Chapter 31 - Purgatorio


"Honestly, Fratello. You don't need to break your back trying to cheer me up" laughed Isami.

Takumi couldn't disagree more. That was exactly what Isami needed right now, no matter how hard his younger sibling tried to hide his disappointment. Tonight, he'd made Isami's favourite antipasto, favourite dinner, favourite dessert and he'd even set aside the last bottle of limoncello for him. Takumi looked over at his brother, who had weary lines surrounding his sky blue eyes and was adorning a tired smile. He stood beside the kitchen island, rubbing the back of his head in a little embarrassment. Takumi wouldn't dare let him help in dinner preparations and had sent his younger brother off to take a nice bath and change into comfortable clothing. Isami had done enough cooking in one day. Isami always wanted to look strong in front of people, especially his family. He did it to the point that it became so natural to him that Mamma and Pappa didn't think there was anything wrong hiding behind that façade of cheer. But not Takumi, Takumi always knew.

"It's nothing really. Go sit down, I've got everything under control" said Takumi, smiling warmly. He gave the pan a few more shakes on the stove, until he deemed their dinner was perfectly ready.

"At least let me wash the dishes!"

Takumi found it amusing that even on this darkening day, Isami still tried be supportive of him for the most menial of tasks. He wanted to be the one supporting Isami for a change. They were twins after all.

"No no, I'll take care of that too" said Takumi with unbridled confidence.

"If you say so, Fratello. Remember that I offered first when you struggle to clean that pan in our impossibly small sink"

"I can handle it!"

Takumi didn't mean to yell that loud. He actually welcomed that classic ribbing, it meant that Isami was starting to lighten up. Isami finally gave up with another tired smile and sat at the kitchen island. He propped his chin into his hands watching carefully as Takumi served up his comfort food from a steaming pan.

The weather got chillier and chillier with every passing day now that they were officially in Autumn. It made Takumi nostalgic for the warmer climates of Tuscano. He found himself missing the pleasant humidity, the warm sunshine and the flourishing life that spring and summer brought to the ever busy streets of Florence, and the idyllic beauty of the Italian countryside. He wondered how Trattoria Aldini and his parents and uncle were doing. No doubt business was always booming there. Their regulars would be chatting up a storm with their waitresses and a few of their customers-turned-family-friends probably calling their Pappa out of the kitchen to share a drink or two with them.

"I've always liked to have extra parsley in my gnocchi, but Pappa always looks like he's lost all hope when I've added more than I should into my own servings" laughed Isami, holding up his gnocchi with his fork.

Isami's favourite comfort food was stilton and pear gnocchi. Isami had a more 'adventurous' taste compared to himself. Which probably explained why he took up Japanese culture with more gusto than Takumi did. Isami was always sampling as much food as he could no matter how weird it looked or smelled, thus growing up being pudgier. Also Isami took on acquired tastes faster than Takumi did. That was one of his strengths, he had noted.

"Well, Pappa knows pasta inside and out, that's for sure" replied Takumi.

Isami hummed in agreement as he took a giant swig from his chilled limoncello. Pappa wasn't exactly the most forgiving when it came to making mistakes in the kitchen. However, like any father, he had to learn that his twin sons were unique in their different ways, and had palates unique to each other. Essentially, they weren't clones.

"Do you think that's why Nonna and Pappa had never seen eye to eye when it comes to matters of the kitchen?"

"Probably. Nonna isn't keen on the more modern twists Pappa brings to Trattoria Aldini. It was originally Nonna's and Nonno's restaurant after all before it was passed down to Mamma. But she can't deny that Pappa is an excellent chef"

Dio forbid the son-in-law trying to show up on an Italian mother's cooking. There was always at least one casualty in that battle and it was never the grandmother. Mamma told stories of Nonna viciously brandishing a rolling pin at Pappa just because he suggested she added a tad more ground pepper to her three-hundred-year-old recipe for the classic Aldini passata which was passed down through generations of Aldinis. What possessed him to open his mouth and say the first thing on his mind like a teacher's pet about the legendary Aldini passata, they'd never know. It was during those story-telling times, Mamma would openly joke about questioning why she even married Pappa. Takumi remembered Pappa would reply back with some sort of smart-arse comment that made Mamma blush and punch him in the arm with a little smile on her face. The two brothers continued to chat about their family, like any other day and soon Isami's woes were long forgotten and in the past. Takumi's heart warmed at the sight of his younger brother returning to his cheery and happy self again. His downcast eyes lightened up once more and Isami's shoulder no longer sagged like he carried the world on his back. They were now just two brothers enjoying a delicious meal together.

