"Oh..." His smile faltered for a moment. Maybe he said something he shouldn't have. He quickly regained his smile, however. "I should bring you there some time! My house is this pretty temple in Japan. It... was really lonely when Laetus left, but... It was a pretty place. And the city nearby was really great too! Really fun and lively."
"Where do you live now?" Shay asked, taking a slight sip of her tea, only enough to wet her tongue and return the flavor to her mouth. "And, furthermore, how do you earn money? What kind of job do you have?" Shay felt suspicious. He had thought he was no older than her, but she was sure she wouldn't be able to find any job willing to hire her.
"Um... I have a dorm room. I kinda sleep at Laetus' apartment a lot though.... And I get jobs from Laetus too. He finds me odd jobs, and sometimes I help him with his jobs." He smiled. "He's really good at finding jobs." The waitress came back and dropped off the mochi assortment. She didn't stick around to mess with Kenta though. The place got busy with the lunch rush.
"Odd jobs?" Shay prodded, looking at the mochi. She hesitated before lifting one and taking a bite. She found, very quickly, that she didn't like mochi, but she wasn't about to let him in on that. She swallow it down and took to nursing her tea again instead. "What kind of odd jobs?"
He picked one up and nibbled at the doughie shell to get at the ice cream inside. He moved the treat back to answer her question. "Whatever people need doing. I've done dishes, babysat..." He shivered at the memory, as if remembering a pain. "Kids... Like to yank my tails. Hurts a lot."
Shay thought about hobbies she enjoyed. She had the dream of one day becoming a top selling author, but she doubted her capability of doing so. It seemed silly to bring such things up, so instead she said, "I hope to try for the newspaper club when I'm a little older. Maybe get a job in the local library. It's relaxing to smell all the books." She'd have mentioned trying out for track if not for the need to wear shorts and touch people. That was a literal nightmare waiting to happen.
Kenta nodded in approval. "That sounds good. I can definitely get the relaxing thing. The library is a great place to nap." That was literally the only thing he liked about the place. He kinda liked comics and manga, but most books were boring to him.
"Nap?" Shay made a face at him. "You can nap anywhere. I like to read there and imagine things. No one bugs you and no one is loud in the library." She liked the silence best. Shay polished off her tea, never again touching the mochi.
"Most books put me to sleep." He told her before finishing off his first mochi and grabbing another. He noticed she wasn't eating them with him. "Do you not like them?" He asked, sounding a bit disappointed. "You can get something else if you'd like."
"I'm just not very hungry," Shay lied. "Thanks for buying them." His question had distracted her from their book conversation, where she might have made a bitter remark on books putting him to sleep, she now looked at the door. "What did that waitress mean when she asked if this was how you impressed girls? Have you brought other girls here?"