Schwarz Blitz 9
Special note: Jochi, this story is personally dedicated to you. Not solely because you and I are both Schwarz lovers (okay one reason I suppose :P) but because you have been reading most of my Jupiter fanfics (even my first ever fanfic ~_^) and have constantly reviewed them with real generosity. -sees readers waiting impatiently- OK I'm done talking now, everyone ^_^;; Sorry for the little off-topic scenario. Thanks again to everyone else for reviewing.
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Yuka, Mei and Jun couldn't believe their eyes as they reread the bold words on the sign that had been plastered on the café window. Surely this wasn't one of Aki's stupid jokes. Or was it the fact that she was being a lazy bitch. Echoes of 'I can't believe she's doing this' or 'What the hell is she thinking?' hovered between the three waitresses, which proved that they were all thinking on the same wavelength and indeed were all pissed off with this shocking discovery. This was a good start to the morning, wasn't it?
"Hey everyone, what's up?" Makoto asked as she skidded on the pavement. Why were these three looking stunned? She wondered. As though reading her mind, Mei pointed to the door window soundlessly. Makoto moved forward to see what was written on the sign. Her eyes also enlarged and eventually matched the same expression as the other three waitresses. "OK pardon me if my eyesight is bad but does that really say…?"
"It's real all right," Jun squealed furiously. Makoto's jade eyes zoomed in again, her pupils moving inwards towards her nose. The sign was not fooling anyone. The font was bold and in capitals. And the words spelt out, 'CLOSED FOR TODAY. HAVE TO DEAL WITH OTHER BUSINESS.' This had to be honest bullshit. What kind of prank was this supposed to be? What were the regular customers going to do? They would be stuck outside their favourite café, unable to find a place to eat hot food. What did Aki mean by other business? Maybe her father would finally be able to talk to her about her foolish behaviour towards the employees. That had to be a possibility. Makoto could picture Aki's father yelling at her while she squealed in her chair hopelessly. Now that was pure evil!
Then another silly thought came to mind, which broke off the evil smirk on Makoto's lips. What if Aki had a special liaison with Crawford and Schuldig? Makoto could disgustingly see the woman flirting with Crawford and showing off at all the jealous females. With those kinds of looks, these two guys definitely had admirers in the public. Makoto once saw two sluts eyeing her sharply when she was in the bar, on the night she first met the German Bishounen. She had reminded herself many times that she wasn't jealous of the older woman. Aki wasn't a true beauty. She covered her true identity behind heavy eye make up and foundation that didn't match her skin.
"I got up an hour early for nothing!" Yuka wailed and stomped her feet on the pavement angrily. "Why couldn't we have thought of the same thing? That would drive her mad."
"Aki has the keys to this place and we don't," Mei responded logically. Yuka slapped her forehead and murmured 'duh' quietly. The four waitresses had the same question mark floating above their heads. The main question was. "What were they going to do today?" They had nothing to do and that was supposedly a good thing, right? That meant no nagging from the boss for one day. Makoto suddenly smiled cheerfully and said, "A day off is a day off, guys. At least we can get away from Aki for 24 hours, right?"
"You know, Makoto has a point. May as well use as much free time as possible on this day off, eh?" Jun sniggered. "I'm going back home to sleep all afternoon. What about you guys?"
"Mei and I are going shopping. Gonna start using some of our salary!" Yuka winked jokingly and dragged Mei's arm with her, heading to the shopping complex that had a short walking distance from the café. Makoto briefly remembered that she had enough money in her account since she started this job. It wasn't the same as a millionaire's account but it was enough to support her in buying clothes, food and the latest CDs.
Makoto saw Jun glancing at her from the corner of one eye, expecting an answer to her question. "I'll probably just hang out here for a while." She was about to turn away when Jun spoke.
"Tell me something, do you remember a customer with long orange hair? Yuka told me that he was with a tall black haired guy who spoke to Aki two days ago in the café." Jun rolled her eyes at the mention of Aki. Welcome to my club Makoto thought understandably then brought her mind back on the subject regarding Schuldig and Crawford. "She said you confronted him outside. You didn't cause any commotion or anything, did you? I'm talking about having a fight because you're not the sort of person who's violent."
That was an understatement. Makoto had become more violent these days with these two idiots around. She had the feeling either one of the three waitresses would bring this up sooner or later. Her behaviour towards the two peculiar Bishounen distinctively showed on the outside. Still it wasn't worth telling them her fighting skill. It would intimidate them to a higher level.
