Miu slows down her pace before she passes the group of men lingering in front of Mr. Weiss' store; they call out to her with the usual vaguely threatening comments just before she can close the door behind her, the little bell hanging overhead. Mr. Weiss grumbles about calling the police on the 'loitering thugs', but Miu just ignores him in favor of going to change into her uniform. As much as Mr. Weiss' fussing gets on Miu's nerves, she still takes a little pride in the fact that she's the only employee in ten years allowed to use the storage closet as a break room of sorts. Not that it provides much relief from the day to day pains of retail; when Miu checks herself in the mirror and straightens her name tag with a grimace, she's also taking the time to brace herself for the shift ahead.
The men are still outside of course. One of them alerts Miu to his presence with a loud bang on the window that might have made her jump if she wasn't already wounded so tight. Mr. Weiss goes in the back with a huff and a half hearted demand Miu be prepared to press the alarm. They haven't been robbed in a month and he'd like to keep their lucky streak.
Miu does her best to ignore all activity going on outside as she tries to clean up the store. The tile floor has long since turned from white to a sticky beige and half the lights are out. Their open sign says 'oen' and the camera monitor is blurry and freezes up when someone moves too fast. The delay in motion is long enough that someone could probably run in, steal something off the rack, and run back out without it even getting picked up at all.
"Probably taking stock of the place." Miu mumbles; she can see the men out of her peripheral vision as she restocks the candy aisle. "They'll just bust in later anyway. What's the point of having this security junk when it doesn't do a damn thing?"
Stupidly, Miu supposes they might really just be hanging out by the store. It's possible. There's not much to do in town and nowhere worth going. Everyone who does come into the convenience store is doing it for just that: it's an easy place to grab a few essentials at a decent enough price located in an area away from the worst parts of town, though some might argue every part of town is the 'bad' part of it.
"Just one big rotten junk yard that people shamble through or around."
Miu stands on her tiptoes to put the second to last box of snack cakes in their proper place. They had a stool, but one of the legs broke and Mr. Weiss hasn't gotten around to fixing it.
"Just one more."
Miu grunts and stretches her arm as far as it will go; hopefully no customers will come in and ask her to take them down anytime soon.
"Excuse me?"
Miu fights the urge to curse under her breath; she's really straining her limbs now. "Just a second sir, sorry-"
The box is plucked from her grasp just as Miu takes a sort of jump to reach the top of the shelf; she loses what balance she had. The man watches with a smile as Miu falls into the hard candy display behind her and a few packages are knocked from their hooks. Miu hisses sharply as she rights her posture; her shoulder feels like it stings, likely from the ends of one of the hooks scraping her skin.
"My, how clumsy. You ought to be more careful."
Miu gives him a look. "It's not like I did it on purpose-"
"Are you going to service me? Or do you plan to just sit there when a customer needs assistance?"
The man is looking down at her through narrowed eyes, smiling wide as he puts the snack cake box right on the shelf with little effort. Miu still has to look up at him when she's standing.
"I-!"
What was meant to be a dry retort falls away as Miu takes in the man's appearance for the first time.
"Huh."
"Hm?"
Miu cocks her head a little and squints her eyes. "Is the circus in town? Here?"
"Rude too I see." The smile is wiped off the man's face for a brief moment, but only for that split second.
"Uh, sorry. Are you not a…? I mean, no offense, but we don't get a lot of people with…." Miu searches for words to dig herself out of this awkward conversation. "Anyway, what can I help you with?"
"A few things. For now I'll settle with Bungee Gum."
Impossible as it seems, Miu feels even more confused.
"Bungee...oh, we don't carry that brand anymore. It was recalled just after our last shipment actually."
"What a shame."
The man looks actually disappointed.
"How childish."
"Um, well…" Miu pauses and looks behind her. Mr. Weiss is locked in his office; there's no windows looking into the store and he's likely focused on the shipping paperwork and trying to pretend he's anywhere else but there.
"Hold on a second."
The man is still standing exactly where Miu left him when she returns with a few boxes piled in her arms.
"It got recalled in the first place because some kid choked on a pack doing some stunt." Miu explains as she holds out the boxes. "It is technically expired, but the actual candy is still edible for another year."
"You don't say?"
"Really. A lot of food items are still edible past their expiration date, it's just policy not to sell them, ya know? I get to take home a lot of things myself so they don't go to waste." Miu grins. "Saves money on the grocery bill anyway."
"And you're just giving me these?"
"Sure. Call it thanks for helping me out there." Miu nods to the top shelf. "Besides, they'll just go to waste otherwise."
"If you insist."
The boxes are lifted from Miu's grasp with ease, almost like they were being levitated.
"Anything else you need help with?" Miu asks before she remembers he already mentioned there was more than one thing.
"Not at the moment."
"Then when?"
Before Miu can apologize for her admittedly rude reply, the man chuckles. It seems he finds her more amusing than offensive.
