Hello Everyone,

If you guessed that Hotaru would be in this chapter, you're very perceptive. Her debut isn't very long, but I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway.

RxExR

Chapter 5: Darkness

Imai's, from the outside, looks like a one story restaurant with a big glass window and matching sign that reads 'Imai's' in a delicate cursive. But if you look more carefully there is an empty alleyway with stairs leading down to the second half of the building. Above the side door entrance is a sign that also reads 'Imai's' but this time it's written in a bold zigzag pattern. The layout of the building reminds me of when there is a half-moon; one side is lit and can be seen from earth and the other side is dark and shrouded with mystery. You know it's there, but you can't really see it if you don't look hard enough.

The safest entry would be the ground level restaurant, so I pull open the glass door, letting Youichi enter before me. Immediately the warmth danced across my face and I just stood in awe by the drastic change of atmosphere. The restaurant is like a big ballroom with white, linen-clothed circular tables, cushioned dining room chairs, white lilies accented with violets in glass vases for the centerpieces, and a giant crystal chandelier looming on the ceiling. The waiters are dressed with royal purple button down shirts, white vests, dress pants and white dress shoes. The waitresses seem to float on air in their white skirts, white vests and violet three quarter sleeve button down shirts. Their headdresses matched the centerpieces with synthetic flowers that could pass for real ones. The entire room had a different air to it like it belonged to a completely different realm. It contrasted starkly with the cold of outside and the dull hum of chatter is drowned out by the soft music of the harpist, violinist, and pianist on the other side of the room.

Almost every table has a pair of women chattering about gossip or a man and a woman enjoying a late lunch or early dinner. They all seemed to be in their own world, but all occupying the same place. I wonder what their greatest worry is: paying their mortgages or rent, working at their jobs, what their kids are succeeding at in school, what their housekeepers might have stolen. I don't know about the lives of other people so I assume everyone who eats here is rich and they all have housekeepers, who apparently steal.

"Can I help you?" a voice called, snapping me out of my awe.

"Um yes. I'd like to have a job application please." I replied happily.

The girl had cotton candy pink hair and sapphire blue eyes, definitely the cutest girl I've ever seen like she belongs on the cover of a Lolita fashion magazine.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asks just as happy.

"Appointment?" I repeat.

You need an appointment just to fill out an application? This place definitely has high standards. (Hopefully not impossibly high) The girl realizes my look of confusion is authentic and asks me to follow her through the rows of tables; we had to duck a waiter carrying a huge serving tray for the party of six near the big display window. I follow the pink haired girl through the double kitchen doors, pass all the chefs and the delicious smell pork being roasted. I ignore the small groan in my stomach and say a silent prayer to whoever might be listening that I can have something to eat tonight that isn't a convenience store donut. Another pair of double doors at the back of the kitchen leads to a carpeted hallway with stairs leading down to what I guess is the bar/music case part of the building.

"You have to have an appointment with Ms. Imai before you can apply to work here." The pink haired girl explained.

"Really? Isn't that a bit much?" I asked.

She just giggled, "Nothing is too much for Hotaru." she said.

Her reaction made me think she has a prior history with this 'Hotaru' person, but isn't she also the boss? There's a door right before the descending staircase that was slightly ajar. Inside we can hear the quiet sobbing of a girl and another monotonous voice.

"There's no reason to cry Arashi-san. You're just not Imai material. I demand the best of all my employees. Their incompetence costs me money and a blind man can see you're an incompetent fool who would probably play part in the decline in the standards of my corporation."

The sobs grew hysterical and the door flew open and a red head with her face buried in her hands ran from the room. I swallowed another lump in my throat.

"Oh good, she's in a good mood." The pink haired girl says.

I look at her like she sprouted an extra head. She gestures me towards the door. Is she trying to get me killed? Or at least verbally assaulted? I take a timid step toward the room. Youichi stays planted to the floor next to the waitress.

Traitor.

As I draw closer to the door the monotonous voice spoke.

"I don't like people lingering outside my door, so either come in or get lost." It said.

I look toward Youichi and the girl again; they were all the way by the kitchen doors waving at me.

A pair of traitors.

