Shiba Seki Ramen, Daytime
Abydos was one of the big districts in the Academy City known as Kivotos. It used to be a thriving, flourishing place that could rival other famous big ones. However, because of particular phenomena that kept undermining it till today, many areas were piled up in the sand and most of its buildings became nothing more than ruins, leaving their pristine forms.
One of the few buildings that still remained standing was the local ramen restaurant that's famous within the sandy district.
Shiba Seki Ramen. Owned by an adult anthropomorphic canine named Shiba, it's one of the few restaurants still running in the Abydos district, as few people currently live there, making it difficult for any business to run, let alone find success. Although the owner seemed content with the way he runs his business so far, serving a handful of regulars.
Though strangely, today was quite special as the place was packed with a lot of customers, more than its usual numbers.
"Welcome to Shiba Seki Ramen! How many in your party?"
"Two tonkotsu ramen with one spicy and another extra egg, got it!"
"Here are your orders! Enjoy!"
"Thank you for coming! Please come back again!"
"Serika-chan, take this order to Table 4!"
"Yes, Master!"
And for one Kuromi Serika, this meant she wasn't given a chance to relax even for a second.
A black-haired nekomimi with white, fluffy ear fur wearing a thick black shirt with a dark blue skirt that had its front labeled 'Shibaseki'. Strapped around her waist was a holster pocket containing a handgun, something that looked out of the picture for a waitress, but in Kivotos, it was seen as not unusual since the majority of the population—especially the students of Kivotos such as herself—carried weapons everywhere and daily. And now she was holding a menu and a small notebook meant to list down orders of customers.
"What would you like to have?" Serika asked a family of three—a father, a mother, and a child—all were avian.
She patiently waited for them to browse their menu before the mother spoke up, "We'd like to have two miso ramen and two green teas for me and my husband." She looked at her son. "How about you, dear?"
"Ummm… Ah! This!" The child pointed his wing to a particular food; a Shibaseki speciality ramen. "I want this!"
"Also one regular of your Shibaseki ramen and a glass of water, please." She finished as the waitress was jolting down the order.
"Two miso ramen, one Shibaseki ramen, two green teas and one water. Is there anything else?" They shook their heads. "Then please wait for your order!" Serika immediately went to the counter where she could see her master was cooking the noodles.
As she ripped the order paper and put it among the rest of the orders, Master Shiba lightly commented, "Didn't expect to have so many customers coming here. Wonder if I'm missing something special."
"There's nothing special going on as far as I'm aware," Serika said. "Maybe people like your food so much they tell everyone and we gain more customers to serve."
The chef laughed. "Yeah, that's probably it. Now stop standing and get them what they want."
"Yes!"
With that command, she went back to attending. Despite how busy the place had become, it changed nothing to her performance, for she always gave it her all to the maximum.
And this went on until the closing time.
Some hours later, Night
That was tiring, but I can't complain about another productive day.
Serika had just changed to her usual outfit when she was not working in Shibaseki; a rather plain student uniform, a black vest, and a short skirt to match. Her school bag hanging off her shoulder is a similarly dark shade of blue. The only things contrasting the dark outfit were the red of her black gloves she wore now, a student ID attached to her left chest, and her assault rifle.
She had put her pistol in her school bag in favor of her main weapon. A Beretta AR-70/223, but stylized to match Serika. Most of the gun was matching dark blue to Serika's overall appearance, while the main body was white, with small parts of red, like the trigger and the gun barrel. On its stock was a white symbol, matching the one on her ID; a symbol of her school.
Adjusting her bag and her beloved rifle a bit, she turned to the owner of the ramen shop as her hand went for the door.
"I'll be going then, Master. I will return here as usual tomorrow."
Shiba, who was putting away the last cleaned utensils, turned. "Wait, Serika-chan. I need to tell you something before you leave."
Something to tell me? She let go of the door, curious as to what the Master had to say to her. "What is it?"
He dried his paws with a towel before staring at his part-time waitress, like his eyes were examining her.
"You are to not work here and take time off for three days."
"...What?"
Shiba sighed when Serika looked like she was dropped by a bombshell. "You heard me. I order you to take some time off."
When Serika's brain finally rebooted, immediately she protested, "B-But why?! What brought this on?! Did I disappoint you in some way?!"
"No, you did not." Shiba shook his head. "Tell me, how long have you been working yourself to exhaustion?"
