A little bit disoriented after such a strange trip, Alma had been doing her best to keep up with the tour after waking up in the lobby. She had come to the lobby to refamiliarize herself with the area, just to make sure that she knew her way around. Thankfully, there wasn’t much to the area at least for the time being.
When she was suddenly approached by a boy in a mask, one of the people rooming near her, she smiled since she had been wanting to properly meet her classmates! Then when he spoke…
It took a while for Alma’s mind to return to her body, having been surprised out of her. She had started to panic, almost, trying to get back to herself. She didn’t want to be rude after all. Though when she came back down to Earth after being caught off guard like that, there was only one thing that she could do…
“GH, HAH!” Soon enough Alma was doubled over, she couldn’t help but giggle at the line that he had delivered just now, but she grabbed onto his hand to shake it. It took awhile for that to actually happen though, unfortunately.
“Oh no, oh, I’m so sorry Akito, it’s nice to meet you, I just…” She wheezes a little bit, “That’s not what I expected, I’m sorry, thank you for coming to introduce yourself…”
Steadying herself and wiping her face a bit, she had turned red from all off that laughter.
“I’m Alma Lucero, though I guess that you already know that. It really is nice to meet you, I’m so so sorry about that, it was just very funny.” She wasn’t able to stop smiling at least, she felt so bad that she had just laughed in the face of someone she had just met like that. God, she hoped that she didn’t come across as mean. Bad pick up lines and things adjacent to them are just so funny…
In all his years of flirty pick-up lines, he would have ranked Alma’s response as among some of the more memorable ones. He maintains a steady face as she quite literally breaks down in hysterics, and it’s only when he’s certain she’s not about to do so again that he continues with naught but a small shift of his head.
"...Well, it was new. Usually they start turning me down before the laughing bit, but I can appreciate the change of pace." Akito chuckled, not terribly offended. Retracting his hand, he folded both arms behind his back and grinned. “You’re probably not interested, then? Don’t feel particularly swept off your feet at all? Don’t worry about it too much, it’s just my way to test the metaphorical waters whenever I meet someone new. People are their most honest when they’re not expecting a certain thing, and au petit bonheur la chance it might actually work with someone who wants to be wooed, you know?”
He pauses. “Er, French for ‘with a little bit of luck’. Sorry, old habits die harder. Nonetheless, I really do find it a pleasure to get to meet you, Lucero-san. I saw your Okinawa report a few weeks ago and was very impressed! Thought I could invite you over to the Sibylline as a creative consultant, as one of my groups is starting off production on their new rendition of Once On This Island; I know, most people would probably just ask your everyday oceanologist to critique it, but when one has the opportunité to work with the best, why not use it, oui?”
It might be a bit jarring to hear him switch from English to French and back so effortlessly like that, but to anyone hearing, it’s almost as if he’s spoken both languages all his life to have such an easy grasp of the technique.












