Since Yuriko and I grew up wealthy, she and I have kept our habits as we grew up.

Even if ojii-san was not as rich as obaa-san and could only be called slightly above middle class, I still had some “rich” habits.

I didn’t have a spending habit due to the way I was raised, but I had the so-called rich people table manners. I ate with elbows off the table, I knew which utensil was for what, I always thanked the server and I was generally a “good-eater”.

It was the same thing with Yuriko, or Yanyan. Being completely honest, I thought she’d be a savage beast when eating considering her attitude these past few days, but it seems I was wrong.

As we were awkwardly standing around each other, Chika was clutching to my pant leg like a shy kid. When I gave her a confused look, she was pouting at me.

How odd.

To end this weird atmosphere, Yanyan rolled her eyes and left us to go talk to a waiter. I noticed this and gave her an appreciation nod.

“Sumimase~n! Do you mind leading us to a table for six or seven?” (Yanyan)

“Ahhh, of course of course. Right this way ma’am” (Waiter)

The waiter led us to a table nearby the window. With a big smile on his face that I could tell was very forced, he sat all of us down.

I looked at the table and... I thought that the waiter was a pretty good guy. It was really clean and there was minimal dust and dirt around. All in all, it was a great table to sit in.

The table we were seated at had seven seats; three on each side and one at the head of table.

The seating arrangement was Ronda, Erina and Big boss on the left, in that order from right to left and on the right was Yanyan, Me and Chika, again in the order of right to left. The window was such a good view that it made me feel cozy.

Combining that with the cool air conditioning, I felt at home. I’m sure Chika felt it as well, since she just hugged my arm really tightly while looking at Yanyan. What a good restaurant after all.

“Here you go, dear customers. Do take your time when ordering and call me over as soon as you finish your picking. Have a good meal!” (Waiter)

Alright, his overly enthusiastic smile just took a whole nother level. If before he was merely smiling, he was baring his teeth as much as he could. It might have even caused a reflection to shine off of them, but I’m not sure.

His smile went closer and closer to my face as he leaned over to hand me the menu and we locked eyes... never have I ever felt so scared. He looked scary. That’s the only way to describe it.

He was very intimidating, overly so. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen this waiter here before. Is he a new hire? Possibly he was a delinquent who left the rough life recently.

I would really respect that. I’ve met some students of mine with delinquent brothers or sisters and it’s quite a hard life to leave. I’ve heard that leaving can cost you your fingers.

However, this boy had all of his fingers. How odd.

“Whatcha getting Renny?” (Yanyan)

“R-R-Renny?!?! Who are you calling Renny! This is very inappropriate!” (Chika)

Chika grew up in a very conservative family. There’s re some good conservative families, but hers wasn’t one of them.

They were the kind of family that would ostracize a homosexual. They would not believe in climate change as well.

This affected Chika’s thoughts and even though she is much more accepting when compared to her parents, she is still relatively conservative.

She doesn’t believe in premarital sex and she also doesn’t like it when a girl calls a boy she isn’t married to or dating a pet name. Besides that, she’s quite accepting of most things.

This isn’t just because it’s Yanyan doing this to me. There is no way she’d be jealous. No way.

“Is it inappropriate though? We’re merely coworkers so it’s fine. I don’t mean anything by it” (Yanyan)

With a teasing expression on her face, Yanyan was taunting Chika on purpose to get her riled up. However, I just turned my gaze towards Yanyan which shut her up.

It wasn’t an intimidating one, but more of a dissatisfied and disappointed one. Thank God that she got the message. I have the feeling that even if she knew what I meant, she wouldn’t have gone along with it.

“I’m sorry about that Chika. She really doesn’t meaning anything by it” (Ren)

I slowly explained to her that she was one of my coworkers from my night job and that this particular woman just took pleasure in teasing people.

With a pout, she decided that it wasn’t worth her time and just clung to me harder. Big boss, Erina and Ronda were all watching this with a straight face.