"Impatient too….Miu?"
"Miu Morine."
"Hisoka the magician, at your service."
Miu stifles a laugh; he actually gives a little bow. Though it might have actually been stranger if he hadn't, what with the get up he was wearing.
"Um, Hisoka?" Miu glances outside the window; the men seem to have left. That or they decided to lie in wait for the next customer to come out. "You're not from around here, are you? It's no skin off my nose, but...you might attract the wrong attention if you get my drift?"
"Oh?"
Miu nods. "People here will look for any excuse to start shit, especially with people from the wrong side of the street. In your case...well, I'd just get out of this area as soon as you can."
"Scary." Hisoka is currently busy unwrapping a piece of gum.
"I'm serious. Guys like them sometimes hang out by the store all day just bugging people. You're probably going to be my only customer today. Hey, are you listening?"
Hisoka ignores her question, picks at his nails and flicks the dirt away. His nails are more like claws. Miu actually has to make herself not stare; he's just too strange looking. Every second Miu gets to take in Hisoka, there's more oddities to catch her attention.
"I doubt anyone here is going to give me too much trouble."
"I think you'd be smarter trying to avoid trouble all together."
"So in other words, avoiding any fun."
Miu isn't sure whether Hisoka means that as an insult or just a general assessment of what he considers 'fun'. She turns her back on Hisoka to start cleaning up the mess she had made knocking into the candy display.
"I'd rather be alive."
"So what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
"I work here." Miu puts a hand on her hip. "I need to make a living somehow."
"Why here?"
Miu glances at Mr. Weiss' office door; it sounds like he's busy on the phone. Hisoka waits for an answer as he smacks his gum.
"You don't need a degree to work at a convenience store." Miu says quietly as she places the bags on their correct hooks. "And I don't need a car to get here."
"Why?"
"I can jog."
"Why?"
Miu slowly turns around at the feeling of air blowing back the ends of her hair. Hisoka is blowing a bubble dangerously close to her hair. She flinches back as it pops.
"Hey!"
Hisoka licks a glob of the gum off his bottom lip. "Sorry."
Miu gathers her best customer service tone. "If you don't need help with anything else, I should really get back to the register."
"Of course, of course." Hisoka gestures to the boxes of gum held under his arm. "Thank you for your generosity."
"No problem."
With that, Miu gives him a half smile before moving back to the counter. She really does have to get back to her station before Mr. Weiss thinks she's slacking off and socializing when she's meant to be on her guard in case of trouble.
"Oh by the way," Hisoka stops just an inch from the door. "I should apologize for the mess I left in front of your business. They were just so noisy."
"What?"
"Until next time, Miu. My card."
Without warning, Hisoka carelessly tosses the afformented card at Miu, who flails trying to catch it. But there's no name or number on the front or back. When Miu looks back up, Hisoka is already out the door.
"Wait!"
Miu rises from her chair to follow after him, fully intending to get an explanation for just what mess he left her to clean up. As soon as Miu reaches the door herself, Hisoka is gone from view. But the answer to her question is the sight of the battered and bloody bodies he had left behind; it was more than enough to distract Miu from any attempts to look for him.
Mr. Weiss demands to know exactly what happened only once the bodies are taken away and Miu is sitting back behind the counter with a cup of hot tea. It's an odd day in the neighborhood to be sure. Never before had there been so many people by their store, dozens of gawkers, all talking amongst themselves and having to be told to step back so the medical examiners could do their job.
Violence is not uncommon there, but to have the bodies left in such a gruesome display is beyond anything Miu's ever seen.
"Miu?"
There was blood still staining the sidewalk. She had almost stepped in it.
"Miu, talk to me." Mr. Weiss sounds genuinely concerned. His voice is at least quieter than Miu has ever heard him speak. "Don't lose your nerve on me now. You didn't want to tell the cops, right? But you can tell me, can't you? What happened?"
The tea in Miu's hands is almost lukewarm now. It's black tea, but in this light, the color is more a rusty brown. Like dried blood.
Like the flakes under Hisoka's nails.
"The bell."
"Bell? What bell?"
"Above the door. It never rang."
"So? Nothing in this dump works. Look, take a few minutes and finish your tea."
Mr. Weiss walks away to finish locking up for the night, seemingly deciding it was best to leave Miu alone. She supposed her boss had forgotten the bell was just that; a cheap little bell attached on a string above their door. Simple and old fashioned, but reliable.
It was an easy way to hear if anyone goes in or out of the store, but if Miu recalls, no such sound was heard before Hisoka had made his presence known.
"I never even heard footsteps. I didn't know he was there until he spoke."
If that wasn't strange enough, Miu is positive the bell failed to chime following Hisoka's disappearing act.
"But he went out the door. He did...I saw him…"
The tea is left stone cold on the counter, next to the ace of hearts playing card.