2025-12-25: Fake-l Syrup
- Log: Fake-l Syrup
- Cast: Hyousuke Suzuki, Hitomi Mandai
- Where: Pauwlonia Mall
- OOC Date: 2025-12-25
- IC Date: Fri Aug 31 2012
- Summary: Hyousuke and Hitomi meet up after the festival for coffee and eclairs, whereupon they are subjected to betrayal most foul.
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
The festival was loud, and crowded, and hot, and fun, which means it was a success. At one point Hitomi had been talking about something regarding tea with the scarred young man she'd learned some pointers of goldfish catching from.
(She hadn't caught any goldfish. If Hyousuke watched her with an eye towards overall behavior patterns-- maybe she didn't want to catch one. All that RESPONSIBILITY, after all.)
A couple of days later: a text!
> hey! this is hitomi ;
> I went out shopping today and saw a 'Festival of Maple' at a cafe here
> (An enclosed pic of several signs suggesting that there is indeed a Maple Matsuri going on at the Cafe Chagall)
> smelled legit
> they have tea, if you can get the train wanna try it?
> just lmk
SO:
Hitomi is loitering in front of the Chagall Cafe. She is, in a grim portent of things to come, on her damn phone; but she has a reason. She showed up early, casually attired (sundress, big floppy hat, hair worn with a single big clasp making it something like a ponytail, spats, sandals) and is not yet going in, perhaps to enjoy the weather, which is relatively speaking quite pleasant, here in...
THE MALL.
Boy, it sure does smell like maple, though. They may be jumping the gun for fall a little, but they are bringing the flavor. Notably, perhaps, this is not what Cafes Chagall up in *Sumaru* are doing at present.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke had not caught a goldfish. Hyousuke had come close to catching a goldfish on the few attempts he'd made, but the fact of the matter was that he had not brought home a scaly friend. Hyousuke had explained his poor performance away by stating that he'd attempted the forbidden technique of 'fwooshing' rather than going 'swoosh' at the fish, but the truth was that he had not actually wanted to take one back to the dorms. Regardless of how loosely the rules regarding not having pets was enforced, Kasu's dorms were not an especially nice place in his experience, and were certainly no place to raise a fish.
He'd also been distracted by the smell of dango. Sweet treats and tea were a deadly combination.
However, what he *had* caught was a couple of new friends, Hitomi being one of them. So it was that, when he recognised that it was her texting him, he was only too happy to begin typing out a response. The mention of tea was enough to have him shorten that response to a hastily-sent 'omw,' followed by him exiting the gym, showering, and changing with the kind of speed normally reserved for escaping the collapsing mindscapes of corrupt individuals. He arrived as promptly as the trains could carry him, a little out of breath, but quite clearly glad to see Hitomi.
"Mandai-san!" He called out, wearing a smile as sunny as that blazing ball of plasma hovering ominously overhead. "I heard there was maple stuff and tea. Do they have cakes too?" Evidently, his love of sweet treats extended beyond dango. "Uh, I mean, good to see you again."
His ensemble of a thin jacket, jeans and a plain-looking t-shirt was not an especially notable one. What might've been notable was the fact that it all looked as though he'd just thrown them on and hoped for the best.
Because he had.
He'd been in quite a hurry to get from the gym to the station in a timely manner.
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
THEN
"Ahhh... fuuuush not swoooosh," Hitomi had agreed, even if the fine nuances of the techniques seemed to elude her, verbally. She was quite good at imitating the hand movements, though! Shoulda' taken up the violin.
But she didn't.
Hitomi looks up from her game of Miniscule Mansions when she gets someone calling out ahead of her. The phone slides into a dress pocket and she grins slowly at it. "<You bet your ass,>" she says in quotational English before getting up close enough to actually talk. Her head cants to the side for a moment -- seeing perhaps that there is both a long set of slacks AND a jacket in play here -- and then swivels her head around, giving Hyousuke a slightly sidelong look.
She did that at the festival too tbf. Some weird quirk. "Then, let's go in," she says.
INSIDE! The maple scent rises, and there are indeed some maple leaf decorations here and there, including an implausible and out of place stuffed beaver set in a position of greeting and honor. Hitomi briefly considers the fuzzy rodent, but chooses not to comment on it.
