It was odd, but he hadn’t even closed his eyes for more than a minute when the headache all but disappeared. It didn’t even fade away gradually, but it was more like the moment he thought of the pain, Ryutaro realized he wasn’t feeling it anymore. He thought about it for a moment and realized that in every game he had played, while health recovery might have occurred over time, any item that dealt with status effects were instantaneous. A tired sigh escaped as his eyes fluttered open, wondering what to do now. [b]“Status,”[/b] he muttered and the window popped into existence in front of him. He glanced over the information quickly before dismissing it. His mana seemed to be regenerating again, and the [Headache] status was no longer present. With a clear head, and thus no reason to be laying about, Ryutaro sat up and looked around the room. He still needed to finish the day’s readings and what not, but after that unpleasant experience he wasn’t looking forward to hitting the books so quickly again. Figuring it couldn’t hurt, he picked himself out and headed downstairs, intent on seeing if there was anything worth watching at this time. Surprisingly enough there actually had been something worth wasting a few hours of his time; some of the latest anime had been airing. Afterwards he read what he could of his assigned readings before taking care of things and then heading off to bed. Ryutaro wondered briefly what the meeting tomorrow would hold before he shook his head to dismiss the thought; he’d always been good at doing that much at the least. --- The morning before the meeting wasn’t anything other than the usual; he woke up a bit earlier to get ready from the morning practice, ran to catch the train over to Port Island, performed fairly at the practice, and then headed off for class. Normally he would have just stayed on the island for the two and half hour break in between lectures, but he had a meeting to attend, so Ryutaro had to run to catch the hourly train from off the island; making a quick excuse to the friends he normally ate with as he dashed away. As the train’s doors clicked shut, Ryutaro finally allowed himself a sigh of relief. It wasn’t exactly a short run from the university to the train station and, if his breathing was anything, he had pushed himself a bit more than he would have liked. Standing straight as the train left the station and picked up speed over the water, he turned to the window and fixed up his hair a bit; there hadn’t been a chance since morning practice so it was a bit messy. The train ride didn’t take more than three minutes to reach the port and Ryutaro hurried off to avoid the rush of passengers. Not wanting to waste what little time he had before classes resumed, Ryutaro took off at a brisk pace through the station, bag slung over the shoulder. He might have gotten a bit too close to some people as he jogged past them if the glares fired at him were any indication, but he hadn’t done anything necessarily wrong, so he just ignored them with a grin. The massive Septemberes came into view quickly enough, dominating as the centerpiece for the district. Signs were abound, ready to light up once night fell, while advertisements and the like were plastered anywhere he could look. While he might have paid a bit of attention had he simply been wandering, there was a reason he had come to the mall after all, so best get to it. As he entered Msdonalds, there was one particular person who stood out, even before he looked just a tad up and noticed the tell-tale under her name. [i]‘Really now...’[/i] he thought to himself as he approached the table she sat at, [i]‘if you don’t want to stand out, wearing a hoodie with the hood on inside a restaurant isn’t the best idea.’[/i] Approaching straight forwardly was so boring though, and after a bit of thought, he made his way around the restaurant, trying his best to keep out of her sight. Ryutaro didn’t know if she had already seen him when he stepped inside, if she had then the gig was already up. If she hadn’t though? Well, maybe he would get a little jump from her. Sliding a chair out from the table behind her, he took a seat, his back to her, and asked, [b]“Waiting for someone, Ms. Nakamura?”[/b]