Chapter 98
[129]
As he wiped down one of his last tables for the night, Ren let out a sigh. Memories of his date with Ann last night played over again in his mind.
“Something troubling you?” A voice asked from behind him.
“Ms. Philemon!” Ren turned around in surprise, seeing his boss casually leaning against a table. “Uh, it’s nothing. I was just finishing up for the night.”
“Good to hear.” She replied. “And I thought I asked you to call me Margaret. Ms. Philemon makes me sound like an old woman, I’m still in my twenties you know.”
“Sorry about that.” He apologized sheepishly.
“No problem.” She smiled, her white teeth contrasting her dark red lipstick. “Come to the back office when you’re finished, I’ll have your paycheck ready.” She punctuated her sentence with a wink before walking off.
“Um...okay.” Ren replied with a questioning look.
Finishing his work, he put away his cleaning supplies for the night. Just as he was about to hang up his apron, Ren heard the kitchen door open.
“Theodore? Have you made dinner yet?” Lavenza asked, entering the room. “I’m feeling quite famished...Oh, it’s you.”
“Hey Lavenza.” Ren greeted the girl.
“Sorry, I was looking for my brother. I’ll go-”
“I could make you something.” Ren offered. “We’ve still got some leftover ingredients. I think I could whip something up.”
“There’s no need, I’ll just-” Before she could finish, she was cut off once again, this time by her stomach growling.
Seeing the proud girl’s embarrassment, Ren couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Why don’t I get started?” He looked over the spare ingredients laid out on the table. “How about a pork curry bowl?”
“Pork...curry bowl? I haven’t had such a thing.” She said, taking a seat at a nearby table.
While the Velvet Room was known for serving delicious food, it wasn’t a place known for Japanese cuisine. The Philemon family, if it wasn’t obvious by their names and appearances, weren’t native to Japan, instead hailing from somewhere in Europe.
“Well you’re in luck. If there’s one thing I know, it’s curry.” He began to stir the ingredients, creating a rich aroma that wafted through the kitchen. When the food was finished, Ren presented the bowl to Lavenza, who was drooling at the mouth at the sight of it. “Bon appetit.”
Taking her fork and digging in, Lavenza was blown away by how tasty it was. Somehow it tasted even better than she’d thought. Why was this boy relegated to mopping floors when he had this much skill? Before she knew it, she’d had reached the bottom of the bowl and unintentionally let out a disappointed groan.
“Want more?” Ren asked. “Don’t worry, I made enough for seconds.” He reassured her, picking up her bowl and refilling it with rice before adding the curry.
With the small girl finishing off the last of the food, Ren hung up his apron and exited the kitchen, ruffling Lavenza’s hair on his way out. Normally she would protest such an action, seeing it as belittling, but she decided to let him get away with it just this once, looking away to hide her blush as he left.
As he was about to head home for the night, Ren suddenly remembered Margaret’s words from earlier.
Walking back to her office, he knocked before hearing a ‘come in’ from the other end.
“You certainly took your time.” Margaret stated.
“Yeah sorry, Lavenza was-” He paused when he caught sight of his boss’s current attire.
Sitting behind her desk with her legs kicked up, Margaret’s normal uniform had some slight alterations. While she still had her heels on, instead of her leather pants, the woman was sporting stockings that left little to the imagination, giving Ren a good look at the legs beneath. Moving his gaze upward, he noticed that the top buttons of her uniform had been undone, putting her ample cleavage on display. From where he was standing Ren was able to just make out the edges of her bra, which from the looks of it was dark blue and lacy. He also noticed the edge of a tattoo on her collarbone that depicted a rose and what seemed to be the Roman numeral for 3.
“Is there a problem?” Margaret asked, causing Ren to snap out his daze, realizing he hadn’t spoken for a while.
“Um, n-no.” He replied, averting his gaze. “No problem. Just...here to pick up my check.” Embarrassed as he was to admit it, he struggled for a moment to remember why he’d come here.