"Have you ever been here? I like how they do coffee, so I have a card, hang on..." Hitomi reaches into the bag, rummaging around for whatever deal card it was. Her eyes turn up over the rim of the glasses. "And thanks for coming out, too... it's kind of a ride, isn't it? At least the train's usually kind of empty between here and Sumaru itself."
CAFE CHAGALL INTERIOR SHOT -https:''static.wikia.nocookie.netmegamitenseiimagesaa1Persona-3-reload-chagall-coffee.webprevisionlatest?cb=20240217001325
(NOTE THE CAKES)
"Oooh, maple cream eclair," Hitomi says, eyes brightening slightly.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke found the sidelong glance curious. Not enough that he felt compelled to ask about it, but enough that the thought lingered on his mind for a moment or two. Enough that, while she was still looking at him, he canted his head to the side a little, blinking once before returning his skull to its usual angle. Were one to compare an image of him doing such a thing with a dog tilting its head when confronted by a puzzling situation, the two pictures would have been almost indistinguishable.
He did not comment on her look, nor on his own, however. Instead, his attention was taken by the presence of a rather large rodent. Then, before he had a chance to question it, or consider the implications, his attention was taken away again, snatched instead by Hitomi continuing the conversation.
"Don't worry about it, I didn't have anything else going on. Besides, it *smells* like it's gonna be worth the ride. This ain't my usual place, but it might start to be..." The first part was a lie. He had been busy pumping iron and other such gym-related things. However, the second part was not a lie, and he very much looked as though he was looking forward to it.
The mention of maple cream eclairs drew another tilting of his head, and a puzzled furrowing of his brow.
"...Like the leaves? How do you make cream out of leaves?" He voiced his concern, seeming to speak more to himself than to Hitomi, then shrugged and forgot he'd ever asked a question. "What's the coffee like here? I normally do tea, but the coffee some of these guys have in here looks *good.*"
GAME: Hitomi Mandai flips a coin! The coin comes up heads!
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
Hitomi didn't remark on the cocking of the head on Hyousuke's part. She probably noticed, but not enough to really even Look Firmly. After this, though, she is asked a question. Her lips purse. She folds her arms for a moment and considers the question.
"You know," she says, "I have no idea. I know there's like... there's a particular kind of sweet? LIke they put it in the cookies, right, around fall? Or it kind of comes out in roast vegetables?" Hitomi says then, gesturing vaguely. "This is so weird. You'd think it'd be obvious, right?" She takes a deep breath then and lets it out.
"The coffee I *do* know about," Hitomi says. "You can get roasts that are like, coffee from one particular country, but they sorta have two main blends? One of them's lighter than the other... I like them both pretty well, but I think the lighter one tastes better. What kind of tea'd you like?"
She gestures at the menu. There is a green tea option (because you can practically turn a spigot and get green tea in some areas) as well as a black tea option (same deal) together with Chai and rooibos, which Hyousuke probably knows about. Hitomi's not into it, though.
The counter-drone awaits, having given an unremarked-upon 'Welcome!' when they walked in and otherwise not interrupting for several seconds.
"... I asked about the tea since... coffee's kind of complex," Hitomi says. She drums her fingers on her bicep lightly, still considering. "Like all that stuff there's fancy drinks, like in American cafes. Lattes are OK, though. That's like milk tea. I think."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hitomi's explanation of how things worked had Hyousuke nodding sagely, as if hearing her talk unlocked the secrets of the universe - or, at the very least shed some light on the many mysteries surrounding converting the humble maple leaf into an edible product.
"Maybe the beaver knows more..." He mumbled. Hyousuke did not know if Hitomi heard him, nor did he care much. He had simply been thinking aloud. However, even if she'd not heard him, his gaze lingered on the beaver, and the narrowing of his eyes indicated... something.
Then Hyousuke went quiet. Hyousuke went focussed. Hyousuke, in what would likely have been a shock to a great many people, began to think. Were one to press their ear to his skull and attempt to listen past the thick wall of bone, they might have heard a hamster wheel squeaking furiously away as it attempted to churn out a decision based on the available evidence. So furiously did it squeak that it seemed a small miracle that smoke did not begin filtering out of his ears from the strain. Then, against all odds, he managed to reach a conclusion without something in his brain breaking.
"Lattes are good. But I wonder if they do any special iced ones..." He went silent a moment or two more. "...Iced coffee. I'm gonna do that if they've got it. A latte if they don't. And the eclair! One of those sounds *really* good right now."
