Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant
Yuffie took the long way around, practically making it a tour of the entire town. She collared--not literally, since the nurses would've thrown fits--a few random citizens along the way, asked as many inconspicuous sounding questions as possible, and then moved on. Wash, rinse, repeat. Sneaking a few covert glimpses into stores and windows
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Mm, last time Joshua had given the Tasty Burger a shot, and he had been unfortunately rather disappointed. Now he felt like giving the other restaurant in town a shot; The Twin Pine Restaurant sounded promising, after all.
The young teen ordered a nice salad with his country-fried steak, taking some coffee along with it. The steak was a little too rich for his tastes, but the salad was fresh and crisp and delicious, and the coffee... well, it wasn't as good as what he got at the Wild Kat, but it was rich and dark, something he just couldn't get in the Institute.
For now, the boy kept quiet and to himself, watching the few people who had arrived and idly thinking to himself. He was finally starting to get somewhere, it felt like; finally, he was starting to find people he could use and manipulate as was his wont. Perhaps now he could proceed... perhaps. But there was one concern that tugged at the back of his mind, a problem he hadn't been able to find a solution to quite yet.
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"How's it going, Josh?" Sanae sat down and took a quick drink of coffee. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a waitress already moving toward him; he halted her with a hand, said, "I'll have the steak as well. Medium rare.", and then left her to wander off and place his order. Wonderful thing, restaurant etiquette.
The barista turned back to his fellow luncher. "I'm sure you already know what we need to talk about." No sense in wasting time.
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But then he spoke of a topic that made Joshua sigh and put his meal to the side. Just thinking of Sho Minamimoto made him lose his appetite. "Ah... the Grim Heaper. I saw you talking to him a little while back."
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So the kid had seen that, had he? Hopefully he hadn't gotten the wrong idea: Sanae didn't fancy being on Joshua's "suspicious character" list.
He shrugged. "Just a little lunchtime chat - you know, to let him know who's here." And to see if he still feels like coming after me. "He's already focused on taking down Landel, which doesn't come as a surprise." Sanae paused and then added, "Said something about a level i flare, which means he came in right after you finished up that Game with Phones."
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Hm... well, it didn't seem like Sho Minamimoto had heard that Joshua himself was in the Institute, so it seemed further that Mr. H. was someone who could still be trusted. Not that this was ever really in doubt, but still. Joshua was just the kind of person who tended to see things no one else could, and sometimes, every once in awhile, he thought he saw something about the older being.
But that wasn't important now, was it? Joshua giggled in his usual unsettling way, grinning easily as he did so. "Ah yes... 'that' Game. Well, at least he's focusing his admirable talents on someone besides myself. For once."
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The barista smiled knowingly. "And also no good if no one's following you." That was the one problem with Minamimoto: he encouraged absolutely zero loyalty. Sure there were always the ambitious types he could take advantage of, like Konishi, but eventually even those guys turned against you.
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Still, Mr. H. had it right on its head. Minamimoto was brilliant and driven, but he couldn't get anyone to truly believe in him. Not like Sanae believed in Joshua, or even as Neku had. That was an underlying problem that would always undermine his efforts. "Still... I will have to deal with him at some point. I don't have the luxuries here like I do back home."
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"I'd say a good short-term plan is to avoid any unnecessary contact and keep his mind focused on taking down Landel. Then we can move a little more freely since he won't be breathing down our backs. But if we ever come into conflict with him, we're gonna need some back-up...and hope he doesn't have any." The scary possibility was that Minamimoto, dangerous as he was, would attract equally dangerous "friends". The last thing he and Joshua needed was a crazed Reaper with extra brawn behind him who simply liked to just punch things every once in a while.
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After all, Minamimoto was a brilliant mind, but he was extremely straight-forward. He was almost incapable of thinking laterally, which had been the death of him at least twice now. Third time, perhaps, was a charm.
Ah, and then there was the topic of 'back-up'. "I've got a prospect or two lined up... of course, I'd be much more at ease if I knew that you had some other friends to call on."
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And oh. Right. Friends. "I'm working on the 'friend' thing. Got a few potential people; I just need a little more time to reel 'em in." Jiraiya he could maybe count on - Godot as well. There was also Donna and her interesting friend...he'd have to look into that more deeply.
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Still, only a 'few' potential people was quite disappointing. Joshua knew that Mr. H. was better at that sort of thing than he himself was, but so few potentials and nothing solid was a bad sign. "Mm... well, I suppose we'll both have to work harder on getting them on our side."
"...oh yes, and before I forget." Joshua leaned his chin on his hand, grinning and giggling in his usual, very suspect, manner. "If you happen to find a good forgery expert, try to send him my way, would you?"
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Forgery expert required, huh? He'd probably end up being someone a tad suspect - not that Sanae was unused to dealing with a shadier crowd. Still, it always took a little more effort to convince them to join a definitive side.
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Not that Joshua would say as much in so many words. Instead, he concluded, "Some time tomorrow, then? I'll need to tell you how Minamimoto and I work out, anyway."
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He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, just let me know over the board or something when you want to meet. I'll follow up pronto."
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...for the most part.
For now, though, he nodded. "I will."
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