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Sakiko looked down at her phone and scowled. After a moment to recompose herself, she looked back up at the group. She had a smile on her face, but it was clearly quite strained.
“This is quite annoying, but it seems I’m being called in without warning.” She began packing up her things in a hurry. “It’s an emergency meeting, it seems. If I could skip this, I would…”
In a moment of uncharacteristic humility, Sakiko clapped her hands together and bowed. “I’m so sorry I have to leave. Hopefully we can find another time to meet up.” She dug into her purse and pulled out several 10,000 yen bills, before slamming them on the table. “That should cover dinner! You can keep the change.”
Before anyone could say another word, she bolted out of the room.
Anon was about to move on from that, but before she could do anything, Nyamu's phone rang. She rolled her eyes and picked it up, but after a few moments, her shoulders fell. “Really? Are you serious?” She let out a deep sigh, then mimed an expression to make her discontent clear.
“Sorry, guys. A sponsor wants to meet with me in person before we move forward with a deal and they’re saying I have to do it now or never.” She rolled her eyes again. “It’s bullshit, but what can you do?”
Tomori nodded a little, then began waving goodbye to Nyamu. “See you another time.”
As quickly as Sakiko had left, Nyamu was out the door. That left the room with three inhabitants. Anon Chihaya, Tomori Takamatsu, and Sodachi Oikura.
Sodachi felt incredibly awkward to say the least.
It wasn’t like she didn’t know the members of MyGo!!!!! Ave Mujica spent plenty of time around them, so she was acquainted. They were on speaking terms. Yet, this was the first time she had been alone in a room with anyone from the band, without her Ave Mujica bandmates. Sodachi had no idea what to do.
It was like a trap to make her heart explode.
It wasn’t hard to see how MyGo!!!!! and Ave Mujica were connected. Sodachi had only heard a little about Crychic, but knowing that they had been in a band together before their current projects explained a lot of the tension she felt whenever certain people were in the room together. Umiri was classmates with Taki, while Uika and Tomori seemed like friends, so the only members of Ave Mujica not acquainted with MyGo!!!!! were Nyamu and Sodachi.
Nyamu was a social creature, at the very least. Sodachi was nothing like that at all. What was she supposed to do in a room of all-but-strangers?
At least if they were at karaoke, that would be an activity to do together. No, instead, Sakiko had rented them a small private room at a restaurant.
At least they could focus on ordering their food, for now.
As Sodachi looked at her menu, Anon called out to her. “So, Dachi, what kinda thing do you like?”
…Dachi? It was their first meeting and already Anon had given her a strange nickname.
“Um, what do you mean?”
“Y’know, food? What sort of stuff do you like?”
“Ah, um…” Sodachi set the menu down. She still kept an eye on it, because she didn’t want to hold up the wait staff too much before they ordered.
On the other hand, if Anon would guide the conversation, that meant Sodachi could just go with the flow. It wasn’t a serious issue.
“I prefer things without meat.” Sakiko already knew this— after it had come up the first time, she had made sure that Ave Mujica’s catering would accommodate that— so Sodachi presumed that this restaurant would also be able to accommodate her.
“Oh, that’s wild. Really? I couldn’t live without meat. Are you religious?”
Sodachi shook her head. She always hated getting that question. “No, I’m not… I’ve had some unpleasant experiences in the past that have pushed me away from wanting to eat meat. Once I made the switch, I found that I enjoyed eating more, so I’ve stuck with it.”
Anon lifted a hand spread wide to her mouth, clearly shocked at what Sodachi was saying. “Wow. That’s crazy dedicated!”
For the first time in that conversation, Tomori spoke up. Her voice was soft. “I appreciate the sacrifice animals pay for us to eat meat.” She looked down at the menu. “I’ve thought about it before. I don’t know if I would be able to change my diet that way, though.”
Sodachi couldn’t tell if it was just Tomori’s tone that was giving the impression, or if she was actually feeling glum because of this. She knew the girl liked animals, so maybe she felt guilty.
So, Sodachi raised her hands defensively. “I don’t think it’s really a moral thing, either. The difference one person makes for animals doesn’t really matter, right?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, however, Sodachi realized that wasn’t something that would help the situation.
Or so she thought. To the contrary, Tomori nodded. “That’s right. Animals are going to die either way. Even if humans didn’t exist, there are still carnivores. A world without death is just idealistic.”
Sodachi took that as a sign that Tomori wasn’t too hung up on this. Maybe she wasn’t. Sodachi still struggled to read her expressions, but just based on her words, she seemed content with the way things were.
