Chapter 11
The next morning, I was sat in my apartment having breakfast when my mobile started to ring.
It was Mitsuru.
"Hey. What's up?" I said.
"What's going on Faye?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Why didn't you tell me? How could you just quit like that?"
"What are you going on about?" I asked.
"The least you could've done was tell me first."
Ten minutes later, I stormed into the bar opened the door with a kick.
"Sorry, we're not open yet. Oh Faye, it's you." Boss said.
I glared at him "You!"
"What?"
"Don't play dumb. I just spoke with the employment agency. They said a very flirty-sounding man called them up this morning and said 'Faye Stone has run away to France so please accept her resignation from the museum'!"
"Huh? You heard it was a flirty guy and you came to me first?"
"You're the only one that sprung to mind." I said.
I moved around the bar to grab him but he quickly moved away.
"Haha I see."
"This is no laughing matter!" I shouted and threw a bottle of salt at him.
"Hey!" he shouted and ducked.
"Call the employment agency right now and fix it, if not I'm going to lose my job!"
"Hmm. I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do." He said.
"Why not?" I shouted and moved in the other direction to try and catch him but he moved away again.
"Because, look at this." He said and handed me a map "I looked it up, according to your birth day, it's your directional fortune."
"What?"
"You've been working at Kenshi's place right? Well there is his house and here is the museum. That an unlucky direction." He said.
"That was your reason?!"
"What? You shouldn't underestimate directional fortunes. If you travel in an unlucky direction, terrible things could happen to you. This is for you."
"Why are you giving me a creepy doll?"
"A good luck charm, to protect you. This doll will protect you from any unlucky event."
I looked down at the doll before ripping it's head off. I then threw the doll at him before punching him in the face.
"Oww! Hey! That's so mean. Why did you punch me? And my doll, it took me forever to make that."
"You are unbelievable." I shouted and stormed out of the bar.
I couldn't believe this, how could he do this? I loved my job at the museum, more than anything.
As I walked I banged into someone.
"Oh sorry." I said.
"Faye?" Kenshi said.
"Hey." I said and sighed.
"What's up?" he asked.
I explained about what Boss did.
"I can't believe him! How could he do that? But I'm going to fight it. If I call the agency and explain everything…"
"Wait." Kenshi said.
"What?"
"I'd like you wait." He said.
"Why?" I asked.
"When all this over, I'll make sure you get your old job back. So…. Can't you just accept the situation?"
"Accept the situation? I don't have a job thanks to boss. And why do you want me to wait?"
"I can't tell you that but I promise I'll tell you when the time comes. But as for a job, you can always come back to the restaurant. My mum's been asking for you." He said.
I folded my arms and glared at him, why did I get the feeling that I was being set up? They were up to something and they weren't telling me about it.
"Hey, I know what'll cheer you up." He said with a bright smile on his face.
Twenty minutes later,
"Ugh… so heavy.." I said.
"Come on, you can do it!" he cheered.
"Stop encouraging me. There's no way I can carry ten 2 litre bottles." I said.
We were stood outside a sports stadium and I was helping him unload things from the van. When he said that he wanted to cheer me up, this wasn't what I had in mind.
"But Riki and Boss were busy. Hiro's out somewhere and I feel bad asking Takuto to help." He said.
"Huh? Shouldn't you make him help before asking me?"
"Do you really think he could carry something this heavy?" he said.
I paused and thought before nodding.
"Yeah I see your point. He is kind of a beanpole."
"Right? Takuto's more of an indoor guy anyway. I can count on you more for this kind of thing." He said.
"That's not really something a girl likes to hear." I said.
"Oh I guess you're right. Hahah, sorry!"
"Anyway, when you said you wanted to cheer me up I thought.."
"You thought what?"
"I thought we were going to go out for food." I said.
"Food? I brought us some lunch. Gen and I made some onigiri." He said.
"Oh really?"
"Yep. We some tuna and mayo ones. You like those right?"
"Yes I do. Thanks!" I said and smiled.
"Anyway, shall we go?" he said.
"Why are we going to a baseball field? Do you like baseball or something?" I asked.
"No it's not baseball today." He said.
We went inside the stadium and there were men playing football.
"You like football?" I asked.
"Yeah, I played football in military school." He said.
"You went to military school? That's cool." I said.
He did seem the type to go to military school and play sports.
"Is this your first time seeing a game?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Ok, after we bring the drinks I'll explain the rules." He said.
Kenshi went down to the field and we brought the 2 liter bottles with us, he was instantly greeted by his friends.
"Hey guys, I brought you some stuff." He said.
"Thanks." One said.
"Is Nomura here?" Kenshi asked.
