5

"God damnit Yaruji! I told you not to put this fucking hot ass pan of grease into the sanitizer!"

"Ohhh sorry there Zumi." A man almost in his forties spoke to her like a child. "Gosh... I'm just such a dope sometimes!"

He began rolling in laughter.

It made her sick

Great.

Now she'd have to drain and unclog the sink!

"I hate you." She stuck her arm down in the water which was about congruent with the actual length of her arm.

Grease floated to the top of the water.

"Aww you know you love me." Yaruji snicked on, walking out the open back door, tossing his apron to hang on a peg.

It missed and just fell sloppily on the floor.

He never put his greasy pans where she wanted him to!

God! Did nobody listen?!

She flickered the switch on the CD Player, at least she got to control the music... after they left. She memorized what albums on the old-school early 2000's Walkman 5-changer she'd placed in there.

Tonight was a #3 night.

Korn.

She scrubbed away as she listened to the American Nu Metal, they banged their guitars the way she wanted to bang Yuruji over the head.

Seriously? How disrespectful!

What a typical run-of-the-mill macho-ist stink wad. Literally.

By the time the douche was off of work, she swore he smelled so rank that he'd been secretly farting inside his pants all night.

What was odd was it that it seemed like nobody else in the whole kitchen noticed, or maybe they just didn't give a damn.

Who knew?

She began to sing Twisted Transistor in English with the song, it was the only music she liked, heavy rock, metal music.

It was dirty and grimy, like the life she lived. She also liked Dir En Grey, an actual Japanese Nu Metal band, she swore someday, when she came out of this, when her and her mom could get out... when the bills were paid, when the they got the house back, when they rose out of credit card debt... she'd go to a concert!

"Hey you, hey you." Then she hummed, then scrubbed. Then sang, "Alone, ly life... where no one understands you. But don' give up, 'cuz the music do." She hummed again, "Inside you, forever preaching. Fuc' you too. Your screams a whisper."

"Hey!" Isogai popped out from behind the open hole in the wall over by the main line. "Heard your music. I knew you were still here."

She turned it down a tad, getting the player wet a bit.

"Uh, I forgot you were still here Isogai."

The hole was where the chef sat completed platters for tables so the waiters could gather their orders for the customers.

"I don't know how you listen to this stuff."

"What?" She responded. Her black tee short was covered in nasty grease and food entrails, soaked through. The she got it suddenly. She was so concentrated on that damn pan. "I just like it."

He noticed. "Rough night eh?"

Why is he being so...?

Isogai she'd talk to if she had to. Her was her co-worker all in all.

Coming Undone, another Korn song from the mix she made came on.

At least he'd helped her get the job. She never told him much, and any open-ended questions she'd shut down, but she'd at least chat, sort-of, to pass time.

She'd try anyway. She wasn't much of a 'conversationalist' as they say.

"Yaruji threw in the grease pan again." That'd be a good enough explanation in being wet, and my frustration. Typical work issues.

"Yeh... Sorry." He said rubbing his neck, yawning. "So... What'do you think of E Class?"

That was the wrong question.

"I understand you couldn't tell me anything due to it being classified."

He crossed his arms over the gateway into 'Heaven' as she called it. She called the kitchen the 'Netherworld' to entertain herself.

"Yeh." He sighed.

"I just want to study... and be left alone."

"Did you have to use Terasaka to prove a point though?" His light brown eyes searched her wet form for a response.

She just turned on the hot tap, letting the grease melt off of the pan inside the sink. She wiped her face on her sleeve. "Had to somehow."

"Well, I think you broke his nose."

She chuckled. "Nah. I know I broke his nose."

Isogai just sighed and rolled his eyes at her harsh response, he'd worked with her awhile so he knew how to deal with her. "I admit, Terasaka is kind of an idiot, and with this training we should be able to take a hit, but damn..."

Her eye jolted up to meet his lounging form. He never cussed.

"But you really got 'em good."

I must of impressed him somehow.

Cool. Wait. Not cool. It didn't matter.

"Yep." She watched the grease loosening.

"Look, here's the deal." He unbuttoned the collar on his shirt and loosened his work tie.

The song ended and changed to Korn's Somebody, Someone.

Lots of dead air between their responses allowing for much of the songs to pass.

She knew all the song titles, she looked at the player, it was making noise again, it was old, then at him, who was now looking directly at her.

Deal, what deal? What's he talking about?

"Terasaka, is my friend, and somehow, I'm not sure how Zumi... but you messed him up. He's non-stop been complaining about his back. He's went and seen a chiropractor already, and had to go to the doctor to get his nose fixed."

She remained quiet as she listened, a few brown hair strands falling into her face, but then stopping due to sticking to her wet and sweaty forehead.

Isogai actually looked sort of upset. She never seen him upset. It threw her through a loop for a second, for such a calm person, this had really flustered him.

"You need to apologize."

"WHAT?!" Her mouth fell open amongst the hot steam.

