Of Manga and Coffee Shops

[Deleted]

He was new to the city, still, when he had met Erika.

The Yellow Scarves had been freshly created, and they were out hanging as much fun as he could manage with just a few people. He didn't know anybody outside of his currently small group of friends, and the temptation to go back to his home town was huge. He missed Mikado, he missed his stupid house, he missed his boring school.

The sparkle was fading, he supposed. Nothing was looking shiny and new so much anymore after a few months.

He slipped into the comic shop, hoping to at least find something...and not expecting...

He grinned, going right up to this creature of fair beauty, with her long legs and dark hair and eyes, and checked what she was reading.

Ouran Host Club, huh? He's heard of that one.

"So, you like Host Club, huh? Well, if that's the case, call me king." He offered her a wide smile, keeping his voice friendly.

[unicornhunter]

Erika had been in the manga section for the longest time. She actually hadn't noticed that Kadota, Walker, and Togusa had gone off to bring back food.

So she was a bit surprised when this boy showed up all of a sudden and spoke to her.

But she was a sucker for anime-related pick-up lines, so unlike so many other girls would have, she didn't roll her eyes or scoff at him.

She squealed and glomped him.

"You like Ouran too!?"

She always got excited when she met other otaku.

[Deleted]

The glomp was accepted with great generosity. His pickup lines were the best, after all, and the fact that he was kingly only helped his cause. Besides, this girl was at least a jalapeno on the hotness scale, not that he was going to admit that.

"Yeah, I like Ouran! A few other series too, but they are kind of a shallow pool. But I'm usually up for anything." He offered her a playful wink. "Wanna go grab some coffee and talk about it sometime?" He paused for a minute. "No, coffee is a bit too bitter for a sweet thing like yourself, so maybe some tea~ Would you prefer tea?"

He wasn't exactly sure if this was going to count as a date, but it would at least break the ice, let him get to know this girl better. That was the point of a date though, right? Oh well, it was a date. His first date since he got to Ikebukuro! But she had to accept it first, so he kept that winning grin on his face.

[unicornhunter]

Erika let go of Kida and was bouncing up and down in one spot.

"Oooooooooooooh, what else do you read? Don't worry about not reading or watching much - I have a bunch of stuff I can recommend! Like Kyou Kara Maoh and Card Captor Sakura and Black Butler and Tiger & Bunny and Puella Magi Magica Madoka and Yu Yu Hakusho and Blue Exorcist and - !"

She heard his remark about her being too sweet for coffee, then giggled and blushed a little. She hadn't heard stuff like this since she and Walker first started dating! It was nice to feel special.

"Sure! I love tea! I'd be happy to hang out with you - but I don't have much money on me...."

While that was true, Erika wasn't above getting a free meal out of a cute boy.

[Deleted]

Kida was a fourteen-year-old boy for the record, one that had a very lovely specimen of a high school girl -- maybe just a little bit out of high school? --jumping up and down in front of him. He would be shame to his gender if he didn't at least peek while she jumped up and down.

"No, don't worry about money," Kida said with a grin, arm going around Erika's waist and going out of the manga shop, waving his friends off as he headed out. "I got this."

Girls loved it when a guy picked up the tab, and he was sure to do it at every date. There was absolutely no shame in this. "As for manga I've read, huh...Kare Kano, Skip Beat, Ouran Host Club..."

He paused. Wow he sounded like a loser with that list. time to think of that one he and Mikado read before they left..."Oh, Akira, I love Akira."

And he hoped that would save himself, redeem himself in her eyes. He was adorable, yes, but reading exclusively romance stories? "Oh, and Strait Jacket, I like that one too..." Even if he never could finish watching it, considering that the unadulterated squeak of "ARE YOU HAPPY?!" haunted his dreams for weeks on end.

[unicornhunter]

"Oooooooh, Akira! Isn't it great!? I really should see that again, it was so cool!"

Erika didn't mind that Kida's arm was around her waist. She and Walker were in an open relationship after all - everything was okay as long as she talked to Walker about it first. And this wasn't really a date or anything, just a boy flirting and she making a new friend. If it went any further, though, she'd have to consult Walker. And Kadota. Simply because she valued Kadota's opinion on these things.