Well, I got this far and there's nowhere to go back to so might as well charge on ahead. I rest my bag outside the door and enter the room, closing the door behind me. The office had an elegant and sophisticated feel just like the restaurant. A polished wood floor with a big desk neatly organized with little piles of paper work and a slender white desktop computer that looked like you can fold it up and put it in your pocket. I seat myself on the chair facing the desk. The woman is standing at one of her bookshelves that line the adjacent wall with a folder in her hands. She flipped through the pages as if she couldn't care less what they said. She had short boy cut hair and is wearing an expensive looking suit. I can't see her face from the angle she's standing at, but she's slender and my height.

"Why are you in my office?" she asks so suddenly it caught me off guard.

"Uh." is the reply that came out of my mouth.

She closes her file and went back to her desk, "So you're deaf and dumb." She stated opening another file.

My initial shock was from the suddenness of her question, but this time I am stunned by her. Not by her beauty or anything, but her youth. She is very beautiful in an authority figure way, but she can't be that much older than I am. I just stared at her as she flipped nonchalantly through the papers. She glanced up at me and gave me a once over. I now realize how ridiculous I must look in my bulky. Layered clothes, but it's freezing outside. I should have made myself more presentable, but there's no going back.

"I'm sorry. What I meant to say is that my name is Sakura Mikan and I'd really like to work here. I'm new to Nagoya and I didn't know I needed an appointment beforehand."

"That much is obvious." She says, eyes on her computer screen this time as she moves the small mouse over her desk making sharp clicks.

"Yes, I never worked a restaurant before, but I'm a quick learner and I can start right away." I say quickly.

More sharp clicks.

"You expect me to give a job to an amateur off the street, too dumb to even make an appointment?" she replied not looking at me.

"Well I'm not stupid and like I said I can learn quickly-"

"Get out now." She said monotonously.

"But-"I begin.

"Look Miss Sakura, I'm a business woman and in order to keep my business in its peak of service and standards, I must have the best. You are an amateur with no prior work experience who is 'new to town'. Quite frankly you look like a stuffed hobbit who can't be bothered to brush her hair. In my book, that makes you an incompetent moron. Now get out of my office before I have you thrown out which would give me the utmost satisfaction. "

I stood up ready to turn on my heel and storm out, but something stopped me. I had faced the devil for three years and lived, was I about to take the lip of some over confident teenager running 'daddy's' business like her own game of monopoly?

"You don't know anything about me-"

"I'm sure your life story is a fascinating, pager turner, but I'm very busy in case you didn't notice."

"Actually I didn't notice. All I notice is you flipping through papers you don't even read and making girls cry. Well I'm not going cry or beg you for a job because if you don't hire me then you're the stupid one losing out on an employee that would probably put the rest of your employees to shame. Does your daddy know you're down here playing dress up?" My condescending tone is making my own ears sting.

She had no expression, but I felt her surprise as if no one ever talks to her like that, but what else do I have to lose? I have no job prospects and no money, might as well blow off some steam.

"Times are hard and I don't need your sympathy, but I would like to be treated like a human being. Not everyone is born with rich parents who coddle you from cradle to grave. Maybe your restaurant doesn't meet my standards. Maybe I would rather be broke that to work for some rich, arrogant, brat like yourself. Have a nice day."

Adrenaline flowing through me, I storm out of the office and slam the door. I snatch up my bag furiously and go back towards the kitchen. The waitress looked shocked to see me in a huff, but before she could say anything I take Youichi's hand and leave Imai's.

"Arrogant, loathsome, rich little brat." I mutter as I storm down the street with Youichi in tow.

"We're going to die." Youichi says suddenly.

"Listen to me, we are not going to die. I will get a job and find us a place to live, you just need to buck up and have a positive attitude understand?" I say an octave higher than I should have.

Youichi looks slightly hurt by my outburst. I stop walking and take a deep breath and kneel down so we're eye level.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell, but we're going to be okay, you and me. And you won't have to be afraid of anyone and we'll have lots of fun, okay?"

He looks at me a bit skeptically.

"I promise." I say sticking out my pinky.

He just looks at it and my chest tightens. He doesn't even know what a pinky promise is. To stop myself from crying I take his hand and make his pinky stick out and loop it with mine.

