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“How about dis place?” asked Joey, looking at the detailed plastic food in the picture window of a restaurant.
You were looking at the signage with your smartphone, trying to translate. “Okay, so these are tonkatsu, and these are curry, and they also serve something called ‘shabu shabu?’”
“I thought your phone was gonna translate for ya?” Joey still used a flip phone, so he liked to find instances when your smartphone failed to do what you wanted it to.
“It did for the other foods,” You stepped closer to your boyfriend, brushing up against him. Behind you, people continued to walk past on the sidewalk. Despite being after nine at night, the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo still bustled with people.
“I know what curry is, da other two...”
“Tonkatsu is the breaded pork with cabbage,” you pointed at the plates, “but I don’t know what shabu shabu is. This sign talks about it, but there’s not a display version.” Shoving your phone in your pocket, you joined Joey in studying the fake food. “I know my mom recommended we try tonkatsu.”
“Your mom’s a great cook, so if she says it’ll be good, den we gotta try it.” Joey reached for the door, “Ya down?”
“Sure!” You figured there wasn’t much chance of disliking breaded pork.
Inside, abundant wooden paneling gave the place an old-fashioned Japanese feel. Each of the tables had a dark glass cooktop built into the center. Seeing your arrival, the man behind the register said something in Japanese. Joey held up two fingers, and the man nodded, stepping away from the counter to point the two of you to a table tucked in a corner. You sat in the chair, and Joey slid onto the bench across from you, grabbing the tablet from its holder at the end of the table. “Dis should make things easier.”
Slightly jealous Joey had beaten you to the electric menu and ordering device, you pulled out your phone again and grabbed the Japanese menu. Why was the restaurant so cold? Glancing up, you saw you were directly underneath an air conditioning vent. “Could we switch places?” You gestured at the vent.
Joey grinned. “Leave it ta me ta date da coldest girl in Domino.” He was already sliding off the padded bench as he finished. After switching places, you both fell silent, each studying the menu. Choosing a meal set with tonkatsu, cabbage, rice and miso soup, you waited for Joey to make up his mind about what he wanted. Beside the docking station for the tablet was a brown, ceramic kettle-ish container with a Japanese label taped onto the lid. Translating it, you discovered it held tonkatsu sauce—information you passed on to Joey but had no intention of using yourself, you never put sauce on your food.
The man who greeted you at the door returned to the table bearing two glasses of water, small white towels, and chopsticks for each of you. “I guess dese are da napkins?” Asked Joey after the man left.
You shrugged, “I guess. Now focus on what you want to order.”
“It all looks so good, y/n.”
After Joey finally decided to get a combination curry and tonkatsu meal, he input your order into the tablet. A group of five or six people who looked to be about your age entered the restaurant, happily chatting among themselves as they were seated at the larger table beside yours. It soon became apparent they had ordered the mysterious shabu shabu, which turned out to be some sort of meat and vegetable hot pot dish which was cooked right at the table. It looked fun. Although the meat and broth smelled delicious, you felt little interest in eating that many vegetables, and the extremely long, skinny, mushrooms were right out. Joey couldn’t take his eyes off the food at the next table, which made sense since neither of you had eaten since the morning.
You reached out and placed your hand over his, trying to enjoy the moment instead of focusing on the fact your food hadn’t arrived yet. It kinda worked.
Ripping his gaze back to his date, Joey smiled at you sheepishly. “If some of those K-Pop shops are still open when we’re finished here, ya wanna check one out?”
You felt torn, while you were here in the Korean section of Tokyo, you did want to pick up a few pictures of your favorite idol, but doing it with your boyfriend felt like a weird idea. Still… Joey was the one who brought it up, so maybe it would be okay? Seeing your hesitation, Joey tilted his head, “Ya still like Stray Kids, don’tcha?”
Time to play it off like you were confident, “Oh yeah. If Chan were to ask me out, I think I would have to break up with you.” You were joking, obviously.
“He’s the hot Australian?” Joey asked.
“Yeah.” You couldn’t hide your surprise. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“After all da time you’ve spent listening ta me talk about Duel Monsters, rememberin’ a few facts about your favorite boy band ain’t askin’ too much of me.”
Before you could respond, the employee who had greeted you when you entered approached with your food. For a moment, neither of you thought about anything other than eating. Tantalizing scents rose in the air—the savory smell of curry, a mouthwatering whiff of pork, and a subtle undertone of oil. Your mouth watered.
