Chapter 9

The market was always one of your favourite places to go to. Something about the salty sea air intertwining with the twang of fresh ingredients on display felt wholesome. Between the stalls of fresh foods were also a variety of sellers spruiking their wares. These ranged from between homemade beauty and wellbeing goods, "trash and treasures", jewellery, all the way to antique and vintage goods. You liked to meander through these stalls between your shopping; sometimes you came across some rarity that caught your eye. Today was no exception; an older lady had set up her own small stall with odds and ends she was looking to pass on to new owners. You gave her a smile as you pulled up, pawing through the small pile of books out for sale. Majority of the time these were just standard filler books; outdated encyclopedias, trashy romance novels, or non-fiction books that just didn't pique enough interest to be kept.

Though this time, something made you double take.

You picked up the thick leather-bound book and looked at the title; its fine letters flaking with the old, golden filigree:

Poisons, Toxicology and The Human Body. First Edition.

Immediately, your mind turned to one person as your heart ached lightly. There had been no communication with a certain King for a fortnight now, and you were beginning to miss him terribly. It was odd, suddenly ceasing all communication with someone that you had spent so much time getting to know. You had expected this to happen, but it didn't stop it from hurting. Still, nothing was stopping you from reaching out to him either; you just hadn't had the time since you had busied yourself with new clients. Despite all of your want to leave this line of work, your savings said otherwise.

Still, you were drawn to this book and leaving it here would feel like a mistake. You exchanged money with the seller and she even wrapped it up for you in brown wrapping and twine; a symbol of both her age and of days gone by, but you appreciated the simplicity of it all. It would make a fine gift, in your opinion. You smiled and hugged it tightly to your chest before stowing it into your satchel; humming to yourself with delight.

It was when you were inspecting a fresh picking of Honey Lemons that a commotion began brewing behind you. You put down the glazed fruits to peek over at what all the rabble was about. Apparently, someone famous had wandered into the market and people were barely keeping their astonishment to themselves. Except, you recognised that blue hair.

"Toriko!" You called, waving your hand about like a flag on a windy day.

The Heavenly King perked his ears up and tilted his head in your direction. He cracked a grin and waved over to you.

"Yo, (y/n)!" He called, perching his hands on his hips as you walked up to him. "Good to see you again!"

"You're looking good too." You said. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Ah, I was just dropping off another bunch of ingredients to my mate Tom." He said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. Behind him was a wholesaler garbed in whites and sunglasses; a cap perched on top of his long hair.

"I can't take any ingredients from you if they're not here." Tom said, scratching the side of his head.

"Oh, right." Toriko laughed. "Terry's bringing them now."

The ground shook underneath as a white wolf the size of a building dropped in behind the Gourmet Hunter. You jumped back in fright at the sheer size of the creature.

"Holy shit!" You whispered, eyeing off the claws on the wolf.

"Don't worry (y/n)." Toriko laughed again. "Terry won't hurt you. He's a good boy."

"He's enormous!" you shrieked, as you were suddenly greeted with a toothy smile from Terry; his fangs glistening.

"Yeah, he's pretty big. But he's only a pup still."

"That's a puppy?!"

"For a Battle Wolf, yeah."

Your mouth gaped open and shut like a goldfish as you stared at the mammalian beast. Your entire knowledge of the Gourmet Age seemed to be crumbling with every day. Toriko then hoisted a few large sacks from off of Terry's back and handed them to Tom, who wasn't at all surprised at the creature in front of him.

'Anyways," Toriko's deep voice pulled you out of your reverie. "How are things with you? I didn't see you leave the other night from the banquet. Did you have a good time?"

"Oh right." You said, recalling the night from a few weeks ago. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. The food was good, when I managed to eat it properly."

You then recalled the incident with Coco at the end of the dinner, and you wondered if maybe you should bring it up with Toriko. The poison at least, not the reason behind it. Maybe there was something else that triggered a response like that for him though.

"Yeah, it was a pretty good feast, if I do say so myself." Toriko said, jumping down from Terry's back. "That reminds me, how is Coco doing?"

"Well, I wouldn't know really." You admitted, a little dejectedly. "I haven't spoken to him since then."

Toriko eyed you off with his sharp eyes, letting out a hmm as he thought.

"To be honest, I'm actually headed over to see him once I'm finished up here. Did you want to come?"

Your heart skipped a beat at his offer as your lips pulled into a broad smile.

"Really?! Oh, wait… I can't." You said as your smile faded. You had a client to deal with tonight, and they were a high paying one too; one that was paying extra for sexual favours from you. You didn't want to take it, but you needed the extra money right now. Just thinking about it made your stomach turn.

"Ah? Why not?"

"I have some…errand to run later today. They're important." You said sadly. "Please apologise to him for me, would you?"

"That's too bad. He probably would have liked to see you."

"What makes you say that?"

"Intuition."

"Oh."

You then remembered the gift that was safely tucked away at your side. You gasped before pulling it out.

"Actually, Toriko, can I ask a favour of you?" You asked, holding the parcel out to him. "Could you give this to Coco please? I'd be truly grateful if you did."

