Shiori was too busy trying to figure out what the hell Sato was talking about to notice Totsuka approach her. She initially assumed he had some sort of insult primed as some sort of retort. To her surprise, however, he looped an arm over her shoulders. The sudden weight snapped her out of her thoughts, a particular scent hitting her. It was something fruity and sweet, yet smoky and tropical and...like wood? Was that a thing? It wasn't something she had encountered before, the scent reminding her of...hm, she had nothing to compare it to, actually. But it was nice, the smokiness almost comforting if it wasn't for the fact that Shiori quickly realized it was Totsuka that smelled like it.

Of course, she had all of two seconds to get flustered by the sudden closeness before he opened his mouth again.

That was four! No, she wasn't going to let him get away with this one, even if it was the least egregious of the remarks so far. But he was too tall for her to slap without him probably catching it. For once, however, her height was to her advantage. There was probably a three-second delay before the redhead brought forth her arm, only to jab it backward into his stomach.

"You really thought I was gonna let you have that one, didn't you?" She chided him outright, only remembering that she should probably give the wide eyed Sato a response. "He's new in town, you'll probably see him around."

Not wanting to get questioned any more than that, she made an attempt at pushing the taller guy out of the alley. "Anyway, you should get back to work, we're gonna go, anyway."

Sato seemed to remember himself at that moment, raising a hand. "Uh...just...keep your guard up, Shiori-chan," He mumbled, a little defeated as he picked up the bags. He gave the pair one last look before he continued down the path of the alleyway.

Ichika placed her hands together as they walked. There was the slightest break in the clouds as the sun poured out its sunlight into the hall, practically illuminating the way before them. As they passed a few people, they seemed drawn to Ichika's cheerfulness. Her hair bounced behind her as her eyes glittered with happiness, excitement, and anticipation. There was the slightest blush on her cheeks, her bangs bouncing off her forehead. She was the pinnacle of a happy high school girl speaking to someone she considered a little more than an acquaintance.

Her response was short, sweet, and to the point: "Nope!"

Kanna's entrance was punctuated with a small "Eep!" of surprise, with Umeko nearly dropping the stack of papers in her hand. As she recovered, she found she had a hard time keeping up with most of what she was saying. She did, however, be mindful to place the various papers and folders down before she gave her her full attention. Her frown grew as she went on, and by the end, Umeko was outright worried. She gave Shoichi a look of concern.

Shoichi was just as surprised, though he was already seated at his computer. He wasn't sure how to respond, but then again, he usually had a hard time keeping up with Kanna's endless amount of energy. Turning his attention back to the screen, he scrolled through the tamer articles that had been submitted for editing.

"Preemptive reporting? You gonna stalk him or something?" He decided to outright ask. "There's a fine line between reporting and harassment, y'know."

Umeko disagreed. "I was surprised by Touga-san's punishment," She admitted. "Feels like he got off light..."

Shoichi threw her a look. "But if he hasn't done anything wrong since then, we're just going to come off as obsessed," He pointed out.

Ryusei probably should have expected the sharp pain that came to radiate through his ribs. But the few seconds of zero response from Shiori had lulled him into a false sense of security, and her inevitable retribution prefaced the soft 'oof' that forced its way through his otherwise infallible deadpan. He withdrew the offending arm, using it to rub at the spot she had hit him. He knew she was skinny, but just how bony were her fucking elbows?

"It was worth a try," He muttered in response as she stole all his fun by explaining away his presence. He supposed he'd have time to torture the poor fucker with implications later. Nothing threatened a pining loser like a college boyfriend from out of town. He didn't have much time to add on to his charade if he tried—Shiori was already shoving him out onto the street, and Sato had already beat a pathetic retreat deeper into the alleyway. Unwilling to risk dropping his precious sandwich, the teen simply trotted along until they were once again back on the main road, absentmindedly nibbling at his afternoon meal.

"You really ought to watch where you go sticking that thing. Might count as a weapon in some jurisdictions. Sure as shit pointy enough to be one."

Shiori outright scoffed, giving his arm a whack before hurrying a little so they'd be walking side-to-side. Pointy, who the hell described elbows as pointy?! If he wanted to see pointy, she could always show him a knife. As she looked down at her thin arms, she quietly stewed in her annoyance. Fine, she was a stick, so what? It wasn't like she was entirely curveless. Obviously, she wasn't as blessed as Ichika or President Tits McGee, but she wasn't an ironing board nor was she a hippo like Hattori. In fact, she would describe herself as the pinnacle of Japanese beauty.