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
'Maybe the beaver knows more.'
Hitomi's eyebrows lift, as if considering the topic.
She doesn't seem to be rejecting it, which is good. But she's also not laughing - is that bad? Depends how serious the matter is. Beavers are not guys around which you can mess. Otherwise it might...
Come back to bite you.
'Oh, we have iced coffee specials for the summer months, too!' reports the service-drone, their heart of employment making it fairly enthusiastic, at least by tone. The iced coffee specials consists of 'a regular or a double, but with ice,' although there *is* also the special flavor syrup.
The bottle has a maple leaf on it.
The mystery deepens...
Either way, Hitomi walks up. She gets out her Loyalty Card and says - "You know what... I want the maple latte. Do you know how they use maple leaves for it?" Hitomi asks, looking at the clerk, who shrugs a little and gestures at the syrup bottle! "And two maple eclairs, put one with his order --"
PAY!
CARDPUNCH!
LITTLE TABLE FLAG! (They bring it TO you. That's why everything's like 80 yen extra - *you have to pay the guy*!)
Hitomi takes the little table flag and twirls it in her fingers, not moving away just yet. "It's weird how having sweets with coffee or tea makes it taste way better, huh? I wonder if it's just the bitterness... but it works even if the drink's sweet, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Another maple leaf. Another mystery. Did he dare to interrogate the beaver about it? What secrets lay behind those beady little eyes and those wood-shredding teeth? What thoughts occurred in their beaver-y minds? The train of thought Hyousuke drove was derailed the very second that the order began, and its wreck was abandoned completely when they sat down and Hitomi began to discuss the relationship between drinks and sweets. Hyousuke nodded and looked at her with what appeared to be a stare vacant of any thought, and the casual tone he spoke with did little to help dispel such a notion.
"You also gotta consider that there's other factors in there. The interplay between flavours is a fascinating subject to study, and the balance required to make certain that the bitterness of one thing accentuates and contrasts the sweetness of another without overpowering or clashing with it is something that continues to elude me. However, you also gotta factor in whether the tastes are in separate foods andor drinks, what the temperature and texture of the meal's like, the kind of experience you want to give the person eating it, and a whole lot of other things."
He shrugged.
"It's a pretty complicated thing, and I'm not smart enough to figure it out. All I know's that tea and coffee go good with cake."
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
The maple leaf.
The beaver.
The scent of coffee in the air, and the threat of fall. It can all only point to one thing, one single nexus of horror and terror:
Canada.
Hitomi's eyebrows lift as Hyousuke goes from 'am I really here? is the hamster driving?' to a full explanation in eloquent language. Her lips purse as he unpacks things; the spinning of the flag stops. "So that's like how if you're eating traditional food, you know, three sides with your rice, you're supposed to alternate, yeah?" Hitomi asks.
Then she laughs; it starts in her throat and comes out as half a 'snrrk'. "Pretty much!"
With orders emplaced, it's time to sit down. Hitomi aims for one of the tables in a little corner zone, set up with those wooden dividers with their scenic and possibly even real plants. After setting down and putting her flag down, Hitomi says, "It's funny... most of the tea I drink is - don't hate me for this - you know that bottled oolong tea you always see in vending machines?"
She smiles again. "If you ever wondered who bought it..."
"... it's me, it's all been me. I go all around Japan propping up the demand."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Somewhere, in the distant reaches of his mind, red and white flashed in Hyousuke's third eye. The significance of them, he knew not, but their weight left him solemn and silent. Something called to him, demanding his attention. The abyss beckoned, and whatever lurked within it smelled faintly of maple syrup.
His trance was brief and his thoughts on Canada even briefer, replaced instead with abject and visible surprise that all she'd had was oolong tea. Even the hamster had stopped toiling away at its wheel to peer out through his eyes, hoping to gauge whether what Hitomi had said was true or not. A firmer look suddenly flashed onto Hyousuke's face, and his lips twisted a little, seemingly incapable of deciding which expression they wished to portray in that moment. Eventually, they settled on something that could be construed as disappointment, if an observer squinted hard enough.