"A pinky promise means that I have to keep my promise no matter what. So we hook our pinkies like this and I say 'I promise to take care of you no matter what'." I explain.

He looks at our hooked pinkies and then back at me, "That's dumb."

Typical Youichi.

I just smile at him and stand up. Now what? All of my potential job prospects are out the window and we're practically down to our last yen. The air feels colder than before and the seriousness of our situation creeps up my spine. What are we-

"Mikan-sama!" a little voice calls.

At first I think I imagine it but it gets louder. I turn to the direction we came from and see the pink haired waitress from before running to meet us, her cotton candy pink pony tail swinging wildly behind her.

"Mikan-sama!" she explains as she finally catches up to us. She threw on a light coat to come after us, but she will definitely get sick if she stays out here like that.

"You're going to get sick you know." I say to her.

She waves her hand as if to say no big deal while she catches, her breath, "I had to come get you quickly so I just ran and hoped you wouldn't get into a vehicle or something."

"No I don't have anything like that." I tell her.

"I'm Anna by the way. I realize now that we were never properly introduced."

"You ran all this way just to tell me your name?" I ask confusedly.

"Well since we'll be working together I thought a formal introduction would be appropriate." She says smiling.

"I got the job?" I repeat.

"You got the job!" she announces ecstatically.

"But-But she hates me." I tell her.

"Oh Hotaru hates everyone, it's just how she is."

"But I yelled at her."

"I think that's part of the reason you got the job. Congratulations!" she says. Her cheeks are flushed to match her hair as she grins at me.

I follow her robotically back to the restaurant and she takes me to the employee lounge to fill out my paper. I thank whatever force responsible, that I don't have to face that Hotaru person again to do so my paper work. A lump form in my throat when I see the lines marked 'education', 'address', 'emergency contact', 'references'. My head starts to throb lightly and a sinking feeling hits my stomach. The boss already thinks I'm an idiot who will downfall here business, so what if she knew that I'm homeless and possibly a kidnapper? I fill out the majority of the sheet and wrote the name of a school I had heard of from my grandfather on the education line.

"Anna-sama? I don't know my grandfather's address by heart yet so can I leave this blank for now?" I ask hopefully.

She didn't bat an eye, "Of course. And please just call me Anna. I'm still in high school." She says getting a cup of coffee from the machine.

The employee lounge is an apricot colored room with a kitchen and living room area. The counters are marble with different coffee fixings in different flavors organized by size next to the chrome coffee machine and a full-sized fridge. The sink is pristine chrome with a touch activation faucet. There are three circular tables with four chairs around them. Aside from the three of us, there is no one else in the room. The flat screen in the corner by the two black leather couches is tuned to the news with a female reporter. The thought of either of our faces on the screen made me turn away almost abruptly. Anna didn't notice my reaction and I tried to calm myself. Freaking out about plausible scenarios is not going to do my heart or I any good. I finish the rest of the sheet and give it to Anna who puts it in a manila folder identical to the ones Hotaru was flipping through earlier. She didn't strike me as someone who would let my blanks slide unnoticed.

Regardless, Anna closed the folder and I follow her into the back room which serves as a locker room for the employees. She leads me to an empty locker and writes the combination on a napkin for me. Inside the locker there is a box sitting on its side. She takes it out and hands it to me, not missing the confused look on my face.

She says "It's your uniform."

"Will it fit?" I ask looking at the unmarked white box with purple trim.

"Hotaru never makes mistakes." is her reply to me.

I hold off on opening it until Anna goes over my work schedule with me. The schedule, she explains is posted weekly, but everyone has a set schedule every week that works with their school schedule. The older workers take on the harder shifts like early morning and closing. I tell her I want to work as much as possible and she just blinks at me, I cover by saying that I'm paying for college on my own and I would like to go as soon as possible. She smiles at me again and pulls out a tentative week schedule. She and some others work every weekday afterschool till ten o'clock.

The doors are to be locked at ten and then the closing process begins. Cleaning and resetting the tables with fresh flowers and table cloths. Any dirty chairs are replaced and the professional cleaners will take care of it. The floors are mopped and polished and the glass door and display window are shined inside and out. Inventory is counted at the end of the week to place the delivery order for the next week. Everything has a system: fresh fish in the morning, garbage taken out every night on the right side of the building since the club entrance is on the left. Everyone works like cogs in a very expensive clock.

