Chapter 56
[80]
“Just where have you been, young lady!? I had half a mind to send someone out to find you!” Kunikazu Okumura scolded his daughter.
“I’m sorry Father. I lost track of time at gardening club and by the time I realized, it was nearly dark out.” Haru apologized and bowed her head.
“Haru, you can’t be so damn absent-minded all the time! You’re the heir to the second largest tech company in Japan!” Okumura said while folding his arms. “I have big plans for the near future Haru and you play a big role in those plans. But that means you need to take care of your damn responsibilities!”
“I know Father.” She responded sadly.
“Have you spoken to Sugimura lately? You know how important it is that things go well between you two.”
Haru winced. She’d been avoiding that man like the plague, only speaking to him when absolutely necessary. If she had to be honest with herself, she detested Sugimura. That horrible man only ever had one thing on his mind and it left her disgusted at the thought of being alone with him.
“Well Father, you see-”
“You know what? I don’t have time for this. We have dinner with his family tonight, hurry up and get dressed.”
Haru sighed in defeat. “Yes Father.” And walked upstairs to get changed.
Reaching her room, she saw that her maid, Kirumi, had already left out a dress for her for the night. Haru sighed as she began to change, she detested fancy dinners like this, dull conversations with people only interested in her family’s money. If she could have it her way, she’d take eating greasy fast food in a parked car with a genuine friend over 5-star restaurants with other rich families any day.
As she finished zipping up her dress, Haru looked at herself in the mirror. This wasn’t her, not the real her. When had things become like this? When had Father stopped seeing her as his daughter and began seeing her as another disposable asset to his damn company?
“Haru! Hurry down, the limousine is waiting for us!” Her Father’s voice called from the living room.
“Yes Father!” She called back, sighing. This would be a long night.
Back in Kichijoji, Ren Amamiya entered the night club known as The Velvet Room and was greeted with an interior the same deep blue color as the outside. The club was quite large on the inside, a black marble floor with a bar in the center of the room, booths and tables along the walls as well as chairs and tables across the floor, a large open area that was presumably for dancing, and a stage attached to the wall with a piano and a microphone stand on it and a large blue curtain behind it.
Overall, the room seemed to have a high class look to it and seemed almost timeless, like something that would’ve fit in 40 years ago but still just as much in style today. Suddenly, Ren felt underdressed for the occasion.
The club seemed to be empty at the moment, not a soul in sight across the place. He was pretty early, but he figured he’d at least find someone setting up who he could speak to.
“Hello.” A female voice suddenly came from his right.
“Gah! What the-” Ren stumbled backwards, falling to the floor.
When he looked up he saw a small girl who couldn’t have been more than 12 years old giving him an inquisitive look. The girl was wearing a blue dress that went down to her knees, long white leggings and black ballet shoes. Her silver hair fell down to her back and had a blue headband adorned with a swallowtail butterfly in front. The most striking part of her appearance had to be her eyes which were bright gold and staring directly at him.
“You certainly are a strange one. But I believe I like you.” She said letting out a giggle.
“Oh um, thank you?” He said, picking himself up and brushing himself off (to no effect as the floors were spotless.) “Excuse me little girl-”
“My name is Lavenza.” She interrupted.
“Sorry, excuse me Lavenza. Would you happen to know where I could find your mommy or daddy?”
“My ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’?” She asked angrily. “Do you think me a child incapable of functioning independently? I must take back what I said, I no longer like you.” She huffed before turning her back to him.
‘What a strange girl.’ Ren thought to himself.
“That’s enough Lavenza.” Another female voice called out.
Turning to the source, Ren spotted a tall, beautiful woman headed towards the two of them. This woman’s looks were similar to Lavenza’s, golden eyes and silver hair albeit wavy and cut shorter. Her attire was the same blue color as everything else in the club, however her dress didn’t reach her knees, her legs were covered by a pair of tight black leggings, and she wore black high heels which increased her already considerable height. When she reached Ren, he stood only an inch taller than her.
“Hello, you must be Ren. Morgana told us you’d be coming. He, however, neglected to tell us how handsome you were.” The woman held out her hand and caressed Ren’s face, lifting his chin to get a better look at him. “I’m Margaret by the way. I see you and Lavenza have already become acquainted.”
Ren was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. Who the hell were these strange people? And why did they have no concept of personal space?
“Ren! You made it!” Morgana’s voice called out to him.
Ren turned his head (still in Margaret’s hand) towards the boy and saw his friend followed by two more individuals similar in appearance to Margaret and Lavenza, one man and one woman.
“*gasp* Is this our new employee!?” The woman yelled excitedly before running over and grabbing Ren’s hand, shaking it furiously. “Hello! I’m Elizabeth! It’s so nice to meet you!”