Soon it was well into the night when Takumi and Isami finished off their last morsel of dessert. Classic tiramisu. Isami's all-time favourite. With an extra Tia Maria for his dear brother. There was no such thing as too much Tia Maria in tiramisu. That was one of the many things the Aldini brothers agreed on. Takumi was surprised Isami managed to sneak a bottle of it into his luggage without their parents knowing when he came back from Italia during the summer holidays, but Takumi glad he did.

"Kurokiba-san asked me for my recipe for essencza della donna and I asked for the recipe for his eight-textured chocolate cake too. I feel really honoured!" Isami beamed as Takumi got up to clear their dishes.

That was Isami's inferioty complex talking again, Takumi noted. Isami shouldn't need to feel 'honoured' for being treated as an equal by their classmates. It had come to a point that sometimes Isami would make passing comments that downplayed himself and his skills without realising it, which saddened, bordered annoyed, Takumi each time. Why was it so hard for Isami to see that his culinary skills were right up there with everybody else? Many years of walking in his shadows had conditioned him be that way, but it wasn't until last year that Isami started breaking out of those chains and really pushed himself and take off into the stars. Takumi's heart suddenly weighed a bit heavily whenever his brother said such things. He guessed habits were hard to break. Isami just had to get used to being in the head-space that he was one of the jewels of the ninety-second generation of Tootsuki, not a lump of coal.

As Takumi came back to the kitchen island to collect their empty glasses, he noticed there was a bandaid on Isami's thumb. Was it there before?

"Did you cut yourself in the tournament?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, no. There was a splinter on the bathroom door. It's no biggy" Isami gave him the thumbs up and a cheeky smile. "I took the last bandaid by the way and I forgot to tell you we were low on them last time. If I'd known you were going to the pharmacy, I would've asked you to get some more"

Takumi quirked his eyebrow, depositing the glasses in the sink.

"Why would I have gone to the pharmacy?"

"Well… y-you know… to get… your stuff?" Isami started looking hot around the collar.

"What stuff?"

"Uhh… stuff you need…?"

"Isami speak plainly. What was I supposed to get?"

"Stuff you need… with A-Ayame-chan?"

"What would Ayame need from the pharmacy?"

By now Isami looked extremely confused and uncomfortable, like he was sitting in the sauna for too long. What was the big deal? Now that the both of them have gone down this rabbit hole of riddles, Takumi couldn't possibly let Isami go without making him say what hell he was talking about in plain language.

"Seriously, Fratello? We're brothers… You can't exactly fool me to that extent. There's only so much your embarrassment can be funny" Isami crossed his arm and stared at him with brotherly concern.

"What are you talking about, Isami?" Takumi rolled his eyes and started washing up the dishes.

"..."

"..."

"… il preservativo…"

CLANG!

The glasses slipped from his fingers.

What.

WHAT?!

CONDOMS?!

As soon as the last syllable of those Italian words slipped from Isami's lips, his world instantly spun out of control. Il preservativo…Condoms. Takumi suddenly felt like he was plunged into the icy Arctic sea in the middle of a raging sea-storm. His muscles instantly froze and his fingers, wet with soap starting trembling uncontrollably. His knees buckled instantly and his hands caught the edge of the sink in time with a loud thump. His mind instantly wiped itself clean to allow a million thoughts to hammer his brain into oblivion. Dio mio, Dio mio, Dio mio. They made love… out of wedlock... without protection. He and Ayame. Cristo... He had brought shame upon himself for subjecting Ayame to his indulgence and selfish desires. How could he call himself an upstanding man for Ayame when he disgracefully submitted to his basic carnal desires without giving an iota of thought to the repercussions of his actions, just to fulfill his own happiness?

How could he have been so careless!

Was Ayame going to be alright?!

What would happen if…?!

