Special 3 Chapter Update!
A/N: Holy crap we finally made it into double digit chapters! And you lot were all doubting me... understandably, I was quite shit. No Author's Note. Enjoy the chapter!
Break you
Chapter 10
"Ugh."
A cardboard box full of suspicious smelling fish landed with a dead thump on the freezer floor, the kind a corpse would make as it landed in a shallow grave dug by an inept serial killer.
Nene wiped the sweat off her brow and gave an all mighty tug on the walk-in freezer's heavy metal door. No wonder such insanely strong people were employed there, Nene mused, grunting in an unladylike manner. You needed to be a champion weight lifter just to open and shut doors. The door's bottom corner edge was misshapen, scratching the floor as she dragged it closed, producing a sound akin to nails on a chalkboard.
A lot had changed in the last couple of weeks. She'd joined the school paper as a staff photographer, deciding to make use of the camera leftover from her bird watching days. Then there was her and Shizuo. They were talking, well sort of talking. Okay so they were texting… infrequently, but it was better than nothing. Now if they happened to cross paths, Shizuo would no longer just ignore her like she was just a particle of dust floating through the air, sometimes he'd nod at her. At lunch, he'd even taken to sitting with them occasionally (them being Kadota, because she doubted he held any fondness for Shin or Isamu), though he hardly ever said more than two words.
She rubbed her sore hands on a uniform that was six times her size, another testament to the kind of people Simon and Dennis expected to work for them, and eyed the callouses that had started to form on her palm with a faint sense of pride. Next, she had to clean the knives.
Obviously, the biggest change had to be her new job at Russia Sushi.
After school, she went straight there and swapped her uniform for her work clothes behind a pile of boxes Simon had generously set up for her, reasoning that she was the only female employee and therefore required privacy. Hajime, who strongly believed this to be an act of sexual discrimination, often snuck over while she was in the middle of undressing and shoved the boxes on top of her. Revenge was dealt out soon after, when she printed his phone number on a bunch of the customers' receipts. One girl even fainted and Hajime was forced to deal with more than one angry boyfriend until the ambulance came.
Despite their less than mature prank war, Nene had somehow managed to persuade Hajime to train her in martial arts, less as an emotionally invested sensei and more as an unpaid, begrudging older brother figure who was trying to get her to shut up.
During their breaks they would go out into the alleyway behind the restaurant, he would show her a move and she would attempt to copy it, initially with poor results. And when their break was over Hajime would have to drag her back inside while she begged for ten more minutes to get it right. Sometimes Dennis or Simon would pass through and Nene could tell from the look in their eyes that they were critiquing her form, but they never said anything. Still she was improving, even Hajime said so. If she kept at it, she was hoping to be able to hold her own against multiple opponents. It was a good skill to have tucked away in her back pocket in a city like Ikebukuro where you never knew what was lurking in the dark.
Speaking of things lurking in the dark, Nene had seen little of Izaya since phone call. If they did happen upon each other, they would just pretend the other didn't exist and go on their merry way. Though in Nene's case that involved a strange tickle around the chest area, like a piece of paper was fluttering down her windpipe leaving a string of painful paper cuts in its wake. More than once Kimi had detected a forlorn look in the other girl's eyes and confronted her over it. And all the while that Nene was insisting that she was glad to be rid of such a greasy weasel, a bronze bracelet was clasped around her left wrist, obscured by the long sleeves of her sweater.
She told herself that she wore it because she and her father were getting along better than ever these days, but some nights, when she was feeling especially lonely, she would thumb the clasp and wonder what Izaya was doing.
What was he plotting?
Who was he planning to hurt next?
…Did he still think about her?
CRASH!
"Nene!" Dennis called from the front. "Bring the broom out. Hajime had another accident."
Sighing, Nene grabbed the broom from the store closet and slogged into the front. Hajime was attempting to apologise to a rather chubby lady whose plate he'd dropped. In the meantime her busy hands kept pawing at his kimono. Hikari was her name. She'd become a regular soon after Hajime had started working there, like many others, and was perhaps solely responsible for ninety percent of the broken cutlery.
"Eeeeheeehehehe!" squealed Hikari. "That's perfectly fine. I know Shishizaki-kun is a good worker."
Nene snorted.
