Chapter 2
A few days later, I walked into the Le Rendard Noir restaurant. I was still under their surveillance.
"Hello." I said to Boss who was stood behind the bar.
"Welcome! Checking in again today, huh? What a good girl." He said.
"Um yeah, because I was threatened that something terrible would happen to me if I didn't come here every day." I replied and sat at the bar.
"Oh yeah, well we didn't have a choice. You refused to have one of us look after you." He said.
That's because I didn't want a stranger to watch me 24-7.
The day I was kidnapped by them, they asked me to choose and I refused so we made a deal. If I reported here every day and came whenever I was summoned, there wouldn't be a problem.
After I had refused to have any of them babysit me, boss wanted to celebrate me join them and everyone got drunk. We all drank and ate food, it was the most strangest thing. They all acted so casual as if nothing had happened. Takuto was a pain in the ass, so annoying. That evening, before we all drank too much he took me to the basement of the Le Rendard Noir, there were computers and shelves filled with files and boxes.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"Gimme your cell phone." He said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Just give it to me!" He snapped and held out his hand.
I got it out from my pocket and roughly handed it to him, making sure I hit his hand hard.
"This model. Huh.." He said.
He glanced at my phone before connecting it to a nearby cord.
"What are you.." I began.
A window popped up on the computer screen in front of me, he then began typing something at a ridiculous speed.
Whoa. I had never seen anyone type that fast.
"Here." He said and gave it back to me.
"What did you do to it?" I asked.
"I reprogrammed it." He said.
"To do what?" I asked.
"Nothing.." He said with a suspicious smile on his face. "We're done here, you can go now." He said.
"Gladly." I said and left.
I joined the others in drinking before I was allowed to go back home.
So here I was, stuck in this horrible situation.
"At least you can take one of my handmade good luck charms to protect you?" Boss offered as he placed a cup of tea in front of me.
"I'll pass."
"That's cold, I thought we were friends!"
"So.. When do you think you'll need my fingerprints?" I asked.
"Mmm.. Sooner or later." He said vaguely.
"That's pretty vague. Can't you be more specific?" I asked.
"Haha! Just relax. When the time comes, I'll let you know. Ok?"
"Why are you making a peace sign?" I asked.
Just then my phone started to ring.
"Hello? Tatsuro?" I asked.
"Hey. I haven't talked to you in forever. How are you?" He asked.
"I'm fine, what's up?"
"I'm just by your apartment and I was wondering if you'd like to eat lunch together?"
"Sure! Let's meet at the train station." I said.
It had been a long time since I had seen Tatsuro, he was a friend from my childhood. One of my best friends.
"I'll be there in twenty minutes. See you then." I said and hung up.
"Tatsuro... was that Tatsuro Togoshi? Your childhood friend?" Boss asked looking concerned.
"Yeah. Were you eavesdropping?" I asked.
"I wasn't eavesdropping. I overheard."
I glared at him "It's the same thing."
"C'mon now. Don't get mad. He's a police detective right? And up until recently, he was training with the FBI."
"How did you know that?" I asked.
"It's easy enough to find out. We have an intelligence expert."
He was referring to Takuto.
"Well, just so you know.. You better not tell your detective friend anything unnecessary. Because if you do, we'll have to take care of him and I really don't want to go to all that trouble though, ok?"
I only nodded.
"Anyway, I'm going. Bye." I said and stood up.
"Be careful, make sure you come back here tonight." He said.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"Because I said so but we're friends right?" He asked laughing.
This was turning into a hopeless situation, I just hoped that they needed my fingerprints soon. I couldn't wait to get back to my normal life.
I went straight to the train station, Tatsuro was already waiting for me.
"Hey you!" He beamed.
"Hey!" I beamed back and hugged him.
"It's been ages. What do you wanna eat?" He asked. "I'll treat you."
"Really? How about friend shrimp katsudon?" I asked.
"Big eater as always huh?" He asked.
We went to a dinner together and sat down.
"Is this dinner ok? Or should we go to a nice place?" He asked.
"I don't care where we eat, as long as we get food. Here comes the waiter." I said.
"Ok, so you'd like one order of spaghetti and a large order of shrimp katsudon with two soft drinks." The waiter said.
"Yep!" I said.
"Ok, I'll get your order in right away." He said and left.
Tatsuro kept smiling at me.
"What you smiling at?" I asked.
"I'm pretty sure he thought the katsudon was mine." He said.
"Really?"
"Definitely. You wanna bet on it?"