"Yep, he's over there." One said and pointed.
"Thanks. Hey Faye, I'm gonna go say hi to him. Can you wait here?" Kenshi said to me.
"Sure." I said.
He walked off and I sat down on the seats and tried to follow the game. I didn't understand why people would enjoy chasing a ball around a field. And there were cheerleaders dancing around, their skirts were really short.
"This is so boring…" I said and looked at my watch.
I wondered how long he was planning on keeping me here. The ball only moved a little bit at a time and the players just kept getting into a huge jumble.
"Why do you have that look on your face?" Kenshi asked.
"Because I'm bored." I said as he sat next to me.
"Haha. I'm sorry, I guess it would be boring to watch if you don't know the rules." He said.
"Yeah, I don't get the game at all." I said.
"Ok, I'll give you the basics." He said.
He summarized the rules for me.
"So if they get the ball over there, they score?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Ok and there's offense and defense. The offense has four tries to move the ball ten yards." I said.
"Right and if they don't get it, the ball goes to the other team. So the defense tries their best not to let them get down the field." He said.
"Ohh. So that's why the ball doesn't move much." I said.
"Haha. Yeah, the speed is completely different from a soccer game, huh?"
"What position did you play?" I asked.
"Tight end. Look, I was over there on that side. Tight ends have to catch the ball from their quarterback and be able to block the defense. It's a pretty important position." He said.
"Cool." I said.
"So they have to be good all-around players. Know all the strategies… hey, I'm trying to be serious here. What are you grinning about?"
"I'm sorry it's just… kind of cute by how serious you are about football." I said.
"Huh? Cute?"
"Yeah, didn't you have a kid like that in grade school?" I asked. "The kid who was always enthusiastic about sports he couldn't stop talking about it? That's how you're acting today." I said.
"What, like a kid in grade school?" he said.
His cheeks flushed red.
"Haha. I'm sorry." I said.
"Kenshi?" a woman said loudly.
"Hey, long time no see." Kenshi said and smiled at her.
She must be one of Kenshi's friends, they seemed close.
"Supporting you alma mater today?" she asked.
"Yeah, how about you?"
"Same, a friend from the cheerleading squad invited me." She said.
"Oh, cool." Kenshi said.
"Who's this?" the woman asked and turned and looked at me.
"Her? A waitress at my restaurant."
"Really? She's not your girlfriend is she?"
She then started to glare at me. What was her problem? Did I look like Kenshi's girlfriend?
"Hey Kenshi, you want to go out to dinner sometime?" she asked. "Please? It must be fate for us to run into each other again."
"Fine. Call me and tell me whenever's convenient for you. I'll invite a bunch of people too." He said.
"Huh?" the woman gasped confused.
"Yeah, we should all go out and have fun. Right?"
"I guess, see ya later." She said and slowly walked off. She looked a little deflated.
"Later." Kenshi said.
I looked at Kenshi and then at the woman, did that just happen? Did he purposely do that or did he not realise that she was asking him out?
"She was asking you out, you know." I said.
"I know but things would get too complicated if we went out alone. I don't want her to get the wrong idea." He said.
"Fair enough."
"I find things like that annoying." He said.
"Why?"
"If I go out with a girl, she'll get the wrong idea and then I'll have to explain to her that I don't mean anything by it… and I might as well not go out with her at all." He said.
"Fair enough." I said and nodded.
"You're the only girl I want to go out with alone Faye." He said.
"Huh? Why?" I asked.
"Because I know you won't get the wrong idea, right?"
"I suppose."
There was no way I'd ever go out with him or any of the black foxes, it would just be weird.
"You're like one of the guys. But I'm sure someone will show up and they will treat you like a woman." He said with a smile.
"Thanks. But when and where?" I asked.
I instantly thought of Tatsuro but with everything, I couldn't let him get close to me. Maybe if things were normal, we would have stood a chance?
"Haha, well if no one else shows up, I'll be your boyfriend. What do you think about that?"
"Hm.. you as my boyfriend…. I don't know if I could go out with someone who can't handle their alcohol. I mean I have beaten you in two drinking games now, so if you want to be my boyfriend you'll have to step up your game." I said.
We both burst out laughing.
I liked being with Kenshi, I could just be myself with him. I didn't have any other guy friends except for Tatsuro.
"Hey, what about Tatsuro?"
"What about him?" I asked.
"How are things going between you two?"
Why did he want to know?
"Fine, I moved out from his apartment. I don't think he suspects me being a black fox or anything so things are good." I said.
"Good. Has he asked you about anything?" he asked.
His happy expression suddenly turned serious.
"No." I said.
Which was a lie, I hadn't told them that I ran into him on one of the missions.