Toriko's took the parcel from you with one of his large hands.

"Yeah, sure. Since I'm going there." He said, giving you a grin again before jumping up on Terry's back.

'Well I better get going. See ya next time!"

With a powerful leap, the two cleared the entirety of the market in a single jump, and you watched as the white Battle Wolf ran and bounded out of sight; both of them leaving just as quickly as they had entered. When they were gone, you returned to finish your shopping before heading homeward bound. You had almost forgotten about your responsibilities for tonight, making you pull a sour face at the thought of it all.

This customer was someone you had done business with before, and thinking about him made your insides squirm. He was a large, foul brute of a human that towered over you physically, and he used that to his advantage. While he hadn't necessarily broken any of your rules, he knew that he scared you deep down and wasn't shy about making sideways threats towards you. He had purchased your complete services before and it was difficult for you to find even some a small iota of enjoyment being with him. This made any sort of sexual intimacy from you incredibly taxing, because it was simply painful for you. There was "being rough" with someone, but then there was being rough, and you dreaded to think what this evening's pleasantries were going to be like.

Still, you had a job to do, and you wiggled out of your day clothes into your chosen outfits for tonight. Seeing as tonight was going to be centred on sex, you gave it your best critical eye for lingerie. You couldn't help but think back to how different it all was to have dressed for Coco and his banquet what seemed like so long ago. How you wished to go back in time to relive that experience again, and to feel that happiness again. You smiled softly at how nice it felt to not only look beautiful, but to have felt beautiful as well. You'll never forget the experience of being held close as you danced the night away in the arms of someone so gentle.

Someone out there would love you for who you were.

Someday.

Bass pounded through the walls from the room over and rattled deep in your bones, while you were busy being crushed underneath a suffocating weight. Hefty grunting passed deep into your ears are you staved off making any noises of displeasure in front of your client. Every thrust, every forceful push was causing you severe pain but he remained oblivious to your agony. You gritted your teeth and forced out a false mewl of desire, fully intending to keep up appearances to Nendou; the hulking mass of brawny sweat that was currently trying his best to cleave you in two, it seemed.

"Mmm, you're so good, Nendou sir." You lied, trying your best to get the whole thing over with. You knew that once he had climaxed, he would be down for the count for the rest of the night. Despite his need to brag about how powerful a man he was, sexual potency was an area he scored very low in.

"I know you like this, don't you?" Nendou grunted; his halitosis making your skin crawl and you pulled a face. Thank the heaven's this room was dark and he had his face buried into the crook of your neck.

"Of course, baby. You know I only like the good stuff…"

Every second made you want to vomit. As soon as this was over, you could go home and take a well-deserved shower. Nendou, however, seemed like he was struggling to finish the job tonight, and was resorting to all manner of different positions and to try and get his load off. You had been flipped over and lunged into from almost every angle imaginable, and his squat girth was beginning to take its toll on your sensitive areas. Lost in his cloud of lust, he sunk his yellowing teeth into your soft flesh which caused you to cry out in pain and you pushed him away from you.

"Stop!" You cried, separating yourself from him and crawling away. "That's a rule violation, and you know it!"

He didn't like that. Not one bit.

Nendou dragged himself over to you and proceeded to cuff the back of his hand over your face. You howled at the blow and pressed your hands over the eye that had just been assaulted.

"Listen here, you little whore." He growled vehemently at you, grabbing your hair by the base of your skull and pulling it sharply. "I've paid for this little session of ours, and I'm going to do whatever I want; however I want until I'm satisfied. Got it?!"

You tried to respond to him, but all that came out was a broken crackle of your voice. You could feel heat swelling over your injury and blood beginning to throb underneath your skin from it. Tears leaked out from your eyes in small rivers and down your cheeks.

"Good." He whispered, before tugging down on your hair again. His fingers gripped your head and held you in pace while he forced his length into your mouth; controlling the speed at which you dragged your lips and tongue over him. You were choking over the whole ordeal but you couldn't stop it. You felt the urge to bite him back, but you were fearing for your safety at this point. You forced down the bile that was making its way up your throat. This power display seemed to be the tipping point for him however, as thick ropes of seed spurted into your mouth and you forced yourself to swallow it.

"You're a good little slut." He finished, wiping a calloused thumb over your chin to take away the residue, before roughly discarding you to the side while you spluttered and coughed. He threw wads of money at you before redressing himself.

"Clean yourself up and get the fuck out of my sight."

With that, he left the room into the neon lighting of his personal nightclub. House music blared through the open door before being muffled again as it closed. Weeping, you gathered your clothes, redressed and collected your payment before slipping out a second back door into the alleyway. Your eye was swollen, and your soul was broken, and you began stumbling towards home; jelly-legged and defeated.

A soft lantern burned in Coco's bedroom as he thumbed through the pages of a book that was gifted to him earlier today. He had hugged it close to his chest before laying over his bed, drinking in as much information as his eyes would read from the aging pages. His mind, however, kept drifting to thoughts of you; the way your eyes had sparkled with delight in his company, and the genuine purity of your smile.