Kawaii Crossroads

Micca seemed to be glad to have Claire's company, which made the champion happy. She had made a couple of enemies under very unfortunate circumstances during her time at AFW. She was tentatively on respectful terms with Aoi, but who knew what that girl was going to do come tomorrow, or next week...and Claire still worried about what would happen when Tsukasa came back to the league, especially when the girl learned Claire was the kawaii champion. So if Micca was going to be a big player in the kawaii game—and with energy like hers, Claire was sure she would be—the New Englander wanted to get off on the right foot with her.

"Yeah, I figured I would enjoy those better, since I guess...well, I guess I don't know, really. Some of them seem as though they are meant to be enjoyed...academically?" What Claire was saying probably didn't make sense to the other kawaii girl. She blushed a little bit and scratched at her ear behind her glasses. "They seemed more like my kinds of games than some of the newer stuff."

Micca's offer, then, just as they were approaching the cafeteria, was not only very kind, but very cute, too, as the girl stuttered a little bit, trying to make sure she wasn't forcing Claire into anything. Claire chuckled and nodded. "That could be fun. I think I would have more fun with some of them if I had another person there with me. Thank you!"

Micca blinked, not understanding what Claire meant about the games that were meant to be enjoyed academically, but she just smiled at that. Well, people had different ways to enjoy stuff they liked, after all. Also, she was glad that Claire was willing to enjoy the games alongside her. "That's so good to hear! I'm looking forward to it!" Micca said, smiling radiantly at the other girl. She really meant it, about looking forward to all the fun things they could enjoy in the future.

Now that they had reached the cafeteria, Micca was already looking forward to some delicious meals. "Alright! Let's get our food now!" Micca said as she marched into the cafeteria. "So... what will you be having, Claire-san?" Micca asked the current kawaii champion about what she wanted to eat. She hadn't thought about what to eat yet, so she might as well ask Claire about what she wanted to eat so that they could get the same thing.

Even though video games were pretty much out of her wheelhouse, Claire had heard that the stories in them were getting a lot better. She was not totally convinced that she would find the newest AAA releases to be significantly more exciting than the really old stuff—which, she had been glad to find, drew quite heavily, albeit often haphazardly, from the well of myths of which she was intimately familiar, and which had a fair bit of iconic imagery which she found enjoyable. She was glad to have made a friend of one of the kawaii league's newest members, though, and she would be glad to try out some of the newer games if Micca recommended them.

The two of them entered the cafeteria, Claire leading the way, Micca no more than a step behind. AFW's cafeteria had always been a little bit intimidating, huge as it was, with girls of all sizes occupying dozens of tables spread out across a wide area. The big wall of windows to one side of the room let in copious amounts of light which always gave the cafeteria a sort of glow. When she was new, Claire had sometimes found it a little too disconcerting to eat here. Now, as champion, she knew that she carried plenty of weight, and girls, even full-sized Friction girls, respected her. She smiled to Micca and then looked around the cafeteria.

"Well, the noodles are usually pretty good here. I like to get stir-fry when I can," Claire would reply. "Maybe with some steak and peppers in it. They do any number of varieties of meats and vegetables, though, if you want to get something similar."

Micca had been quite mindful of her own diet after finding out that she had lactose intolerance, which meant that she couldn't consume milk products. Luckily, the management had been informed of this, so she wouldn't be worried too much about getting herself something bad to eat.

Following Claire into the cafeteria, Micca looked around the place. She had entered this place several times already, but she's not used to its sheer size yet. And considering that other full-sized Friction girls also ate here, Micca couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by them. Well, now that she was with the current kawaii champion, she felt less intimidated.

"Hmm... let's see..." Micca mused as she thought of what to eat for today. "I was thinking of having something healthy for today." She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I kinda spent the whole night eating cheetos and drinking mountain dews while playing videogames," she admitted, her cheeks reddened a bit. Trying to quickly change the topic, she asked Claire, "Umm... what about you, Claire-san? Anything you have in mind?"

Claire was a little bit shocked by the junk food diet Micca had admitted to indulging in the night before. Of course Claire had heard all the jokes and stories about just staying inside and pounding Cheetos and sugary sodas until five in the morning, but she herself had never been one to drink much pop or eat many "cheezy" snacks, and she was more than a little surprised that a fellow wrestler would indulge in that sort of diet, knowing what sort of effect it could have on her in-ring performance!

But, then, Claire had a few bad habits of her own, so she wasn't one to judge. Plus, Micca was after something healthy, and she could probably balance out the previous night with something light and nutritious for lunch today. In fact, it sounded like she was after something even healthier than the rich and admittedly oil-heavy dish that Claire was thinking of eating. "Hmmm...they have all kinds of salads. Pasta salads, American and Asian...you could always get a regular type of salad and add on some fruit on the side...or I think they have a strawberry fields salad, even, if you wanted to combine those!" she suggested, trying to brainstorm as many healthy options as she could for her new friend.

Micca listened to Claire's suggestion for the healthy menu she could get here in the cafeteria."Well... there are lots of options to take... I'm not sure what to take..." she said. "Well, as long as it's healthy, unless if it's milk..." she shuddered slightly, remembering the time when she ate some milk-based foods, which ended badly for Micca. "I guess I'll be having what you'll have, Claire-san. I just dunno what to choose," she admitted, smiling bashfully at the kawaii champion.

