[Open] A culinary expedition.

Jun isn't a very good cook, and she knows it. However, she has been growing tired of subsisting on little more than various microwavable soups and noodles. So, she decided to go and explore the nearby town to see if she could find somewhere close where she could eat. The first one she comes across is a small place known as "The Shanghai".

She walked in and quickly noticed that it was nearly empty, with just the one other person sitting quietly in a corner who she didn't pay much attention to. Even the server was absent. Jun was quite relieved to see that there was at least a ringer on the counter to call for the server.

Upon being shown to her seat, and given a menu, Jun then realized this isn't really a restaurant where they serve meals. Contemplating whether to stay or not, Jun ends up staring at the menu for quite some time. That is, until the silence is broken by another. Slightly startled, she looks over to where the voice came from.

Toshi entered the front door, the bell ringing.
"… Yes, Grandma. Okay. Love you too. Goodbye."
He put his phone in his pocket, not noticing Jun as he seated himself at a table on the opposite side of the room. He buried his face in his crossed arms, sighing.

Feeling slightly concerned, Jun prepared a text, but didn't send it just yet, and walked over to him. She took her seat in a chair that someone neglected to push under the table and gently nudged Toshi's elbow with the tips of her fingers.

She never bothered to change out of her school uniform and the wind outside seemed to have caused her hair to congregate more to one side than the other. She had her head held forward a bit as she tried to show a casual smile but it was pretty easy to see in her eyes she was somewhat concerned.

"Hey," he muttered, picking his head up just enough to see her. Dark circles were visible under his eyes, and his entire face was red and puffy. "You come here after morning classes too?"

Toshi had made a habit of coming here on Saturdays, being as classes finished at noon. He had stopped in 3 of the 4 weekends since he arrived – the only exception was the day of Sayuri's party two weeks ago.

Her eyes looked upwards for but a second before returning back to Toshi as she shook her head. She then sent the text she had prepared beforehand.

[Is something wrong?]

Toshi grabbed his phone, looking at the message.
"Not really…" he said, considering whether he wanted to discuss this with her.
Then again, they had spent most of almost every day together in class for three weeks now, and he had known about her being mute since they met.

"It's part of my condition," he finally said. "Side effects from my meds."

She looked down at her phone for a couple seconds as she typed in her response, causing her hair to fall in front of her face. When she sends her message she looks back up and pushes the hair to the side of her glasses.

[I'm sry. How bad is it?]

"This? Not that bad, really. It flares up every few weeks or so."

The waitress came to take their order.

"Oolong, please. Jun, anything for you?"

For a while, Jun had forgotten what she had come here for. Until the waitress came that is.

Jun held up her index finger for a short moment before looking through the menu for a bit.
The waitress interpreted this as she needs some more time to decide.
However, Jun only needed a matter of seconds to figure out what she wanted, but when she went to give the waitress her order, she had turned her back to the table and was on her way to the back. So without hesitation Jun let out a moderately loud and piercing whistle to get the waitresses attention before waving her over, at which point she pointed to a slice of cherry cake on the menu before flipping it over to point to a cup of coffee.

Well, I can see why she might not have enjoyed the restaurant.
That definitely would have gotten some unwanted attention in there.

"And an orange scone for me, please," Toshi said as he handed the menus back to the waitress.

She walked off to the back to prepare their orders.

"So what've you been up to lately?"

At first Jun simply shrugged, pressed her lips together, and looked up towards the corner of the ceiling. A brief moment passes by before her eyes widen ever so slightly as she looks back to Toshi before signing something to him while also mouthing the words, Do you play chess?.
She points to Toshi before holding out one of her hands flat and palm upwards while her other hand creates a short sweeping motion across it and then mimics the motion of moving pieces around on a chess board. At the end of her message she looked to Toshi questioningly.

"Indeed I do. European, shōgi, and Dejarik," he said with a grin. "More strategy game talk, hm? Think I need more training, or just afraid I might beat you?"

As Toshi was giving his reponse, Jun was typing her own and shaking her head slightly near the end while letting out a bit of a smirk herself.

[I just went to the library Wed and saw a chess board]

"A fearless opponent. Haha.

"Now that you mention it, I think they actually have a set around here somewhere. Care to play a game while we snack?"

Jun gives a small shrug of her shoulder while tilting her head and twisting it upward before returning to a neutral position and nodding quickly twice.
Haven't played in quite some time, I hope this doesn't end horribly.

"All right."

Toshiaki went in search of the chess board. The waitress returned with the cup of coffee, pot of tea, and desserts, setting them on the table. The doorbell rang as someone else entered, and she went to greet them.

"Found it," he said as he returned to the table. He poured himself a cup of tea from the pot and began setting up the pieces.

Being quite hungry, Jun was halfway through her slice of cake when Toshi returned and quickly making her way through to its end. Her slightly ravenous activity of devouring the desert was interrupted as a small piece of it dropped on to her shirt. She brought her head back to look at it and her first reaction after that was to begin bringing her head closer to it which looked like she was about to try to lick it off. But she suddenly stopped and looked up to Toshi frozen for a split second. She then switched to a slightly more appropriate action of putting her fork in her mouth for a moment to make sure it was clear of particles before scooping the chunk still resting on her shirt off and into her mouth. Upon dealing with the piece proceeded to prepare to clean it off by dipping a napkin in her drink so as to wipe off the remnants of frosting left on her shirt.

"Jun."

He gently grabbed her hand just before she was about to soak her shirt in coffee.
His hands were toughened from years of training, but surprisingly smooth.

"What are you doing?" he asked, laughing.

Jun is quite surprised by Toshi's actions and she gives him a look of slight bewilderment for a moment before demonstrating her intentions by wiping her chest off with her other hand resulting in a small pink smear from the frosting between her breasts. She then drew attention to said smear before motioning to the wetted napkin in her hand being held by Toshi.

Toshi blushed a bit when she drew his attention to her chest, but it was mostly hidden by the existing redness of his face.

He simply turned her hand over and pointed with his other hand to the dripping brown stain on the napkin.
"I doubt that would do much good," he said, grinning and shaking his head.

Oh...
Her eyebrows raise for a moment until she furrows them and presses her lips together. She then holds up an index finger in the air as she gets up and walks to the bathroom.

Toshiaki sipped his oolong tea and finished setting the board while he waited for her to return.

Well, she is pretty cute. And we do seem to get along quite well.
That wouldn't be so bad.
I wonder…

Chiharu takes a careful sip out of the lightly steaming cup in her hand before she slides it back onto the table after gently touching it against the side of the table. She then leans back and asks Toshi with a curious tilt of her head, "Was that Jun?"

"Oh, hi. Didn't see you walk in."

Well, crap. Maybe I shouldn't have come today.
Don't exactly care to have everyone see me like this…
Then again, I suppose she would have sooner or later.

"Yeah, Jun's here too."

She lifted up the small pot of cream that came with her drink and poured a bit of it into the cup while she said, "I heard some other freshman saying that you guys pass notes a lot in class."
After she was done pouring she put her napkin over the small dish the ceramic pot came on before placing the pot itself on to it.
She continued with a playful smirk, "You coming up with some kind of secret plot you don't want anyone else to know about?"