Trial 11: Mandatory Karaoke Episode / Backdated to the 17th

[pint_sized_carnivore]

Who: Open for EVERYONE
What: Tokyo Plot Day 2. Karaoke fun time!
When: July 17th. Evening
Where: Ikebukuro District
Rating: Awesome





Just southeast of the Ikebukuro Station is this tall building with inviting, bright neon lights. It's very hard to miss. Even for residents not familiar with Tokyo, they would probably have learned about it from the brochures in the hotel lobby and in their rooms. All it would take to get here is a quick train ride. It even says so in the hotel brochures.

One of them being Chie, who may be Japanese, but is not from Tokyo. So far nothing bad has happened, so why not spend some time in the night at a giant karaoke bar?

Comments

[pint_sized_carnivore]

Yeah, I think I put it on here somewhere. [Chie scratches her head, crouching down to see if it's one of the things that fell under the couches. She got down on all fours to really check, and suddenly...]

Aha! It's right there!

[She took a second or two to reach for the thing, until she actually got it and stood up with dust all over her clothes]

Got it.

[allthelinks]

Oh, good. [Down on the floor? Would it really have fallen down that far? Souji isn't so sure, but not for the first time, his skepticism doesn't pay off.]

Alright, we should be able to come right back, then. Let's just...

[She's all covered in dust now, so Souji invites himself to lean in and start brushing it off her limbs. It's not a perfect clean-up, but at least it leaves her presentable.]

[pint_sized_carnivore]

[Chie almost froze when Souji dusts her off. It's been a while since he's gotten this close to her, and it's a bit heartwarming, she guesses. But she feels a little selfish in just wanting to hog all of his time and attention. That fact only made her blush even more]

Y-Yeah, I think I'm good with uh [Chie points to herself, referring to the dust on her clothes being mostly gone now] Thanks.

[allthelinks]

[Ah. Oops. Sometimes, he tends to forget that Chie isn't used to close-contact. Well, outside of training, anyway. Souji's got enough tact not to mention anything about her blushing and stammering, though, and after wiping his hands off on his own pants, he's set to go.]

Cool. Let's go get those drinks!

[pint_sized_carnivore]

Yep!

[Chie leads the way, walking down the hallway leading to the bar with Souji at her side. Even at this floor, the bartender looks pretty intimidating. Chie noticed the bartender's glare and felt uneasy. She motioned Souji to go first]

Go ahead I'll go think of what I'm getting.

[allthelinks]

[Onward they go! And down to see... a very sour-faced man at the bar, huh. That's less than inviting for getting a drink, but Sooj isn't about to back down. He gives Chie a nod and steps up.]

One fruit punch, please.

[pint_sized_carnivore]

["Fruit punch?"]

Uhm, yeah. I'll have a... I'll have that too!

[The sour-faced bar tended nodded and got to work. Chie sighed quietly and glanced away a bit. She feels this neighborhood is one of those high-crime areas, and she didn't realize it earlier when the sun was still up, which made the place look friendly and safe. Now that it's nighttime, it definitely does look like one of the seedy big city areas.

She couldn't help but feel a little unsafe for a second. But she remembered she's here with Souji, so she felt some sense of security come back to her]

[allthelinks]

[It's a manly drink for a manly boy.]

Make that two.

[He seemed like a grouch, but the man did his job. Souji couldn't complain. While he waited for the drinks to get up and served, he craned his head back to look at Chie, but for all his much-vaunted ability to understand people, he couldn't completely read her. She was happy to be hanging out, sure, but maybe there was something else?

Out came the drinks, and Souji thanked the man and dropped some cash off before turning to offer his singing buddy hers.]

Smells good.

[pint_sized_carnivore]

Oooh, it does! I wonder what they put in here to make it smell great. The ones we get from Junes aren't this fancy! [Chie sniffed on the fruit punch]

[allthelinks]

You could go up and ask.

[Or not. The big guy behind the bar looks a little bit like he'd be happier if the kids were gone. Okay, no more teasing Chie.]

Or maybe Junes is cheap... we'll have to ask Yosuke, whenever he shows up.

[pint_sized_carnivore]

lol no. That guy looks like he's gonna kick both they're asses, so Chie just scoffed at Souji's teasing.

"Yeah, I wish the gang shows up so we could be the Investigation Team again. Off to another adventure!" Chie smiled, even though she feels uneasy thinking about that. Sure, they'd be together, but this place is as dangerous as the TV, possibly even more. Would she really want her friends to go through with that?

[allthelinks]

Getting a scoff was better than a pout, as far as Souji was concerned. He was going to chalk up this teasing as a success and call it a day there.

"If we keep coming and going, we're bound to see everyone at some point, right?" The idea of having to deal with people disappearing wasn't fun, he wasn't even here when Yukiko came and went and it still bothered him, but not seeing his friends bothered Souji ore. "We'll have to hope everyone shows up, then go crack this case."

[pint_sized_carnivore]

Chie nods as she walks back to their karaoke room, eyes brimming with determination. She's optimistic enough to believe the team would be back together someday.

"I'm crossing my fingers for that"

[allthelinks]

"Keep'em crossed. We'll all get back together someday."

But right now? It wasn't time to worry about that, it was time to have some fun! More crazy songs, probably something cheesy, that was what Souji was going to pick out for his next go.

[pint_sized_carnivore]

Chie nods with an optimistic grin on her face. Her own optimism was starting to waver until now. It's really great to have Leader-kun back!

"Oh yeah. I know you do really well in English exams. How about we try an English song?"

Normally she isn't the type to suggest such things, and only does it around Yukiko, but since they're here to let loose why the hell not?

[allthelinks]

An English song, huh? Souji wasn't too terrible at that class... so he nodded. This sounded like a fine plan to him.

"Alright. Want to pick something English at random, or do you have something in mind?"

He was already flipping through the menus, looking for anything that jumped out at him, but there were all of a handful of song titles he could even recognize the words that made up their names.

[pint_sized_carnivore]

"Hmm..." Chie pursed her lips while browsing. "Let's just pick something at random. It'll be more fun that way!"

[allthelinks]

"I'm on it." Random it was, and Souji pushed the button a couple times until it landed on something English...

"Baby Got Back?" What did that even mean?

[pint_sized_carnivore]

"Sounds like fun! Why not?"

Her English isn't very good, so she doesn't even know what the title really meant.

[allthelinks]

"Huh. Okay, let's go."

The theme was kind of catchy, Souji would admit, but when the words appeared on screen, Chie had the rare treat of seeing him completely falter.

1/2

[pint_sized_carnivore]

Chie was too pumped to realize the lyrics until finishing the opening first line...

"I like big butts and I can not li--

2/2

[pint_sized_carnivore]

--ei-ay-ay! Whaaaat?!"

[allthelinks]

Hearing Chie actually say that was a little funny, but Souji was mortified for her, and that took precedence. Maybe he smiled, a little, but he pushed it away quick.

"Ah... maybe another song..."

[pint_sized_carnivore]

"Sure"

But then, there was a knock on the door, a staff member telling them that the Below 18 booths are closing.

"Oh, right! Wow, time sure does fly! Oh well, let's go back to the hotel Souji-kun"

[allthelinks]

The news was as unexpected as the knock on the door, but Souji couldn't say he was entirely upset that it was time to head on home. That song, and hearing Chie sing it, was pretty much just as perfect an ending for the day as it could get.

"Looks like it's about that time. Let's head on back, and... promise I won't tell anyone about what just happened."