Takumi's heart clenched painfully as the sheer size of his stupidity ploughed into stomach like a battering ram against a picket fence, making him want to throw up his dinner. His vision blurred and he couldn't see anything in front of his face. Sweat poured from the back of his neck and his breath felt unbelievably shallow, like there was a plastic bag around his head. Suddenly, images of his dead carcass being dragged by the bloodied hands of a certain sword-wielding policeman across the Japanese wilderness was most prominent in his mind. That image might as well have been an extremely accurate premonition. Then he saw his parents shaking their heads in pure disappointment for failing to be gentleman and not treating his beloved the way that he should. The next image terrified him senseless.

Ayame shouting at him how much she hated him for doing this to her.

"Woah! Calm down Fratello! Breathe!"

Takumi barely registered his brother's words, already snagged by the throat by all his relentless fears pounding away at him like a criminal in solitary confinement for his reckless actions. Suddenly he felt a hand rubbing his back, but it did nothing to soothe the panic and nausea riding up and down his stomach.

'How could I have done this… How could I have done this to Ayame?!'

"...I h-have to call her…"

Takumi assumed autopilot mode and pushed Isami's hand away. He stumbled over to the kitchen island where his flip phone was sitting.

He had to talk to her. He had to make sure she was alright. He had to make sure she didn't hate him. As soon as he flipped it open with wet, soapy and shaking fingers. He gulped painfully.

"Wait!"

Isami placed his hands over his tightly gripped phone.

One look at Isami and he could tell his brother understood the serious predicament he was flailing in.

"Before you call Ayame-chan… just think… if she's pregnant, what are you going to do?"

'What am I going to do…'

Those words echoed over and over in his head amongst the relentless chatter from his conscience, still berating him for being irresponsible. He tried to find meaning in them, but he couldn't no matter how hard he tried. He was just so overwhelmed, but he couldn't find the words to describe what he was overwhelmed with and how overwhelmed he felt. All he could think of was if Ayame was alright and if she was hating him.

"I… don't know what to do..."

"When you graduate from Tootsuki, you'll be going back to Italy right? Your parents want you to take over the family business and it's always been your dream right? Ayame needs to continue to study and go to university for mechanical and mechatronics engineering and follow her dreams in becoming an engineer. She won't find that in Italy. She has to stay in Japan to make her dreams come true. You two will be separated by half a world apart in a one year's time. How far do you see your relationship going?"

Those words surged to the forefront like the bow of an icebreaker and it drowned out everything in his over-populated mind. Kuchiyose's words. It bit into him like a ferocious tiger. Merda, more things he had to think about. Things he should've thought about from the very beginning. If Kuchiyose already saw that coming, why couldn't he see it himself? The weight of his stupidity sank heavier and heavier onto his chest until he could barely breathe. If Ayame was pregnant then didn't that mean his fate was sealed? No, no, no. That wasn't the only issue… it was an issue amongst many. There was more to it than that. The fact that he was an international student meant that his fate was predetermined by his visa. Their relationship was already riding on the hands of a ticking clocking, just counting down like a sadistic grim-reaper until the time he had to leave.

"Think very carefully about what you and Ayame are going to do when it's your time to return to Italy, your world"

Whether Ayame was pregnant or not… he still had to leave.

Takumi felt completely lost. He collapsed onto the nearest kitchen stool. He knew he'd have to face this revelation at some point. He didn't think it would be this soon, so he buried it into the bottom drawer of his thoughts. Damned denial. They'd been with each other for a relatively short time, and he'd felt nothing but happiness, fulfillment and love for Ayame during those sweet times, and he was sure she felt the same. It was real, it wasn't an infatuation. He had been so blinded by his blissful joy and happiness that he hadn't given much thought to the reality of his relationship with Ayame. He felt something pressed between his fingers of his other hand. Isami had placed a cup of water, coaxing him to parch his thirst. Takumi held it like a stiff mannequin, but he didn't move to take a sip even though his throat felt like sandpaper.

'If Ayame is pregnant… and I have to go back to Italia… There's no way I can- '

"Fratello, I know this is hard. But I need to you to listen to me right now. Okay… Just imagine for a moment… Imagine… giving up your dream to run Trattoria Aldini with me…" Isami jarred his thoughts.

Takumi clenched his eyes and banged the fisted phone against his forehead.

