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The trio of college students were nestled in one of the booths at the back of their favorite café. They weren’t the only students at work as nearby tables had notes and textbooks strewn about. The hissing of the coffee machines was accompanied by muted conversation, rapid keyboard typing, and muttered cursing as students crammed for their finals. For the trio who were nestled in a corner booth, they whispered among themselves as they worked on a presentation. Their laptops sat among piles of notebooks and handwritten notes. Three plates covered in crumbs and a set of three nearly empty mugs were strategically placed away from the notes.
Shinobu paused as she typed to adjust her grey peacoat that hung over her shoulders. No matter the weather, she was always cold. She rolled down her button-up shirt’s sleeves to further ward off the cold. The invigorating warmth from the coffee she had drank no longer burned within her.
“Do you want another coffee?” Mitsuri asked. Unlike Shinobu, she was an eternal source of warmth. She was the sort to dress lightly even when it snowed. Her beige turtleneck sleeves were rolled up past her elbows. Her trusty beret sat next to her. She slipped her face mask to the side and took a sip from her nearly empty mug. She tilted the mug back enough to dislodge an ice cube.
“It would warm you right up,” Mitsuri said as she absentmindedly crunched down on the ice cube.
Shinobu shook her head. “No, I don’t think it would be good for my stomach. I can power through.”
Tamayo looked up from her notes. While dressed in black, a bright yellow floral pattern on the top half of her button-up disrupted the dark uniformity.
“Do you want to use my coat as a blanket?” Tamayo asked with concern in her voice. “You wouldn’t want to be sick before finals.”
Shinobu waved her hand in a placating gesture. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Despite her assurances, she tugged on her face mask, tightening it. She wouldn’t want to fall sick like poor Giyuu.
“I’m good, really,” Shinobu added. “Let’s keep working. I know you’ll be glad once this class is behind you.”
While Shinobu couldn’t see Tamayo’s expression clearly, she saw that her brow furrowed with a frown.
“I never was good with the humanities,” Tamayo muttered. “I shouldn’t have left this class for the end. At least in grad school, there’s no more of these.”
Shinobu giggled, “Aww! I’ve enjoyed these classes. It’s like the behind-the-scenes for historical period dramas.”
Tamayo exhaled heavily and returned to flipping through her notes.
History classes were among the general education program classes that Shinobu and Tamayo needed to complete. In contrast, Mitsuri lived and breathed these courses as she was deeply immersed in her Art History program. While the humanities, especially history, was not Tamayo’s forte, the classes had been enjoyable for Shinobu. The wide net she cast for film and books happened to include various historical period pieces and dramas. This had led her to pursue a minor in it even though there was little overlap with her own field of Chemistry. While she loved her foreign dramas, the history of the sciences was an interesting subfield with its philosophical depths.
An added benefit of the history minor was that she was able to take classes with her friend Mitsuri. Her longtime friend was happy to help with any questions she had. The classes also provided ammunition for new movies to watch. In turn, these movie nights were the perfect excuse to get the gang together for movie nights.
Shinobu smirked behind her mask as she consulted her notes. The movie nights were also the perfect excuse to force Giyuu to interact with everyone else. His singular semester abroad had transformed into two after he had fallen sick with Covid. By the time he had gotten over it, the fall semester was about to begin and the restrictions to return home to Japan had heightened. When the movie nights began on Friday nights, it was already Saturday morning in California.
“Now,” thought Shinobu, “what should it be this movie night? It would take some convincing to get everyone to watch ‘The Seventh Seal’ or ‘Master and Commander’…hmm ’A Knights Tale’ would be more agreeable I think.”
Shinobu’s thoughts were interrupted by a sigh from Tamayo. Tamayo clenched and unclenched her hands before snatching up her mug. She pulled her mask down and swallowed the lukewarm coffee with a gulp.
“What the hell is the difference between Romanesque and Gothic architecture?! They all look the same to me,” Tamayo hissed.
She spun her laptop around so the screen faced Mitsuri who sat across from her. Tamayo pointed at the screen, her nail distinctly clinking against the screen.
Mitsuri clapped her hands together. “Ah, you see it's all about the point!”
“The point? What’s the point?” Tamayo asked. “What’s the point of it all?” she added in a low mumble to herself.
Mitsuri hovered her hands over Tamayo’s keyboard. “May I?” she asked. Tamayo nodded.
Mitsuri typed in a search and pulled up a selection of pictures. She pointed at the images of a church in France and a bell tower in Italy.
