Chapter Three: Beats Bars and Beyond
Authors Note: My apologies for the delay. Much like Retsuko, I too have an overworking career that takes up most of my time and energy. Also, I have taken on some notes in the reviews and have adjusted my grammar to hopefully be a little better. Let me know if there is still room for improvement. Thanks for reading!
The Esprit Tokyo nightclub was a well-known staple of the Roppongi district. Two levels of assaulting beats, bright lights, noticeably drunk patrons and abrasively sticky floors greet you as you make your way through the entrance.
The crowning jewel of the Esprit was not the massive, state of the art L.E.D wall behind the DJ's booth, nor was it the litany of high name DJ's that performed each night, but rather it was the impressive icosagon shaped mirror ball suspended from the roof of the second story, flowing down to spin gracefully above the ground level dance floor. Much like the ornament on the hood of a Jaguar car, it set this nightclub far above its competitors.
Also like a Jaguar car, the price left you wishing you had opted for a modest Nissan Micra instead.
Three thousand five hundred Yen was the cost of entry on a busy Friday night, and drink prices weren't much better by comparison. It was crowded, it was loud and Haida hated every damn second of it. Fenneko didn't exactly look enthused about the situation either as she sat with Haida in the furthest corner they could find from the drunk brigade of dancing buffoons. Though they certainly couldn't claim abstinence superiority in this case, as alcohol was their only escape from this nightmare.
For a night that was meant to be celebrating his birthday, Haida and Fenneko were abandoned quite quickly when they had refused to dance. He didn't mind however; it gave Fenneko and himself an opportunity to wallow in their own self-pity as they watched the target of their vexation bust a move on the dancefloor with Tsunoda from across the room. As he stared at the small girl dancing he raised an eyebrow. Bust a move might not be the right phrase to describe what they were watching.
If you have ever watched someone try to escape a bee that was buzzing around their head, then you had seen a very apt re-enactment of Retsuko's dancing style. She was definitely drunk, that much was certain, but that felt like only a piece in the puzzle to Retsuko's dancing…disorder.
"She's like…" Fenneko trailed off mid-thought, having to shout to be heard over the pounding rhythms.
"What?" Haida shouted back, neither of them taking their eyes away from Retsuko and her strange interoperative dance.
"It's like she's trying to dance two styles at once," Fenneko continued. "A bit of the robot mixed in with Bollywood dancing."
"I was thinking more like a tribal rain dance of some kind," he added.
"She looks like she's having fun at least," Fenneko casually pointed out. Fenneko was right; it was clear the small accountant didn't have a care in the world at this moment in time. She was literally dancing her worries away.
"I underestimated Tsunoda," Fenneko started again, this time grabbing Haida's gaze. "She's a lot smarter than she seems on the surface." Haida huffed a drunk laugh out at the statement.
"Tsunoda?" he waved his hands. "She's a bimbo!"
"A bimbo maybe, but not an idiot like I thought at first," She explained. "She knew from the moment we sat down at the bar this afternoon that she was going to bring Retsuko out tonight, and she calculated exactly what she needed to do to achieve her plan." Fenneko sighed before finishing her grossly overpriced gin and tonic "It would seem she's better at sticking to a plan than both of us"
"Should…" Haida paused to think through the miasma of drinks in his mind. "Should we be worried? Like, is she going to ruin our plan?"
Fenneko took a moment to consider the situation, not taking her eyes off Tsunoda and Retsuko for a second. Haida moved is head, in turn, to focus on the dancing pair. While Retsuko may have been an amateur on the dance floor, it was clear Tsunoda was much more experienced. The way she moved was both enticing and sexy. But she had a skill to only send the vibes to the people she wanted.
"I think we're safe for now," Fenneko nodded. "In fact, I think she's unknowingly saving your butt right now."
"How so?" Haida scratched his head.
"She's doing an admirable job of fending off guys wanting to dance with Retsuko."
