Arc 0.5: The Introduction
Chapter: The Interview [III]
The sound of a chair being scrapped across the floor was heard and the young man looked over his shoulder and found the waiter with the eye patch was back.
"Sorry for interrupting. Here's the chair you requested. I hope I didn't keep you waiting for long." The waiter said to the young man who had been kept standing all this while, because there was no place to sit down in the booth. "Will there be anything else?"
The young man grabbed the chair from the waiter. "Thanks. And if you don't mind I would like a cup of Irish coffee."
The waiter didn't write anything down. He just nodded his head a couple of times. "I will get right to it."
As he was about to leave, the eccentric detective spoke up. "Kaneki-san, I don't think they serve Irish coffee at Anteiku."
Kaneki blinked. "They don't?"
Kanra-san decided to add her two cents. "It contains whiskey. Technically, it's a cocktail."
The woman with the blue eyes was annoyed. "Aren't you getting a bit too comfortable, Hikigaya-kun? This is still a job interview. And you are going around ordering an alcoholic beverage."
The young man sat down on the chair. "It's caffeinated."
Thankfully, the female operative from the special branch decided to deescalate the situation. "Yukinoshita, calm down. We have dealt with detectives before. You know how they function. Hikigaya placed that order probably to gauge our reactions. You are playing right into his hand."
"Or maybe I just want some Irish coffee." Hikigaya responded. "I mean, you have to admit, this is not your typical job interview. Apart from Yukinoshita, who simply ordered black tea, the rest of you went all out with the breakfast menu. And in case you forgot, I was propositioned by Kanra-san a few minutes ago. I thought it was worth a small celebration."
The eccentric detective didn't believe his bullshit. "No, you didn't. You were trying to figure out Kaneki-san."
The young man decided to try again. "No, I wasn't." He looked back at the waiter and lied to his face. "No offense pal, but you're just a waiter. I don't find you all that interesting."
It was a simple plan. Insult the waiter and he would leave. But it didn't work. Kaneki-san stood there, hovering, with an awkward smile plastered on his face. "It's okay. I know I'm not an interesting person." He mumbled.
"You see that's where you are wrong, Kaneki-san." The eccentric detective added. "To a person like Hikigaya, we offer no challenge whatsoever. We might as well be sitting here with bright neon signs blinking on top of our heads, telling him exactly what he needs to know. But you on the other hand, dressed in your waiter uniform intrigues him." This time he spoke to the young man. "Hikigaya-kun, please share with us what you have learnt."
The young man tried to be firm. "I don't think so."
But the eccentric detective was adamant. "It was not a request. How you decide to act right now, decides whether or not you will get a call from The Kira Task Force in the future."
Nobody at the table protested.
Everyone was looking at him.
He in turn looked at the waiter with the eye patch.
Ken Kaneki appeared to be in his early twenties. He was a scrawny young man, somewhat short and he had dark black hair. His waiter uniform consisted of black trousers and a gray waistcoat over a white dress shirt and a brown cravat. The only thing which stood out about his appearance was the medical eye patch he wore to cover his left eye.
The young man quickly got to work.
"Kaneki-san hasn't been working here for long. You can tell because he is still unfamiliar with the menu, doesn't know whether Anteiku serves Irish coffee or not. But I already knew that, because he made a couple of faux pas, said a few things most waiters don't say about their patrons.
But I can tell he is an important, dare I say, integral part of the establishment. He is new and green and wears an eye patch and they still let him wait tables and greet customers. I worked in a small family restaurant for a short while, and the manager wouldn't let me near the customers, because they thought I would scare them off with my rotten dead fish eyes. Yet, Kaneki-san is allowed to take my order. Life isn't fair, I tell you.
Let's see what else. He is well educated, has an above average grasp on his vocabulary and he loves to read books. When I asked him about his eye patch he came up with Amblyopia on the fly. He also used the term ophthalmologist instead of eye specialist. And while he was bringing me upto you guys, he told me that it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the employee handbook, but the upper floor was preferred by office workers while couples flocked to the lower floor. I know employees of five star hotels and Michelin star restaurants who haven't read their employee handbook." The young man pointed at the waiter. "You, my good sir, are a bibliophile."
Ken Kaneki rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I do love to read."
The young man looked around the table. Everyone was looking impressed. They had been listening to him drone on with rapt attention. The woman with the blue eyes was no longer glaring at him. Kanra-san actually gave him a quick thumbs up under the table. It all came down to the female operative from the special branch and the eccentric detective. The two of them were in this together. The woman raised an eyebrow and the man tried not to look too bored with how the entire situation had developed so far. He failed miserably in his sad excuse of an attempt.
"You haven't shared everything with us, Hikigaya-kun." The eccentric detective said. "There's still something you are not telling. I should tell you this is harming your chances to work with us."
It's okay.
It's for the job.
Hikigaya took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Despite how he looks, Kaneki-san possesses quite a bit of strength. I wouldn't quite go so far as to call him superhuman, but it is definitely above average. When I asked him to fetch me a chair, I thought he would get me one of the barstools from the coffee bar down on the other end of the floor. I didn't quite expect him to run down the stairs and get me one of the nicer chairs from the lower levels. Why did he do that?"
The waiter with the eye patch came up with a poor excuse. "It's against the rules to grab one of the barstools."
The young man shook his head. "It doesn't make any sense. The barstools are reserved for people who like to drink alone at the bar. In fact, bringing a chair from the lower level is probably against the rule. They are part of a set, meant for two people, couples."
