“Heheh, I was just pushing my suspicion for the sake of not discounting the improbable, the ‘plane but not airport’ was the only part that didn’t click in with me initially." She still hadn’t tied it up completely, but was too busy basking in the afterglow of impressing him. Heh.
"I’m sort of a trivia addict, y’know? Whenever I get curious about something- when it came about, who it started with, I look it up- and I’ve got a good enough memory that most of it sticks. Especially things like tea, that I’m so endeared to— did you know they’d been drinking it in China for an entire millennium before it made it to Japan? The original uses were medicinal." There’s my precious little encyclopedia. His jesting question made her huff a laugh, silently musing over the accuracy of the inquiry.
"But of course I’m not a detective, that’d be silly. Detectives don’t overcomplicate, they analyze the facts and evidence presented them and assess it without the bias of overprocess, right? No, I’m a romanticist beyond all means, looking above and beyond is my nature, and that’s why I’m bound to the bending of words and storycraft." Well that was true enough.
"Oh goodness," Ah he said it he said thing, "I’m just lucky, with enough cleverness and sense to make sure that luck doesn’t get me (too) beat up. I’m sure you’d be the better of the two of us if we’d actually switched our paths.”
Tea. She had talked about tea. As if tea was something grand and magnificent. Which it was. But she agreed? Hakuba, so very pleased at this, was momentarily distracted from the topic at hand. Fortunately, he managed to keep his attention on driving and the road ahead, taking them northbound.
What was he supposed to say? Ah, right, detectives.
“Well, that’s what detectives are supposed to do, but no person is completely infallible.” Himself included. Hakuba laughed. “That’s certainly what Sherlock would have advised, yes. All right, so let’s put this into a clearer context. The location that I’m taking us first is relatively close, in Tokyo. This is a first date, so it probably isn’t too crazy…” At least, as far as he knows it isn’t. “And contains all of the things I’ve mentioned.”
He merged into another lane, revving the engine further as they picked up speed. “That said, can you make a list of places that we’re not going to?”
Hakuba hoped that his light, friendly tone would carry over the message that he was not trying to be condescending in any way. This was actually rather interesting for him, and definitely a much more pleasant conversation than he was used to having as of late.