The man approached shortly after. “Pleasure to meet you. My name is Theodo-”
“I want to know everything about you! What’s your favorite color? What are your hobbies? *gasp* Do you prefer boxers or briefs?” Elizabeth interrupted as she got even closer to Ren.
“U-Umm...What?” Ren was sweating as he backed away.
“Elizabeth, please give our guest some room. Can’t you see you’re making him uncomfortable?” Margaret asked the other woman.
‘Like you’re one to talk!’ Ren thought silently.
“Alright, alright.” Morgana said, pushing himself between Ren and Elizabeth. “Let’s give the guy a break. We don’t want him quitting on his first day afterall.”
“First day? Isn’t there like an interview or-” Ren began to ask.
“You already passed.” Margaret said.
“Hooray!” Elizabeth cheered. “Welcome aboard!” She hopped up and down while clapping.
“Congratulations.” Theodore stated while bowing.
“What? But I didn’t do anything! I don’t even know what my job is!” Ren yelled, finding this whole situation ridiculous.
“You’ll learn on the job.” Lavenza told him. “Theodore, go get him fitted for his uniform.”
“Right away.” Theodore grabbed Ren by the arm and led him into a back room, apparently taking orders from a child.
The next thing Ren knew, he was in a changing room being handed his uniform. A light blue button-up shirt and black pants with an apron that matched the color of the rest of the employees’ uniforms which Ren was just realizing shared nothing in common aside from their color.
“Don’t worry, it’s your size. I have an eye for these things. Come out when you’re done and we can discuss the job further.” Theodore stated and left the room before Ren could even respond.
Now by himself, Ren let out a sigh and just decided to roll with the situation because apparently pointing out its absurdity did nothing.
As he was halfway through changing, Morgana entered the room, leaning against the doorway, he gave Ren a smirk. “Pretty weird, right? Makes me seem normal by comparison.”
Ren turned to his friend. “What the fuck is happening right now? I don’t understand...any of this. These people are your family?”
“Adopted family. If it wasn’t obvious.”
“Okay...Next question, why do I suddenly have the job? What even is the job?”
Morgana shrugged. “Eh, pretty much whatever they ask. And as for the reason, they like you. Congratulations that’s pretty rare.”
“Alright then, sure, makes as much sense as anything else that’s happened today.”
When Ren finished changing, he exited the room and saw Margaret waiting for him. Apparently the rest of the Philemon family had gone off to begin prepping for the night.
“Good, the uniform fits you well. Allow me to show you around the establishment.” She said as she began walking, expecting Ren to follow, which he did. “Here, we have the booths where you’ll be serving customers. Menus are kept in the drawer outside of the kitchen.” The two continued walking and arrived at the bar. “Here is where we serve drinks.”
“Um, actually I’m not old enough to serve alcohol.” Ren pointed out.
“Correct, which is why you’ll be doing the cleaning.” She answered.
“Oh, okay got it.”
“Next we have the stage, we play all genres here, but have a preference for classical.” As Margaret said this, two previously unseen individuals came out from behind the curtain.
An older man with greying hair, wearing dark tinted glasses and a blue suit and tie along with a woman with mostly white hair that stuck straight up and heavy blue eyeliner, wearing a gown which was, you guessed it, blue. The man took a seat in front of the piano, while the woman set a microphone in her stand.
“Are those your performers?” Ren asked.
“Yes, Nameless and Belladonna.” Margaret said as she watched the two set up.
“His name is Nameless?”
“Yes?” Margaret replied as if it was a dumb question. “They’ve worked here longer than any of us. In fact, no one seems to recall a time that they weren’t here.”
“Wow.” Ren whistled in amazement.
“And that brings us to another important piece of history.” Margaret said, turning to a large painting on the wall. One Ren was surprised he hadn’t noticed before as it was of an incredibly ugly man. “This is our founder, Igor Philemon. I know, quite the impressive nose.” She continued walking, leading Ren to the back rooms.
“Yeahhhh. That’s what I was gonna say.” Ren paused. “Y’know, when Morgana told me his family ran a nightclub, I have to admit, this isn’t what I expected.”
“Oh? Did you expect strobe lights, glow sticks, and hard drugs?” Margaret asked playfully. “No, The Velvet Room has always been a classy place for classy people.”
“Which makes it all the more surprising that you hired me. Morgana told you about my financial situation, right?”
Suddenly Margaret stopped in her tracks, turning around to give Ren a scolding look. He was terrified that he’d just outed himself as being poor and she would fire him here and now.
“Young man! Class, real class, is determined by one’s actions and their strength of character, not their financial standing. You’d do well to remember that.”
“Y-Yes ma’am!” Ren said, relieved and terrified at the same time.
“Now,” She turned back around and continued the tour.
“If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you the rest of our establishment.”