If I'm working the morning shift (which I am) I will need to come in by seven and make sure the night shift cleaned properly and spray a light fragrance of lavender around the room. Have our uniform inspected and open the doors exactly at eight a.m. There is usually a line in the morning Anna tells me, to which I respond with a shocked look. She just laughs and shows me where she keeps her pen and pad and shows me some short hand for writing orders. It's imperative that I know what the special of the day is and learn customers by faces because some of them are regulars who just order 'the usual' and I have to know what it is or they tend to get uppity.

Instead of punch cards, every employee has an identification card with a strip in the back for swiping. The clock-in machine is mounted on the wall next to the lounge and you can only swipe in after changing in your uniform and passing inspection. I ask her to clarify 'inspection' and she says that sempai whose been working here for a long time will be in charge in clearing us for inspection. Everyone has to look the same and everyone will have to look pristine. I ask her if Hotaru is OCD and she just laughs, but doesn't deny it.

She goes down the list of what my uniform should look like (clean and pressed) and says that inspection also included personal hygiene (white smiles, fresh breath, trim and clean finger nails, tame and clean smelling hair). Long hair should be pulled in a purple or white hair band. She pulls a purple one out of her pocket and hands it to me. I thank her and put in my sweater pocket. Youichi yawns and stares blankly at the other side of the room. Anna beams at him and offers him some cake. He just stares at her and I jump in and accept for him. She goes to the fridge and pulls out a plastic bowl with a single slice of strawberry cheesecake and places it in front of him with a plastic fork. She pulls off the lid and I clench my stomach to keep it from growling. Youichi eats the cake slowly trying to hide how hungry he must be, but he still leaves a piece in the bowl. Anna asked him if he enjoyed if, but I think she's use to his silence and just leaves to deliver my file. When she's gone, Youichi pushes the bowl across the table to me.

"Youichi it's ok, you eat it." I say about to return it to him when a groan in my stomach slips out.

"Dead girls can't keep promises." is all he says.

I smile, but he's looking across the room again.

A wordless promise to take care of me as well seemed written on the small piece of cake. I put it in my mouth and silently promise him not to be a handful.

Living with Persona all for these three torturous years comes in handy when your boss might be just as OCD as he is. After Anna returned with a smile of approval and my id card, she went back to work and I was told to start tomorrow. I would be under Anna's charge as somewhat of her kouhai and if she isn't here, which she won't be tomorrow morning when I start, I'm told to report to Harada Misaki-sempai who wasn't there at the moment so Anna gives me a description of an older, bustier girl with dark pink hair and brown eyes that seem pinkish at times. She has a very strong personality and will definitely stick out amoung the other waitresses. Anna told me not to worry because Misaki-sempai is very nice and motherly towards newcomers, but don't expect her to go easy on me.

Now Youichi and I are sitting on a local bus bench, me reading to the newspaper for the cheapest places to live and him just staring off into space. It will be dark soon which means it will just get colder. We need to find shelter for a while. Anna told me that paychecks can be deposited directly, but since I don't have a bank account my check will be given to me at the end of the second work week, which lucky for me, is this Saturady. I just have to make it to Saturday and I'll be able to hopefully put a deposit down somewhere. The cheapest places are quite a way away from Imai's so I would have to map out a bus route and memorize the schedule to get to work on time.

I stand up off the bench and take Youichi's hand. There's a place that we might be able to stay, at least until Saturday. In the paper there is an ad to buy a build that had been seized by the government and up for auction. It's old and a fixer upper, but hopefully intact. I look for the address on the map and pull Youichi in that direction. It takes us a while to get there, but thirty minutes later we are standing in front of a pitiful looking building that is boarded up to prevent trespassers. There's a side alley that will hopefully take us to a more secluded part of the building that we can get into. Apparently running away from home can jump start one's criminal activity, but I would rather keep Youichi warm than worry about my impending incarceration.