"You're lucky I didn't point it any lower," She huffed out her response, tossing his jacket back at him. "I just know how to use the assets I have."

And her assets were just fine.

She put those thoughts aside as she lead them off the sidewalk and towards a park. It, like much of the rest of the town, was on the sadder side. The swingset was miraculously intact, but the merry-go-round was rusted and the sandbox had a mix of sand, dirt, and an assortment of what looked like rocks. There was also a rickety slide that no sane parent would let their child climb up on. A pagoda sheltered the sole bench, pointing out to a sea of trees and a steep drop off that revealed a neighborhood and a river.

The redhead was all too eager to get a fix, immediately tearing away the plastic that protected the box. Once she double-checked her pockets for her lighter, she then remembered Sato's uneasiness. He was unusually squeamish around Totsuka--an all too-common effect for whatever reason--which could present a problem in the future. "And don't go messing with Sato too much. He enables my addiction," She added, plucking out a cigarette.

Ryusei couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes as he was pelted by his own jacket. For all the shit he got for being moody, the redhead at his side certainly seemed sensitive. Maybe the lack of nicotine really was putting her on edge. Chemical withdraws or no, he couldn't just let her get away with that—even on his worst day, he was a remarkable smart ass.

"Yeah, yeah. Why don't you try keeping 'em to yourself? Just 'cause you bought me lunch doesn't mean you're allowed to get handsy with my assets."

Her choice of venue wasn't exactly scenic, but it was better than the decaying suburban hell that had featured for much of their journey. It could even have been mistaken for nice, if you locked your eyes on the treeline and pretended you weren't surrounded by decrepit play sets and wilting grass. Not like the quality of the scenery mattered anyway; he had finished his sandwich on the way. Still, it seemed Shiori wanted to hang around, and seeing as though he had little else to spend his afternoon on, he decided to tag along. Hisfirst instinct was to go fuck around on the swings, and creature of impulse that he was, that's exactly what he did. As he herded them towards the swingset, he couldn't help but snort at her comment.

"Yeah, and you feed his addiction to high school girls in return," He snarked, tossing his bag into the wood chips below along with his jacket. The teen claimed one of the swings, resting his weight on the cheap plastic seat even as the chains whined in protest. "Poor fucker looked like he saw a ghost when he spotted you with a boy. Probably seething over it. Not that I didn't see to making that easy."

Oh she would show him handsy, but it wouldn't be the handsy he liked.

Shiori pointedly ignored him as she stuffed the unopened pack into her bag, deciding to leave the other one in her pocket. She walked over to the swingset and paused as she searched her pockets for her lighter. At his comment, she openly rolled her eyes as she dropped her bag. Sato was weird but not that kind of weird. Granted, the fucker was all too eager to sell cigarettes to a high schooler, so Totsuka might have had a point if he hadn't pulled that little stunt before.

Whatever the case was, she was more focused on lighting up than whatever the hell Sato thought. She closed her eyes as she inhaled briefly, slowly exhaling as the nicotine slowly began to calm her jitters. Man, was anything better than that first puff? As she opened her eyes, however, she was treated with the sight of reality. The park looked shittier every time she came here. Still, there was a certain charm to it, and most people avoided it so that was always a bonus.

As much as she'd rather ignore it, though, she felt like she had to give him some kind of response. She had gotten caught up in his cologne that she hadn't paid too much attention to Sato. "Don't get the wrong idea, I haven't done anything to feed that addiction," She stated first and foremost. "But anyone would get the wrong idea with how you acted. Do you always sling yourself over any girl that doesn't shake in fear or did you really find the college dropout cashier that threatening?"

Shoichi was fully exasperated by the time Kanna finished talking. He was in pure disbelief at the lengths this girl would go to. He had heard that she was...tiring from a few people, but he genuinely didn't think it would go so far. He looked over at Umeko in an attempt to get some help, but the girl gave him a half-hearted shrug. No doubt Umeko agreed with Kanna to some extent, or at least enough that she wasn't willing to voice any objections. He couldn't believe he had to be the one to make the attempt to stop this craziness! All he wanted to do was keep his head down and finish proofreading! He didn't sign up for any of this!

But as the seemingly sole voice of reason, he had to at least point out some flaws in Kanna's lengthy metaphor.

