Nomikai! [open to teachers]

As always, Hana slinked into the izakaya with a carefully guarded expression and stood in the corner, waiting for everyone else he had arrived with to sit down before taking a spot at the far end of the table. He hated having to attend these nomikai. It wasn't that he didn't like crowds; he actually enjoyed the feeling of becoming lost and indistinguishable inside the large crowds at malls and shopping districts. It was when he was expected to be an active participant of said crowd that the walls seemed to materialize and clamp down around his heart. He never said a word to anyone, and no one said a word to him. Not that his proliferous male co-workers were worth talking to anyway. And it was impossible for him to feel comfortable trying to talk to any of the women who showed up outside a one-on-one environment. It was just more time out of his week he had to waste when he could've been doing something else at home, like writing or recording or getting actual work done.

And yet, here he had to be if he didn't want to lose his job over not keeping up appearances. Of course no one would ever describe these nomikai with such an 'ugly' word as 'mandatory' out loud, but that's exactly what they amounted to. Not that it mattered to anyone else, since to them it was apparently more than a pointless exercise in discomfort. A chore. That's all it was to him. Pretty much the last socially acceptable behavior of the Japanese salaryman that he bothered to keep up. Sometimes he didn't know why he did bother anymore though, since he figured his introverted nature must already make him look suspicious enough in the eyes of his peers. He imagined several among them were just counting the days until he succumbed to karoushi.

At least this time they had picked a place with decent food. Hana didn't even look at the menu, ordering his favorite meat and rice dish when asked. He also ordered a soft drink, setting his still full beer glass further back on the table. That was another thing: the drinking. Hana refused to drink anything on principle. He simply didn't see the inherent appeal in getting drunk that everyone else seemed to, unless of course it involved the convenient opportunity to be an asshole to your senpai and harass the women under the excuse of bureikou. But that was just because they liked to be assholes, and Hana wasn't that kind of person; that's what he thought.

While he waited for his food, Hana made a show of moving his head around to stare at something else every so often so as to not appear dead to the world, careful to avoid looking anyone in the eye. Once in a while, when he had a clear line of sight to her, he would turn his gaze toward the pretty red-haired woman to his left, but only when she was looking away from him. The instant he saw her start to turn her head towards him, he would turn his own head away with a reaction time that would make a mongoose jealous; a practiced technique. But even that little game could only hold his interest for so long. He sighed, trying to tone out the clamor of voices around him. It was going to be a long evening.

Reiichi didn't enjoy these functions, most of the time, but went along because it was expected. Sometimes, once everyone had loosened up a little bit, the conversation got interesting. Or maybe the conversation seemed more interesting because he was as tipsy as the rest of them had been. He remembered the Chairman being absolutely ridiculous at a nomikai held for a retiring teacher and going bar-hopping with a handful of the music teachers afterward--ah, to be young(er) again and more impervious to the aftereffects of a night of drinking.

He'd meant to take his usual seat at the far end of the table, but found that Uta had beaten him to it. Reiichi offered the other man a curt nod and took a seat near him anyway, simply because he didn't quite feel like sitting next to Washio or the strange English teacher with the difficult to remember surname. Uta had the right idea. Reiichi would have engaged him in conversation, but the man hardly spoke to anyone. Rumors swirled around Ouran that Reiichi was an android, and it always made him chuckle--Uta would have been a better android than Reiichi. Outside the classroom, it seemed like the man never spoke. Or did anything but work. (Not that Reiichi was one to say anything about being a workaholic. He'd kept long hours more days than he should have, as well.)

He eyed the crowd while he nursed his first beer. Washio wasn't speaking. Uta wasn't speaking, but Reiichi noticed the way he kept looking over at Washio. If he'd been the more outgoing sort, he might have nudged Uta and encouraged him to go talk to her. He wasn't, though, and once he'd finished his beer he gladly accepted a whiskey sour from...whoever it was had bought it. Probably Waka-sensei.

The poor English teacher looked absolutely confused, and by now, Reiichi was relaxed enough to feel a little bit sorry for him. "So." He said it in English. "Uh. You are enjoying the evening?" Again, in English. Maybe hearing his native language would help or something.