"Wh-What do you mean? Granted, today was very busy with all the flock of people eating here, so I'm a bit exhausted, but I should be fine after I rest at home."
"That's not what I mean." Shiba said, much to the catgirl's confusion. "Let me retract my question. Have you ever, even just once, taken a slow day where you paused from part-time jobs this week?"
Serika opened her mouth, however no words came out. She wanted to deny it, but Master was right. For the past few days, she had been spending three-quarters of a day on nothing but work—and studying when in school—leaving only a few hours of rest at home. Sometimes, it even became seven-eighths which lost more of her resting time.
And right now, Master Shiba was asking when she would stop doing her part-time schedules and rest all day or two.
"Figures." She watched as the chef walked around the counter and approached her until he was a foot away from her. "I don't usually do this, but I won't allow my diligent workwoman to suddenly end up crumbling down while serving the customers due to overstrain."
"B-But Master–"
"Serika-chan," He cut her off, "You were a little sluggish in your posture despite the vigorous energy you have, and although faint, you had small bags in your eyes, likely from sleep-deprived." This came from his observation of her from the moment she arrived at his restaurant and began her duty to the time of closing, and judging from her flinch, he wasn't far off. "Listen, I admire your tenacity. You're doing what you can to save your school from abortion. But it's not worth risking your health, no matter how much you're used to such a routine."
He knew damn well—or at least suspect—why she was overexerting herself. When she first wanted to apply as a part-time waitress under him, she explained the reason that she was looking for a salary. Between this, her many jobs in different places, and the state of the district, these alone were enough to connect the dots why she was like this.
Serika was collecting money to save Abydos.
She once told him that she and her friends were from a club whose purpose was to bring their school back to its glory. It was expected that the task was not easy, but if the unimaginable amount of debt was true, restoring the school would look like an impossible dream to achieve, thanks to both desertification and sandstorms plaguing the district.
Sandstorm… Desertification…
Shiba couldn't help but be bugged by these two phenomena for reasons unknown to him.
As a citizen of Abydos, he was there when the place was brimming with life many years ago; he remembered that moment when he was a small pup. Despite the slowly growing sand piling in the area, the people weren't deterred by it, continuing their lives as normal. Not like now where most of the areas have become nothing more than a deserted area, pun not intended.
It's not like these disasters were not common; cases like desertification were always happening in a desert region such as Abydos, and it already had sandstorms in the past that occurred at least once or twice a year. The only changes between the past few years and decades ago were the extreme cases of huge sandstorms that happened every few years, which devastatingly wrenched everything and everyone, and the desertification had become much worse.
Yet, something told him there was more about them than what it appeared to be. Something… unnatural.
…Whatever it was, there was a more pressing matter he must be worrying about than thinking about disasters.
Serika's habit of overwork.
"Serika-chan," Shiba resumed, "I understand how dire the situation with your school is. However, enduring the heavy burdens alone is going to kill you sooner or later. You're not the only student who does their best for your school, right? Share your burdens with your friends, you need not sacrifice any more of your time, not when it's still three weeks of your first high school year." He crossed his arms. "I'm telling you this right now for your own good. Much as I wish for Abydos to be saved, if you fell down and were unable to help anymore, then everything you've done would be all for nothing."
The restaurant went silent as neither person said anything, one was waiting for an answer while the other went quiet, prolonging the silence.
"...I can't." Head hanging low, Serika gave him her answer. "I can't afford to stop now. Abydos is in even worse shape than ever before. And our school… If we don't pay off the debt as fast as possible, then…" She pursed her lips. Left unsaid what would happen if they couldn't pay off the debt, but it needn't be said aloud because both of them knew the answer.
"..." Shiba could only sigh. "I won't stop you whether you keep continuing with your other jobs or not, but my three days off to you remain unchanged. As I said, I order you to take some time off, and that's not going to change."
A small part of her wanted to make a rebuttal, but at this point, talking against a man who had kindly allowed her to be in his restaurant as a part-time worker would be a bad idea, and she was afraid that he'd view her as anything less by keeping adamant of his words. So she had no choice but to concede, "I understand…" Turning around, she opened the door and walked out.
Shiba watched as the door closed. It might've looked like she was being disrespectful toward him, but he was not minded in the slightest. If anything, he hardly blamed the girl for it.
