The Most Important Meal of the Day [PRIVATE]

Hideo Yuudeshi

Hideo thought for a moment, then nodded. "That makes more sense. Never really got the whole 'romantic' stuff." Hideo waved it off. "Not my cup of tea." Hideo was glad to see that she didn't press it much. They would get along so long as he didn't treat her like a small dog a woman could hide in her handbag (despite Kaminari being able to fit in said handbag) and so long as she didn't threaten him. He was going to stifle the many "who's a good girl?" he had stored up.

"...I promise not to abuse that too." Hideo immediately chimed in as she explained a downfall of hers. Her strange-ness was beginning to make more and more sense. Amnesia was one hell of an affliction. The two continued on, and Hideo began formulating more of an opinion of Kaminari. She seemed to want to be taken seriously, despite how puppyish she was. He could help her with that. Many people had commented on how scarily some of the Yuudeshis could contort their faces. Hideo was, of course, no exception.

Beyond that, Kaminari was curious to the point of dangerous. She wasn't dangerous to him, but to herself. She nearly fell off that embankment earlier due to curiosity. He'd have to keep an eye on her or find some way to keep her attention. Food, right now, was the best bet. Thus, he asked for her opinion first. This might haven given him more insight, but of course she had no idea what to even eat. "Karakura is sorta an international hodgepodge. Sure we got the whole Japanese architecture and such, but there's so many places we can probably get just about anythin'. I'm going to suggest somethin' simple though." Hideo did not say another word about his choice.

Kaminari took the hint and ended up asking about his hospital trip. It was something he was surprisingly comfortable talking about. "Got into a fight. Really messed up my nervous system, so had to get a new one." Hideo thought for a moment. "And I won it. It was... worth it in my opinion. Doctor said I was in a coma for two years too. I've been in therapy for the past three tryin' to get used to the new stuff I have in here." Hideo knocked on the side of his head. It still sounded like a normal human doing that.

"And as for your other question, nope. Most women I don't treat. Most of the ones I come across are just straight-up bitches. And I ain't a guy who can deal with bitches." Hideo nodded a little too emphatically as they came across their stop. It was something found only in suburbia, near the exit of a major highway. Hideo looked at the large, yellow sign with profound approval. Its blocky letters remained the same, spelling the same pair of words as he loved: W-A-F-F-L-E H-O-U-S-E. Beneath it was the same name, but in Katakana: ワッフル ハウス "This is the only one of these this side of the Pacific. All the others are in America. I have missed this place."

Kaminari Hatakeyama

Kaminari did not know what to make of this man, but she was glad nothing moved into a fight. Apparently he was a pretty good fighter. At least she could assume so from his description. She wasn't able to sense much from him when it came to his power though. It was there, but it felt strangely wild with a natural flow to it. It was like waves breaking onto the beach. It was a beautiful feeling, but not something you'd want to get caught in on a bad day. Sensing that made her curious as to what he felt around her, but she kept that question to herself. Prying into his powers is a no because prying into hers would upset her. Instead, she pried into his fight and got an interesting answer. "A coma for two years?" Kaminari shuddered at the thought, "I guess I can relate with however much time passed for me, but I don't actually know. I'd have to find out when exactly I disappeared."

The two arrived at some sort of restaurant called something. It took Kaminari a moment to find the sign in her language. "House of Waffles?" she muttered, raised an eyebrow, and asked under her breath, "What the honk is a waffle?" She wasn't expecting an answer and just followed Hideo in. The place was brightly colored and felt very outdated. Everything outside was pristine, sharp, and modern, but this place felt so... old... The two were sat at a table and given menus. Kaminari tilted her head and read the thing. Luckily, it was in Japanese and she could understand it! There were pieces of the English menu she thought she was understanding, but shook that off because she understood Japanese better. "I'll order what you're having. I trust you not to poison me." Kaminari smile widely and set the menu down, happily putting the decision in her new friends hands!

Hideo Yuudeshi

Hideo kept a lot of what he was locked away. He wasn't going to out himself as a Yuudeshi (although she may have had suspicions if she knew what a Yuudeshi was), nor was he going to explain his powers. However, most people have a certain rhythm to their aura. In Hideo's case, it was reiatsu. As a water-type Zanpakutou holder, his would naturally have something to do with water or something similar. There were other factors about him that detailed that more, but Kaminari was too much of an unknown to share that with.

Kaminari confirmed that she was amnesiac. It was sad for someone (apparently) so young. So many of their few years of life... just gone. He hoped she'd get those memories back, or at least that she'd be able to start a new life without the old one getting in the way too much. Hideo nodded. "I hope it wasn't for too long. Despite my coma only being for two years, there were a lot of... developments. I'm still not caught up, and I've been awake for three. We'll get you seen to soon though. Hopefully it'll help." Hideo's mouth went into a line momentarily. "Not knowing where you are is absolutely terrifying."