Hajime looked round and saw her standing there, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. Muttering a quick thanks, he yanked his kimono from the woman's fat little fingers and scarpered behind the counter with his tails between his legs.
"You're a lucky girl," Hikari said to Nene as the girl bent over to sweep the broken fragments into a dustpan.
"Why?" Nene asked politely. Hikari may have been a total cougar, but Nene liked her because she tipped her just as well as she tipped Hajime. Probably because she didn't want it to seem like she was trying to buy Hajime for sex, though Nene wouldn't put it past her to try.
"Don't play dumb girl," Hikari said brusquely, smacking Nene round the back of her head with her purse. "You don't expect me to believe that nothing's ever happened between the two of you."
Nene raised her eyes sceptically and gave Hikari a look that said 'are you serious?'
"All those late nights working together, packing boxes away," Hikari said with a dreamy sigh. "Hands accidentally touching-"
"-Over rows of dead eyed fish," Nene finished for her dryly, straightening up. "The smell of questionable meat spilling out from the open freezer. The taste of bile making its way up my throat."
Hikari scoffed. "You're such a cynical girl."
"You must be into some pretty weird stuff Hikari-san, if that constitutes as romantic."
"So tell me, if not Shishizaki-kun, who does Nene-chan have her eyes on?"
Shizuo's face popped into the girl's head, but she didn't betray an ounce of emotion. Ever since she'd learned about her friends' little wager, she'd resolved to be a mask of impassivity.
"I'm actually into girls," Nene said with a straight face. "In fact, Hikari-san, its Valentine's Day tomorrow and I was wondering if you were free-"
"Oh my look the time!" exclaimed Hikari. Her face was glowing red. Then in a gruff bellow: "Shishizaki-kun, the bill please?!"
Nene wasn't surprised that Hikari took the bait. Because she had a big ego, even the smallest amount of flattery would go a long way. No doubt Hikari would later regale the tale to uninterested work colleagues over lunch (at a different restaurant), embellishing details here and there. She would say that she'd always had her suspicions about Nene, what with the young girl's lack of femininity and how often she would steal glances at Hikari while she ate. It never occurred to her that Nene was simply fascinated by how a woman who ate out every day couldn't afford a proper fitting bra.
"What did you say to her?" Hajime asked, watching in amusement as the older lady tottered out of the restaurant at a speed he would have never guessed her capable of.
Nene shrugged. "Told her I wanted to take her out to dinner."
"I guess I'd run too if I was her."
Suddenly a cleaver whizzed between their heads and embedded itself in the wall with a sharp twang. Sweat poured from her forehead. She turned her head fearfully to meet Dennis's easy-going smile.
"Forgive me boss," said Nene, bowing promptly.
"This is for the group in the private booth," Dennis said, gesturing to the plates he'd laid on the counter.
Nene balanced the four trays on her arms just as she'd been taught and toddled towards the private booth. She wasn't prepared for what would meet her there.
"Huh?!"
Nene's mouth fell open in shock, the booth's curtain draped over the top of her head. Sitting at the table were Shinra, Kadota, Jun and Shizuo and all of their eyes decided to converge on her at the same time.
"Why if it isn't Akiyama-san," Shinra greeted energetically.
Kadota and Shizuo went for the less conspicuous nod while Jun merely smiled.
"Does Dennis know you're here?" a confused Nene asked Shizuo, referring to the ban.
"Shizuo-kun was exonerated this morning," Shinra explained cheerfully, "so we decided to come for dinner."
"He's only here because he thinks he's getting a free meal," Kadota said, smirking.
"Not true," said Shinra. "I wanted to see Shishizaki-san as well. It's been a while since all of us were together like this."
Shizuo was nibbling on the end of a toothpick in silence, the usual grumpy expression on his face, not even looking at her.
Nene's heart sank.
Shizuo was sitting there in the restaurant she worked at and she had had the ridiculous notion that maybe he'd come to see her. But it was Shishizaki-nii, not her. It was a familiar restaurant, with familiar food for a good price that brought them, not her. What was the point of getting carried away, she thought to herself in resignation. Shizuo had made it painfully clear that he had no interest in her. It would probably be better if she just moved on.
Yeah, it was time to give up. She and Kimi had gotten a new lease of life after all. They had jobs. Izaya was no longer bugging them. The stove hadn't broken in over a week. It was time to let go of her silly teenage crush-
"Um, is that our order?" Jun asked, returning Nene back to present matters.
