Mutual Intrigue

Stepping into the cafe after Alicia, Akino grinned right back when she heard the redhead’s suggestion. Akino was a confident woman, but she was no fool. Alicia had half a foot on her and a stronger build. To beat her in armwrestling, Akino would likely have to rely on something distracting Alicia just long enough to pull her arm down - a fly buzzing in her face, the a glaring reflection of sunlight going right into her eyes, something to that effect.

Although, the prospect of seemingly inevitable defeat, albeit in a highly inconsequential test of strength, didn’t intimidate the one-eyed maiden in the slightest.

“Sounds like fun. You’re on,” she replied. It would hardly matter who won anyway. Paying in full herself wouldn’t put a dent in Akino’s wallet, and if Alicia paid she’d get a free meal. Might as well have a bit of fun with it. Besides, this was a good chance to get a brief glimpse of Alicia’s upper body strength - anyone with at least one good eye and a half-functioning brain could tell her legs were packing plenty of power without seeing any demonstration. But her arms weren’t quite as obvious, and Akino was curious how they’d compare.

While Alicia scanned the room for a table, Akino spotted an open booth right by a window and immediately led the way over to it, then took a seat and waited for Alicia to join her. “Since you’re the one who’s actually familiar with genuine western food, take a look at the menu and let me know if you see anything I should try. Or would you rather get our little armwrestling match out of the way first?” she asked with a small, almost playful grin.

It’d been half a joke when Alicia had made that suggestion, given she didn’t know Akino anywhere near enough to know whether it was something that the one-eyed wrestler would go for. It turned out it was – useful to know.

Well, maybe not useful but definitely interesting. Arm wrestling wasn’t something Alicia did a lot of the time. But people often forgot the ‘boxer’ part in kickboxer when they saw her, given her lower body, and she’d sometimes caught them off guard with her arm strength. It wasn’t as impressive but she wasn’t a pushover either. Given Akino’s style and build, she was confident she’d come out on top but, either way, she didn’t mind.

If she won, she paid but she’d offered to anyway. And, if she lost, well – she got a free meal out of it. Both ways, she’d be getting food, good company and maybe some fun stories out of it. So she could live with the disappointment.

When Akino spotted a table, Alicia followed her over, claiming the seat opposite and casting another quick glance around as she did so. But her attention soon refocused on the blue-haired woman as she spoke, first with a grin and then more considerately. It was an open question how close this place’s food would be to what she knew but she was willing to do her best.

”Let’s do that first, while we’ve got the space,” the redhead decided, clearing the playing field on her side before she set her right elbow on the table in front of her. Flexing her fingers for a moment, she held it ready, her gaze meeting Akino’s expectantly.

”Ready when you are.”

Akino nodded in agreement to the redhead’s suggestion, then brought her own elbow up onto the table and latched her hand onto Alicia’s. It was definitely smarter to do this now. Soon, as Alicia had mentioned, the space over the table would be much to cluttered for it. And if they waited until after they ate, well, that just wouldn’t be healthy.

“Alright then. On the count of three,” Akino said, staring right into Alicia’s eyes with determination. Not that it really mattered who was about to win or lose this, but she was going to give it everything she had regardless.

“One... Two......... Three!”

And with that the bluenette immediately applied all the strength she could muster in her arm, trying to push Alicia’s down onto the tabletop! The “battle” had begun, and now it was time for her to see just what sort of strength this woman was packing in those arms of hers.

Waiting confidently, Alicia had to admit she saw herself winning this. While she wasn’t an expert at armwrestling by any means, she was definitely the bigger of the two – both taller and more muscularly built. That didn’t rule out Akino being the stronger as far as upper body strength went or the bluenette having some tactical tricks up her sleeves, but she felt she had the advantage going into this.

Not that it seemed to deter Akino, which she liked. It kept things interesting.

Clasping their hands together, the two women matched gazes, the redhead’s violet eyes matched the steely stare coming from opposite her. Akino’s grip was firm and warm, exactly what she’d have expected.

At three, Alicia too began to exert herself, pushing back against Akino’s arm with steadily increasing force. Initially, the one-eyed wrestler made headway, pushing the redhead’s limb backwards but Alicia soon reversed that. Then they were back at stalemate, a slight but strained smile on her lips as she continued to press harder and harder against her new friend’s hand.

To Akino’s credit, she managed to get off to a good start, despite the apparent physical disadvantage she was facing against the larger girl. However, that might’ve simply been because she’d been the one to do the countdown and therefore was able to react a fraction of a second more quickly once it started.

But soon Akino’s hand started to get pushed back the opposite direction. First they went right back to the position they started in, then Akino’s hand started getting pushed further and further down. The confidence in Alicia’s expression was quite apparent, but that didn’t deter the one-eyed maiden. Gritting her teeth, she pushed back with all her might to try to push their hands back the other way.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

Seconds later the combination of gravity and the force pushing down on Akino’s hand simply overwhelmed her, and the back of her hand was pinned down onto the tabletop. “Ugh... Well, looks like you’re getting a free meal after all,” Akino said grinning slightly as she pulled her hand back and shook her wrist out.

