Disclaimer: I, KawaiiTenshiCeres, does not own Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori, or Niji wo Matsu Hito by BUMP OF CHICKEN.
Author's Note: This story came into mind, after actually wanting to do a M-rated story for the longest time. Hazuki is a 'muse' of mine that I wanted to try out, paired up with Mori. Please be aware: There is alcohol references, some cussing, and slight nudity in this story. Possibly some future lemon, as well, although not explicit.
虹を待つ人 / People Who Wait for the Rainbow
Chapter One
"…One beer, please!"
Wiping down the tables, a sigh came out of the brunette, before she stood up straight and rolled her aching shoulders. The smell of charcoal and alcohol filled the air, while she wandered past the socializing customers, to pick up some of the dirtied dishes and glasses that was left behind from the customers and headed towards the kitchen to wash them.
Taking a quick glance at the clock, the woman let out a disappoint sigh, it was only 9 PM…Only three more hours until her shift was over.
"Hazuki-chan!" a man hollered. "Are you busy? Kaori-chan can't take orders right now!"
"Comin'!" she shouted, quickly unloading the dirty glasses and plates into the sink, and rushing back out into the front.
Slapping her cheeks, and putting on her cheerful business smile, Amano Hazuki approached the many familiar faces who frequented the Asayu izakaya. Some of the businessmen glanced up at the waitress, as a few waved at her to come to their table. Approaching a table and pulling out her pad and pen, the woman glanced at a certain cheeky customer that simply made her blood boil.
"Evenin' Hazuki-chan! How is my one of my favorite waitresses, tonight? " a young man greeted, casually raising up his chuhai and winking at her.
Letting out a long hiss, the woman lightly kicked the table, and looked at the older man. "BOSS! That dumbasswho was hitting on Kao-chan and forgot to pay last time is back!" she hollered, before leaning down to stare him down. "Those shitty compliments might work on my little sis, but I'm NOT letting you dine and dash again, ya hear?!" the woman hissed.
Watching his face turning dark at her threat, the waitress watched the young man quickly dart out of his chair and out the door. Hazuki's face quickly turned twisted, following him out the door, and into the lively streets of Tokyo. As he weaved in and out of the crowd, the man had tried to lose the woman amongst the crowd of people.
"HEY! GET BACK 'ERE!" she screeched, readying to throw her tray at him.
Within seconds, the woman slowed down to a stop, after seeing the man getting kicked in the head, and collapsing in the sidewalk. Stunned, Hazuki stood there for a brief moment, seeing a pair hovering over him, while a small crowd began to gather over the unconscious man.
'Fuuuuuuuuuuuc-! Oyaji won't like it if this caused this much of a commotion…' Hazuki whined in her head, before dragging her body towards the crowd.
Pushing through the crowd, her eyes met with a tall male with black hair and a shorter young man with blond hair. By the looks of things, the boy was being scolded by the man and it looked like she was interrupting them. Slowly clearing her throat, Hazuki nervously nodded to them.
"Were…Were ya the ones who knocked out the guy? That jerk was tryin' to dine and dash again. The boss wouldn't be super happy if we let him get away again," she smiled.
The young boy smiled brightly at his companion. "We did well, didn't we, Takashi?" he chirped, as the man silently nodded.
"I apologize for wasting yer time," Hazuki quickly bowed. "Please stop by Asayu! I'll treat ya, for doin' this! The head chef, who's also my boss and Otousan is a really great chef! Thank you so much for catching him!" she emphasized, yanking the collar of the unconscious customer, pulling him back with her to the restaurant.
As the blond boy waved goodbye at her, a luxurious black car had soon approached the two of them. Once Hazuki was gone from their view, and the crowd had died down, the pair had gotten in, and sat down next to each other. Their faces had gone from a friendly look, to an inquisitive, thoughtful look. The name of the place had gotten them to think for a moment.
"…Asayu…" the young boy repeated. "…She's Kou-chan's daughter, isn't she?"
The man looked over and nodded. "Kousuke-san and their family seem to be doing well,"
They passed by the place, watching customers filing out, waving goodbye with a smile on their faces. They saw Hazuki and a young woman emerge outside, politely bowing at them. As the young woman returned inside, Hazuki stared up into the sky with a solemn look on her face, not noticing the black car that had stopped in front of the place, before returning inside.
"…Kaori-chan! Hazuki-chan! Good news!"
