From Sailor Moon Flash!
| Featuring: | Daichi, Kenrou, Binshou, Toshiro, Teaki |
| IC Date: | May, 2002 |
| Status: | In Progress |
| Summary: | The Backstreet Boys get together for a rollicking good time. |
"Is this your card?"
"..."
"Is this your card?"
"Quack."
"Is THIS your card?"
"Quack quack!" The duck and its comrades, unimpressed by Teaki's magic trick, turned on their webbed feet and waddled back into the pond. Teaki sighed and fell back as well, staring into the canopy of leaves that rustled overhead and still clutching the deck of cards in his hand.
"Teaki, stop that. You're boring the ducks."
"No, THEY'RE boring ME. Binshou, are you done yet?" He turned on his side and watched his friend sweep a narrow stone path that ran from the Susuki family home to the teahouse. Binshou was still wearing his kimono and hakama, which was a bad sign, because it meant waiting at least (at LEAST) another ten minutes for him to change into some street clothes. Those were ten precious minutes that could be better spent doing practically anything besides entertaining ungrateful fowl. He could be smoking, or flirting with a hot babe, or smoking while flirting with a smoking hot babe.
Binshou seemed unsympathetic to his plight. "I am almost done sweeping, yes, but then I have to meet the calligrapher my parents hired to paint new scrolls for the tearoom."
"What, doesn't she have her own studio?"
"HE has a studio, but he wants to see the teahouse first, to, uh... evaluate the feng shui of the rooms."
"How long is that going to take?" Teaki asked, in the sort of doubtful tone one uses when they don't expect a good answer.
"Well, I suppose it depends on how thorough he is." Binshou stopped sweeping and put on a more thoughtful expression. "It could take minutes, or it could take hours, I suppose."
"HOURS?" Teaki looked incredulous. "There's no way I can wait that long!"
"If you're so bored, why don't you find something to do on your own?"
"I already told you, I need you to be my wingman."
"I'm, uh... I'm still not entirely sure what that means..." Binshou trailed off as he returned the broom to its shed. It was embarrassing to admit that he hadn't been able to decipher Teaki's strange language with a good library search.
"What it means," explained Teaki, sounding more like a primary school teacher than an antsy teenager, "Is that when I find a girl I like, you distract her boring, annoying friends so that I can score some points with the hot chick, alone."
Binshou nearly tripped headfirst into the stone path. "That- that's a horrible plan! First of all, it's rude, and besides that, I can't distract girls! I mean, I... well-"
Teaki pulled himself up off the grass and stretched languidly, somehow a little bit calmer for having worked his quiet companion into a state. "Relax, you can do it. Just start quoting poetry or something, and they'll be all over you." He tried not to laugh as Binshou's face went beet red. "Besides, it won't take long for the master here to do his work. I'm sure even you can manage to be interesting for fifteen minutes!"
A second later there was a CLUNK sound as one of Binshou's zoori connected with the side of Teaki's head. Appropriate retaliation, Teaki conceded to himself, but still, ouch. Before he could respond to the shoe-attack, there was another sound: WHUNK.
Binshou realized with a start that "whunk" was the sound of a car door slamming shut; the calligrapher had arrived. He turned back to Teaki with a sheepish grin on his face. "So, uh... can I have my shoe back? Please?"
Kenrou paid the cabdriver and straightened up, looking at the Susuki teahouse. Interesting.
He started up the path, joining Giou-kun through the gate. Giou-kun was looking around with considerable interest. His attention appeared to be on a blond young man holding a single shoe and rubbing the side of his head, as if it pained him.
Kenrou shifted his focus to the other young man, the one wearing wafuku and hence more likely to be associated with the teashop. He appeared to be minus a shoe. Kenrou would not have liked to assume that a young man as apparently well-bred as this one would go throwing his shoe at someone, but circumstantial evidence would have it otherwise.
He was forgiving. Most likely the other youth had done something to deserve it.
He bowed fractionally to the bespectacled, kimono-clad youth. "My name is Amakusa. I was to be expected at this time by the proprietors."
"Oh. Yes. I'm Susuki Binshou - very pleased to meet you - my parents aren't home but I'd be glad to answer any questions or show you the teahouse?"
Ah. Very well; he had expected adults, but no, this would be his host. "Susuki Binshou-kun, I am pleased to meet you." He bowed again, slightly lower. "I am Amakusa Kenrou." He held out one of his name-cards and waited until Susuki-kun took it.