Jun nudged her elbow into Makoto's chest cheekily, "If the guy is your crush, don't be afraid to admit it. We're all women you know. It's okay to discuss romance."
Makoto laughed forcefully. Yep Jun was correct on that point. They were all female, worked as waitresses and hated their manageress as though she was Satan's daughter. Makoto thought it would be too hard to explain fully on how she met Schuldig and mention he was her so-called stalker who wouldn't leave her brain alone.
The whole of Japan wouldn't be interested in paranormal stuff anymore. The news on Youmas appearing everywhere were all in the past and it was likely that people such as Yuka, Mei or Jun weren't going to be very serious on these matters. Who would believe there were real psychics or super soldiers in this peaceful country? Makoto was a believer because she had undergone Schuldig's mind games more than twice and fought against his agility in the dream world and reality. Plus she was a former fighter against Youmas. She had to be aware of her surroundings, no matter how crazy they sound. Anything could happen and at least one Sailor Senshi had to be in different towns to be a saviour.
"No," Makoto replied, "I knew he wanted to steal my money and just told him to back off. Nothing bad went ahead."
"Wow, you smarty-pants," Jun replied. "What about the other guy? He didn't have anything to do with your early night disappearance from my birthday party, did he?"
"Oh gosh no." Makoto's cheeks were about to flush hotly very soon if these sorts of questions kept flying at her.
"Hey, I do believe you," Jun said, responding to the crystal-clear frown developing slowly on the younger girl's face. "Take it from me. Men can be animals." Yawning, she paced down the street, her figure becoming a faded dot as she walked further away from the café. Makoto was relieved that that little question time was over. It would sound so odd to find out how a good cook in fact had a violent side, which came out during the night. Those characters were fictional. But Makoto was a real person. She was a chef and a fighter all rolled into a heavy mixture. Since the café wasn't open, Makoto wasn't able to fetch her usual bag of freshly made chips in the morning and decided to get another snack from the bar.
Of course it was unhealthy to drink alcohol in the early hours of day. But she wasn't alcoholic and orange juice was what she loved to have in the morning along with buttered toast. As expected, the bar had no customers and the smell of alcohol was very faint. Fried eggs and baked beans spread across the stuffy room and it was definitely better than cigarette smoke. Makoto greeted the bartender then ordered eggs on toast to start off her free day from work. She asked the bartender if he had any idea on why Aki was absent. It was unusual how the manageress didn't give her notice yesterday. It would have made everyone's mornings a lot easier and not tiring.
"Aki doesn't sound like the sort of person to take the day off suddenly," the bartender commented. "It must be a personal emergency."
"Yeah right," Makoto mumbled and bit into her toast as soon as she sat by a table. She was sure there was something more serious than an emergency. Something more worth worrying. It was good to have a day off today. Everyone at work would think she was crazy if they caught her moaning about Aki. Or Schuldig Her sleep was completely ruined this morning because of that bastard. He had to make a fool of himself and come into her dream without any permission. To make her wake up call worse, he had to be so close to her – in her bed for goodness sake.
Having Schuldig near her in that position did scare her a little. It was the same with him touching her hair, arms and neck. The fighter in her couldn't help but switch off when that happened. Her muscles were locked in and she was unable to move anywhere. Schuldig was able to make her paralysed so he could do what he wanted. Damn he did sound like a sick person who loved to play. Jun was right again on another aspect. Men were animals. Schuldig was a sick animal who had ideas of scary amusement.
Makoto was ready to start on her orange juice until two chairs on the opposite side of the table pulled back. Her narrowed eyes lifted upward from her glass and she huffed irritably at the sight of her new friends. Dammit she wanted day off from work and instead she got some other people to annoy her. She slammed her unfinished orange juice on her tray, stood up from her seat and began to leave the table. Two strong grips lunged onto both her arms but she wouldn't let herself be fooled around again and tried to break away.
"Sit back down," Crawford ordered. "We're not here to make fun of you this time."
"Yeah right!" Makoto answered back furiously. "Leave me alone for once."
"Es tut mir leid but you're too good to be left alone," Schuldig said in a charming tone. Oracle raised his eyebrows warningly at his German companion. "I'm being serious here. Even you admit she's fun, Crawford. Or have you forgotten?"
