I stood under the hot sun willingly for one of the few times in my life, and as my lips pursed into a small smile I gazed with proud eyes at the sign in front of me; "An Overdose of Literature." The name of the book cafe I just opened written in both Korean and German. I never expected to open up my own bookstore let alone fund it with left over college tuition but, plenty of unexpected things were destined to happen in a life time, this was just one of them. I reached up briefly and tapped the bell over the door, the sound resonated with all the feelings inside my heart, and with that I took a step inside.

From that moment on the cafe was open, I'm sure any other person would be grinning in joy at the completion of their first store; saying something along the lines of it bringing them one step closer to their dream or it being their chance to escape into a better world. But really that wasn't me; it wasn't my dream and I much rather be trapped in the film world than in one without moving pictures.

 

I stood at the main desk, waiting for customers but really I was watching clips from the Pusan film festival on my phone. It had to have been an hour until two or three customers had walked in. One was a man with pale skin and light brown eyes that I recognized to be Sen Mitsuji, the man who owned the record and poster store next door. We didn't really chat or anything though, he just took out a book and sat in the corner.

Next was a girl with long red hair, she looked a bit cute. When she signed up for a membership I saw her name was Tiffany Hwang--- species, angel. She must be a foreigner or half or something. She too silently grabbed a book and sat in the corner.

Next, she came; Mizuhara Kiko. When I first met her she always had a strange air of confidence around her. I guess I was attracted to that, and somewhat jealous. But it wasn’t until later on that I found out it was just a farce.

Kiko smiled and took out two books; “The beauty of S&M,” and “And then there were none.” Her innocent smile in contrast to the content really made one think about their life choices and all that. After a while I just shrugged the thoughts away and she sat next to Sen. Kiko gave him that same innocent smile and he rolled his eyes but smiled back. They must have been friends.

It was maybe 45 minutes later when Tiffany stood up and asked for another book. I retrieved the book and made a mindless comment on how I wished I was as rich as Gatsby, the main character in the novel Tiffany had requested. I was probably complaining a bit more than I should have; Tiffany started giving me money saving tips and Sen told me that a life of crime had a good pay check if you played your cards right. Then she stood up and walked up to me; "I can't give you the money, but we can rob a bank... How does that old phrase go? Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Her lips pursed into a small smirk as she proposed again; "so let's rob a bank!"

I blinked at her proposition. She looked oddly serious too. Sen just chuckled turning the page to the book he was reading; "Well, if you do it with Kiko I guarantee you it'll go well."

She grinned, quite proud of herself and Tiffany with a cute smile raised her hand. "Oh! Can I help? I've always wanted to rob a bank."

"Wait. Wait. I was only joking we can't actually rob a bank, it's against the law!"

Kiko laughed; "Some rules are meant to be broken, young one. Besides didn't you say you spent your college tuition on this store? Sounds like you need the dough."

Suddenly she laughed and turned the Sen saying something in English. Tiffany laughed too. I guess she made some pun, "kneed the dough," she repeated but Sen just shook her head and if my English was right I believe he called her lame.

She pouted then turned back to me with her face serious once more; "so what do you say, are you up for it?"

I sighed then, running my fingers through my hair, nodded; "it can't hurt... Well actually it can... If I get arrested its your fault."

I remember asking myself what the hell I was getting myself into, maybe if I said no that one day, no one would have suffered.

She grinned; "I know, I know. But don't worry, I've never been arrested before, and I've done much worse than merely rob a bank."

I swear it was at that moment I had to contain myself from yelling out; "what the hell are you? Her species on her member registry said human but under occupation she wrote 'it's a secret.'"

Even till this day I find it hard wrapping my head around her.

 

 

Before I knew it I had the phone numbers of the two women in the room who might as well have been models. I felt Kiko stare at the name tag on my chest; "Kim Jong in? Why did I think you we're Japanese?" She said tapping her lip in thought.

"You kind of look like an Akai too."

"Kai?"

"Close enough," she smiled.

 

The next day was a Sunday, optimal time for a heist Kiko had explained. We met in front of the shop at noon. I had moved in next door to Tiffany, as fate would have it and I began calling her Noona as we grew slightly close.

Tiffany Noona and I arrived together only to find Kiko and a convertible waiting for us. We stepped inside of Overdose to make our plans.

It was decided that she would be the get-away drivers since angels suffered burns whenever directly involved in crimes, and Kiko said it was a two-man mission.

I was to walk in as a normal customer and Kiko and a friend of hers would break in. She didn't tell me the rest of the plan but just to follow all orders. I nodded, and we left.

Tiffany drove us the way there, apparently they don't drive much in heaven. Tiffany Noona was a bit reckless and got scolded by Kiko but you could see a small smile creep up against even her face.

For some reason it was always quite hard to stay mad at Tiffany, even if her Korean wasn't that good and most of our conversations became a bit one-sided (unless you include her countless grins and giggles), at the end of the day she was still our lovable Noona.

Kiko told me to wait at the cafe across the street until she gave the signal. After a while I got her text and walked in and stood in line to make a withdrawal. It was about 5 minutes later that two people dressed in black entered the room guns in hand. They shot to the ceiling and told everyone to drop to the floor.

I'm guessing the thinner one was Kiko. Suddenly everything got a bit real, but I did just as they said.

They approached the people at the desk and the shutters to the outside went down. There was no turning back, not like I cared.

Kiko hoped off the counter she was standing on and approached the crowd. A little boy was crying and she pat his head softly, he stopped crying and smiled as she handed him a lollipop.

She then commanded the crowd to split into two groups.

People who came alone, and people who came with others. The people who came alone were then commanded to tie up and blindfold those who came with friends and then eventually themselves. I stood their blindfolded not entirely sure what was going on until someone, I'm assuming the man who came with Kiko, grabbed my arm and pulled me away with the man next to me. I was untied and made help push all the cash out the winos and into the car. The man had a gun to my back for some reason. Next thing I knew he switched clothes with the man (after hitting him hard enough to knock him out). I tied him up and he joined the crowd. Kiko came to me dressed like a civilian, she probably did the same as that other guy. She stood at the window to the men's bathroom with me, then she pressed a button and a bomb or something ignited. We jumped out and with Tiffany driving drove away safely.

Kiko was laughing evilly; "shall I explain to you the genius of that amazing plan, young one?" She boasted.

I rolled my eyes; "sure."

"Well, the new hole in the ceiling lets the police in, and when they get in they'll see a whole bunch of people passed out under the rubble. No one died do worry. The see two people in robber’s costumes. 'I didn't do it' the two people claim. But they all came here alone, thus no evidence to back that claim up. Plus they're wearing robber’s clothes. Genius right?" She grinned and I released a small smile.

"I guess it wasn't bad."

Tiffany driving recklessly called out over us; "where to?"

"My house! It's at the edge of town," Kiko commanded and with a "yahoo" as she accelerated Tiffany got us there in record time (not a good thing.)

We stepped out of the door and reached the house, it was a lot bigger than I expected. But I wasn’t exactly expecting a mansion. Kiko's entire existance was often overwhelming, but I guess that was another part of her that I was attracted to.