Turnip [Shouhei/Yuri]

He metaphorically couldn't believe it. (That's to say, he could believe it, but for the sake of exaggeration I said he couldn't.) Those were some weird looking avocados. There were actually no avocados. Someone at the grocery store put the avocado sign in front of the green apples. That's pretty wacky. Was it an employee? A customer? Intentional or on accident? Some things you'll never know. Yuri stood there, before taking a few steps to the right, and grabbing some potatoes from the incarrectly (that was a pun of carrot and correct) labeled carrot section. Usually grocery store produce is close to expiry, but potatoes are fine whenever, probably. He'd never seen a moldy potato in his life, after all. They just sorta started multiplying. Like singe cell organisms.

The cheerful tones of the song “Ue o Muite Arukou” blared appropriately through Shouhei Kagawa’s headphones as he shopped at the grocery store this day.  Titled “Sukiyaki” in America, it became one of the first hit Japanese songs in 1963.  How did he know this?  Mariko’s constant reminders of how he should respect the past of music and appreciate it  echoed in the back of his thoughts.  

Both the pop song and prospect of cooking a sukiyaki, or hotpot dish, had put pep in his step as he gingerly stepped around customers.  To the tune he wrapped and bagged the necessary vegetables he’d soon be soaking up in a delicious soup.  With his mind so caught up in food and music, Shouhei failed to follow the very title of this song:

“I Look Up When I Walk.”

“Oof,” he sputtered out, nearly tipping over his grocery bag in the process.  In bewilderment, he had found that he stumbled into someone from his school.  To Shouhei, the young boy looked as if he needed more vegetables in his life, as he had a pale and frail appearance.  Almost as if he had bumped into Shouhei one more time, he’d fall apart at the seams.  Shouhei’s cold blue eyes were met with the boy’s blank grey stare.

“S...Sorry.”

Hey, it was him! That kid from his school! Perhaps it wasn't fitting to say 'that kid' all familiar like when he actually had no idea who he was, though. "Don't worry," Yuri said. He heard the muffled sound of music coming from nearby headphones. Listening to music in public... It must be good, then. You know, it would be good to know what all the cool kids were listening to these days. After a moment, he asked "You like music? What are you listening to there?"

Slowly, but surely, did Shouhei’s eyebrow raise at what just happened.  First of all, someone from the Academy actually accepted his apology?  Without insulting him?  No comment about “being a pervert looking for an excuse to bump into people?”  Nevermind the first question, who didn’t like music.  But on top of all that, was this little guy actually interested in what Shouhei was listening to?

“Er… you probably wouldn’t like it,” Shouhei moved one of the headphone’s pieces off to the side to let the other student have a slightly better listen.  “It’s some dumb 50-something year old Japanese pop song.”

He didn't seem to have much confidence in his taste. "You like dumb music?" he asked jokingly. "That's a pretty unusual interest. I prefer good music, myself. If you've come to buy avocados, though, you'd better watch out. You see them, there?" He pointed to the apples. "Those are actually green apples." It would be a shame if he ended up buying apples by mistake.

The comment about dumb music soared over Shouhei’s head as his eyes were directed to the obvious apples that weren’t avocados.  He looked down at his bag, blinked several times, then back at the apples, blinked a few times more, then finally at this odd, sickly student from the Academy.

“...Thanks for the advice.  But I’m not cooking with apples today.  You need help shopping or something?  Like a seeing eye buddy or whatnot?”

Based on the comment of "not cooking with apples today," it seemed he was the type to shop daily for ingredients. From what Yuri had heard, most people buy large amounts of food for a week or so at a time. Those people are probably the ones who buy a bunch of junk food and get fat and die of heart failure before they reach fifty. It's good to see that there are those who care about their health. "I don't require help, my vision is fine, but I appreciate your offer. It's very kind to help strangers." He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "If you're not cooking with apples, then what are you cooking?" Yuri attempted to peer into the fellow's shopping bag.

It was… strange.  Clearly he said he didn’t need help seeing, but he was straining to look into Shouhei’s bag.  Then again there was a childlike curiosity behind it so Shouhei decided to play along.  He splayed open the bag wide for Yuri to see.

“I’m cooking a hot pot dish, sukiyaki more specifically.  You ever hear of it?”

He'd never heard of that dish in his life. "Yes, it's rather delicious, as is vegetable stew. That's what I'm preparing." It's a great way to drink water and eat food at the same time. Unless you used broth, as that's not water. It still has water in it, though, so it's a great choice. It also tastes really epic, just like sukuyaki probably does, whatever that is. "I don't want to hold you. I'd better get finished shopping myself. We might run into each other at Seven Stars sometime, perhaps. You're a student there, aren't you?"

Shouhei briefly wondered if he should start making less Japanese dishes and try to make stews and other foreign foods instead.  It was just that he was simply comfortable with what he knew and didn’t want to bother learning tons of new recipes.  After all his memory wasn’t that great to begin with- he was cooking sukiyaki because that one actually stuck to commitment.

“Oh... yeah, I go there too.  Name’s Shouhei Kagawa. Third year.  And you are?”

"My name is Yuri Ivanov. It appears we're in the same year. Nice to meet you." With that exchange done, he headed over to checkout. Hopefully the cashier wouldn't drop the orange juice again.