"And at your last job?" I asked curiously, "Trauma surgery sounds bloody."
She laughed again, "It was, but that was the attraction."
"Can you see something like that?"
"Sure," she grinned broadly, my empty stomach twisting in all directions as I imagined bloody accidents.
That was definitely not for me. I was more likely to see and dismantle badly mangled cursed spirits.
"So am I right in assuming that you would love to do this work again?"
"Of course," she confirmed exuberantly, "I really miss it, apart from training."
That literally called out for us to pay Shoko a visit soon.
Once again, we walked past a guy who had a hideous curse spirit sitting on his shoulder, which was on Mayu's side. In the corner of my eye, I could see that it was trying to get its fangs on her, but she didn't see it because she was looking in the opposite direction again. So I quickly released my arm from her fearful grasp, flicked a tiny ball of energy charged with my curse reversal technique of the color red at it, while I put my arm around Mayu's shoulder and pulled her closer to me.
So hastily and inconspicuously that neither of them noticed how I expelled the bastard that was trying to get at my companion.
So my distraction of the curse spirits was more successful than I had hoped, even if it secretly annoyed me that I still didn't hear any curse power flowing through her.
"So, here we are," I rejoiced as we arrived at the restaurant and the dark brown wooden door opened for us. We were immediately enveloped by the delicious aroma of the food, which made my mouth water. We entered together and were welcomed by the cozy atmosphere and one of the older employees.
"Oh, good evening, Mr. Gojo. Nice to see you again," he greeted me with a deep bow and in a friendly manner, "in female company today? Good evening," and bowed again to Mayu, who was standing next to me and did the same.
"Good evening, sir," she greeted him in an extremely friendly tone, beaming from ear to ear.
"I'm sure I can show you to your regular table," he guessed my unspoken wish, as we were also sometimes courted by the loud and unpleasant conversations of the other guests, and followed him through the traditionally furnished and fairly well-attended restaurant to the back area, where it was fortunately much quieter. There had been advantages to chatting to the waiters from time to time.
In the corner of my eye, I could see Mayu looking around inconspicuously. Not to mention her eyes lighting up again as she surveyed the beautifully decorated restaurant.
As soon as we sat down on the comfortable bench at our assigned table, the waiter handed us the clear and well-organized menus.
"I'll come back to you in a moment and take your order."
We both nodded in confirmation and he turned on his heel. He had barely taken a few steps away from us, just as we had opened the menus, when Mayu spoke up.
"Wow. How beautiful it is here," she whispered enthusiastically, inspecting one of the fake cherry blossom branches that were attached in heaps to the countless dark brown posts. Hidden between the individual blossoms were warm white light globes that gave off enough light to create a pleasant brightness.
"You're so easy to get excited about," I remarked with a grin.
"Not at all," she grinned, embarrassed, while a delicate blush appeared on her cheeks and she focused on the menu again, "you just have good taste," she mumbled sheepishly.
Was it childish that I just found it overly sweet? And even if it was, I was also aiming to make Mayu feel good. Although it wasn't much of an art with her either. So far, I hadn't discovered much that she didn't necessarily like - apart from the training, which she often grumbled about theatrically.