Small Fish, Big Fish
It was Friday night and Dell Honne was where he least wanted to be. No matter where he moved, the boom of techno music would deafen his ears and the stench of perspiring bodies jerking to the beat filled his nose. Everything around him was a perpetual blur of shifting, blinding colors thanks to the pulsating music and the dim lighting. It was an overload on his senses, so much so that at some point he had mistaken his proper vision for hallucination.
He was at the corner of the room a little away from the bar, standing because all the sofas were occupied with couples getting touchy and because sitting would draw attention towards him. Right now attention is the last thing he wants. He stood empty-handed. The bartenders don't look the least bit trustworthy with their practiced service smiles and fluid drink-mixing movements. Then again, nothing in this club looked reliable at all.
His job had been a huge pain in the ass the past couple of days, and when the weekend finally rolled around he was dragged here to this special kind of hell. Curse it all. Fuck Haku and her bimbotic friend. Not literally, of course.
It took a while of craning his neck and squinting behind his spectacles to locate his coworkers, one who's his cousin and the other a diehard brunette alcoholic. They were stumbling around like uncultured fools on the glittery dance floor, and judging from their tickled pink faces they wouldn't give a shit about stopping anytime soon.
Dell groaned into his palm. He should've suspected something when Meiko suddenly showed up. The only reason he agreed to accompany Haku was because she had that god-awful puppy eyes expression on her face. He knew from that look that she was aiming to completely lose her mind to alcohol. Haku had never handled work pressure well. Another reason was that since she wanted to drink, the last thing he wanted to see was some leech groping his cousin under her thin white blouse and tight-fitting pencil skirt. Why did she have to dress scandalously for an occasion like this, anyway?!
The music slowed to a gentle rhythmic beat. Dell pinched his nose and blew, relieved to have his hearing back.
People had settled down and some were gathering at the drink counter. He saw women, some in office outfits and others in attire befitting of prostitutes. He saw men, some with greying hair and expensive suit jackets, and more in casual getups. Over the buzz, he picks up on a few phrases.
"I'm not a photographer, but I can picture me and you together."
"How was heaven when you left it?"
"Was your dad a boxer? Cause you're a knockout!"
Dell crinkled his nose in disgust and turned his attention to his phone instead. The digital display showed 9:48. Haku and Meiko were still wiggling their bodies and laughing manically. He wanted to go home, have his shower and smoke while catching up with the news.
Resignedly, he parked himself on one of the tall red plastic stools and waves the bartender away. They wouldn't have coffee, anyway. A familiar soothing scent wafted by and he looked to his left.
The black haired woman the second seat away from him held a cigarette between her long fingers. Her outfit is something else altogether. He could see the tattoo on her right arm, the furry scarf that wound around her neck, and the tank top that showed a good deal of her skin. Her face was obscured by strands of wispy black. Even so, Dell could only deem her attractive.
He doesn't move from his seat. Even the bartender thought the same, because he was trying his hardest to converse with the woman. Throughout the forced conversation, the woman's lips barely moved and she kept puffing away. After a while of suggestive eyebrow-wagging and gestures the bartender gave up, clearly disgruntled.
Dell held in a laugh.
"Auntie Mew!" There was a high-pitched, thickly accented squeak and a blonde girl rushed over to take the empty seat between him and the woman. "I love this place!" She's inexplicably peppy. Her curly, bushy hair and long skirt are ill-fitting of the surroundings.
"I know, darling, I know," the woman called Mew replied in a near indiscernible voice. She said this without turning to look at the youth and took another puff of smoke.
The blonde caught him looking their way and smiled. Inspecting her face, she seemed fresh out of high school. "Hello!"
Why was she greeting him, of all people? And how the hell does he not appear creepy, staring at them like that? Dell nodded curtly in response and the girl turned to the counter.
"Uncle, do you have no methyl?"
The bartender stared at her, confused.
"Do you have non-alcoholic?" Dell supplied.
"Yes, we have sparkling cider and juice."
It was the girl's turn to look puzzled. Mew hadn't uttered a word.
"Uh…" He couldn't refuse when she had those pleading eyes. "Sparkling cider, and juice," he repeated slowly.
"Oh, oh! Orange juice, please!" Now Dell was certain that she wasn't from around here. Why else would she choose plain juice over sparkling cider? The bartender handed her the beverage and she thanked him. "Oh, thank you too, Uncle!"
"Call me Dell." He isn't sure why he was keeping this conversation, but what the hell. Hopefully Mew wouldn't mind.
"Derr-u?" The girl said. "I'm from Korea, so my Japanese… not good."
That explained a lot of things. For pity's sake, Dell decided not to mention his surname. "It's fine. I can understand you."