"Nah, I don't hate you for it." He said, trailing off a little as finished. "I'm just disappointed. There's way better tea than that stuff. You know what, I'm gonna make some for you some day. You've gotta try at least *one* properly-brewed tea." Hyousuke was serious about it - or, at the very least, sounded serious about it. The focussed gaze, the slight lean forward, the vague incline of his head towards her, it all spoke to a man that had made a vow. About tea, yes, but it was a vow nonetheless.
"Besides, I gotta pay you back for showing me this place, and for getting the eclair."
GAME: Save complete.
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
You know where you can find me, says the beaver.
In 'that place'.
In BRAMPTON.
But it's all an illusion. Hitomi, however, smiles - a tone of clarification slipping in. "I have had, like, green tea and everything -- I just don't usually make it. I got completely hooked on the bottled stuff. Especially now, when I'm running around and it's hot out. Green's nice when it's cold, but it doesn't get too cold down here, right?"
And then Hitomi blinks several times, startled.
"You will?" Hitomi says, before -- leaning slightly forwards, eyes crinkling slightly. "What kind of tea are you going to use? I know there's a ton of kinds. Matcha and oolong and everything's just the start. I just never wanted to go deeper than that. Is it the kind of thing you need special equipment to do right?"
About the eclair, though, Hitomi straightens up with a faintly wan smile. "Ahh... don't worry about it. I wanted to get another punch, you know? And you DID come all the way down here. Maybe if there's a Chagall up in Sumaru somewhere you can buy *me* an eclair. Or do the tea thing. I think they'd get mad if you made your own tea in the dining room, though."
And speaking of dining! Here is the clerk, delivering soulless retail service with a smile.
ECLAIR! x2
MAPLE LATTE! It has foam art of a maple leaf.
HOT COFFEE WITH MAPLE SYRUP! No foam art. Only coffee.
Hitomi gazes down at it. "... That smell," she says. "It's like... sugar? Do you know what I mean? Like," her eyes turn up as her glasses get a hint of steam from the coffee drink. She picks it up, holding it in both hands, but continuing her thought. "It's like a sugary scent. I don't think it's just from the syrup. It couldn't be like a fake flavor, could it?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"We haven't got any Chagalls near Kasu. But we've got a few places that do more than just green tea." Hyousuke tapped his chin and looked away a little, letting the hamster clamber back to its station so that it could perform its sacred duty of churning out on singular thought. "There's this one place that does fruit teas with whatever's seasonal. There's another that does some foreign ones like Earl Grey. I'm pretty sure the izakaya does some weird teas too." He strained a little. What drinks DID the izakaya serve, except for water, booze, and ramen broth? A question to be answered the next time he dragged one of the Kasu crew out for a meal there, he supposed.
"But if you're asking what *I* can make for you, I got a whole bunch of different ones. Western stuff if you want something strong, fruit teas if you like it sweet, I've even got some herbal. Chammomile tea at night is-" He stopped. He scrunched his brow. He looked back at her with a distinct expression of consternation. "...I just realised I don't have a way to get you tea without you getting into the dorms first. Unless we use a flask. But then it won't be piping hot.." The thought that he wouldn't be able to serve some of his favourite drinks in their optimal state seemed to leave Hyousuke in a genuine sense of discomfort - as if serving even slightly substandard tea was a tally against his mortal soul.
Whatever the metaphysical ramifications of serving slightly-below-optimal drinks was, he stopped thinking about them the moment he got his hands on an iced latte. He was tempted to simply throw the thing back and relieve whatever summer heat still plagued his body, but in an act of astounding restraint, he did not. He instead pushed his nose towards the rim and sniffed, doing so around the plastic edge as though it would change drastically from a different angle. It did not. What it did do was make him seem remarkably similar to a dog snuffling around a food bowl.
"I'm getting hints of... Yeah, that's not the syrup. Sugar and sweetener don't smell this..." Hyousuke took another whiff. He was a veritable sniffer dog, sniffling and snuffling away at his new treat. "Distinct either. Don't tell me... They didn't use fake maple syrup in this, did they?!"
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"Strong sounds interesting... I'm actually kind of so so on sweet," Hitomi says, before then laughing. "We could get a karaoke -- hahaha that sounds so shady, doesn't it?! Well, we'll figure something out~." And then:
Hyousuke raises a terrifying prospect. As she raises her latte to her lips, Hitomi pauses.
"Wait," she says.
"There's a fake syrup from maple leaves?"
(For the record - it's at least *somewhat* the real deal. But only somewhat.)