Phew, finally managed to get another chapter up.
The end of July. I wish time wouldn't fly so quickly, because then I wouldn't have to get increasingly worried about finding another job, let alone on the night the restaurant shuts down for good!
Even when it'd been three hours since Michiru arrived at her work, few people arrived to sit down and eat. She wasn't surprised, but at the same time, she expected more than two or three customers to arrive, especially when tonight would be the restaurant's final day of being active.
The woman rested her back against the nearest wall, arms crossed along with a sigh escaping her.
"Michiru-chan!"
Michiru turned to the feminine voice close to her, who wore the same dark green uniform as her and the rest of the employees.
The same employee asked with a small smile, "There's a couple of people sitting down; you think you can take their orders?"
"Sure," She said, mirroring the second woman's smile. She readjusted her ponytail before snatching a notepad from the counter. In the midst of heading towards the group in question, Michiru glued her sight to four individuals. Three of them she recognized, but one she didn't.
"Welcome, Yorozuya!" Michiru greeted them the moment she stepped in front of the four.
A male with curly brown hair remarked, "I'm not part of them! Ahahahahaha!"
Her eyebrow twitched at his laughter, but she tightened her smile while replying, "I kind of figured, but I don't exactly know who you are."
"This is Gin-san's friend, Sakamoto Tatsuma," Shinpachi introduced him.
When repeating the name in her head, Michiru's eyes widened.
"From the Kaientai?" She asked, nearly to the point of exclaiming.
"Michiru-chan!" Her name had been spoken in a whisper, but the volume of it was audible enough for the tip of her ear to twitch.
Yelping, Michiru's body flinched at the scolding tone of a different worker, this one a male.
Right, I'm supposed to be working, not have mindless chit-chat with customers.
Raising the stack of checks and a single pen in front of her chest, Michiru asked, "So what are your orders?"
Everyone from the table told what food caught their interest, or at least, as much as it appeared edible enough for them.
"I would've just not gotten anything here since nothing sounds tasty, but I'm starving, uh-huh!" Kagura complained.
Michiru mentally asked as a drop of sweat trickled down her cheek, She does realize she's saying this in front of an employee, right?
"Hey, be thankful you don't have to pay for dinner," Gintoki droned after a flick of his middle finger on the girl's forehead. He ignored the harsh glare and tongue being halfway out from Kagura.
Michiru quickly took the menus from the group, soon returning to the chefs to hand them the stack.
Michiru remained in the kitchen while awaiting for the chefs to complete the orders.
I mean, I have met the Yorozuya before, so I pretty much know Kagura's general attitude, but she still didn't need to say it in front of me.
She brushed the tips of her fingers on her right shoulder, adding in thought, I shouldn't dwell on it. It's a minor thing.
"Otsu-chan released a new single not long ago," Shinpachi said, and not even two seconds passed by the time Michiru's head perked up.
How did I not know this beforehand? Guess I was too distracted from work...and the stress wasn't helping either…
"Didn't that song go something like, 'Why don't you take your beep in your partner's beep so you can beep together'? Ahahahahaha!" Tatsuma asked.
Gawking at the Kaientai leader through the short curtain, Michiru wondered, Has this idiot never heard of censorship?! Well, then again, they are in a public place, so perhaps it's a good thing.
Holding a deep frown, Shinpachi answered, "That's way off, Sakamoto-san. It actually goes—"
Michiru bit into her lower lip, refraining from screaming. Please not here! This is not appropriate!
"Michiru-chan!" The boisterous voice originating from one of the chefs snapped her from her thoughts. "Food's ready to be served!"
"I-I'm coming!" She darted to the requested food, slipping the pads of her fingers underneath the plates with ease. When turning to face the Yorozuya and Tatsuma, Michiru took brief glances at each dish. A frown creased her features.
They burnt most of the food...again.