"Yes. I'm serious." The player started into the chorus of the song, heavy guitar banging. "I'm not telling you to. I know you don't like being told what to do, at least that much I've gathered. I'm just suggesting. He's your classmate, and he became your victim. Do you have no remorse?"

She sucked in a deep breath of air, and let it out, closing her eyes.

He's not wrong.

"Just, just think about it okay? I know you don't play nice with others, but if you can't do it for yourself, because you feel justified somehow, at least do it for me. I helped you get this job Zumi, and I know we aren't friends, but Terasaka is my friend. If you've got any sort of thankfulness for what I did for you... Just think about it."

She nodded and he moved away from the window. She didn't get to ask him how it had been in 'Heaven' tonight. It was busy, she was sure he'd made decent tip money.

Before he left out the front, she heard him holler, "Be Safe!"

That Isogai.

He was too good of a person. So sweet and concerned for others.

Honestly it grossed her out. Everything, everyone in someway, she found something she hated or disliked.

Most people, all people... honestly. Yuck.

She was least attracted to sweetness, her aunt was the 'sweetie' of the family, a false one.

But she could see how girls at the main campus still sent him love letters.

Love letters. Also, yuck.

Isogai's sweetness was truthful though.

She let the heat of the sink envelop her face, clean steam from the faucet as she scrubbed busily on fart man's grease pan.

Yet another song came on. Korn, Make Me Bad.

This one was a favorite. They were all her favorites, but this one was a favorite among favorites.

She started singing again. In pretty good English. Her English had improved dramatically once she started getting into American music a couple years ago.

"I am watchin' rise and fall of my salvat...vation." she still stumbled on a word from time to time. "There's so much shi' aroun' me and such lack of compassion."

Isogai had her pinned. He knew she didn't care, but her used her job as an advantage.

A grounds for her to apologize upon.

She certainly had no concern who Isogai liked or disliked...

Unless it was that salmon haired twit.

We weren't friends, so it didn't matter. But as far as her job?

"I feel the reason, as it's leavin'. Me? No not again." She sang, half humming. "It's quite deceiving, as I'm feelin' the flesh make me bad."

Deceiving!

The perfect word to describe just what happened ten minutes ago!

She hated being turned into a pawn!

She ground her teeth, and finished up now scrubbing down the sink.

For as smooth and buttery as he appeared, Isogai was quite the wheeler and dealer.

Fine!

Apology it was!

But she wasn't falling for the trap. She'd do it on her own accord, on her own grounds. On her own terms.

I have to make sure my previous claim still stands.

She got home later that night.

Unknowing that somebody had been watching her in the shadows.

Thank god, it was a weekend tomorrow. Saturday. A much needed break, until work at Blue Mark later in the evening.

Maybe I'll actually get some studying in.

October 15. She penned in the journal she'd pulled out from under her bed frame:

'They told me to keep it classified, so I can't write even in here what's going on there. Not even to cover my own ass as my mom wants me to do. To save her ass also.'

She smirked, her mom had the tendency to be just as vulgar. She continued to write.

'Seeing my new sensei I can say, brought me to a panic attack a few days ago. I haven't had once since the last time I thought I seen dad.'

She grumbled, rolling on her stomach to write, rather than Indian style, her now clean hair swishing around.

Zumi took a bit of time drawing the wooden classroom building.

'All wood, 27 students, well, 28 now... and one that doesn't participate in anything.' (she meant the A.I., Ritsu). (Author's note- This was before Itona.)

She continued. Captioning it. 'Pretty typical old school building. Weird teacher. Weird students.'

She drew some of them that stuck out. Labeling them.

'Blue hair, Nagisa. Isogai. Terasaka. Blonde Chick. Karasuma. Ka... ka?'

She couldn't recall the aqua haired girls name, but she noted her because of her uncanny niceness.

On the next page, she flipped over, she sighed.

With a devilish look, she began to draw another portrait, a full page one.

She pulled out her colored pencils to see if she had the right color.

A particular color, that was quite hard to spy. She didn't have it. She decided to mix orange and red, harshly scratching the red over orange to mix them.

She drew bangs, only ever so slightly, covering brazen yellow-y eyes. Adding a darkness under his hair for shadow, and she added in a nose, erased a few pieces until it was close, an fairly good in resemblance. Leaving his mouth with a stupid smirk.

Caption. 'Calling this one Salmon. Hair Color pun. He's too nosy, I can already tell.'

She wrote a final end to the journal entry.

'Isogai wants me to apologize for breaking Terasaka's nose! haha! Too bad it wasn't his heart!'

Zumi laughed crazily after that, she swore, she cracked herself up!

She was full of it. Tired and running off of zero sleep.

Tossing the book and shutting off the light, the only one in the house, as her and her mom worked opposite shifts, she spoke out loud, getting under the blanket.

"That'll be the day. I'll do it Monday. Fine Isogai, I'll apologize."

She stared at the ceiling, hands behind head, house fully locked, drifting off.

"heh hehh, 'to bad it wasn't his heart!'" She quoted herself, chuckling, then passing out shortly after.