If this was a Movie [Storyteller]

Yuuki felt very happy and satisfied, she had not seen Mizuki all day at work, her plan was going fantastic. She looked left and right to make sure that the woman had not shown up at the end of the day, which would be weird if you called in sick yet came to the after party of the week. She beamed her smile at Nifuji and G, the first one saying that he would go and grab his coat and asking if he should pick up one for G too. She moved on the tip of her toes, back to her heels and forward again, to get going. She had to be patient. She was excited and she noticed how he looked at her, she decided to quickly check her socks and pull up one, they were okay, right? She was doing fine, right? She almost considered making a twirl to see if he would still stare and she was right, Hanako did not wear miniskirts for as far as Yuuki knew, but she did wore other sort of skirts and only skirts so she thought, maybe he liked that but she did not like the things that Hanako wore so she found this one. When Nifuji returned, Yuuki half jumped up to get out of her thoughts. Some others gathered already, "Let's go." She said and she stood very close to G now, it was planned that way as the others formed half a circle. "We are going to this bar, it's called Yata and they serve the best beer and sake, not to forget the food." She said and some of her colleagues agreed with nods, she did not listen to what anyone else suggested Gabe should try, she only looked at him. "Come, come." She almost took his hand but decided against it right on the second before touching and pulled back her hand. "Oops, I am a bit too enthusiastic. Really shame Mizuki-san couldn't come." She had planned the role for future best friend, only to swoop in and steal. That was her best approach. 

It was a game, a game of war, but the only player that was aware of this game was the main character, that's how she saw herself. As if she was in a movie or something. It was just to be able to compete and go on while trying to win. She just had to make sure to play this game strategically correct, it would be a shame if she did not and that would make her lose this game. She was definitely in for the win, the trophy, which sounded very inhuman and she knew that, and she did not care for she tried to not think too much about how hot Gabe was because that would make her lose her mind and lose this strategic game. It was weird to call it a strategic game but she technically already lost in a not fair fight so, she would not play fair either. 

Yuuki hoped she made it clear that she was playing this game, giving the excuse of being too excited. But she walked on, the bar was at a walking distance from Metropolitan, which made it basically their standard meeting. She opened the door before anyone else, "Oi." She grinned to the waiter who immediately said that their room was ready for them to come, the bar had a main area and little rooms, about six of them, three on the left and three on the right and in the back was the bar and the kitchen. She thanked the man with a short bow and walked over to the room in the left corner, near to the bar, she took off her shoes as was per Japanese tradition and went to scoot inside, the table was low, so you could sit on your knees and the shoes were in the corner. The tatami mats were pleasant enough with little pillows to keep it soft for your legs and she would usher the rest in, looking shortly at Nifuji, her strategic plan to sit next to Gabe had to work. As soon as everyone sat down, Nifuji leaving a spot next to Gabe, telling him he had to interact with others and get to know them, Yuuki slid in on that spot, "You should try the Sapporo Yebisu." She said with a grin, it was clear in looks that he wasn't from here but she wanted to know more, did he grow up in Japan though? She made sure to flatten her skirt when she went to sit properly. 

"Ah, as Hajimari-san doesn't know us all too well, maybe we should introduce ourselves." Yuuki said, and she pointed at the guy opposite him, "Nagisa Hirano, Mei Tachibana, Kouhei Yamamoto, Lisa Okiayu, Nana Suwabe and Harumi Kitamura." She lastly pointed to Nifuji, "And of course Hirotaka Nifuji." She smiled, so that was a proper job done. Would he still know her name or would she have to elbow Nifuji to jokingly say her name now? 

