The late summer weather is terrific, and some students are making the most of the last week of term break before school resumes, while others are realizing just how much homework they have left to do.
Gaofele, on the other hand, has different tasks on his mind. With magical items popping up across town every so often, he's taken to strolling around in various neighborhoods, looking for any sign of unusual occurences. He's also keeping an eye out for those aligned with Queen Mirage, as Rune's warning goes through his mind. There's a lot to think about, and there's a slight frown on his face.
Something catches his attention from the corner of his eye -- a worn-out futon, sitting in the trash. The familiarity of it gives him pause, and his brow furrows as a feeling of deja vu washes over him.
A slight smile, oddly nostalgic, crosses his face as he recognizes why. "Fourteen weeks," he says, shaking his head as he counts back the days. "Fourteen weeks since I was here, scrounging around." Fourteen weeks since he and Rune came to the Unknown World -- to Earth -- on their somber quest. Thanks to Hinote, his clothes no longer mark him as an outsider to Tokyo, but his black-green hair still looks similar to how it was then.
He pauses, looking towards the worn-out futon and thinking on all that has happened since then. "Heh, imagine if..."
A shake of the head. What would be the odds of meeting the same girl in the same place with the same objects around?
As it happens, Sakura has had quite a bit to think about as well, what with all the things happening recently. Corvus is gone, but she's heard from Kero about more magical goings-on throughout Tokyo, things that they'll have to deal with in time. And in fact, as it happens, Sakura is pondering all of this while skating slowly home, staring down at the ground ahead of her...
And then she smacks clean into Gaofele, prompting an ack of surprise from her as she falls to the ground, blinking and shaking her head. "Oh! Um... hi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." she says, stuttering, before she recognizes his face. "Oh, you're..."
Gaofele Doiru is jostled from his caravan of thought by someone running into him. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to wool-gather in the middle of the..." he says as he turns around, his words jumbling with Sakura's.
He blinks as he recognizes who ran into him. "Sakura? Is that you?" he asks, a look of disbelief on his face for a moment. But there's no mistaking those skates; it's the same girl as back then.
"Are you okay?" Gao asks, offering a hand to help her up.
Sakura takes his hand and gratefully accepts the help up, nodding as she dusts herself off. "Y-yeah, I'm fine." she answers, then looks up at Gao with a bright smile. "It's good to see you again, Gao-san!"
Then, taking out her phone and checking the time, she seems to panic a little and asks him, "Oh, hey, can we catch up at my house? It's not far, and I can't be late or my dad will worry!" She then stops for a moment as a sense of deja vu washes over her, and she blushes sheepishly as she adds, "...again."
"Sure!" Gao smiles, gesturing for Sakura to lead the way. The sight of the cellphone reminds him of a difference from last time: "And I'm not as schedule-limited this time," he remarks as he strides alongside her. He rummages in a pocket and pulls out his own cellphone. "If need be, I can call my friends and let them know that I'll be out later than usual," he grins.
It wouldn't be polite to state it out loud, but he's kind of hoping that some more of the tasty Kinomoto cooking. Sure, the Waldians have more options for cooking now that the power and such are back on at the abandoned store... but a homecooked meal? That's still a treat!
Sakura Kinomoto smiles a little wider as he agrees, and she takes his hand to lead him to her house! "That's great! I can't believe you didn't even have a phone last time. They're a lot of help when you get lost!" she says, and then she takes off. She knows not of the young boy's designs on her father's cooking, but even if she did, she'd hardly deny him the chance to taste it again. Hospitality is the name of the game!
And soon, they're at the Kinomoto household again, and the one to answer the door is Toya, who gives the two of them an impassive look as he steps aside to let them in. "Sakura has a plus one, make sure to cook for three more!" he calls into the kitchen, prompting an annoyed grimace from the girl, puffing out her cheeks and fuming at the childish insult.
Gaofele Doiru gives Toya a polite nod as he walks in, then he pauses as Toya says his teasing call. "Actually... the last time I had some of your family's cooking, I shared it with some friends of mine," Gao remarks with a sheepish grin. "I wouldn't want them to miss out on such good food, so I would be appreciative if I could take any extra servings with me after dinner."
Sure, splitting two servings four ways isn't enough for a meal for any given person, but it /would/ make for a nice side dish for the others! He sends the others a brief text, stating that he's going to returning later than usual. The possibility of food isn't mentioned; that can be a pleasant surprise if it happens to work out.