At the brick-and-mortar cafe known as "Waffle House," Hideo could hear the grease sizzling and clinking of silverware before he even opened the second set of doors. This was all imagined unfortunately, as the restaurant was almost dead inside. It was not a lunch time or breakfast rush. A pair of men sat at the bar, three seats apart from one another. It was just as Hideo remembered it. "A waffle is... sort of a bread thing. It's soft and usually served with a syrup on top. I've never had to describe a waffle."

"So you got any allergies?" She seemed to not remember, which was a bit of a problem. He would take responsibility though. The waitress came over, offering them drinks. Hideo ordered them both a glass of orange juice. He did not take a protest from Kaminari. He also ordered for them both. Hideo got them both a sausage, egg, and cheese melt. He got their hashbrowns covered—which meant they had cheese on them. He also ordered a waffle to split between the two of them. The waitress turned around and gave the chef the order. The interesting thing about Waffle House was that there was no seperate kitchen. There was a bar and a half-wall dividing the kitchen and dining area. So, Kaminari could see them cooking her food. "So, I feel like I should ask. What do you remember?"

Kaminari Hatakeyama

After his comment on things being terrifying, Kaminari went a little quiet. She was deep in thought most of the time and could be caught dazing out. Besides answering his question on allergies with a blank stare, a shrug, and an "I don't know," Kaminari was mostly quiet. She let him order for them both and only understood a few things he said. She knew what eggs were and sausage, but how the fuck to you melt them? That left her mind boggled as well. Kaminari, for once, wasn't curious about her surroundings. She took in the area a bit, but didn't ask any questions or seemed confused by anything. She fell back into her own thoughts. "Honestly? Nothing. I only know my name because of someone else..."

"And you're right..." she spoke up again after a moment of silence. She stared down at the table, her brow furrowed and her hands in her lap. "It is terrifying. I don't know really who I am, where I am, or truly how I got here. And when I say I don't know where I am, I mean it. I couldn't even tell you what planet I'm on, or what realm I am in. I know there are multiple, but... I don't know. I don't even know if Silver is in this realm or if we got separated that badly. If he was, I wouldn't know how to find him. He's the only thing of my old life that I had, and I didn't even know him that well back then from what he explained. I don't know if I'm allergic to anything, if I've got a family, my age... I couldn't even tell you my race if Silver hadn't told me first, and even then... I've questioned whether I could truly trust him. Was he manipulating me? Lying to get me to help him get home? Is that why he vanished when we went through the portal... Maybe he no longer needed me..."

Hideo Yuudeshi

Hideo was more than a little perplexed. She didn't seem to know anything about herself. ...or where she was. ...or where she is. There was so much unknown, and that would end up hurting her chances of finding what she needed out. To Hideo, it was almost a lost cause. It would probably be easier for her to start a new life rather than try to get her old one back. It wasn't just easier, but far more possible. Beyond that, Hideo, at this time, didn't trust a single person to try to claim her except for this "Silver" person. He'd look into him though.

"Well, you have one thing known." Hideo raised a finger after much thought. It was almost an awkward silence between them until then. "You can't read English—I saw you strugglin' to read the sign—and you can read Japanese. Language is one of the few things you probably would remember I would think. Although... Did this 'Silver' re-teach you how to speak and read? Or did you remember that? Any link would be good to helpin' find out who you are." Hideo didn't know exactly how to help her, but he'd try for now.

It wasn't long before the waitress returned with their food. It was simple and definitely not a 5-star meal, but it was Waffle House. It was probably good. "Don't mean to be offensive, but do you know how to eat these?" Hideo pointed to the sandwich-like melts on their plate. It was simple enough, but depending on how much she knew (or didn't know in this case), Kaminari might actually not know how to eat this...

Kaminari Hatakeyama

Kaminari looked up from the table and tilted her head at him. She didn't know what this one thing she knew was. The awkward stare off between them ended when he mentioned her ability to read. It kind of confused her more. She could kind of read the other words, but it was easier to read the Japanese. It was like there were bits and pieces she wasn't recognizing. Oh well. Maybe that's just how people worked. "No, I knew how to speak, read, and write... I could remember a lot of basic stuff, like how to dress myself. I forgot what some things were called, but muscle memory took over actions. However, I did have a hard time tying these shoes I tried wearing, but I'm not sure if that was me or the type of shoe... maybe the type of knot. I don't know..." Kaminari shrugged and waved off the conversation as the food was sat in front of them. She was a little stunned.

Everything looked good, and even smelled good, until she got to the hashbrowns. She planned on avoiding them as she went to try eating. "It's just a stack, right?" Kaminari picked the sandwich up and was going to eat it like normal, "Is there some special way of eating it?" She looked at the 'stack' and put it back down. She went to take off the top layer and eat it by layer just in case it was wrong to eat with your hands. "Like this?" she asked, waiting for correction or confirmation.

Hideo Yuudeshi

Hideo nodded. That was a good sign. Besides how she looked, it was more than likely she was Japanese—both culturally and genetically. "Well, then that's good. You can read and speak Japanese... and it was from before your amnesia. It's something that you were able to keep. I think it's a good sign to figurin' out more about yourself." Hideo was, unfortunately, working under a flawed assumption. This assumption was that she wanted to return to her old life. Kaminari might not want to do that. She may want to start a new life. It was possible. Rare, but possible. Unless Hideo was told otherwise, he was going to try to work on getting her life back.

