(Closed) To where we don't know.

Before he could put up a defense, in a flash and a moment the twig had been displaced. Izumi tried to keep up with the Chiharu, who had ran off to begin a display of thespian grandstanding. "A twig that will tell the tale of survival twining together the terrible fears felt and transcendent acts of bravery accomplished thereby." Izumi fared a bit worse in rhyming, perhaps more than worse. Yet he went along with this as levity was worth making a fool of oneself, being able to afford to be. None else but themselves, the woodland creatures, dazzling strokes of lightning and overcast shades of draping cloud cover. He reached where she stood and held a pose of his own, head bowed as if he was awaiting applause with his arm across his chest in the frame of a knight's salute to the guard or likewise.

For a short period, chiharu held herself composed. That is, until a smile began to spread slowly across her face while her shoulders wavered before she finally let loose an ecstatic bout of laughter. She spun in place and took a seat on the fallen tree she had her foot on before as she sighed happily calming down from her laughter. She then examined the stick a bit more closely while she said, "Yeah, but which one of us is going to hold on to it?"

"You should, it is the record of when you overcame a fear of yours if even just the once. I've long known my way around arbor and stick, long in comparison, less in actual length." Izumi nodded assuringly to guide the decision along the way. It was a memorable moment and he was confident he could hold on to it as he would the account of the day. "I am just glad we could speak this way, here, well." He walked along the path at a pace that beckoned Chiharu to follow and smiled all through the way. The tremors of the roaring thunders behind celebrated and revered the coming safety. For the time, a quiet sort of peace came over him, canceling out the cheers of the strikes behind.

Chiharu lagged behind for a second as she looked at the stick <Wizard Commander Kinai's magical wand of lightning>, but soon shrugged and caught up with Izumi.

"Hey, do you like Omurice?"

Izumi was grateful that there was even a mention of food. For back in his dorm, his rations for the evening would be a packet of kettle-cooked crisps and freeze-dried banana chips. Far from fulfilling any reasonable hunger being snacks. With a grateful look, he glanced back, "It isn't a favorite but I haven't had much since the morning so it's welcome." Reasonable, filling and with all the makings of an actual meal, little reason to decline the offer. Being last in line for breakfast and being stuck with lukewarm porridge was the fate he was resigned to before. The rest of the day was spent in class or outside, with the afternoon being taken up by storm gazing. Lunch was a total wash, having the line close on him just as he reached the line. With few funds at hand, there was little hope to buy elsewhere. Omurice was a saving grace once he reached a plate. Reaching fairer ground was still the current priority and he had want for assurance that wherever they were to eat this, it was close by.

"I was just thinking that I have everything in my dorm to make some, but if there's something else you would like more, I could see what I could do."
She paused for a second before looking to Izumi and asking, "So, do you? Want something else?"

"It might be strange to you to note, but yes, I would. Reason being is that it's something native to Okinawa. Taco Rice. Not even that difficult, taco rice is simply the contents of a taco, ground beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and salsa on a bed of rice. Not exactly the healthiest meal but since I was out burning what I ate, it hardly affected me." There was some doubt that she had those rations. Still, if it was required he could just guide the home economics room open and raid it for what it had. That would reap a better harvest than just going off whatever Chiharu had in her dorm. "After that, no, not much else." There was no need to pay too much heed to the hunger by another token. Just enough was what he was taught and it hadn't failed him yet. Any more was wasteful, the energy would burn slowly as all he were to do once he was alone was study until exhausted.

<Shredded beef should suffice, I could cook it in some soy sauce, shin-mirin, and the last of the sake I smuggled in at the beginning of the year. I only have 2 tomatoes, which I would need in the salsa along with some togarashi. I can't remember if I have any shishito, that would be great in a salsa. I don't have any cheese. Other than that, I should have everything>

After a short moment of silent thought, Chiharu responded with, "That should work. That is, if you don't mind a lack of tomato slices and cheese."

"If left to myself once we get there, the rest shouldn't be too difficult for me to get." The home economics room was a simple jury-rigging of the door at that hour. The cheese in the fridge, tomatoes in the crisper all ready for digesting. Whilst he trusted Chiharu, the more people added to the equation, the more chance for human error. Then all his know-how becomes forfeit due to new rulings or a better lock. If it was just him, whilst suspicions would be raised, the infrequency of his heists were enough to keep grumblings to petty arguments. He was content to leave it that way.

