Shiori and Clyde - The Aftermatch

"Oh?" Shiori let out as she heard Clyde's reply that he's been in AFW for too long, which soon became two or three years. "I see..."

It didn't seem like he's too happy about his time, so she decided not to pry any further. After a moment of silence, Shiori reached in for the pocket in her jacket. If Clyde had been in AFW for that long, he might know something about the person she's been searching. He might not, but that wouldn't matter much to her.

"Well, actually... I'm looking for someone..." she said as she took something out of her pocket. "That's the reason I came to AFW."

Shiori would look at what seemed to be a piece of paper for a bit before she handed it to Clyde. It was a photo of her younger self and a rather skinny boy with black hair and apathetic look on his face. They were wearing the same high school uniform. One of Shiori's arms was wrapped around his shoulder while her other hand was put forward, as if she was holding the camera. On the bottom frame there was something written in a small, neat handwriting.

[align=center:2imdi88l]"Me and Toru-chan <3"[/align:2imdi88l]
"Have you ever seen a boy like in that photo?" she would ask.

Clyde started to feel a little bad in regards to talking about his less than stellar experience in AFW, he should have kept his emotions at bay but it was difficult. He felt very strongly about the things that had happened to him over the past couple of years and sought to move forward from what brought him to AFW.

"Sorry." He apologized, knowing he probably ruined the mood of things a little. He then took a small drink from his coke following that.

His eyes perked up though when Shiori declared that she was here looking for someone and that was her reason for joining AFW. She then got out a piece of paper that was later revealed to be a photo and showed it to Clyde to display a younger looking Shiori and some kid with black hair and a rather uncaring look upon his face that made Clyde frown. Shiori looked happy and this kid made it seem like she was just troublesome. Clearly this kid didn't know how nice he had it.

Upon hearing Shiori's question, Clyde narrowed his eyes and inspected the photo closely to look at the kid. He had to be honest. "A boy like that? Yeah. There are a million like him. Young Japanese kid fresh out high school joins Tension Pro. I'm sorry, I don't know who he is and he resembles a lot of people in the company." muttered Clyde.

Clyde then frowned and got a little worried. "He uhh.... He your boyfriend? Brother or somethin'?"

Shiori let out a sigh as Clyde stated that he didn't know the man she's looking for. That was kind of expected actually, but she still couldn't help but to feel a bit disappointed. She kinda starting to wonder if the rumor she heard about her kouhai was true or not now.

"Ah, I see..." she would say before taking another sip of her ice lemon tea.

For some reason the mood seemed to be really glum now. Shiori herself felt bad that it turned like this. However, looking the frown on Clyde's face as well as hearing his question afterwards, a smirk appeared on her face.

"I'm an only child, Clyde-kun," she said with a smile. "Toru-chan is... well... someone special to me, you can say. We never dated each other... officially... due to stuffs happened... Why? Are you jealous?" she would ask with a teasing look on her face.

"Oh." Clyde let out as Shiori stated she was an only child, it made him frown slightly, surly he was her boyfriend or ex-lover or something and she was searching for him. She reminded him a lot of Alessa, as her and Shiori were both beautiful young woman who joined AFW in search of a guy who was either completely oblivious to the girls feelings or just uncaring.

Then Shiori explianed more about this 'Taru-Chan' kid and Clyde listened, his heart sank a bit in disappointment as she spoke so fondly of the boy, surely she had feelings for him by what she had stated. They never dated because stuff happened, Clyde understood, maybe she was here to try and change that. But Shiori caught Clyde with her teasing remark that made his eyes widen a bit before his face flushed.

"W-Wha- No. Clyde would stammer before he gave a sharp decline that he was jealous of this Taru kid. He was lying of course. He was jealous and envious but mostly frustrated. This kid clearly didn't give a damn about Shiori by the way he looked in the pic.

"Don't think I could be jealous of a kid who looks like a dang ol' zombie when a pretty girl is lookin' so happy to be around em'." Clyde admitted honestly before he looked down at his feet and scratched the back of his head. He shouldn't be this blunt.

He then looked to Shiori and forced a small grin directed at her while narrowing his eyes into her gaze. "...And if I was jealous?"

Shiori smiled as she watched Clyde's reaction. Hearing his words afterwards only made her chuckle. She wasn't upset or anything. It really was easy to misunderstand her kouhai with the way he looked. She kind of did it herself the first time they met. As she took the photo back from Clyde, Shiori couldn't help but to chuckle again as she was shortly remembered of how she met her kouhai.

