A Night In

Whatever the issue was, Mio seemed to be working through it in her head. Odessa wouldâ€ve offered her help, but she was pretty sure that that would just make things worse.

She would just wait, slowing chewing and swallowing another piece of sushi before Mio would continue, telling Odessa resignedly that she could call her whatever she wanted. The dark-skinned girl smiled, beginning to reach out, but ultimately realizing that patting the smaller girl on the head as she had planned would probably just make her feel more uncomfortable.

“Well,” Odessa replied, “I will try to refrain from calling you cute. Itâ€ll be difficult, you understand, since I really do think youâ€re cute. I assume ‘adorable†is off the table, as well?” She would punctuate her little joke with a little laugh, before devouring another piece of sushi. When she was done with it, she would ask: “So, how long have you been in AFW?”

"Ehh... whatever...!" Mio waved her hand to Odessa as the girl insisted that she was cute. "You're probably really enjoying all of this anyways..."

She sighed and gave the dark skinned beauty a dry smile. The whole thing with calling her cute didn't really upset her to the point she'd hit Odessa or something. It just felt awkward. Mio remembered her high school days when people mostly described her as delinquent or scary, never once the word "cute" got mentioned. Somehow she preferred it when people felt intimidated around her, which was why being with Odessa kinda made her feel uneasy.

It's only normal that the dark skinned beauty wouldn't be intimidated, though. The girl already beat her, not to mention she's taller and physically stronger. Mio wasn't exactly enjoying when people got intimidated by her presence either, but it's still better than being made fun of. Hearing the girl's question, she swallowed the sushi she had been chewing and took a sip of her drink before answering Odessa.

"Hmm... less than half a year, I think..." she told the girl as her fingers did the counting. "Been fighting since like, high school, though..." she added before pausing a little. "What about you? Why did you come here?"

“Of course Iâ€m enjoying it, sweetie,” Odessa confirmed with a shrug. “You are even more…errr…endearing when youâ€re all flustered like this.”

She would grab another piece of sushi with her chopsticks and pop it into her mouth. This one was very, very good, and rather elaborate, with crab at the center of a roll which included multiple types of fruits and vegetables, a creamy sauce, and a dusting of fish eggs to top it all off. It was the most expensive type of roll Odessa had ordered, and she had only ordered two of them. She would leave the other one for Mio.

When Mio asked why she had joined AFW, Odessa would reply cheerfully: “Iâ€ve been wrestling for a number of years. Itâ€s been an interest of mine for quite a while, and Iâ€ve been doing it professionally for, oh, seven or eight years now, I think. I started in the U.K., then spent several years in the U.S., but, finally, I made the decision to come over here to test my abilities against some of the worldâ€s best.”

"Che..." Mio scoffed as Odessa admitted that she's enjoying teasing her.

She looked at the piece of sushi the girl just picked and took the other one to have a taste herself. The moment she took a bite, Mio seemed to be rather surprised with the complex taste, and quickly plopped the rest of it into her mouth. Oh, this one is good... She never tried that one since it's expensive, and one couldn't really order just a piece of it.

"Hee~ I see..." she replied to the dark skinned beauty's answer. "No wonder you're strong. Me, I'm just some random street brawler that happened to join AFW by chance, heh," she let out a slightly amused sigh.

Mio looked at the remaining sushis on the box and decided to pause for a bit. There were still a lot of them, but she didn't think she could finish even half of it. The brown haired girl took a sip of the wine and leaned back against her chair, glancing around Odessa's apartment before looking back to the girl.

"Wow... it's been a while since I've been in another girl's place..." she accidentally let her piece of mind out, albeit muttering.

Odessa would see that her brunette companion would go for the twin of the roll she just ate, and nodded knowingly as she saw the satisfaction on the girlâ€s face. She would have ordered more of them, but they cost about twice as much as the other offerings. Well, there was always next time.

The dark-skinned beauty smiled as Mio commented on how strong she was. “Well, having experience on the street must be useful when you get involved in one of the really brutal fights some of these AFW girls seem to have a penchant for,” Odessa observed. “My experience is mostly in pro-style, submission, and what I believe they call hentai here.” She would take another sip of her wine, noticing that her glass was close to empty. She noticed how Mio was taking a break from the sushi, but she still had some room in her stomach, and so she would pick up another one, one filled with crab, and popped it into her mouth, watching the smaller girl glance around her apartment.

“You like?” Odessa asked after swallowing, waving her hand in the direction of the rest of her apartment. “Iâ€ve only had a short while to decorate, of course. Come back in a month or two and itâ€ll be perfect.”