"And this," he continued, once the formalities had concluded, "is Giou Toshiro." He turned to look for his younger friend. Giou-kun was just behind him, admiring the garden while somehow keeping one eye on Kenrou's left hand. He himself was also currently being admired by the as-yet unnamed young man, and looking quietly amused by it.
Binshou guessed by the questioning glances of his guests, as well, he noted with a blush, as the extraordinary attractiveness of the Calligrapher's assistant, that it was too late to shoo Teaki off somewhere else for the duration of the tour. "Amakusa-san, Giou-san, this is..."
"Shunran Teaki, but let us dispense with such formalities, as they are rather beneath us don't you think?" Ignoring a low groan from his bespectacled buddy, Teaki strode forward and pointedly directed his low bow exclusively towards the lovely young woman, which might have come off well enough had he not waggled his eyebrows in what he seemed to think a rougish fashion.
Toshiro artfully twisted his amused smirk into a gracious smile and a nod. "That's a very nice shoe you've got there."
Teaki, already struggling to divide his attention between her criminally tight pants and drastically-outlined almond eyes, was thrown momentarily off balance and only just managed not to fall flat on his face as he came out of his bow. "Oh, yes, it is a nice shoe, isn't it?" With a laugh, Teaki reached up to scratch the back of his head, and bonked it instead with the shoe. This time he hardly even noticed.
"Err...ahh...if you wouldn't mind coming this way, I'll show you into the main room." Binshou, struggling to regain control over the situation, directed his honored guests towards the teahouse before pulling Teaki aside. "Look, this guy is very important and respected. I really need for this to go well, or I could get in serious trouble," he hissed urgently, but his plees fell on deaf ears. Teaki's senses were glued exclusively to the retreating purple-pleather behind.
"Isn't she hot? I mean, have you ever SEEN..? I mean, she's kind of tall and skinny, but those EYES."
Binshou sighed. "Can at I least have my shoe back?"
"What?" Teaki looked confused for a moment, and, remembering his right hand, stared quizzically at the zoori. It was not a hot chick. "Oh, yeah, right!" He turned to follow the calligrapher and the hot chick towards the teahouse, and tossed the not-chick over his shoulder to his friend as he walked away. "Hurry up, Binshou! Let's get this party started!"
Binshou awkwardly caught his shoe and put it back on at last. "Party, right," he said sarcastically, just loudly enough for Teaki to hear. The distracted boy gave no response, and Binshou sighed again. It seemed he'd be playing wingman after all, whether he liked it or not.
Clopping along the recently-swept path, he followed (Followed! he chastised himself) his guests to the old L-shaped building that was the teahouse. He blushed slightly as he caught up to the others who had been walking at a very leisurely pace as they waited for their guide to join them. "Please excuse me. Um... if you would follow me please...?"
The substitute teishu led them into a small waiting room, through the shop, and into the mizuya where he had prepared many a meal for his parents' guests and clients. He pointed out a few noteworthy features to the guests as they went, all the while thinking that he was glad to be in the lead this once. It meant he could focus on making sure that he didn't sound too boastful, instead of watching a distracted Teaki following Giou-san as close as was possible within decency (and then some), or watching Giou-san herself, who really was far too pretty for even Binshou's own good. Amakusa-san seemed a world apart from the other two, taking in his surroundings with an intense concentration that Binshou supposed was very professional.
In front of the door to the tearoom, he made a very definite pause for some sort of subconscious dramatic effect. He was about to lead his guests into the chashitsu through the sadouguchi - the teishu's door. The host's door. The master of the house's door. No matter how one put it, it was an honor, and a rare one at that. Binshou sincerely wondered if the others were as excited as he was. "Now, shall we?"
They entered the tatami-floored room one by one. Kenrou moved with a definite slowness as he took in the chashitsu, attention coming to rest on the alcove where his scrolls would hang. Toshiro looked around with polite interest, but was watching Teaki out of the corner of his eye. Teaki was watching the sexy girl. Binshou watched his guests; they didn't seem very excited. Oh well. The atmosphere was supposed to be business-like anyway. "Susuki-kun."
He jumped as Amakusa-san suddenly turned his attention to him. "Might you also lead me in through the garden, as a tea ceremony guest would enter?"
It seemed more a command than a request, but Binshou would have been inclined to agree either way. "Oh! Of course! Shall we exit the way we came?"