"Or you can see what was thrown in if you just watch the surface," He couldn't help but reply dryly. "Honestly, your dismissal of my concerns is pretty...uh, concerning."

Umeko let out a sigh. "So long as we don't get in trouble, it's not like she's doing anything wrong," She said as she decided to start sorting through the stack.

Shoichi threw a glare her way, but he returned his focus to Kanna. "I really, really think you're gonna end up either getting beaten up if you keep bothering the guy."

"Nah, I don't do it to all of them. Just the pretty ones."

It was easy enough to come up with some smart ass response to Shiori's seemingly boundless irritation. He supposed that was what he liked about their little verbal spars—for what she lacked in conversational motivation, she made up for by being fun to poke at. In the way it was fun to see how much you could poke a wasp's nest before you got stung, at least. Luckily enough, he hadn't been on the receiving end of much more than some angry buzzing, elbow to the ribs aside. Hopefully it would be at least a little while longer before she got fed up with him. Utsubyo sucked, but having somebody to fuck around with made the sucking a little less severe.

A sigh escaped Ryusei's lips as he kicked off the mulch littered turf below, rocking back and forth on his suspended seat, his legs too long to truly leave the ground with such little force. The gentle motion helped break up the monotony that was this little outing; he hadn't ever been all that social. People tended to steer clear of him once they picked up on his reputation, and aside from his fellow scumbags back home, he didn't go out of his way to correct that. The hell could he even talk about? He had known Himawari Shiori for all of five days, most of which were spent either snarking back and forth at one another or smoking in silence. Part of him felt the urge to just let her bear the burden of steering the conversation. They were here for her, after all. But the obstinate part of him didn't like ceding control that easily.

"Shitty park," He eventually declared, letting the first thought in his mind carry them forward, "How many people in this town even have kids? Certainly seems like a shit place to raise a family."

He was being a little harsh. It wasn't that bad, honestly. Sure, the equipment looked like shit, the grass needed to be taken care of, but there was a serenity to its emptiness. With the sky above nice and overcast and nobody around but his nicotine addled classmate, it was almost kind of relaxing. He caught himself before he got too relaxed though—he had come dangerously close to dropping the tension he had been carrying for most of the week while pondering how he enjoyed his chats with Shiori, and he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of thinking he was comfortable around her just because she picked a decent place to unwind.

"You come here often? Seems like a pretty lonely place, but you seem kinda lonely most of the time anyway, so I guess it'd fit. Don't have any friends?" Yeah, he was definitely being harsh. Hypocritical, too, considering his own lack of a social life, but at least he had an excuse. He hadn't seen the redhead hanging around anybody but himself and the other new transfer, and he had at least a working theory that the two of them had prior history, just based on the bouncy brunette's over familiarity. Not exactly indicative of Shiori's popularity with Utsubyo High's preexisting student body.

Asshole.

She had half a mind to shove him off the swing. Fortunately, Shiori wasn't the type to get all blushy and flustered so easily, so he would be safe from eating old chips and dirt. For now. The way he kept it up, though, she'd definitely be giving him a good whack sooner than later. Maybe he was into that or something? Then again, he could just be an asshole in general. It explained the constant scowling, at least. But with a cigarette in hand, all was well in the world with her.

As he started talking, Shiori couldn't help but be just a little surprised. She didn't take him for the talkative type. Maybe he was just bored. She wasn't exactly interesting company so she couldn't entirely blame him. She did, however, give something resembling a chuckle as he let his opinion on the park be known.

"Of course there's kids. How else do you think people end up getting trapped here? Kids are expensive and this place is relatively cheap to live in so long as you're not looking at any of the bigger places up in the Sakuraba Community," She answered first and foremost. "They probably go to the nicer park that's over by the station, though. This one pretty much got abandoned after some kind of fire happened. Not sure what's the story behind it, but it did a number on the grass. Probably spooked parents that actually care about their kids, so most people avoid it. Though that's why I like it. Nice and quiet and calm."

And it was a great place to smoke without getting interrupted. But that went without saying.

His next question was a little harder to answer, if only because she didn't like admitting she was a friendless loser. Though she supposed he had guessed that by now. "Not anymore, no," She admitted that much. "My former best friend turned into a real bitch so we stopped hanging out last year. And most people don't like hanging out with a violent delinquent."

Did she really come off as lonely? She thought she was fine being alone. Most people were annoying to be around, anyway, so she generally had an easier time alone. The more she thought about it, though, the less she wanted to admit that she didn't really like talking about it.

