[POV 3rd Person]
6 Months Later, June 20XX
It was a fairly normal day for Anthony Renjiro. After moving out of his brothers half a year ago Anthony needed a summer job. While working as a teacher at a middle school paid enough to keep him afloat living alone, it was not like he was comfortable. He was paid well for a first-year teacher, as most people who get a Bachelor of Medicine continue to become healthcare professionals, not teachers. The superintendent personally approved a recruitment bonus. He also earned extra merit pay after the school noticed a drastic increase in the grades of students. But after paying for his rent, car, insurance, and groceries he was only left with around $600 a month to use or save. Thankfully, teachers get paid over summer break or he would be up shits creak.
[Scene Grocery Store Called 'Big/Large Man']
While buying ingredients for enough spaghetti to eat for a month, including garlic powder and a loaf cheap white bread, he decided to browse, just to see what he was missing by spending frugally. Stopping by the instant ramen he noticed a limited edition was on sale.
[[Limited Edition! True Ichiraku Experience!]]
[Naruto: The Best Ramen in the World! Believe it!]
[ナルト: 世界一美味しいラーメン! だってば よ!]
(A/N: I used Dattebayo, because it is Naruto saying it, Dattebayo is a catchphrase and not a real word with direct translation, it is localized in English Dubs as emphasis. If it were any other character they would likely use [Shinjiro! / 信じろ!] as it is a clearer in showing truthfulness and sincerity)
Anthony looked at the spiky yellow-haired boy on the packaging and showed a small, genuine smile. He felt a bit of bitter happiness looking at it, when he became the leader of his study group two of the members, John and Liam, loved to debate about Naruto and its storyline. As the most mature of the group, he was often pulled into their debates where he was had to be the judge of what was realistic, idealistic, or straight-up illogical. After three or four of these debates, he finally gave in and agreed to watch the show, while still abiding by his sleep schedule, most of his free time became a group watch between Anthony, John, and Liam. While Anthony would have rather been left alone, he could not deny it was helpful to have two fans help him understand what the show was about, including the lore. He felt it would have been harder to watch and understand if they were not there.
Though he started watching Naruto in his first year, he heard that there was a sequel that was still airing while they watched, by March in his second year, the sequel had concluded. By his third year he had completed the Pain Arc, seen the start of the Fourth Ninja War, and saw Naruto befriend Kurama. Unfortunately, John and Liam graduated a semester before Anthony, due to starting in the spring, and the watch group ended that day. Anthony did not continue watching after that, but now, after seeing the silly artwork on the ramen in his hand, did he feel like he should have finished the show?
On his way to checkout, he felt his phone buzz.
"A phone call?" Anthony murmured.
Anthony as someone who liked to avoid trouble, avoided giving out his phone number to anyone. He thought the only people who should be calling should be family, landlord, phone company, and/or work. When he saw the caller ID, he was surprised to see Liam's name, he never put the contact in, he never left his phone out of sight or pockets, so how did he have Liam's contact, and how did Liam know his number?
He answered the phone.
"Hello? Liam?" He said, still confused why Liam was calling.
"Hey Anthony, how have you been?" Liam answered, unaware of the confusion in Anthony's voice.
"I have been alright, but can I ask, how did you get my number?" Anthony replied nervously.
Liam, just realizing why Anthony sounded strange said, "Ah that, yes sorry, I had been meaning to reconnect after college, but you never gave anyone in your group your number. Luckily, I was able to connect with one of our old professors and got your contact information. I was calling because I am getting married this summer and I wanted to invite you. It is about four months out on October 10th. If you are interested just let me know so I can RSVP you, do not worry it will be pretty low key, I know you do not like troublesome things, so I thought to tell you."
Anthony was surprised, "Really? The shounen obsessed, RPG game collector, got a spouse? Who is the lucky person who has to clean up after you? John?" said half-mockingly.
Liam was shocked, 'How did he know?!' he thought, 'We were not together during college, we argued a ton, we did not even have a hint of a more than friends' relationship, was it just a joke? A guess? Did someone tell him already?'
Anthony, not realizing he was correct, decided to take a friendly jab at Liam.
"I mean that would make sense, you both like shounen anime like Naruto, yes you argue, but they were not arguments of hate or malice, just opinions. You like RPGs, John likes Turn-based Action games, they have good compatibility so you will both be able to play games together until you are fifty, right up to the point where VR should be good enough to 're-live your youths together'. You both kept fit during college and with my nutrition advice, neither of you should have any health problems. John is a neat-freak like me and while you are not a neat-freak, at least you are not a slob, so that works. Anything else?"
Liam, realizing that Anthony had analyzed both himself and John to such a degree, felt a bit embarrassed. While Anthony felt his observations were normal, after all he wanted to stay out of trouble, of course he would read the people around him, especially those he let inside his home.
Liam finally recovered from Anthony's joke and said, "Dude, who told you, that was supposed to be a moment I could finally catch you speechless! Tell me how you knew."
"…" Anthony, in a twist of irony, was speechless.
"That was meant to be a joke… are you serious?" He said after collecting himself.
"…" Liam froze. "So, no one told you?"
"No."
"And you said all of that, not knowing we were getting married?"
"Yes."
"Are you psychic or something?"
"No, that would be too troublesome."
"Right, I wouldn't want to hear other people's thoughts either." Liam agreed.
"So, you and John are actually getting married?" Anthony wanting to get back to the point asked.
"Yeah, we moved in together after college. We went to the same graduate school and did not want random roommates when we already knew each other, after bunking for a few months we realized things about each other that we would not have known living separately."
Liam spoke fondly of the time John proposed to him at a 201X anime convention hosted by their graduate school whose mascot was a certain gold colored dog.