[Private] Cook's Corner.

"Well, do you have any shiratamako and Silken tofu? That's what they're mostly made out of."
<Really, I doubt she does>

Sumiko looks around for the Items onl to find the silken tofu already opened
"I-I need to run to the store then. Ummm... You two would happen to have any extra money on you? I only have 300 yen and i don't think it will be enough..."
She smiles nervously

Chiharu stands up to emphasize her point.
"Well we can go with you can't we. It would be pretty mean to just send you off to get it alone, right?"

Sumiko nods but refuses Chiharu's small offer
"No. It's okay. I don't want to trouble the both of you since you are my guests. I'll be back before you know it."
She smiles big and bows

Izumi takes out around three hundred and fifty yen after fiddling around his pockets. He learned after a while how to count them without looking, a camp instructor once told him how that works. By feeling for holes he can guess whether it was a small ten yen coin or a larger fifty yen coin and by rubbing the back of the coin he could tell what the other coins in his pocket were by their engravings. It took no less than two seconds for him to do this on this occasion. He then walked over to Sumiko, coin hand clutched and handed the coins over to her.

"Well, as much as I'd like you to agree to Chiharu's suggestion, perhaps this much will at least help you purchase what you need." He spoke in a slightly concerned tone, even while he maintained his smile.

He then looked back at Chiharu a second after this was said and spoke in a voice mimicking sotto voce.

"Should we let her just go or convince her to let us come with her once more?"

Chiharu raises her eyebrows as she asks, "You sure you don't want us to come? Like really, what do you think we are going to do while you're gone?"\
[OOC:*wink wink*]

"I won't deny you two if you really want to come with me."
She grabs the key to her room and stops in front of the door and turns around
"If you want to come then let us go!"

"Alright!"
Chiharu then doesn't hesitate to calmly make her way into the hall.

Izumi sighs in relief as the decision was once again made on impulse. Whilst he didn't necessarily agree with the methodology (or the false hope, if he could muster the thought, or realize it) the safest road was accomplished.

"Very well." he states calmly as he also makes his way into the hall.

Sumiko closes the door behind all three of them and leads the way
"How did you two meet each other?"

Chiharu looks over to Izumi and smiles as she says, "Oh, our paths crossed and we decided to walk one together"
<Wow... that was kinda poetic>

"Thus it was and so it came to be." Izumi sparing most of all the details much the same way, smiled back unknowingly.

Sumiko said nothing but smile before opening the door to the courtyard. she waited from both of them to go through while saying
"If I was not here you two would almost look like a couple with the smiles you have on your faces."
She giggled

<She kinda has a point... I think>
Not entirely sure what to say in this situation, Chiharu conveys a demeanor of seemingly genuine confusion.

Izumi blushes for a moment as he notices what Sumiko is implying.

"It's... not like that." A few moments passed before he continued  "... as much as I'd like that to be the case.". the latter was stated much after their attention had shifted, his mind failing him in it's utterance but not enough to say it so audibly that it could be heard clearly. Unless one had an high level of hearing, one trained with many years of hard work, it was almost impossible to hear it.

""It's... not like that.""

Chiharu continues off of Izumi's words.
"Yeah, we kinda just met, and what if I'm like crazy, and I start calling him stevey?"
And then she thinks she hears Izumi whisper something when she interupts herself to ask him, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Izumi seems to have gotten himself into a snafu and he knows it.  He enters his thoughts as everything perceptively slows down.This has become quite the dilemma. What does one do... lie? Say that it was nothing? It was a slip of the mind. You don't even know her very well yet do you? Alright calm down, you don't have much time to think about it. Here's the situation, she's not known what you've said. The action of lying is there for you to take. There is also the ability to end all doubt, albeit prematurely and just repeat what you've said. It's not a false dialectic, you could take many other routes but these are the most pervasive. One or the other. The truth or a form of escape. That's the gist of the matter.

"Erm...." Izumi closes his eyes and knows whilst the generally accepted thing to do is to be honest, there is too much risk involved to tell the truth. Not this soon anyways, not at all.

