Chapter 16
"Alright girls, with eight weeks left of school I'm glad you all agreed to start work now!" Keiichiro smiled. "Care for a little tour?"
The girls, all six of them present, nodded and scurried behind the tall brunet down a faded pink hall. The walls were lined with faux vines of green hanging down the ceiling and paintings of many old sights ranging from Japan to Italy. The floors were a pearly tile and complimented the stone pillars with fake cracks scattered throughout the interior of the restaurant. It was a very neatly kept and nicely decorated place and already there were a few customers.
"You see the original design for the café was more of a bubbly feel, but we thought we would mellow it down." Keiichiro gestured towards the various painting, one depicting an upward view of the Eiffel tower. "I suppose Ryou wanted to appeal to more customers, besides teenage girls. Our original design was a hit in Japan, but America. . .is a different culture, I suppose I could say."
They walked into a door which read 'employees only' and saw that it led to another dark hallway, lined with doors and dark wooden floors. Keiichiro walked past the first door motioning.
"That door is a closet; it contains brooms, buckets, basically everything needed for cleaning purposes." He stopped at the second door, which was painted white. " And this is the door to the dressing room."
They entered a fairly large room with a row of lockers on one side and an open shower in the corner along with some sinks lined along the other wall. Keiichiro picked up a box next to the door and placed it on the wooden bench in the middle of the room. He gestured to the girls to take a look inside; they found neatly folded maid dresses and locks.
"I'm guessing these are for the lockers." Saline stated, picking a lock up and messing with its front lobe.
"That's right." He smiled. "Here, I'll let you girls choose your lockers."
After they chose their lockers, Keiichiro led the group back into the hallway though he didn't go further down.
"Down there is where Ryou and I stay." He pointed to the isolated door next to the right corner of the hall. "And the door across it is the lab; all of you will get to see it in time."
" So when do we start?" Angelica interjected.
" Right now if you'd like." Keiichiro smiled, leading them back to the locker rooms. " It's almost lunch time, and we do need our workers."
He left the six to dig through the box full of uniforms, picking each maid outfit according to their mew mew colors. As Saline reached for the pink one, Erin quickly picked it up.
" I want the pink!" Erin bounced.
" Um. . .it's a bit to big for you Erin." Saline gave a weak smile as the petite girl held it up to her small frame. " It was kinda custom made for me."
" Ugh. . .fine." She groaned after a few moments of hesitation, handing the dress to Saline and pulling out her own yellow.
They walked out of the locker rooms quickly, moving past the tables and ducking into the kitchen. Keiichiro was pulling a cake out of the oven and Ryou stood with a list checking inventory. Noticing the girls enter, Ryou offered a sideways glance, then continued to check off his list.
" Alright girls," The blonde began. " I suppose we'll divide up. Saline, Cassidy and Marissa can be the waitresses for today. Angelica, you're the hostess and Crystal and Erin can help Keiichiro out in the kitchen."
The girls broke off, Angelica trailed after Ryou to the cash register, Crystal and Erin stayed with Keiichiro as the rest walked out to grab pads and pens from where Ryou had instructed. Saline nervously tugged at her skirt.
" You guys. . ." She whispered. " I'm not good with. . .people."
" Since when?" Marissa looked over at her skeptically.
" Well. . . " Saline stared at the customers. " I'm not good with people I don't know. . .what if I mess up their orders?"
" You won't." Cassidy reassured her, handing a pad and pen.
As it had turned out, Saline struggled walking up the the tables to ask for peoples orders, especially when they asked her trivial questions she didn't know. Which would she prefer? How much was a burger? How long were they open? Not only did she not know the answers to those questions, but she ended up sputtering things that she knew were ridiculous. Keiichiro ended up calling Saline to the hostess table. She meekly walked over, excusing herself of the couple sitting down.
" Are you okay? You seem flustered." He observed.
" I'm sorry. . .I'm just. . ."
" Shy?" He proposed as she nodded. " I never would have thought that of you, though."
" Yeah, I get that a lot." Her face flared. "I'm sorry."
" How about we switch you out with Angelica?" Keiichiro proposed. " All you have to do is seat the customers."
Angelica scowled.
" Thanks, because of your whining, I have to get switched out."
" I wasn't even complaining."
" Yes, you kinda were." Angelica grabbed Saline's pen and pad, walking past her to wait on the tables. Saline frowned, but didn't make any more comments. She knew Angelica's "up then down" behavior all to well. Saline just convinced herself Angelica wasn't trying to mean; she just acted that way subconsciously. The thought didn't stop a fire from burning in her belly though.
" Erin!" Angelica growled. " Can you please be faster with the orders."
" I'm getting them ready as fast as I can!" The smaller girl whined, shooting Angelica a dirty look.
" No, you're just standing there doing nothing!"
" Will you stop being so bossy!" Erin slammed the roll of lettuce in her hands down.
" We haven't even gotten an order with lettuce!" Angelica retorted. " When you stop pretending to do work, then I'll stop being bossy!"
Erin's cheeks lit up in red and she looked down at the lettuce. Working just wasn't her forte and it never would be. Erin huffed and walked over to the hanging orders. Frontega chicken, strawberry short cake, a milkshake. . . She groaned. Looking over at Keiichiro, she caught site of a broom.
