❈♍❈

The Next Night

-First Day-

♍

Kame and Jin were busily mixing the drinks and cocktails according to the orders; Kame was mentally killing Mi-chan in his creative mind, the girl had decided out of the blue that it would be fun and effective to have all the bartenders to move to the new club: her reason was to balance out the work. How that was even balanced out the work when only he and Jin were the only two left in this ing arena! Kame made a note that he would straighten the queen out when he had the chance.

“Look like things are doing fine, a bit rush but fine I see,” Mi-chan commented as she walked towards the bar.

“What do you mean by fine? Look at this chaos!” Kame shouted, trying not to throw the spoon he was holding at the girl.

“Well, you manage it up until now, right? I’m impressed Kazu-chan,” Mi-chan said with a cunning smile.

“I swear if I collapse the next day due to overwork, I’ll skin you alive!” Kame snarled, not even care if he sounded scary or not.

“Don’t scare my customers, Kazu-chan,” Mi-chan warned, knowing the boy would explode anytime soon. She took a glance over at the female customers who had eyes glued on Jin, she snickered to herself. She felt pity for the older man because he had to flash smiles to every touch he received from the customers, whether he liked it or not.

“He looked pitiful,” Mi-chan commented, pointing to the uncomfortable man.

“At least he manages to keep his words in check,” Kame said, observing Jin as he worked on the drinks for the next order.

“Well, you two have worked hard, take a break,” Mi-chan said, walking around behind the bar, taking a black waist-apron on the way. “I’ll take over for you,” she said with her smile. Kame looked at her doubtfully.

“You sure?” he asked warily.

“Com’on Kazu-chan, I’ve done this before,” the girl shook her head, she made her way to Jin and tapped the other man’s shoulder.

“Hm?” Jin turned and surprised to see Mi-chan in the bartender getup.

“I’ll take over, you and Kazu-chan take a break,” she said pointing to Kame, “drag him out before he kills a ,” she said laughing, seeing the frown on Kame’s face when a customer started to hit on him.

“I see,” Jin said, bidding good bye to the current customers and taking his leave, dragging Kame out on the way. When the two men moved to the back door, Mi-chan loudly announced through her microphone.

“Alright people, bar service is out; but you are welcome to order more wine and liquor,” she could hear unpleasant grunts from the customers but she could care less. “Don’t complain, you wouldn’t want me to serve you heavy liquor mixed,” she said warningly at the female customers, who shut their protests within a few seconds.  

❈

Kame felt like he was just coming back from hell, the whole three hours straight inside that arena was enough to drain the life out of him. He leaned back on the wall in the alley, searching in his pocket for something as a hand offered a cigarette to him. Kame frowned at the object.

“You’re looking for this right?” Jin asked, pushing the cigarette to Kame.

“No thanks,” Kame refused, hand poked inside his suit jacket and pulled out a bar of chocolate. “I was looking for this,” he grinned as Jin slapped his forehead.

“You don’t smoke?” Jin asked wondering.

“Used to, but I quit for the sake of the tasting,” Kame said, hinting to his bartender job.

“Cocktail tasting? I thought only wine tasting would require no smoking, you know for the sake of taste bud or whatever that calls,” Jin wondered.

“Well, I don’t know but it just felt wrong to smoke as a bartender; the alcohol alone can kill me, I don’t want to die of a lung cancer to top it off,” Kame laughed heartily, unwrapped his chocolate bar and took a bite. He hummed in happiness as the sweet taste calmed his nerve down.

“That’s kinda true,” Jin said, leaning against the wall next to Kame as he puffed on his own cigarette.

“Just an advice, you should stop too; you need those extra years to enjoy the fun of life, don’t shorten your life too soon,” Kame said, holding the extra chocolate bar to Jin, the older man took it with gratitude.

“Thanks,” Jin said, dropping the newly lit cigarette down onto the pavement.

“We still have another two hours before we can have a decent meal,” Kame stated, “give your system some sweet, it helps a lot,” Kame added.

“Now I see why there are bags of chocolate in your locker,” Jin said laughing, Kame just shrugged.

“You never know when you need them,” Kame stated obviously. “Anyway, how long you will work here?” Kame asked curiously.

“Maybe a week,” Jin replied and bit on his chocolate bar, loving the sweet in his mouth.

“And your manager is ok with that?” Kame urged on.

“He WANTS me to,” Jin said the situation, “he has it bad for Mi-chan,” he added to the info and Kame nodded understanding.

“Well, whatever; you’re a great help around here,” Kame smiled, “I love to have you around better than those assistants that only know how to flirt with customers.”

“I’m glad I can be of some helps,” Jin smiled back, taking in a deep breath.

“It’s so peaceful here,” Kame sighed, loving the quiet air.