She hardly held back the sigh she attempted to refrain. This wasn't the first time the chefs made a crucial mistake. It wasn't even the first time they made this flawed food tonight.
I would try convincing them to not overcook the food for the umpteenth time, but considering we're shutting down this place tonight, there's not much point in doing that anymore.
Michiru placed the dishes on the table the Yorozuya and Tatsuma sat. "Here you go."
All four persons gazed at their orders. Gintoki blinked multiple times at his plate filled with red bean paste and strawberry mochi, Shinpachi took a long glance at his pork and seaweed wrapped rice balls, Kagura blankly stared at her fried egg on top of rice with pork also, and Tatsuma smiled at his pork and daikon curry. Wait, smiling? Did his dish appear the best looking out of the rest?
Well, the Kaientai leader turned to face Michiru, saying, "Waitress, I believe my food was supposed to be udon, not curry."
Gintoki pointed out, "Maybe if you didn't wear those ugly sunglasses all the time, you'd notice the pictures easier. How'd you confuse those two so badly, anyway?"
Michiru held a stiff smile, soon bowing at him. "I apologize, sir, but I'm afraid what's done is done. Uneaten food being wasted is frowned upon here, so you'll have to eat it."
He returned his gaze at the food, but an unwelcome heavy aura planted itself on his head, contrasting his glued-on smile. "Oh...I see."
Michiru echoed in her head, I'm sorry, sir! I wanna cry right now!
She refused to do such a thing; not in front of the other people in this building. Not that there'd been a whole crowd since the restaurant opened for its last day, but they'd still notice regardless.
After straightening her torso, Michiru hurried to the same spot where her feet stood prior.
I know I don't need to say it, but that was painfully awkward.
"Pah! Why does my red bean paste taste burnt? Maybe the mochi will get rid of it." The complaining voice coming from the Yorozuya boss used his thumb and index finger to hold the aforementioned dessert. But in the split second of digging—or more accurately, trying to even scratch it—into his mochi, a jolt of the ice cold sensation felt as though it went through his tooth, stabbing into a vein. Gintoki froze—no pun intended—and the mochi fell out from his fingers, landing back on the plate.
"Did I just try biting into an ice cube from Antarctica?! Actually, scratch that; even ice from Antarctica ain't this hard to chomp on!"
"You've never even been to Antarctica. Besides, if you went there, the first thing you'd do is complain about how cold it is," Shinpachi pointed out.
Turning to Kagura, Gintoki asked, volume of his voice raising, "Don't you normally get ten plates of food?"
"Yeah," Kagura said, "but the last thing I want is to puke out a ton of undigested food, nope. Why'd you make us come here, Gin-chan?"
"All the other restaurants were packed, which you complained about nonstop!"
"Gin-san, can you not be so loud? People are staring at us," Shinpachi said, a drop of sweat trickling down his cheek. The scant few other customers who sat narrowed their eyes at the trio of four.
Rolling her eyes, Kagura replied whilst paying no mind to their expressions, "Whatever. I'll make granny cook rice when we get back, uh-huh."
After heaving a sigh, Shinpachi lifted one of the seaweed wrapped rice balls. Right as he nearly took a nibble of it did he spotted some dark rice.
"Huh? Did some of it get burnt?"
Michiru couldn't be bothered to hold back the stinging tears, for her glands already forced them out, gushing down her face as she reddened.
"The food is good...I just wanted the udon." The tone coming from Tatsuma's voice filled with disappointment, along with a weak laugh.
She screamed mentally, His dish is the only decent one, but he's still upset! Well, it's partially his fault, because he only pointed at the picture...doesn't change the fact that he didn't get what he wanted!
"Uh, Michiru-chan?" One of the workers spoke her name, but the woman did nothing except bawl her eyes out in front of the rest in the kitchen. It wasn't what she wanted to happen, but she preferred this as opposed to crying in the presence of patrons. Would've been bad customer service anyhow, in her mind.