We arrive at the back of the building with no luck; this place is sealed up pretty tight. To my left I feel something move and hear a soft 'mew'. A black cat struts from behind a garbage can and stretches. It probably just woke up from a nap. It looks at us for a moment and walks to the corner of the building and disappears. I blink to make sure I hadn't imagined it, as I draw closer to inspect to spot where the cat had gone, there is a board that rests against the window to look like it's sealed, but really isn't.

I carefully move the board away to reveal a window that had been broken through, but the glass shards have been moved away to allow safe entry. Guess I'm not the first homeless person to think of this place. The thought comforts me and scares me. As I lower myself through the gap, I listen carefully for any signs of movement. I can make out the cat sitting on the floor watching us, but that's about it. I help Youichi through the hole and put the board back as best I could.

The window we had climbed through was leveled with the ground outside, but lead down into the room which would make this a basement of some kind. I take Youichi's tightly and feel along the walls for a doors. The darkness of the room unsettles my stomach. The cracks around the boards barely provided any light and it will be night soon. I feel around in my pockets for something I can use for light, then I remember the flashlight I packed. After some awkward maneuvering in my bag I found the red flashlight in my bag my father had given me when I was six. He told me the flashlights are like kryptonite to monsters and all I have to do when I'm scared is sweep it across the room and the monsters would go running. I switch the power on and sweep the beam around the room. We are able to find the brass door knob that squeaked as I turned it. I waited before emerging in the hall not completely confident that we were alone.

The long hallway led to an ascending staircase that went up to another door. This one is a little harder to open and I have to use a little of my weight to make it budge. There is another staircase that looks like it leads to the apartments. The front door is boarded over and I can hear myself breathe.

"Shall we check ourselves in?" I ask in a whisper.

Youichi doesn't reply but tightens his grip in my hand. I use to be afraid of the dark when I was little. My dad would have to check the closet at night before I went to sleep even if I had my flashlight. After he died I wasn't scared of monsters hiding in my closet because now I know the monsters are all around us in broad daylight. Persona's face floats back into my mind, but I push it away and mount the stairs. Each step creaks loudly under our weight but we make it to the second floor landing without falling through.

I try to open one door, but it's locked. It never occurred to me that doors in an abandoned building would be locked. Well I guess that taking the first door down the hall would be a bad idea in case other squatters showed up. I guide Youichi further down the hall and stop at a door marked eleven and pulled out my lock pick. I've never used it in a desperate situation before, but hopefully my inner cat burgular will assist me. After fiddling with the lock while Youichi held the flashlight, I grew frustrated and decided to open the door the old fashion way. I grab tight hold of the knob, twist as hard as I can and slam my shoulder into the wooden door. Finally the door swings open with a creak and I feel pretty accomplished, excluding my screaming shoulder. I take Youichi's hand and we go inside.

The air is stale like the rest of the building but the stuffiness makes it warm. I push the door closed and let out a sigh. It's a small place with a unified kitchen and living room space and door that probably led to the bedroom. There's no furniture, as to be expected, but it's warm and hopefully doesn't leak. I take off my bag and sit down on the dusty floor against. Youichi sits next to me and sighs.

"It's only temporary, but what do you think?" I ask him.

"We're going to die." He says.

"Is that your catch phrase?" I ask him.

He doesn't respond, but sighs again. I'm starting to sweat so I take off a few of my layers and unwrap my scarf. I pat the box that has my uniform inside. I'm one step closer to being on my feet in this dark, stuffy room miles and miles from Yuka and Persona. I wonder what they're doing. Looking for us? Persona must be furious. I shrug my shoulders turn my attention to Youichi. He's bundled up as well. I help him out of his coat and sweater and make a pillow and blanket for him out of my sweater and jacket. He clutches Mr. Bear and closes his eyes, not letting go of my hand. I rest my head on my bag next to him and turn off my little flashlight.

Fully dressed in a small room in a foreign place with no money or food, engulfed in darkness and I've never felt more at home.

Chapter six is already in progress and I'm in love with it so far. Thank you for your support.

For those of you waiting patiently (or not so) for Natsume's debut, I'm debating with his placement, but I assure you he will be here soon and we can all enjoy some NatsuMikan action and interaction. It's a work in progress.

Lots of Love

Chi-chan