This time he stood aside as Kenrou, Toshiro and Teaki passed through the door ahead of him. His friend gave him a wide grin as he left, a grin that very clearly said, Nice view, huh? Binshou raised his eyebrows at Teaki, silently responding, And what exactly do you plan on doing about it?
Teaki gave no answer. Binshou had not been expecting one. He would just have to wait and see.
He'd found the book on the floor, among Akio's belongings piled haphazardly by the door leading into the house. Their mother would have a fit about that later, especially since said belongings covered the slippers intended for guests. He'd picked up the book because he'd been surprised that his brother had even brought home a book, let alone one that was in good shape. He hadn't, however, been surprised to find another name inside the front cover.
Akio was a good bully. He was always in minor trouble, but stayed away from the serious infractions. It made him a nuisance but not a priority to school officials, and made it much easier for him to get away with things like pinching a classmate's property. Stealing a textbook would be right up his alley. Daichi sighed, and pulled out his cell phone.
The book was a second year, so that meant that Susuki Binshou, the book's current owner, would be as well. While Daichi knew just about everyone in his own grade, he'd have to track down an underclassman through his network.
Yuto, one of two freshmen who played basketball with Daichi, knew what homeroom Binshou was in, and gave him Harumi's phone number. Harumi was able to tell him that Binshou seemed quiet and shy, and that his family ran a tea house, but she had to call a friend to get the name of the establishment. Rukia found it for her, and Harumi called Daichi back after an hour or so.
Daichi hadn't even considered asking Akio. His brother probably didn't know anything about Binshou, anyway, and letting Akio know that he knew about his bullying would cause more trouble than it was worth. Daichi would keep with his usual course: returning any purloined objects or homework, if he discovered both the items and the owners. Normally, he did so the next school day, but this was a textbook. If Binshou had homework, lacking his book could cause a problem. So Daichi left a note for his parents that he'd gone out and he'd call if he was going to be late for dinner. The book and his cellphone went into his backpack, while his own textbooks came out, to save weight, and he headed back out the door.
It was a ten-minute bike ride, plus another five minutes added from a wrong turn, and he found himself at the teahouse. There wasn't exactly a bike rack, so he did the best he could, and set the bike off to the side, so that it wasn't directly by the gate, and locked it around a tree. Through the garden he went, looking about curiously as he headed towards the tea house.
Kenrou carefully copied his notes into his small book, several times directing Giou-kun to stretch out a tape measure across such-and-such a span of wall, or across the width of an alcove. For once, he welcomed writing with his right hand; it forced him to concentrate on the slow perfection of each character, rather than notice and take the required exception to the blond youth's - Shunran-kun's - somewhat pointed interest in Giou-kun. He was pleased that Giou-kun was setting such a good example of quiet and attentive behavior; he could only hope that Shunran-kun took the lesson to heart and modified his own actions accordingly.
After a few final notes on spacing and a few answers on usual ceremonial themes from Susuki-kun, Kenrou felt that he had enough information to be able to create the works Susuki-ke had commissioned, and stood to take his leave. "Susuki Binshou-kun," he said, bowing slightly. He tucked his notebook into his sleeve and nodded, pleased, at Susuki-kun's most admirably-performed bow in return.
Once out in the small garden, he prepared to bow again to Susuki-kun and take his leave when he noticed a newcomer coming through the gate. He was about to politely overlook the young man and permit him to conduct his own business with the Susuki teahouse when he stopped, and looked again. As he did so, he was vaguely conscious that the other three people following him out had also stopped, and were also looking at the young man in pure silence.
Kenrou was nearly puzzled by the split-second notion that he knew this youth, and then realization struck.
Of course he knew this young man; this was Mushio-kun's friend, the polite student: Takawa Daichi-san, a young man so gracious that he could weather Maroe Mushio and Mokushi Oki with a smile. He found it in himself to hope that perhaps Takawa-san was also an associate of Shunran Teaki-kun; Shunran-kun could only benefit from exposure to Takawa-san's attitudes.
Toshiro tucked the measuring tape into his pocket, suppressing a smirk for the eighteenth time as he felt the little redhead's eyes on his butt for the eighteen billionth time since they'd gotten here. He _knew_ the kid thought he was a girl, and somewhere deep inside, he was snickering helplessly. Poor little Casanova... if he only knew.
They left the teahouse for the garden, Toshiro bowing when Kenrou bowed, three-quarters out of respect and the rest to torture the little redheaded punk, when another kid entered. He cast him a fleeting glance, and...
