My Funny Valentine

"Uh, yeah dude..." 

Johnny said, scratching the back of his head. "You still need ta rest and junk and I guess we're like, coworkers and junk, so it's cool, man..." Johnny said, flashing Jamie a sheepish smile.

"It's cool, man. I mean, it's no biggie or anything if you want a drink or somethin." Johnny said as Jamie began to fish through her bag. When she pulled out the stun gun, he laughed. Obviously she'd need one. Sometimes the streets of Tokyo could be surprisingly dangerous.

"You need help? Or you got it, man? You can show me in the café dude." He said as he began to walk to the café, making sure Jamie could follow.

"Rrrrgh..."

Jamie finally reached the conclusion that her deck of cards was gone forever. And it was supposed to be her big moment!

Well, she couldn't have that. She couldn't be deck-of-cardless when she was supposed to be wowing the super muscley pretty guy with her skills. He looked like... a zoo animal. But in the best possible way. His face looked like it had sharp edges, and would be really firm if she squeezed it. He made her feel funny.

"Okay, quick stop before we go to the cafe," she said, and glided off to a start on her skates, moving sideways as she circled once around Johnny. "C'mon!"

She tried to keep a lazy pace, but still ended up going faster than Johnny, so she would loop around things on the sidewalk and double back to him when he got too far behind.

"Wait. Where do you work? Coworkers?"

Johnny watched as Jamie took off. She seemed pretty energetic for someone who nearly died a second ago. He didn't let it bother him but he did begin to jog as she got further ahead. He didn't mind it too much though since he was out doing that in the first place.

"AFW, man." he said as Jamie asked where he worked. "That's where we met before. They only let people who work for the company in there, man." He said. "So, i just guessed you had to work there too! Do you wrestle and junk?" She didn't look like a wrestler one bit. "Or are you like, the other kinds of staff?"

"Oohhh... Yeah! I'm not a wrestler, though, I'm totally a ninja. I have top secret moves that only I know, and I can beat anybody. I beat real wrestlers all the time. Last time, it was like, the champ or something and I beat her so easy she was even impressed. I'm pretty amazing."

Jamie easily swished along with her hands behind her back, idly rollerblading in little patterns like some kind of sidewalk figure skater. She could hardly believe her luck! She had a new favorite dumpster, that was for sure.

"Okay, I just have to go in here to get cards for your magic trick..."

She ducked into a convenience store and clomped past the shopkeeper. "Oi!" He shouted at her, gesturing at her rollerblades. Jamie ignored him, and he didn't do anything about it because he was stuck behind the counter.

Jamie began to walk up and down each aisle, touching things and picking them up, putting them down, never holding onto anything. She passed a rack of small games and travel things where the playing cards were, and she picked up a deck, only to put it back down. She continued this way until she had made a lap around the entire store.

"Ready? Watch this." She smirked at Johnny.

"Cool, dude!" Johnny said with a grin. "Too bad you're not in tension, man." She didn't look tough at all but she knew plenty of smaller chicks who were tough.

He followed Jamie into the convenient store, wondering what she might need and watching as she passed by the clerk. <She's with me, I'll take care of it.> He said quickly in Japanese.

He followed Jamie while she lapped the store. "Uh, yeah, dude? I'm ready." He said, watching her expectantly.

"Why, what do you do in Tension?" Jamie asked without paying attention. She couldn't help but grin as her big moment came.

She shrugged her shoulders and strolled off to the door. The shop keeper, who had been watching her suspiciously the entire time, shouted at her again. "Oi!" He began pointing at her and her satchel.

"Oh, this guy," Jamie huffed. "I've been in here before. He's a jerk."

<Come here and empty your bag!> Demanded the shop keeper. Jamie looked helplessly at Johnny.

"Can you understand him?"

"I wrestle, dude." He said as he kept following her. "If you're as tough as you say, it'd be pretty gnarly to wrestle you and junk."

As they were leaving, it seemed the shop keeper had finally had enough. Johnny frowned. Was Jamie really stealing? Johnny sighed.

"Yeah, dude. I'm Japanese. It's, like, the first thing I learned to speak and junk. He says he wants to check your bag, dude."

"My... my bag?" Jamie said, with the lip quiver and everything.

She looked sheepishly at the shop keeper, and approached the counter with some hesitation. She blushed as she picked up her satchel and opened the flap. Carefully, she reached in and one at a time laid out a plastic Batman, her iPod, a purple yo-yo, another purple yo-yo, and a yellow ball with a two eyes on it and a slit in the middle, so that it opened like pac-man when the sides were squeezed.

She turned the bag upside down and patted the bottom of it to show that's all there was in it. She shrugged, and looked to Johnny. "I don't have any pockets or anything..." She said, patting the sides of her short skirt.

Johnny watched as Jamie emptied her bag. She didn't have much and he didn't think that she needed to be accosted like this.

<She's shown you her things. Can we go now?>

The shop keeper scowled and waved his hands dismissively. He grunted, but didn't try to stop Jamie, who sheepishly sheeped her way out the door.

Once on the sidewalk, she pulled on her belt and reached under her short-sleeved shirt and produced a shiny new deck of cards. She held it up proudly to Johnny, once she was standing off to the side where the shop keeper couldn't see her through the window.

"See? Ninja." She grinned.