"Look, Isami—"

"Just do it, Takumi"

Isami's voice was a chillingly still. Takumi sighed in exasperation and tried his best to conjure up the scenario. Giving up on his dream. It felt like a sword slicing up his skin into shreds, ripping his flesh into bloodied pieces, cracking through his bones. He imagined the sword representing his crumbling dreams and imagined it puncturing every single organ a hundred times until they were a scrambled mess. He imagined it twisting with each stab, tearing the flesh and ripping him apart from the inside. He imagined every line of blood flowing down his mangled body, draining him of his life ambitions. He hurt himself with the blade in every way he could until he couldn't take it anymore. That was what giving on his dream felt like.

"Now imagine Ayame-chan. This time, imagine giving her up"

Takumi bit into his lips until he could taste blood.

No.

Absolutely not.

He wouldn't dare think that.

As soon as the thought flickered past, he was subjected to an excruciating pain. It was more painful than he could have possibly imagined. The stabs, rips and slices of a well honed-sword was incomparable to the soul-crushing thought of leaving Ayame, his amore.

"If the second image is worse than the first, then you have your answer" said Isami.

Takumi opened his eyes. Was it that simple? What was the reality? What was the dream? Which could he afford to live in? It was true, losing Ayame was worse than leaving his future of being an Aldini chef in Firenze. But did that make it the right? Could that determine if he could make the right choice? He suddenly remembered something he told himself after he had confessed to her.

'She's the one for me. I wouldn't be happier with anything else as long as she still walked this Earth'

He wasn't sure what he was going to say nor was he sure if he was thinking in the right frame of mind. One thing he was sure of now was that there was no way he could return to Italia truly happy if he left her behind.

He loved her too much to think otherwise.

"Isami… I think that's a decision Ayame and I have to make together. Not just on my own…" said Takumi. His voice was rather raspy.

He could see Isami nodding from the corner of his eyes. Takumi took a deep breath and summoned the courage to dial Ayame's number.

Brrrrr… Brrrr… Brrrr… Brrrr… Brrrr

It was the longest five seconds of his life.

"Hello?"

He breathed out. Her voice was like the soothing balm to his turmoil.

"H-Hi Ayame…" he stuttered. "How a-are you feeling?"

"Good. How about you?"

She sounded normal. She sounded happy and content like nothing was wrong.

"Umm… good"

"You don't sound good" she replied.

"Well… not all r-really. I wanted to t-talk to you about something. Is this a good time?" he inserted his thumbnail into his mouth and began chewing it. He could tell that Isami was floating by the hallway door but right now he couldn't care less that his brother was eavesdropping.

"Of course" she said. Now her voice sounded a bit concerned.

"The other day when we… you know… w-we didn't… I mean, I didn't… use protection. U-Umm. I just want you to know that you have my support in everything y-you need. I w-won't ever leave your s-side. I-I'll take care of you and e-everything! You can depend on me! I promise I won't ever leave you! Please don't hate me!"

The more he talked, the more he panicked and the more he panicked, his words started mashing up together and he would end up shouting for no good reason. His thoughts were a runaway train with no breaks. His heart hammered in his chest as he tried to compress all his feelings into his word-salad to Ayame like a pressure cooker. His face grew hot and flushed as shame overtook him.

"I'm not pregnant—"

"I'll talk to your father myself. I'll tell him that it's all my fault and none of the fault was yours. I'll convince him that I can protect and provide for you, even if I'm still in school!"

"I'm not pregnant!—"

"I'll take full responsibility. I'll open my own trattoria in Tokyo after I graduate to support you if I have to! I'll make sure I'll be the best father that I can for our—"

"I'M NOT PREGNANT!"

Takumi ripped the phone from his ears as Ayame screamed at him. He blinked in confusion. What did she say? But… but… che?!

"Gosh, Takumi-kun… Sorry, I couldn't get a word in. Relax, you don't need to worry. I'm. Not. Pregnant"

No, no, no… that wasn't right. They made love. She was pregnant wasn't she? That's how babies came from, right?

"There's no way I could be pregnant…" she continued.

Takumi realised how twisted his logic was just then. He expected her to elaborate further, but was only met with stony silence and light breathing on the other side. He imagined her face was red with shouting at him.

"What… do you mean?" he asked hesitantly.

"Well, I'm on the pill, so yeah. Nothing to worry about" she said quickly.

Takumi was more confused.

"But isn't that something you take the… s-straight after? I don't remember you... doing... that" he said.

"Well, not THAT kind of pill. The other pill"

"What other pill?"

"Takumi-kun, shouldn't you be feeling relieved and happy that we're not having an accidental baby?" Ayame chuckled, with a hint of nerves outlining her words.