She did, however, recognize this was a good chance as any to have an actual conversation. "What about you?" She ended up asking, against her better judgment. "Got friends back home waiting for you? A girlfriend patiently waiting by the phone for you to call tonight?"

Ichika was glad Sakaguchi didn't seem to judge her too much for it. She had played before though, just mostly during gym class. While she wasn't familiar with the terminology and the like, she did have the skill to play. And so long as she knew how to play, everything else would probably just fall into place. And she got past tryouts so she didn't even need to worry! Whatever she needed to know she could learn, anyway; fake it 'til you make it and all that good stuff.

Once Sakaguchi asked about her old school, Ichika nodded. "I attended Kokusai Koko last year--that is, the the Tokyo Metropolitan Kokusai High School," She beamed with pride, though she did deflate a touch. "It was...hard. I mean, there are a lot of expectations and the like, so you had to be on top of your game like all the time. And if you weren't good enough, you'd end up getting swallowed by the crowd, chewed up, and spat out."

She paused. "...I think I managed fine, but Mama worried anyway." She sighed. "I don't think she thought I could handle it, though. So...here I am!" She perked back up.

"So, now it's your turn. What is this school like?"

With little to do but watch the endless grey expanse above and listen, that was exactly what Ryusei did. What she said about the town certainly rang true—his folks had already sent him his first week's allowance, and even discounting the extra twenty five thousand in guilt money his mother had slipped in, he was punching a lot higher here than back in Kobe. Not that he had much to spend it on in the first place, discount rib tips and chips aside. He idly wondered if his pride would even allow him to spend it on something nice if he even found something; it wasn't the first time his family attempted to buy his love, and considering they had just condemned him to a year in proverbial hell, the envelopes that showed up every Monday sure felt like bribe money. Thankfully, Shiori gave him an out from the tempest of negativity whirling about in his mind.

"Yeah, can't imagine how a grass fire could have started around here. Maybe somebody dropped a cigarette or something."

Implications of accidental arson aside, he continued to listen as his... acquaintance? Continued her sad tale. It felt wrong to call her a friend, considering the briefness of their time together and the standoffish vibe that permeated pretty much every moment of it. Not that he had any right to complain about it, considering his own behavior. But it took two to tango, and he was sure Shiori would balk at the idea if he had so much as implied it. Maybe that was why she had no friends. At least his absentminded probing into her personal life blew open the doors of conversation, and she posed the same question back at him. He grimaced for a short moment, but eventually acquiesced, deciding it wasn't worth getting huffy over. It wasn't like his friends had ditched him—it was he who had to ditch them.

"Yeah, I had a few. Bunch of scumbags I'd hang out with after school. Or, more often than not, when we skipped. Used to get into a lot of bullshit with them, but they always had my back, so they were good enough guys," There was almost a hint of a smile on his lips as he thought back to all the trouble he'd gotten up to with his little gang of miscreants. One which only turned self-deprecating as thought about his love life.

"Shockingly enough, for as much as girls throw their legs open at the sight of me, I don't. Probably for the best. Poor girl would've been broken by the loss if I had—how can you go back to flank when you've had prime rib?" He joked, although he couldn't exactly let her get away with reminding him of his lack of fairer companionship, "Why're you askin'? Lookin' to try your luck?"

Ah, so Totsuka had a whole gang of scumbags to hang out with. For whatever reason, Shiori found that a little funny. So the giant had some other giants waiting for him back at the mountaintop he came from? Wherever that was must have had something in the water if the rest of his crew were as tall as he was. God, wouldn't that be a sight? Everyone avoided just one of him, she couldn't even imagine the reaction if there were more. Nakano would have a field day and then some as she would fill the newspaper with each person's happenings and their every move. Or would she be discouraged by more than just the one?

Either way, it did make her just a smidge sympathetic. To go from having people to suddenly having no one was a little sad. Maybe he was the lonely one, especially with how their classmates made sure to avoid him. Of course, this line of thought landed her on one question she felt she needed to ask.

And then he made his little comment and most of her sympathy was gone.

Now it was Shiori's turn to roll her eyes. "With all your colored commentary these past few days, I bet you'd love a chance," She retorted before raising her cigarette to her lips. Yeah, she thought he was cute, but there was no way in hell she could even hint at it. The guy saw anything resembling an opening and charged through it like an animal. That said, lingering too much on that topic would probably give him another chance to say something stupid, so she had to turn the topic around back at him.