Toya, to his credit, doesn't push it any further, simply shrugging and returning to the kitchen. Sakura turns to Gao in the meantime and bows several times in quick succession, beet red. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! My brother's a big jerk, he just does things like that!" Then, straightening up and turning around, she walks stiffly into the dining area in embarrassment, taking her seat.
Once Gao enters the room, Fujitaka appears with several steaming plates of stir-fried beef and broccoli, with an omelette on one side of one of the plates and shrimp mixed in with noodles on the other side. The latter he sets in front of Sakura, who breathes a sigh of relief while her father smiles to Gao, setting out the rest of the plates. "Oh, you're that friend she brought with her before. My, it's been a long time since I've seen or heard from you. Did you get everything situated with your friends?"
"Siblings," Gao replies to Sakura with a smile and a shrug. While the exact style varies from family to family, it's practically a multiversal constant that older siblings tease their younger sibs.
"Yes, sir," Gao nods to Fujitaka. "We happened to meet someone our age who attends Seishou Public School, and he helped get us settled in here in Tokyo and got us enrolled at Seishou." He avoids the details on how exactly he and Rune met Hinote, as well as how Hinote volunteered to help the Waldians.
As for the reason the Waldians are here on Earth, Gao tries not to think about it -- why bother an ordinary family with magical troubles, especially when there is banditry of magic involved?
Instead, he sits at the offered place. The food smells absolutely delicious; if last time was any indication, it'll taste even better!
Fujitaka nods to Gao as he sets down the plate in front of the boy. "I see, that's good. I think you'll find that many of the locals around here are quite nice, and will help you with anything you need. I just hope it wasn't too much trouble getting into school." he says, avoiding prying into who, exactly, this other student might be.
Toya soon enters from the kitchen, a large shopping bag in hand, which he offers to Gao. "For your friends. You might need to heat it up again by the time you get back. It's just extra servings of tonight's dinner." he explains, then moves around the table to settle in at his own seat. Fujitaka looks like he's about to say something, perhaps that Toya didn't need to go to all the trouble when he would've been perfectly willing, but he chuckles and lets it go, taking his seat as well.
"Okay, we're all here! Itadakimasu~" Sakura finally speaks up, then starts to dig into her omelette with gusto, somehow miraculously avoiding splattering egg everywhere.
"Thank you," Gao smiles to Toya as he accepts the bag. He carefully puts the bag to the side, then gives the food the attention that it deserves. The stir-fried beef and broccoli is delicious, and watching Sakura devour her omelette definitely helps keep the mood light.
While most of his attention is on his food, Gao does glance around occasionally, taking in the sight of the house, or at least what he can see from the table. It's hard to get a firm sense from where he sits, but the house has an overall feeling of happiness and protection to it -- a feeling that matches what Waldians when they say a place is 'safe'.
It brings a small smile to his face. This is the kind of thing the Waldians seek to help protect while they're here in Tokyo, even while they're working on their grim mission.
The house is well-cleaned, not to the point of looking like it belongs to an obsessive-compulsive neat freak, but there is no obvious mess anywhere in sight, and everything seems to be kept free of enough dust so as not to aggravate allergies. There are a few potted plants, which look green and healthy, and the floor throughout is hardwood with a nice golden-brown finish.
All that being said, though, Sakura soon slows down her eating enough to talk to Gao a bit, turning to him and swallowing before she speaks. It's just polite, you know. "So, Gao, you guys are at Seishou, right? What's it like there? Do you like being there? Have you made any new friends?"
"Are there any ghosts?" Toya suddenly interrupts, without even looking up, before he pops a piece of broccoli in his mouth. He doesn't even glance at Sakura as she shivers and makes a frightened little 'hueeeeeh' sound at the thought. Thankfully, Fujitaka has her covered.
"Now, Toya, don't scare your sister like that." he admonishes the teen, but he has words for Sakura as well. "And Sakura, don't overwhelm our guest. Give him time to answer one question before you ask another, alright?"
With a sigh, the girl nods and bows slightly. "Yes, dad." Turning back to Gao, she does the same for him. "Sorry, please answer at your leisure."
Gaofele Doiru chuckles slightly at Sakura's enthusiasm. "Well, the people at Seishou are quite approachable, and they make it easy for newcomers to adapt," he remarks. "I'm glad we're attending that school." Being able to keep in contact with Hinote while at school really helped out during the early weeks. It's not exactly the same as truly liking being there, but it's a good place, and he has no complaints about it.