...stopped.
He just stopped. Deep down a little voice was whispering that he was staring, but deepest of all was a current, strong as the ocean's undertows, singing that _he knew this young man_ and then-
-he blinked, and the undertow let him go. Toshiro came out of the deepest part of himself _certain_ that he knew this kid, and his proper mind was _certain_ he had never met him before, so he did what he always did. He tucked the odd feeling neatly away until he knew what to do with it, he paid attention, and he acted. Still maintaining his role as conscientious assistant (thank goodness Amakusa-san could write with his right hand), he tilted his head to one side so his eyes looked pretty and cocked one hip, ALL for the benefit of his dear misguided admirer. If he had to hand-sit under pain of pain, have his ass ogled by a squirt, and experience the strongest case of deja vu in history, he was going to have fun doing it.
Teaki walked out into the garden with the rest, keeping his eyes firmly on Giou-san, in hopes that another deep bow might be forthcoming and not wanting to miss it. Distracted as he was, he was only marginally aware that Binshou was whispering something to him.
"Uh, Teaki? You've got a nosebleed."
"What?" Teaki asked, his gaze never leaving the calligrapher's assistant.
Binshou sighed, handed his friend a handkerchief from his kimono, and gave him up for lost. Teaki dabbed at his face absently, reflected on what a lucky bastard he was, and wondered if he'd get an opportunity to ask Giou-san for her phone number before she left. She even smelled nice. Sort of like...
...roses? No, the flower scent was coming from somewhere else, overpoweringly sweet. For a moment Teaki's head swam. Memories tugged at him - tantilizingly close, but always just out of reach. Something like a flag - or a cape? - fluttered in his peripheral vision and he turned his head sharply to see what it was...
...and the spell broke. A boy was walking down the path into the garden, but there was nothing special about him. He looked familiar, and Teaki vaguely recalled seeing him before at school. He needed a smoke and his mind was playing tricks on him, that's all. Shaking his head to clear out the last of the cobwebs and uneasiness, Teaki turned back to the more pressing matter of farewells and bowing.
Amakusa-san moved forward in a most unusual fashion, as if he had been going to bow and then stopped. Giou-san bowed slowly. Teaki's nose continued to bleed, and someone else came walking up the path. Binshou saw the figure out of the corner of his eye, and hoped fervently that it wasn't another attractive female - Teaki probably didn't have that much blood left.
He bowed shortly to his guests and politely excused himself, intending to take care of the unexpected visitor before giving his guests a proper farewell. He turned, and the first thing his eyes fixed upon was his history book. Why was it outside, and why did this visitor have it? Binshou's face went absolutely red as he remembered.
A boy named Takawa Akio had taken it from him in the hallway at school, refusing to return it unless Binshou fight him for it. Naturally, Binshou had refused to do any such thing, and was disappointed to see the boy laugh and run off with the book in hand. He had supposed it was only a joke.
Upon completing his flashback, Binshou finally took notice of the boy holding the book. He looked very much like Takawa Akio, and Binshou's brain set off several alarms, warning him that this may be a relative, and that they might very well be a whole family of bullies. Maybe this one would also want to fight him for his book.
There was another feeling, though, one that went deeper than the alarms in his brain. It was a good feeling, and it told him that this stranger was not someone to be afraid of. Far from it. He couldn't describe it, and he couldn't explain it, but he approached the other boy with a confidence that he rarely felt. "Hello. Welcome to the Susuki Teahouse! Can I help you?"
Takawa Daichi found himself confronted by the oddest group of four individuals to ever amass together, and was further confounded by the sudden knowledge that this was Good and Right and Damn It, Pay Attention to Your Sixth-Senses, Daichi.
This was what his subconscious was busy screaming at him, but Daichi had vast amounts of practice at ignoring his subconscious, especially when it tried to point out things he ought to not know. Currently, he was accomplishing this by focusing on the fact that Mushio-kun's uncle did indeed wear purple as a regular thing, and that he appeared to hang out with rather interesting young ladies... Here his subconcious did manage to get in that this was a MALE, DAMN YOU, AND YOU KNOW- but he cut it off again quite quickly by observing that he was being spoken to, and he ought to really be paying attention to that.
