Keigo knew he should ask Mariko about Shimizu. She was an inside resource after all but part of him was reluctant to do so. The main reason was that he noticed how stressed she got when he'd mentioned her. She looked like she was on the verge of having a panic attack. Not only that but he saw her bottle up her emotions and bury them beneath a neutral expression half a second later. He didn't want her to do that when he talked to her about it; he didn't want to put her in a position where she had to cut off her emotions just to talk to him. So, he continued doing his research on Mineko Shimizu without mentioning it to the brunette.
Currently, the male was laying on the couch in his apartment, trying to find any articles on Mineko Shimizu that might've come up in the news. There was nothing though.
He sighed in frustration but was slightly amazed at the fact that the woman was able to avoid even having a social media profile.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a door opening, following by jingling keys. Keigo got up from the couch and walked to the door, checking to see if Mariko had come back from work so he could bother her some for a while. Just as he looked through the peephole, he'd caught a familiar head of brown hair disappearing behind the door. He slipped his phone out of his pocket and called her.
"Hey, what's up?" she asked casually.
"I was hoping you could entertain me for a while Chickee," he told her.
Mariko scoffed into the line, "Sorry," she said not sounding apologetic at all. "As much I would love to babysit you for the afternoon. I've got shopping to do."
"Oooooh, need new panties for that special someone?" he asked teasingly.
"No you prick. I'm going grocery shopping," she spat.
"Mind if I come with? I haven't bought food in a month," he admitted.
"Seriously? What have you been- actually no, never mind, I don't wanna know. No, you cannot come with me," she backtracked.
"Awesome! I'll be right out!" he exclaimed quickly hanging up. As he put on his shoes he heard Mariko's door open again. It was much faster this time, and he could hear her rushed footfalls as she tried to get away from him. He chuckled slightly, knowing the efforts would be futile.
She breathed out in relief when she was in the elevator. It wasn't that Keigo annoyed her anything, she just liked to shop by herself, no distractions, no digressions.
"So, how's your day been?" A voice asked next to her.
Mariko flinched at the sound, spinning around to find a familiar blonde standing just behind her. "Why?" she groaned exasperatedly.
"Felt like having an adventure," he shrugged.
She raised an eyebrow, "To the grocery store" she asked disbelievingly.
Keigo put his hands up in defense, "Hey, you don't have to go someplace exotic for it to be an adventure," he told her.
"...Right..."
"What did you need to buy?" he asked, throwing an arm around her casually.
"Chicken, rice, fish, I'm out of bananas, melon and watermelon. I need ginger, ginseng and paprika. Tomatoes, beef... milk too," she realized.
"Chicken? How did you run out of chicken?" he asked, knowing that Mariko didn't eat it that often.
She looked at him pointedly, "It's because you eat four chicken breasts in one sitting and ask me for seconds," she told him.
He smirked at her, "Take that as a compliment that you're a good cook," he said.
She rolled her eyes but didn't contradict him.
When they arrived at the grocery store, the first thing the blonde noticed was how empty it was.
"Damn, this place is deserted," he commented.
Mariko nodded in agreement, "Most people go shopping over the weekend," she explained and turned to him. "How about we split up and meet back here once we've got all our stuff? Great I'll see you in a bit," she said not waiting for a response and taking off down one of the aisles.
Keigo sighed in disappointment, the whole reason he'd come out was to have fun with her, but she'd ditched him. There wasn't much he could do aside from grabbing a cart and get all the stuff he needed. His refrigerator was probably crying at how empty it was.
As he wandered the frozen food aisle, he saw Mariko standing in front of him.
She had noticed his presence and was looking down at a can of tomato sauce in her hand. Somehow the brunette had managed to get most of the things on her list already.
Curiously, he peeked at the contents of her cart and saw that she was getting double of a lot of things, including chicken. "That's a lot of food," he whistled.
She didn't even look at him as she continued to read the can's label. "Yeah... you eat a lot," she commented offhandedly.
He froze, "Wait... you mean you're buying this stuff for me?" he asked. He didn't know whether to be touched or feel guilty. Maybe both. She didn't have to buy hat much food, after all, it wasn't like he ate at her place every day, but the thought that she cared enough to make sure she had enough for him too just in case made a warm feeling blossom in his chest.
"Mhm," she put back the can of tomato sauce and picked up another one.
Keigo smiled down at the brunette, ruffling her hair to which she responded by pouting and swatting his hand away.