"what!" Haida shouted, jumping up from his stool and almost falling over in the process. "W-We have to do something!"
"Relax lover boy," Fenneko rolled her eyes. "There's not much you can do at this stage unless you want to get out on that dance floor?"
HH
aida Stopped dead in his tracks for a few seconds before sighing and sinking back into his stool.
"We really messed up tonight, didn't we?" he Wined. "We had a plan and now look at us! Sitting in the corner of a stupid nightclub, watching our plan get poorly danced away from across the room"
"I mean, it was mostly you that ruined the plan," Fenneko corrected. "But yes, we did mess up tonight. We just need to keep a lid on things and make sure nothing else goes wrong."
Haida sighed and finished his rum and cola. He didn't often drink spirits like whiskey or rum, but with the price of beer in this stupid club, he didn't have much choice. The only reason hard liquor was cheaper was that it was heavily diluted with water. A cost-saving measure that sailed over the heads of the average drunk nightclubber.
The droning beat of the song finally fell into a lull and Haida regained his thoughts in the few seconds he would have of reduced volume. However, this night was not done being unforgiving, and for every moment of levity, there was an overpowering counterweight to bring him back down.
And a repeating counterweight for this night had been Ookami.
Haida sighed as he watched the man bring yet another girl across the dancefloor and towards Fenneko and himself. It was not the first time he had tried this tonight.
"Haida!" he called out with a wave once he was in earshot. Haida chose not to reply, instead opting for a simple stare.
"I'm not watching this again," Fenneko moaned. "Another watered-down drink?"
"Extra watery please," Haida smiled, heavy sarcasm implied. Fenneko nodded and disappeared across the room and into the mass of disorderly patrons surrounding the bar. He took a moment to steel himself before sitting upright in his seat and locking his gaze to Okami's.
"What now?" he grunted as the beat of the music returned.
"Easy there friend," Ookami put a hand forward like he was calming a rabid hyena. "No need to be so defensive, I'm just here to introduce," He moved his hand over to gesture to the girl he had brought over. "Haida, Meet Kumiko. Kumiko, this is the Birthday boy!"
Haida had to admit, Kumiko was attractive. Far more attractive than the girls Haida would typically consider in his league. She was wearing a tight white shirt and a black leather dress that didn't leave much to the imagination. He was sitting, so he could only guess that she would be taller than him, but she was wearing very high heels. He couldn't tell her age or discern the subtler features of her face as the nightclub was quite dark, but he guessed she was a bit younger than him.
"Congratulations!" She spoke in a squeaky and exuberant tone. She grabbed his hand with hers and shook it enthusiastically. It was clear to Haida that this girl was perhaps a bit drunk…to say the least.
"Thanks," he politely nodded. "It was nice meeting you."
"Nonsense!" Ookami interjected before Haida could fully terminate the conversation. He put his hand on Kumiko's back and guided her to the stool next to Haida. "Why don't you stay here Kumiko and keep mister grumpy here some company while I go get us some drinks."
"Ookami, that really not…" Haida trailed off as he realised how pointless his words were as Ookami disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Haida sighed to himself before he swivelled in his stool to face this new mystery girl…number three of the night.
"He's funny," Kumiko chuckled. "Have you two been friends for a long time?"
"We work together." Haida kept his answer short, his tone reflecting his lack of enthusiasm.
"Wow! What kind of job do you have?"
"I work in accounting."
"Is that like, numbers and stuff?" She asked quizzically. Haida buried his head into his hand. Where did Ookami find these girls?
"Yes," he sighed. "It's like, numbers and stuff."
"That's cool!" she smiled. "I was never good at numbers, so that's why I want to open my cosmetics shop one day." Haida paused in disbelief for a moment, not sure if this girl was just being humorous. But he could tell by the glimmer in her eye that she was not joking…in the slightest.
"You are aware that owning a business involves a lot of accounting, right?" He probed. She paused for a second and looked at him like he was insane.
