Chapter 5
Blind Date
‘Hey, you ready?’
Eiichi sent a text to Noda after stepping out of the men’s room at the market café.
The day had begun with the two of them meeting outside school as usual. They made sure to get there early, because they had no idea what time the girl in question, Reiko, as Eiichi knew her, made it to school. Their highest hopes were that Reiko was not an early bird who made it to school just as the doors were opening, just to tidy up her classroom or something in that matter, though this seemed like an exaggeration. Eiichi assured that even though she seemed well kept, someone as scared as she was probably only got up when she needed to and didn’t really look forward to being in school in the first place.
They stood around in a well-shaded area on the front side of the school, watching the students walk up the path or mill about in their groups. Noda spotted Reiko and a friend entering through the front gates moments later.
Doing her best not to look conspicuous, she aimed her camera from her hip and tried taking shots that way, but they were too far off for her to manage any accuracy, so she had to fake like she was taking pictures of the now flowerless sakura trees and the school’s prided maple and ginkgo trees.
‘I hope this doesn’t backfire hardcore...Eiichi, get over there.’
‘What?’
‘You heard me, get over there and line yourself up. I need you to look like I’m getting your profile.’
‘...’
‘Come on! You said whatever it takes, now move!’
‘Alright, alright...man, this blows. I’m gonna’ look like a friggin’ narcissist.’
‘That’s the price of what we’re trying to do here. At least you don’t have friends that are going to look at you funny for taking pictures of the school delinquent.’
Outside of this, there was not much they could do during school. However, they had both brought an extra change of regular clothes in their tote bags. Before their final classes, they met up and stashed the tote bags someplace they would be well hidden for the temporary period of time. Neither brought much in the bags, which made it easier to keep the clothes in store. This made it less conspicuous for them to carry out the next part of their plan. It was easier to spot one student leaving for the bathroom with their bag in hand than it was to spot the one missing out of many students with bags. If either of their sensei noticed, they would simply claim they must have lost them and start searching.
During their separate, final lectures, they both asked to be excused to use the facilities at exactly twenty minutes before the lecture was over. They met in the main lobby and found a side door to escape from, where they scaled the school gates and ran across the street to the café.
Eiichi stood in the bathroom hall now, in a tee-shirt, a black wool peacoat, and jeans with a black baseball cap.
Noda didn’t respond to Eiichi’s text, but a few minutes later, she stepped out.
Eiichi had to brace himself.
“What?” Noda asked.
Output aside, he nearly asked her pardon and said he had been waiting for someone else.
Eiichi pulled the bill of his cap down. “Um...Noda...do you think that’s...ideal for what...we’re...What’re you wearing!?”
As per Eiichi’s instruction, Noda had let her hair down, her braids being the feature that seemed to stand out most for her, making her easy to spot from a hundred feet away. In addition to this, her choice of casual dress had been a light gray, pullover gown, with brown trim and a skirt that hung just above her knees. Her school shoes had been replaced with a simple pair of sandals, ideal for the crisp weather they were having, but not good if they needed to do some running.
The sheer simplicity of her look, and yet how it...still stood out, had him in wonder as he eyed the flow of her light-brown hair over the shoulders of the gown, and its curvatures. She could have gone with something along the lines of what he had put on.
Was this because of what he said to her last night!? He knew she didn’t exactly think of him in that way, but this was obviously toying with the thought. She even did her nails, her lips pouted with the shimmering of gloss and she smelled different! Was it lilies?
Why didn’t she always dress like this? She would definitely turn a few heads.
Noda jerked her fists down, “Oh! It’s the same thing with you every time, isn’t it!?”
He found it hard to believe that high-pitched voice was coming from the face he was looking at.
“I just thought you could be more inconspicuous! We’ll look like we’re on a—”
‘Stop acting like a priss and fuckin’ say it!’
“...on a date.”
“And what a good cover, don’t ya think?” Those glimmering lips smirked at him.
“What’s the significance of that!?”
“It got us out of the last jam, and it’s better than just a guy and a girl who happen to be spending time together. Where’s the fun in that?”
She thought way too much like a teenage girl sometimes.
“Aren’t you stretching that out a little? What if we need to split up? What if we need to run from something?”
“You think too much sometimes, you know that?”
“Then here!” Eiichi reached out.
Noda’s face jumped back a little, but she didn’t try to stop him as he removed her glasses, a move that he found himself regretting.
He had wanted to make her look less recognizable, but realized it had worked too well. The only identifying quality left now was the set of delightfully, all-too visible freckles across the bridge of her nose. It was like a cherry on top of whipped cream.
Eiichi P.I., Vol. 1 Page 26
