A Stressful Stroll, Takumi and Aroneia

Despite how little time had actually passed since Takumi enrolled in Yuuei academy and moved into the dormitory on its campus, he was beginning to feel like time was flying and it had been longer since he arrived. Even this very day, Takumi could have sworn that an hour or two had flown by for every twenty or so minutes that he spent walking around, even though nothing seemed to be moving slowly. It was more of his mind sensing a faster pacing that caused him to feel as if a couple of hours worth of activity had passed in the smaller amount of time rather than time moving so slowly that it was stretched.

Part of the fervent energy that filled the air and enveloped Takumi, giving him this sense of excitement that distorted his perception of time's passage, was the presence of so many booths selling all sorts of food for everybody walking around. Living back home in his small town, along with spending most of his free time helping his father with the family business, Takumi rarely ate out and instead would only get to eat some of the food his dad's cafe sold or his mom's home cooking upstairs. Being bombarded with so many options of relatively cheap food already prepared and hot almost confused Takumi, his heart and nose being drawn in several different directions towards a few booths, but ultimately he would be drawn to a small cart that was serving the most basic chicken karaage he had never seen before. The enticing fragrance came very close to eliciting an embarrassing drool from Takumi's lips, but the lazy dripping of saliva would be stopped by the boy swallowing it all before speaking up to place an order.

His wallet now a little bit thinner and a small disposable paper cup of fried chicken clutched in his hand, Takumi was feeling pretty happy about being able to indulge in the hopefully delicious treat. As Takumi picked up a piece with his free and and brought it too his mouth, his surroundings gradually blacked out like a manga panel drawn by an artist feeling too lazy to fill in backgrounds, and the sounds made by everyone became muffled like playing a video game that tries to reinforce the idea of explosions killing the player character's hearing.

One bite and Takumi was in heaven, floating on clouds and hearing an imaginary harp filled the air. Was fried chicken always this amazing? Takumi was feeling too much bliss to even feel like he was deprived or shortchanged growing up by not being able to eat this food, his optimistic mind more focused on how happy he was in this moment instead of feeling any sort of sadness of never getting to experience this flavor before this moment.

As amazing as the chicken karaage was, all good things must come to an end and this wonderful experience would be cut short when someone tripped and fell right into him, dropping their own food while also causing him to drop his cup of chicken. All of his food now scattered on the floor along with the other person's takoyaki, Takumi had finally experienced his first heartbreak. He didn't even notice that his jacket had gotten dirty due to some of both people's food flying up slightly upon impact and staining it, his trance being shattered and his mind coming to reality as he looked on the ground.

Oh no! Are you okay?!

Takumi dropped down to a squating position, his own poor hip and ankle mobility being the only obstacle between his butt and heels. He was deeply saddened at the sudden loss of what he now considered to be the best food ever, but his heart still couldn't let him ignore the troubles of someone else whom had fallen to the ground, along with losing their own food.

Here, take my hand... Leaning forward closer to the red haired girl that had caused the mutual loss of snacks, Takumi extended an open hand for her to grab onto with the promise of helping her back up to her feet implied through his body language and warm smile. His face initially showed worry and sadness when he saw the chicken, takoyaki, and girl on the ground, but the boy's own nature couldn't let him offer to help someone without a friendly and inviting expression.

As Takumi bent down to lend a hand to the girl in order to help her back up, he could clearly see just how angry she was feeling over what had happened. The red head was practically glowing with anger as he extended his arm, but her rage seemed to subside to a small degree when she looked up and noticed him. After Takumi apologized and offered his hand, she would accept it, clutching his palm while doing a poor job of trying to hide her dismay with a forced smirk.

As the pair stood back up, Takumi took a very tiny step back to give her some space without the risk of backing into someone else behind him or looking like he was trying to get away from her. The girl reached for the back of her head and voiced her frustrations in poorly enunciated Japanese, peppered with some vulgarity, along with a very awkward offer to reimburse Takumi for his food that she caused him to drop and an even more awkward gratitude for helping her back up. He couldn't make any fair guesses about where the girl came from based on her grasp of the language and appearance, but Takumi was quickly learning just how many of his classmates were foreigners.

Takumi's smile would remain subtle but warm and friendly throughout the entire interaction, but it would widen and become brighter and more inviting when the girl spoke again. After looking down at the ground, her eyes displaying a wealth of abysmal disappointment at the loss of her meal, she would look back up and apologize to Takumi for the stains on his clothes caused by the flying, sauce covered chicken and takoyaki.

