Chikage Utsuki/From the Neon Shadows

Cultural Tour with You

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Chikage	…?
Izumi	Hmm, I think it’d be good to start here, then go around there, and then end up at the park at night with this kinda view…
Chikage	If that’s the case, you’ll have to go up quite a few stairs and walk up slopes at the end, so it may be a little painful.
	How about heading there first, and it makes seeing the night view easier on the way home.
Izumi	Chikage-san! You’re home.
Chikage	Yeah. I just got back now.
Izumi	Welcome home. Wish I could’ve greeted you normally though…
Chikage	It’s alright. Director-san was busy reading a travel magazine, so you wouldn’t have noticed I came home anyway.
	Do you have errands to run in the city?
Izumi	Yeah. I was asked to—.
	A theater company asked me to take a picture of this city.
	Since the next play is a story set in this city, I wanted it to be projected on the stage.
Chikage	I see. Like location scouting.
Izumi	I guess it could be, yeah.
Chikage	Next time it’ll be for something… for love perhaps?
Izumi	Eh! How’d you know?
Chikage	Whatever Director-san’s checking are quite famous date locations.
Izumi	So that’s it… Chikage-san also knows about them.
Chikage	Well. I often hear about people’s love stories at the trading company whether I want to or not.
Izumi	Ahh…
	(I see what he means…)
	But this is what Chikage-san advises. So I’ll go over here first and then to the night view over there!
Chikage	I think it’s a good idea.
Izumi	Then, the station first, then over here…
Chikage	Hey, Director-san. When do you plan on going?
Izumi	Eh? Uh, sometime this weekend.
Chikage	This weekend…
	If you’d like, I can drive you.
Izumi	EHH!?
Chikage	Why are you so surprised?
Izumi	Are you planning something?
Chikage	How accusatory. I just have no plans this weekend.
Izumi	… Then, if it’s alright?
Chikage	It’s fine. Ahh, but—.
	I wonder if you’ll go with me to this one place.

Izumi	(This is the place Chikage-san wanted to go…)
	(An authentic chinese restaurant in Chinatown. It’s famous for its spicy dishes.)
Chikage	Thanks for waiting.
Izumi	Of course. Wow. you bought a lot.
Chikage	Yeah. Ready made food, mapo tofu, spices—I bought almost everything I wanted.
Izumi	Don’t you want to eat there?
Chikage	No, not today. We still have quite a few places to take pictures of, don’t we?
Izumi	That’s… yeah.
Chikage	It’s alright. Honestly, I’m okay just being able to buy what I wanted.
	… How about this. Let’s talk to Omi about using this mapo tofu with something.
Izumi	(Chikage-san looks like he’s having fun. I’m kinda sad he had to come with me and I have to pull him away from this, he could’ve been doing more.)
Chikage	There’s all kinds of buildings in the west. The last one was Spanish it seems, and I believe this one is british.
Izumi	I… see… Hahh hahh…
Chikage	Director-san, is something wrong?
Izumi	No, it’s just… there’s a lot of stairs and slopes here…
Chikage	So then it was a good idea to scout.
Izumi	Yeah, I think it would be harder if we were tired at the end…
	We’re here… Time to take a picture.
	What a cute building… If you were just to look at it from this angle, you wouldn’t even be able to tell you’re in Japan.
	This area’s called Chinatown, and it feels like I’m not in any place in Japan.
Chikage	That so? Well, the cultures of all the different countries seem to be all mixed here, so I think it’s still kinda like Japan.
Izumi	(Was that… a compliment?)
	I hope this picture’s fine…
Chikage	It’s about time for the reservation.
Izumi	That’s right! Let’s head in now.

Izumi	I was surprised Chikage-san was okay with going for afternoon tea with me.
Chikage	Even though I said I was going to drive, Director-san’s still surprised.
	I won’t eat the sweets, but I’ll have the tea.
	Besides, it was necessary for Director-san’s location scouting, so I couldn’t refuse.
Clerk	Sorry for the wait. Here’s the afternoon tea set.
Izumi	Uwaa, what a gorgeous three step process…! Let’s start with the scones.
Chikage	Don’t you have to take a picture first?
Izumi	R-right…
	Anyway, I didn’t think Chikage-san would make a reservation at a place like this.
Chikage	If it’s a picture for a stage production, then I figured other people shouldn’t be in the picture.
Izumi	That’s… I didn’t even notice. Sorry you had to think of that level of detail.
Chikage	It’s okay, really. I did make you go shopping with me.
Izumi	Still, thank you…!
	(He’s done so much. I should thank him somehow… I know!)
	Chikage-san, please eat my sandwich! I’ll eat the cake instead since you don’t like sweets!
Chikage	Haha, thanks. Let’s switch, then.
Izumi	We’ve been here and there… and this is the last stop.
	And I was able to take a stunning pic. That’s it for today I guess!
Chikage	That’s good. You worked hard today.
Izumi	Thank you for helping. I really appreciate you driving me around, thank you!
Chikage	Don’t mention it.
Izumi	Wow, the view’s so beautiful…! No wonder it’s considered a date spot.
Chikage	Yeah. Everywhere we went felt like it.
	We walked around a lot today, almost felt like a date.
Izumi	Th… That’s true…
Chikage	But it doesn’t have to be a date for us to enjoy ourselves.
Izumi	It was fun…
	But did Chikage-san have fun today?
Chikage	Where’s this coming from?
Izumi	We went out the whole day, but we only went to one place you wanted to go to so—.
	The rest of the day were my errands, and it just feels like I dragged you around.
Chikage	So Director-san was concerned about that.
	It’s okay. I never would’ve gone to any place like this by myself, so it was a new experience.
CHOICE 1: Where did you think was good? [+] Izumi While we went around today, did anything interest Chikage-san? Chikage Well, I’d say the shop we stopped by for afternoon tea. I ate Director-san’s sandwich, you ate my cake… It was just the two of us, maybe it was like a first date of sorts. Izumi Eh, was it okay for it to be date like? Chikage That wasn’t the purpose we were there though, was it?
CHOICE 2: It was new to me too. [+] Izumi It was nice to hang out with Chikage-san since I hardly get to see you at the dorms anyway. Chikage Is that so? Well, I’m glad. Izumi I mean, I really saw a rare and gentle side of you. Chikage Maybe because I was with Director-san. Izumi That’s enough outta you. Chikage My my, I got caught.
Izumi	Anyway… did you really enjoy today?
Chikage	It wasn’t so bad.
Izumi	Okay… Well, I’m just gonna take that as a win in my book!
Chikage	Haha, whatever you say.

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