Statu quo
Reiko stumbled as the bus jerked to a stop and she swore under her breath at the flash of pain that accompanied her foot slamming down to keep her upright.
She noticed Dingo also barely keeping himself standing and opened her mouth, about to voice her concern, but he had already recovered and left. She pursed her lips and followed suit, allowing herself a moment to rest as the bus pulled away.
“We’re only about a block and a half away from the bus, thankfully. Of course, the train station isn’t too far either, so that’s pretty cool.”
She headed down the block, keeping her normal, subdued pace. “Also, just because you have more experience doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll beat Netto… As dumb as he is, he picks up on video games and all that internet stuff super quickly.”
Reiko could hardly believe she was defending her cousin–not after they spent so much time constantly bickering. But her words weren’t a lie–Netto did have his talents.
She rounded the corner and pointed at the unassuming white house at the end of the block. On its left was a pink house, and on its right was another smaller street. “That’s it over there.”
Dingo quickly stuffed his free, bandaged hand back in his pocket, suppressing a wince at the dull ache that coursed through his wrist. He gave a shrug in reply to Reiko’s words, certainy not letting himself be impressed : “We’ll see about that ! He can’t win against me !”
A grin lingered on Dingo’s traits at the small insult to Reiko’s cousin - it was always amusing, and a little reassuring to hear others bicker. As much as the boy couldn’t help antagonizing his Navi all the time, he still felt a little bad about it, deep down.
The boy then kept quiet, while they made their way to Netto’s house. The surroundings did seem familiar - Dingo had already been there on deliveries, since it was a residential area, where many people were prone to order takeout. Netto was usually one to visit MaHa Ichiban in person, but Dingo could recall a few times when he’d come to deliver curry - probably when Netto was sick, and relied on curry to cheer himself up a bit.
While he walked a few steps ahead of Reiko, Dingo sensed a feeling of unease well up at the bottom of his stomach. He wasn’t ready to be babied by Netto’s mom, or to face his friend’s neverending enthusiasm. Even Tomahawkman ha had the decency to tone it down a little, in the past few weeks.
“Are you sure I won’t be bothering ?” The boy asked, with uncharacteristical uncertainty. He gave Reiko a quick glance over his shoulder, and waited for the girl to knock at the door herself - or maybe she was going to enter without even announcing her arrival. This was her home, after all.
Reiko smiled in response to Dingo’s confidence. The next couple of hours would certainly be interesting with her cousin and this brash teen battling it out.
However, as she walked up to the door and pulled out her key, she paused at Dingo’s quiet question. He looked uneasy and she bit her lip. “Of course it’s no problem, Oba-chan invited you.”
Maybe... She decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for the jibe, hoping it would lighten his mood--or at least make him annoyed enough to forget his anxiety. “Why? Is the great Dingo scared of a little TLC?”
