Mask/Off

"Uh-uh," the janitor nodded again at Ninjette's remark about jobbers.

He was slightly startled by the squeeze on his arm, but did nothing to pull his arm away.

"It's Mizuno," he answered to her question, his hand pointed at the name tag on his chest. "Yasuhide Mizuno. Aandd I guess you might be right... but well, maybe in the future..." he rolled his eyes.

Being a wrestler in AFW was only a glorious job if you're one of the top fighters. If you're somewhat decent, then maybe it's not that bad. Even as a jobber the payment itself was good, but it took an extra courage to let yourself being beaten up and tossed around like a rag doll in front of the audiences, not to mention that people could also see it from TVs and Internet. Some people seemed like they didn't care about those kind of stuffs, though.

"Um... so like, are you free after this?" asked Yasuhide. "My shift's over so... err... I mean, maybe I can tell you a bit about this Mask dude... I watched his matches back when he's still a street league fighter..."

Aw, he was a little shy. The shy ones were always fun, for a little while at least.

"Yasuhide Mizuno." She managed to repeat it well despite her accent, having years of experience when it came to spitting out all sorts of Japanese names. It was like her family was in a contest to give each generation the most un-Jersey names they could think of. "Kozue Kaburagi of the Jersey Kaburagis, nice meeting you."

It almost seemed like he was asking her out on a date for a second there, and she couldn't help but be just tad flattered, but the last thing he said caught her notice. "Yeah, sure, we can go out, but..." Some confusion started to mount on her face. He didn't mention that he'd seen the Mask in action before, he made it sound like he was just guessing about the street leagues. Weird. He was nervous, maybe he just misspoke. "Nothing, nothing. Sure, I can hang for a bit. Where at?"

"Nice meeting you too, Kaburagi-san," he smiled a bit. "Umm, are you like, hungry or something? I know a place to get some good... ramen... if you like," he suggested.

Yasuhide glanced around, and was relieved that there wasn't much people hanging around at the moment. It'd be quite awkward to see a janitor asking a wrestler to go out. Even if it isn't a date, it was quite easy for other people to think so. He's rather nervous, so to say. For a moment she looked as if she was hesitating, so it kinda surprised him that she agreed to go out. Maybe it's because he mentioned about The Mask. Kozue seemed quite obsessed with him for reasons he didn't really know. Curiosity? Was that all?

"Kozue, dude. Just 'Kozue'. Kaburagi-san is my Dad. And my mother, too, I guess. Whole family, really, but not me." She shook her head. "Just...'Kozue'. Kozue from down the way."

So formal, so polite, she had to get this guy to loosen up a little bit. Maybe she could get him to take a drink or two and ease up some. Would be good for her, too. "Sure, ramen's cool, can show off my mad chopstick skills. I smell a little bit of man-sweat and musty armpit, though, so I'm thinking I should fresh up a little bit and get dressed like a semi-normal person. Name the place, I'll meet you there in an hour."

"O-okay, Kabu- I mean, Kozue-san," Yasu corrected himself. "Yeah, sure. I have to change as well. The place is near," he said before giving the direction to the shop. "I'll wait in front of it."

He walked towards the janitors' locker room after waving to Kozue, and let out a sigh before entering the staff only room. Placing the cleaning tools bag in its place, he opened the zipper before taking something from it. A bag that was filled with clothes, and a mask on top of it.

"Whew..."

Letting out another sigh, Yasu tied the bag and put it into his locker, along with his janitor outfit. A couple of minutes later, he was already changed into a casual clothes, a plain black shirt and denim pants, along with a pair of casual sneakers. There was still time according to his phone, so he just walked slowly towards his destination. Somehow he felt a bit uneasy about this.

Thinking back, it's a good thing he came out in a janitor outfit. Who knew that Kozue was waiting for him outside right after the match? Sure the girl was just curious and all, but in the future, there's no telling if the janitor trick would work next time. At least she waited, and not just barged in right after a match like someone did back then...

"Kozue. No 'san'. Just Kozue." She shook her head with a goofy smirk and patted his head. "See you there."

She skipped off, humming all the way as she went back to her lockerroom to freshen up. And she meant her lockerroom, since more often than not, the room was empty, so she had it to herself except for the annoying instances when matches spilled in there. It was a good place to stop and think, her home away from home, and she'd even taken the liberty of securing five of the lockers for herself. No one else was using them, why the hell not?

She took stripped, nice and fast, and after a hot shower she started sliding into her civies. Demin jeans - short, of course - and pair of red and black sketches, matching up well with her NJ Devils hockey jersey. Her shuriken earrings completed the ensemble, and she was out in the next minute, heading Mizuno's way, coming the opposite way as he neared. "Yo, 'Zuno!"

Yasu was leaning against the walls just outside the ramen shop, checking clock on his phone when she heard Kozue's voice. He waved and smiled a bit, waiting until she came close to him.

"Just call me Yasu. Sounds much better than Zuno," he smirked wryly.

He led the way to the restaurant, lifting up the curtain that was the entrance door to the place, letting her came in first. The place wasn't too crowded at this hour, one of the reason why he picked it apart from having good food. Yasu hinted to the table at the corner before taking a seat, pointing to the menu list on the wall next to them to tell Kozue where she could find what to order. There were also appetizers, rice dishes, udons, and some desserts too apart from ramens. Within a few minutes, one of the staffs approached them to take their order.

"Beef ramen with miso base and water for me," he ordered.

"Aw, really? Zuno flows off the tongue nicer. And the Z makes it sound cool. Zzzzzuno." She lathered it in her accent and sounded her best to sound sultry. Probably failed. "But Yasu's workable, I guess." She rolled her eyes, overdramatic, messing with him. "I'm gonna make you cool yet, though. Just stick with me."

She bounced after him, brimming from a little Mellow Yellow she'd drank up on the way here. She slid into the table and started going over the menu, giving it a quick look over. Ramen was always good, but she had plenty of the cheap kind back at home. Now, udon? That was new. Be adventurous. "I'll have the Yaki Udon, with Shrimp. And water lemon. Lots of lemon. Just, like, throw the lemon in, then pour the water and ice on top."

"Yeah, Yasu is definitely better," he gave her another wry smirk.

Hearing Kozue ordering her meal almost made him chuckled. This girl was funny despite from the rash impression she gave in when he barged into the locker's room. It's probably best not to piss her off. He looked around and noticed a couple not too far away from their table, before gazing away somewhere else.

This wasn't a date, he reminded himself. If it was, then it'll be his first. Ever. As sad as that might sound. It's close enough to a date, though. at least for bystander's perspective. Okay, it's better to stop thinking about that stuffs. They're here just to have a little chat, about The Mask, and not him. Why did he even bother to ask her out in the first place? That seemed like an impulsive action now that he thought about it. Hopefully he wouldn't regret it.

At the moment, Yasu looked like he lost within his own thought as he didn't even pay attention to Kozue.

The waitress gave them both a weird look - one Kozue'd grown accustomed to since coming to Japan - but shrugged it off and went to her business, probably not wanting to put her tip on the line.

Kozue leaned back in her seat and started to talk again, even opening her mouth for it, but she paused when she caught the look on Yasu's face. Dude was gone. Solid gone. In his own world, zoned out, floating around in the atmosphere. She cocked her head to the side, not even sure what to make of it. It wouldn't be the first time a guy started ignoring her on a date, but they usually waited for the half way mark.

"Yasu...oh, Yasu. Ground control to major Tom..." She brought her hand up and waved it in his face. "You're reminding me of a really bad M. Night Shyamalan movie right now, don't do that."