1987, Sotenbori Osaka
"You're really pretty," a man's voice said smoothly, and Sonozaki Izumi looked up from her manga to see a uniquely handsome man smiling at her. He had smooth black hair pulled back in a ponytail, a slim body, and an eyepatch over his left eye. The one eye she could see was a chestnut brown and she felt a little rush of heat. Izumi didn't make a habit of talking to men on the street, but there was something about his boots that said he might be interesting, mainly because he was dressed in an open-throated tuxedo and his boots were some sort of reptile skin with pointed silver toes.
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow at him, still cautious.
"Tell ya what, I think if you came to work at my cabaret you'd make a lot of money." The man bowed and handed her a business card and she looked down at it.
"Majima Goro," she read aloud. "The Grand." Izumi handed the card back to him. "No thank you, I've already got a job."
"You could work part time. We have girls who work all hours." He gently pushed the card back to her. "Just think about it, huh? If not, you can pass it on to a friend."
"Yeah?" She tucked it into her bag. "I don't have any friends, but I'll keep it as a memento."
"Memento?"
"People don't usually tell me I'm pretty enough to be a hostess." She smiled, just a little, not wanting to disappoint this handsome man named Majima. "Of course, you're probably just saying it to recruit me. But it's nice to hear once in a while."
"Recruitment or not, ya got a cute smile for sure. Maybe if you're hanging around the bookstore again, I'll see ya." He bowed again, then strode off, the heels of his boots clicking on the concrete. As soon as he was gone, Izumi took the card out of her bag and looked at it.
A cute smile? It wasn't a compliment she heard often, especially not in Kyoto. She had to be stoic, not let any of the cracks show. No one wanted to trust a woman who smiled too much. Turning around, she looked to see if she could see Majima again but he was gone.
With a sigh, Izumi walked toward the sushi restaurant where she worked. It was only her second week at the job but her skills spoke for themselves. She put the manga she had just bought into her bag, thinking she could read it on her break, only to be greeted by a sign on the door that said they were closed for business. Izumi leaned in for a closer look and saw that the restaurant was dark inside. Another look at the sign said they were sorry for the inconvenience.
"Wait…what?"
###
"Looks like everything's set for the night," the assistant manager said as Majima lit a cigarette and took a drag. "We can just relax back here until there's a problem."
"Um, Manager?" There was a light knock on the door frame and he looked up to see one of his waiters standing there. "I'm so sorry to bother you, but I have someone here who says it's imperative that she speaks to you."
"Huh?" Majima stubbed out his cigarette and stood up. "Great. First problem of the night. Bring 'em in." The waiter stepped aside and the young woman he had met earlier stepped forward.
"G-good evening," the woman whose name he hadn't asked bowed to him. "Please forgive me for coming by without calling. My name is Sonozaki Izumi. I've found myself in a bit of a predicament and I'm hoping you can help me." She seemed rattled but she looked him straight in the eye and her stance indicated that she was a proud woman.
"I can try. I don't usually use the girls fresh off the street on our busiest evening. You'll need some trainin' and better clothes, too." He took in her jeans, ruffled top, wide green stripe in her hair, and the cardigan she was wearing. "Once we got all that settled, you'll be great."
"Oh," Izumi said. "I'm afraid I'm not cut out for hostess work. I'm just not the hostess type, you know? I was hoping you might have a position as a waitress or a bartender." Majima looked her up and down again, then sighed.
"Have a seat," he said, gesturing to the couch. She sat down and he signaled to a waiter who was walking by. "Whiskey and water, two of them." As soon as the waiter was gone, he sat across from her and took out a pack of cigarettes. He shook one out and offered it to her, then took one of his own after she took one.
"I feel like I'm getting fired before I even get hired," Izumi laughed nervously. Majima lit her cigarette and smiled, hoping to put her at ease.
"Nah, I just wanna talk to ya." He leaned back on the seat. "So what's your story, Sonozaki-chan? Take as long as you need to."
"It's not a long story. I moved here from Kyoto a couple of weeks ago and got a job as a sushi chef. I came in today and the restaurant is closed. There was a fire in the kitchen and it'll be a while before they can fix it." She took a deep drag of her cigarette and Majima noticed that she smoked like a man even while her ankles were crossed. "You're the only other person I've spoken to, so I thought I'd take a chance. Like I said, no one ever says I'm pretty."
"Guess they're all blind. I've only got the one eye and I can see you're real pretty." He smiled. "You sure ya ain't interested in bein' a hostess? You could make a lotta money."
"No," she said, shaking her head again. "My family wouldn't allow it." She finished her cigarette, tossed back her whiskey and stood up. "Thank you for your hospitality, Majima-san, but if you've got no place for me here I'll need to look elsewhere."
"Who said I ain't got a place for ya?" Majima stubbed out his cigarette, then got up and motioned for her to follow him. "You said ya were a sushi chef? We ain't got much in the way of a kitchen but we have small things like fruit plates. Think ya can handle that and cleanin' up the kitchen at the end of the night? We got guys who clean the tables."
"Yes, that's exactly what I was looking for! Thank you, Majima-san," she said, bowing to the waist. "You've really saved my ass."
