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You know this city, not so far away? Down there is a street called No. 6. There, on that street, is a place where it’s fun to come. It’s right next to that restaurant called Hetalian Foods. It’s a bar, it’s called Shinya’s Bar. The owner’s name is Hiiragi Shinya. He always stands by the counter. By the door, you will usually see a woman named Awashima Seri. She is the one to kick you out if you are causing trouble. Sometimes she won’t be there though. In those cases, you’ll see Heiwajima Shizuo there instead. He is crazy strong but hates violence. Somewhere in the bar, usually in the background, you’ll find a young man named Max Alors. He always has a broom in his hand. He always seems to be working on cleaning the place, and it is needed. If you go behind the counter, you’ll find a door, behind that, you’ll find a hallway. If you follow that, you will reach a kitchen with the chef, Nanase Haruka, in a bathtub on wheels. This is pushed around by his friend, Matsuoka Rin.
In this bar, many strange costumers come by. You might know a few of them, and usually, a lot of crazy stuff happens.
Shinya was doing practically nothing at the moment. No one had come by in ages, or so it felt like. He was dead tired of just waiting and he wondered how to entertain himself to distract him from the boredom.
Max was sweeping the floor in a corner and Awashima was standing by the door with her back turned to the room. She was on the phone with someone and it seemed to be important, so Shinya wasn’t about to interrupt her. He knew he had to respect that she had another job that took priority.
Shinya was about to go to the kitchen to bother Rin and Haruka some when the door opened and a relatively tall guy with brown hair and droopy green eyes walked in. He had this look on his face that made Shinya aware that this guy was a good guy, probably your typical well mannered, polite type. He didn’t seem very interesting, actually he seemed more average than anything. However, Shinya had this feeling that if he started teasing this guy, he wouldn’t regret it.
“Hello, and welcome!” Shinya said to the new kid. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Tachibana Makoto,” The green-eyed answered. “What’s yours?” he asked.
“Hiiragi Shinya,” Shinya replied. “Would you like something to drink? We have this special drink with cola, redbull and some other really good stuff.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t come here for drinks… I came here to see my friend,” Makoto answered.
“That’s a shame,” Shinya answered. “Who are you here to see?” he asked.
“My friend Nanase Haruka,” Makoto answered. “I heard he was working here.”
“Haruka?” Shinya smiled as an idea entered his head. “He’s working in the kitchen, though you can’t see him,” he said.
“Why not?” Makoto asked.
“Because everyone who is let in the back has bought my specialty at least once,” Shinya answered, trying to look as serious as possible.
“Really?” Makoto looked surprised. “Then I guess I’ll have some.” He started fumbling for some money. “How much?” he asked.
Shinya stated the prize and the kid paid up without blinking. This assured Shinya that his intuition had been correct. If this kid was going to buy every story he could come up with, it sure would be worth his time to hold him up here. He wondered how far he could go with these stories though. How much was this Makoto-kid willing to believe in?
Shinya poured cola, redbull and Asti in a glass and placed it in front of Makoto with a wide smile. “Drink up, it’s good for you,” he said.
“What’s in this?” Makoto asked, studying the liquid.
“Ah, just cola and redbull and some other stuff,” Shinya answered, not really wanting to mention the alcohol. He wondered if Makoto would still drink it, not knowing what else was in.
“It seems okay…” Makoto said before he drank some of the drink.
“So, Makoto, what’s your relationship with Haruka?” Shinya asked in curiosity.
Makoto put down his glass before answering. “He and I are childhood friends. We have known each other for about as long as I can remember. We attend the same school and swim together on a team,” he explained.
“Really?” Shinya was interested now. “Do you know Rin too then?” he asked.
“Does Rin work here too?” Makoto asked, surprised.
Shinya nodded. “He assists Haruka down in the kitchen. He’s really fun to have around.”
Makoto chuckled. “I have trouble imagining Rin being a source of amusement,” he said as he had some more of his drink.
“Well, he sure is,” Shinya answered. “But he won’t be around much more…”
Makoto’s head snapped up, he looked really surprised now. “How come?” he asked.
“Haven’t you heard?” Shinya asked. “Rin-Rin and Haruka started going out a while ago and now they’ve decided to leave this town to get married!”
Makoto’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” he asked.
“Do you think I’d lie?” Shinya asked.
Makoto shook his head. “No, of course not,” he said. “How come I never heard of this though?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Shinya said. “But their relationship is supposed to be a secret. I just heard about it recently.”
“How did you find out?” Makoto asked. He leaned forward, closer to Shinya, he wanted to know how.
“Ah, it was after closing time. I was walking around the bar, checking it to see if I had locked every door before I went home, and then I heard this mysterious sound coming from the kitchen.”
“What did you hear?” Makoto asked breathlessly.
Shinya leaned closer and whispered. “I heard the sound of water running and when I got closer I heard another sound… moaning,” he said. At this point, Shinya was certain he could get away with just about anything he could come up with. He knew it didn’t even have to be realistic, Makoto would buy anything he said without blinking. Poor naïve kid.
“Do they know that you know?” Makoto asked.
“Yeah,” Shinya said. “They asked me for permission to leave and I told them that I knew. I even let them borrow my flying dolphin for transportation.”
At this point, both Awashima and Max were wondering if they should step in and stop this little show Shinya had going on, but before either of them could do or say anything, the door was opened and Rin came out. Haruka stood in the hallway behind him.
“Hey, a friend of ours was supposed to-“ Rin started but was cut off when he saw Makoto, who nearly fell down from his chair due to the surprise of seeing Rin and Haruka both standing there.
“R-Rin… Ha-Haru…?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me that… that you are getting married and fly away on Shinya-san’s flying dolphin?” Makoto asked.
Rin was paralyzed. He had no clue of what Makoto was talking about and neither had Haruka. But they were both quick to conclude where this came from.
Rin turned to Shinya and glared at him harshly. “What did you tell him?” he asked.
“Ah, nothing much,” Shinya replied, smiling innocently.
“Funny joke,” Rin said coldly. “Why in the world would I ever marry Haru of all people!” he yelled angrily.
Poor Makoto was suddenly getting very confused. He looked to the darkness behind Rin, seeking Haruka’s eyes. He needed to know if it was true or not what he had been told. Haruka simply shook his head as his and Makoto’s eyes met. This made Makoto understand.
“Did you lie to me, Shinya-san?” he asked.
“Finally catching on,” Rin sighed, annoyed.
Shinya laughed. “It was just way too tempting,” he said.
Rin glared at Shinya. “That’s it!” he said. “I’ve had enough, both Haru and I are resigning right now!” He looked to Haruka who looked doubtfully back. “What the…” Rin trailed off, realizing what was holding the blue-eyed back. “Look, if you really want, I can give you four mackerels per week if that’s what you want,” he said. “That’s one more than you normally get.”
Haruka really seemed to consider his options then. Should he stay and have three mackerels per week and stay in the bathtub all day, or resign and have four mackerels per week, but no bathtub? The choice was hard on him.
Shinya realized what was going on and sensed the potential danger of losing his chef because of what he had done. He only saw one way out of winning this.
“Okay,” he said. “I apologize to Makoto for lying and I promise I won’t do that again,” he said and then looked to Haruka. “Also, if you stay, you will get five mackerel per week and you will still be allowed to stay in your bathtub all day,” he said.
“I’ll stay,” Haruka then said, without blinking.
Out of frustration, Rin marched out of the bar and didn’t come back before the following day. Shinya did give his apology to Makoto and took a mental note on never to go for the easy prey again because it could result in him losing a valued employee.