Chapter 8: Ramen

I inadvertently let out a sigh when Akari ordered something well within my budget threshold. She had Miso Ramen. I ordered Tonkotsu Ramen even though it was steep in the bill, I had to eat now to prepare myself for the Sake storm later on. I didn't know how to open up the topic on who was paying but I decided to worry about my finances later, I decided to enjoy the break from the routine of classes, projects, studying, and lectures. This was definitely something I would look back on in the future. Having lunch with a girl at a busy train station on a cold winter day, something in it was prophetic.

There was something extremely soothing about slurping hot broth on a cold winter day, it was something one must try to fully understand the feeling. I could see Akari was enjoying it as well, even though Ramen is as staple a dish as rice but there was something special about eating it with Akari. She was animatedly talking about her adventures during high school at Keio Girl's Senior High.

Akari was on Keio University's escalator system and She told me she had always envied us who drifted from another School and had a broad number of friends from other schools. She only had a small circle from Keio Girls and ever since University, she had trouble adjusting to all sorts of personalities. She actually enjoyed sharing with me her high school life and I had fun listening.

"One time at summer camp." She gestured animatedly "Students from another Senior high were also camping in the next spot, it was very silly actually, they had boys in their class and we were all girls, we needed firewood, do you know what we did?"

Summer camps were always a pain to go through back in Senior High, You'd spend your weekend on something school-related, away from your bed and away from your computer. You'd have to sweat for your food and sleep on the hard ground with just a sleeping bag for comfort but when you talk back about it, it was one of the memorable highlights of high school life.

"What did you do Akari?" I was absentmindedly slurping on my Ramen now, mesmerized by Akari. She was actually cute, this was the first time I actually noticed how beautiful she was. Her brown eyes, her sweet mellow voice, the way she held her chopsticks, I was taking them all in.

"See, we had this rivalry with Girls from Mita Highschool on who had the rights to hang out at Mcdonalds near Tamachi Station so we decided to settle the score, We had a contest in our class on who could seduce their guys and cut firewood for us, guess who won?" proudly declaring her victory.

I wanted to share my story too but my phone started to vibrate. Himouro had sent me a barrage of messages asking us to hurry up. I didn't want to spoil the fun but bailing out before the Mixer was not socially acceptable. I was surprised that it was 3 pm already and Akari noticed that I was fiddling with my phone and understood the Himouro was looking for us and before I could pull out my wallet to pay, Akari had already punched the bill. So much for my chivalry, should I thank her or pretended not to see, I didn't know what to do, so I pretended to call Himouro while we were walking out of the Restaurant. 

***Author's Note***

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kem,