"Oohh, so haarrsshh, Clyde-kun~" Shiori teased him. "Are you sure that wasn't jealousy?" she added before giggling.

What she heard from the boy's mouth afterwards kind of confirming her suspicion. Shiori would stare into Clyde's eyes just like she did on their match for a while, before smiling at him.

"Well, then it's too bad for you," she said with a teasing wink. Their food would be served shortly after that, and Shiori would clasp her hands in front of her ramen bowl with a delighted look. "Itadakimasu~" she would say before she began eating her ramen.

"Tch." Clyde clicked his tongue following Shiori's teasing words regarding his clear jealousy and slight agitation towards this kid who didn't seem very appreciative of Shiori's company. "Maybe it was." He admitted bluntly before giving off an uneasy sigh, only to hear Shiori say that it was too bad for him before giving him a wink that Clyde blush, leaving his staring at Shiori, speechless, pulling his hat down over his eyes to try and hide his face a little. She had quite the effect on him. For better or worse.

Finally the two got their foot. Shiori got her ramen and Clyde got his burger, but before he could even pick it up, Shiori said that phrase or something that people in japan seem to say alot before they eat. Clyde was never told why but he tried to be funny.

"Bless you!" He exclaimed, hoping Shiori understood what he meant. It was to lighten the mood, his mood at least. Clyde couldn't help but look at Shiori and feel a bit... "Small" compared to her. She was a sweet girl and very beautfiul. Clyde was far from a nice catch but sometimes lady luck was good to him. Sometimes.

One thing still hung on his mind though. Clyde had to ask. "Do ya love 'em?" Muttered Clyde bluntly as he looked at Shiori with serious eyes.

Shiori raised an eyebrow as she heard what Clyde said when their food arrived. She chuckled afterwards without saying anything else and ate her ramen instead. Then she heard the boy's question. Shiori would look at Clyde silently until she swallowed the noodles before smiling at him.

"Love 'em?" she would try to mimic Clyde's accent. "Do you mean... the food?"

The way he said it almost sounded as is he's referring something else. Probably not. No, Shiori was well aware that Clyde most likely was saying "him" instead of "them". She just wanted to tease the boy even more, finding it amusing every time he pulled his flustered act.

"The ramen's good~" she continued feigning innocence, smiling. "Wanna try?"

"N-Nah. Heh. I meant The Dood." Clyde would try to clarify, amused a bit by Shiori's mimicry of his accent, even though Clyde cursed himself not being able to speak clearer.

Clyde knew it was kind of forward but he felt it was good to know as part of him was generally attracted to Shiori but when she brought up this 'kid', Clyde couldn't help but wonder what she felt for him. If it wasn't anything major perhaps he'd be alot more willing to try and get on Shiori's good side for at least a night. But if she cared for this guy, Clyde felt it wasn't his place to intrude. Her story reminded Clyde very much about Alessa's reason for joining AFW when she was searching for Dante. And they later broke up anyway because Dante didn't feel that way about her, he cared for her, but not as a lover. It made Clyde wonder if Shiori would experience something similar. This 'Toru-chan' might not feel the same way about her. Damn shame.

Then Shiori changed the subject to the food. Talking about the ramen. "Huh?" It caught Clyde off guard, but he figured maybe Shiori didn't want to talk about her feelings. Fair Enough. "Uh... Sure..." He'd tell her before he awkwardly shifted in his chair and leaned forth a bit.

Shiori wasn't really trying to change the topic, and when Clyde clarified his words, it only made her smile. She was about to give her answer when the boy reacted to her offer to taste her food. A smirk appeared on her face as she thought of an idea. She pushed the ramen bowl towards Clyde a bit, and using the chopstick, Shiori would pick the noodles and offer it to the boy.

"Say aaahh~" she would say, trying to hold back her own giggling.

Clyde blushed at the act of Shiori about to feed him, he looked around the cafe to see if anyone was looking around. Nobody was it seemed, so he didn't have to worry about anyone getting a laugh out of the sight. Still, he felt like a kid and couldn't deny the somewhat arousing feeling of having Shiori feed him while she let out that cute giggle that turned his face bright red.

"A-Ahh..." He let out quietly and slowly opened his mouth to let Shiori feed the ramen to him. No one had ever done this to him before, it felt nice, even it was slightly embarrassing with how he was in a public place doing this. Had they been in private he would be a lot more open with his actions. Sometimes he didn't care about people watching when he was in a really good mood, other times he was reluctant to garner too much attention when he didn't want it.