As the Amano sisters were cleaning up the place for the day, the older man approached them, causing them to stop and look up from what they were doing. The exhausted Hazuki had sat down, eyeing her father, while the bright-eyed Kaori blinked at him.
"Did ya finally win the lotto, and we're getting a raise?" Hazuki snickered. "Hell yeah! I've been savin' for that bike, ya know?"
Smacking her in the back of the head, Kousuke gave her a blank stare. "No wonder Okaasan was worrying about you," he grumbled. "All three of us will be meeting with some business associates…We're going to talk about expanding this place!" he gushed.
Kaori's face quickly lit up, approaching her father with a joyful look on her face. "That is such great news, Papa!" she squealed.
"Ha…Really?" the other Amano child grimaced, scratching the back of her short hair. "Well, count me out. I told ya, I'm not getting involved with that sort of business. Kao-chan's the one takin' over the place, isn't she, Oyaji?"
Kousuke pinched the bridge of his nose at his daughter's attitude. As he looked up, the owner watched his oldest daughter untie her bandanna revealing her straight, long bob cut hairstyle that was hidden underneath. While lazily scratching the back of her head, Hazuki began to wander towards the curtained area, leading towards the stairwell that connected the restaurant to their home.
"Hazuki-chan…" her father began. "Listen, you really…"
"Kao-chan, text me if it goes well, okay?" she said casually, lightly waving at the two of them. "I'm headin' to bed,"
"But, Onee-cha-"
Lightly touching Kaori's shoulder, Kousuke shook his head at her. "Leave her alone. Your Oneesan won't listen to anyone, don't have your hopes up when it comes down to her," he muttered with some disappointment in his voice.
"Otousan! Let's try to convince her, I'm sure we ca-"
"…Listen to me, Kaori. I've tried. But your so-called 'Oneesan', is a lost case. There's no hope for someone like her," Kousuke interrupted, shaking his head at her.
As their father walked back into the kitchen, he left his youngest daughter alone, to think to herself. However, standing hidden at the end of the stairwell, Hazuki let out a long sigh, before going back upstairs with a lonesome look on her face.
"O-Oneechan!"
It was three days since their father's little 'announcement'. Stopping in her place, to see the uniformed Kaori trying to chase her down, Hazuki eyed her younger sister, as they were heading to their respective schools: Kaori was going to the local high school, while Hazuki was heading to the station. The woman let out a large sigh, placing down her backpack to the ground and facing her little sister, who was completely out of breath trying to catch up with her.
Taking a step back, and inspecting Kaori from head to toe, Hazuki shook her head and lightly smiled at the long-haired teen. Her button up shirt was looking off, her skirt was still unzipped, and her school tie was tied wrong. Moving the two of them off to the side, the older Amano sister began fixing her sister's appearance.
"Ah~," Hazuki sighed. "I don't want you gettin' attacked by some perv. Mayu's still mad about last time, remember?"
The girl could feel her face heating up in sheer embarrassment at her appearance, before shaking her head, remembering the topic at hand. "Uh, Oneechan. Listen...Can't you change your mind about going with us? I mean, Papa sounded like…"
Before she said anything else, a person on a motorcycle was speeding towards the two of them, causing Hazuki's face to quickly light up. Pulling off their helmet, a tall woman with long, dark lavender hair and gray eyes smiled and winked at the two Amano sisters, ignoring the current state between the two of them.
"Mornin' Hazuki and Kaori-chan!" she said proudly. "Need a ride to class, Hazuki? …Then again, I am your ride for tonight,"
Looking at the two women, Kaori batted her eyes at her older sister, not knowing about her so-called 'plans' for tonight. "Huh? You're going out tonight, Oneechan?" Kaori questioned.
Picking up her backpack, the short-haired sister waved to her younger sister. "Goukon. Mayu wants me to come with her. I'll just drink and sleep over at Mayu's place if I end up missing the last train," she grinned, putting on her helmet.
"Hah! As if anything bad will happen to you. You end up hurting more guys when you're drunk and crying, compared to when you're angry," Mayu joked, feeling her best friend slapping her arm.
As Mayu put on her helmet, she waved to Kaori and the pair drove off, leaving the worried Kaori standing there, watching the two. Looking away, the long-haired sister began to walk to school once more with an eerie feeling bubbling inside of her, knowing something terrible was going to happen.
