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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.
It was way past opening time, but the bar hadn’t opened today. The reason was simple enough. No one had showed up for work. Shinya was waiting by the counter, watching the front door and listening to hear if someone entered through the back. But no one came.
After having waited around for at least an hour, Shinya decided he was through with that and went down to see if Rin and Haruka had shown up. If they had, he could try and piss Rin off some. He seemed to be really good at that.
With a cheerful smile, Shinya headed down the hallway in the back and to the kitchen. However, when he opened the door, he found himself very disappointed as there was only one person in the room.
Haruka allowed half his head to surface as he heard someone entering the kitchen. He was in his bathtub and seemed to have been there for a while.
“Hey Haruka, where’s Rin-Rin?” Shinya asked.
“At home,” Haruka answered. He then let himself sink down, half under surface again.
“What’s he doing there?” Shinya asked.
Haruka didn’t even say anything this time. He just pointed to the table where five papers were lying. It was only now that Shinya noticed them. He walked over and picked them up and started reading them. The further he read, the more horrified he became. Once he finished, he laid them all down and looked over at Haruka.
“Are you saying they all resigned?” he asked.
Haruka only lifted his head so much that Shinya could see him nodding.
Shinya looked at the papers once more while wondering what to do. Facts were that the papers were there, filled out and everything. He couldn’t find a new staff because he knew these were the best at getting along with both him and each other. He felt like he had a good team with those guys. But them resigning at the same time might be a sign that they still work well together. But then…
Shinya turned to Haruka. “Haruka, why didn’t you resign?” he asked.
Haruka sent him a look, saying that it should be obvious, and after thinking a bit, Shinya agreed that his question was stupid. He had just increased Haruka’s pay by two mackerel a few weeks ago.
Shinya then went back to thinking of what to do in the situation he was suddenly in. There seemed to be nothing, not at first. But then he looked at their reasons for resigning and remembered how they had all been complaining a lot about him lately. This didn’t seem so strange all of the sudden. Maybe if he improved himself there might be a chance that his workers – no wait, former workers – would come back.
“Haruka, if I start paying them, do you think they might come back?” Shinya asked.
“Maybe,” Haruka answered.
“Okay,” Shinya smiled. “Hang on a second,” He took all the papers and went outside for a bit. Haruka dove under the surface once more, believing that he would be left in peace now, but he was dead wrong on that.
After less than two minutes, the sound of a motor could be heard and when Haruka looked up to locate the source of the noise, it appeared a red sports-car had somehow made its way into the kitchen and Shinya was now stepping out from the driver’s seat.
“You’re gonna help me get them back, right?” Shinya asked, meeting Haruka’s confused blue eyes.
Haruka had absolutely no intentions of doing so, but he was left with no other choice as Shinya pulled him out of the tub and put the tub in the trunk and shut it.
Without another word spoken, Haruka got himself dressed and sat in the passenger seat. Shinya sat back in the driver’s seat and they drove off to locate the others. It was luck that they had had to put their addresses on the resignation paper, or Shinya would have had trouble finding them.
“So, who do we go to first?” Shinya asked, figuring that Haruka should decide.
“Max,” Haruka said after a looking through the papers.
“We’re going to speak to Max then… and Broom,” Shinya added with a smile at the paper below Max’s. Even his broom had managed to resign.
They drove for a while and found Max’s home. Then they drove into the building and parked outside Max’s room.
Shinya only barely had the time to get out of the car before the door was torn open by Max who sent both Shinya and the sports car an irritated glare. Somehow, he managed not to glare at Haruka.
“What do you want, I’ve resigned from the bar,” Max said.
“I know that,” Shinya said. “It’s just a shame that you decided to do that.”
“Why?” Max frowned slightly at Shinya, clearly showing how skeptical he was of the statement.
Shinya picked out some money of his wallet. “I was finally considering to pay you,” he said.
Max sighed and shook his head. “Only because we resigned,” he said. It wasn’t entirely a lie, in fact it was probably exactly what had happened.
“If you don’t come back, I won’t give it to you. Plus, you won’t get this amount of money once a month,” he said.
Max thought that over for a bit. Then he smiled. “Fine, I might be easy to win over, but tear up both mine and Broom’s resigning,” he said.
Shinya turned to Haruka. “You heard the man,” he said.
Haruka shook his head and handed the papers to Shinya with an expression that clearly demanded that he did it himself, which Shinya gladly did. Then he gestured for Max to get in the car and so Max did and they drove out of the building and to their next destination, which was Awashima’s place.
They stopped outside Awashima’s door, and similar to Max, she opened up almost immediately, without anyone needing to knock.
“You want to get us back, is that it?” she asked without Shinya saying a word.
Shinya smiled and nodded. “That’s it,” he said. “So, do you want to?” he asked.
Awashima looked thoughtful. “Do you offer anything?” she asked.
“Actually yes,” Shinya smiled even wider and took out the same amount of money as Max had already received. “This amount of money every month,” he replied.
Awashima looked at the money for a bit and then nodded silently. “That’ll do some of it,” she said.
“What if I say I’ll show up on time every day, will that make you come back, Seri-chan?” Shinya asked.
