He grinned, gratified to see the Brit finally understood. “Glad to hear it,“ he replied with a challenging smirk. Unlike with Kudo, their personalities clashed horribly, and Heiji was sure they’d continue to piss each other off in the future. Therefore, it was only reasonable to use that to both of their advantage, wasn’t it? And if he successfully knocked Hakuba a peg or two in the process, all the better. He sipped at his green tea in the ensuing silence, waiting for Hakuba to finish his meal.
As if sensing the conversation was over for the moment, Katsura-han struck up a conversation of his own, expressing his surprise at Heiji’s English skills. “Well, there’s no one ta talk ta here, save tourists an’ th’ occasional foreign college student,” he replied, lapsing back into Japanese. “An’ th’ teachers,“ he relented after a moment’s thought, “but s’not really a natural conversation.” He watched as Katsura’s brows knitted together and sighed inwardly. Of course, the restaurant owner had probably only been exposed to the heavily-accented English, and probably didn’t realize just how different spoken English was from classroom English. He might not have even seen a need to keep studying the language, considering his current job. Not that he wanted to insult the man, but it was frustrating sometimes when people weren’t as smart or as motivated as Heiji was. “Well, Jodie-sensei’s fun ta talk ta, but she’s all th’ way up’n Tokyo.“ He sighed out loud this time. “They really need ta hire more foreign teachers.”
Hakuba listened while the two conversed, taking great care and effort to finish his plate. He would not insult the restaurant owner again by leaving any delusions that he had not enjoyed the meal. The conversation was interesting anyway, keeping his attention and mind entertained, quite content.
The comment about the teachers brought Hakuba into the game, however, as he straightened up, laying the chopsticks on his now-empty plate.
“That does remind me,” he said, switching back to Japanese himself. “Pardon my intrusion, Katsura-san, Hattori-san… But if you don’t mind my asking, what were the circumstances of your English language studies?”