"I'm already here and I brought my friend,"
Peering inside the place, Hazuki furrowed her eyebrows and quickly checked outside at the sign to see if they were really at the right place. It was a rival izakaya, owned by someone her father associated with…A place that Hazuki definitely didn't want to go to. Hazuki hid behind the long haired woman, as they made way to their table and sat down. Her eyes looked at the handsome men who sat across from them. To her, they looked like they popped out of an expensive fashion magazine from Ginza.
Leaning over, the short-haired girl eyed the men suspiciously. "How did ya get dragged into this? They don't look like the types to be hangin' out 'ere," Hazuki whispered.
"Hah? One of my senpais wants to hook up with one of them," Mayu whispered, nudging her. "Just play along,"
Before long, an older woman had approached the two of them with a bright smile on her face. As she waved at them, she noticed something was off with the guy's section. "Ah. Is Morinozuka-san not here yet?" she questioned, looking at the two men there.
"Morinozuka-san said he was taking care of something with Haninozuka-san," one of the men nodded, looking up from his phone.
"Anyways! This is Nakamura Mayu and Amano Hazuki, two of my kouhais at my school," the girl beamed. "Mayu-chan is an art major, and Hazuki-chan is a…science major."
Mayu nodded to them. "Nice to meet you!" she said, before glancing over at her distracted best friend.
Quickly perking up, Hazuki awkwardly bowed to them. "Nice to meet cha…" she mumbled with a dazed look on her face, feeling herself getting jabbed in the ribs by Mayu.
"Oh! Morinozuka-san!" one of them called out, waving their hand at their friend approaching the booth.
A tall man had approached the table, quietly greeting his friends. As Mayu felt her cheeks turning red at the sight of him, Hazuki was busy staring at the menu looking at the food and alcohol, thinking about what to get for herself. She didn't bother looking up, despite Mayu's frequent nudges for her personal opinion.
"I'm sorry I'm late," he muttered, taking a seat across from Hazuki. "Ah,"
Looking up from her menu, the brunette froze in her place, locking eyes with the man. Giving a curt nod, Hazuki noticed everyone suddenly became silent. Her large, blue eyes quickly looked over at everyone, before looking back at the man, wondering what just happened.
"Somethin' the matter?" she questioned.
"You're from Asayu."
Inspecting his face once more, the girl looked at his face once more, before realizing the connection. "…EH? HOLY SHIT, IT'S YO-" she shouted, before feeling Mayu's hand covering her mouth.
"Well…Looks like Hazuki-chan knows Morinozuka-san," the girls' upperclassman laughed nervously. "Well! Let's order some drinks, shall we?"
While their drinks were being brought to them, everyone began to talk, getting to know one another. Only two who kept quiet were Hazuki and Takashi, both of them more preoccupied with some different matters. Their respective friends had urged them to speak with each other, but by the looks of things, they were already uncomfortable just being there.
Everyone else became lively while time went one, as the pair just listened into the conversation, casually speaking up when they had to. The seating arrangement had changed, and it left Hazuki sitting next to the tall male, leaving them quietly sipping their beverages or eating the food.
Taking another sip of her beer, the woman looked at Takashi. "I'm sorry for not talking much," she hiccupped, feeling the effects of the alcohol slowly getting to her.
She should've left earlier. It was already a good time to get her best friend and go hom-
"Hazukiiiiiii~! You have my spare key right?" the lavender-haired woman hollered, looking at her buzzed friend.
It was too late. By the looks of things, Mayu had given signs that she wasn't going back with Hazuki to her place. She and one of the guys were drunk, looking like they were in a hurry to run off to a love hotel. Rolling her eyes, trying to hide her disappointment, the brunette let out a long sigh, drinking her water, and soon downing her third glass of rum and cola.
"Ah…You have fun, Mayu," she muttered, feeling a bit fuzzy in the head. "…I'll…head back to your place,"
As Hazuki got up, something felt a bit wrong with her. Even if she was wearing her favorite pair of comfy heels, she was still stumbling towards the exit and her head felt fuzzy. Quickly getting up, Takashi gently touched her arm, looking at the beet-faced woman, who looked like she was about to cry.
"…Are you okay?" Takashi questioned.
Pulling on his arm, the waitress was stumbling out of place, hoping that the others wouldn't see them or call them out. Out into the night, Hazuki leaned onto the man, trying to not look at him, and ignoring what was her conscious was screaming at her to not do. She was already embarrassed doing this sort of thing with a guy, more or less a guy she just met.
"…Hey," the brunette began, her face turning shy.
"…Is it okay…If you stayed with me tonight?"