"Sure. If I win.."
I thought for a moment.
"Haha." He burst out laughing.
"Why are you laughing?" I asked.
"Cuz you have such a serious look on your face." He said.
"Hey, I might as well ask for something I really want."
"Ooh. So you think you're gonna win, huh? How about a ticket to the Mesopotamia exhibit at the national art museum?"
"Seriously? Ok and if you win.."
"You can pay next time we go out for drinks." He said.
"Sure." I agreed and held out my hand and we shook on it.
The waiter soon arrived.
"Sorry for the wait! Here's your shrimp Katsudon and spaghetti." He said.
We both remained silent as the waiter gave me the spaghetti and Tatsuro the Katsudon.
"Ok, let's switch." He said and moved our plates.
"Is it really that weird that I'd order this?" I asked.
"No but there aren't many girls who would order a large portion." He said.
I just shrugged and happily started eating. I really needed this, it was so nice being out with him. Everything had been so rubbish the last few days, I needed to be cheered up.
"Oh I'm stuffed. That was sooo goood!" I said.
"You sure ate a lot." He laughed.
"Yeah, I was starving."
"So.. Should we get a fruit parfait?" He asked. "It's your favourite right? You always order one." He said.
"Yeah but.."
I wanted to eat it but there was no way I could eat it all.
"Should we share it?" He asked.
"Yeah, let's split it." I agreed. "Which one would you like? The banana looks good but so does the mango.."
We ended up eating the banana.
"You can go ahead and eat your half." He said.
"Yay! Thanks."
I picked up my spoon but stopped before I took a scoop. I felt kind of bad, he was paying. I shouldn't be the one eating first. Oh I know! I picked up the strawberry that was on top.
"C'mon Tatsuro, open up." I said and held it up to him.
"Huh?"
"You should have the first bite." I said.
"No, it's really ok.." He said and turned his head away.
"Ooh. Are you embarrassed?" I asked teasing him.
"You're doing it on purpose aren't you?" He asked.
"Me? Would I do that? But who cares, we're always like this together." I said.
"What are you saying? Geeze.."
He opened his mouth and ate the strawberry.
"Is it good?" I asked.
"Mmm.. Really good." He said.
"Good, now I can eat my half!"
I instantly started scooping up bits. It was so tasty. I then noticed him smiling at me again.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing, your face is just so easy too read." He said.
I just smiled back at him as I ate.
"By the way, your museum was robbed, wasn't it?" He asked.
"Yeah." I said hesitantly.
"By the Black Foxes."
"Yeah, the museum is gonna be closed for a while. I don't know what I'm going to do for money this month." I said and sighed.
"Oh yeah, you're a contract employee, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I get paid by the hour, so it's really a pain for the museum to be closed." I complained.
It was the Foxes fault that I was in this mess in the first place. It was so annoying.
"Hey, about the Black foxes.. Did you happen to see any of their faces?" He asked.
"Huh? Who me?" I asked trying to act innocent.
"I saw who was working that day. You were at the museum pretty late that night, right?"
"Uh... I didn't see anything." I said quickly.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I was in the warehouse and when I heard the alarm go off I came but by the time I came out, they had already gone. I saw their backs though."
"Damn, I thought maybe you might have seen something that could have lead us to a clue." He said.
"Are you in charge of the case against the Black Foxes?" I asked.
"Yep. They're stirring up a lot of trouble lately. So the department is thinking of putting more cops on the case." He said.
"Really?"
So Tatsuro and I were on opposite sides now. I didn't like this at all, why did he have to be the one working on the case? It wasn't fair.
"Faye? The parfait is melting." He said.
"Whoa, you're right." I said and scooped some of it up.
"Haha! Because you're spacing out like that." He laughed.
I returned to the Le Rendard Noir that evening.
"We saw youu!" Hiro said as I came through the door.
"Huh? Doing what?" I asked.
"Faye.. Today you were with that detective at the dinner and you were like 'say ahhhhh!'." He laughed.
"What? Were you following me?" I asked.
"No no." Hiro said.
"We just happened to go to the same diner for lunch." Kenshi said.
"Really?" I asked.
As if I would believe them.
"For real, we're not following you." Hiro said.
"We don't need to follow you, because we can always find out where you are in an instant." Kenshi said with a smile.
I continued to glare at them.
"It's the truth." Hiro said.
"Anyway, aren't you in a bind? The museum's gonna be closed for a while, right? What are you gonna do for money?" Kenshi asked.
