Both Katsura and Heiji winced at Hakuba’s use of the Osaka-ben honorific inserted into his usual Tokyo dialect. Not to mention Heiji did not approve of the Brit’s self-deprecation. The restaurant owner did, however (ugh, Heiji really hated social conventions sometimes), and, mollified, began his order.
“Oi, Hakuba,” he began while waiting for his own okonomiyaki to finish grilling. “Don’t put’cherself down so much.“ It was really grating on his nerves, this constant politeness of his. It didn’t feel sincere at all, and Heiji hated that. “S’annoyin’. Some people might like it, but ya shouldn’t force yerself like that.”
The wince was not missed, and Hakuba made a mental note to recount the conversation with Baaya later, to see if she could help point out his misstep. But at least the owner seemed satisfied, so he turned away from the counter to look at Hattori while he spoke, calming down.
Or, well, he was calming down.
Hakuba frowned, letting out a quiet, frustrated huff. “Thank you for your input, Hattori-san… I’ll take it into consideration next time. Unfortunately, everything that I said was true. I am a stupid foreigner, am I not? Isn’t that what you think of me?"