Takumi slapped himself in the forehead. "Yes! Yes! Of course! Yes, I am relieved. I'm also glad that you're alright and not mad at me" he tried to regain his nerves and tried not to sound like a blithering idiota.

"Of course I'd be alright. I'm Kanda Ayame" she giggled.

Yes she certainly was. She was his Kanda Ayame.

"I don't understand though… how did you know when to take th-the 'other' pill when w-we were going to… you know…"

"Have sex?"

Takumi nearly slipped off his kitchen stool. It sounded so wrong when Ayame said 'sex' as she finished off his sentence. In all honesty, he hated that word. It sounded so abrupt and vulgar. He preferred to sugar coat that word with softer and romantic phrases like 'making love' or anything similar because to him, The union between two beloveds was something he saw as wonderful and romantic.

"…Si…"

There was shuffling on the other side of the phone and he guessed Ayame was shifting around on the floor and moving her school books aside.

"I take the pill every day more or less—"

"Everyday?!" Takumi shot up. Everyday since when?! She was expecting that they'd make love every day to the point that she'd take the pill every day?! Well that was unexpected of her!

"Yes! Oh god, Takumi-kun calm down! Oral contraceptives aren't only for preventing pregnancies, you know. The real reason I take is for something else really…"

That stabbed at Takumi's curiosity. "What's the real reason then?"

"U-Uhh… I don't know how to say this delicately, oh god…" Ayame groaned.

Takumi's curiosity was too far gone to consider how uncomfortable his girlfriend was sounding with this topic, but he waited with bated breath for her to explain.

"I need to take the pill everyday… to regulate my period…"

"Regulate… your period…" Takumi-kun mimicked blandly.

"Aya! It's so weird when you say it aloud! Yeah I have irregular cycles…" Ayame whined.

Period? What did that mean… Takumi looked up to where he knew Isami was still hovering by the hallway, looking to know if he knew what this 'period' was. Isami looked like he was mulling over his thoughts too as he had been listening in onto his conversation with Ayame.

"Umm… la mestruazione" offered Isami.

La mestruanzione.

Menstruation.

Oh god!

Periods!

"Wah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry too much into your private business! That was very insensitive of me!" Takumi shouted back into the phone. He was back to acting like a fool again and his face brimmed with mortification and embarrassment. He should've dropped the topic as soon as Ayame said she wasn't pregnant and moved on.

"No, no. That's okay, you didn't know..."

This was fast getting awkward if it wasn't before and right now Takumi wished somebody bludgeoned him with a cast-iron wok. He felt so tired and he sank onto the kitchen island and folded his left arm under his head as he still managed to keep his phone pressed to his ears.

"What you said before... about not leaving my side and taking care of me... did you mean it?"

"Every word"

"I love you, Takum-kun"

"I love you too, Ayame"


Chizuru basked in the warm glow of the afternoon sun filtering through the display window. Work was the same as usual. After school, hop over to Kojima-san's bookstore and just do shit, watch Kojima-san verbally abuse his customers, earn money and then go home. That was how she would've liked it to be.

Teru-fucking-nori made it impossible.

Chizuru sighed and looked over the stacks of take away boxes and microwavable containers sitting in the backroom. It started looking like a Chinese take-out place with those towering boxes hiding in the back. What the hell was wrong with this guy? Ever since the first time he came here, he kept coming back at least twice a week and shove another box of whatever food he made into her hands. It was getting ridiculous! She forgave him like, how many weeks ago? And yet he was still giving her food! She wasn't a starving rat from the ghetto. No matter what strategies she used to refuse them, or insults she catapulted at him, he remained unfazed and insisted in his own obnoxious way that she took it.

Sometimes he even made her eat it with him.

Chizuru shivered. There was something pathologically wrong with this punkass midget. Routinely coming back and giving her food despite repeated refusals was unhealthy behaviour. He did it like he immensely enjoyed her swearing at him to go away. But as soon as he had opened the boxes and showed her the contents, well... the glistening sauces, the food presentation, and the red-hot chilli colour was quite attractive and it had made her stomach grumble quietly. His food was always made fresh and was piping hot. It made her salivate, which was rare. Then the way his eyes sparkled with scary mischief, the way his smug smile upturned into a feral smirk, and even the way he just placed his hands on hips and jutted out it out as if he was the God of fucking everything irritated her beyond belief.