“Well it’s right here.” She nodded toward her desk, revealing that the paycheck was just beneath her heel. Though she showed it to him, Margaret made no attempt to hand it to him. Clearly, she wanted him to get it himself.
“O-Okay.” Ren said nervously, reaching for the check with a shaky hand. As he was about to reach it, Margaret pulled her foot back, causing the piece of paper to fall to the floor.
“Oops.” She said with a smile, still making no attempt to pick it up.
His heart pounding in his chest, Ren bent over to grab the check off of the floor, unintentionally giving Margaret exactly what she wanted, a nice view of his ass. It should be noted that the Velvet Room didn’t have an HR department, so...yeah. Of course his boss was a very attractive woman, but Ren had more interest in maintaining a steady source of income than getting his rocks off.
“You know, that uniform fits you quite nicely.” Margaret commented. “I’ll have to commend Theo for his tailoring talents.”
“Um, thank you ma’am-er Margaret.” He corrected himself, standing up. “W-Was there anything else you needed?”
“No, that should be enough.” She replied. “You can head home for the night. See you soon.” She said the last bit in a very sultry voice.
Ren wasted no time getting out of the club, speed walking out of the room and back home. When he got out onto the street, he immediately pulled out his phone and went to his contacts list. He had some very important questions that needed to be answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey Takemi, it’s Ren. Quick question, remember that conversation we had yesterday? About the whole pheromones thing with me and Makoto?”
“Yeah? What about it?” She asked, audibly intrigued.
“Is it...Is it possible that it can affect other people? Like, normal people?”
“Hmm. I hadn’t really considered that. I mean, it’s possible. But I’d need to run some tests.” She stated. “Why do you ask?”
“Um, no reason. Just...being safe is all.” He lied.
“What? Did something happen on your date with Takamaki? I’d be fascinated to hear the details.”
‘Oh God.’ Ren thought, putting his palm to his face. ‘I’d just forgotten about that. Thanks a bunch Doc.’
“No, nothing I really need to share. Again, just being cautious.” He boarded the subway back to Yongen Jaya. “I’ve gotta go now, give Haru my best.”
“Okay.” The doctor sounded disappointed. “Wait, Haru isn’t-” But Ren hung up before she could finish, not hearing the last part.
He sighed as he put his phone away. As he rode the subway home, next to him, two businessmen were having a conversation that Ren couldn’t help but overhear.
“Have you heard? Masayoshi Shido is coming back to Tokyo tomorrow.” One man said to his colleague. “His campaign across the country has been a huge success. Seems like he’s the most likely candidate to win the election.”
“Well, I know he’s got my vote. Shido Sciences already does so much for the country as it is, clean energy, cell phones, security systems, the list goes on. Can you imagine how it’ll be when he’s Prime Minister?”
Ren was intrigued, he’d never heard that Shido was running for Prime Minister. Could you blame him though? He’d had a busy year, plus he wasn’t too into politics to begin with. Still, the thought that a man with that much power already was going to be in charge of the country? It made him a little uneasy.
The ride was fairly quiet from that point on, leaving Ren alone with his thoughts. So much had happened, and so much was still happening. To call his life a mess would be putting it lightly, things were a wreck at the moment. He didn’t even know what he’d say to Ann the next time he saw her.
When he finally arrived at Leblanc’s front door, he let out what felt like his millionth sight of the evening. Finally he was home, now he could relax, pet Maurice a bit, and go to sleep. Maybe Sojiro had left out some food for him? He doubted it but was hopeful nonetheless. As he fumbled with his key, he was surprised when he found the door already unlocked.
‘Did Sojiro forget to lock up?’ He thought. ‘That’s weird, and after all the times he’s gotten on my case about this being a bad neighborhood.’
