Day 2: Unhinged

Ryan tiredly threw his body at his apartment door as he twisted to the doorknob, letting the door swing open. The training that Kiara put him through was nothing less than hellish for a normal person. She would make him carry 50-kilogram bags of frozen chicken from point A to point B and would shout at him if he didn't run the entire time. Ryan could tell that his manager meant no ill will towards her employee. Although she was pushing his limits well past their peak, she would still joke good-naturedly and encourage Ryan to the best of her abilities, even helping him out from time to time (Ryan swore he saw Kiara carrying 200 kilos of frozen chicken like it was nothing one time). He flopped on his bed, too tired to even change out of his hoodie and sweats. "Whatever…" he muttered to himself, fighting desperately to keep his eyes open. "I'll change tomorrow…"

The first thing that Ryan realized when he woke up was that he wasn't woken up by his alarm. Rather, he was awoken by his phone ringing. "Who wants to call me at this hour?" Ryan muttered to himself, looking out the window, noticing that it was still dark. He groped around in the dark until he eventually grabbed his phone, accepting the call.

"KIKERIKIII~!" Kiara's voice blared through the speakers so loud that Ryan had to physically move the phone away from his face to prevent permanent hearing damage.

"Tenchou?" Ryan asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "How did you get my number?"

"You wrote it down in your job application," Kiara's voice went down several dozen decibels as she returned to a normal speaking volume. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just woke up," Ryan resisted the urge to groan. He never had an easy time sleeping, so waking up early didn't agree with him, but he liked Kiara. She seemed like a nice enough person, and there was no need to push her away. Not like…

Huh, that's weird, I don't exactly remember who I was thinking of, Ryan thought to himself.

"Hello?" Kiara's voice snapped Ryan away from his thoughts. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. Why did you call again?" Ryan asked.

"I was just explaining that," Kiara explained. "I wanted you to come in. Just a little extra training that we didn't finish yesterday."

"Do I have to?" Ryan asked.

"You won't be fired, but I'll take away your benefits if I do."

"Is that even legal?"

"My friend runs the police force. I don't think I'll get arrested," Kiara replied.

"Really?" Ryan asked. "Last time I checked, this city's police force was privatized."

"Oh I'm sure you'll meet the chief soon enough," Ryan could practically hear the wink in Kiara's voice. "Just get over here already."

"Yes Tenchou," Ryan grumbled, hanging up the phone. "Why me?"

"Wake up!" Ryan jolted awake to Kiara's shout. He shot up, looking around.

"W-wha…?" Ryan asked groggily. He looked down at the desk inside the break room. Kiara's training was brutal as it was the day before, but in combination with Ryan's lack of sleep, he fell asleep as soon as Kiara told him he was done. "What's going on?"

"You've been out for fifteen whole minutes," Kiara pointed out. "We have a customer."

"Not my fault you called me in at 4:30 in the morning," Ryan muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Although Kiara's voice was as sweet as her smile, she exuded an aura that put the fear of Calli into Ryan.

"Nothing!" Ryan exclaimed, snapping to his feet.

"Good, now let's go," Kiara nodded at Ryan before turning around, opening the door.

As Ryan followed Kiara out, he turned to see a girl sitting on one of the stools. She had sky blue hair and deep blue eyes. She was examining her fingerless gloves with a blank expression on her face. As the two walked over to their spots, the girl seemingly snapped from her stupor. "Is this the person you managed to hire?"

"Yep!" Kiara looked at Ryan before looking back at the girl, "Ryan, this is Hoshimachi Suisei! Suisei, this is Ryan Shade."

"Nice to meet you," Ryan dipped his head politely.

"Nice to meet you too," Suisei giggled softly. Unfortunately, Ryan lacked the insight to catch the malice shining through her eyes.

"You know, you're lucky you're not short," Kiara smirked wryly as her eyes darted in Suisei's direction, "She's a shotacon."

"I'm not a shotacon!" Suisei yelled as she slammed her hands on the desk, "I like shounen!"

"Sorry, she's a shounencon," Kiara corrected while chuckling to herself softly.

"I'll… take your word for it," Ryan, deciding not to take sides, looked for a way to change the subject, "What would you like to eat?"

"I'll just have an order of Birb Mild Wings," Suisei said as she examined her fingerless gloves.

"Right away," Ryan made his way to the backroom only to be blocked by Kiara.

"I think you would have a lot of fun chatting with Suisei," Kiara's wink only succeeded in causing a shiver to go down Ryan's spine.

"If… if you insist, Tenchou," Something told Ryan that he didn't want to be in the same room as Suisei but whatever his boss said goes.

"Good sla- worker," Kiara gave Ryan a pat on the head before walking off to the back room.

"So…" Ryan had never been good at talking to people. He always preferred staying inside and festering in his own thoughts rather than going outside to socialize.

"Why did you take the job?" Suisei asked curiously.