While Yuuki was enthusiastic doing whatever, Lisa asked to swap places with Mei who sat opposite Yuuki, the girl was half American, half Japanese and grown up in both worlds, she would understand Hajimari's problem only because Yuuki was half ass explaining everything in her enthusiasm. She shook her head as she switched places, to sit closer to Nagisa and Gabe to explain a few things. She could imagine that it was a bit of a waterfall on information that suddenly came in. She also wondered if it would be better to speak in English to get him more at ease and well Nagisa's English was fine enough to not cut him out while sitting in the corner. "Sapporo Yebisu is a beer type, it's one of the best in Japan if you have not tried it before, Yuuki suggests you try that one." She poked Nagisa, "Nagisa drinks it too, right?" To which her male colleague immediately nodded, "It has a nice flavour, not too bitter, you almost forget it can be alcohol at times." He might get drunk too easily but as he knew and Mei and Lisa kept an eye on him most of the time, he was doing good. The waitress came standing at the sliding doors of their room to order drinks, Yuuki ordered sake to share with Nifuji or so she said, some girls ordered simple sodas or juice cartons, Hanami took a wine sort and Nagisa ordered the beer, looking at Gabe before simply ordering for him too, "You really have to try if you like beer." He said and considering the conversation from before he thought so. 

"Aaah we should order the food!" Yuuki said, standing up to go ask the waitress who already left to install the hot pot. Which gave Lisa some time to talk to Gabe without having Yuuki interrupt her, "She is really happy you came and try it out, Hanako-san always says no, how is she? We have not seen her in a while." She asked with an honest and sincere expression on her face and Nagisa nodded to mix into the conversation too, Lisa hoped that talking about normal things would make it okay for Hajimari to be here without feeling the vibe of being a foreigner, which also the reason why she spoke in English. "We most of the time just hang out here for dinner, which is a hot pot, did you ever eat that?" If not Lisa would explain that it was basically a big pot of soup stock where you dipped your food in, which could be a lot of different things. Which would mean that the table would be covered a little later when Yuuki would return, they came here so often, with a mix of people that the restaurant knew them as local customers and was always happy to receive them. 

~
Italic means English. 

Lisa and Nagisa tried to at least talk to G because that was unfair to just throw him in a room with so many of the others, Lisa on purpose spoke English to get her point across instead of being caught up in a mix and match of the others talking Japanese to each other. She was glad that her colleague worked well with her. "Just one, then you never want something else again," Nagisa said with a grin and Lisa shook her head as she had ordered simply a soda, someone had to be reasonable with all these people around. "Well we always eat it here, really you should convince Hanako to come too, I really feel like she always comes and leaves immediately without really talking to us and that's a shame." Lisa said, she was genuinely interested in the two of them, "I heard you two were dating, or well I saw it in the paper." She laughed as she continued, "So if you vote for coming again, it might work." She had no idea that their fellow colleague was ill as Yuuki had not said anything about their previous encounter and now she wasn't sitting there as she was getting the food and the rest to set up. She did return rather soon with plates and a waitress, with every sort of meat, vegetables and dumplings on it, she went to immediately sit down again between Nifuji and Gabe and looked at everyone, "What are you talking about?" She looked from Gabe to Lisa, she did not trust the latter one clearly. 

Lisa and Nagisa looked at each other with a smile when Gabe answered them that he would try and seemed to have considered this a small victory for the two of them. To be fair, Lisa was more enthusiastic than Nagisa, but the latter was happy for the two of them, he always had this work crush on Hanako but he noticed very well that she had not noticed at all and he also had been very assertive in showing it, debating if dating someone at work was a good idea and well, she had been very busy but now she seemed to be already taken and he had just given up. The two turned back to Gabe, both surprised when he said that he had doubts about fast results. The two turned back to each other, "We noticed she had not been at work lately, is she okay?" Lisa decided to ask for the two of them, Nagisa nodded along because well there was a lot of gossips but mostly Lisa tried to avoid listening to it and basing her opinions on it. She was a true reporter considering that. When she said that she had seen something about them in the paper, it seemed that Gabe immediately knew what the two of them meant, "Yes, that was very scary, glad someone came to fight that thing off and that you came to save poor Hanako." Lisa said, having zero ideas about his vigilante side, she believed the story that had been told about the police, which Hanako had made up but that was beyond everyone their knowledge. "Such a heroic side, no wonder you are our new security man," Lisa said with a giggle and Nagisa added that he felt a lot safer now as a joke and Nifuji stood up to hit him like a jester on the upper arm. It was easily done before Yuuki came back. 