No, no... Don't worry about it, really... Takumi would smile past his temporarily closed eyes and wave his hands in a gesture of polite rejection as he tried to assure the girl that it was okay through some light chuckles. I wasn't paying much attention either, and besides this place is pretty hectic... I'm sure lots of people have been bumping into each other like this all day.

Takumi would try his best to make sure the girl knew that he wasn't angry with her, nor was he expecting any sort of compensation for his food or clothing. What happened just now really was nothing more than an innocent accident. They happened, and it wasn't like anybody was hurt or anything. I gotta do my laundry later tonight anyway, so this is nothing. And seriously, don't worry about the food, I can just buy more...

Takumi would pause for a moment, letting his face relax back into its more usual setting of the subtle and warm smile before he realized that this girl had introduced herself to him and he hadn't reciprocated. Oh! My name's Takumi! Nice to meet you Aroneia! ...Say, you lost your food too. Let me get you something to make up for that, I don't mind, really...

Takumi didn't like to base much off of first impressions, and while the intial thirty seconds that had passed since their paths crossed led him to believe that Aroneia was the type to turn down offers like this, especially considering how she was accepting blame and apologizing just a moment ago, he really hoped she wouldn't mind and would let him. At the very least, some more chicken kaarage or a snack from another food cart for a few hundred yen wasn't that big a deal so maybe she would be okay with it. Or perhaps Takumi's philosophy was true and first impressions really were garbage and she wouldn't have a problem with it either way.

Eventually after some kind words and attempts at conveying contrition exchanged between both of them, Aroneia would extend what felt like an uncomfortable forced handshake to Takumi along with some spoken English. His English wasn't the best by any means, but he was able to functionally carry a conversation in the language with little issue. The unpolished language when Aroneia spoke in Japanese didn't surprise him at all, Takumi figured most non native speakers would sound off, but her English also seemed very rough, at least compared to what he expected from his lessons in school along with a few television shows from the United States.

Yes. I do speak some English, although it is not the best. Takumi would speak through somewhat more slowly than he normally would had he been speaking in Japanese, but the English he was speaking to Aroneia now would definitely be more calculated and thought out rather than just flowing out of his mouth. Please, let me buy you something to make up for that.

Takumi could tell that while Aroneia was definitely trying her best to come off as happy, and she clearly meant well, there was still a visceral anger within of which she was doing a poor job of trying to hide. By this point in their interaction, Takumi was able to chalk up her negative emotions to the situation itself and not specifically towards him, which helped him feel more at ease, but he still would rather not feel angry at all.

Sure, we can get my food first. I was just eating... Takumi's mind began to blank after he happily agreed with Aroneia's suggestion. His eyes would wander around for a second and then dart immediately down at the ground to see the pieces of chicken karaage and remembered what he was eating before they bumped into each other. The chicken karaage! Right! The booth is just over here!

Takumi would keep eye contact with Aroneia but his torso would begin to turn towards the direction of the fried chicken booth along with a gesture of jerking his head in that direction as a means of pointing there. Normally, Takumi would have protested against going for his food first out of courtesy, but he decided to go with the flow in this situation partially because of the still very obvious presence of Aroneia's anger trying to be suppressed along with the fact that the booth with the chicken was less than a minute away. He would softly chuckle at her comment about being able to wait before eating again, citing a previous four meals so far that day, but it wouldn't be an actual factor in his decision to just go for his snack first.

While they walked to the booth, Aroneia would try to keep the conversation going, asking Takumi if he was a student or just someone looking to witness the spectacle of the Sports Festival from the stands along with the rest of the audience. Oh, I am a student, but only recently. I just moved here a couple of days ago. How about you? His English still very calm and calculated, it would be obvious that he needed to think every sentence through before speaking it and would still focus on the words as they came out of his mouth.

When the pair reached the booth serving the chicken karaage, Takumi would simply ask for the same order again in confident, fluid Japanese before turning to Aroneia with a friendly, welcoming smile. Do you want anything from here? Or do you want to buy food from a different place? His voice would return to the same static English when he spoke to his new friend again, trying his best to juggle transitioning between the two languages so casually. It really was a challenge, nothing like he was used to back in class especially since he wasn't already in a mental state focused on this in the first place.