It seemed like the thought hadn't even crossed the waiter's mind.
"Like I said, you are new at this job. Think it through next time. But like I was saying, why did he run off to go fetch a chair from the lower floor? Well, it's probably because he wanted nothing to do with you lot. The table is booked under Izaya Orihara's name. You guys are trouble. So, when I offered him a way out, he took it. I didn't think he would come back. But he did. You know what, I bet the idea of not returning never even crossed his mind. You see, Kaneki-san might be a terrible waiter, but he has incredible work ethics. He is the kind of man who would go fetch a chair for a customer from a floor below. How considerate of him. He is a good man. Well, it helps that he somehow has above average strength."
The waiter tried to argue in vain. "I don't have above average strength!"
"He also has sharp ears. He heard Kanra-san proposition me from quite a distance and being the kind and considerate person he is, he tried to announce himself by loudly dragging the chair across the floor and creating quite a bit of ruckus. Now that might also be indicative of an innate shyness in character, sensitivity towards other people in general, lack of sexual experience with members of the opposite sex and the possibility of being-"
"Can I please take your order sir?"
It was a woman's voice. She was young, slender and attractive, had bob-length dark blue hair that had long bangs which seemed to reach her chin, covering the right side of her face, hiding her eye. Her other eye was blue.
She wore a waitress's uniform which consisted of a white shirt, a black vest, a red tie and a black skirt which reached down to her lower thighs. On top of that skirt, she also wore a brown skirt which finished at her upper thighs. Tastefully tight brown leggings and comfortable looking boots finished her entire ensemble.
"- a virgin." The young man finished his train of thought.
The waitress tried to be professional. "Excuse me?"
The young man faked a cough and looked at the table. The last thing he needed was to get sued for sexual harassment. Or worse, get thrown out of the café and never finish the interview. It didn't take him long to look back at the waitress with a polite and friendly smile.
"I would have whatever he is having." The young man said while pointing at the eccentric detective.
The young waitress looked at the waiter with the eye patch. He didn't take out a notepad to check what the person had ordered. He could simply remember it from memory. "Ryuzaki-san ordered an iced mocha and a slice of strawberry shortcake."
The young man gave the oldest person in the booth a look. "Really?"
Ryuzaki-san didn't seem the least bit bothered. He was old enough to know what he liked and disliked in his life. And he didn't care what others thought about him in the slightest. "What can I say Hikigaya-kun. They didn't have Irish coffee."
The young man let out a small chuckle before turning to the waitress. "I will have the iced mocha. But no cake please. And you can put it on Ryuzaki-san's tab. If I'm man enough to enjoy iced mocha, I think I can handle having another guy pay for my drink."
"How did you know Ryuzaki-san paid for our food?"
It wasn't Kanra-san or the female operative from the special branch who asked this question. The young man knew they wouldn't. This question was put forth by none other than the woman with the blue eyes who worked for the ministry. It was the second time she had taken an interest in him and he wanted to create a good impression.
"You told me, Yukinoshita-san. Or rather what you ordered and didn't. Just a cup of black tea. At first I thought you were trying too hard to act professional. But everyone at the table had ordered something else with their drink. The timing of the interview coincides with a late breakfast. I think we are past the age where we feel shy or embarrassed about what we order for food, especially when we pay for it ourselves.
This brings me to my second point. Now I can tell Ryuzaki-san and the woman sitting next to him are close. I don't want to make any unnecessary comment on their relationship. I am wary of women who are armed to the teeth and can kill me without a second thought. All I want to say is that I can tell from Ryuzaki-san's clothes that he doesn't go out much. But he came to this place. For the iced mocha and strawberry shortcake? Possibly. For the company? More likely.
A man like him doesn't give a damn about social etiquette, what's right and wrong. But he is trying to buy the woman a drink, maybe pay for her meal, do something nice for a change. Maybe he is trying to make up for a past mistake. But that's not important. What's important is that the woman is angry and he knows she won't let him pay for her food. So what does he do? He offers to pay for everyone's meal. He is the only man in the booth. It makes sense. It's a workable excuse.
But Yukinoshita-san, you didn't want Ryuzaki-san to pay for your food. You don't want to feel obligated to him. Working for the ministry, there's a chance you might have known what is going on between the two of them. You might have an inkling of what he is trying to do here today. Of course, you are sympathetic to his plight, you want to help out. But you can't go against your own principles. So you do the next best thing and order a cup of black tea to be polite."
The young man half expected her to leave. But the woman with the blue eyes remained seated on her corner of the booth. Everyone was looking at her with varying degrees of concern. The atmosphere had grown tense. Even Ryuzaki-san looked a smidge worried.
The young man thought he had gone too far. But perhaps his worries were unfounded, because the woman with the blue eyes fixed the waitress with a determined expression.
"Kirishima-san, put his drink on my tab." Yukinoshita-san said before throwing him a challenging look. "Unless you mind a woman paying for your drink, Hikigaya-kun."
"Not at all." Hikigaya replied smoothly. "I'm a modern man. I believe in gender equality. Why should women be left out of the thrill and excitement of footing someone else's bill. Men shouldn't have all the fun in the world, you know."
Dick move.
Kirishima, the waitress gave a small nod and left without saying another word. Kaneki, the waiter with the eye patch followed behind her footsteps in a hurry. He looked really troubled and anxious. But what bothered him the most was Kanra-san's devilish smile, the way she tapped her foot in excitement, bounced her knee.
He had made a terrible mistake.
He just didn't know it yet.