"No, weren't you listening?" she retorted. "I said it's a cosmetics shop, like, makeup and beauty products."
This was Haidas brutal daily reminder that the world is a truly diverse place. Diversity in ethnicity, in socio-economic backgrounds and in a more relevant vein, intelligence. He felt a pang of guilt run through him as he silently judged this girl. His expression softened, and he relaxed his shoulders.
"Well," he began to explain. "You can sell cosmetics and beauty products, but you still need to calculate their cost relative to the market and your profit margin. You also need to keep a close track on your expenditures as well as how much money is coming in from sales. And that's not even mentioning taxes and import tariffs." He straightened his stance in his seat, feeling a little like the wise older brother at this moment. "There's a lot more to owning a business than just knowing about your products."
Kumiko sat bewildered for a moment. She had a look on her face that made it seem like Haida had shown her the vastness of the universe in that very moment. But it was a momentary look that quickly switched to a more sultry stare. Haida nearly leapt out of his seat as he felt her hand reach over and take hold of his inner thigh. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and the air rushed out of his lungs.
"Maybe I just need to find a nice, sexy numbers man to help me with that," Kumiko spoke in a low tone, leaning over to speak into his ears. "you wouldn't happen to know anybody like that, would you?"
This was a very familiar sensation to Haida. Not the hand on his inner thigh, that was quite alien to him, but rather the feeling of sudden and inevitable failure of all higher motor functions. His breathing became short and stagnant, blood rushed to his head and his left leg began to shake uncontrollably like he had been holding it in the air for ten minutes. He tried with all his might to focus enough to at least spit out an answer, but all he could form was a spattering of half words, each interrupting the last.
He was completely frozen like an excel spreadsheet with five Hundred sheets open. Where was Fenneko when he needed her? She had always gotten him out of these situations in the past.
"Oh, sweetheart." A familiar chipper voice brought Haida's mind back to reality for a moment. He felt Kumiko's hand release his inner thigh and a brief wave of relief passed over him. The pair moved their attention to the front to see a doe-eyed Tsunoda standing before them, a wicked smile plastered on her face "You're barking up the wrong tree girl," Tsunoda continued, her attention set on the new girl. "He's about as gay as a rainbow in a spring shower."
Haida felt a jolt run down his spine. Did she just call him gay? However, before he could form a response he bit his tongue as he felt Kumiko lean back in her stool and away from Haida. He felt the oppressive weight start to lift from his body and his muscles began to relax.
"Shame," Kumiko sighed. "Why are all the cute ones gay?"
"Why don't you head back to Ookami?" Tsunoda softly suggested. "You might have more luck with him"
Kumiko nodded as she pulled herself off the stool and to her feet. She took two brief steps before looking back once more to a stunned Haida "See you later cutie." She said with a wink before disappearing into the crowd once more.
Haida was left bewildered. So many things had just happened in such a short space of time that his brain was struggling to catch up to the moment as the blood rushed back to his head. With his returning clarity, he also noticed another blood rushing sensation and quickly crossed his legs.
"You know," Tsunoda began as she pulled herself up to sit on the barstool next to Haida. "You make a lot more sense to me now." She clipped open her purse and pulled out a small, circular hand mirror and began to check her facial features to make sure everything still looked right.
Haida was still a little flustered, but felt he needed to set the record straight. "Tsunoda," he took a quick breath. "you know I'm not gay, right?"
Tsunoda let out a quick chuckle, "Of course you're not, silly! But I had to say something to get her off you."
The puzzle pieces clicked in Haida's mind and he nodded in surprised approval. Haida grabbed his glass and swilled the last dregs of his watery drink.
"You're not gay," she continued. "You're just scared of women." At this Haida almost spit his drink across the room. He managed to swallow, but subsequently fell into a coughing fit that lasted a good five seconds.
She had hit the nail on the head.
"What? That's crazy!" he tried to hide his nervousness with laughter, but it came out more maniacal than he had expected. "Why would you think that? Some of my closest friends are girls!"