"I'm Seeu!" The girl grinned. "And this is Auntie Mew! Auntie, stop dreaming!" Seeu slapped the woman's arm.
Mew glared at them both, and suddenly he's extremely conscious of his clothes. Was his tie crooked? His fly better not be open…
"I'm sorry, I'm just exhausted." Mew's face relaxed and she let out a long sigh. "Thanks for helping my niece."
He wondered how the hell she could keep smoking like it's no one's business and not notice her poor niece having language problems. But he swallowed it down. He was, after all, a smoker himself. "No problem."
She studied him wordlessly, still breathing out smoke. Seeu's face scrunched with distaste. "What's your profession, Dell?"
Well, that was certainly straightforward. "I work for Caffien, cyber security department."
"Ah." Mew clicked her tongue. "In that case, here's my business card."
The card is black with rounded edges and had white words in cursive font. Yamaha Corporation was written on it, followed by Master Vocalist and Miyuki Sakamoto. There is a little shape of a cat head on the corner.
Holy crap.
This woman was a singer. And a professional one, at that!
"N-Nice meeting you, Miss Sakamoto." What use did he have for a singer's business card? "I'll give you a call?"
"That is fine." Mew nodded. She tugged at Seeu's arm. The girl choked and quickly put down her glass. "Au revoir."
She stood up carefully and her 'skirt' folded out. The leopard printed fabric wrapped around loosely and showed a bit of her pale slender legs. Mew clicked her jet black heel and smiled at him.
Cheeky.
"Bye-bye Uncle Dell!" Seeu waved and followed suit.
Dell inhaled deeply.
What in hell was that about?
"Eyyyy." Meiko smacked him hard on the back. "Someone got lucky tonight! And two chicks at that! WOO HOO! DELL'S FINALLY GETTING LAID!"
"QUIET!" He swatted her away. "It's not like that, drunk bitch! Where's Haku?"
The brunette motioned vaguely towards his silver-haired cousin. She was singing off-key with some other equally-intoxicated women. Black lines trailed from their eyes. They looked like a band of mournful single mothers.
"My boss always gives overtime," Haku wailed.
"I gained two kilos last week," sobbed another.
"They don't sell my favorite moisturizer anymore!"
What was this, a soap opera for women?
He heard off-tune humming beside him. "Mei, how drunk are you?"
"An 'I' on the number scale," Meiko giggled. "I for Idiot! Ahahahahahahaha!"
More like, I for I wish I could just fucking go home!
"Excuse me, sir?"
It was the bartender. "What," Dell snapped.
"Those two left without paying. Do you think you—?"
"Are you fucking serious?"
"I-it's seven dollars and fifty cents, sir."
"Oh for the love of—"
He almost threw Mew's business card at him. He crumpled it and handed over the money begrudgingly.
Meiko wasn't merciful in the slightest. "Whoa, Dell got OWNED!"
"Shut the fuck up!"
It was Thursday when his phone started buzzing in the middle of reading time. He threw his book onto the floor and grabbed his phone. "What."
"Hello, Dell."
Oh. "Thanks for the juice, Sakamoto," he answered grouchily.
He heard a chuckle from the other end. "Let me make it up to you. Would you like to go for coffee?"
"Do I pay for everything?"
"It's on me," Mew laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow. Check the card, if you will." She hung up.
Checking the card he crushed up after paying for that goddamn expensive juice hadn't crossed his mind. Dell forced himself up and shuffled through the mountain his desk. He had to set aside stacks upon stacks of papers and files since most of his work involved his computer and he never bothered to tidy up, but he found it eventually, under a poster of an idol Haku had given him. Come to think of it, the blonde girl on that poster did look a bit familiar.
Looking over the card again, it was peculiar how only the edges of the card had folded up in his angry grip. Dell smoothed it out and turned it over.
Café Noir
4-7-5 Golden Street, Crypton Prefecture
p.s. show the pass for entry
His eyes narrowed. What pass?
Dell squeezed the card again. Like the previous time, only the ends bent. The area that didn't crumple was sort of thick—wait…
He peeled it open.
Between the layers of paper was a shiny orange card with a leopard print pattern. It was completely devoid of words. There was a little black cat head shape marked at the corner.
"Fucking hell…" Despite himself, he smiled.
Cheeky.
end
Author's note
Words: approximately 1, 711
The random-pairing author strikes again! I haven't seen that many fics with Mew, so here's my contribution! Her design is so cool-looking!
I noticed that Mew's voice actress is Miu Sakamoto, so I changed the name a little to suit the vocaloid, and I ended up with Miyuki.
This story was nameless to begin with, which explains the super weird title xD Also, this fic started out as present-tense. I changed it to past-tense because it sounded better. If there are any mistakes, my apologies!