“You know, there is one thing I always wonder,” Jin started, turning lightly over to Kame, who looked back at him expecting.

“Hm?”

“You never actually smile, don’t you?” Jin pointed out, not wanting to hit around the bushes.

“What do you mean? I always smile,” Kame said, smiled at Jin awkwardly.

“You do smile…but…never actually feeling the happiness of smile. How to put this? It’s like there is sadness in your smile, and somehow that makes your smile looks superficial,” Jin looked at Kame, hoping that younger one would not feel too offense with his words.

“You’re pretty straight forward you know,” Kame commented, bringing a hand to his hair and brushing through them lightly.

“I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable,” Jin apologized.

“Well…I guess it is too obvious, even Junno once said that I should put down the mask,” Kame smiled sadly, huffing out a small air.

“Why you need a mask?” Jin felt it was ok to move into the topic.

“I want to start anew, yet the past keeps hunting me,” Kame answered shortly, “I wish I can find a way out but every time I always guess the wrong answer,” Kame sighed out.

“Have you tried to give it your all?” Jin asked, wondering.

“It’s hard, after the first mistake; it’s hard to give the second chance the same conditions,” Kame looked at Jin, smiling at the man.

“What exactly happened?” Jin tried.

“A perfectly first love ended with tears and a broken heart,” Kame said, eyes looking far away into his past.

“Is the wound that deep?” Jin carefully said with sympathy.

“The scar hasn’t faded, that’s what I know,” Kame smirked sadly.

“Have you tried to…you know…find the right one?”

“All of them ended with the first date,” Kame scoffed out a laugh.

“How long has it been?”

“Maybe three years…or maybe more…”

“You’ll find the right one soon,” Jin comforted the younger man.

“Yea, I hope so,” Kame breathed out. “Anyway, what is the deal with you?” Kame turned the table on Jin.

“What deal?” Jin asked.

“I’m not blind, Jin; I can tell those suits in your closest are designer; they cost more than my salary!” Kame said his share.

“They are gifts,” Jin said lightly.

“For gifts, they are fancy; and not any normal people can obtain them, even if they are gifts,” Kame reasoned.

“It’s something that I really don’t like to talk in open air,” Jin said with his smile, “but I promise, when the time comes, I’ll give you a satisfied answer,” Jin added. Kame looked at the older man thoughtfully, and then nodded.

“Tell me when you are ready, but remember you owe me one deep talk,” Kame smiled back, patted Jin’s upper arm lightly.

“Thanks,” Jin sincerely said.

“Yo! Break time over,” Koki opened the back door and shouted towards the two laughing men, who looked at him strangely.

“Why you are here?” the two shouted out their bewilderment.

“Nana-chan?” Koki said shrugging.

“OH!” Kame and Jin said in unison, knowing the other one would only come for women.

❈♍❈

The Day After

-Second Day-

♍

Jin watched Yamaa pacing back and forth in the shared apartment; he wondered what had gotten into the young manager. Kame scooped a spoon of his cereal into his mouth, crunching down on the crispy sweet taste of fruit loot; he also had joined Jin in watching the pacing man. Koki just irritatingly rolled his eyes, watching the scene in front of him.

“What the man?” Koki couldn’t hold it as he shouted.

Yamaa stopped his pacing and turned to Koki, looking at the man for a good measure and then resumed to his pacing.

“What’s happened?” Jin asked, just like Koki he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“I’m such an idiot!” Yamaa said and eyes filled with worries.

“Due to…?” Kame urged on, he was as curious as the other two men.

“I think I made Mi-chan mad,” Yamaa said biting his bottom lip as he looked at the three tenants of the apartment with pleading eyes.

“What did you do?” Kame’s eyes widened at the confession, he knew there was nothing good coming out from pissing off a perfectly wicked Mi-chan.

“It’s a long story,” Yamaa sighed, finally stopped his pacing and settled down on the sofa in the living room. All three pairs of eyes fixated on him waiting for a better explanation.

“Shorten it!” Jin demanded, he would want to help but what they had so far was not even a lead.

“I think I offended her in some way, but the problem is I don’t know what I offended her with!” Yamaa said almost shrieking from desperation.

“What exactly did you say to her?” Kame asked, worries showed on his face; he knew this was going to be serious, especially when the wrong switch was being .

“I asked if she likes the cologne I was wearing, that’s all,” Yamaa said.

“Really? That’s the lamest pick up line I’ve ever heard in my life,” Koki quickly judged, shaking his head at Yamaa’s choice of pick up lines. Yamaa turned to glare at him and shouted a “shut up, spikey!”

Koki just rolled his eyes and then moved over to where Jin and Kame were at, one hand grabbing the cereal box next to Kame and took out a fist of fruit loot.

