He Was a Friend

/24/ He has a date. /

Eric threw the car keys on his bedside table. He glanced at the clock beside it, showing 6:25PM, Wednesday. His Day 1 at the convention is finally over.

He removed his coat and necktie, then lazily thew his body into the bed.

I'm tired. And hungry. And sleepy.

There were lots of food in the hotel but he really can't eat much before his presentation in the afternoon. He was able to successfully present his technical paper about robotic navigation, and at least three named companies approached him and Martha for future collaborations with them, with one of them being a big-shot. The next two days will just be a breeze, with them listening to other people's works.

He stretched his hands and opened his phone towards the ceiling. There were no messages.

We're supposed to meet up around 6:30PM, did she say where exactly—

Ring, ring.

Due to surprise, the phone directly fell down to his face.

"Ouch! Damn it—"

He immediately sat and looked at the caller, cursing. It was Louise. His fatigue quickly went down by fifty percent.

"Yo," he answered as casually as possible, trying to hide his happiness.

"What 'yo'? I thought 6:30PM in the lobby? Where are you?"

He jumped to stand as he put his phone on speaker and thew it on the bed.

"I just reached my room. I'll be there in five minutes", he answered, while removing his top and replacing it with a casual dark gray long sleeves.

"'Kay. We'll take the train," she said on the other line, and then hanged up.

Smirking, he changed into pants and got a black pull-over sweater on top of his long sleeves. He placed his wallet in his pocket and got his phone as well.

He was about to go out when he remembered it is chilly at night, considering it's December and it's the start of winter there.

It should be around 5 degree Celsius at night, he thought, and pulled a scarf, a bonnet and a windbreaker from his luggage bag before closing the door behind him.

He entered the lift to go down and reached the lobby in no time. There weren't much people around the lobby area so he was able to spot Louise immediately. He slowed down as he observed her. She was wearing a knee-length army green winter parka with feathery hood, black tights, mustard leather boots and a small black sling bag enough to fit only her phone, wallet and passport. It looks like she is wearing a gray dress but he wasn't sure because the coat is closed.

She was scanning the people around her, and then stopped at his direction. She then scuttled towards him.

Lol, she looks like a penguin.

Trying to hide his laughter (before she whack him again), he opened his mouth to ask where they will eat dinner.

"Where—"

"We'll go to Yurakucho," she said, before he can even ask.

He knotted his forehead.

Yurakucho?

Yurakucho Alley is a place full of 'izakaya' and 'yakitori' stalls under the actual train tracks. 'Izakaya' are japanese bars with variety of typically inexpensive side dishes that goes with their alcoholic drinks; and 'yakitori' is just grilled meat on sticks.

"We're gonna drink?" he confirmed.

So that's why she said we'll take the trains.

"Of course. Tonight's talk will be a long one. Oh, unless you have an issue, I forgot you still have work tomorrow—"

"Nope, it's fine," he interrupted. "Tomorrow morning's sessions are all unrelated to our company's product lines, so we're planning to skip that and go straight after lunch."

Nodding, she pulled out her bonnet from her coats pockets and wore it.

"Let's go?"

He pulled his own bonnet and answered, "Aye, aye, captain."