here anytime and he's going to kick us out."
"Why would he come?" Asks Ino Yamamoto as she sits in front of Izumi-san. "He works at the store, not at the restaurant. Whatever happens here is not his problem."
"So what?" Asks Hamano-san.
"His boss won't fire him for whatever happens here, and I'm pretty sure that's the only thing he cares about," she says, and how could she be pretty sure of that; I mean, she doesn't even know him, and there's endless possibilities of what he cares about. "All this damned whole society is like that," and that's extremely unlikable, from a probability perspective. But, anyway, Ino Yamamoto glances at me. "Oh, yeah, give them to me," she takes the sheet of paper and the pen from my hands and starts writing."
"Good morning," a waiter with a coffee pot and some menus is on Izumi-san's right.
"Oh," Hamano-san puts a hand on her chest. "Sorry, you scared me a little."
"I'm sorry for that," says the waiter. "I'm Hiroshi, and I'll be your waiter today. Coffee, anyone?"
"Me, me, me, me!" Izumi-san raises her hand and exclaims.
Hiroshi takes the cup to Izumi's right, puts it face-up and fills it with coffee. Izumi-san grabs the cup and drinks it in two sips.
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"Wow," says Hiroshi. "Anyway, anybody else wants coffee?"
"Maybe later," says Izumi-san
"No, thanks," says Hamano-san.
"No, thanks," I say.
Ino Yamamoto's still writing.
"Miss…" says Hiroshi.
But Ino Yamamoto's still writing.
"Hey," Hamano-san pricks Ino Yamamoto's cheek with her index finger.
"Ow, what do you want?" Ino Yamamoto wakes up and glances at Hamano-san.
Hamano-san glances at Hiroshi.
Ino Yamamoto glances at Hiroshi.
"Want some coffee?" He asks.
"No, thanks," Ino Yamamoto says and gets back to writing. Sometimes stops, rests her cheek in her left hand and looks at nothing in particular. Then she writes again.
"Very well," Hiroshi puts the coffe pot on the table and starts to distribute the menus: he puts them on the table, in front of each one of us. "Today we have a special price on pancakes, and the cook's especiality are Milton's scrambled eggs. Miss…" Hiroshi has Ino Yamamoto's menú, but he can't give it to her because she's too busy writing to notice."
"Give it to me," says Hamano-san, "I'll give it to her."
"Thank you, miss, and sorry about earlier," says Hiroshi and hands the menu to Hamano-san. "If you need anything, just call me," and he leaves.
"So, the sales clerk's not coming?" Hamano-san asks.
"I don't know," I say, "but if he wanted to come, he'd already be here."
"I guess," she says, and then looks at what Ino Yamamoto's writing, "what's that?"
"None of your business," says Ino Yamamoto.
"Oh, come on, show me," Hamano-san gets closer to Ino Yamamoto and tries to look what she's writing.
But Ino Yamamoto hands me the sheet of paper and the pen.
"Listen to them all." She orders me.
[INO YAMAMOTO'S LIST.JPG IN THE FIRST COMMENT]
As expected, I don't know almost any of the bands on the list—but what would be the list's case if I knew all the bands, anyway?
"Let's see," Izumi-san takes the list from my hands. "The Return, God, Dear Kaiser, Furiosa, Darker, Kill the Sun, Thy Neighbor. They surely suck. Let me recommend you the good stuff," Izumi-san takes the pen from my hands and starts writing.
"Hey, stop it!" Ino Yamamoto extends her arms and tries to take the pen form Izumi-san, but she bends backwards, and Ino Yamamoto can't reach her, so she goes back to her place and crosses her arms. "You'll just write anime songs or bands or whatever, and we're all tired of that shit."
"But I also listen to other stuff," says Izumi-san still writing, "and, why you tired of anime songs anyway?"
"Why, you ask. Don't you remember that loud shit you were listening to this morning?"
"What?" Asks Izumi-san completely puzzled.