"So what tea shop did you have in mind? There's actually quite a few host cafés and butler cafés and cosplay cafés if you want to go to any of those. And I'm open to maid cafés~ The tea at Russia Sushi is pretty good, too! Oh, what's your name? I'm Erika!"

She held out her hand to him, grinning.

"Oh, I didn't notice your piercings before. They're pretty cool! A lot like Bon's in Blue Exorcist!"

[Deleted]

Kida grinned. Well, that part had gone right, anyway. "Yeah, maybe you can come over and we can watch it. Have you read the manga? I own all the volumes to it and I think the anime, as awesome as it is, left out a lot. I mean, the psychics, Tetsuo's girlfriend..." Right, stop right there, you don't need this girl to think that you're some kind of otaku.

He offered her one of his best smiles. "So enough about me, what anime do you like?" It'd be rude to talk the whole way through about himself when he was the one who asked to get to know her, right? Right? He'd have to talk to some of the older guys about this. Oh wait, she just asked a question.

"Err, I'm actually pretty new around here, but I heard the tea shop near Sunshine Sixty is amazing. And I'm Masaomi." He shook her hand with a broad grin on his face. "Erika, that's a foreign name, right?" He thought a bit...and snickered. "That's awesome. I have a friend named Mikado and we all know that means Emperor, and now Erika, which means Eternal Ruler. I just keep moving up in life, don't I?"

She was so pretty. Wait, he should tell her that. "Of course, if you're ruling for eternity, I'd be more than happy to serve under you, you know~"

...Whatever. She'll get what he means.

[unicornhunter]

Erika gasped, and the light in her eyes rivaled the brightness of stars. "You own all the volumes!? I have read them all, but I haven't been able to buy all of them!" What she really meant was that she hadn't been able to buy all of them again since Walker accidentally set half of the collection on fire that one time.... But no matter. Erika squealed a bit too loudly; she and Kida were starting to get strange looks.

"Well, I like all kinds of anime. Blue Exorcist, like I mentioned, Ourah High School Host Club, Fullmetal Alchemist, Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Paranoid Agent, Card Captor Sakura, Tsubasa, Black Butler, Angel Beats, Puella Magi Magica Madoka, Tiger & Bunny - oh, I hope I'm not forgetting anything...."

She tapped her chin with her finger, trying to think of more titles.

Erika listened to Kida talk about his friend Mikado - and a sly grin made its way across her face. "Oh? Mikado? That a boy or a girl?"

She blushed and her grin brightened at the compliment. "Awwwww, you really know how to make a girl feel special, Masaomi-kun!"

[Deleted]

Kida smiled. This was going so well! It was kind of hard for him to believe that someone like this could actually be interested in him. After all, ever time he tried to flirt before this, the girls had responded so coldly. It wasn't anything like back in his home town, where the girls melted like butter every time he said something nice to them. Girls were kind of weird like that. Was it because he acted like he was from nowhere important? If that was the case, that was kind of shallow. Maybe once he got a steady girlfriend he would stop and give her all his attention and affection. It certainly seemed like the guys who were taken always seem to get girls hanging all over them.

"Mikado's a boy," he replied with a snicker, glad that he made Erika already feel special. "He's so..." Kida paused, feeling that painful twang in his heart that he's been feeling every day since he left, that painful reminder that Mikado was probably out of his life forever. "...I guess the only way I can describe him is that Mikado is Mikado."

How do you describe someone so cute and innocent that is so reserved that he won't even dare take a risk for his own sake? How many times has Kida disappeared into the night, climbed the tree, knocked my Mikado's window? And how many times has Mikado just pulled him into his room and told him that he wasn't leaving without his parents' permission, and what was he. crazy?

...And now he was missing his best friend again.

[unicornhunter]

Erika watched as Kida's face changed as he thought about Mikado. She smiled softly. Awwwww, looks like someone had a crush! She wondered what this Mikado was like. Regardless, until given a reason not to, she shipped them. She bet they'd make a cute couple!

She hooked her arm around Kida's. "It's been a while since you've seen him, huh?"

She couldn't really imagine what that might be like. She lived with Walker, after all, and saw Kadota and Togusa everyday. She never had to go a day without any of them.... She imagined that she'd be really lonely without any of them.

