Leah eyes the window seat and promptly takes her place, causing eyes to turn and a few muffled giggles nearby. A quiet space all to herself, and no one to bother her. Just what she needs. Leah looks around her new space, catching the glimpses of curious gazes. They turn away right as she meets theirs. She hears the giggling again, and spots the group of girls sitting just a few rows away. One of them waves at her, which Leah responds with an uneasy smile.
The teacher then speaks out. “Alright settle down, class!” He then turns to one of the students seated next to Leah. “Class Rep Sasamoto, please take care of Miss Takami and bring her up to speed with our lessons.”
“Yes, Teacher,” a boy with sleek glasses in the seat next to Leah answers. He briefly glances at her before returning his focus back to the blackboard. Leah looks back and notices deep scratches and seemingly faded writing and colors on the sides of his desk.
“Class, please open your books to Chapter Seven,” the teacher instructs.
The bell tolls, and Leah stretches her arms after some long, tiresome lectures. She looks out the window down at the students walking back inside after an exhaustive exercise routine in the hot sun, everyone chatting away in enjoyment. She couldn’t say the same for herself. She had been away from classes for so long, she became rusty at her note-taking skills. Half the things the teacher spoke of never clicked, and she was certain there were things that were covered that Leah simply missed out on.
“Whose bright idea was it to put me back in school?” Leah moans. Her stomach begins to growl. She looks around to see students pulling out their homemade lunch, including the class rep Sasamoto. She never brought her own meal, and it never occurred to her that she needed to.
“Excuse me?” asks Leah.
Sasamoto continues to open up his packed lunch. Perhaps he didn’t hear her.
“Class rep?” she says again.
He finally turns to her. “What is it?”
“Is there a cafeteria around here? A place I can get food at?”
“There’s vending machines, but they aren’t that filling,” he bluntly answers.
“Great… snack food…” Leah groans.
“You didn’t pack anything?”
A disgruntled sigh escapes her. “I’m used to just going up to a line and having whatever the cooks made served to me on a platter. I’m guessing you guys don’t do that around here.”
Sasamoto shakes his head. “If you’re hungry, you can have some of mine.”
Leah’s face lights up. “Really!? It’s no trouble, is it?” Maybe she won’t starve the rest of the day.
“Not at all. I need to finish up and head to the student council room anyways. We’re making plans for the upcoming summer festival.” Sasamoto breaks out another pair of chopsticks and hands it to Leah. She looks at it strangely, wondering how to hold it.
“Do you have a fork with you by any chance? Or a spoon?”
“You don’t know how to use chopsticks?”
“Nope!” Leah proclaims with a grin. “Never had.”
“It’s quite easy. It’s just like holding a pencil, but two of them.” He begins clamping up and down in the air with his chopsticks.
Just then, a loud noise blurts out from the other side of the room. “Yeah, teach that foreigner a lesson!” A roar of laughter erupts from the group of hooligan boys, with their slick hair, shabby uniforms, and curt gestures.
“Hey new girl! Why don’t you come over here and leave the class rep’s food alone? He must be starving!” another hollered.
“Yeah we’ll give you a nice big meal! It’ll fill you up for days!”
The boys break out in laughter again, congratulating themselves on the crude jokes. The other girls nearby roll their eyes and call them idiots, but this doesn’t seem to dampen their spirits in the slightest.
“What a bunch of turds!” Leah exclaims, rolling up her sleeves. “Someone ought to put them in their place!”
“Let it go, Miss Takami. They’re not worth the effort,” Sasamoto says.
“They’re not going to stop unless you stand up to them.”
“I’m serious. Don’t take this any further.”
Leah looks at Sasamoto and then at the boys. After a few moments, Leah drops down back to her seat, still steaming.
“Jerkfaces…” she mutters.
Sasamoto then hands her a rice ball wrapped in seaweed.
“What’s this?”
“Onigiri.”
Leah takes a hold of the rice ball, curiously studying it before taking a bite. The soft, salty texture floods her tastes, and she is taken aback by the simple, yet savory meal.
“Wow, this is good,” she says, already eyeing the next rice ball.
“You like it? There’s more if you want…”
Leah doesn’t hesitate to snatch the next two rice balls and gobble them down.
“...it.” Sasamoto chuckles. “Maybe next time I’ll bring something else for you to try.”
“Oh, you don’t have to. I’ll just have my brother pack some meals for me. I can’t wait to have some good old Western-style food!”
“Brother?”
Leah nods. “He’s always taken care of me since I was a kid. My parents were always away at work, so they never had the time to spend with us. His cooking is the best! I should treat you to his special three-decker cheeseburger sometime. Enough calories to burn a hole through your heart!”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“But it’s absolutely to die for!”
Sasamoto looks at his wristwatch. “I should get going. I’ll be late to the meeting.”
As Sasamoto gets up to leave, Leah blurts out.
“Wait!”
He turns back to her with an inquisitive look.
“Thanks. For the meal. I thought I’d say that before you go.”
He smiles. “You’re welcome, Miss Takami.”
“Please, call me Aya.”
Back at the apartment, Talon gets into the van with Mr. Takami, who then starts the engines.
“So, where are we off to?” Talon asks.
“I have errands to run around the city, so we’ll be out all day for it. It’ll be a good time for you to learn the ropes of the job.”
“Something your mob boss needs?”
“He’s not just some boss. Mister Minami is a respected leader of Kubozaki. The Minami family built this city from the ground up. Everything here is because of them. They’ve watched over Kubozaki for generations and they’ll continue to do so.”
“Is that how they see themselves?”
“It’s how it is. Kubozaki was little more than a fishing village before Mister Minami’s great-grandfather turned it into a metropolis. You don’t get to build skyscrapers by playing the nice guy. You gotta fight to get what you want.”
“I’m not fighting anyone, am I?”
Mr. Takami chuckles. “For now. First thing’s first. We’re off to meet one of my acquaintances.”
“And then what?”
“Then you’ll do whatever we need you to do. Whatever it is when we get there.”
“You still haven’t told me where we’re heading.”
Topic: Project Serentedia - Week 16 (Read 14663 times)