"You serious?!" Exclaims Ino Yamamoto. "You were listening to your shitty music so loudly, everyone around the block could hear it. Geez, instead of buying all those mangas, you should get some headphones."
"I already have ones."
"And why weren't you using them, then?"
"'Cause if I used them I wouldn't hear you outside."
"WHAT?!" Ino yells, but why, though? The change of her hearing us with headphones on are way smaller, and yes, we were outside for a while, but she heard Hamano-san when she called her, and probably Izumi-san wouldn't have heard her with headphones on. "YOU LEFT US WHO-KNOWS-HOW-LONG OUT THERE! WE WERE YELLING AND YELLING AND—
"Are you ready to order?" Asks Hiroshi.
"¡Oh, God!" Yells Hamano-san, and then puts both hand on her chest.
"Hey!" Izumi-san yells, "stop scaring Sotoka-chan!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, but are you ready to order?"
"Ok, but could you give us another five minutes?" Asks Hamano-san.
"If you need anything just call me," says Hiroshi and leaves.
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"But I did heard you," replies Izumi-san.
"Yes, but after a while. We had to put up with miss Crazy—
"Miss Crazy? That wasn't your mom?"
Ino Yamamoto shows Izumi-san the middle finger, Hamano-san bursts out laughing, and Izumi-san glares at Hamano-san and smiles confusedly.
And I smile too, even though the idea that miss Crazy was the mother of one of us does not make any sense because, if she was, then she would not have yelled at us as she did and would not have had the need to call the police, or have asked them to arrest us.
But maybe there are parents like that.
And I don't know how that can be funny.
"Well," Izumi-san checks her list. "I can't think of any more bands."
Izumi-san hands me the list.
"Uh, uh, Love♥Paradox," Izumi-san takes the list from my hands and writes Love♥Paradox on it.
And she hands me back the list.
"Kiraisuteru," Izumi-san takes the list from my hands and writes Kiraisuteru on it.
"What a horrible name," says Ino Yamamoto.
"Shut up, Ino," replies Izumi-san. "No one asked you."
"Give me the list, Izumi-chan," says Hamano-san.
Izumi-san gives Hamano-san the list and starts singing a song.
"♫Izumi-chan♫ ♫Izumi-chan♫ ♫Sotoka-chan just called me Izumi-chan…♫"
"The pen too," says Hamano-san.
Izumi-san gives Hamano-san the pen and continues singing a song.
"♫Izumi-chan♫ ♫Izumi-chan♫ ♫Sotoka-chan just called me Izumi-chan…♫"
Hamano-san starts writing.
"I'll also recommend you some music, Khanna-san, even though I don't know a lot of bands."
"Thanks," I tell her and bow accordingly.
"Let's see…"
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"Done," Hamano-san hands me back the list and the pen.
"Thanks a lot, Hamano-san, Izumi-san, Ino Yamamoto," I say and bow accordingly.
[INO YAMAMOTO, IZUMI-SAN AND HAMANO-SAN'S LIST.JPG INT HE FIRST COMMENT]
"Let's see," Ino Yamamoto takes the list from my hands and checks it. Betsy Besty? My Sweetest Pal? Sublime? Bae? What is this, Sotoka-san?"
"What? I like those," says Hamano-san.
"So, you have terrible taste."
"Says you, the one who listens to bands with edgy names like Hate You All or something.
"That band's great so, shut up, Sotoka-san."
"Hey, don't shut up Sotoka-chan!" Yells Izumi-san.
"Or what?!"
"Everything all right?" asks Hiroshi,
"Oh, God!" yells Hamano-san and covers her face with both hands. I can still see part of her face and it's completely red.
"Stop scaring Sotoka-chan!" Yells Izumi-san "What's wrong with you?!"
"Give us five minutes, please," says Hamano-san still with her face covered with both hands.
"Sorry for the inconveniences," I say and bow accordingly.
