Pizza Blues | Mouri Ran, Toyama Kazuha | Invitation

[Kuroba Kaito]

He's never been to this part of the town before, but apparently it was good-- And really, he was going to accept whatever recommendations he got, since it'd been ages since he'd had a pizza. Anyway, new places, new restaurants, right? New food. The only reason for touring and visiting another place other than his home.

Food.

Sitting in the crowded restaurant in a two seated table, he stared out the window at all the passerbys-- so maybe coming here alone wasn't... such a great idea after all. Not that he cared, but holy shit was he bored.

... and there was another seat empty.

"May I use this chair?"

Asked a person sitting next to him, pointing to the chair in front of him.

A grin stretched out on his face--

"Sorry, I'm waiting for someone."

The phone's already in his hands-- the recipient? Mouri Ran. She deserved something for his whole identity scare, anyway. Aoko was busy doing something... probably.

Kaito could only hope she would pick up, or he would have to call up someone else.

[Mouri Ran]

Ran had lost count of the number of stores they have been into. Was this the thirtieth? fortieth? She didn't know. But they had definitely gone through every store from the first to the third floor. And she didn't mind. It had been a while since she had time to hang out with her girl friends outside of school, and she missed the girly conversations.

That's what the three of them were doing for all those three hours they've been together: shop and talk.

Sorting through a rack of dresses, Ran only passed the time by admiring the clothes on sale. She had everything she needed by now and it wasn't like she could afford the materials on this particular store. It was Sonoko who wanted to get inside again after seeing something she liked displayed on the window. Kazuha was kind enough to humor her, too.

Five minutes later they were all lined up to pay and it was then when Ran felt her phone vibrating from inside her bag. Shifting the shopping bags she carried on one hand, Ran fished her phone out and checked the caller ID only to wonder why Kaito would be calling her. Excusing herself from her friends, she moved a little farther away to answer the call.

"Hello?"

[Kuroba Kaito]

And here comes Kuroba Kaito, here to save the day!

Not that he could have ever known, he just wanted someone to eat pizza with. What a selfish prick.

"Ran-san!" He greeted warmly, fingers running over the list of pizzas and toppings as he debated on which one would be the most exotic. The background mumurs of conversation set an nice atmosphere to the store, though it wasn't anything romantic-- something friendly and nice to have.

Was she alone? There was no other familiar voices than hers he could detect.

"I'm at the pizzaria right now, the one that just recently opened. It's rather lonely here alone, would you like to join me?"

[Mouri Ran]

"Pizzeria?" Ran echoed softly trying to remember what particular pizzeria he was talking about. She did hear some of her classmates at school talk about a new pizza place with great flavors but affordable prizes and how they wanted to visit it after class. It could be that place?

"I may have an idea of the place, Kaito-kun," she said. Ran briefly turned to look at her companions, Sonoko and Kazuha, back at the counter to see if they were done with their purchase yet or have at least noticed her on the phone. "I'm with Sonoko and Kazuha-chan at the moment, but we should be finishing up soon. I would be glad to join you afterwards."

Baka! How do you know you're finishing soon?

Well, it has been three hours already. And if they weren't done she could just make up an excuse... right?

But why Kaito was asking her to go and share a pizza with him was beyond her. Did he want to talk about something?

"Ne, Kaito-kun? That pizza place you mentioned, it's the one that everyone at school was talking about, right?" Because how embarrassing if she strolled on another place.

[Kuroba Kaito]

You got it, Ran. Forgive him for not being more specific; but well, what other place could he be talking about? (Blame his lack of knowledge of the restaurants in the area-- he had no idea just exactly how many pizza places there were.)

A Frown made its place on his face at the mention of Kazuha and Sonoko-- should he invite them? He could easily drag another set of chairs to this tiny table-- but then he decided that no, he wasn't up to dealing with the heiress's drivel, though he hadn't quite met Kazuha before.

"Oh really now." Kaito said dryly, leaning forward on the table in wry amusement at the mention of being done soon. He'd went shopping before. He knows how it's like. (Especially when it was himself dragging Aoko along-- though most wrongly assumed otherwise.) "You can take your time, really."

He just had no idea how much the pizza place was willing to wait, but if not, he could finish the pizza by himself.

"And yeah, that's the place." Confirming the location, Kaito leaned back again, glancing out the window and at the masses.

"Hopefully it's close to where you are?"

[Mouri Ran]

"Ie," she shook her head although she knew Kaito couldn't see her. "We've been here for three hours now, and it looks like we have gone inside every store already. I don't think Sonoko could carry anymore bags, anyway."

Looking at her friend, Ran wondered how Sonoko carrried all those heavy bags on her arms. And did she need all those new shoes anyway?

Kaito's phone call and invitation couldn't be anymore perfect though because Ran was already hungry. None of them had eaten yet, and if she knew Sonoko well, the girl would drag them towards a restaurant or a sweets store to end their trip. She briefly wondered if she should extend the invitation from Kaito, but she thought it might be a little rude when she was only invited as well.

"I don't think it's very far..." she trailed off as a mental map formed in her head. If she heard her classmates correctly, the pizzeria should only be a few minutes walk from the mall. "I could be there in about five minutes after we're done here. I just have to tell Sonoko and Kazuha-chan that I'm leaving..."