Awashima thought again and then nodded. “I suppose it’ll do, but you still need to respect that I have another job that takes priority,” she reminded him strictly.
Shinya nodded and smiled. “Always have,” he said before he reached out a hand towards Haruka, who handed him Awashima’s resigning. Shinya quickly tore it apart and hopped back in the car. Awashima sat in the back along with Max as they drove on.
“So who next?” Shinya asked, looking at Haruka.
“Shizuo,” he said.
“Is that a good idea?” Max asked. “He was super pissed when I last saw him last night.”
“It’s fine,” Shinya assured them. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” And as such, they drove along to find Shizuo.
The tall man was surprisingly easy to find. He was standing by a corner, watching the main road while smoking a cigarette. He looked at the car as it stopped right in front of him and Shinya stepped out.
“What are you doing here?” Shizuo asked.
“I wanted to know if you’d come back?” Shinya asked, the smile was never leaving his face.
“Hell no,” Shizuo answered without even taking the time to think.
“Come on,” Shinya said. “We made an agreement that you’d come work for me to get rid of all the violent acting you’ve been doing up until now,” he said.
Shizuo appeared to get irritated as he listened to Shinya’s words. He took two quick steps and then stood with his face close to Shinya’s.
“Except there is only violence, and I hate it,” he said.
“What if I promise less violence and pay for your trouble?” Shinya asked.
Shizuo stepped back and seemed to give the matter some thought but then an irritated expression appeared on his face.
“Stop being annoying and I might consider it,” he said.
“How have I ever been annoying?” Shinya asked.
Shizuo only got more irritated by this remark and pulled back his fist to throw a punch at Shinya. Both Max and Awashima looked slightly surprised as they watched the scene. However, Shinya easily managed to dodge the incoming punch and quickly got one of his legs behind Shizuo’s, causing him to fall backwards.
“Let’s not take this further,” Shinya said. “You may be stronger than me, but I know I’m quicker than you and will probably win in the long run,” he said.
“You piss me off,” Shizuo said before he went to sit in the car. Shinya happily tore up Shizuo’s resigning and sat back in the driver’s seat. It was now time to go and pick up Rin.
It didn’t take long to get to Rin’s house, but once Shinya was about to drive inside, Haruka reached out a hand, signaling for him to stop.
“Don’t do this if you want him back,” he said.
“Yeah,” Awashima said. “Be careful in your approach, he was the most pissed off at you,” she explained.
Shinya nodded and smiled. “I do wonder why though,” he said before he got out of the car. “Haruka, come with me,” he said while waving at Haruka.
Haruka stood out of the car and followed Shinya to Rin’s front door. Shinya nodded and they waited for a little while before Rin came to open the door.
“Haru?” he asked, seeing as Haruka was the first one he saw, but then he noticed Shinya standing there as well.
“Hey Rin-Rin,” Shinya said while waving.
“Go away,” Rin said before he looked back at Haruka. “What do you want?” he asked.
“He wants to get you back,” Haruka said without needing to direct Rin’s attention towards Shinya.
“Not happening,” Rin answered. “Tell him, he can forget it,” he said.
Haruka turned to Shinya, but he didn’t say anything. He was not up for such a childish game, especially not if he was to play it with those two.
“What if I pay you this?” Shinya held up the same amount of money as he had paid the others and smiled at Rin, believing that he would win now.
“Still not happening,” Rin answered. “Get your ass back in that red car of yours.” He had already seen the car parked outside and knew that it was Shinya’s.
“Then what shall I do, Rin-Rin. Tell me, Rin-Rin,” Shinya begged, causing an irritated frown to appear on Rin’s face. “I’ll do anything, Rin-Rin,” Shinya said.
“Stop calling me that!” Rin exclaimed. “It’s really annoying!”
“Are you saying if I don’t call you Rin-Rin, then you’ll join?” Shinya asked.
“Call me anything else but that!” Rin yelled.
“Rin-chan then?” Shinya asked.
“Is it possible for you not to call me something that annoys me?” Rin asked.
“So, if I call you by Rin, you’ll join, Rin-Rin?” Shinya asked.
Rin seemed to give up the discussion. Shinya really knew how to piss him off and if he didn’t agree to start working again, he would be standing here and get annoyed forever and until the end. So he was really left with no other choice.
“Yes, I’ll go back to your stupid bar,” he said.
“Perfect,” Shinya said, “Let’s go then!” And he let the way back to the car and Rin and Haruka sat in the passenger seat together. Rin took his own resigning and tore it apart before he threw it in Shinya’s face.
“What was that for?” Shinya asked as he started the car once more and drove back, towards the bar.
“Because you’re annoying,” Rin answered.
“Admit it, you don’t mind as much as you want it to seem like,” Shinya argued.
“As if,” Rin snorted.
“Oh, by the way,” Shinya said like he’d just remembered something. “The money I just gave all of you is what we have earned up until now, so I expect you to work extra hard in order to get the same amount next month,” he said.
“Did we earn this little?” Max stared at the money he was still holding in his hand.
“That’s why I’m telling you to work hard!” Shinya said while smiling.
The others only got a gloomy aura around them. Four out of five suddenly regretted that they had agreed to go back to their work at Shinya’s stupid bar.