She didn't want to feel like she owed him anything. They were even. Whenever the short bastard came around and dumped his hot and spicy filled tupperware at her, he just hung around the shop talking about some random bullshit, flicking through books and whatnot while she tried to find ways to bar the shop from his return. In the end, she'd had just pull out a chair and started eating half of it while the bookshop owner had gone to get drunk at some izakaya.

Didn't he have anything better to do in Tootsuki than to hang around and annoy her?!

When he didn't come, he sent his school entourage down to the bookstore to deliver his food to her in his stead, which was a lot worse. They introduced themselves as Terunori's xuedi, which apparentlyw as the Chinese equivalent to kohai. His entourage were all gigantic muscular young men dressed up in traditional Chinese outfits from his Chinese cuisine club. They even had bald heads like Shaolin monks in the Chinese dramas. Apparently they had been ordered to stay there until she accepted his food.

For fuck's sake.

Chizuru even thought she had a stroke of genius one time. She found his food undeniably enjoyable, so there was no point in lying about it because it would make her look like an idiot, and she wasn't an idiot. She thought if she said his food was delicious and commented on how she liked the textures and the spiciness many times, his ego would inflate so big, that he'd get bored of her and then go look for somebody else, a bigger challenge to compliment his food. She did exactly that. She ended-up executing her plan in a half-arsed tone. She couldn't bring herself to kick it up and notch and sound like a fan-girl because her threshold for 'enjoying food' remained stuck at around the level of 'normal sanity'. Also, Terunori would smell the insincerity like a bloodhound.

Praises regarding food from a girl born without a sense of smell or concept of flavour wasn't worth an achievement anyway.

Thus, her plan didn't work much to her chargrin, and it seemed to bring him some sort of self-satisfied joy to hear that from her lips, and he kept coming back like a cold-sore and there were no signs of boredom from him whatsoever.

She ended up eating Teru-fucking-nori's food for dinner twice a week.

Well. She enjoyed it as much as her anosmia allowed her and it was still a great reprieve from her mum's food. It wasn't after a while she came to terms that he simply wasn't going away and she began accepting his food with little resistance. Free food, why the fuck not? The last thing he made for her was Sichuan eggplant with rice, and a side of pickled mustard greens, which apparently came from his own personal jar. Big whoop. It was spicy and the acidic kick was zingy. She told him it was nice and hurry the fuck up and take his boxes back because the backroom was cluttering.

Chizuru finished dusting the shelves and put the feather duster away. She looked around to see if there were customers she could assist, but they were all comfortable to casually browse. There were about four or so customers, so it was a quiet day. She quickly looked over to her employer who was sitting in the clothes he wore last week, reading Beethoven's unofficial biography. Chizuru then decided to busy herself with pricing the heaping box of donated books.

"Those books, how much?"

Chizuru looked up from from her self-assigned task to see who was addressing her. Instead she found a large man towering over Kojima-san's messy table. Her employer slowly roused from his book and looked at the customer up and down as if he was trying to figure out if he was talking to him or not. Kojima-san had a cigarette hanging from his lips which he'd been puffing silently and every now and then tapped it onto his overflowing ash-tray.

'This will be fucking good'

These occurrences made her day.

"Hmmm?" Kojima-san grunted.

"Those books, the leather-bound ones" the pointed to the nearest shelf with his chubby ringged finger. He sounded very pompous indeed and his tailored suit was brimming with money. Chizuru remembered pricing those books from that shelf the other day. Couldn't he read the tag?

Kojima-san removed his cigarette from his chapped lips and made a great effort to crane his neck to take a look, and then returned his displeased gaze onto his customer.

"Yes. Dickens. The collected work of Charles Dickens" He picked up his cigerette again.

"Are they real leather?" demanded the man.

"Well, they're real Dickens" shrugged Kojima-san.

"I have to know if they're real leather because they have to go with the sofa" the man crossed his arms over his broad chest and eyed the grubby bookstore owner rather haughtily. "Everything else in my house is real" he finished off with a flourish in his tone.

Kojima-san had the face that said he would rather wank to a goldfish.

"I'll give you thirty-two thousand for them" the man pulled out his fat wallet from his equally fat arse.

"Thirty-two thousand what?" Kojima-san spat out and rubbed his bloodshot eyes with the heel of his palm and swayed around groggily.