Akino definitely put up a fight, there was no denying that.

The look on her face, her lips pressed together in a thin line, told its own story on that account. And, if the kickboxer was any judge, she was throwing everything she’d got into reversing the trend. It wasn’t working and that still wasn’t stopping her trying.

But, absent something distracting Alicia, power made all the difference in this case. Slowly but with increasing speed, the redhead’s hand drove the other’s back and down until it hit the tabletop. Immediately, she released her grip, withdrawing her own hand and flexing it with a grin of her own.

”Then it’s my treat next time,” Her grin widened as another idea came to mind, ”Either that or whoever loses the match or spar pays. Meantime, I’ll just have to live with my disappointment.”

Picking up one of the menus that were on the table, Alicia cast a glance over it, taking in the selection of stuff on offer before raising her eyes to meet Akino’s gaze again.

”So, anything I need to remember while looking at this? I mean, you wanted me to say if there was anything you should try… Are you vegetarian or anything like that?”

It seemed better to ask before she really started looking. Although, in her case, a burger was very much calling her name. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly traditional English fare but it’d still been a while since she’d had one and apparently she was in that frame of mind.

“Sounds wonderful,” Akino replied at the proposition of using their next eventual confrontation to decide who would pay if and when they ate together again.

With that out of the way, now it was time to decide what to eat. She grabbed her menu and started to scan it over, mostly just out of curiosity. Akino had already decided to place her trust in Alicia’s judgement, considering a restaurant like this was more up her alley. This was basically just her way of passing the time without awkwardly staring at Alicia while the redhead came to a verdict.

Akino looked up at Alicia when she was addressed. “Not particularly,” she answered with a shrug. “I’m open to trying pretty much anything. Does anything there sound good to you?”

”Pretty hard to say,” Alicia admitted, laying the menu out in front of her and drumming her fingers as she considered the options. Fortunately, it was in both Japanese and English, which meant she could actually read it without having to ask for help. But, having never been here before, she really didn’t know what would be good here. And she didn’t have much of a clue what Akino might like either, which left her feeling a bit at sea in terms of making suggestions.

After a moment, she raised a shoulder in a shrug.

”Well, I’m going with a cheese burger. And chips. But I’m not sure I can really suggest much. I mean, I don’t know how good the food is here full stop or even what sort of stuff you like.”

The redhead drummed her fingers some more, before raising her eyebrows at the blue-haired wrestler. Maybe she could at least get some help from Akino about what sort of thing the Japanese woman liked or didn’t like.

”Pizza any good? Some of the toppings sound interesting.”

Akino was patient as Alicia examined the menu. She could only imagine how odd it must be trying to figure out what western foods to recommend to someone who had tried so little of it. She briefly imagined what it would be like attempting to introduce Japanese food to someone who’d never tried it. Where would she even start?

Fortunately, despite the difficulty she’d had in deciding, Alicia presented two options that sounded equally promising. At the mention of the cheeseburger, the blue haired girl looked down to see what was on it. She could do without the onions, but the rest seemed perfectly acceptable.

Pizza, on the other hand, was probably the item on the menu Akino was most familiar with. She wasn’t one to shower on the toppings, but it sounded good regardless. Decisions, decisions...

“Hmm...” Akino said as her eye scanned over her options again, before she made up her mind. “You said you’re going with the cheeseburger and chips, right? I think I will too,” she said with a confirming nod, then looked up and waved an arm to flag over the nearest waitress. “I’ll have the cheeseburger and chips. No onions. And some coffee,” she said, and after writing down her order the waitress turned to Alicia to see what she’d have.

In all honesty, Alicia would have felt a lot more comfortable trying to introduce Akino to what she viewed as traditional British food – fish and chips, sausage and mash, Shepherd’s Pie, stuff like that. But this was, as she’d expected, more of an American style place with more of an American menu. Or what she thought of as American anyway. Having never been there, she really couldn’t say.

Hence the suggestion of pizza. It had the benefit of being customisable. And, if Akino didn’t like it, maybe her reasons would give Alicia a better idea of what to suggest instead. As it was, it seemed she didn’t need to worry. After a certain amount of thought, the blue-haired wrestler went with a cheeseburger too.

Well, that was easy. Easier than she’d thought it’d be, which was a relief. It’d be a bit awkward if she had accidentally suggested something Akino turned out to hate. The redhead waited for the waitress to finish writing Akino’s order down and look her way.

”Cheeseburger and chips for me too, please, but with the onions. And I’ll have coffee too.”

She’d have preferred tea but she basically did not trust this place to do it how she’d like it. Alicia was very fussy about her tea.

With the order placed, the waitress bustled off to deal with it, leaving the two wrestlers to their conversation. Alicia turned her gaze back on Akino with a slight grin.

”So. Big, important question for you. Not that you don't look awesome in it but why the maid costume?”

It really had to be asked.