"No problem. You seem like a nice kid." He turned to make sure she was following him down the stairs and saw that she was narrowing her eyes at him. "What'd I say?"
"I'm not a kid," she said irritably. "I'm 25."
"25?" Majima looked at her in disbelief. "There's no way. I'm 23 and ya look 18 at best." She stared him down and folded her arms over her chest and he laughed. "Trust me, you'll be grateful for it when you're 40." He turned to lead her down to the kitchen and heard her mutter something that sounded like "if I even make it to 40."
When they reached the kitchen, they found a harried-looking man in a chef's whites with a bowl of water in the sink trying to thaw out what looked like melons and pineapple. Majima frowned.
"What the hell is this?"
"Problem with the freezer. I can't arrange it if it's frozen solid!" He sounded like he was at his wit's end and Izumi looked around the kitchen, then opened the fridge and freezer. Majima could tell she was taking stock of what there was and more interestingly, remembering it.
"When do you open?" She looked up at Majima, who looked at his watch.
"About an hour."
"That's plenty of time. I can go to the store and get the fruit we need – fresh fruit – along with some other things we can use for a special until I can stock the kitchen my own-" Izumi seemed to catch herself and looked back up at him. "If that's all right with you, Manager."
"Fine by me. Less I have to do around here, the better. Let me give ya some cash." He reached into his wallet and took out a 10,000 yen bill. It was almost his entire week's salary but he had a feeling this girl would be able to turn it into 100,000 easily.
"Thank you, Manager." She tucked it into the purse slung across her body and nodded. He noticed she didn't smile when she said it, and realized that apart from the nervous smile when she'd arrived and the tiny smile that morning, she didn't smile much.
"What's with the 'Manager' bit?"
"I'm guessing I work for you now. I don't want to be impolite." She raised a hand. "Be right back! Keep thawing that fruit, though!"
"Who's she?" The chef looked after Izumi and Majima shook his head.
"Some girl I found on the street," he said. "Seems like she's a good fit."
"Seems like she could take your job one of these days," the chef said. Majima scoffed and started out of this kitchen.
"Not likely. I'm stuck here until I die."
###
"Seems like ya really know what you're doin'," Majima said as he stood over Izumi's shoulder. "That's more like art than food." He was referring to the plate of fruit she was cutting up that looked a lot like the presentation of a plate of fugu. She'd cut off the top of the pineapple and was arranging the impossibly thin fruit around it, making it look like there was a plant in the center.
"I've always been good with a knife," she said, then flipped it up in the air to prove it and caught it on the point on her finger. She flipped it again and Majima caught it out of the air this time, then handed it to her.
"So've I." He hoped it would bring out her smile again but she simply nodded at him approvingly. Majima decided to try another route. "That cardigan of yours is nice, but I bet you'd look cute in something more evening-like."
"Oh," Izumi said, arranging the last few pieces of mango on the plate. A waiter came in and she handed it over to him, then picked up a mango and started peeling it. It was the third fruit plate that had been ordered since she sent her first one onto the floor. Guests were seeing them and wanting their own, so Izumi had been slicing fruit as fast as possible for the last hour with no sign of tiring. "I'm sorry, Manager. I'll try to project more of a professional image tomorrow."
"That ain't what I meant," sighed Majima. "Just wear whatever ya want, okay? You're kicking ass out here. Don't wear yourself out, though. It's only your first day." She nodded, looking down at the frozen fruit, which she had managed to turn into its own kind of art that disguised its frozen nature. Majima reached past her to grab one of the sakura manju she had bought at the store and she moved to smack his hand with the flat part of the knife. He dodged it deftly, but she was just as fast. Her free hand came out to grab his before he could touch it. Majima grabbed the knife and stabbed it into a pineapple, then reached over her and snatched the mochi. Izumi narrowed her eyes at him and he raised his eyebrow at her with a grin. "Nice try."
"I suppose I have to train more," Izumi said, letting go of his hand and reaching for the knife. Majima watched her sigh and shake her head, then broke the manju in two and handed half to her.
"Here."
"For me?" Izumi looked surprised and Majima nodded.
"You're doin' great. At, like, everything. Thanks for comin' in here and takin' charge." At last, Izumi gave him a full-on, honest smile and he felt like he'd opened some sort of hidden box. His girls smiled at him all the time, but there was something about Izumi's smile. It had disappeared just as quickly as it had come, but there was the ghost of her smile playing around her lips as she ate the manju.
"Sonozaki-san, we have another order for the lucky koi fruit plate!" One of the waiters came over and handed her a slip of paper and she sighed.
"Good luck," Majima said, slapping her on the shoulder. "Let me know before ya leave so I can pay ya for tonight. We can do all the paperwork later." He smiled at her and she nodded. "Hey, Sonozaki-chan, thanks for savin' my ass tonight."
"Thank you for saving mine." She was already looking down at the fruit she was slicing with the extremely sharp knife that they'd fought over just minutes earlier. Majima chuckled on his way out of the kitchen. He might not have found a new hostess but he'd found one hell of a chef.