"What for drinks?"

"I may be a cook, but I'm no bartender. The vending machines can handle the drinks."
Upon relaying her response, Chiharu gave Izumi a sly grin.

Her statement also meant this was left to him. Fair, but conjured a new question. "Have an idea what you want if anything then?" It had flipped on him for mutualities' sake. He hadn't minded having to pick up his share. All it did bother was adding a factor to keep an eye on whilst entering the home economics room. Janitors don't usually leave pools of puddles no matter how small anywhere. This school had a meticulous eye for such trivialities.

Chiharu left the air silent for a moment as she thought, but soon replied with a shrug.
"I'll probably figure it out when we get there."
She then returned the question.
"How'bout you? Do you have a predetermined choice?"

The one. The one drink that has ever crossed his parched lips with the succor they so desired. The life-fluid of his contemporaries. Aetheric liquid of the most savour, rich with it's delectable palette and subtle aftertaste. The stormwater held no candle to what majesty was soon to befall Izumi once he reached the old rustbucket. Sapporo Melon Soda, the fizzy lifting drink of ancient champions. Ever since the first sip, Izumi was enthralled by the captivating hex the drink put on him. It was unhealthy but all of the worst crimes were. There was an order placed on keeping the boy away from the fridge at home whenever it was bought. Here he had free reign. As long as he had yen, he had Sapporo.

To allow him a choice was to make a mistake. One he would oblige in constancy until the gases came calling. With a grin that belied absent-minded buffoonery. One would have thought that he was to become one of the clouds and drift off into a new strata with how far gone he seemed. He snapped out of his lucid daydreaming where he was chasing the machine back to school to reply. "Yes, I know exactly what I want."

As the backgate was soon to become before them, Chiharu continued to question Izumi with a tone of playful curiosity.
"Oh? Do you mind sharing this choice of yours so that it may make mine an easier one?"

From space-time to real time, it was the time to fall back in line. With that came another reply, now back to present occurrences. "Sapporo melon soda. There's not much I'd cheat on my diet for. However, since we're already stretching the boundaries of it, might as well take it to the farthest extents I'd go." The day after would be the work of many men compressed in the exploits of one. He was to feel the sleep the day even after tomorrow, not easily recuperating from such workouts. Cheating on his diet had those consequences. He could in all accounts simply not follow through with it, but the guilt that his mind inevitably succumbed to would bring him to the gym. The gym was his purging. Now, he was stolid, not even keeping accounts of what was to come. Truly minor in else but his estate for the foreseeable, for a teen, that was life. No amount of analytic thought now would salvage the hypocrisy of such marginalizing. Health was a long term concern which was the out in this, otherwise considerably narrow-sighted was this.

Chiharu seems somewhat surprised as she replies.
"Cheat on your diet? I never thought of you as someone who would be worried about keeping to a diet."
She then looks towards the distance before continuing.
"But then again, you do have a tendency to worry about more things than you should."

"It's not about worry, it's simple health. Having one has been particularly helpful in remaining fit." Izumi looked a bit slighted by this. What had occurred in the past wasn't exactly going to project itself in the future. There wasn't a ratio other than what would be considered "knowing" the person. A notion quite comical as people rarely know themselves much less could gauge others. Habits could be gauged and personalities don't vary, which helps the illusion across, yet that was one part of a sum which has many more. Izumi was certain that this wasn't the product of some worry. It wasn't as if he couldn't work out blind, not seeing where the pull-up bar was is a different story.

By this time, the two students have made their way onto academy grounds.

"I've always been more of the mindset that you should do as you please, within reason ofcourse. But I guess that's where our philosophies differ."
Chiharu then shifts her gaze from the horizon towards the person walking beside her on the path as she gives him a nudge while saying, "But you know what?"
She lets out a smile before continuing with, "I'm okay with that."

Izumi smiled, it was rare to find a person who wouldn't find one way or another to take an disagreement and turn it into a skirmish. "Glad to hear it." He then took in the fact they were back at the school, a feeling of actually being happy to be there came to him. "I haven't thought that I would feel comforted of being back here. I am grateful that we are." Had he not halted his stride, he would have perhaps ran toward the school, the shelter. Instead he took Chiharu's hand in his and attempted to match her pace as they gradually returned back to the dorms.