Originally, the chapter is NOT supposed to end like that, but I ultimately decided to do so, because I'm eager to post this chapter.
"Boss, I'm finally done with the last table."
Espio sighed in relief as he let go of his whitish, now dirtied, blanket. Instead of taking care of the cash register, he was now in charge of cleaning the table. Not that it minded the reptile to begin with.
"Good, now you can take care of the trash."
His boss, while not paying attention to her employee, was pointing several sack of trash lingering on the ground. The sacks appeared to have flies flying all over it and visible smelly fumes reeked from its hole.
"And after that, you'll mop the floor."
She walked toward the employee's room, still reading her journal.
"It's gonna be a long day."
He started rubbing his own slightly aching back before he proceeded to take out the trash.
*thunk!*
"There. It's my last one."
Espio cleaned up his hands as he turned around.
GASP!
Something forced him to stop on his track. Before him, there was a hulking figure standing there, looking at him. Despite his initial reaction, his expression later turned into an unfazed one. It was like he was already accustomed by his presence.
"What do you want?" he asked with an annoyed sigh.
"I just want to-"
"Visit me? Why am I not surprise? You already pay visit for me in this restaurant for two months or so. Is there a single day where you can let me breath for a while?"
"Actually, I just wanted to ask you if we can go out tonight. Bro to bro."
"I'm too busy today. I have to go home to figure out some things. Maybe someday?"
"Aw. I have been waiting forever for this."
"Don't you have your red friends, or should I say minions?"
"They don't want to follow my boys night out activities."
"Well, poor you, I'm afraid that you'll have to go alone on your boys night out party. And sorry, I'll have to go, the floor won't mop itself."
Espio left.
Now that the crocodile is alone, his expression seemed to harden a bit.
"That's an interesting looking bullet."
Espio is currently inside his house, looking at the wrap that contains the same bullet that killed the mayor. For him, it was unlike anything he has ever seen (which doesn't say much, since ninjas don't use guns). Besides the dried up blood that covered the bullet, it appeared transparent, ice-like even, like if you dropped it, you wouldn't be able to find it so easily. Lucky for him, he wouldn't lose it so easily.
"Maybe there's a gun store in this town. Maybe the clerk would know about it."
He walked out.
Thankfully, after a long search, he found a gun store somewhere in the middle of a dirty merchant street. Walking through the place was a challenge, due to his feeling of meeting bandits that could be lurking around. Lucky for him, he found none. As he entered inside the shop, the shopkeeper quitted doing what she was doing before (looking at her collection of bullet) and proceeded to help this long-awaited client.
"Ah, finally a costumer. It's been thirty-six days without a single one of them", she said with a smile, eager to help him. "What can I do for you?"
"I'd like for you to identify this bullet, if possible" he answered while taking out a plastic bag that contained the said bullet.
The female echidna started to identify the object, thoughtfully.
"I think I know what bullet it's supposed to be. Follow me."
When he got inside the storage room, he couldn't help but notice lots of box stacking on each other, forming some sort of brownish-white mountains.
"Woah!" he could feel his foot hitting on a shorter box, almost tripping him on the dusty floor in the process.
"Look out for the boxes on the floor", the pink echidna warned, "I forgot to put them back while cleaning up".
Espio groaned a bit at her late warning.
She then stopped at a peculiar-looking white-bluish box, which appeared appealing when placed in the middle of the dustiness and ugliness of this storage room.
She opened it. Take a look inside.
"Bingo", she exclaimed, a bit victorious." I think I've found the bullet you were trying to look for."
Espio approached, now extremely curiosity.
"Is it this one you're looking for?"
The pink echidna showed him the bullet that she picked up from the box. To Espio's surprise, it looked just like the bullet he was holding. It looks like he found it.
"Well, that's interesting."
The shopkeeper was now searching in a heavy looking book some information about the bullet. When she finally found the page, she started to read it.
"It is said that this bullet happens to be dubbed as the Ice shard stinger. While the bullets are only usable on an exclusive gun named Owl Shot, it is, however, pretty popular among hitmen due to its quick, silent yet deadly shot. Also, its bullets melt when they come contact into the victim's skin, which makes it easy not to identify what killed them. Which, by the way, how did you get your hand on it? You know that it would melt if it even comes contact on someone's skin."
"I found it on the ground while I was investigating the mayor's home. But I still have my gloves on, so, it's no big deal."
"Did you know who killed him?"
"That's a question I wished to answer. I had no clue who killed him, but one thing for sure, that hitman, or hitwoman was working for someone else who wanted my skin."
"That's horrible."
"But don't worry, since I moved away, they shouldn't be able to find me that easily anyway."
"You have a point there."
"Besides, I'm pretty sure there are other places for them to go buy their special bullets and guns, am I right?"
"Actually, they had been discontinued a long time ago, due to overdemand. Not to mention the fact that the only chemical element that made those bullets had been overexploited to extinction. Even though they don't sell those anymore, my store is probably the only one who still has them. Which is why I sold them very expensively."
"So, are there any buyers of those bullets and/or the Owl Shot that came in this store?"
"Sorry, there are little to no costumers here, and if there was, they have no idea about it."
Espio was losing hope.
"However, (Espio slowly regains his hope) I did succeed to get "rid" of two boxes of Ice Shard Stinger. One of those boxes were stolen by someone else, while the other was legitly bought", she was explaining to the chameleon, who became curious about the last statement.
"Who's the buyer?" he asked, eager. "Can you give me his or her name?"
At this point, the woman had no choice but to tell him.