"One orange ramune and one peach."

She pulls some cash out of her wallet and pays the bill, and then they're left to stand off to the side for a few minutes until their number is called.

— Shiho paying for her?

... at first she's offended, but she catches it and looks at it. Why is she offended to have Shiho pay for her gyoza? 

It's probably because she's still operating on the dating rules for men. And because she doesn't feel like she gets to have nice things. 

... when she thinks about it like that, the emotion thaws a little. She's even a little grateful. Shiho cares. Shiho sees her as a girl. 

She exhales, not quite having caught the flash of annoyance on her face, and puts her wallet away again. 

"Training me to accept that I get to be treated sometimes too, huh?" The words are a little more bitter than she intends, but she pinches the bridge of her nose and rubs the annoyance away. "Sorry. I had sort of planned to buy, but it's okay. It's good, even. I'm just..." She shakes her head. "If it was my family buying, it would be about saying I'm not an adult."

Shiho nods softly. "Yeah. I get that."

She smiles bittersweetly. "From me, it's about appreciating this chance to get to know you, and thinking you deserve nice things. You're definitely just as much an adult as I am; you and Ann and Ryuji and Morgana saved me, and you led them." She squeezes Akira's hand. "You can get the picnic for the hike next time?"

"Yeah. Deal." Akira squeezes back. Nothing more need be said. 

Akira coughs and changes the subject. "So... how'd you discover this place anyway?"

"There's a hiking and camping supply store near here I shop at sometimes."

"Sounds interesting. Maybe I'll drop by if I get into hiking." Akira slips her headphones around her neck and plugs the trailing wire into her phone in her pocket. "I'd say we should listen to something while we wait, but someone's got to keep an ear out for our order coming up..."

"Well, we can talk at least. Did you have any bands you wanted to share too?"

"Did I already mention Aural Vampire? I know I said Rose Noire, but there were a couple others... Exist Trace? And there was one more..." 

"We've definitely talked about Exist Trace, since we're going to see their concert in a few months, and I think you mentioned Aural Vampire too?"

"Oh yeah, the other one I said that I forgot about was Unlucky Morpheus. And then there's a broader cluster, uh... Neurotic Doll is solid if old, there's also I think Variable Messiah... If you want something more brooding there's Sito Magus..." 

"Oh, and Kanon Wakeshima is cool, I think I mentioned her already... she did the EDs for Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight Guilty, plus a whole discography of her own work. Some of it is too bright and peppy for me, but she has a few nice brooding songs. She primarily plays the cello, so I feel it's unusual for someone on that instrument to have a solo career like the one she's had."

"Oooh. Looking forward to checking them out."

"Thirty-seven!", cries a man holding two bowls and a small bag.

"Oh, that's us!"

Akira nods and heads over to pick up the order. 

He hands her the bag and bowls with a nod, then turns to call for the next customer. The bag turns out to contains a few little plastic tubs of sauces and two sets of chopsticks.

Akira hands Shiho her bowl. "Back to the square?" she asks.

"Mhm!" She reaches out her free hand to squeeze Akira's hand, and leads the way to a group of wrought-iron tables and chairs off to one side of Station Square.

Akira picks a chair and settles her bowl on the table, then breaks out the chopsticks and the sauces, as well as the drinks. She takes the little plastic cap off her orange ramune and pushes the sealing marble into the hollow in the codd-necked bottle; the bottle fizzes and goes all over her hand.

"Oops!" Shiho grabs for a napkin to help clean up.

Akira laughs, and takes the offered napkin and dries the spill as best she can; then she breaks apart her disposable chopsticks, rubs them against each other to get rid of any slivers, and seizes a gyoza. 

"Here goes," she says. "Figure I'll try one without the sauce to start."

She pops it in her mouth and chews.

It's delicious, the fried underside of the dumpling just crispy enough, and the savory blend of vegetables and spices complementing the chicken excellently. 

"Mm. Tha's good." Akira chews and swallows, then spears a second gyoza, completely forgetting the sauce. "I can see why you love this place."

"I know, right?", she replies with a grin, starting in on her own gyōza. "I'm only not calling them the best dumplings in Tokyo because I haven't tried enough places yet."

Akira nods. "A wise decision." Then she pops the second gyoza into her mouth and chews. "Mmmmmmm. Wow, having things like this and the crêpe shop easily accessible is going to take some getting used to. I bet they're even better with the sauce... " 

She grabs one of the sauce tubs, takes the lid off, and dips one of her gyōza into the mixture. 

It's rich and spicy, with a nice touch of garlic. Apparently this little shop knows their sauces, too. One of the others looks like it's embellished a fair bit from soy sauce, and another looks like it might be sweet and tangy.