LOVE & ANIME

Chapter Four

Darren was standing outside the restaurant Hisui Palace waiting for Mimiko to show up. She had texted him earlier that day asking him if he wanted to go out to eat with her that night. He texted back he would, and she suggested they go to this restaurant. She told him she would meet him there at around eight, saying she would be in rehearsal with her band during the day and she wasn't sure when they would be done. He recalled Toshi telling him how it was customary for Japanese people to always be punctual and how it was considered disrespectful to be even a little late. But it didn't seem like Mimiko really cared about doing things the customary way.

Darren took a taxi to the restaurant at around a quarter till eight. Thankfully the driver, who was dressed sharply in a chauffeur's uniform, knew the location of the restaurant when Darren read it to him from Mimiko's text message. The cab fare was a bit higher than he expected, but, since everything was being paid for by Natsuo Tengan, it didn't really bother him. He stepped out of the taxi and waited in front of the restaurant for Mimiko to show up. He still wasn't a hundred percent certain that she would show up, that this was still a big joke being played on him by Mimiko and possibly the other members of Fates Sisters. And it was looking more and more like that was the case the longer he stayed out there. The longer he was out there the more infuriated and embarrassed he got, especially when passersby were starting to look at him. They were no doubt wondering what this crazy gaijin was doing just standing out there. Finally, he got tired of waiting and was about to hail another cab when suddenly he heard this female voice call out, "Darren!"

He turned and saw Mimiko walking towards him and smiling at him. He was taken aback at how sexy she looked even in the casual clothes she was wearing. She wasn't wearing as much make-up as she did on the Today In Tokyo show. Not that she needed to wear much make-up to look beautiful, he thought.

"Mimiko," he exclaimed at her. "Hi."

"Hey," she said as she stood next to him. "I'm sorry that I'm a little late. Rehearsals went a little later than expected. Were you waiting long?"

"No," he replied, shaking his head. "Not too long."

"Good." There was a pause between them as he kept gawking at her, surprised that she showed up. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, no," he quickly replied, catching himself gawking at her. "There's nothing wrong."

"Good. Shall we go in?"

"Yeah." He smiled at her. "Let's go in."

Darren followed her towards the restaurant. Upon entering the restaurant, Darren noticed what looked to be plastic replicas of food in a display case, which was something he had never seen in an American restaurant. They stepped inside and were greeted by a woman Darren assumed was a waitress.

"Irasshaimase," she said with a friendly grin.

Darren already knew this was a form of greeting. He'd already heard this particular phrase when he'd gone into a convenience store or some fast food place like KFC. Thankfully, Toshi was usually with him so he could help him translate. But now he was with Mimiko who was speaking with the other woman in fluent Japanese. The woman then led them to a table. They sat on opposite ends of the table as the waitress handed them each a menu. Darren was surprised to see that his menu was written in English.

"Hey," he exclaimed after the waitress walked off, "my menu is in English."

"Yeah, they have both Japanese and English menus since this restaurant caters more to foreigners, which is one of the reasons why I picked it."

"Don't you mean gaijins?" Darren quipped with a grin.

Mimiko gave him a snarky look. "Yes, I mean gaijins."