"Just tell me if you need something," Hiroshi says and leaves.
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"What's wrong with you?!" Izumi-san yells. "Don't you ever talk like that to Sotoka-chan!"
"You don't tell me what to do!" Ino Yamamoto yells. "Why don't you go watch anime or something?!"
"Because you're yelling to Sotoka-chan!"
"Hey, hey," Hamano-san stands up. "Izumi-san, you sit over there." Hamano-san points to some tables in the corner.
"But she started it," claims Izumi-san—even though she was the one who started it when she involved in something she shouldn't care about, but this something involved Hamano-san, and she seems to care a lot about her.
So they are a couple, right? But they don't really act like one. The act more like something ambiguous, something between a couple of friends and just a couple, although I don't really know much about it; I don't know the behavior rules in friendships/love relationships, to be honest and, again, I don't know why I get so involved in this.
"Go sit over there or you'll make me angrier," warns Hamano-san.
"Angrier?! But Sotoka-chan—
"Go sit over there."
Izumi-san pushes her chair backwards, and it screeches loudly against the floor. Then Izumi-san gets up, walks towards those tables in the corner and sits there.
"And you too," Hamano-san tells to Ino Yamamoto. "Go to the corner."
"What?"
"You nocked my music. To the corner with you."
Ino Yamamoto smirks and gets up.
"Sure, whatever," and she sits on one of the tables of the opposite side of the restaurant.
Hamano-san then stares at me, and I raise both hands.
"I didn't do anything," I say.
Hamano-san smiles and shakes her head.
"No, don't worry…"
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"And why did Ino-san recommended you bands, Khanna-san?"
"I want to know more."
"Oh, that's nice."
A chair screeches where Izumi-san's supposed to be.
We turn towards her, and we find her sitting in a different table, one closer to us.
"Hi," she says. "How you doin'?"
Hamano-san smirks and turns towards me.
"And what bands do you listen to?" Hamano-san asks.
A chair screeches where Izumi-san's supposed to be.
We turn towards her, and we find her sitting in a different table, one even closer to us.
"Nice day, huh?" asks Izumi-san.
Hamano-san smirks and turns towards me.
"What genres do you like?" asks Hamano-san.
A chair screeches where Izumi-san's supposed to be.
"Come here often?" Ino Yamamoto asks. She and Izumi-san are sitting on the next table
"Look, Ino-san, there's your crazy mom over there," Hamano-san point out some place where no one is. Izumi-san and Ino Yamamoto turn towards there, and Hamano-san stands up, gets close to me, grabs me by the arm, takes me to another table, and we sit there.
But Izumi-san and Ino Yamamoto are already sitting on the next table.
"Look, there's Zotrina, the teenage witch," Hamano-san point out some place where no one is.
But neither Izumi-san nor Ino Yamamoto turn towards there—why would they fall for that again? Why would they fall for that in the first place?
"Hey," says Hiroshi, and he's sitting in the same table than us.
"Oh, God!" Yells Hamano-san, puts her forehead on the table and covers her head with both hands. "Just stop!"
"Why you still scaring Sotoka-chan?!" Izumi-san yells and stands up. "What you have against 'er?!"
"Don't play with the tables. If you keep doing it, I'll have to ask you to leave."
"You leave!" Izumi-san yells at him. "Don't you see you're scaring Sotoka-chan?!"
"Please don't yell," Hiroshi pleads.
"And you stop scaring Sotoka-chan! What's wrong with you?!"
"Please leave, or I'll call security."
"Call whoever you want 'cause I won't letting you scare Sotoka-chan anymore…" Izumi-san keeps yelling and probably won't stop even if security arrives.
Someone should stop her, but Hamano-san's still with her head on the table and Ino Yamamoto watches the scene grinning.
I think everything depends on me.
I stand up.
I approach Izumi-san and:
"Izumi-san, please don't make a fuss," I say, bow accordingly and turn towards Hiroshi. "I'm sorry for everything," I tell him, bow accordingly, take out my coin purse and ask: "How much was the coffee?"