"It was nothing important." He opened them after he stated this and exhaled. He lied through his teeth, knowing that he'll probably end up berating himself in the future in case this comes to mean anything. For now, he's staved off an error. He continues walking on as if nothing happened. Allowing the two to talk would be much better lest he risk a much grander mistake.

That was quite cowardly of me... yet not entirely irrational. Now then, where did that come from... I'll have to think about it later, it's best to be at ease now. The moment has passed and hopefully that is the end of it.

<Did he just- No.. Why would he? But... He's proven to be quite intellegent and it took him a while just to state something as unimportant. but he was closing his eyes, maybe he's just tired... Yeah, he's just tired.>

After a second of bewilderment, chiharu shrugs and begins walking with sumiko.

"Speaking of couples, how's Chris doing?"

I saw that look...

The subject matter that this had gone to didn't help matters, much if at all. Earlier the topic was something he could easily fiddle out of. In this case, as it was among the two girls and didn't concern him he had no choice in the matter. He nevertheless got out of dodge for the time-being. He was in the clear just like the world outside. Everything was clear and vibrant, a landscape of true beauty and deserving of admiration. As long as he focused elsewhere he would be fine, he knew this. He found the most comfort in the outdoors, that is where is his joy lied. This was what he thought. In earnest he had trouble finding what truly gave him the most joy and for now it was in the open world of the woodlands. The winding roads. The streets where people mingled and moved. Life was at its most beautiful in motion, where the clouds moved at a calming pace.  As long as he stayed within the exterior's arms, it's motherly guise would comfort him. Yet something still teared at him, it irked him. I saw it... that look of disbelief..

He yawned, this day was wearing on him. The classes were so much of a grind that it was as much a test of his attentiveness as his academic prowess. The mental fatigue he was placing himself under didn't help and was mostly uncalled for. Nonetheless, that look was familiar to him.

... I thought you could be trusted.... you've never failed before. You were infallible... I TRUSTED YOU!

That look of bewilderment that his teammate looked on him with when he was recovering. As in he still couldn't believe what happened back there. The victory was in their grasp. They had it. Now, for much lesser mistake, and under lesser circumstances, the same look was given him by a girl that had little idea what that would have meant.

I never thought I had to see that look so soon... for yet another error of mine.

He smiled falsely as the girls continued on. At least... he had the walk to look forward to, he'll just walk it off.

Sumiko lighten ups, turns around and walks backwards
"He is doing well. I have been meaning to see him lately."
She leans forward
I wonder what he is up to... she thought. More than likely she would go and pay him a visit after all this is done. But what only mattered now was to teach Inaba how to cook.
"Inaba, was Dangos all you wanted to learn?"

Izumi continues smiling as he tries to perish the thoughts plaguing him. This time, he answers almost immediately.

"Yes. That would be all."

That would be all indeed, he knew how to make very many different dishes. It's just never occurred to him or, it has however it's never materialized to have the items for this specific dish to be made. His parents always ended up using one of the several items he needed in some strange coincidence.

"Are you sure that's all you want to learn?"
She asked
"Maybe Chiharu could... I don't know maybe teach you something else?
Sumiko smiles at Chiharu and nods

Chiharu lightened up a bit as she said, "Yeah, like I mentioned the other day, I know quite a bit, and I'd always be willing to spend some time with you to pass on my experience."

"I appreciate the gesture, however, I once again insist that this will be all for now." Izumi states this in an almost relieved tone now that his internal episode had passed. He smiles again in a bid to confirm what he is saying as truth and continues walking.

"Okay!~"
Sumiko turns back around and continues walking ahead of both of them. Soon all the pass the school gates and enter the streets. it's not very lively at this time though only a few people walking about. Children running off playing, elderly talking about their past, and a couple passing by the three of them. Sumiko smiled thinking about her own relationship and glanced back.
They have been extremely quiet since we hit the streets She thought, putting her hand in her sweater pocket, she did not look back waiting for at least either Chiharu or Inaba to say something. Sumiko had been doing quite a bit of talking,so she felt like it would be only fair to let them talk more then her.