The Wonders of Japan (Sukiro)

Damien shook his head sadly. Things apparently did not decide to go his way today. For whatever reason, Lady Luck was having her day off, and would have nothing to do with Damien. Kiryu had ‘asked’ him to look into some of the disappearances, both as a member of the Discipline Committee and as a resident of Nadashiki. And for the past couple days, he had been finding nothing but dead ends and trouble. Of course, I probably should have seen that fight coming. Ask enough questions in a bad neighborhood, and you get answers you never wanted. Damien chuckled softly to himself. Still, he had gotten out of that fight with nothing more than bloody knuckles, and after a quick jaunt to (and takeover of) the school’s infirmary, Damien was all patched up and good to go.

Cheering up, Damien reminded himself of the sole reason he had decided to come to the super mall: he had a date on Saturday, and he needed some decent clothes- preferably something without blood on them. He probably couldn’t even get into the Nowakia neighborhood with his current attire. Doesn’t have to be a freakin’ 3-piece… just has to look nice enough that the cops don’t get called on my ass. Smiling at his joke, Damien began his trek through the urban wilderness, starting at a sports good store to get something for his hands.

An hour later, Damien was completely lost. Never before had he ever been unsure about his choices, but damn was that insecurity retaliating in spades. Goddammit, how the hell am I supposed to impress a freakin’ rich girl? Damien’s stomach growled at him, demanding sustenance and eliciting a wince from its fury. Uggh… screw this. Try coming back with a full stomach, maybe then I’ll actually be able to think about this. A clear plan of action in mind, Damien began looking around for any place that served food. Hell, he would’ve gone for Chinese food if he had seen it. But something wonderful wafted past his nose, and like a bloodhound, he tracked down the restaurant and entered.

“Welcome! Do you have an appointment?” A bubbly girl before him asked. Damien frowned before beginning to leave. “What? Oh, no, sorry about that. Anyways, see y-” “No no no! It’s quite alright! Besides, today’s rather slow, anyways. Let me seat you and we’ll have a waitress for you as soon as possible! Thank you for your patronage, sir!” “Ah? O-okay.” Damien managed as he was ushered into his seat. He was rather taken aback by the girl’s sheer force of personality- that, and the weird French Maid thing she had going on.

Looking around, Damien saw that the place was indeed empty, with himself and a couple older men in the opposite corner of the cafe as the sole customers at the moment. What this great dearth of people only proved to Damien was just how strange the dress code seemed to be here: just about every single one of the girls here seemed to be waltzing around in the same Maid-ish outfit. What the hell is this place, the Japanese Hooters? Damn, but Japan never ceases to amaze. Damien thought, shaking his head, marveling at all the crazy stuff Japan was into. Damien had been expecting weirdness from Japan, but man, this little country really like exceeding expectations. Shrugging to himself, Damien began to scan the menu, wondering just what to get.

Another day within the Super Malls only Maid Cafe was packed as usual before a sudden change in pace as the time went by. The customers within the Mall started to dwindled, so the amount of customers that were entering the Cafe dwindled as well. Only a few people came in looking for something to chow down on or get a few drinks with some friends. As for the Waitresses some of them stayed in the back within the kitchen waiting for people to enter the cafe, as one of them stood by the door waiting on people for them to get ready.

"Ugh today's such a slow day. Maybe we should just close for the rest of the day."

One of the waitresses said to the rest, drinking her own little cup of coffee along with the others circling around the main part of the kitchen along with the chefs that was making the food for the people that were still here within the cafe, along with Mio fixing her things within her locker.

"Hey Mio! Come out and help out this man with his order."

Shouted one of the waitresses walking into the locker room toward Mio making her jumping in place in fear, her hair flowing down as she landed and looked toward the door way. The waitresses walked away with Mio following closely behind before they went their separate ways, with Mio exiting the back into the main part of the Cafe. With her grabbing a menu she walked over to the man that had just entered the cafe.

"Hello and Welcome to the Super Malls one and only Maid Cafe. How may I serve you?~"

She asked the man in a confident tone.

Damien cursed silently to himself as he attempted to read the menu. Reading in a secondary language was never fun, but Japanese was just torture. That, and they had two separate alphabets to memorize, for no apparent reason other than to make foreigners miserable. Why the hell did the Japanese make their language so damned difficult, anyways? If you’re not sure whether someone is saying ‘death,’ ‘four,’ or ‘potted plant,’ you have a problem. He grumbled to himself, finally puzzling out the cipher of kanji. Adding up the yen and converting that to American currency, Damien figured out what wouldn’t break the bank- which is not much, admittedly. Quite a bit of the food seemed overpriced, here.

Yet another girl in the weird maid outfit flounced- because that was the perfect descriptor of her movement, flouncing- over to him, asking for his order. But her first words suddenly dispelled the fog of confusion surrounding Damien. Maid Café? That’s a friggin’ thing over here? Certainly explains all the weird dresses… and the perverted fogeys in the corner. Damien thought, rather uncharitably. Who knows? Maybe the two old men were just like Damien, looking for a random place to eat? Still, Damien suspected otherwise, for some reason. Perhaps it was how they leered at every girl to pass by, or attempted to get in a pinch should the server move too close. Who knows?

“Oh, I’ll have the spaghetti, if you don’t mind.” Damien looked up at the girl as he put down his menu, and memory flipped up a flashcard. I know you from somewhere… He thought. Finally, recognition flashed in his eyes. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to go to Kizuna Academy, would you? I’m Damien Lier, class 2-A.” That’s right. He had seen her at the latest meet for the Athletics Club. Akira had asked him to go and make sure the Cheer Squad didn’t get to rowdy. Despite the team’s loss, Damien remembered that the blonde girl had placed well.

Mio had nodded at his decision of choosing the spaghetti for his order before writing it down on a small note pad that she had kept within one of the small pockets on her apron. As she began to write upon it the man himself was giving her an awkward stare that kinda was putting her in a curious yet a little scared of what he was actually doing. She couldn't have just assumed that he was staring her down for his own personal reasons though before she knew it he spoke once again.

"I know you from somewhere…"

She jumped from the examination, though she of course knows that she's never seen him before in her life. Tilting her head in confusion she stared the man down to make sure that he's someone she's never met.

"I see.."

She said hesitantly as she gripped the note pad tighter before he spoke.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to go to Kizuna Academy, would you? I’m Damien Lier, class 2-A.”

Mio let out a huge sigh of relief as it wasn't more then a misunderstanding on her part and just one of her fellow students that recognized her. Though she still didn't know who he was probably being a grade above her own and her little trip away from school she's been unable to tell which are students and which aren't.

"Yes I'm from Kizuna. I'm Kiyomi Mio, from class 1-A. Thanks cool that we meet like this. I've gotten a few other visit from other students before. Oh almost forgot your order, I'll be right back!"

Mio spoke more freely knowing that she knew that it was a student though it might have worked to well that she had forgotten her own job. She takes the menu from under him seeing as he's not going to need it before rushing back into the kitchen to place down the order. After that was all said and done, she returned to Damien sitting beside him.

"So what brings you here!?"

She asked curiously.