"Good afternoon!" he greeted cheerfully, giving no indication but a few seconds of staring that his brain was trying throttle him into submission. "I'm looking for Susuki Binshou; is that you?" he asked the kimono-clad young man with a friendly smile, as he held out the history book. "I'm Takawa Daichi. I, uh, found this book in my brother's belongings, and I'm afraid it doesn't belong to him." He didn't really want to come right out and say that his little brother was an atrocious bully. Even if he really was.
He offered a smile at the rest of the group behind Binshou, trying to figure out why on earth his brain wanted to recognize them as a group, other than the fact that they all happened to be occupying the same space at the moment. He gave up, and squashed the little nagging voice inside of him by nodding to each of them in turn. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he began in apology, turning back to Binshou, the smile still on his face.
Kenrou was conscious of a benevolent indulgence overcoming him as he watched Susuki-kun move off to welcome Takawa-san, as a proper teishu ought. Truly, he mused, he had judged arightly when he had accepted a commission from Susuki-ke.
It was to this rightness of spirit on Susuki-kun's behalf that he ascribed his sudden proprietary feeling towards the youth's proper behavior, as he might feel seeing a younger brother (had he been blessed with one) acting correctly.
Secure in the knowledge that Susuki-kun would treat Takawa-san kindly and correctly - because it was, of course, of utmost import that Takawa-san's life be as comfortable and easy as possible, never mind the reasons why - he turned and looked over the teahouse garden, waiting so that Susuki-kun might fulfill the teishuu's duty anent himself and Giou-kun.
It was unfortunate that, reflecting on proper behavior and deportment as he was - having just observed the epitome of the former in Susuki Binshou-kun and the latter in Takawa Daichi-san - his gaze should happen to fall on Susuki-kun's friend, Shunran Teaki.
With proprietary obligations towards Susuki-kun came those same obligations of the batsu to Shunran-kun, however arduous they might seem.
"Shunran-kun," Kenrou said gently, " seems to be dripping blood on his jacket."
"Huh?"
Teaki looked down at his jacket, eyes glazed and uncomprehending for a moment, when an unidentified chill breeze raised goose pimples on the back of his neck and snapped him back to reality. "Aww, damn it! This is my favorite jacket too." Wiping at the stain vigorously with a handkerchief - was that Binshou's? He didn't recall where he'd gotten it - he mumbled a brusque thanks in the direction of his friend's guest.
The older man, inclining his head the merest fraction of an inch in acknowlegment of this unsatisfactory response, proceeded to give Teaki a cool look that, when he finally noticed it, shot him through with a strange feeling of unease. Suddenly feeling that he wanted to be somewhere - anywhere - else but here, nice scenery or no, Teaki hurried shakily over to where Binshou stood greeting the new visitor.
"Hey, excuse me, mind if I butt in for a sec?" Without waiting for an answer from the new guy, Teaki turned to Binshou. "Hey, is this interview basically over? Because I'm about to start getting bored here and this old dude is seriously creeping me out. Can we PLEASE get out of here do something fun soon?"
Binshou made an odd noise, one that he hoped no one else would recognize as a squelched laugh - Teaki's rude turns of phrase along the lines of "old dude" never failed to both amuse and startle him. "Umm..." was his response.
He was beginning to feel overwhelmed. He had an important guest to see off, as well as said guest's distractingly lovely assistant, Teaki was figuratively tugging at his arm, and there was yet another guest who was not a business associate but who was owed due thanks for returning his school book. He was tired and nervous, and everyone was looking at him, and he wanted to crawl into a hole but there were none in the garden large enough to accommodate him, and...
"THANK YOU!" he said much more loudly than he'd intended, amplifying the strange crack his voice made at that moment. "Uh, thank you very much! That is indeed my book. How very kind of you to return it to me. Thank you for, uh, finding it. And returning it. Um." Binshou tried not to notice the feeling of blood rushing to his head, and tried even harder not to notice Teaki staring at him and waiting for his answer.
"How can I repay you? Perhaps I could help you study?" He immediately chastised himself for implying that this guest might have even the slightest scholastic deficiency. "Um, or free admission to a tea ceremony for your family? Uh... buy you dinner?"
Daichi couldn't bear the thought of his family in a tea-house. Hiroshi would be calm and polite and boring, and his father would be distracted, polite, and boring. But his mother and Akio... His smile faltered slightly as he thought of his middle brother here, slouchingand scowling his way through the ceremony, while his mother scolded him. Quietly and properly, but still scolding. The smile returned full force in a moment.
