COTE: Koenji What if

Vol. 1 Chapter 11.4 - Gym buddies

After my meeting with Chabashira-sensei, I went to Keyaki at the agreed meeting place.

I saw Albert in the distance. Wow, he really does look massive compared to the other students. I haven't been able to fully appreciate how big he is as I usually only ever with him at the gym when there is no one else but Sudou, due to how early we all go to the gym in the morning. Even the seniors look tiny in comparison. He has built up a veritable paradise of muscle.

When Albert saw me coming over, he gave me an upwards head nod. I gave an upwards head nod back.

The classic male head nod. It is a way to signify many things, depending on the type of head nod. But in the case of a meeting between two people a distance away, there are two types of head nods. For those who do a downwards motion during a head nod, that is considered a formal acknowledgement. It is more of just a respectful way to greet someone without having to say anything. A more submissive way to greet someone in a way. 

But a head nod going upwards, while raising your chin up is considered as a more casual and friendly gesture. A way to to show that the two people in question are friendly with each other. At first in the gym, when me and Albert started to address each other with a head nod, it was with a downwards nod for the first few weeks. But now it has progressed to this. Supposedly this is something that is instinctual with males. Friends, huh?

"Should we invite Sudou?" Albert said.

Now that I think about it, I kind of want to see how Sudou is doing with his studies. I haven't been able to hang out with the idiot trio as much due to the tutor sessions.

"Sure, I'll call him right now."

I then pulled out my phone and called Sudou's phone. He picked up almost instantly so he must have been on his phone already.

"Hang on a minute, I'm trying to win this basketball game."

Is he calling me during a basketball match? What? How?

"These AIs are a huge pain in the ass."

Oh, it was just that one mobile game he showed me a few weeks ago. I was curious about what he was doing so I asked if I could play on his phone. The AI's in that game are very tricky, even on easy mode. Apparently he has progressed past the standard difficulty and has now been trying to beat the AI opponents on hard mode. 

It is definitely not a good idea for him to play video games during such a difficult time with exams nearby, but I guess it is good to take a break from time to time.

"Alright I'm back. What do you want?"

"Do you want to hang out with me and Albert? We are currently going to get some ice cream."

"Yeah sure, I will run over to you guys real quick."

If he's running then that means he should be getting here really quickly. He has picked up the habit to run whenever he has got the chance, partially due to him being late to morning lessons.

After the call, me and Albert went to get some ice cream. When I entered in the shop, I felt a sudden chill. This room is quite cold. Looking at the different ice cream flavors, I saw that there are so many flavors of ice cream. There are also a lot of toppings as well. Even the cone is customizable as well. There is also an option to go without a cone as well. I think I will just go with the most basic option. A standard vanilla ice cream in a normal cone, without toppings.

"Hey Albert, what are you going with?"

He then pointed towards a strawberry ice cream, and then pointed towards the paper cup thing instead which gives multiple scoops of ice cream. He also pointed towards a bottle with strawberry flavored sauce. What an interesting choice.