Nervously, you picked up your chopsticks, afraid you would mess up and embarrass yourself in front of Joey. Despite your practice, you still weren't as confident as you wanted to be; it didn’t help that you were left handed, which always meant fewer online tutorials to watch, and your older sister who taught you was right handed. Gripped with determination, you glanced at Joey, who was far too busy eating to pay attention to you. If you weren't careful, your anxiety would get out of control and steal your appetite; Joey was on the short list of people you felt so comfortable with you could eat around him, and you would hate to lose that.
Focusing on your tonkatsu, you noticed the breading was different from what you expected. Instead of breadcrumbs, these were more like bread-shards—long and thin, which gave the surface a rough, almost spiked, texture. Raising one of the tonkatsu strips with your chopsticks, you took a bite. The breading was crispy. The pork was tender. Delicious.
For the moment, your nerves settled, and you settled into your meal. After a few moments of silent focus on food, you began to get curious about Joey’s dinner. “Could I try a bite of your curry?”
Joey looked up with puppy dog eyes, “You’d ask for part of a man’s dinner?”
“Only if I want to try it.” you gazed back with your own innocent, wide-eyed stare.
Joey’s face broke into a grin, “Yeah, dat checks out.” He licked his metal spoon clean, wiped it with a napkin, refilled it with curry and rice, and extended the handle to you.
“Thanks,” you grinned and took the spoon. Popping the curry into your mouth, you immediately regretted it. It looked like a kind of beef stew, so why was it spicy?? You almost spit it out, but that seemed gross to do in front of your boyfriend, so you gulped it down instead. “You know I don’t like spicy food, Joey!” You grabbed your small glass of water.
Joey was still grinning at you, “You were da one who asked for it. Who am I ta fight paying da girlfriend tax?”
“Okay, okay, maybe I’m slightly at fault here. But my pain and suffering is mostly your fault.” You grinned back, taking another gulp. “Can you order more water?”
Joey fussed with the tablet for a minute, “Ehh, not with dis thing.”
“That’s okay, I’ll just drink yours.”
“Dat’s fair.” Joey slid his glass towards you. “But ya shoulda known dat curry is spicy.”
“I knew some curry is spicy, and I thought you’d tell me if yours was too much for me.” You fake huffed at him.
“Sorry.” Joey was eyeing your side dishes of rice and miso soup hungrily. “How ‘bout ya let me make it up to ya?”
“By eating my food?”
“What? Oh.” He looked you in the eyes, “I got ya a little gift.”
Your eyes crinkled into a surprised smile, “You got me a present?”
“It’s not much, and I’m not sure you’re gonna like it,” he pulled his hands into his lap, “and I was gonna give it to ya tomorrow before my TV interview, but den I thought I could give it to ya now instead…”
You leaned in, “Sure! Let me see it.” You knew he had bought a couple things at one of the stores the two of you went into earlier, but never imagined he had bought anything for you.
Pulling his hands out from underneath the table, he handed you a beautifully wrapped gift box. It was light and rectangular. “The lady at da store did a great job makin’ it look pretty when I told her it was a present.”
Overwhelmed with curiosity, you tore off the paper, revealing a clear plastic box with a large white bow inside it. It was similar to your favorite hair bow, except this one had a blue, horned sheep in the center of the bow. “Aw, it’s one of the Scapegoats.” Scapegoat was one of Joey’s rarest cards, and your favorite part of his deck.
“I know ya don’t like Duel Monsters all dat much, so if ya don’t like it, I understand. But since you’re my manager, I thought it would be cute if ya had somethin’ with one of my cards on it.”
Joey was irresistibly endearing when he got flustered like this. You reached out and took his hands. “There are a lot of monsters from the game I would never wear, but this little guy is adorable. And you’re right, as your manager I should wear something related to your deck; it’s good for branding.”
“Ya don’t have ta like it, y/n. If ya don’t want ta wear it den—”
“Sorry, Joey, I was messing with you.” You squeezed his hands, “I don’t just like it because it’s good for your brand. I think it’s cute, and it reminds me of you, and it even shows you remembered what I like. Thank you.”
“Are ya sure?”
“Yep. I’ll wear it tomorrow.” You nodded at him in approval before pulling your hands away and resuming eating.
When you both finished, Joey took the receipt left with the food to the register, where he paid in cash, pocketing the handful of coins he received in return. As the two of you stepped out into the warm summer night, you slipped your hand into his. Tonight would be fun, with K-pop shopping and trying out a capsule hotel. It was easy to set aside your worries when you were with Joey. Tomorrow you would both have work to do, but for now, all you wanted was to spend time with the man who made you feel special and safe. “You’re the best, Joey.”