Moshi Moshi

Italics = Thoughts

Moshi Moshi - Standard Japanese Greeting when answering the phone.
Okonomiyaki - A Japanese battered pancake, but much different than American pancakes in that the batter can be a mixture of cabbage, flour and milk, egg, and other ingredients such as cheese or any sort of protein or veggie you like, making its translation of "grilled as you like it" very fitting.

__________________________________________________________________________

"This movie is supposed to be scary?" Asuka asked, gesturing to the television screen; at the two women conducting a séance to connect with the main actress's dead daughter.

She felt Shinsuke shrug his shoulders as she was currently resting her head on one of his arms. "The genre said horror."

"It's too weird to be scary. Like I'm way more busy trying to figure out what's going on to be scared," she complained, though not blaming him. She had picked the movie after all.

A week after their date at her house, Shinsuke invited her over to his place for dinner and a movie.

Asuka came with a gift, which she presented to him immediately. Unlike him, she couldn't wait to give him the gift because the longer she held onto it, the more her anxiety of what he would think of it weighed on her.

He had been reluctant at first upon her request for him to open it right away in her presence but acquiesced when she insisted.

His teeth flashed when he smiled, his eyes crinkling. "Still think I'm a kitsune?" he chuckled, holding up a fox-shaped suncatcher from the gift box. She had seen it at a small craft festival in town and couldn't resist purchasing it for him.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Shinsuke," she replied, innocently batting her eyelashes at him. "I don't intend to get you drunk so your illusion will wear off and expose your tail."

Shinsuke eyed her shrewdly. "I'm watching you."

With the gift-giving out of the way and her spirits brightened at his reception, he began showing her around. His house wasn't much bigger than hers and was organized, well in a chaotic sort of way.

Many small succulent plants occupied his windowsills – he lovingly hung his new sun catcher above them. There was artwork everywhere; a mixture of purchased prints and sculptures, as well as his paintings, littered the house. She quickly realized which were his after seeing the same signature on multiple works, a variation of his usual signature. Shinsuke's style varied from complete abstractness to vaguely recognizable subjects, to portraits. The least organized room was his art studio, while the most structured rooms were his bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, though they still carried an air of controlled disorder.

Shinsuke apologized shyly for the clutter of his home, but Asuka waved it off.

"I like it. Makes it look like you've lived in here."

"Heh...I guess I can be a bit of an accumulator," he admitted with a hint of a blush.

She examined his paints and some of his works in progress. "Well seeing a little of your personality here and there is nice." She winked at him.

Shinsuke's cheeks flushed a little darker and she found it absolutely endearing.

A well-kept wooden patio deck greeted them as soon as they stepped out his back sliding door. Beyond the deck was a reasonably sized fenced-in backyard for a home located in the city of Orlando. Next to the house was a medium sized shed, which contained all of Shinsuke's surfboards and other swim gear.