Now that they were in the cafeteria, Micca took her time to observe her surroundings, and she had to admit that there were many girls bigger than her here in the cafeteria, which made her feel nervous for obvious reasons. "S-still... there are a lot of girls here, and they're pretty big too..." she said, looking at some girls who were tall and intimidating, which made the kawaii feel anxious. "Don't you feel nervous too, Claire-san?" Micca asked the champ.

"Oh? No milk, huh?" Claire would respond, noting that it sounded like the girl either didn't like the stuff (which was unlikely) or she was lactose intolerant. Well, there were still plenty of options for her here! Wrestlers had all kinds of different diets, some very important to adhere to, some meant for building up strength or stamina, some just silly fads that they would get over before the week was out. "Well, I think I am going to get that stir-fry. It's heavy in oil, but I'm sure if you ask them to go light on it they can whip you up a pretty nutritous version, with good carbs and vegetables and protein. I don't want to force you to get what I get, of course...but that station is over this way!"

Claire would lead the way over to the stir-fry station, which included a bar where one could choose her own ingredients, picking them out of their own containers with tongs and piling them all together in a bowl, and then a cooking station, where the chef would take the bowl of ingredients and add them, along with noodles, sauce, and a protein of your choice, into the wok and cook them up. Claire grabbed a bowl, then started to make her way down the ingredient bar, starting off with some mushrooms while Micca asked her about feeling nervous.

"Oh, there was a time when I most certainly felt nervous in a place like this," Claire would explain. "But...after being here for years, I've gotten fairly comfortable. Most of the big girls are actually quite nice, you know. They usually think we're cute. We remind them of their high school days...or middle school days, I suppose, as the case may be." Sometimes cuteness did almost feel like a curse, being carded every time she tried to order alcohol and constantly being asked whether she was an exchange student while she was on the street. But it had its advantages, too. A couple of tall Friction girls, a blonde and a brunette, whom Claire had spoken with on occasion, waved at her and Micca from a table near the wall. Claire grinned and waved back.

"And even if there are a few who are mean, well...AFW isn't likely going to put you in a match against them unless you're really asking for it."

Micca followed Claire to the stir-station, picking her own ingredients and putting them all together in her bowl. She had taken a liking to fried tofu, so she took some of them into her bowl. Considering that she couldn't eat milk-based foods, she considered tofu to be a better substitute. As Micca went to pick more ingredients, she listened to Claire's response to her question. "I see... well, I guess being cute and small have their own perks too. It's just..." she sighed. "We're already grown-ups, right? So... we won't have any more growing up after this..."

She always thought herself to be late-bloomer. Back during her high-school time, most of her peers had grown bigger than her, which made her feel self-conscious for a while. And now, while she was already considered an adult, and yet she still had the body of a middle-schooler. Barring a few extreme circumstances, she thought that she would have to accept being 'cute and small' despite growing older.

"Say... in case if you grow taller or bigger, have you ever thought about joining the bigger girls?" Micca asked as she picked a few mushrooms for herself. "I mean, it's still possible for us to grow up even now, right?" Having bed wrestling and bloomer fights was fun and all, but she also wanted to experience 'adulthood'. Also, they wouldn't be 'kawaii' forever, right?

As the two of them worked to fill up their bowls with ingredients for the stir-fry, Micca raised some very interesting questions about the nature of kawaii girls. Claire actually had to stop and think for a few seconds, setting her bowl down halfway between the bok choy and the peppers. As kawaii champion, she had generally just taken the hands that were dealt to her and never really thought about having the chance to play the game any other way.

"Well...yes, if I did grow taller, taller by two or three inches, and put on some pounds, then I definitely wound join the main Friction roster," she would reply. "I really enjoy what I do, and I would like to think I'm good at it. I want to keep wrestling for as long as I can." She would chuckle as she picked up her bowl again and made her way over to those peppers, piling quite a few into her bowl, letting them fill empty spaces along the edges as a mound started to rise above the top of the bowl. She preferred to get as much as she could for her money for things like this.

"But...I don't think that I am going to be doing much more growing. I am fairly certain that I am as tall as I will ever be. And I think I am okay with that. Out in the 'real world,' I can still be an adult. I have a college education and I keep up with current events and I pay taxes. In some ways...it's kind of cathartic to be small and cute and act like it in the ring. Regression can help you deal with the stresses of modern society. I don't know many other twenty-somethings who could get by doing spanking duels and wedgie wars all the time!"

Picking up her bowl, Claire would head over to the cooking station, where the last customers seemed to have just received their food. Lucky them, that meant no line!

Micca listened to what Claire had to say about their current situations, being small and cute despite being legal. "I guess you do have a point there," she nodded. "Oh well... it happens that I love all the kawaii stuff here, so I don't want to complain," she said. She had also filled her bowl with ingredients. Once she thought that she already had enough, she followed after Claire, going to the cooking station where there was no line, which was lucky of them. They wouldn't have to wait in line to have their foods prepared!

"So, Claire-san... since you're already the kawaii champ, is there anything you've planned yet?" Micca asked. Then, she remembered Claire holding the dossiers of kawaii wrestlers when they met in the elevator previously. "Say... what are you planning with all those profiles?" Micca asked, pointing at the item in question. It's probably something that had something to do with booking and management, but she couldn't help but be curious about this whole thing. And considering that Claire was friendly enough, she didn't have the reservation from asking her such question.