"Oh yeah, sorry," Nene said sheepishly, placing them down in front of each of them. They immediately swapped the plates round to the right people. "Well uh… enjoy."
She'd nearly made it out of there when a shadow rose over her, ushering her back into the booth. Nene attempted to communicate her displeasure silently through facial expressions but Hajime just looked over her head and pretended not to notice.
"Long time no see, guys!"
"Shishizaki-senpai," exclaimed Shinra. "We were just telling Akiyama-san about how Shizuo's ban has been lifted and he's treating us all to sushi."
"Tch, I never said I was treating you, you lot just tagged along," muttered Shizuo. "Idiot."
"Heh, that's very charitable of Dennis," Hajime said thoughtfully. "Very charitable indeed." Nene tried to manoeuvre past him but he just threw his arm over her shoulder and strong-armed her into a sideward hug. No one noticed the toothpick Shizuo's mouth snap between his teeth. "Well remember to tip big. Nene-chan's our best server."
Nene pursed her lips together in a rigid smile. "I have you to thank for that."
"That's so sweet-"
"I didn't mean it as a compliment Shishizaki-ojisan."
"…I hate you."
"The feeling's mutual."
"Ahem."
The two employees broke their intense eye contact in favour of staring expectantly at Yamamoto Jun.
"Sorry," she said, the polite smile on her face unreadable. "I was wondering if Nene-san managed to get the pictures for next week's issue printed off?"
From their first meeting, it was obvious that Jun shared some kind of sordid history with Izaya so she was keen to keep her distance from the Gothic Lolita. Unfortunately, since Jun also happened to be editor-in-chief for the school paper, that was impossible.
"Don't want a repeat of last time after all," Jun said meaningfully.
At the same time Dennis called out for Hajime. In one fell swoop Nene elbowed her way out of his hold and shoved him out of the booth.
"The film reel's at the printer's as we speak. I'm going to pick them up when my shift ends," Nene said evenly.
"Oh, good."
"What happened last time?" Shinra probed nosily.
"I forgot to print out the pictures and the issue was delayed a bit," Nene answered unapologetically.
"We missed our deadline," Jun corrected.
"They'll be on your desk tomorrow morning."
"At the very latest."
Nene exited the booth and scurried over to where Dennis and Hajime were having a heated discussion, unaware of her presence.
"You're cheating!" Hajime exclaimed. "You said it yourself when you brought me in, we're not allowed to interfere."
"I'm not," Dennis responded with an innocent grin. "It's just a coincidence. If tomorrow Nene decides to conf-"
"Boss?" Nene interrupted.
They both fell silent, their faces painted with guilt as if they'd just been caught in the act. Lucky for them, Nene had more important things on her mind at that moment.
"Hm?"
"Do you mind if I take my break early?"
Dennis looked somewhat relieved that she hadn't asked what they were talking about. "You've got customers," he said.
"I know, but couldn't Shishizaki-nii cover them? I just realised I've got to do something," Nene said, glancing nervously over her shoulder. "It's kind of urgent."
Dennis sighed. "Okay, but don't be long."
"Yes sir!"
As the two men watched her scurry out of the restaurant, throwing a quick wave at Simon handing out fliers, Dennis turned to Hajime questioningly.
"Do you think she's being sarcastic when she says that?"
"Yes sir!" Hajime replied with a toothy grin.
"Get back to work."
"Yes sir!"
Nene's shoulders finally relaxed once she'd handed the forgotten reel of film over to the shop assistant at the Print Shop, who assured her that it would be ready for collection before her shift ended. Glancing at her watch, Nene saw that she still had time to spare before Dennis started docking her pay and since she'd practically sprinted all the way here, she decided to take it slow on her way back.
She was just turning the corner near Russia Sushi, counting the cracks in the pavement, when from the corner of her eyes she saw a hand reach out to grab her. Her instant reaction was to swing her leg round to kick her attacker in the face, but there were three problems with this. One, her attacker's height was above average so her foot only reached his collarbone. Two, her attacker's hand effortlessly caught her foot. Three, her attacker was Heiwajima Shizuo.
"Yo."
Nene just gaped at him in utter bewilderment, her leg up in the air like she was about to piss on a fire hydrant.
