It was lunch time and Mitsui headed over to his favourite restaurant just at the corner beside the building where he worked. It was usually packed full with workers during lunch time but the scarred-face man was able to finish his work early, thus arriving at the eating place as the rush hour crowd began to appear.

"Yo, Mitsui!" greeted a middle-aged man who was sitting behind a counter, holding the race score book in his hand.

"Yo!" smiled Mitsui, giving the man a quick but friendly pat on his shoulder, "Race no. 3. "Extra Power.""

The man made a thoughtful noise, scribbling on the book as Mitsui walked towards another man cooking behind another counter a few feet away from the first, and greeted him heartily.

"Hey, boss! What's for today?"

"Bull penis!" grinned the cook, giving the scarred-face man a toothy smile.

Mitsui burst out laughing, "Bull penis?! Are you serious?!"

"Hai," replied the cook, pulling out a string of meat out of the boiling pot, "See?"

Mitsui gaped, "Whoah!"

"It's a secret recipe from China. It'll blow you away," winked the man in the white apron.

Mitsui chuckled, "'Sounds special. Give me one then."

"One's not enough. How about two?" asked the cook.

"I'm going to try one first," said Mitsui taking out his wallet.

"Come on," teased the man, "For "Extra Power"".

"Knock it off," growled Mitsui good naturedly, "Hurry up, will ya."

The cook sighed in mock disappointment and set out a bowl of ramen on the counter. Snipping off a short string of meat and landing it on top the white noodles, he then proceeded to pour a good amount of hot soup and handed the bowl over to the young man in the suit. Mitsui accepted it gratefully and handed him the money before making his way through the nearly crowded restaurant to an empty seat he glanced upon quickly by the wall. Regulars go there for the cheap food and they make it a point to eat there during lunch even if they have to sit with strangers at the same table. Clutching his briefcase under his arm while his two hands were holding the bowl of hot ramen, Mitsui carefully steered his way to the table which was already occupied by another person. He did not even look or acknowledge the other diner, occupied in keeping the soup of his ramen from sloshing out, until he sat down and broke off a pair of chopstick to start eating his meal.

"Here's your tea," said a waiter, placing a cup of tea in front of Mitsui.

"Arigato," thanked Mitsui, when he realised that he was being watched. Turning to his left, he was surprised to see that the person sitting next to him was the young man from the office. Mitsui stared at him as Koshino in turn stared at the string of meat on his noodles.

At that moment the cook came to their table and presented in front of Mitsui's face another piece of meat on a pair of tongs which bore the resemblance of a male anatomy. What the cook said confirmed the fact that it was what it looked to be, "Here's the /special/ part for you. Enjoy!"

Mitsui clearly saw Koshino grimace as the cook placed the meat in his bowl.

"What a coincidence," said Mitsui, forcing Koshino to look away from his meal.

Making up his mind to ignore the other man beside him, Mitsui picked up a piece of meat with his copsticks and was about to eat it when he felt Koshino staring at him again. Mitsui again stared at Koshino as the young man stared fixedly on the meat in front of his lips.

Don't you dare throw up on me, thought Mitsui when he realised that Koshino was disgusted at what he was eating.

Koshino on the other hand was thinking, Don't you dare eat that or I'm going to throw up!

As if knowing what Koshino was thinking, Mitsui slowly stuck the meat in his mouth, defiantly stating without words that he was going to eat his lunch no matter what, much to the dismay of the young man beside him. Koshino gagged, feeling suddenly sick to the stomach. Quickly, the middle-parted haired man stood up and grabbed his attache case to leave the place as soon as possible, when the clasp to his bag unfastened and his things flew out to the floor.

Koshino rushed to pick up his things which was strewn on the floor and was half embarassed but grateful when the patrons around him helped by picking some of his belongings nearest to them and dumping them in his bag. Mitsui only looked at the flustered Koshino boredly while chewing on his meal.

When he was certain he has gotten all his stuffs back, Koshino thanked the people who helped him, profusely and left the restaurant after paying his bill to the middle-aged man with a score book in his hand. He then walked quickly away from the restaurant, hoping to get the sick feeling away before lunch time was over when the phone in his bag beeped. Taking the mobile phone out, he looked at the caller's ID and saw that it was Chris's. Not yet knowing what he was to say to Chris at that moment Koshino pressed 'no' to decline the call. Biting his inner lip, he slipped his phone back into his bag when he realised that something was missing at the inner side pocket of his attache case. The young man suddenly panicked and began shifting through his things, finally dumping all of the contents of his bag beside a pot of flowers near a business building to continue his search. When he saw that what he was looking for was indeed missing, Koshino grabbed his case and rushed back to the restaurant that he left just a few minutes ago.

When he arrived at there, Koshino saw that the seats where he and Mitsui were sitting at were now occupied by two strangers.

"Excuse me," mumbled Koshino bending down to peer under the table.

"Sir, what are you looking for?" asked a waiter in curiosity.

"I lost something," replied Koshino distractedly, "It's small, with patterns and has a plastic wrap."

"Eh?" said the waiter scratching his head before he accompanied Koshino in his search, "What is it?"

"An amulet," Koshino told him, refusing to elaborate what sort of amulet it was.

By that time the other patrons in the restaurant were looking at Koshino and the waiter who were on their knees, in curiosity. When they heard the description of the amulet Koshino was looking for, they unconciously looked down to the floor as well to see whether they can find it first.
When Koshino saw that the love amulet he made for himself was not on the floor of the restaurant, he asked the nearest person to lift his foot up in case the amulet was stuck under it. The man complied but the amulet was not there. Koshino then looked at the rest of the people expectantly and they agreeably lifted their feet to show him the soles of their shoes. The waiter looked around, still on his knees and shook his head.

"Nope. It's not here."

Koshino sighed in disappointment, "Thanks anyway."



Walking out of the restaurant to go back to the office, Koshino passed by a familiar-looking pot of flowers beside a building and paused when he saw a heap of junk beside the flower pot. His eyes grew wide when he recognised the 'junk' as his. Rushing up to the pot, he quickly shoved everything back into his empty case, thankful that they were not stolen and continued on his way back to the office.


~~~~

A few blocks away, Mitsui was at the parking lot, climbing into his car as he talked with his assistant on the phone, "I'm going out for a meeting, be back later. Take care of the orders from Taiwan from me."

After finishing the call, Mitsui instantly received another from a friend of his, "Hey, Nori. What? You want me to take your friends to the horse races?"
As Mitsui listened to his friend talk, the scarred-face man looked down on his feet already positioned on the two pedals and saw something sticking out from under his shoe. After bending down and pulling the object out, he saw that it was a patterned paper in a plastic wrap.
Dismissing it as trash he casually tossed it out of the window.

"Sure," said Mitsui to Nori on the other line. Seeing an opportunity to add another important person to his already long list of contacts, he added, "Just introduce me to Mr. Hokimaru."

He was too engrossed in hearing what Nori had to say that he did not see the upcurrent draft picking up the amulet and flinging it back easily into the car through the back window.