𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐇 || ʜᴀᴡᴋꜱ

1➟ In which an angry dude breaks my new card machine.

"Fixed up the brakes, and replaced the battery, she's good to go." I slapped the car with the most showman like smile I could muster, knowing full well that the man in front of me would not like the price I was about to give him for the repairs we'd done.

"How long will the new battery last?"

"Well, depending on how often you use the car, it should last for about three to five years."

"Tch, kinda thought it would last longer than that."

"Well, as I said, it depends on how often you use it, honestly if you take care of it, it should last for a few more years."

The man groaned, "Yeah, yeah, okay. How much?"

"62250¥, sir."

"62250¥? You've gotta be kidding me."

"Yeah, I know, shocker." I waved my hands, "But that includes manual labour and the cost of replacements."

"Manual labour my ass! I could've just found a video online and fixed it myself!"

"Yeah, but you didn't. So let's not get all feisty and pay so I can get on with my life and you can get on with yours, okay hun?"

The man grumbled under his breath and pulled out his wallet, handing me his card so I could get paid and he could get the hell out of here.

"Alrighty, just put it your pin please."

I stared into the garage and watched as Kaneko was lugging a toolbox over to a red Volvo P1800 he had brought in the other day.

He was a rather burly man, picture a typical blacksmith in some period drama and voila, there you go. Though, despite his outward appearance and scarily deep voice, he was an angel.

He baked for god's sake, you name it, he'd bake it; strudels, scones even apple pandowdy, the man was a 5-star Michelin chef in my eyes.

Flipping the card reader back to me I groaned as I saw the word declined flash across the screen.

"Your card's been declined."

"Bullshit!"

"Nope." I turned the reader back to him, "See, declined. Do you have any other-"

"Try the card again."

"Okay, look, one: I don't appreciate you interrupting me, two: I highly doubt trying the card again is going to work."

"I don't care what you think, try the card again."

I sighed and reset the machine so that he could enter his pin yet again.

"Okay sir, enter your pin please."

The familiar beeps of the reader played in my ears and I flipped it back around, unsurprised to see the 'processing' screen change to that of the previous 'declined' one.

"Declined."

This situation had happened many times before and pretty much every time, everyone was civil and either called their bank or produced another form of payment. What hadn't happened yet was someone ripping the card machine off its arm and smashing it onto the floor.

But today was full of surprises.

"Oh come on man, Cindy's brand new." I was referring to the hunk of metal and wires that was now in pieces on the ground.

"Fuck!" He stomped on the pile, "You! Cindy!"

"Woah, Woah, Woah. Chill. Just give me your name and we can charge the repairs and Cindy's replacement directly to your account."