"Thirty-two thousand yen" said the man as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it was.

"Are they leather-bound yen?"

The baffled man knitted his eyebrows together "... of course not"

"Sorry, I need leather-bound yens to go with my wallet. Next!" Kojima-san slapped his hand on the bell after his sarcastic quip.

The man's face swelled up with anger until the collar of his dress shirt almost choked him. He shoved his wallet back into his pocket and stormed off.

'Ah, good times'

Inane questions never ceased to annoy her employer. Chizuru watched as the other customers went back to browsing for books. Kojima-san grumbled incoherently and settled back to reading his autobiography and kicked his feet up onto the table. He lit himself another cigarette. Well, she couldn't have that now, could she. Chizuru counted him going through at least three cancer-sticks during her shift. She couldn't smell it, but it was time she did something about it anyway. She marched over to the back room and took out a bottle of their citrus air freshener she'd bought.

She sprayed it all over her employer.

"OI! WHA-! HEY! You useless chipmunk! Cease this at once!" He fell off his chair with an unceremonious bang. Chizuru stopped and capped it. She smiled innocently while he floundered on the floor like a fish out of water. He heaved himself up by grabbing hold of his overflowing table and dumped himself back onto his ratty old chair.

"Three cigarettes is the limit, boss" she said while smiling.

"You do realise that air-freshener only hides the smoke. It doesn't actually make it disappear. So ha! Your lungs are still dying" he snapped at her with pure derision. He wrangled himself out of his old jacket and threw it into the corner as it took the brunt of her air-freshener attack. "Oh wait, I forgot you can't smell anything. So what's the point of that?" he grimaced at her and waved his hands to dismiss her.

"Smoking is a nasty habit" she replied.

"Your Hobbit friend has a nasty habit..." he grumbled.

"He's not my friend!" she groaned. She knew exactly who he was referring to. The only other male around her age and short stature who constantly dropped in and out of the bookshop like a typhoon.

Ding ding!

"Look what the cat dragged in! Hey Frodo, take this 'she-hobbit' out somewhere to destroy the 'One Ring' before she destroys my charming, five-star shop" Kojima-san waved his hands at the door, in the direction of the ringing bell above the shop door.

Teru-fucking-nori Kuga in all his Tootsuki uniform glory and his huge ego stood at the threshold with a large grin on his face.

"Causing trouble again, Namikaze?" he replied cheekily.

"No I haven't and my shift isn't over!" yelled Chizuru.

One other ugly thing that came out of the punkass midget's regular visits was that he wasn't at all scared at Kojima-san. Kojima-san's insults tended to be sharper, heavier, and worse than her own but for now Terunori hadn't done anything to truly aggravate her nihilistic employer to the point he was on the receiving end of those insults, but every now and again, they did banter in their strange odd way. It was like this wild-haired boy warmed up to anyone no matter who they were or which parts of hell they hailed from.

She felt Terunori's hands suddenly grip her shoulders and he yanked her work apron off of her. She yelped at the sudden jerk. Just in time, her arms reflexively caught her school bag being thrown over the table at her by Kojima-san and before she knew it, Terunori her pushed out the door and onto the busy streets of Karakura honchou in the blink of an eye.

'Ugh... not this again...'

"So where do you want to go?" Terunori pretended like nothing just happened and folded his arms behind is head.

Chizuru sighed. She could already hear her miserable and incorrigible employer ripping open a fresh packet of cigarettes. Oh, what the hell...

"I dunno, I saw a new cafe opened up a couple of months ago across the street, just further down. I heard it's a franchise from the UK" she said nonchalantly. She noticed that he didn't carry with him a plastic bag with a box of his Sichuan cuisine food in it this time but chose not to question it.

"Alrighty, let's go!" Terunori forcefully linked his elbows with hers and dragged her down the street, her protests falling on deaf ears.

This annoying punkass midget was always touching her in some way. She hated people touching her without permission. Whether it be grabbing her hand to make sure she took his tupperwares, slapping her on the back (which stung like a bitch), poking her in the face or really, just grabbing her upper arm and pulling her from place to place. She even smacked him around the back of the head now and again which always ended up in a curse-word-filled screaming match, but he still endevoured to annoy her.