"Don't make such a big deal of it," he said with a laugh, waving it aside. "It was the least I could do after Akio..." He trailed off, realizing he didn't know just how his brother had gotten ahold of Binshou's book, and he probably didn't want to know. "If you feel you have to make it up to me, we should just hang out some time, your friends included," he concluded with a smille, glancing from Binshou to Teaki, and then back to Mushio's uncle and his associate. Who was a girl, he firmly told his sixth sense. Even if it was exceedingly strange that Amakusa-san hung out with a girl like that. It wasn't wrong, it was just... strange.
"Amakusa-san, you'll come too, won't you?" he called to the man with his usual friendly impetuousity. "And you too, miss; I'm afraid I haven't caught your name." The friendly smile was nothing more than that; Daichi left the ogling to Teaki.
"Giou Toshiro," he said with a bow and his absolute best Demure Charming Smile (able to make salarymen blush at twenty paces) and Female Phone Sex Voice (able to make politicians blush at forty). Amakusa-san certainly made the rounds, if chipper high school students like this one knew him. The Demure Charming Smile was for this young man; he looked like a very nice, polite boy. He probably was, because he had his eyes easily and casually on Toshiro's face...
...as opposed to the little redheaded punk, who the Phone Sex Voice was for. Toshiro could practically hear all the blood leaving his head, and his Inner Self smirked. His Outer Self turned up the smile another few notches. "It would be an honor and a pleasure." Toshiro wasn't so brassy as to automatically include Amakusa-san in the acceptance... but he wasn't about to let the man out of it by accepting only for himself. He was going to get something out of Hand guard duty and the ass-oogling besides baiting a teenager. He turned to smile at Amakusa-san directly. "Doesn't it sound nice, to visit with some of today's upstanding youth?"
In the punk's case, his Inner Self snarked, it was best left unsaid what PART of him was upstanding.
Kenrou regarded Giou-kun with indulgence. It was certainly very kind of Giou-kun to behave properly for the benefit of Shunran-kun, who might assuredly take a lesson in behavior that would more correctly define his obviously superior qualities.
"Takawa-san is most gracious to initiate further camaraderie," he said, bowing slightly to the young man at the center of their orbits. "We await his further specifics with high regard."
- Toshiro*? Had he heard that correctly? His subconscious was acting all smug right about now, and he politely ignored it, and his confusion. That split second of startled shock was unfortunately visible to the young... lady? Gentleman? Person, Daichi decided, and resolutely ignored any other strangeness. It wouldn't be nice to pester Toshiro with questions right after they'd met... Though any further meetings made it open territory.
Luckily, Kenrou's response served to distract him, though he wasn't sure it was a good distraction. He was supposed to have plans? Takawa Daichi wasn't good at planning. "Well..." he hedged a moment, trying to think of what this diverse quintet could possibly do together. Food! Of course, everyone had to eat!
"How about dinner?" he suggested brightly. "There's this new restaurant by the river that's supposed to specialize in foreign food... What type, I'm not really sure, but it ought to be interesting." He glanced around the group, waiting for someone to either agree or suggest something different.
"Well, it sounds okay to me, but..." Binshou trailed off and glanced at Teaki, uncertain as to whether or not his friend was willing to have dinner with the same "old dude" that was currently "creeping him out".
Teaki met Binshou's gaze and made a face. "I dunno, don't we have that thing Binshou? The thing. You know, that we'd planned for tonight?"
Toshiro smiled brightly. "We would love to," he said (in a voice that definitely belonged to a Toshi-KO) and neatly detouring around any Kenrouspeak confusion. Amakusa-san hadn't said "no." He had said "Takawa-san is most gracious to initiate further camaraderie," which translated to "we would love to."
Teaki started to choak, but managed to turn it into a strangled sort of cough. "Then again, maybe you should go Binshou. Networking, building relationships with your family's clients, and all that." He gave his friend a wide grin. "But don't worry, I'll go along to keep you company!" Looping an arm tightly about Binshou's shoulders, he turned back to Daichi. "We'll be there! Err...where are we going again?"
Daichi was trying his hardest not to laugh at Teaki's sudden turnaround, and due to his efforts, it came out as a strangled cough that he quickly managed to get over. "Rion's," he told them all, and proceeded to give out directions. "If tomorrow night at six is good for everyone, we'll meet there." He collected agreements from everyone before making his excuses, offering farewells, and starting on the trek back home.
to be continued