He munches on a piece of broccoli as he considers the next question. "There's a few people we're on really good terms with, although we don't really hang out," he demurs. And it's true enough; the Waldians are on decent terms with the Puella Magi, but it's not like they're on the same team.
He does give Toya an odd look for the ghost question. "I... haven't seen any?" he says, glancing to Sakura and giving her a small shrug. It's an odd question, but for all he knows it's an earnest inquiry. "It's not like there's any major rumors about ghosts or the like."
Sakura quickly brightens up again. Nothing can keep this girl down, it seems! "Oh, that's wonderful! I wasn't sure, because I go to Infinity, but I heard they were pretty nice! Very modern." She takes a moment to slurp up some noodles and hurriedly chew one of those shrimp.
"I guess you're safe then." Toya says to Sakura in response to Gao's answer, taking advantage of the pause. If one looked /really/ close, one might notice the slightest hint of a smile at the corner of his lips as he continues, "But even if there were any, they'd all be scared off by you anyway. Even ghosts can't stand up to a kaiju."
Sakura's face turns bright red again, but less in embarrassment and more in anger as she pouts at Toya. But, rather than risk losing her cool in front of their guest, she takes a deep breath and asks Gao, "Have you been busy? I bet there was a lot of catching up to do."
"Oh, there was," Gao nods ruefully. "I'm just glad Hinote was able to help us." /So/ much catching up to do to get used to the technology and such of Tokyo! "If we hadn't met him, I'm pretty sure things would have been a lot harder." Both in terms of adapting, and in terms of the mission.
He frowns slightly as he ponders how to finish answering the question. "It's been busy, but things seem to be getting better," is all that he says, taking a few more bites of the food. Going into more detail would be risky; he might accidentally say more than he means to.
"Well, it's good that you're getting caught up. Summer break is almost over, so it'll be right back to school before you know it." Fujitaka finally chimes in with another smile, having finished his meal while everyone else was talking. Folding his hands in front of him, he then adds, "When you're done, just leave the plate. I'll take care of it."
Sakura, too, has just finished her meal, licking up the last bits of shrimp sauce from her plate before setting it down and turning in her seat to face Gao. "So I guess you're gonna have to go soon, right? We should meet up sometime during the day! I could show you the park, or maybe the arcade, or... or we could even go to your house! I'd love to meet your friends!" she says, beaming.
Gaofele Doiru smiles and murmurs his thanks to Fujitaka, then takes another bite or two; his plate is nearly empty, but there's still a few bites left. He could just scarf it down, but food this good deserves to be savored, and there's still some conversation to be had. Oh, and there's just enough that it would be rude to try to fit it within one mouthful.
He listens to Sakura's suggestion, a thoughtful expression crossing his face while he chews on the food. Hanging out during the day? That sounds like a pretty good idea, actually! He nods at the suggestion of the park, and the nodding is joined by a smile when she mentions the arcade...
And then she mentions visiting his 'house'.
The smile falls off of his face, and the nodding stops. "Um, my place is a bit of a mess," he says sheepishly. "It's not really in shape to have visitors over." Not only would it risk the secrecy of the Waldian base, but it would raise way too many questions.
But Sakura's cheerful enthusiasm is too much to turn down completely. "I'll tell you what -- I'll talk with my friends, and we'll see if they'd like to come along during one of the times we meet up. Deal?"
Fujitaka just smiles more, watching his daughter enjoy the company of a new friend. She's so good at making them!
Sakura herself seems a little disappointed when he turns down the offer to visit his house, but she totally understands. "Yeah, I guess it would be better to come by when you've got it fixed up..." But then he gives her an alternative! She doesn't know the real reasons behind it, but the happy grin on her face shows that she probably wouldn't care even if she did. "That sounds great! Deal!"
The abandoned store is more fixed up than it was when the Waldians first moved in, but it's still not exactly a place one can invite friends to. Still, a visit elsewhere would still be enjoyable!
Gao finishes the last bite of food, then stands up from the table. "Thanks for the food," he murmurs with a bow, then picks up the bag of food. He jots down his cellphone number on a piece of paper for Sakura, then bows again and takes his leave, a smile on his face and a light spring in his step.
As Gao walks down the street in the evening air, he passes by the worn-out futon again. He pauses, thinking about the Waldian mission, the Kinomoto's food, Sakura's friendship, and all that had happened in the past three months.
A few minutes later, he keeps on walking, the futon folded up under one arm. It only seemed fitting, after all.