“See how they have semicircular, round arches? That’s how you know something is Romanesque. The name itself means in the style of the Romans. They had such arches to help distribute the weight of the building along with thick walls and buttresses on the outside.”
Tamayo slowly nodded. “What about Gothic then?”
Mitsuri pulled up another image set. “See this one? It’s the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.” She hovered a finger over the image of an ornate cathedral that featured a pair of tall yet delicate-looking towers at the front.
Mitsuri continued. “Compare it to…this! The Angoulême Cathedral in France was built in a Romanesque style. What difference do you see between them?” She brought up an image of a whitewashed cathedral alongside the first image. Compared to the previous cathedral, it’s build was far stockier.
Tamayo squinted. “I mean, both have those two towers at the front.”
Mitsuri winked. “Come one! I know you got this. Describe it to me. Pretend you’re trying to describe it to me over the phone.”
Tamayo laughed, “I would have taken a picture then. But alright, here goes.”
She scratched her cheek and raised her finger to point at the Cologne Cathedral. “This one is all pointy. It doesn’t have any of those round arches like the Romanesque style.”
Mitsuri put her hands together. “Yes, yes! What else do you see?”
“It looks much thinner, almost spindly. Fragile even. It doesn’t have the same thickness as the Angou… Angouleme? Gah!” Tamayo through her hands into the air. “It’s not thick like that French one!”
Mitsuri clasped one of Tamayo’s hands and sprang to her feet. “Exactly! You see, that’s because they found a better way to solve the issue of weight! With such tall points, they could make rib vaults instead of barrel vaults! This meant they could use far less stone which meant the structures weighed less which meant they could build even higher!”
Mitsuri raised her hands over her head in excitement. “See, this style first started in the Islamic World with the Umayyads and Abbasids! From the Umayyads it spread through Spain, which was ruled by various Islamic states at the time might I add, and then up into Western Europe! From the Abbasids, it went to the Eastern Romans who brought it over to Italy and to—”
Mitsuri froze. During her impromptu lecture, she had excitedly raised her voice in the café which drew the attention of everyone nearby. Noticing that many sets of eyes were now staring at her, Mitsuri turned beet red. She slowly sank into her seat while doing her best to avert all eye contact. She continued to sink until she was under the table. Just as she thought she was safe, her stomach rumbled loudly in the now silent café.
“I…want…to…disappear!” Mitsuri hissed between clenched teeth.
Shinobu tittered and raised a hand to pat Mitsuri on the shoulder.
“Now then, I thought that was a fine lecture! I can’t wait to attend a class taught by Dr. Kanroji in the future,” Shinobu said.
Tamayo nodded, “I understand it now. Though I don’t know what an Umayyad or Abbasid is.”
Mitsuri climbed up from under the table. She dabbed at several beads of sweat on her brow with a handkerchief while giving a feeble, awkward smile.
“Those are the names of two different Caliphates.”
Tamayo blinked. “What’s a caliphate?”
Mitsuri was silent for a beat before quickly shaking her head. “I’ll explain another time. But first, I’m hungry!”
She grabbed her backpack and began to stuff it full of notebooks.
“And I want to never show my face around here again!” she whispered.
Shinobu closed her laptop and slid it into her bag. “Oh? But weren’t you only a stamp away from earning a free scone?”
Mitsuri’s eyes lit up. “I’ll come back…in a week then,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. She picked up her beret and slipped it on.
“So, you’ll be back tomorrow,” Shinobu thought.
The three donned their masks before getting up. Upon stepping outside, Mitsuri’s previous sheepishness melted away as she pumped a fist into the air.
“Alright! We need some brain food! Something big! Something energizing!”
Shinobu and Tamayo shared a knowing glance.
“Let’s be sure that we actually do work after eating,” Tamayo said. “No food comas.”
Mitsuri pouted. “I know I know…we still have that shared presentation to finish.”
“At least the papers are due a week after,” Shinobu pointed out. “But let’s not save that for the last minute.”
Mitsuri nodded. “I know the perfect place to eat! It’s only a few blocks away – we could finish the presentation there too! Thursdays are slow days there.” As soon as the words had left her lips she began to march down the street. Shinobu and Tamayo hurried to follow. When food was on the line, Mitsuri was unstoppable.
The trio passed numerous empty storefronts as they walked. A year before, this district was always abuzz with students and families. Now, with the pandemic, there was an unnerving quiet. It was a disconcerting quiet. It was not entirely silent as the city was never devoid of sound, but there was a noticeable lack of chatter and other sounds. There was no steady stream of kei-trucks being unloaded. There were no lines leading up to the entrances and there were children running about with their parents in pursuit. For the few shops that remained, hardly anyone was inside. The café that the trio had been studying in was only busy by being near campus. A café would always do well near students and faculty who demanded a reliable supply of caffeine.