"So why are you here, then?" She outright asked.

"Can't be helped. I've always liked redheads."

Another quip to add to the pile, although it was good to see his comments were at least worthy enough that Shiori cared to bring them up. She didn't give him much of a chance to revel in it, though. Her next inquiry was pretty sobering, as if he hadn't just been ruminating on his parents and the increasingly strained relationship he had with them. What was he supposed to tell her? That they didn't want him anymore? That the big, lumbering delinquent who had bashed some kid's face in on the first day of school had some whiny sob story to tell? That his tragic lack of familial love had led him down a dark path, and this was his chance at redemption? He'd never hear the fucking end of it if he admitted even a quarter of how he felt to this girl, and considering the year was just now beginning, he didn't know if he could stomach twenty-two months of her mockery. Well, more mockery than she was already wont to dispense.

"Folks got sick of me causing trouble, decided I needed to go live somewhere else," His eventual answer was short and nonchalant, figuring it was truthful enough to sate her curiosity without belying how much he actually cared, "I'm staying with my gramps at his place now. Probably gonna continue until I finish high school. After that, fuck knows what I'll do. Not staying, that's for damn sure."

Maybe it was his tendency to punish imagined slights, but she had cut him a little too close to the root on that one, so he decided to return fire with a question of his own. Plus, it'd help move the subject away from him and back onto her, where he preferred it.

"How about you? Got any kinfolk to keep you trapped here? You do seem like a good, wholesome, family oriented gal."

Totsuka's comment arrived at the same time Shiori inhaled. A tragic occurrence as the comment most certainly had an effect despite her previous statements stating otherwise. Then again, he had been flustering her all week, so was it really that surprising? What did surprise her was that for the first time while smoking she found out exactly what happened when someone choked; the cough interrupted her exhale, her throat burning as the smoke was temporarily trapped. She managed to cough it out, but not without the gross taste lingering in her mouth. If her throat wasn't going to itch before, then it certainly would now.

She managed to get it somewhat under control as he continued. They really got rid of him, huh? That was actually a little sad to hear. She wondered where his grandpa lived; since he got sent here, it was safe to assume his grandpa was established here, but she had never heard of any Totsuka residence. Maybe he lived around the edge of town. Either way, it was still sad.

Once he asked her about her folks, she fell quiet. She continued to smoke, trying to think of how to respond in a way that didn't make her seem bitter. Thinking about her parents, however, always got her mad regardless of the context. She ended up scoffing a touch, deliberating her words for another moment before finally speaking.

"Well, I am the reason my parents got stuck here. And they let me know that very clearly after they have their big blowouts and feel like taking out their anger somewhere aside from each other. It's fun for the whole family," She said. Nope, she wasn't able to even pretend she wasn't bitter about her upbringing at all. After a few seconds, however, she let out a small sigh. "I don't have to see them much at all anymore, actually. That other transfer student is my cousin. Her mom offered me a little money to babysit her for the year, so I took the chance and moved out. It's probably only temporary, and I'm pretty sure Ichika's one goal in life is to burn down that place trying to fry eggs, but it's better than being in that house by a longshot."

She looked over at the view, frowning to herself. "Once graduation comes, though, I don't plan on sticking around. I'll get my nursing degree and go anywhere that isn't here. Even if it's just Kagoshima, I don't want to stay here any longer than I need to."

She paused as she took another smoke. "Have you ever been there, by the way? To Kagoshima, I mean."

As he listened to Shiori recount her family life, he couldn't help but feel a little bit bad. He supposed it did make sense she would have it rough at home—most people who bore the label delinquent didn't exactly come from good situations. God only knew what kind of person he himself would have turned out to be if his folks had been there for him more often. Hell, by compare, his home life was probably more bearable than hers; coming home to an empty house day after day beat coming home to someone screaming in your face for something you didn't even do. Usually when he got torn down, he definitely did something to deserve it. Regardless, her sad little tale managed to soften his expression just enough to render his scowl down to a melancholy frown.

"Sorry to hear that," He offered, as if his meaningless platitudes would make up for it, "Sounds like it's pretty rough around there."