“Stop stealing my food!” Kame yelped, taking the box back and glaring at Koki.

“Com’on Kazu-chan! Sharing is loving!” Koki said with his childish tone.

“Not with you, you gangster-wanna-be!” Kame said with his narrowed eyes.

“Uh…HELLO?!! I’m the one in need of help here! ATTENTION HERE!” Yamaa shouted, pointing to himself as he turned to look at Jin with pleading eyes.

“Well, I don’t know how is that actually offending or not, but really Pi, that was a lame pick up line,” Jin said finally, and high-fived Kame when the younger man raised his hand for one.

“I know, even I was surprised at my words when they came out,” Yamaa shook his head, almost sobbing.

“Glad you know that,” Jin said laughing.

“However, the problem is she just laughed when I said that and then leaned in to inhale the scent, then her face turned completely white, and I swore I saw her disgusted expression then,” Yamaa recalled.

“What cologne is that?” Kame and Koki asked in unison, they had depicted the problem. Yamaa came in closer to them and stretched his wrist to the two men, who leaned in for a test, their faces also turned shock at the scent.

“Don’t. EVER. Wear. This. AGAIN!” Kame deadpanned.

“She hates that scent, everything relates to that scent she hates it!” Koki didn’t make the matter more clear.

“How, why?” Yamaa dumbfounded.

“Better to hear from the person herself, but for the next few days, wash yourself clean from that smell, or else you might not be able to see her again,” Kame said warningly.

“Everyone in the club, even her customers know that she hates that cologne scent, that’s why no one wears it, if that’s what you want to know,” Koki added.

Jin watched the two men filling in the information for Yamaa, wondering what had caused such trauma to a cheerful person like Mi-chan. He then took a look at Kame, who had this serious face on; he decided it was the problem of old wound runs deep. This pair of cousins had a very traumatized past, somehow in the back of his mind, he had this urge to protect Kame from all harms. Maybe it was the feeling coming from his friendship towards Kame.

❈

“I can’t believe we are being dragged into this,” Jin said almost complaining; he would have never guessed that Kame was volunteered to help Yamaa finding the right cologne. The guy could find a girl on his own self, well normally but the guy had been a klutz lately.

“I wish I can say the same but honestly speaking, I’m tired of seeing Mi-chan being single; better yet, she needs to get laid,” Kame said shamelessly as he walked through the cologne section at the department store.

“You so didn’t just say it,” Jin said with wide eyes, he knew the younger man was bold but not completely vulgar.

“Trust me, I’m more than just an innocent face,” Kame said with his angelic smile.

“I’m so not surprised,” Jin laughed along and they began to test the colognes together. Kame explained to Jin what scent is safe and what is a no-no; the girl somehow was good at detecting her hated things, even with scent.

“This one is good,” Jin said, spraying the liquid on the tested paper, Kame brought the piece to his nose as he tested out the scent.

“Is it Burberry?” Kame asked, trying to take the bottle from Jin’s hand.

“How did you know?” Jin said with surprised eyes.

“I used to wear it, that’s how I know,” Kame smiled as replied.

“I see you like them light scent,” Jin nodded, somehow noting down the small details.

“Not just the light scent, it lingers on longer than you think; you can still smell the sweet scent the next day,” Kame laughed, he loved scents that are light yet linger on longer, it’s just irresistible.

“Irresistible, you mean?” Jin stated the thought Kame had in mind and the younger man smiled with delight.

“Exactly, it’s good to be irresistible,” Kame nodded along, picking up the next bottle for a test.

“I see you like them sweet, light and irresistible,” Jin laughed.

“Remember it, if you ever want to buy me something for Christmas and cologne wise; BURBERRY!” Kame emphasized the brand as he laughed. Jin rolled his eyes at the younger man and then turned back to the line-up of cologne.

“How many we have to go through?” Jin asked, groaning at the many line-ups of colognes.

“We can skip some,” Kame advised, “we don’t have to test everything, just pick what your eyes like,” Kame informed.

“We’re not women Kazuya, we don’t judge by appearance,” Jin said blinking at Kame.

“I don’t know what is the different between women and men in this department, but one thing I know for sure that we love what we see, for men,” Kame retorted with his wicked smile.

“Not always,” Jin said.

“Would you going to wear those?” Kame pointed to the hideous slippers they happened to pass by.

“No!” Jin immediately said.

“Exactly!” Kame nodded.

“But this is cologne, we should judge by quality,” Jin said.

“Think Jin, how many scents are there in this world for perfume and cologne? They are all categorized by flowery and fruity scent, and maybe spice along the line; however, those are the basics, they only differentiate by the light and heavy level of the scent; so pick what your eyes like and then test out the scent, I bet out of five bottles you pick, at least two will work fine,” Kame made a long speech, taking in a deep breath when he was done and looked at Jin expecting.