She obviously did come back with preparation for the hot pot, followed by a waitress and soon a second person showed up to bring the drinks that they had ordered before. "Aah, I am starving," Yuuki said with a smile when she asked what they were talking about and she had shortly looked at Lisa narrowing her eyes but the pinkette simply ignored the blonde and talked to Nagisa about something. She looked up surprised when Gabe asked her how she was doing and she smiled brightly, "Oh, ehm I am good, just the usual with work, I found this new, ahaha, I was almost talking make-up to you, sorry." She waved away her silly comment and looked back up, "Just good," She grinned, "How about you?" The drinks were brought and Yuuki held up her little sake cup to cheer for the weekend and the rest followed with whatever they had ordered, Nagisa holding up his beer bottle, again convincing G that it was the best beer in town, which said a lot for Tokyo. Before all taking a sip of it, or well in Yuuki her case, an empty cup. 

Both were worried, the reporter's world might not be the smallest but Lisa felt that her heart belonged to Metropolitan and she eyed Nagisa for a few seconds, wondering if he thought the same. Metropolitan might be described as a female magazine but they tried to add some other things to make it more interesting for everyone to read, hence why there were male reporters. So it would obviously be a thing when one of the reporters would not be there. Lisa had a vague feeling that Hanako was okay as her blogs were still going strong and even before that she had not been in the office all that much as her blogs were about things she would see and do. As it was personal, she either expected that it would be in her blog but as it had not been, the gossip world took it upon itself to come up with a reasonable excuse. Her blue eyes switched to Yuuki, who was standing at the door, one of them was that blonde. Probably hoping that Gabe and Hanako had a break-up. Her eyes quickly switched back to the man in front of her when he simply stated that Hana (she never called her that) was pregnant. Nagisa and Lisa represented the same surprised status, both big blue eyes staring at Gabe but a smile shortly appearing on their lips. "That's so sweet, congratulations." Lisa instantly answered, well that was a normal reaction. "We should cheer on that." Nagisa said, no idea if they wanted to keep it a secret but as the drinks were brought shortly after he simply heaved his beer bottle towards Gabe to cheer, "To a healthy future." Lisa joined with her soda. Even if Gabe had not said that it was a secret, the two of them shut their mouths instantly when Yuuki came. 

Lisa didn't trust the blonde, mostly considering her jealousy and how she had gossiped and made mean comments about Hanako after their stupid match to win the new security guy's heart. Which was even more ridiculous as at that point they had no idea what Gabe's name was and Lisa had not missed a heartbeat of that so-called match that was instantly lost because Hanako was already the girlfriend. Aah so cute that she was pregnant, the two expecting a baby... Lisa glanced shortly at Nagisa before turning back to the conversation but the moment she noticed that Yuuki looked at her, with an arrogant expression, she turned to talk to Nagisa and ignore her coworker. It was a shame that Yuuki had to sit there and ruin the mood while they were having such a nice conversation. Lisa was just curious in a good manner and even though Nagisa had admitted defeat to himself, he tried to make it the jolliest thing possible, they deserved happiness, all of them, right? 

They obviously had talked about something and it was kind of obvious to Yuuki that she was shut out, which made her pout and he did not really answer her either, maybe she was worst at it than she actually thought. No, that wasn't true, she had won previous hearts but now her mind was set on this one. "Are you having fun?" She asked because it was probably very good to make sure that Gabe needed to feel pleasant enough, that might make him come again. She looked at the beer that they had ordered and finished her own cup of sake after they cheered and toasted. The rest of the hot pot was brought and the other side of the table immediately put things in there and asked the four on the other side if that was okay, so they could just get things out. Noodles on the outer ring, and vegetables and meat in the inner. Because the hot pot was in the middle, the people sitting at the edge of the table might need help from the people next to them, closer to the middle. That meant Lisa for Nagisa and Yuuki for Gabe. She had taken the perfect seat just as she had planned. Now that the girl opposite her had to focus on the people on her side of the table, Yuuki could have all the attention from Gabe all by herself. "I hope nothing bad happened during your job again, I felt so silly after they stole my purse, I barely dared to show my face." She decided to say to keep up a conversation again.