He pushed open the door, but instead of finding the dark empty restaurant, Ren noticed that scented candles had been lit all around the cafe. And scattered across the floor, were those...rose petals? What was-
Ren’s line of questions were interrupted when a pair of hands covered his eyes. “Guess who?” A familiar voice asked playfully.
“Haru?” Ren asked, confused. When the hands retracted from his face, he turned around and came face to face with the fluffy-haired girl in question.
“Welcome home Ren.” She smiled. As he looked down, he noticed Haru was in what looked to be a bathrobe. The thought of what may be beneath, or what may not be beneath it, caused the boy’s heart to skip a beat.
“W-What um…” He struggled to speak. “What’s going on?”
“Why, my turn of course.” Haru answered while walking behind the counter. “And since I can’t exactly afford to take you out to dinner like Ann, I decided to bring dinner here.” She pulled out a charcuterie board loaded with various meats, cheeses, crackers, and fruits.
“Wow.” Ren was stunned by this entire display. “Wait, I’m sorry, your ‘turn’?”
“Shhh.” She dismissed his concern. “Here, eat.” She held up a cracker to his mouth which he hesitantly accepted.
“So Haru,” Ren began, still chewing. “You um...you like me...Like ‘that’ way.”
“...Yes.” Haru answered before a look of fear crossed her eyes. “D-Do you not-”
“No! Nonono!” He shook his head frantically. “I mean, I feel the same! I-I definitely feel the same but...You know about the situation with Ann, Makoto, and I, right?”
“Mhmm.” She nodded, smiling at Ren’s admittance that he felt the same.
“And that doesn’t bother you?” He raised an eyebrow.
“On the contrary. You see I…” She rubbed her arm bashfully. “I like girls too.”
“Oh.” Ren’s eyes widened. “So then you-”
“Want to be with Ann and Makoto too, yes.” She nodded. “I think, if we can find a way that makes all of us happy, then we should take it.”
“Wow.” Ren was surprised by all of this. “I don’t mean to burst your bubble or anything, but I don’t think that’s very likely at the moment. Ann is pretty pissed at me after last night, and if Makoto isn’t already pissed, she’s probably going to be after she finds out that Ann and I did it.”
“You and Ann got together? After one date?” It was Haru’s turn to be surprised.
“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Then she asked how she stacked up against Makoto and I...couldn’t answer her. She ended up more or less kicking me out, and I haven’t spoken to her since.”
“...”
“...”
“So I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten a turn yet?” Haru asked.
“Ye-Wait what?” He looked up, surprised.
“Want to go upstairs and fix that?” She stood up excitedly.
Ren was speechless, but as if his body acted on it’s own, he found himself nodding his head. Haru squealed in excitement, grabbing his hand and quickly leading him up the stairs. When they got to his bedroom, Ren quickly found that the display downstairs was nothing compared to what awaited him here. Candles and rose petals lined the walls, the windowsill, the bed, was it really safe to have this many candles all burning at once? And laid out across his bed was a plate of strawberries dipped in chocolate, arranged on the plate in the shape of a heart.
“Wow Haru,” Ren admired the display. “I’ve been confessed to before but...never like this.”
“You like it? I’m glad.” The girl seemed relieved. “Father always said to ‘go big or go home.’ Though I have to admit, I was afraid that it would come across as creepy, o-or too much. I can’t even imagine what I would’ve done if you’d said no or-”
“Shhh.” This time it was Ren’s turn to shush her. “Haru, this is incredible. I’ve never seen such a display of affection.” He put her hands in his. “And I would never say no to you.”
Smiling and with tears in her eyes, Haru leaned in and kissed Ren passionately. It was far softer than with Makoto or Ann, but just as charged with emotion nonetheless. It was exactly what he would expect from the most gentle girl he knew.
When the kiss finally ended, Haru took a step away from Ren, confusing him for a moment, though the girl was still smiling. It was then that she untied the knot in her robe and let it drop to the floor, confirming his suspicion from earlier.
She wasn’t wearing anything underneath it.