“I guess…maybe so…” Jin said unsurely.

“Want to bet?” Kame asked, and Jin raised his brows at the man.

“Pick out five bottles your eyes like, and then test out the scent, my theory hardly goes wrong, unless you are a picky type,” Kame said with a grin.

Jin studied the younger man before nodded his head, “challenge accepted!” and he strutted off to find the five bottles as Kame directed, and sprayed the scent onto the five different pieces of tested paper.

Kame smiled when Jin accepted the challenge and off to the mission; he his heels and began his own search as well. In helping his cousin getting a boyfriend, he wouldn’t mind to spend a bit of his free time on picking some trivial things as cologne and such. Also, Yamaa didn’t look like some douche bag that would crush his cousin from the high of love, or torn her mentality into pieces like the previous one.

After thirty minutes of searching, Jin and Kame came back to their spot and began to test out their picks. Jin had to agree with Kame that after the fifth bottle, all the scents were the same to him. Kame laughed when Jin surprised to see the ones Kame picked also had similar scents as his.

“Told ya,” Kame grinned and Jin laughed in defeated, finally agreed with the younger man that it was depending on the light and heavy level of the scent.

“I think Mi-chan will like this,” Jin said, picking out the fruity scene, with a bit of spice. Kame tested the paper and nodded agreeing.

“As long as no sour lemon scent or heavenly heavy spice, Mi-chan will have no problem with the person,” Kame approved the choice.

“Shall we pay for this then?” Jin asked, taking the lead to the cashier and Kame followed suit.

❈

“Thank you for picking out that scent,” Mi-chan thanked Kame when she walked into behind the bar with a Yamaa followed but sat himself on the bar stool.

“Huh?” Kame turned to look at Mi-chan, quite not getting the point.

“His new cologne,” Mi-chan said pointing at Yamaa and Kame chuckled in realization.

“It’s Jin’s pick,” Kame passed the credit to the older man, who had just finished the last order and moved towards the three.

“Glad you like it,” Jin said grinning and winked at Yamaa.

“Better than the spicy one, I could have killed a then,” Mi-chan said with a laugh.

“I do not want to see you behind bar, Mi-chan,” Kame laughed, patting the girl’s back.

“Well, I can always dump the body in Tokyo Bay you know,” Mi-chan said with pride.

“Geez, keep your killer instinct thoughts to yourself, we don’t need to know how evil you can be,” Kame rolled his eyes as he leaned over to the counter and picked up the menu list.

“Try to make these tonight,” he said to Jin, pointing his index finger at the heavy liquor list.

“You’re sure?” Jin asked warily, not sure if he was good enough to be given such task.

“I trust you to handle these drinks, plus they always provide good tips if you make them good,” Kame winked at Jin and the older man nodded. Jin took the list and studied them, leaving Kame and Mi-chan to themselves, while Yamaa was being surrounded by girls, not so surprised.

“I didn’t know he has that much free time to be here,” Mi-chan commented shortly.

“Com’on! Cut the guy some slack,” Kame said with his laugh, “why don’t you give him a chance?” Kame said wiggling his eyebrows.

“Hell to the no! He is my stalker, I don’t date my stalker,” Mi-chan rolled her eyes.

“But he has proved to be a not danger one, he has been nice to you, you know,” Kame reasoned, hoping the girl would listen.

Mi-chan looked at Kame weirdly and she poked on the matter, “why are you so eager to have me send away?” she said narrowing her eyes.

“What you mean by sending you away?” Kame horrified at the girl’s words.

Mi-chan took a better look at Yamaa and then the imaginative light bulb lit up on top of her head, “How about this? Each time I give him a chance, you would do the same,” she laid out the deal.

“What do you mean?” Kame didn’t like the smile on Mi-chan’s face.

“I’m doing you a favor, by giving Yamaa here a chance, you asked me to give him a chance; so I’m going to abide to that; however, I’m not going to do it for free,” Mi-chan said.

“I don’t see anyone would want to get with me,” Kame said rolling his eyes.

“Oh, you have no idea,” Mi-chan laughed.

“What now?” Kame asked, not so pleased.

“Tomorrow is Sunday right? It’s your day off. How about going on double date?” Mi-chan excitedly requested.

“What?!” Kame almost screamed at the request.

“Well I’m giving him a chance; you should give the person I pick for you a chance too! That’s fair you know,” Mi-chan grinned, “if we get to suffer, let’s surfer together!” she happily sprinted out of the bar and to the crowd, Kame didn’t have a chance to decline or refuse, and the worst of all, he didn’t know who Mi-chan would set him up with!