"A... stack?" Hideo had no idea what she meant by that. That wasn't terminology he had heard of. ...Was it even terminology elsewhere? She had been speaking oddly, and Hideo never caught the clues that she was talking of somewhere else-else. She was about to eat it right, then decided to try layer-by-layer. It was an odd type of cute. Going back to the puppy metaphor, Hideo was teaching her a new trick. He snickered and smiled. "...Ah, nah. That's not how you eat that. You had it right the first time."

He raised his melt like a normal person. It was exagerrated to show her what it was meant to be like. He took a bite and was reminded of so much. It was fantastic for him. It wasn't a 5-course meal, but he didn't care. It was a lot of memories and something he had been missing for five years. He looked over to Kaminari, curious as to if she liked it. If she didn't, he'd eat hers too. "So, how is it? It the kind of food you like?"

Kaminari Hatakeyama

Kaminari kept the thoughts to herself because they were something she often thought about. For a brief moment, her expression saddened, but only for a moment. After feeling her stomach growl again, she decided food was the important thing! She was going to try this weird yellowy stack with brown stuff in it. She couldn't remember what Hideo had called it. When she started eating it layer by layer though, she was stopped and told the other way was right!

An excited and proud moment came to Kaminari when she realized she knew how to do something. Something here wasn't that much different than it was there. "See, I can remember some things!" Kaminari kicked her little legs excitedly and picked the stack up to take her first bite. It wasn't bad at all; it definitely wasn't her favorite thing in the world, but it was good. She got through half the sandwich before he got a chance to ask her. She looked up to him with cheeks puffed up from the food she stuffed in, chewed, and swallowed before speaking.

"It's good. I don't want that thing though." she pointed to the cheese covered thing on her plate. She glared at it, as if she had been offended by it in some way. In reality, she didn't trust the yellow paste that covered it. "I like the stack. What is all this?" She picked up the other half and looked in it curious about its contents. "Oh, lurik and col on falk... I think." she blinked and looked to Hideo, "What are these in our language? Where I was before had their own language, so I'm used to that."

Hideo Yuudeshi

Hideo really had no idea how to handle this young girl. She was odd, sure, but he had dealt with odd in the past. It was her particular type of odd that was beyond him. He had never dealt with an amnesiac before, let alone one who apparently hadn't even been in the same realm. It was what it was though. He could walk away—his only option to leave her and her problems. But that would be the dick thing to do. And well, Hideo may be a dick, but he wasn't going to go around and advertise it. Besides, she already was abandoned once. He wasn't going to do that to her again.

Thankfully, they could bond over one thing. This food, while not the best, was good. It was greasy in the right ways while being not entirely healthy nor unhealthy. It was a great "splurge" meal when you were on the go. Hideo raised an eyebrow at the language she spoke. It sounded like some kind of bastardized French. He also didn't know how French could get more bastardized. "I have no idea what any of those things are. Whatever language that is, I've got no way of translatin'."

However, he was going to give her an explanation of what made it up. He decided to go into a bit more detail than he would with any other person. he pointed out each of the ingredients with his knife—a dull thing with serrated edges. "But, that's toasted bread, pork sausage patted out, an egg, and some cheese—don't ask me what kind of cheese, I have no idea. I'm not one of those 'fancy' people who knows the differences between most cheeses." Hideo pointed to the hash browns covered with cheese. "That's just diced up potatoes fried and with melted cheese on top of 'em." Hideo didn't blame her for potentially not liking the way it looked. He didn't like the way they looked today. But they tasted the same as ever.

Hideo thought for a moment, then decided to ask her a serious question chain. "So your friend that was supposed to meet you... 'Silver.' Was he going to meet you here in Karakura? Or is this just where you ended up? Does he happnen to know to meet you here?" Hideo took a bite of food, then continued. "I ask 'cause if he is supposed to be here, when we meet with the people I mentioned before, we can put out a BOLO—that's a 'be on the lookout'—for him and see if he pops up."

Kaminari Hatakeyama

"Poe-Tay-Toe." Kaminari repeated, that being the only word she liked out of everything he said, "Yeah, you can have them. I'll just stick with the stack." Kaminari happily continued eating her food until Hideo asked her a question. She didn't even have to think on it. She shook her head. "No, none of that." she said and put the stack down. She made sure to finish her last bite before speaking again.

"What happened was... We were looking for about eight months to find a way back home." she explained, wiping her hands on a napkin, "When we finally did, it was this man with powers like Silver's. He could open portals and was able to get us home. We were supposed to arrive in the same place at the same time, so the separation was not expected. In fact, it has me questioning both that man's motives and Silver's. I don't know why he'd just up and leave me like that, but it's possible, I guess... When I arrived, the portal did kind of spit me out like a sling shot. Got hurt and everything, but Tsubasa and Saisei found me out there and helped me out."