"Whose fault do you think that is anyway?" I asked and folded my arms.
"Haha. I guess it's our fault." Kenshi laughed.
"This isn't a joke." I said.
"Kenshi, isn't your mum hiring at your restaurant?" Hiro asked.
"Oh yeah, Faye why don't you work part-time in my family restaurant?" Kenshi offered.
"Seriously?" I asked.
"Why not?" Kenshi asked laughed.
CHIME CHIME
The door opened the Takuto and Riki walked in.
"Hey, what's going on?" Riki asked.
"Faye's going to be working in Kenshi's restaurant. She needs money and it's all our fault, you since the museum is closed now." Hiro explained.
"Oh that's right. I forgot you were a contract employee." Riki said.
"Can you even do the job?" Takuto asked.
"Yes!" I snapped at him.
CHIME CHIME
"Hi, can I have a table for three?" Someone asked as they came in.
I turned and saw Tatsuro stood behind me.
Oh god, why was he here? I immediately turned around and hide my face with my hand.
"Sure, right over here." Boss said.
"Great. Huh? Faye?" Tatsuro gasped.
"Oh yeah." I said and turned around. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I just wanted a drink..." He said.
Two other cops came in, Boss showed them to a table.
"That's him right?" Riki asked.
"Yep. Detective Tatsuro Togoshi." Hiro said.
"A.K.A the cop on our case." Takuto said.
"You think he came here 'cuz he suspects something?" Kenshi asked.
I watched Tatsuro and his friends, they were toasting to another case being solved. He kept glancing up at me, he was probably wondering why I wasn't going over to him.
I decided to join him and his friends.
"Hey." I said and sat down.
"What are you doing here?" Tatsuro asked.
"Just hanging out, I come here all the time." I said.
"Hey. Is she a friend of yours, Togoshi?" The first cop asked.
"Yep, since we were kids." Tatsuro answered.
"What, she aint your girlfriend?" The second cop asked.
"No idiot." Tatsuro said and I noticed that his cheeks went red.
Why was he getting shy all of a sudden?
Boss bought them their drinks.
"Cheers! Here's to another case closed!" The first cop said.
"Cheers!" They all said and banged glasses together.
"What case did you close?" I asked.
"You know, the 1 million dollar extortion plot." Tatsuro said.
"Oh yeah." I said as I remembered.
"We arrested the guy."
"So the case is solved." The first guy said.
"We still got a lotta work left to do on the investigation." The second cop said.
"Yet somebody got assigned to the black foxes case." The first cop said.
Hearing them mention the Black Foxes made my heart skip a beat.
"Not my fault, I can't say no to the chief." He said.
"I know, but you really put us in a tough spot. Now we're down one man." The first cop said.
"These robin hoods or whatever they like to call themselves, really know how to stir up trouble.. Damn it!" The second cop said.
I briefly glanced at the guys sat at the bar, they were all watching us. The minute I looked over, they all turned away.
"Anyway, I'll leave you guys to it." I said and stood up.
"Ok, I'll see you later." Tatsuro said and patted me on the head.
"Look at him all patting her head like that.." The first cop teased.
"Huh?" Tatsuro said.
"You sure she's not your woman?" The second cop asked.
"I already told you, no! Right Faye?" Tatsuro asked.
"We're just friends, anyway… Enjoy your night." I said and moved away from the table.
I joined the other guys, I could hear them all talking among themselves but the minute I sat back down, they were dead quiet.
"Problem?" I asked and glared at all of them.
"No." Hiro said but his smile made me instantly suspicious.
Tatsuro and his friends left soon afterwards.
"What is your relationship with him?" Hiro asked.
"We've been friends since we were kids and he's Ranko's older brother." I answered.
"That's not it, right? There's something else, right?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"Was he your first love?"
"What?!"
"Top grades, excellent at sports. He was always the anchor in the relay races at school, everyone noticed him." Takuto said.
What? Did they investigate him?
"When you're a kid, you're always popular if you're fast." Takuto said.
"Just because he could run fast, that wasn't the only reason I love-Ohhh!"
"Hahaha! Faye that's your own fault." Hiro burst out laughing.
"It was a long time ago." I stated.
Hiro was still laughing. "Anyway, what we're trying to say is... Even though he's your friend and first love, since he's a detective he's our enemy. So you better not be thinking of falling for him or spilling everything to him."
I glared at him, again with the threats.
"I wasn't planning on doing it, I'm not stupid." I said.
Takuto then snorted and I glared at him before I stormed out of the bar.