cigarette; hanma shuji [✓]

fifteen

-

THE usual night shift continues as kanae rushed around the shop to serve bowls after bowls and also grabbing the dirty ones at the same time.

for some reason, that night had twice the number of customers they usually have.

"fresh cold beer for table twelve and eight." a co worker told her as she quickly sort the bottles and slides it into his hands, proceeding to walk to the table.

she sighed, tired as her hands were getting red from all the hard work and also almost burn her hand when she poured soup into a bowl.

she wondered to herself, how was kou doing outside of the shop. dealing with the long line of customers- impatient customers.

"hey, table for four."

"for two please."

"got enough for ten?"

the male mentioned only look around the crowd that was supposedly a line a few seconds ago. he made confused noises as he starts to get dizzy dealing with the crowd.

"he's doing fine." she said to herself, standing up from the counter and to the kitchen.

-

finally the noisy night shift ended as the two leans against a wall and exhales heavily, sliding against the walls to the floor.

"cig?" she offered but he declined, making the female 'ooh' him.

"changing for ya girl?" a tint of red appeared on his cheeks as she continues to tease the guy. every single time she doestease him, his face just gets redder.

"kanae! there's someone who wants to see you." one of their co worker called across the room as she quickly stands up and dust off her apron clean.

now kou was the one who 'ooh' her.

"maybe it was a customer who got interested in you."

"pfft oh please."

she walks her way to the exit and saw ran standing infront of the ramen shop. he smiled as soon as he sees her.

"what brings you here?"

"you said you worked at a ramen shop so i decide to visit.. wait, you guys closed already?"

she nodded but lets him in anyway. i mean sure why not the extra money. he sits down near the counter and ordered a simple miso soup.

about to serve him the bowl, a bell jingle at the entrance as hanma walks in as usual. she quickly took out his regular order, already prepared.

"extra customer?" kou questioned as he looks at the expensive looking guy who was two seats away from hanma. she nodded and showed him her thumbs up, proudly grinning at him.

"well i'll go now. i have a date this afternoon." she raised a brow at his words.

but bid him a 'good luck' as he walks out of the shop. while waiting for the two to finish their food, she washes a few dirty bowls that were left behind.

ran only sweatdropped, he could feel a sharp glare from the other guy who was slurping in his noodles.

quickly, kanae can sense the tension as she looks at them with a smile. she tried to brightened up the gloomy mood but seems like her smile did the opposite and made it worse.

the three finally walked out of the shop as she breathes in the cold morning oxygen, pulling her bandana off her head.

"im going now. see you, mitsuo!" ran bid as he walks to his car and drives away from the other two.

she looks at hanma, who has been glaring at the other guy non stop- despite being far away from him already.

"i'll get going-" about to walk to her place, he grabs her arm and drags her to his bike.

the female whimpered in pain as her back hit the seat of the bike, she opened her eyes and sees herself trapped with her body situated between his arms.

"oi whats wrong with you? the nicotine got into your head?" his face got closer to her own as she tried to push him away with all the strength she's got.

"all this other guys being close to you, absolutely disgust me, yknow that?" he spit those words to her as she only had her eyebrows knitted together, clueless as to why he was suddenly saying such things.

finally, she was able to push him away and grab him from the collar. gritting her teeth as her eyes look into yellow ones.

"so what? its my problem. why must it concern you?" she roughly release her grip onto his collar and quickly walks away.

he scratches his head, loudly grunting at what he just did. he sure doesn't know what got into him.

-

its been a few weeks already and kanae has never seen hanma. even when she visits kou's place, kou would usually say that he left for a walk.

"ok 'he went to go for a walk' every fucking time. find a better excuse, fucking jerk- ah sorry." she quickly picked up the things that dropped on the floor.

she looks at the person's feet, wondering why they were just standing there when they could atleast help her or maybe say something.

so she tilts her head up and her eyes widened to see that the person she bumped onto was hanma. she doesn't know why but her breathing was shaking.

kanae stood up after piling up everything and looks down, not sure why she wasn't moving away.

as she was about to speak, opening her mouth, hanma interrupted and spoke instead.

"im sorry." she continued to look down and stare at her legs- not responding to what he said. she can feel his yellow eyes staring at her.

hanma sighed and step aside, for her to walk.

-

another short chapter
because im not sure how to continue
this parts. next chapter is gonna be wild
i guess????
btw so beware