"So they have stuffs like hentai out there too, huh..." Mio replied. "I kinda think it's just the Japanese who's crazy enough to broadcast stuffs like that live," she chuckled.

She had to say that she's been curious about how life outside Japan. The stuffs she sometimes read online or heard kinda intrigued her, and she did have a thought to take a trip abroad one day. That's also part of the reason she's taking some side jobs from time to time. Hearing the dark skinned girl's question whether she liked the place, Mio shrugged a bit.

"Well, it's not bad," she to Odessa. "It's more lively than my place already. Not that it would mean anything... I guess..."

At least the girl's place seemed like an actual living place. Her dorm room wasn't that much of a mess, but she couldn't say that it's a comfortable one. Perhaps that's why she preferred to be outside whenever she could. That, or she's just so used to the thinking that "anywhere but home" is better. The brow haired girl sighed, and picked a piece of sushi that had a chicken meat inside along with a few veggies. She didn't eat it right away, but waved it at Odessa.

"So like, you fancy Japanese food?" she asked with a more casual tone. "Have you tried other stuffs, like, ramen?" added Mio before she ate the sushi.

“Well, our hentai matches werenâ€t broadcast on live television, like the ones that they do here in AFW,” Odessa explained. “Those were more, uh…specialty matches, I guess, for online subscribers paying an extra fee. I do believe that one or two were on pay-per-view, but, in general, the U.S. and U.K. seem to be a good bit stricter when it comes to what they allow to grace the airwaves.” She shrugged. “So I suppose Japan still holds the record for crazy.”

Odessa would pick up another roll—this one was simple, just rice with a thick slice of salmon laid on top—and devour it quickly. When Mio mentioned her own home, the dark-skinned girl would smile again. “Sometime Iâ€ll visit your place. In return for your sticking around here tonight.”

She would continue, in response to the brunetteâ€s next question: “I have only ever had sushi two or three times before. I figured that, if I was going to order food in, it might as well be something Japanese. As far as ramen goes…Iâ€ve never really had it.”

"Oh..." Mio looked slightly interested as she listened to Odessa's explanation, before her lips curled up for a little smile. "Yeah, I guess you can say that again."

It didn't really surprise her that those kind of matches were exclusive abroad, the people here were just way too perverted. "Crazy" seemed like an understatement. When the girl said that she wanted to visit her place someday, however, she twitched and quickly waved a hand in denial.

"E-eh? You don't need to... I mean, it's small and messy, you know...?" she told Odessa with a sheepish smile.

She took her glass and drank some of her wine, almost emptying it to calm herself a bit. As Odessa continued answering her question about food, she nodded a bit, before pounding a fist on her other palm, smiling a little.

"Ha, then we should go and have some next time!" she announced. "I know this place not too far away from the AFW building... It's just a small shop, but the ramen there is really great!"

As soon as she finished her sentence, the brown haired girl kinda froze on her spot. Next time...? What am I saying...? It's not like she didn't want to hang out with Odessa again, but she found it weird for her to make a suggestion like that. Too late, she already said it now.

Odessa shrugged. “I donâ€t really mind small and messy. Iâ€d still love to visit sometime, just to see where you live.” She would pick up her glass and down the rest of the wine in it, before grabbing the bottle and pouring herself another glass. She would stretch across the table to top off Mioâ€s glass, as well.

The dark-skinned beauty was certainly a little surprised when the smaller girl suggested that they go out for ramen “next time.” She hadnâ€t thought that Mio was having that great of a time, but, evidently, the brunette was beginning to get more comfortable with Odessa, even thinking of them as close enough acquaintances to go out for food together. Odessa chuckled as Mio froze up.

“Sounds lovely,” she purred, grabbing another piece of sushi, this one filled with crab and cream cheese.

"W-well, that's good," Mio replied, rolling her eyes to the side.

Can't take that back now, she thought to herself while trying to make a friendly expression to Odessa. The brown haired girl took another sip from the now refilled glass. The alcohol was starting to set it now, that's probably why she made that unexpected invitation to the girl. Not that she regretted it that much. There's nothing wrong hanging out and making friends once in a while, or so she told herself.

"Ahh well, I guess I don't mind if you want to take a look at the hole I'm living in... Just don't say I didn't warn you, though..." she said while shifting herself a bit on her chair, before getting up to her feet. "Um, where's the bathroom?"

Things had starting to get out more and more outside her comfort zone, and so Mio thought that she'd need to calm herself for a bit. If she could get some time alone for herself, then everything should be alright again, at least she hoped so.