"Didn't you also mention one of the assistants quitting recently?" Gintoki asked the teenage boy; not even a split second went by before Michiru darted her gaze back to the curtains.
"I did!" Shinpachi voiced out. "I couldn't believe my ears when I first heard about it!"
"Does that mean you went deaf after hearing this news?" Kagura asked with her mouth full and face scrunched, causing a few pieces of food to spill back out. "I'm impressed you can still communicate well, uh-huh."
Shinpachi's face scrunched, narrowing his eyes at the younger girl. "I'm not deaf; otherwise I wouldn't understand you at all. Anyway…" He quickly went back to the main topic, "...the person who quit the job should be ashamed of themselves! Because of this, they're in need of a reliable assistant! At least, that's what Otsu-chan's manager told my club and I!"
Veins in both Michiru's ears pulsed. While attempting to wipe the unwanted tears off her features, she wondered, I have a feeling most, if not all, the people trying to apply for that job are rabid fans.
It wouldn't have been a surprise to her.
Would they be reliable, though?
The woman suppressed a chortle at the question.
Somehow, I doubt it. I feel like they'd only strive to be Otsu-chan's assistant because of their possible unhealthy obsession with her.
"Hey!" Kagura shouted from across the restaurant. "We need a waiter, yep!"
"Michiru-chan."
"Eh?!" Exclaiming without a second thought, she snapped her focus towards the second waitress...only to face a threatening scowl. Her being the only person giving Michiru this expression wouldn't be a huge deal, except for the fact that most of the people standing in the kitchen gave the same facial appearance.
"Uh...what?" The word in a question was the only thing she spoke, one she had no intention of saying.
The other waitress held a twitching smirk while asking Michiru, "Would you care to see what the problem is? You are a hard worker, after all."
Pursing her lips, Michiru thought, Are they being passive-aggressive towards me? If so, why?
Despite confusion filling her mind, she responded after clearing her throat, "Yes, I'll go do that." She whirled her body, having it face towards the curtains. With the harsh glares still stabbing at her back, Michiru hurried out, starting towards the four once again.
Michiru inquired the moment she stood in front of their table a second time, "Is there a problem?"
"You bet your ass we do, uh-huh!" Kagura couldn't be bothered to lower her tone of voice, even with Michiru in their close presence. It went as far as causing her eardrums to ring.
How do Sakata-san and Shimura-san handle her?
The girl went on, "My egg is too oily and I asked for over easy eggs, but the yolk is too hard! The rice is also too soggy!"
Having a hand of her own over the other, she replied with a broken smile, "I apologize for that. Would you like to have a new plate?"
"It'll only be the same! I couldn't even finish my first one, nope!"
"My rice is overcooked," Shinpachi said; contrast to Kagura, he spoke in his indoor voice.
"The red bean paste tastes like gross mush, and the mochi is basically ice."
"My dish was delicious…" Tatsuma's voice trailed off, tone still dull, though less so than earlier.
The smile on Michiru twitched to the point where it couldn't be considered one.
I guess I should be glad at least one dish was passable...not that it makes everything else better, though.
A drop of sweat trailed down Shinpachi's cheek while he faced Michiru. "I think we're ready for the check."
"V-Very well."
Goddammit, I don't wanna stutter!
Without thinking, she asked the boy in the most irrelevant way, "You mentioned Terakado Tsu needs a reliable manager, right?"
"Uh…" He stilled, irises glued to hers' in utter confusion. Heat filled her face whilst other customers, including Kagura and Gintoki, had similar expressions turning to her.
Michiru saw it fruitless to call herself out. Even the strongest, if not tabooed, word wouldn't have been enough.
Great…
The first one to break the painfully awkward silence was the boy she questioned out of the blue.
"I...I did say that, as a matter of fact."
No matter how badly she wanted to take back her unrelated question, it was pointless to even attempt doing such. Instead, Michiru added, "Would you mind if I discuss this with you after you pay? We might end up closing early tonight, anyway."