She sped up her and Kida's paces, starting to lead the way.

"C'mon! We're almost there!"

Time to cheer Kida up!

[Deleted]

Erika grabbing a hold of him and hurrying her speed took him right out of his thoughts of his best friend and sent the smile right back on to his face as she told him they were almost there.

Back to giving attention to the pretty lady. Mikado wouldn't want him moping around because he wasn't around. Briefly, he wondered about how boring the town was now that he was gone.

"Well, Karisawa-san, I suppose since we're going to the tea house, I should ask you what you usually get here. I tend to try not to be a creature of habit until I find a combination that I absolutely love. Then again, I am strongly in favor of the theory that food and drink is only as good as my company." He winked. "What about you?"

If he could figure out her favorite foods, then he could even impress her by ordering just the right things to compliment her tastes. After all, no meal was bad if there was a pretty girl there to eat it with him.

[unicornhunter]

Erika slowed down a bit so she could listen to him properly as he talked. She tilted her head at him, mostly following. She smiled.

"Yeah, the company is pretty important. Though when you're really hungry, it doesn't really matter, I guess." She grinned, but looked away so she wasn't looking Kida in the face. No, she didn't really want to give out that information yet. That sometimes she, Walker, Kadota, and Togusa went without food when business was going poorly for them, and they had to pay for Togusa's gas, since the van was where they slept.... No, Kida didn't need to know any of that. She might not even see this guy again after this.

And she didn't want to put a damper on Kida's day, especially since he was buying her food.

"Milk tea is the best, though, don't you think? 'Course, that's if it's a cold tea. Fruit teas make good hot teas." She looked back at Kida, grinning brightly.

[Deleted]

The answer flowed from his lips quickly and fluidly, already knowing what kind of teas he enjoyed. "My favorite hot tea is orange spice, so I say the two of us try that here. You like fruit teas, so you'll probably like it. It's a bit of an acquired taste, I think, depending on the cloves and whatnot they use, I mean Nairu-chan hated it when she first tried it because the tea house put more emphasis on the spice than the orange -- oh, Nairu-chan is a girl I used to go to school with, by the way, she had it bad for me, but this isn't about other girls, this is all about you today."

If this were an anime, he was pretty sure the hearts would be dripping from his words by the end of the rant. He was pretty shameless about that, and he was working on it, really. It wasn't his fault he didn't lie when he implied that he could relate to Tamaki, after all.

"Ne, Erika-chan, what snack do you want? I'm probably just gonna get something light, so order whatever you like~"

[unicornhunter]

Erika could practically see the animated hearts fluttering around Kida, and it made her ridiculously happy. She giggled and more or less ignored the mention of another girl. It didn't bother her in the least, and she actually didn't care if he decided to spend the rest of the evening talking about people he knew. She already had a boyfriend, after all. This was just a fun thing, maybe make a new friend, definitely get a free meal, that kind of thing. Nothing serious, so why get bent out of shape?

"Oh, I don't know yet, but probably something sweet!"

She latched onto Kida's arm and nuzzled his cheek. She had a non-existent personal space bubble, so it didn't occur to her that it might make Kida uncomfortable, but she was happy and wanted to share that happiness. She just did so with lots of touching. Though, luckily for Kida, she wasn't going to touch him too inappropriately while they had only known each other for a few minutes, maybe an hour.

[Deleted]

Kida beamed as she snuggled herself closer as they walked. This was going so well! Erika was just plain wonderful, and his personal space level matched hers, so his hand went from waist to hip, the smile on his face broad enough she could probably feel it as she snuggled close.

"I'll bet we can find something REALLY good in here to go with the tea!" He entered the tea shop, allowing Erika to lead and pick a table, hoping that she would pick a place that he had every excuse to cuddle up to her while they drank, ate, and talked about whatever came to mind.

"So what do you do, Erika-chan? I mean, you're clearly not a student anymore, so do you have work? Are you in university? Let me guess, hm...let's see here...A beautiful girl like you only belongs near cameras! Model! Photographer! I'm nowhere close am I? Hm...fashion consultant? Not it either? I'm so bad at this game!"