It was as if Yanyan wasn’t any of their problem. It’s a bit baffling seeing their attitude towards her, but I guess that’s how she became like this.

The food we all ordered arrived and Ronda, the big brute, too the job of grilling the meat as Big boss assisted. Erina was doing nothing as Yanyan and Chika were intently staring at each other.

It seemed like they had some sort of rivalry. In the middle of the staring contest, Chika took a sip from her water glass to get rid of the dryness in her throat.

Meanwhile I was handing out some of the beef strips to the women beside me. At this point, I had given up on trying to deescalate this thing. I can only hope it will resolve itself.

“U-ummm... I’m going to the bathroom honey” (Chika)

“Hmm? Alright then. Hurry up so your food doesn’t grow cold” (Ren)

We both called over the waiter to help out with going to the bathroom and he gladly took her to the disabled toilet room. Once she was gone, I turned my head towards Big boss.

“Why are you here?” (Ren)

“What do you mean? This is a restaurant that services customers, and we are customers Renny” (Yanyan)

Instead of Big boss answering me, Yanyan interrupted and gave me an answer. This made me a bit baffled since this is the first time that Big boss hasn’t answered a question directly.

Anger boiled inside of me. Looking at Big boss just made me want to throw-up the previously consumed food. His emotionless face made it all the more worse.

This is a show of power I think. He knows where I eat, where I live, where and work and therefore, knows me. Is this just a flex of her muscle? It would be redundant.

I’m already dedicated to this life by now. I have no choice in the matter. So him flexing his strength is making me resent my decision to go with the flow even more than I used to.

“You know that isn’t what I’m asking. Why. The hell. Are you. Here. Tell me a good reason, right this instant” (Ren)

“Yanyan, don’t tease. Tsuchiya-san, you are quite a good employee. So good in fact, that some people have noticed your good work and are asking me for your presence” (Big boss)

This was suspicious. From the moment he mentioned that I was a good employee, I was already suspicious. He seemed to be telling the truth, but it held a scent of misinformation.

He said ive been noticed by “some people” which is also odd. Who the hell would pay attention to the newbie who can’t even get through a job without vomiting?

“I... don’t understand. I’m just the clean up guy” (Ren)

“Yeah, but you are a good clean up guy. Listen, there are no questions. I just wanted you to know that in some time, you should be ready for a random call from either me or my boss to meet you” (Big boss)

“Uhhhh... okay?” (Ren)

This was all an excuse. He was flattering me for no reason, and it was all to just call me to meet him or someone related to him in a few days time, he says.

While staring down Big boss and trying to figure him out, the waiter who assisted Chika to the bathroom filled up the empty glasses on the table. And I noticed something... unusual.

When he started filling Chika’s glass, a faint white, slightly transparent powder was swirling around. It was not too prominent, but the window was shining in just a way that it perfectly illuminated the particles.

Instantly, I felt disgusted. I felt betrayed and I felt taken advantage of. The waiter looked at me with a blissful grin and turned his eyes to Yanyan for a split second.

“Did you...” (Ren)

“Did I?” (Yanyan)

‘S-scary...’

Another scary look. This Yanyan right now seemed more angry than usual, looking like she is lashing out. The anger wasn’t directed to me, but it was just anger in general. Did I do something to anger her?

What a crazy woman. I am possibly falling for Big boss’ trap by being so obedient, but I’m the lower born. He is above me currently and so even if I benefit small amounts, I need to take it.

With a great big smile, Big boss looked at me as his face rested on his fist in a bossy way. He pulled out his phone, clicked some buttons and promptly left the table along with the entire crew.

This just confused me more.

Chika quickly came back to an empty table and I told her that Big boss had something important to do.

When I next checked my account balance, it had an extra 400,000 yen in it. Whether that was a combination of the job and my loyalty or just the job, I’ll never know.

 

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a.n | thanks so much for reading this far! I really hope you enjoyed and if you truly enjoyed, do consider reviewing this novel, commenting and liking! It all helps me so, so much!