Hiroshi stares at me confused—and there's no reason why; it was just a simple question.
"Coffee? Ah, yes, um… ¥160."
I take two ¥100 coins from my coin purse and give them to him.
"Thanks," he says still confused.
"You're welcome," I reply. "Izumi-san, Hamano-san, Ino Yamamoto, let's go."
Ino Yamamoto stands up.
Izumi-san puts her hand on Hamano-san's shoulder and whispers to her:
"Let's go, Sotoka-chan."
Hamano-san raises her head. She gets up suddenly and heads to the exit.
And so do us.
We get out of Milton's— both the restaurant and the store—and walk through the mall.
It's still empty—and considering it's a Tuesday morning, this is no surprise whatsoever.
Ino Yamamoto pushes Izumi-san lightly.
"Hey, at least pay Khanna-san for your coffee.
"What coffee?" Izumi-san asks.
"What do you mean with what coffee? The one you drank in like two seconds even though it surely was hot as hell. Man, your mouth must be molten because all the coffee you drink.
"Don't worry about the money, Ino Yamamoto," I say. "It's ok, I—
"Just call me Ino-san," Ino Yamamoto interrupts me. "The Ino Yamamoto bit is not funny anymore."
"Very well, Ino-san, as I was saying, it's ok; Izumi gave me some food when we were at her place, so I'm just paying her with a cup of coffee."
Hamano-san puts her hands inside the hoodie she's wearing and takes out a cellphone. She checks it.
"10:04. Let's go."
"Wait," Ino-san says. "Hoodies don't have pockets inside. Where do you keep your phone? And please tell me it's not where I think it is."
"Where?" I ask.
"In her bra," Ino-san replies.
"No, no, no, no, no. I just keep it in my jacket," Hamano-san says and takes off the hoodie Izumi-san lend her. Under it she's wearing a light brown jacket.
"What?! And I thought Izumi was the weird one. But I'm now convinced you all are a bunch or weirdos."
"Says you," replies Hamano-san, "and I'm wearing a jacket because Izumi-chan's hoodie's too thin, and I'm always cold."
"But it's still not winter, and the jacket goes over the hoodie. Everyone knows that."
"Yes, but Izumi-chan's hoodie is too big, and I got used to wear a lot of clothes. I could even wear another hoodie if I had one.
"I can gie you mine, Sotoka-chan," Izumi-san grabs her hoodie from the bottom and starts to take it off, but Hamano-san and Ino-san immediately stop her because, unlike Hamano-san, Izumi-san's not wearing anything under the hoodie.
"What are you doing?!" Hamano-san yells. "Don't you feel any shame?! How could you be walking around practically naked?! Respect yourself a little: put on a bra and a shirt or something!"
"Why?" Izumi-san asks. "It's not like I'm taking off the hoodie."
"You were about to right now!" Ino-san exclaims.
"Only because you asked me for it, Sotoka-chan."
"Just let's go to the karaoke," says Hamano-san after a sigh. "And here," Hamano-san gives the hoodie she was wearing back to Izumi-san. "Put it on."
Izumi-san puts on the hoodie, grabs it by its neck and covers half of her face with it.
She closes her eyes and inhales slowly.
"It smells like Sotoka-chan," she says and inhales again.
"So you're a weirdo, an otaku and a pervert," Ino-san accuses her.
"Shut up, Ino! No one's talking to you; you're such a nuisance, and I like to smell it because Sotoka-chan smells awesome, and there's nothing weird about it—
"Hey, hey," Hamano-san puts her hand on Izumi-san's shoulder. "We should go to the karaoke."
"Ok, let's go," Izumi-san takes Hamano-san by the hand and runs towards the karaoke.
Hamano-san has no option but to run with her.
"Wait, Izumi-san!"
"You two again?!" Yells the security guard .