Yamato was about to do something scandalous.

After a few paranoid glances toward the door to make sure that no one could possibly barge in on him (the door itself was very much locked), Yamato finally sat down at the table in his room. He uncovered the dish he'd brought with him to reveal a heap of takoyaki.

Ever since that fateful encounter on the street, Yamato had found himself with cravings, something he had been well conditioned to not experience. Perhaps it symbolized some sort of craving for the normal life he'd never had, but he scoffed at that idea. Little tastes of that foreign normality were good enough for him.

Still feeling somewhat uneasy about his indulgence, Yamato picked up one takoyaki ball with his chopsticks slowly. His first bite was a cautious one. As he saw it, the perfect leader did not dare indulge himself like this; that was an indicator of weakness, softness. Was he soft and weak now that that boy had introduced him to this concept? Yamato continued to nibble at the takoyaki as he thought it over.

It wasn't long before that first takoyaki ball was gone. Perhaps his nibbles had turned to bites as he thought. Eating absentmindedly... another one of those vices he'd been trained against. Hiro must be making him soft.

The savory taste lingered on his tongue. He wanted more. If he'd gone soft in just this little way, no one needed to know. He was still himself; he'd just found one tiny little respite that he could take. A rare moment of serenity all to himself.

He picked up another piece of takoyaki, taking a decent-sized bite out of this one. It was too good... he'd never really had a moment to enjoy his food like this. Savoring tastes was something new to him. Heck, enjoying food like this was something new, even with the feasts he had thrown for the others. Maybe he was learning something from this experience after all.

The next bites were far less cautious than the ones before them. Yamato would never admit it, but he was almost getting a bit of a thrill out of this secret indulgence. It must have been the sense of breaking a taboo he had that did it for him. He was breaking free of his rigid rules for a few precious minutes, and it felt good. The best part had to be that no one had to know about this at all; he was free. This must be a taste of a normal life, he thought to himself as he stuffed the takoyaki into his mouth, one piece after the other.

It wasn't long before the heap had diminished to two simple takoyaki balls. Yamato leaned back in his seat, somewhat dizzy from the rush. He'd just plowed through a fairly large serving of takoyaki and lived. No one was making a scandal of the unseen indulgence. He had broken a rule and behaved like a normal person for once in his life, and he was getting away with it! A satisfied smile crept across Yamato's face. Maybe this sort of thing was alright every once in a while.

At this point, he had an idea. There was someone he could let in on his little secret, someone who would not only understand but also keep the secret. Chuckling to himself, he took out his phone and took a picture of the two remaining takoyaki balls. He attached the picture to an e-mail he had already mostly finished, an e-mail to a certain Hiro Kageyama, and sent it, chuckling to himself.

Following that, the remaining two pieces went down the hatch. Yamato gave a satisfied sigh and rested his hands on his stomach. Damn, was he full, but damn if it didn't feel good, too. This was the best he'd felt in a while, in fact. Yes, maybe he could get used to doing this every so often…