Not many other people were out. The few that the trio saw were mainly fellow students who kept a wary distance from one another. A single cough was enough to cause an anxious exchange of glances and shuffling away from the source.
“It’s like this everywhere,” Shinobu thought, “even in the pictures Giyuu sent from America, the streets are deserted.”
Shinobu shivered. She had never thought she’d long for the normal chaos of city life.
“Here we are!” announced Mitsuri. She pointed to a sign that proudly said “American-style Burgers” in Japanese and English. “Obanai found this place on Insta a few weeks ago! It’s run by an American who moved to Japan for his wife! It’s the real thing!” She spoke quickly and excitedly.
Tamayo shrugged. “I suppose I could go for a burger.”
“You can’t have cup noodles for every meal, after all,” Shinobu teased.
Tamayo’s response was cut off by Mitsuri. “Come on! I’m starving to death here!”
“We’re right behind you,” Shinobu said.
With Mitsuri leading, they entered. While the exterior of the restaurant fit in with the row of restaurants specializing in local cuisines, the inside was unabashedly American. The walls were decorated with buntings bearing the American flag. Baseball caps from various American and Japanese teams festooned one of the walls. There was even a bovine skull that hung over a doorway leading to more seating in the back of the restaurant.
“Ah! It’s you again!” called out an accented voice. The owner and chef of the restaurant had noticed their entrance. He was an older man in his fifties with a beard that poked out around his face mask. His glasses were partly fogged up as he flipped a beef patty on a griddle. The restaurant’s kitchen area protruded out into the dining room so that the griddles and fryers were surrounded on three sides by bar seating. The few guests present sat there. A tired office lady drank a soda while a pair of students argued about a videogame between mouthfuls of burger.
“No boyfriend today?” the owner asked with a jovial glint in his eyes.
Mitsuri blushed. “He’s in the lab getting ready for finals. We’re also gearing up for finals too! Is it alright if we do our work here while we eat?”
“Sure. Take one of the booths in the back. The usual for you?”
Mitsuri bowed slightly. “Yes please!”
Shinobu spoke up as the three passed under the bovine skull to find a seat.
“Dare I ask what your usual is?”
“It’s going to be the ramen place all over again,” Tamayo added. “Some sort of extra serving.”
“You’ll see,” Mitsuri said. She set her bag down in a booth and scooted in next to it. Shinobu and Tamayo sat across from her. Mitsuri gestured to the menu. “You can’t go wrong with anything here. The bacon is to die for! The ojisan smokes it every morning and it's glazed with real maple syrup!”
“No food comas, right?” Tamayo chided.
“It’s meat! It’s energy food! We’ll conquer this presentation in no time!” Mitsuri retorted.
“My, my, I’ll have to take a picture and send it to Giyuu,” Shinobu said, “when he’s back he can compare it to what he had over there.”
The trio chose a booth with a window view and settled down. Notebooks were brought out but kept shut as Shinobu and Tamayo pondered over a pair of laminated menus. Shinobu took a quick picture of the menu and sent it to Giyuu.
“I don’t know what half of these are,” Tamayo laughed as she flipped the menu over. “Oh!There are milkshakes too.”
“The strawberry one is the best!” Mitsuri exclaimed.
“Of course, you’d say that,” Shinobu said. “That’s your favorite fruit!”
Mitsuri turned red. She cleared her throat. “But they’re really big shakes! Only get one if your dessert stomach is free.”
Tamayo raised an eyebrow. “Dessert stomach? So that’s how you can pack all that food away.”
Mitsuri winked. “Shh! That’s my secret!”
Shinobu and Tamayo continued to deliberate until the owner came over with a notepad in hand.
“I’ll go with the ‘smashed style’ patty,” Shinobu said. “The default toppings work.”
“Just a single for me,” said Tamayo. “Default toppings but no cheese, please.”
The owner left with a nod. He returned shortly with glasses of water in hand. When he returned sometime later with their orders, the trio hurriedly moved their notes and laptops aside to make room. Shinobu and Tamayo received their burgers first. With a thunk! Mitsuri’s burger was placed before her. Her eyes widened with glee as she salivated under her mask.