Pocketing out his tobacco pipe, he lit it up before putting it in his mouth.
Those girls shouldn't even burden themselves carrying responsibility not meant for them. Yet they don't have anyone else they can depend on, and there's nothing I can do to assist them. Shiba puffed out a smoke, releasing some of his mental stress. He felt like a total failure adult right now. All I can do is pray to whatever Gods out there and hope for the best of them.
Serika trotted along the sandy road, the unrelenting chill did not bother her as she was used to the colder air in the desert.
Usually, she would feel happy about finishing a job and getting paid as she walked home, but she was not in the mood to feel that happiness, not when her mind kept replaying what Master Shiba told her earlier.
…Maybe he's right, I do need a lot of rest. My body feels stiffer than before. Serika thought. I already made him worried, and I don't want my other clients to think the same. Perhaps taking a break from all of my jobs wouldn't hurt a bit…
As she was about to crosswalk an empty T-junction, she caught something odd from the left corner of her eyes.
Under the shining light of the moon, there was something right in the middle of the road.
Serika squinted her eyes. No, not something, it was…
Is that… a person?!
Worry etched on her face, she immediately ran to where the unconscious person was lying on their back.
She stopped before the person and wasted no time crouching. What she saw however made her gasp in surprise.
The person… was a student, or at least looked like one. But that's not the reason for her surprise; it was the fact that the person was a boy student.
He had dark blue hair with impressive long bangs that seemingly covered his right eye. His attire consisted of a white shirt under the long-sleeved black vest clipped with an unfamiliar circle emblem on the left chest and a loose black bow tie, complete with black trousers; it looked fancy and almost resemblant to that Millennium school uniform theme. On his left arm was a red armband, indicating that he was a member of a club, and emblazoning it was four alphabets which read 'S.E.E.S'. And lastly, around his waist was a white gun belt, and she could see a silver pistol inside the holster.
Serika couldn't stop herself from gaping. Don't get her wrong, it's not like she hadn't seen a single male in her entire life. She had met a lot of people who were males like Master Shiba. But never until now had she set her eyes on a male who was a human like the students in Kivotos. Like her.
Wait, what am I doing? Focus! I must properly check him, he's probably in a bad state if he finds himself in an open street like this.
Shaking her head, she proceeded to inspect him.
Seconds went by to almost a minute, and she finished with her checking.
Aside from his dusty clothes, none indicated that he was hurt in any way. No marks of bullets, no injuries, no wounds, nothing. He was fine and alive.
How did he end up lying on the road then? Just what happened to him? Serika shook her head. That's not important, I must bring him to a safer place.
Before she went to bring him up, however, her hand went for her rifle, eyes roaming around her dark surroundings.
Call her paranoid, but the Abydos' current condition had made a perfect living for delinquents, like the Kata-Kata Helmet Gang who recently had been attacking her school since the start of the school year. Delinquents also liked prowling around at night, so she had the right to be vigilant as this could be an ambush to put her down. She wouldn't lie, the thought of using him as a lure for her seemed plausible, but if that's true, then whoever came up with such a plan must be the vilest being to have existed.
Once she was satisfied there was no one else but her and the unconscious boy, her body went loose, and finally picked him up easily. He was surprisingly light to carry, though her strength was no joke either; even if it wasn't for the halo's blessing, let it be said that Serika's commitment to hardworking had reinforced her muscle power to which she could even carry one of her senpai's minigun.
Adjusting her grip on his figure, Serika had an idea to carry him to her school, but she dismissed that idea quickly. Not only was it a bit far from her location, but also all her friends were in their own homes, so the school was empty. Another was the public clinic in Abydos, but sadly it's also a bit far from her location, not to mention it's probably already closed. And no way in hell she would take him to her house; the mere thought of bringing a stranger into her house didn't sit well with her.
And it had nothing to do with the fact he's a pretty boy, honest.
So that left her with only one place she was both familiar and nearby.
A place where she had come from not too long ago.
Master should've just finished cleaning and is about to leave by now. I'll have to apologize to him for this.
Her mind made up, she trekked back in the direction of Shiba Seki Ramen, a human male in her hold.
Little did she know, the boy that she had found in the middle of the road…
…would forever become an inseparable part of Foreclosure Task Force's life and bring about changes in not just Abydos, but Kivotos as a whole.
For better or worse.
To Be Continued…
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