The American took no notice of Schuldig's remark and set his eyes back on the Japanese girl. "You may find this discussion interesting." Makoto shook her head sceptically and realised that the grips on her arms had tightened from her refusal to cooperate. Who cares what they want to talk to me about? I'm more concerned on what Aki is up to Makoto pondered curiously.
"We can tell you about that," Schuldig replied. Makoto shot an angry stare at him. That made her the second person to give him a glare in one go. She had a right to be pissed off with the German. He had being a pain in the neck enough times since this morning. She honestly hated it when he replied to her thoughts like that. This was very tempting. They could tell her what Aki was up to. After all she did talk to them before (unfortunately). What if this was a joke? What if they wanted to make her believe this story? Something was pulling her in to let her listen to Schuldig and Crawford.
Schuldig, you are killing my head Makoto thought, knowing the German picked up her last comment. She may as well see what they had to tell her and then decide if it all made sense or not. If she thought it was strange to have Schuldig sleeping cosily in her bed then she was mistaken.
"Sit down if you don't want to cause trouble in this position," Crawford repeated. Makoto was surprised at the American's intelligence. She had the exact same idea as he did. It was too weird to stir trouble at a time like this. Trouble usually came in the night when people were drunkards and had poor sobering abilities. Sadly she had to agree with this warning and set her tray back down on the table. Automatically the two holds on her arms broke off to return to their original hosts.
Makoto wasn't able to drink the rest of her orange juice while her gaze moved from Schuldig to Crawford. Two pairs of different coloured eyes moved in the same direction as her emerald irises. She felt as though she was in an interview room and these two men were the ever so dangerous interviewers who expected decent answers from her.
"So what do you have to tell me?" She asked. "Why should I be interested in what Aki is up to?"
"Along with a group of friends, she has caused the riots you see happening on the streets each night," Crawford explained. "To Aki's father, Alex Honda, he believes that the society in Osaka has become a wasted land."
"In other words, they want Osaka to be a violent place again," Schuldig added. "Of course that's not your style of fighting, is it, Fraulein?"
"I only fight if I have to. Not because I feel like it. So one point goes to you for a correct answer, Schuldig." Makoto faked a smile at the German then swallowed her orange juice up in one go. The taste had become sourer from not being touched for ten minutes and it tasted horrible. The sweetness had been ruined by the arrival of two companions. It didn't shock her as much when she noticed that Aki's father didn't call back in reference to his daughter's behaviour at the café. As if he would tell his daughter off. He wouldn't dare. And besides they were working together it seemed.
"What does this have to do with me?" Makoto queried in puzzlement.
"Two team mates have gone undercover to find out information at Alex Honda's home. They've been emailing us with the latest news," Oracle said as though a robot processing data. Were there two other people in this posse? Makoto couldn't believe her ears. Who were these men anyway? Who were the other two members? They must be a special syndicate who worked with the Government. Or maybe they were something else she hadn't discovered yet. She couldn't stop thinking questionably.
"What does this have to do with me?" She repeated, slightly more impatient.
"Well, don't you want to stop her from being a troublesome bitch?" Schuldig gave her a logical question this time. "Crawford had a vision that she will attack tonight. At least four gunmen will be on the run, making noise and killing people throughout this street. Oracle's visions never lie, meine Fraulein. After all…" He stood up to move his chin closer to Makoto, forcing her to look into his eyes. "…You hate her, don't you? This is your chance to get her back for the way she's treated you at work. You know you want to make her bleed." Feeling his finger stroke on her chin gave Makoto an electrical flow. He was tempting her to fight hard, wasn't he? This was the first time that a man was giving her a surge of electricity rather than the other way round.
"This sounds like a joke to me!" Makoto picked up her tray. "You're just trying to be stupid clowns. Don't EVER give me stories like this again!" She stormed off to return the plate and pay the bartender. Her head spun around so that she was nowhere in sight of Schuldig or Crawford's direction Their humour sucks.
/That was worth it, wasn't it?/ Crawford said. Schuldig sniggered as his fingers tapped on the table. /What are you smiling at?/
The German's smile followed as his playful face swirled to the American /Makoto will be out on the street tonight. She believed our story/.
/What?!/
/I read her mind before she left. She said she might take a look/ Schuldig smiled /I told you she'd believe us/. Once Makoto found out that this story about Aki was real then she would be in for more surprises tonight. Schuldig couldn't wait to see her in action.
TBC
Es tut mir leid = This is one way of saying "I'm sorry."