"I'll wait outside, then," Shinpachi said while Gintoki pulled his wallet out.
With her throat clogging up and sweat seeping in her uniform, she rushed to one of the counters, awaiting for them.
Time flew by, yet simultaneously, Michiru believed it to be agonizingly slow. Ever since bringing up the topic of Terakado Tsu in need of an assistant, she couldn't bring herself to face anyone, not even her coworkers. Much to her utmost relief, closing time came around the corner, allowing the woman to dress back in her yukata in the changing room and remove the band to let her hair down.
Two other former employees left, one of them actually giving Michiru a smile and bid her goodnight. The rest, on the other hand, either changed to their casual wear or made conversation with one another.
"Michiru-chan."
Freezing tingles crawled from her toes to stopping at the scalp. As much as she dreaded it, the woman turned to whoever spoke to her.
"Yes?"
"Before we leave and because it's unlikely we'll see each other again after this, I'm going to tell you something I've been wanting to say for a while." It came from the same waitress from earlier.
Michiru swore gravity pulled all her weight to the floor for a solid minute. Not that it'd make a huge difference, as the person in front didn't bother letting her make a response.
Crossing her arms, she began by asking, "You do realize you're not our boss, right?"
"I-I know that," She stuttered for the umpteetnth time; at this point, Michiru found it ineffectual to strain herself from making these annoying stammers.
"Then why did you keep nagging us on trying to get more customers until this point?"
Knitting her brows, Michiru retorted, "I've told you numerous times, business was declining! Someone has to speak up, so I dunno what you're talking about!"
"Oh, really?" A smirk crept on her face, which for some reason brought nothing but uneasiness crawling over her skin. "Well, most of us wouldn't have been so annoyed with you if it weren't for the other problems you've caused."
"What do you mean 'other problems'?" She demanded, for once devoid of a faltered sentence.
Tightly folding her arms over her chest, the other waitress explained with narrowed eyes, "I'll try making this quick. First, you constantly stuttered whenever you were nervous or when a customer wasn't satisfied with the food in front of them, which got worse when we started getting less than usual. Second and lastly, sometimes you'd go off subject with said customers when you were only supposed to take their orders. Those are exactly what you did tonight."
Parting her lips but not saying anything at first, Michiru contemplated in spite of her rude tone, I mean, she isn't wrong, but does she really need to go off?
"In short, you were being unprofessional, making you no better than us. Yes, you were cooperative in some aspects, but it barely changes anything as customers kept on complaining about your aforementioned issues."
Michiru's face fell at her brutal statement, in addition to her eyebrows now furrowing.
How didn't I notice this? Were they told in secret?
After taking a deep breath, the server said with loosened arms, "So...since that's out of the way now, I can tell you this." Raising an opened hand next to her own head, she concluded, "Bye-bye."
Without a word, the waitress casually passed Michiru, presumably heading to the changing room herself.
Michiru believed her body turned to stone after the farewell, at least until a different former employee from across the kitchen broke her from her trance.
"I don't necessarily disagree with her, but I won't lie, the way she said it was too harsh."
"Y...Yeah…" Michiru subconsciously agreed.
"By the way, here's your final pay from our boss," He said in a polite tone, handing her the brown check.
"Thank you…" She trailed off, using her thumb and forefinger to support said check. Inserting it in her sleeve, Michiru turned, soon starting towards the exit.
"Good luck in finding another job!"
"Likewise." Heaving a sigh, the woman stepped from the building.
Out of the corner of her eye, Shinpachi came into her view. When rotating her head to fully face the teenage boy, it turned out the others weren't with him anymore. Not that it surprised her, as she only needed to speak with him. Knowing Gintoki and Kagura at least, Michiru figured they'd get bored quickly anyway.
"Michiru-chan," Shinpachi said, holding a hint of a smile.