“One challenge burger for you! Though, it's not much of a challenge for you, isn’t it?” the owner said. “Just give me a holler or come up front if you need anything.” The owner left in a flash to tend to his kitchen.
An enormous beef patty lathered in sauce was barely contained within the buns sat before Mitsuri. Strips of bacon sat perched atop lettuce along with slice of grilled tomato within the burger. An onion ring sat buried within then burger amidst a coating of the restaurant's special in-house sauce. Melted cheese hung off the patty into the pile of fries that accompanied the burger.
Mitsuri rubbed her hands together in excitement. “Thank you ojisan!” she called out after the owner.
She picked up one of the cloth napkins at the table, unfolded it, and tucked it into her turtleneck. She removed her mask as she hovered over the burger.
Mitsuri’s attack on the burger was swift yet methodological. She grasped it firmly, salivating as she did so. Drops of sauce trickled down onto her thumbs as she readjusted her grip. While rivulets sauce flowed freely, she ensured none of the other toppings escaped. Her eyes shined with glee. She was so fully entranced by the burger that she did not notice Shinobu stealthily snap a picture with her phone. That would be yet another picture for the group chat.
With a decisive chomp!, Mitsuri dug in. The first bite was the messiest as she tore into the burger. She ripped out a chunk of Angus beef that was chased down with a bite of tomato and lettuce. Drops of sauce and meat juices dribbled down her chin onto her strategically placed napkin as she tore into the burger. Shinobu and Tamayo held off on beginning to eat as they watched in awe. It never got old watching Mitsuri eat. The woman was insatiable. Sure, she had her favorite dishes. Yet, there was hardly anything she would not eat. The challenge burger was her latest victim as it was mercilessly scarfed down.
Mitsuri adjusted her grip on the burger as an onion ring attempted to leap to freedom. The onion ring was guided back onto the burger and then into Mitsuri’s awaiting maw. With a crunch! the onion ring was split asunder. A slurp followed as the onion was separated from the deep-fried batter and was subsequently devoured. There would be no escape for the burger. The next victim of her onslaught was the bacon which snapped and cracked under pressure. The sweet maple of the syrupy glaze complemented the meat’s salty and smoky overtones. Mitsuri nearly unleashed a squeal of joy as the contrasting yet complementary flavors spread across her palate.
“A glaze of real maple syrup!” Mitsuri thought. “None of that disgusting maple-flavored syrup!”
Mitsuri pressed on with her charge as Shinobu and Tamayo began to eat. Shinobu had only gotten in three bites when she noticed that Mitsuri was now holding the burger in one hand as she continued to chow down. Her free hand felt around for a spare napkin. Mitsuri’s only pause in her feast was so she could thank Shinobu for the napkin she offered. After dabbing her chin with the napkin, she continued. With the burger now a shadow of its former self, Mitsuri worked around the edges, biting down on the thin outer edge of the patty and bun that had escaped the initial onslaught. Her pincer maneuver devastated the burger’s flanks, reducing it to a vaguely shaped oval. She followed with a rapid attack on the burger’s centerline with quick, rapid-succession bites. There would be no leftovers for later for this was a decisive burger defeat.
By the time Mitsuri finished, Shinobu and Tamayo were only halfway finished with their burgers. Satisfied, Mitsuri leaned back in her seat. She exhaled slowly. A look of worry briefly crossed her face as she hurried a napkin to her mouth. Even with the napkin, a belch was audible. She picked up stray bits of burger debris as she dabbed the napkin around her mouth.
“Excuse me!” Mitsuri said embarrassedly.
Tamayo coughed and Shinobu sputtered mid-sip of her water. Tamayo swallowed her mouthful before speaking.
“That wasn’t much of a challenge, now was it?”
Mitsuri picked up a wad of napkins from a dispenser on the table. She spoke as she ran the napkins over her hands.
“But it was SO good! It’s so worth it! So much work went into it! So much flavor and—”
“My, my are you sure that you even could taste it as you scarfed it down?” Shinobu teased. “You took no prisoners! I’m not sure if I can even finish mine.”
Mitsuri leaned back in her seat. Her hands rested against her stomach. “I really could go for a nap now,” she said as her eyes closed.
Tamayo sprang to her feet. “Hey! No food comas!”
Mitsuri giggled and straightened up in her seat.
“Alright, alright! Besides! If we work hard enough, maybe we’ll be hungry enough for dessert later!”
“Speak for yourself,” Tamayo said. “Just thinking about sweets after all this makes me sick.”
Shinobu laughed. “Now, now, maybe you can take a shake to go.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad…” Tamayo mused.