Mask/Off

"Huh? What...?" Yasu was snapped at the wave of her hand in front of his face. "S-sorry, you're talking about something?" he turned his face to Kozue and smiled sheepishly.

That was bad, to say the least. After asking her to hang out together, he somehow dozed off and ignored the girl. That's what he got for thinking too much. Geez, man, get your act together... he scolded himself. He probably could have thrown an excuse like he's a little tired from the job and all, but he decided not to.

"Won't happen again."

"Well, I'm a little insulted, not gonna lie. I mean, I know I'm not quite as gifted in the upper body as most AFW girls." She thumped her poor, itty bitty titties. "But you could at least pretend that I'm good to look at. Sheesh."

She managed to look serious for all of two seconds before she gave it up with a laught and gave him a little kick in the shin, right as the waitress came back with their drinks all quick-like. Working hard for that 15%. Sure enough, the poor lemon was drowning at the bottom.

"It's straight, my man. You just took a detour into La-La Land. It happens." She ripped the straw open and flung the balled up paper in the garbage, getting a good shot from ten feet away. Still had the skills, nice. "I was just going to ask what a day in the life of Yasu the AFW Janitor is like. But now I'm kind of curious what got you thinking so hard, back there. That was some heavy-duty thought."

"W-wha...? I..." he blurted out at her words, only to have a dumbfounded expression as Kozue just laughed and gave him a little kick. "Oh... Well, sorry."

He quickly took the glass of water that was delivered by the waitress and drank like a quarter of it. Well, that helped a bit. It's good that she didn't really take offense to his daydreaming, but that was still an awful mistake to make. Most girls wouldn't take that too well, probably.

"Oh trust me, it's not the most interesting story ever," he waved a hand dismissively. "Being a janitor in general already sucks. Now if you add a place where blood and other kind of liquids were involved..." he smirked. "W-well, I was just... you know... I rarely hang out with girls... soo..."

Yasu was pretty cute, in that lost lamb sort of way. As a rule, Kozue preferred her men more assertive, strong-willed, but there was something to be said for the softer guys, too. It was nice to just hang around and talk, easy like Sunday morning, and this was guy was perfect to do it with. No threats, no problems, no muss, no fuss.

"Well, there's some perks to being a janitor, don't sell yourself short. Like, uuuuuh." Fuck, painted herself into a corner. Think,think, think. "Job security!" She clapped, startling some of the neighbors. "People always need something cleaned, you never lack work, that's always good. Girl's love stability in a guy, that's a plus. You got a decent body going on, and you're not an asshole, which automatically put you ahead of about, say, 95% of the competition. You work on that confidence and you'll be a superstud, I can see it."

That clap made him glanced around, looking if there were any other customers giving them some weird looks. She probably didn't care. On the other hand, Yasu was a regular in this place, so he couldn't help but to feel a bit antsy.

"Ha, I never heard about a girl who dates a janitor," he joked. "I mean, they're probably think it's a gross job, which, was quite true by the way. "...but if you say so..."

Kozue seemed nice. Better than a lot of girls he saw in AFW anyways. Sure, what she said was pretty random with the stats and all, but how often you meet people who didn't really look down on janitors? He just smiled faintly.

"A-anyways! Pay my job no attention... I mean, you're here to hear about, uh, The Mask, right?"

"It's just a matter of putting the right packaging on it. When they ask, don't tell them you're a janitor - you're a 'waste management specialist'. Sounds professional, yet at the same time? Subtly dirty. Try it, I promise results."

She threw another smile his way and crossed her leg, tilting the chair back as she leaned a bit further. He was still more uptight than a snare drum, but it looked like he was starting to deflate some and ease into the groove, as much as a guy like him could reasonably do.

"But yeah, the Mask, let's talk about the Mask." She idly tapped her earring back and forth with her index finger, a little quirk while she thought. "You said you saw him i the underground? Illegal sort of stuff? Kind of risque for you, I'm surprised."

Waste management specialist. That sounded way better than a janitor. More complex too. Kinda made him reminded of that clip he watched about [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o25I2fzFGoY:t4oqv06k]a comedian mocking the usage of "soft languages"[/url:t4oqv06k] a while back.

"O-oh, yeah. I did. It was, uh, not too far away from my place. Definitely not legal. Well, I just heard about it from a few, uh, acquaintances... so like, one night I decided to check the place out of boredom..."

He paused for a bit, as if trying to recollect his memories from those days.

"Well, my neighborhood isn't really the safest place ever. My family isn't loaded after all. I've seen fights on the streets... got into a couple of them as well sometimes. You know, thugs and such... That league? It's closed now, I think. But they're almost similar to the shows on TV, like UFC and stuffs, just more... brutal at times, I guess."

She sipped away on her lemonaded water as he talked, chuckling bubbles into the water as he went. He finished up just as she finished the last sip and started licking at the ice cubes.

"Boredom, huh? When we get bored in Jersey, we go hang out at the skate park behind the closed mall and get old guys to buy us beer. In Japan, you go to fucking illegal fight clubs. Different worlds." She swirled her glass around, letting the cube dance about inside. "But, you know, hate to keep getting off on tangents, but, well...you can't expect me not to when you drop little bombs in the middle like that." She leaned in. "You..." She pointed his way. "...used to get into fights? Details, pony up."

Her clearly had the body to fight, but not the mentality - it was a hard thing to picture. But she was betting he didn't have a lying bone in his body, so he wasn't exaggerating, and that just made her all the more interested about the sort of life he led. They could talk more about the Mask in a moment, they had plenty of time.

"Well, it's just one visit, or supposed to. Get sucked into it before I really realized it... I don't know, the fights, they're just refreshing..."

He took another sip from his glass. Her question almost startled him, but it's not like he lied or something.

"A-as I said, there were thugs or delinquents even at school," explained Yasu. "If you looked like an easy target, then they're going to jump on you... for money or probably just satisfaction from beating someone up. I learn to fight, a little, just for self defense... "

Their foods were delivered shortly after, and just looking at his steamy bowl of ramen made Yasu's eyes brightened a bit.

"Thanks," he complimented the waitress before looking at Kozue and clasping his hands together. "Itadakimasu," he said before picking his chopsticks and spoon to eat his meal. "Man, nothing like a good meal after a..." he suddenly paused. "A tiring working shift!"

"I just get this awesome mental image of Little Yasu going all Karate Kid in the back of a school somewhere. Pretty awesome." She glanced to the side as the waitress brought back her yaki udon, laying the hot steamy bowl out in front of her. "The original, not the Jackie Chan remake. Always go old-school."

She put her hands together as well, mirroring him with only a second to spare. "Itadakimasu."

Kozue broke the chopsticks evenly - because she was good like that - and started digging in, savoring the authentic Japanese taste. "Good stuff. Mom was always making stuff like this, good to get the real thing for a change." She plopped a few shrimp in and chomped them around. "And amen. Nothing like a good meal after a hard day of ass-kicking."