Before either of them could say another word, Anon chimed in. “Oh, but isn’t it so bad? Animals are so cute, so it’s such a shame for them to die. I mean, pigs are just adorable, but then I eat pork. Isn’t that horrible?”
“Eh. It is what it is. Those pigs wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for humans wanting to eat them.”
“I guess… Still, it makes me wonder if I should be a vegetarian. Wouldn’t I be so cool?”
“That’s a shallow reason, isn’t it?” Sodachi’s thoughts spilled out before she could hold herself back. She had been trying to do that a lot more lately. TV hosts didn’t appreciate being told how the guests truly felt about them, after all… In this case, though, it turned out to be a failure. Still, she tried to recover things. “I think it’s best for people to become vegetarian because they want to and for no other reason. Morals are always fallible. You’ll always become a hypocrite if that’s your goal. As Takamatsu said, animals are always going to die. Besides, isn’t there new science saying that mushrooms or plants can also feel pain? If morals are your guide, then you can’t eat anything at all. At that point, it would be better off if you simply let yourself die for your beliefs.”
Once Sodachi was done, she cringed. Anon, of all people, certainly wouldn’t enjoy a rant like that. Thankfully, Tomori came to the resume by moving the conversation along.
“That’s not entirely accurate, by the way. Plants and mushrooms can sense distress, but they don’t have a nervous system. It’s not the same thing.”
“O-oh. That’s interesting.”
Anon still seemed a bit stunned by what Sodachi had said. Still, she laughed awkwardly and said, “Wow, that’s really neat, Tomorin.”
Despite those responses, Tomori picked up her menu and started looking. “We should probably figure out our orders.”
“Yeah… Let’s do that.” Sodachi picked up her menu and buried her face in it. She needed to focus her thoughts away from food and towards food.
It didn’t help that Sodachi still hadn’t become accustomed to eating at nice places like this. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t even that fancy— Sakiko had taken the band to far more expensive restaurants to celebrate Ave Mujica’s milestones— but for a girl used to home cooking and convenience store meals, it was a world away.
It was foreign food, too. Sodachi was used to some foreign cuisine— being vegetarian meant she had to be, since Japanese food was often reliant on meat— but this felt beyond her. And besides, most of the options still seemed meat-based. It would be a hunt to find anything she could eat that would look good.
On the other side of the table, Anon seemed to be having similar difficulty in picking what she would eat, but for different reasons. She was loudly narrating every food item that sounded good to her and continuously repeating how good it all sounded.
Sodachi could only assume that she was doing this unintentionally. If it was intentional, then her personality was beyond wretched. It would denote such a nasty personality that it was hardly an option. After all, everyone in MyGo!!!!! otherwise seemed nice, or at least, polite. Sodachi couldn’t imagine any of them trying to be hurtful.
Eventually, Sodachi settled on a simple pasta dish with a side salad. While she didn’t say anything, Tomori seemed to have settled on her choice, too. Thus, when the waiter returned with drinks, Anon was the only one still trying to decide her order.
“You guys can start ordering. I’ll pick what I want while you do that.”
Despite what Anon said, when things came around to her, she hadn’t picked. It took another five minutes of hemming and hawing before she was able to make a choice. She decided on a steak.
Thankfully, after they ordered, the conversation became more light. Anon led the conversation towards a variety of different subjects, only some of which Sodachi was familiar with; Tomori seemed only barely more familiar. That was fine. By this point, Sodachi’s social battery was being burned quickly, so a topic she could tune out of was a chance to recharge a little.
The food was good, at least. The Ave Mujica band leader knew what she was doing when she picked places to eat. Even when it came to lower-class establishments, she always seemed to know the best places to go.
Maybe it was just because Sodachi hadn’t been able to afford to eat out as much when she was younger. Maybe it was just a skill Sakiko had.
Even though her financial situation had changed considerably, and even though Sakiko had left money to pay for the meal, Sodachi still winced when she saw the check. At least she didn’t need to deal with it. She let Anon pay, and as a reward, when Anon decided to keep the change for herself, Sodachi didn’t dispute that.
Would Sodachi say she left the restaurant friends with the MyGo!!!!! members she had just spent the last hour or so with? Not especially, but at the very least, she felt like she knew them. To some degree. Things would be less awkward next time they hung out. In that sense, it was a success, especially when Sodachi knew that Ave Mujica and MyGo!!!!! would keep doing shows together.
With a polite and formal goodbye, the two parties went their own ways.