Having had the pleasure of organizing the monthly Nomikai this year, Kouta was a lot more tired than he usually was at these events. It could also just be that he was getting old. But that wasn’t true so he quickly dismissed it. The welcome speech had been completed, so that just left what they all came here to do! Well… What most of the teachers came to do. He was glad he’d found somewhere with good food though, since some of the teachers seemed… not so eager to participate.

He remembered his first Nomikai at Ouran Academy, those had been the days! He’d gotten so drunk one of the older PE teachers had to drag him home. He’d remember the headache the day after for the rest of time. Every teacher had grinned at him like they knew something he didn’t. It had been embarrassing that was for sure. It hadn’t happened since. Well, not to that extreme anyway. Now he was usually the one helping the younger teachers home, he could see that one of the drama teachers was already lying with their head in their arms.

Chuckling, he looked at the assembled teachers near his table and looked around. The attitude around most of them seemed… somber. It was a shame, that was for sure. These nights out among the staff were supposed to be for getting to know each other and he was sure that if his retirement Nomikai ended up like this he’d finish working on a very somber note.

Now it was time for what he was best at, lightening the mood! Looking around, he noticed all the other teachers sitting nearby, Luke, Ayame, Reichii (He was fond of Reichii, so like himself in his younger years!) and there was Hana. He was always polite enough to him so Kouta found him pleasant enough.

Turning to Hana he smiled jovially, sipping from his beer before placing it back down on the table.

“You don’t like these kinds of get togethers do you?”

"I'm telling you, Takenaka, there was more to the ending than that!" Masaru argued as they made their way to the ikazaya. They were late, agh! Chitose had insisted on getting through a little more of their horror movie backlog together, and though he was still as bad with gore and scary things as ever, it had been a really good movie. So much so they'd started trading theories on it afterwards - and they'd both forgotten the time. At least the meeting spot wasn't too far!

"I mean, there's hints throughout the movie that the characters aren't the only ghosts there!"

The izakaya was a nice place - Kouta had done well picking a good one. He liked nomikai functions - it was a good way to bond, even when some of the teachers were sticks in the mud. As he held open the door for Chitose, he grinned. "Think there's anyone already really bad off?" he remembered the time one of the drama teachers had started reciting Hamlet. It had been a riot.

Once they were both inside, Masaru waved to get the table's attention, before heading on over. "Sorry we're late! Hope you guys aren't having too much fun without us!"

...aw jeez, he could already tell Hana and Ayame weren't enjoying themselves. That was disappointing - he'd only been teaching at Ouran for a year now, but he would have thought by now they would have loosened up at least a little!

Chitose merely shook her head. She'd seen this movie hundreds more times than Masaru; she owned it, after all. She could have very well written a thesis about her interpretation of it.

"Ah, but what about the scene where--"

She swallowed her argument the moment they stepped into the izakaya. Who was calling out to them? It sounded like -- Oh, it was Reznik-san! Chitose shot a smile at him, as well as everyone else who'd shown up, following Masaru's lead and hurrying over to join Luke. He was rather enthusiastic! He must have had quite a bit to drink by now.

"My, it's lively here already!" She swept another look around the group. Half lively. Uta-san seemed to be his usual self, as did Washio-san. "How are you all? Washio-san? Uta-san? Reznik-san, Murakami-san?" Her gaze locked on Kouta. "Ah, Kobayashi-san! Thank you for the invitation. This venue is wonderful."

"Ah, yes, the Sad Corner." Reiichi half-smiled and tipped his glass. "I seem to find myself there a lot. Perhaps it's me bringing down the mood," he added in a light, teasing tone. He downed the rest of his whiskey sour and chuckled. He hadn't interacted with Luke much, but he was warming to the man a little bit now. He started to say something, but paused when the new arrivals showed up. He didn't know either one, but he did smile warmly and scoot over to make room.

"Oh, would you, Washio? That'd be wonderful!" Reiichi had never known Washio to be the sort to buy a round, but he was always game when it came to free drinks.

The table still didn't seem lively enough. Reiichi rose to his feet with his empty glass in hand. "Is anyone up for a round of Pin, Pan, Pong?" he asked, raising his voice so it'd carry over to the other tables. "If you are, please come this way. If you are not, well. Sit back and watch the show." As he sat back down, his eyes fell on Uta's full glass of beer. "Ah, Uta. Are you going to drink that?"