Chizuru huffed and puffed when they made it to the aforementioned cafe. She looked up at the sign just before Terunori tugged her to the front of the line. It was called Speedy's Sandwich Bar & Cafe and despite its name, they didn't have particularly fast moving service. Maybe the owner's name was Speedy? Maybe they sold amphetamines on the side? Whatever, it was a Western style cafe and it looked quite nice.

"Hey, you can't just cut the line" she hissed into his ears, her nose wrinkling at his wild strands of his blonde-dyed her tickling her nose. She avoided eye contact with the people queuing up who were looking a bit miffed as Terunori bulldozed his way through.

"Hell yeah, I can. One of the perks of being one of the Elite Ten at Tootsuki is that we can cut any line at cafes and restaurants" He flashed her some sort of gold card with the Tootsuki school crest on it. "We leave them reviews with some extra tipping if they're good. It pushes them up in ranking for the 'Japan Food Guide'. Actually, us being here is already give them a good name" he continued to boast at her.

"Welcome to Speedy's! An Elite from Tootsuki? Well right this way guys" said a chippy waiter staring at the gold card Terunori was holding up. He ushered them inside to a well located set of table and a cafe chairs. Chizuru gingerly sat down and placed her book bag on the floor. She mumbled her thanks when the waiter handed her a menu. It was basically a piece of paper clipped to a clipboard. She looked around, everybody was eating off of some sort of miniature chopping board. Alas, the new contagious food trend that's been gripping the nation.

'This is... not too bad'

It was a bustling cafe and it was filled to the brim with people. It was a good sign of productivity. She looked over at the small group of people waiting outside who were still giving her and Terunori the evil eye. She looked up at the said boy to see what reaction he had to the decor of Speedy's Sandwich Bar & Cafe, but he was paying all his attention the menu, flipping it up and down as if he was an investor perusing the finance section of a newspaper. She played with a few strands of her short hair and a vintage looking blackboard with more menu items on it hanging on the wall caught her interest.

It was written in both Japanese and English.

If she had a bone to pick with this place, it was the English translation on that board.

"Keep staring at the special's board and you'll set the place on fire" came a sharp snarky remark. She looked up into Terunori's cheeky face as he smirked at her. Since when had he been watching her? His eyes danced with a mischievous fire. He leaned forward until his loosened tie was pretty much lying on top of the table. He still wore a black undershirt which she could see from his open-collar. He dressed like Kuchiyose-kun. Sloppy.

"It says 'smashed avocado on toast' there in English" Chizuru pointed out. 'English' was only subject she was better in than Ayame-chan.

Terunori shrugged.

"Since when did we abuse our avocados? What, we gotta belt the shit out of our food before we can enjoy it? It's not 'smashed avocado', it's 'mashed avocado'. For it to be 'smashed avocado' you gotta scrape it off all four walls after jumping on it. Now that's 'smashed avocado'. They're wasting room on their blackboard. They've got an 's' that doesn't need to be there. They could just put 'mashed avocado'. Actually! They could just write 'avocado on toast'! I'll presume it ain't a whole avocado sitting on a piece of bread!" she finished ranting.

"You're mistaking me for someone who gives a shit" said the delinquent looking student opposite her.

"You better put down everything I just said in your food review" replied Chizuru, tapping her finger on her napkin.

"Fuck no. You have serious issues" Terunori pointed at her with his menu. "Have you picked out what you wanna eat yet?" Terunori leaned back and snapped his fingers. Like magic, the same waiter came running.

Chizuru sighed again.

"...smashed avocado on toast..."


OK! Breathe Takumi! Breathe! One think at a time please. Find out if Ayame's pregnant first and then feel free to go hysterical! That boy can't think straight when it comes to these things. But then again, who can? Good on you Isami for staying in the background ready to provide back-up if Takumi gets ripped to shreds on the phone.

The Japanese word for "periods" is gekkei (月経or げっけい), which is a word Takumi is not familiar with in Japanese. Fortunately for him, Isami knows and is able to translate it for him lol. Takumi had probably fainted too many times in sex ed, or he sticks his fingers in his ears and goes 'lalalalala!' when someone starts mentioning it haha! Poor Ayame having to spell it out to him haha.

Aha! Kojima-san has struck again! and Terunori's made it a mission to be a belligerence to Chizuru! How long until she cracks?

Let me know what you think and I'll see you soon!

Signing-off

-TripWire-dono