"Hello," She greeted as her feet came to a complete stop when there ended up being an ample amount of space between the two.
He inquired, "Were you interested in trying to apply to be Otsu-chan's assistant?"
Scratching the back of her head, Michiru admitted, "Um, yeah. Sorry I suddenly blurted it out earlier. I really need to find another job."
Shinpachi's small smile cracked for a moment, followed by him saying, "I could tell." After clearing his throat, he asked, "By the way, are you...a fan of Otsu-chan?"
"Yes, though why do you ask?"
No way am I telling him I like her music ironically. He'd probably go into a never ending rant.
Even imagining him doing so made her cringe, especially when spotting the boy's smile growing wide the second her confirmation entered his ears.
"That's awesome!" He suddenly exclaimed, causing Michiru to flinch at the volume in his voice. "I almost never get to meet a female fan!"
While digging a finger in her ear, she said, "I'm not surprised. Whenever I go to the music store, I mainly—actually, only see young men at where her music is. I shouldn't care about this, but I feel out of place."
"Don't be! It's grea—"
"Shimura-san, the job," Michiru reminded him, the sound of her voice forceful enough to halt the teen.
Blinking twice, Shinpachi cleared his throat before quieting down, "Sorry. I just got excited."
"Obviously," Michiru deadpanned, giving him a blank stare.
Despite frowning at her response, he let out a sigh, soon returning to the topic Michiru came to discuss with him in the first place, "So, if you want to get this job, you'll have to call Otsu-chan's manager, Terakado Ichi, to schedule an interview."
Her gaze shifted to the ground while repeating his words mentally.
Trying to make an interview with Otsu-chan's mother hopefully won't be too much of a hassle, though I'm more worried about how she'll treat me if I do end up being an assistant. I dunno a lot about her, but I heard she's dead serious to the point of being brutal. Well, I can't be certain.
Cocking his head, Shinpachi asked, "Michiru-chan? Are you thinking about it?"
"I'm going to do it." Her instant answer brought the younger's eyes to broaden.
"That was fast."
"Shimura-san, I believe I'm capable of doing this. After all, I was a waitress here for a couple of years, and I managed to do well...that was, until business started declining…" The rant from the waitress reiterated in her head, much to her indignation. "...and I got chastised right before I left."
"To be honest, I kind of heard it," Shinpachi admitted. A black and blue aura appeared behind Michiru's head as she slumped her arms.
"Of course you did…" She grumbled.
A few beads of sweat formed on his features at the sudden change in ambience. Should I not have said that?
Though unsure, he added, hardly attempting to refrain from coming off as too brisk, "But it's not like it matters anymore! Michiru-chan, after hearing of your determination, I encourage you to do this, even if it doesn't work out in the end!"
Straightening her posture, Michiru returned her focus towards Shinpachi. "Thank you. I'll probably call tomorrow."
"Eh? It's not that late; what's preventing you from doing it today?"
Only one corner of her lips went stiff as a fingernail scraped against her cheek. "The scolding I got is kind of bringing me down right now."
"Oh. Well, I need to head home soon. I wish you luck, but if you for whatever reason betray Otsu-chan…" He paused to point an index finger in her direction. "...I won't forgive you!"
Michiru held a frown. "Why would I wanna betray her? I said I'm a fan like you."
"I'm only giving you a warning. Anyway, goodnight, Michiru-chan."
Shinpachi tilted his upper body, then turned the other way before starting off. Michiru mirrored his motion, although while heading for home, the same harsh comments echoed in her head.
The most she did was suspire. "Maybe I'll vent about this towards Mika when I get home."
To be continued...
This was mainly focused on the comedy, which is pretty much the reason Tatsuma was here. lol
I'll give you guys a heads up by mentioning there will be a bit of a time skip, meaning I'm skipping the interview. I know it seems like a cop-out, but I'd rather not bore you. Also, yes, we'll finally meet Otsu in the next chapter.