At least she had managed to escape the situation, for however many fleeting months or years it would last. Her sudden confession of the future took him by surprise just a little. He couldn't honestly imagine the chain smoking, potty mouthed redhead being particularly nurturing, let alone being a nurse of all things. But he had already hit her pretty hard by bringing up her folks, and he didn't want to kick the poor girl while she was down. Plus, it wasn't like he had any plans at all, much less plans for an ill-fitting career. Luckily, she was quick to push them along to another topic. One which he had a positive spin to put on to boot.

"Yeah, I have. Used to go on day trips to Kagoshima with my grandparents, back when I'd come down here to visit. My grandma would make a habit of taking me to the aquarium whenever I came." He had to fight back the urge to smile while he reminisced. His grandmother had always made sure to make him comfortable during his little vacations, and growing up, the way she tried to make him feel special and wanted was something he sorely needed. Something he sorely missed even now—he could only wonder how much more tolerable her presence would make his current, lengthy stay in Utsubyo. But that trail of thought only led to wistfulness and gloom, and if there was one thing he didn't need more of, it was the fucking gloom.

"But enough about that. We aren't in Kagoshima, so waxing on about how fun it is there isn't gonna do us any damn good. What's there to do around here? It can't be all shitty conbinis and laundromats. What do you do for fun?"

Getting sympathy was always a weird thing. Shiori wasn't typically one to wallow in her own bitterness--that'd just end with people's windows being broken--but it was appreciated. Sorta. No, it was, it was just hard to think the guy could be sympathetic considering he had done nothing but tease and fluster her so far. Maybe it was a ploy to soften her up to get in her pants. A ridiculous thought, but one born from someone constantly on their guard. She did recognize that she was probably being harsh, but it was mostly because she didn't want to admit that the new kid of all people had to be one of the only ones to express sympathy. She usually got a 'Well, what did you do?' or a 'You should honor your parents' or whatever.

For now, she would take him at his word and appreciate it in silence. Hearing him talk about the aquarium had invoked something in Totsuka as he actually gave something resembling a smile. Aha, she knew he was good-looking! She relished the moment of both satisfaction and...something else. Something innocuous, of course. Unfortunately, she had to tear her gaze away just to make sure she didn't end up revealing too much with her own expression.

At his question, she paused. "Well, my free time's been occupied by managing a club thanks to a certain someone," She threw him a look, though she continued. "On the weekends I drop by Ariyoshi Cafe to try out whatever new boba tea flavor Ariyoshi-san brings out. Sometimes Mr. Pumpkin's is entertaining to watch suckers try to win--the machines are definitely rigged, by the way--and, uh...well, Pic-Land's got some good fruit to pick for pies and shakes and stuff."

"Aside from that, I mostly just play video games or go to Kagoshima," She shrugged. "Of course, when I'm mad enough, I also live up to my delinquent reputation and go around breaking shit."

Sakaguchi didn't seem too enthused by her description of her hometown. Then again, once she pointed it out, it was hard not to see what she meant. Ichika did notice that a lot of people generally kept to themselves and there was this weird sense of...what would she even call it? Hopelessness? Apathy? Whatever it was, it definitely permeated the school and even the town. She figured so long as she kept her head down, she would be fine, but maybe this was Sakaguchi's subtle way of trying to warn her or something. At least, that was her first thought, especially with what she said in her last sentence.

Still, Ichika was ever the optimist. "Maybe. But it's just for two years," She shrugged. "Then it's off to Tokyo U, where I'll find a husband and fulfill my life-long dream of being a bride."

Yeah, that was the plan!

"Fuck me, the Pick-Land's still around? I remember picking cherries there as a little kid. Well, I say little, I was already my gram's size by then, but still." There it was again. He could practically feel the corners of his lips curling at the mention, and he had to fight down the urge to grin like an idiot at the memory, lest he lose any and all cred he had managed to garner with the redhead. Still, the nostalgia of the few good summer he had, back when he wasn't as much of a hulking loser, they almost made things bearable. He'd need to go back at some point, pick some fruit and get some of that gelato he remembered liking. He didn't exactly have anyone to go with, unfortunately, but maybe that would change. He was sure Hattori would volunteer readily if he mentioned anything vaguely food related.

"You should bring me along to the cafe one of these days. Never had boba tea before. Always seemed kinda frilly," He offered, figuring it was a hell of a lot less embarrassing than bringing up how badly he wanted to go fucking apple picking. Plus, it would give him an excuse to leave the house, something he sorely needed, considering the grueling manual labor and silent brooding that had made up much of his stay in town.

"Unless you've got someone on your shit list and wanna go bust in some windows. That'd also be fun, I guess."