Chapter 8: The Job is!

I've encountered weird situations before. I've experienced walking down the streets and suddenly gets confessed by a weird person who wears his pants and underwear wrong (yeah, he wore the pants first). That was when I stubbornly decided that I wanted to go home without my limo, though I immediately hopped on after that happened (I was saved by uncle Inu, thank god for him). There was also once when Hotaru and I came by the beach three summers ago, my feet apparently got tangled by some unidentified slimy creature when we swam by the shore. Panic-stricken and scared as hell, I cried myself to sleep at Hotaru's side until the next day.

Now I'm wondering if what I was currently seeing was supposedly one of the weird things that happens to me…

Presently, I'm here standing at the place called Geenley's C Café. I could see people inside through the windows. The Job seems normal enough, the customers too. Heck, even the café itself was looking normal. The only thing that I think was looking severely wrong was the fact that what I'm currently reading in front of the store was 'Geenley's COSPLAY café'. Now that was completlely normal… NOT. This was it. Hotaru completely had me. Who knew the 'C' in Geenley's was one big COSPLAY? I may have had a relatively good life and ultimately ignorant of things every now and then but god damn it! I knew what a cosplay was for goodness sake! (We did a Cinderella cosplay contest last year at school and this country is japan, and I know it's fairly known for cosplay and animes and mangas and whatnots).

I stared long at the store in front of me and grabbed my new adorable cellphone without batting an eye.

I waited for a while…

"Hotaru?" I called.

"What are you disturbing me for?" Hotaru irritably asked.

I took a moment to stare at the shop, store or café in front of me then answered.

"I ran away from home to make my life normal, got in trouble and will be in trouble because I want to be normal…" I slowly talked.

"So?" Hotaru asked, her voice still visibly irritated.

"Working at Geenley's COSPLAY café isn't exactly normal either, isn't it?" I honestly, seriously and frankly asked.

"So?" Hotaru asked again. I swear I could almost see her raised brow from the other side of the line.

"GOD DAMMIT HOTARU! Stop making me swear! You know exactly what I mean!" I shouted. I wonder what happened to my self-promise to never swear again.

"Are you an idiot? Of course I know. You asked for a favor and I did you the favor. If you don't go inside that café, I won't give you your Christmas gift this year. I don't really care either way so you should decide if you want to back out immediately. I'm busy so don't call me for the next five hours." And she hanged up.

I gaped at my phone. I couldn't believe she'd threaten me for this! She knows how much I look forward to her gifts. Obviously, she also knows I'm not giving it up for any reason! Ugh! People might think this is just some silly Christmas gift but I doubt anyone will agree with me when they see what Hotaru usually gives me (Believe it or not, it worth dying for, I am definitely not exaggerating). Just why in the world do I love and adore her so much?

I massaged my temples. Just what have I gotten myself into?

Though I, for the love of life, didn't want to go inside, I had to! Working at this store can't be all that bad, can it? I just have to try this for at least an hour or a day and I can make my decision then. I can't believe I'm complaining like this when I was the one who asked for Hotaru's help. I'm actually lucky Hotaru helped at all. I flushed at this realization. I knew asking for Hotaru's help would have its bane and boon. Though for all of my complaining, I doubt she'll give me a job I'd be that uncomfortable with. Now let's just trust my cold-hearted best friend.

I sighed deeply.

"Excuse me?" I heard someone say.

When I turned to look at my front, I saw blue. The girl dressed like a maid, had bubble blue hair and had a big smile on her face. I thought I saw Anna for a moment, though I snapped out of my stupor when I realized Anna had pink hair, not blue.

I was looking around to see if she was addressing to somebody else but I didn't see anybody near, unless she was calling for the child 3 meters away.

"Um, yes?" I hesitantly answered. I didn't know what she could possibly want with me but well, she seems nice.

"Are you Sakura Mikan?" The blue-haired girl asked me, still smiling. I raised a brow. Sakura was my mother's last name before she married my dad and Mikan is certainly my first name… my name is Yukihara Mikan but why would she know about my mother's last name?

"Yeah," I suspiciously answered. "Is there something you need?" I asked, still suspicious.

"Well, a really very valuable person asked the manager if somebody could um," she hesitated. "'Babysit' you and the manager asked me to fetch you. I hope I'm not being too rude." She seemed really ashamed by what she said, her cheeks tinting red.

By normal circumstances, I would've been insulted and then got angry out of my mind, but this is my cruel-hearted best friend we're talking about here. I could sympathize with this girl. She was probably ordered to say all that to me.

"No, no. It's really alright. I'm really sorry, you had to do this." It was my turn to blush. It's like being taken care of my overprotective mother… I guess I can live with that, Hotaru rarely shows her concern for me, so I guess I have to enjoy it while it lasts.

"It's okay. I think you're nice." She said it with such a big smile on her face. I decided. She's gonna be a good friend and I'm going to work at this place, normal or not normal.

I smiled.

Okay, I have no excuse for being sooo late in updating. The truth is, our internet connection got cut off, when I say cut off, I mean it literally, a rat cut it off (the wire).

Please R&R, tell me about your suggestions or something.