"KFP was the only place to accept me," Ryan, slightly embarrassed, rubbed the back of his head, "I applied to various places and positions but it seems like no one wanted me."

"I see," Suisei, intrigued, leaned into her seat, "I heard the EN crew came in for a reunion yesterday. How was that?"

EN crew? Ryan thought to himself. He felt like it was none of his business but he assumed the "EN crew" were the people that he served the previous day.

"Eh, they were alright. A bit energetic for my taste," Ryan, recalling the events, rubbed his chin, "Out of the four of them, I would have to say Ina is my favorite. She seems a bit calmer than the rest."

"I see," Something about the way Suisei's eyes shined caused a shiver to crawl up Ryan's back.

"Sorry for the wait!" Kiara burst through the door with a tub of chicken before placing it in front of Suisei, "You haven't been threatening my employee, have you?"

"Of course not," Suisei, obviously amused, giggled softly as her eyes darted towards Ryan's direction, "I was just curious about him."

"That's good. I hope you enjoy your meal," Kiara said nonchalantly.

"I'll be sure to do that," Suisei said with an amused glint in her eye, "It was nice meeting you, Ryan."

"It was nice meeting you too," Ryan responded as Suisei stood up.

As Suisei left, Kiara elbowed Ryan's shoulder, "She doesn't seem too bad."

"For some reason, I don't want to believe you," Ryan said as another shiver crawled up his spine.

"Thanks for working hard today!" Kiara slapped Ryan on the back, which caused him to flinch.

"Thanks, Tenchou," Ryan responded with a slight groan.

"Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" Kiara asked.

"I'll try my best not to die on my way back," Ryan joked before walking out of the restaurant. As he walked down the alleyway, he felt a tugging sensation as if he were being watched.

Ryan turned around to see if anyone was behind him but saw no one. He shrugged to himself and continued walking down the alley.

These past couple of days have been pretty eventful, he thought to himself. Although Kiara forced him to do backbreaking labor for seemingly no reason, he had a lot of fun. Kiara was a very fun-loving person and made sure that she didn't push Ryan past his breaking point, although she did get close at times.

Ryan's mind then drifted to Gura and Amelia, They're definitely dating.

Ryan could see himself getting along with the couple. They did seem a bit too energetic for his taste but Ryan felt like he could get used to their antics. They seemed like genuinely good people.

Ryan could easily recognize the telltale signs of insomnia on Calli and empathized with her to an extent, I don't think I want to know how much work she has to go through.

Suisei seemed nice enough but something about her unsettled Ryan. He couldn't place his finger on what but he felt like he needed to watch out for her.

The new job and the new friends were great. However, Ryan couldn't help but remember his old friend. His only friend before he moved to Japan.

"Sabrina," Ryan whispered as he took out his phone. He located his contacts and found the person he was looking for.

"Sabrina Godslayer". Quite the pretentious name. Despite her last name, Sabrina wasn't anything special. She was just a normal human that supported Ryan when no one else did, especially back in high school.

Huh, that's weird, Ryan thought to himself. He tried to hone in on when in high school Sabrina supported him but he was unable to. It was as if a haze of mist were clouding all of the memories he had before moving to Japan. He could remember things like names and feelings but he couldn't remember exact details.

I'm probably just tired, Ryan thought to himself. He shrugged off the uneasiness he felt and continued his walk home.

Ryan flopped on his bed, not even caring to change out of his hoodie and sweats. He was exhausted.

"What should I do?" He wondered to himself. It was about 9 pm and he usually stayed up a few more hours before going to bed but that changed ever since he started working at KFP. The previous night, Ryan had passed out as soon as he got home. His mind wandered to Sabrina again.

It has been a year since we've talked, he thought to himself as he grabbed his phone. Maybe I should call her.

Ryan located Sabrina's contact and took a deep breath. He was feeling nervous, considering they haven't talked in about a year and he was suddenly calling her out of the blue.

It's now or never, Ryan thought to himself before pressing the 'call' button.

He placed the phone to his ear as he nervously waited.

"Hello! This is Sabrina Godslayer. If you're calling for a business inquiry, please refer to my email. If not, please leave a message!" Sabrina's bright and cheery voice came through the phone.

"Figures," Ryan grumbled as he hung up the phone. He didn't remember Sabrina having a business but it wouldn't be too farfetched if she found employment in the past year.

"I guess I'll just go to bed," Ryan, dissatisfied with the ending of his day, put his phone on his nightstand and threw his blankets over him, thoughts of his old friend floating in his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, somewhere in America, a girl in her late teens with brown hair and bright, pink eyes looked at her phone.

"I'm sorry, Ryan," The girl said to no one in particular as she looked at her phone. She deleted the missed call before going to her emails. She then closed the calls app and found her emails. Her frown slowly crept up into a malicious smile.

"Well, it looks like I have something to blow off steam on," She said to herself as she looked at her emails.

Bounty wanted!