Tsunoda closed her eyes and lightly shook her head as she placed her hand mirror back into her purse. "friends sure," she smiled. "Anything more than that though…" she left it hanging.
"I'm not afraid of women!" Haida reiterated. "I'm a grown man, not some pubescent teenager!"
"Is that so?" Tsunoda swivelled her barstool so she was facing Haida. Slowly the corners of her mouth curled up to an almost wicked height. "So, if I were to tell you that I've always found you very attractive, that wouldn't bother you?"
Haida felt the familiar paralysis slowly build up in his body once more. What on earth was Tsunoda saying? Was she hitting on him? What the hell was going on tonight? He had managed to comfortably cruise for months without any awkward interactions with the opposite sex, and now he had two heart-stopping moments in five minutes.
Why couldn't the universe just let him secretly pine for a girl like Retsuko, who was not inclined to randomly grab his inner thigh and whisper sweet nothings in his ear? Instead the universe, in its infinite knowledge, had decided to take his greatest weakness and waterboard him with it.
"It's a shame you're not really my type." Tsunoda's expression softened as she let a playful giggle slip through her speech.
She was teasing him.
Haidas heartbeat began to slow down once again as the brutal reality of Tsunoda's cruelty sank in. In one fell swoop, she had proved her point. However, at this stage, he was more worried that he might develop cardiac arrhythmia from the multiple sudden changes in heartbeat in such a short period of time.
He sighed audibly as he sunk back into his chair. Turns out Fenneko was right, they had underestimated Tsunoda.
"Don't beat yourself up too much," Tsunoda waved a hand at him. "It's actually pretty cute when you think about it."
"Cute?" Haida raised an eyebrow. Cute wasn't exactly the word he had been hoping for when I came to his attractiveness as a male.
"Yeah, in a slightly pathetic kind of way."
"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" Haida muttered, feeling more crushed than usual.
Tsunoda Leaned across in her chair to look past Haida and Haida followed suit, swivelling in his chair to see what had just grabbed the small girls attention. Emerging from the crowd that surrounded the bar, and carrying two fresh drinks in hand was Fenneko, approaching them with a Curious look. Haida's gaze returned to his other side as Tsunoda jumped off the stool next to him and dusted her backside down with her hands.
"There is a time and a place for beating around the bush Haida," she explained as she slowly moved back to the dance floor. "And sometimes you just need to bite the bullet."
With a quick wink at Haida, she turned and disappeared back into the crowd of dancing drunks, making a B-line back to Retsuko.
Haida slouched down into his stool once more. The past few minutes had left him feeling drained both emotionally and physically, but it was Tsunoda last line that remained at the forefront of his thoughts. Whether it was intentional or not, Haida couldn't help but realise her words formed a double entendre.
"What was that all about?" Fenneko questioned as she pulled herself up onto the bar stool and slid Haida's fresh drink across the bar and into his waiting hands. He lifted the drink to his lips but didn't take a drink straight away as he was lost in thought. He stared across the room at Retsuko as she danced the night away with Tsunoda.
By chance, Retsuko's eyes locked with him from across the room and she beamed a wide, drunk smile at him, beckoning him over with a wave of her hands.
He knew at that exact moment that Tsunoda had been right. There was a time and place for beating around the bush, and tonight wasn't one of them.
"Earth to haida," Fenneko waved a hand in front of Haida's face. "Did the crap music finally melt your brain or something?"
"Fenneko," Haida let out a deep sigh as he pulled his drink away from his mouth for a second. "I'm about to do something I'm not particularly proud of." Haida could tell by the change in Fenneko's expression that she instantly knew what he was referring to. "And I hope our friendship is strong enough that you won't hold this against me for the rest of my life"
"It's not." She slowly shook her head "and I will." Haida sighed once more before downing his whole drink in one powerful gulp. He slammed the drink down on the table and straightened his collar.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you," He spoke with confidence as he begrudgingly made his way onto the dancefloor.
