KHR: The Inheritance Project - Prelude

The Homework Project

"Keep up, small animal." The culprit of my trauma calls from the doorway. That smug look on his face pisses me off. I grit my teeth and chase after him out to the outdoors area.

There's some people gathered in the stands and a huge poster advertising a dolphin show at one thirty today. I can already see them setting up for it. But, from the way Hibari scrunches up his nose in disgust at the few people already here, we probably won't be staying for the show. Maybe I'll get Padre to take me to see it when he comes home next.

We make our way past the dolphin and whale tanks. Only stopping briefly to watch a killer whale get fed. As if on cue my stomach rumbles loudly; it's nearly lunchtime after all. Hibari glances at me and I rub the back of my head and clutch my belly, only to flinch slightly in pain. Dang it still hurts.

"Hn." With a grunt Hibari charges off somewhere leaving me to chase after him again. He didn't slow down until we were back inside with the wonderful air conditioner. I finally catch up to him at the foot of a spiral staircase. Downstairs was the exit and a gift shop, and upstairs there's a nice little café. Guess that's where we'll be having lunch.

Hibari makes a beeline for an empty booth in a roped off area marked 'V.I.P only'. I've always wondered what V.I.P stood for, since whenever we went out with Padre we always went to areas marked 'V.I.P only'. Oh well, so long as I can sit down and eat I don't care.

A waiter came over, looking really ticked off. "Hey! You kids can't- geh!" As soon as he caught sight of Hibari glaring at him, he choked on his own words and paled slightly before handing us a menu and running away. Japanese adults are really pathetic, being frightened off by a nine year old kid, even if he is insanely strong.

Wait, didn't something like this happen before today? What do you call it… Deja vu? As I ponder this over, the codardo returns to take our orders. He stands stiffly with a plastic smile on his face. I wonder what he'd do if I ordered in Italian?

But when I looked at the menu it was all Japanese food. Katerina rarely makes Japanese food and I've never really been fond of fish... not to mention I have yet to master the art of chopsticks… Feeling Hibari's impatient, scrutinizing gaze I desperately search the menu for something I can eat that's within my budget.

"How about chicken katsu with miso? Looks simple enough to eat and it's cheap."

Yes that'll do. With a nod I place my order for chicken katsu with miso soup. But then he asks if we want drinks too. Hibari ordered something and feeling the pressure on me again I just say; "I-I'll just have the same as him."

"Smooth. Do you even know what he ordered?" Nope… I hope it's something cold… Ah! I forgot to ask for cutlery instead of chopsticks! Cries. I scan the area, maybe they have one of those tables with napkins, straws and cutlery set up somewhere.

"Over there, by the balcony." Phew! If it turns out I need to, I can always grab my own. But when our food arrives, Hibari holds his chopsticks so damn perfectly I felt too embarrassed to go get a knife and fork. So I attempt to eat with chopsticks. I will prevail this time, chopsticks! Make no mistake about it!

"You can do it!" Yeah! Let's do this!

.............................................................

I couldn't do it.

After ten minutes of fiddling with these two damn wooden sticks and dropping them like fifty times, Hibari 'encouraged' me ("I'll bite you to death if you don't stop playing with those chopsticks.") into getting some cutlery. Sigh… the bitter taste of defeat…