"C-can I have my foot back?" she stammered.
"Hm," he said, looking at the foot in his hand as if he'd only just noticed it was there. "Oh."
He released her and she noticed that there was a cigarette hanging undisturbed from the corner of his mouth, its ashen tip still intact, further proof of the difference in their strengths.
"Sorry if I scared you," said Shizuo, a trail of smoke unfurling from lips.
"That's okay," said Nene. "What are you doing out here anyway?"
He pointed to the cigarette in his mouth.
"Oh."
"You do martial arts?" he asked.
"Used to. Recently Shishizaki-nii's been showing me a lot of useful stuff. For such an irresponsible jerk, he's a surprisingly good teacher," Nene rambled on. "Though when he finishes teaching me all of the cool stuff and I surpass him I plan on beating him up."
"What for?" Shizuo asked.
Nene couldn't help but wonder if he was just making polite conversation. Then again he was the one that grabbed her when he could have just let her walk by.
"Simon made this partition out of boxes for me in the back where I could change out of my uniform but every time I start getting undressed the jerk shoves all the boxes on me. I don't know if he's a pervert or just a jerk. I think jerk because Shishizaki-nii never sticks around to look at me in my underwear…"
"Annoying."
Nene was too busy counting the cars going by in an attempt to calm her nerves to notice the slight darkening of Shizuo's expression. Clouds were gathering over his brow.
"…Plus he has a girlfriend. Kimi-chan's convinced that he doesn't though but I think that's just because Kimi-chan wants to get in his pants. She could be right though. I've never met his girlfriend. He could be using the excuse that he has a girlfriend just to perv on girls, like when guys pretend to be gay ha-ha-"
"Shut up." Shizuo was pinching the bridge of his nose, a vein pulsating on his forehead. "You talk too much."
"Sorry," said Nene, quickly averting her eyes to the ground. "I'm not usually such a talkative person," she added in a small voice. "Maybe I should go back inside."
Shizuo didn't say anything further, scowling at his shoes as Nene walked away.
Now it was her proverbial tail that was limp between her legs as she returned to the restaurant.
Hajime, who had been watching the whole thing through the shop window without the least bit of shame, followed her into the back, shaking his head disapprovingly.
"You're an embarrassment to the female race."
Nene was hauling the freezer door open. "Your penis is an embarrassment to the female race."
When there was a wide enough crack for a small person to enter through, Nene slipped in.
"Aha!" Hajime exclaimed triumphantly. "You've never seen my penis."
"That's because I'd need a microscope!" Nene shrieked, slamming the freezer door shut on his face.
Nene had been banging her head against a box of wasabi when Simon effortlessly yanked the freezer door open half an hour later. Why are there so many freakishly strong people in Ikebukuro? Nene thought, afraid that the door would come off its hinges.
"Don't be sad, eat Russian sushi," Simon had said, picking Nene up from the shirt collar and depositing her outside of the freezer. "After you finish working."
Nene craned her neck back so that she could glower at his smiling face to the best of her ability, but the longer she retained eye contact the scarier the smile seemed, like an optical illusion and soon her willpower had buckled and she skulked back into the main area. The only saving grace was that Shizuo and the others had left by the time she came out. She wondered if it was luck or if Simon had timed it that way on purpose.
Now it was ten o'clock and she could finally go home.
For the final half of her shift Dennis and Simon were discussing important financial matters in the back and Nene took the opportunity to lie down behind the counter, leaving Hajime in the lurch with a family of eight including four pubescent girls.
Several times Hajime attempted to rouse her by throwing balls of tissue at her, even offering her a percentage of his tips. Some of the helpless looks he'd implored her with should have stirred even the coldest of hearts into lending a hand. Unfortunately, Nene was still smarting from the 'embarrassment to your female race' comment so she just turned her head in the other direction and started snoring loudly.
Until of course the customers started to complain, forcing Dennis and Simon to come out and see what the racket was and promptly give Nene a kick up the backside.
But it all worked out in the end because now she could go home and sleep-
"Don't forget to pick up the photos," Hajime said with a devilish grin. And with that he popped her bubble of hope.
No, she could not go home just yet, she thought, hiking her bag and turning her head back to inspect Hajime with narrowed eyes. Then again, Hajime could not go home for another three hours.