" I'll go sweep stuff!" Erin cried, grabbing the broom and running out the kitchen before Keiichiro could object.
" Erin!" Angelica shrieked as the small brunette pushed past her.
Saline sighed at their antics, fumbling with some menu's stacked in front of her.
" Excuse me, miss?" A man in a work suite came up to her with a stern expression.
" Uh, yes?"
" Do you know that the plants outside pose a fire hazard?"
Saline blinked.
" W-what?"
" A fire hazard. . ." The man repeated. " Well, aren't you going to do something?"
" Um. . ."
" The nerve! Where's your manager? I demand to see him!" He wagged a pudgy finger at her.
" K-Keichiro. . ." The coiled haired girl meekly called. Keiichiro, after being informed by Marissa, came out to Saline's aid.
" How about you and Marissa switch with Erin and Crystal?" He shoed her off into the direction of the kitchen. Nodding, she grabbed Marissa and dashed with her to the back. Crystal triumphantly dropped the onions she was horridly chopping and after washing her wands, ran off to take over Marissa's shift.
Saline bounced all around the kitchen, retrieving the ingredients to cook everything needed.
" I'll start with the Frontega chicken, wanna make the milkshake?" She smiled at Marissa, who was equally beaming. " Whoa, I know why I'm happy. . .but why are you?"
" I wanted to work in the kitchen too!"
" You like cooking?" Saline questioned, beginning to dice a tomato.
" No. . .but I do like something else." She turned away, plugging the blender in. Saline cocked her head to the side, not exactly understanding Marissa's subtle hints.
" Oh good! You two have already started!" Keiichiro smiled, slipping on an apron. " Good job Marissa."
Marissa blushed and replied with a soft "thank you". Saline glanced between the two, eye slightly twitching. Realization hit her as a smile crept its way onto her face. Chuckling to herself ( and earning a weird look from the other two), she continued to make the sandwich. Saline, finally realizing her place was in the kitchen, didn't notice the hours pass by. The kitchen had become hot because of the oven, and beads of sweat collected on her forehead. Her and Marissa raced around, completely oblivious to their surroundings, nor when Keiichiro's watch began to beep. The older man stopped, glancing at his watch, noticing the alert of a chimera signal.
" Girls, their's a chimera sighting at the Luis Park Zoo. . ." He muttered, turning off the beeping. " It seems the aliens are at it again."
" We're on it." Saline chirped, putting down her knife and wiping her hands on a wash cloth.
" It's okay if only a few of you go. . ." Keiichiro suggested. " The chimera doesn't seem very strong."
" Gotcha. . .Marissa can stay here." Saline winked at the blushing girl, who gratefully smiled back. Running out, she tapped Cassidy on the back.
" Hey, monster sighting at the park." Saline whispered. " We need to get their now, the others can stay to help out with the café."
Cassidy nodded in response, following Saline out the back door. Once standing out side the café, they transformed quickly and jumped over the undergrowth and into the tree's. In a matter of minutes they were at the zoo's enterance, both panting and sweating.
" Okay, we may have super speed." Cassidy heaved, sweat dripping off her chin. " But once we get back, I vote that we propose to Ryou to build us a mew mew mobile."
" Yes. . ." Saline breathed heavily, hands on her knees. " I can't keep running half way across town."
Cassidy nodded and ambled toward the gates. Glancing around she noticed the Zoo deserted, and glanced wearily at Saline. The pink mew only waved her hand to dismiss the others worries and proposed splitting up. Hesitantly, Cassidy nodded, automatically rushing to the pony stables. Sighing, Saline turned her heel and followed the cobble stoned path in the other direction. She passed the tank with the alligators, thankful the aliens didn't choose one of them to transform. Then she thought, perhaps they would go for the biggest animal? She ran over to the elephant exhibit. Running to the bridge, she looked over the railings to see a mother elephant and her baby resting in the grass. Sighing, Saline ran a hand through her hair.
" Well, hello there hag face."
" Hag face?" Saline's face scrunched up as she turned to see the smaller alien from before floating in mid air. He had on a cocky grin and crossed his legs.
" You heard me!" He sneered.
" Alright." Saline deadpanned. " I'll bite. . .which animal?"
" Oh, I don't make animal chimera's. . ."
" You don't?" Saline raised an eyebrow.
" Nope. . ."
" You don't make animal chimera's so you make. . ."
" Plant chimera's!" He chirped.
" Fantastic." Saline sighed. " Now what plant could you have possibly picked to turn into a chime-"
Her eyes widened.
" Oh shit!" She cried, reeling back and running to Cassidy.
A/N: Haha, this chapter was suppose to end with them defeating the chimera but at the last second I was like " Nah. . .I have a better idea". So this chapter was a bit boring, but hopefully I managed to get in a bit of character development. . . If I didn't, well, does it help to say I might get the next chapter out tomorrow? I'm gonna try to shift the attention off of Saline for the next few chapter. I gotta focus on some of the other girls. . .
by the way, this chapter came out late becuase not only did my charger die ( so my laptop had no juice for half the summer), I also was busy fixing the first few chapters. . . because they were full of epic fail.
Title inspired by Metro Stations song Control.