"Are you done? I've got one more thing after this and we can head out," she said turning towards him as she put her can of tomato sauce in her cart. She frowned seeing that his cart had seven frozen pizzas, five bags of microwavable chicken nuggets, and about sixteen different types of cup ramen.
"Please tell me there's at least one thing that's actual food in there," she sweatdropped.
"Ramen has vegetables. That's organic," he responded.
"Yeah... we're gonna put that back. You need real food. How the hell are you even alive?" she wondered, leading them to the produce section so she could teach him about vegetables.
Keigo happily trailed along beside her as they shopped. He was enjoying the experience much more than he thought he would be. There were no mobs asking him for selfies and autographs, ad he was spending quality time with his favorite person.
As they passed through the aisle, he would put anything that caught his eye into the cart.
"Put it back," Mariko said as they stood in the junk food aisle. She was grabbing a pack of paper towels as he grabbed a bag of tortilla chips.
"But they're chicken flavored," he argued, showing her the bag.
The brunette sighed and shrugged, moving her cart forward to guide them into the next aisle.
"What, no arguments?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. It was rare for her to let go of something so easily.
"It's your money in the end. I can't force you to not buy them," she told him. A small smile grew on her face, "Just remember that you're gonna get fat one day eating all that crap." The idea of a fat Keigo was rather amusing as she pictured it.
"Even if I do get fat I'll still be thinner than you," he fired back.
Mariko narrowed her eyes at him and he immediately regretted his words. It was a basic rule of life that you never comment on a woman's weight. Calling her fat was practically a felony.
"Did you just call me fat?" she asked, her tone menacing.
The blonde took a step back, putting his hands up in surrender. "No, you're not fat at all! If anything, you look too-"
"Finish that sentence. I dare you," she threatened.
"Beautiful! It should honestly be a felony to look that stunning all the time," he said nervously.
She rolled her eyes, "Nice save" she said, the sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Keigo laughed nervously, scared to say anything else.
"You coming?" she asked, already pushing her cart down the aisle.
He shook his head at her change in attitude. "Yes ma'am," he said pushing his cart towards her.
The rest of the time they were there passed quickly. Keigo was surprised when she started leading them to the self-check-out station.
"We're done?" he asked.
"Yeah, unless you're missing something?"
He shook his head, "I just thought it'd take longer," he shrugged.
Mariko looked at him like he'd lost his mind, "We've been here for two hours," she told him.
The blonde's eyes widened, and he checked his phone. Sure enough, it was just past seven p.m.
"Time totally slipped by me," he muttered.
"Why, did you have something to do?" she asked.
He shook his head, "Nah." He just wasn't used to losing track of time.
"Alright, let's get your stuff scanned," she sighed, taking the first item out of his cart.
"You don't wanna go first?" I don't mind. I was gonna wait for you anyways," he said.
She shook her head, "You've got less stuff, better to get it done faster," she told him.
Keigo tried his hand at scanning the items, but for some reason, it never worked when he did it. "How come it works when you do it?" he asked frustrated as the brunette grabbed the product he had in his hand and successfully scanned it on the first go.
"'Cus I'm moving it slowly enough so that the machine can actually scan the thing," she said, placing it in a bag.
"That's stupid," he said.
Mariko just shrugged.
The two settled into a rhythm where she would check out every item while he placed them in the bag. When they'd finished his items and the time eventually came for Mariko to pay for her things, her friend cut her off from the register.
"Hawks, I have to pay," she said trying to move him away from the machine. He messed with it for a little while before moving to the groceries. When the brunette looked down at the screen, she saw there was no item list. "What did you do?" she asked, hoping he hadn't deleted all of her things as a prank.
"Took care of the bill. Let's go home now yeah? I'm starving," he said, watching as his feathers picked up the bags.
She looked at him confusedly, "You... paid for my stuff? Why?"
The blonde shrugged, "Felt like it. Besides, half the bill shoulda been mine anyway since you're always feeding me," he said.
She stared at him for a moment. She wanted to protest but it wasn't like doing so would accomplish anything. He'd already paid. "You didn't have to do that," she said quietly picking up the remaining bags. She followed him outside of the grocery store and onto the street. "Dinner at my place?" she offered.
"Sounds like a plan."
"How does chicken sound?" she asked.
Keigo grinned at her, "You know I'll never say no to chicken."
She smiled softly, "Chicken it is then."