She stifled the urge to throw her head back and cackle, instead sticking her tongue out at him like a five year old and sweeping out of the restaurant in one flourishing movement.
It was quite nippy outside and she paused in front of the sushi joint trying to decide whether or not to reach into her backpack and take out her coat. Then, something caught her eye, something blonde and tall, wearing a Raijin uniform.
Looking discretely to the side, she saw Shizuo leaning against the restaurant window, a brown paper bag tucked under his arm, staring at the passing traffic with a serene look on his face. She had a vague sense of Déjà vu.
Nene wondered if she should say hi and then remembered what had happened earlier and started walking, pretending she hadn't seen him.
She'd resolved to move on hadn't she? What was the point of getting a new lease of life if she was just going to go stumbling back into old habits? If he wanted to talk to her he could-
"Oi, wait up!" called Shizuo, walking up to her in a short few strides. Curse his long legs.
"Good evening Shizuo-san," said Nene, almost overly chirpy. "We've got to stop meeting like this."
The joke was lost on Shizuo, for which the younger girl was glad. It was a stupid joke.
"Here," he said, thrusting the paper bag in front of her face. "Shishizaki said you needed these."
Nene took the bag and looked inside.
"You picked up the photos," Nene said with a dazzling smile. "Thank you so much. You're a life saver!"
Shizuo sheepishly adjusted the strap of his shoulder bag. "No problem."
"How'd you get them anyway?"
Shizuo shrugged. "I said your name and they just handed them over."
"That's terrible. What if I had naked pictures on there?"
Nene regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. Shizuo looked away from her, facial muscles tensed.
"Not that I do that sort of thing," Nene quickly assured him. "These are just pictures for the school paper."
"Hm," Shizuo grunted hoarsely.
"Well thanks anyway. I should get going. Bye," said Nene, eager to get away.
No such luck.
"I'm going that way too," he said. "I'll walk you."
Now that was a barefaced lie. Shizuo's house was in the opposite direction.
Nene kept sneaking curious glimpses at the sullen faced youth who seemed to embody teenage apathy, wondering why he had gone to the trouble of picking up the photos and waiting until her shift ended to hand them to her. If she had a big ego like Kimi, she would have said that it was because he wanted to have a hundred babies with her and that the whole pretending to be going in the same direction was all an elaborate ruse to spend more time with her. But that was stupid; she knew Shizuo didn't think about her that way. He felt guilty about snapping at her earlier so he was being extra nice.
"You like birds, right?" Shizuo asked out of nowhere.
Nene furrowed her brow. How did he know that? "Yeah…"
"Ueno Zoo has birds."
This conversation was getting weirder by the second. "It does."
"Would you like to go see them?" he muttered. "With me."
"Huh?" blurted out Nene.
"Yes or no?" Shizuo asked in a gruff, impatient voice.
She started scratching at the soft indents in her skin left by the bracelet. She needed to stall. She had no idea how to respond. She wasn't even sure her heart was beating anymore, or if it was, it was beating so fast that she could no longer feel it.
"When?"
Shizuo shrugged. "Whenever you want."
Their eyes finally met as they came to a halt by the bus stop, an awkward silence falling over them.
Shizuo's face was calm, unreadable. It was what she found so incredible though. It was the condition of the human race to hide their thoughts, their emotions, and so Nene had grown up deciphering sham marriages and self-conscious pretences, but Shizuo didn't operate like that. He was pure, animal, instinctual, whilst she and everyone else was a product of a millennia's worth of socio-cultural repression. She could never tell what he was thinking because she couldn't apply the same rules to him as everyone else.
"If you don't want to go," Shizuo said after a while, "just say so."
When she finally spoke, her voice was so soft that he was forced to duck his head to hear her. "You're not doing this because someone else told you to… Are you?"
"Eh? I'm doing it because I want to," he said, scowling at her like he thought she should know better.
One reservation stood out amongst the rest. Its spindly hand was clasped around her wrist, digging its sharp nails into her skin and cutting off her circulation.
The bus arrived and stopped in front of Nene, the door's opening with a beckoning swish. She could feel both the bus driver's and Shizuo's eyes on her, watching her as she hesitated in front of it. After a few drawn out seconds, the doors closed and the bus drove off, leaving the two teenagers standing by the curb.