"Good. You need to be careful, he might get in our way at some point in the future. He's a detective and we're thieves." He said.
"I know, that's why I moved out." I said.
"Good and don't worry. We won't get arrested and we won't harm him."
That's exactly what I was afraid of. Tatsuro was a good a detective and I knew if he became a problem, the guys would have no issue sorting him. The guys were so nice, I had to constantly remind myself who and what they were. They were criminals that were basically holding me hostage.
"Tatsuro's really important to you."
"Yeah."
"Ha! You admitted it." He said.
"No, it's not like that. He's my friend." I said.
"Don't you think of him more than just a friend?"
"Why the sudden interrogation?"
"Haha! I was just joking silly. Even though we're the black foxes, we're not mind readers." He said and ruffled my hair. "But how do you real feel about him?"
"Why are you interested?" I asked.
"There are just a lot of things I want to know."
"What? About the kind of people I like?" I asked.
"Yeah, it'll be the perfect conversation to have over drinks at Le Rendard Noir." He said.
Why was he so interested? I wondered if the guys were using him to dig for information?
"Tatsuro isn't a joke." I said.
"He's your first love. I can see why you liked him. Good grades, always number one in the relay races. But he was bad at dodgeball. Why? Because he didn't want to hurt anyone. That's the kind of guy all the girls love in grade school."
"How did you know all that?" I asked.
"Can't say but don't worry, nothing will happen to him. So don't worry about it." He said.
He was acting weird, this had to be down to the foxes. What were they up to? If they harmed Tatsuro in anyway, our deal was off. I didn't care what they would do to me.
A few uneventful days' passed, I had been working at Kenshi's restaurant and would occasionally go out for drinks with everyone at Le Renard Noir. I saw Ranko yesterday and we went shopping.
Today, I was at the restaurant doing an extra shift. Kenshi's mum Satoko had rung me and asked me to come in.
"Thank you so much Faye." She said as I getting changed into my kimono.
"It's alright, I don't mind." I said and smiled at her.
"I'll make sure you get an extra day off next week." She said.
"Thanks." I said and she left the staff locker room.
I went to the kitchen where the cook Gen was waiting.
"Take this bowl to the Cherry Blossom room, please."
"Sure." I said.
"I thought you had the day off today, Faye?" he asked.
"Satoko asked me to do an extra shift." I said.
"Oh I see." He said.
I took everything on a tray and went to the Cherry Blossom as instructed.
"Sorry for the wait." I said.
The room was filled with men, all wearing suits, they didn't look Japanese. They must be in some kind of business meeting.
"This is winter melon sauce." Sakoto said as I placed the tray down.
"Ohh. What a big winter melon!" a man beamed.
He looked quite cute, he had sleek brown hair that he had gelled back. He wore a white suit with a black shirt.
"Yes." Sakoto said.
He didn't look Japanese, but his Japanese was perfect and he was the only one using chopsticks. Was he the interpreter for the meeting?
He then smiled at me before I left the room.
"Faye, how were the guests in the Cherry Blossom room?" Gen asked when I returned to the kitchen.
"They said all the food was delicious." I said.
"Good, good." Gen said and smiled.
"There have been a lot of foreign guests lately." I said.
"Yeah, I have to keep that in mind when I make their food. But todays guests seem to be used to Japanese food." He said.
"Really?"
"Yeah, when they made the reservations they seemed familiar with the fish dishes and the sweets." He said.
"There was one man whose Japanese was really good." I said.
"It was probably him who made the reservation then." He said.
The manager then came into the kitchen.
"Faye, can you get the serving trays from the Camellia room?"
"Sure." I said and left the kitchen.
I walked along the hallway, searching for the Camellia room. I was so distracted I accidently banged into someone.
"Sorry." I said.
"You're fine."
I looked up, it was the man from the Cherry Blossom room who spoke good Japanese.
"You're the beautiful girl from before. You're so gorgeous. So, so beautiful." He said.
"Oh well thank you. You aint too bad yourself." I said and smiled.
He was quite hot!
"My name is Sean Kim, and you are?"
"Faye Stone."
"Faye Stone?" he said and grinned before he took my hand and planted a soft kiss on it.
"I love Japan and I love Japanese food." He said.
"Thanks…" I said and pulled my hand away from him.
He was a bit full on, but maybe that was a cultural difference?
"Ginza and Shinbashi… are becoming more international, right? It would be even better if they built more big buildings and shopping malls here." He said.
"I guess." I said.
But there were already a bunch of shops around here, so that wasn't going to happen.
"Then see you later. Sayonara!"
"Bye." I said and waved as he walked off.
He was weird, I wondered where he was from? England? America maybe?