Le Mort d' Shounen

[mugenginga]

(OOC: THREAD NAME LANGUAGE SLAUGHTERING FOR GREAT JUSTICE.)

Anzu was still getting used to the uniform, really. She'd worked for about three days, probably a little over a shift and a half had she been working full time, and she still wasn't used to the outfit. The other girls had seemed impressed with the way she had handled the more... rowdy customers. She hadn't done anything all that special, just given them a glare and a few low toned words of warning. Was she really that bad when she got serious?

In any case, she was coming back towards the kitchen with an empty tray. She'd just shot another customer a nasty glare and smoothed down the back of her uniform. She swore the things were designed to rise up in the back, and she'd gotten rather skilled at certain ways of crouching down. It hadn't made some of the customers the happiest campers in the world, but at least she hadn't given... any more panty shots.

She was almost at the kitchen when she heard an almost strangled sound from the girl who sat customers. She looked up and her face paled, and she almost dumped the thankfully empty try. She managed to recover it, at which point she brought it very close, concealing her body from her neck to about halfway down her thighs. This pressed down on the front of the skirt piece and she had to grab the back of her skirt and hold it down. Yuugi noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up, the color draining from his face as she glared.

"Sally, I've got it!" Anzu said. The blond girl tensed up and looked towards Anzu, seeming very relieved at Anzu's offer. She gave a nod and scurried out of Anzu's way. Anzu still had the tray over the top of her chest as she walked forward. It was held with one hand, the other on her waist in a fist. She seemed to almost be growling as she spoke, "Why are all of you here?!"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro had to admit, he loved the uniforms here. They had some of the best parts of maid outfits, but they added their own fetishistic flavor that just appealed to him in more ways than one. The way the skirt didn't quite cover the "panties" part of the uniform (it was actually a one piece, though you couldn't really tell), the way the top of the uniform almost looked like it was going to slip off... it was just wonderful.

If he could express it in one phrase, it would have been, "Ohh! I could take you home with me!" Not that he actually would say that. Not in front of the other guys. He had to retain a shred of dignity... while in front of the other guys.

He made a note to come here on his own time some time later.

Kanji paled as Anzu approached them. She looked pissed, and in Kanji's experience, women were scary when they were pissed. Minato was saying nothing. Damn, Anzu looked good in that. Souji was looking away. Atsuro was grinning like an idiot.

Naoto groaned. "Atsuro-kun suggested that we come see you at work today, and several of our group agreed."

[mugenginga]

Anzu's frown deepened at the explanation. She didn't seem upset at Naoto, and the majority of her glare and turned to Jounouchi. Yuugi looked very nervous, and even Jounouchi seemed to suddenly find something interesting on the wall to the side. Honda had almost let out a low whistle, but a quick glare from Anzu had caught it in his throat.

Atem had a raised eyebrow at the other waitresses. This kind of place had never really been... Yuugi's thing. He had to admit surprise that there were places that dressed their workers like that. Well, that wasn't that kind of place, in any case. With his memories back, he had a direct comparison over what was considered socially appropriate, and the uniforms here seemed one step away from running around topless. And in a way, was managing more with less shown.

"I can take a few guesses as to which of my friends agreed, but who else?" Anzu hadn't removed her gaze from Jounouchi.

"Hey, you can't blame it all on me! Atem was interested too!"

"Don't try to shift the blame, Jounouchi-kun," Atem said, a slight tonal inflection indicating a tease. It was almost covered up by the moment of panic the former Pharaoh had borne.

"I told them it was a bad idea!" Yuugi said. He actually sounded a touch frightened.

"Maid cafes are bear-y awesome!" Teddie said, attempting to get a better look by standing on his tiptoes. For once even he'd seemed unaware of his pun. He also seemed to have no understanding the "danger" the group was in.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro suddenly got an intense feeling of foreboding, like the kind someone got when they were in intense danger. In fact, he had the feeling he was staring his death in the large, scantily clothed face. He did not do the smart thing and shut up. Instead, he did the stupid thing and snickered at Teddie's comment.

"Amen, Teddie. A-men," Atsuro said. It had been a long time since he had been to a maid cafe. Not since he'd dragged K1 off to that one in Akihabara... he felt a little depressed at that, and then shook the thought away. He didn't need to think about that when he was in heaven, dammit.

Souji held up his hands. "I was not involved in the decision to come here," Souji stated. "I merely came along so Teddie would not assault any of your employees with smooches."

"Hey, it was Atsuro's idea! Blame it on him if you're gonna blame anyone!" Minato said, sounding a bit frightened himself. He may have been interested in the maids, and he knew Ryoji was interested, but like hell he was catching hell from Anzu over this.

[mugenginga]

Anzu puckered her face up in annoyance at the continued dodges. She had a very good idea whose idea it had been, but was mildly annoyed that everyone had come along for the ride. Her gaze turned from Jounouchi as Atsuro spoke up in response to Teddie's comment. The rest of the comments ran over the top of each other, but her glare had pretty much focused on Atsuro at this point. And then it did what probably no one was expecting, it softened a bit... and refocused on Jounouchi.

"I'm still holding you responsible for this, Jounouchi-kun!"

"Hey, what, what?!"

Anzu lifted up her hand and put it over the top of the try with her other one, "There sure is a lot of you though. You brought everyone from the apartments, didn't you?"

She turned to the side and looked back, "We've got a big table usually used for parties and stuff, but no one has it reserved today. Come on, I'll get you seated."

"Anzu, you can't just say that! Explain why I'm the only one in trouble!" Jounouchi said.

Anzu deftly maneuvered the tray around so that when she was walking away from them, her back end was covered, "Figure it out yourself, Jounouchi-kun. Oh, and I'll make sure to serve you guys. We get enough trouble from dirty old men. Are you guys coming?"

There were several pouts to be had from the group over Anzu's declaration. Ryoji in particular seemed to be brought back to the conversation at that. He'd actually been watching the girl Anzu had called Sally. Jounouchi still looked confused, but Honda was snickering. He actually didn't really get it either, but it seemed only one of them was really in the dog house over this.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro paled as Anzu looked directly at him. Just as he was about to start saying his prayers, her expression softened, and she turned toward Jounouchi. He let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding, and went back to grinning.

"Hell yeah I'm coming!" Atsuro grinned. He threw his hands in the air. "Caaakes!"

Souji sighed. It was rather obvious Anzu was holding Jounouchi responsible for not stopping them from coming here. He wasn't quite sure why she was focusing only on him. Prior experience, perhaps?

Minato had been about to reach over and pull Ryoji back toward the conversation when Anzu's declaration had done the job for him. He should have known Ryoji was going to ogle the employees. God knew Minato had already snuck a couple looks himself.

"...Uh, this may be a bad time, but who the hell's payin' for all of this?" Kanji asked. "There's eleven of us here."

"I would assume we're all paying for ourselves," Naoto said. The group followed Anzu to the table from there.

[mugenginga]

It was a good thing Atsuro couldn't see Anzu's face as he shouted. In truth, he was probably too busy trying to see if she was gonna lose grip of the tray. A vein almost popped out on her head as he shouted. She did blame Jounouchi mainly, but that didn't make this less annoying. It was one thing dealing with the usual customers, but it was an entirely different thing with people she actually knew.

"I've got Minato-kun, Ryoji-kun, and everyone from our apartment," Yuugi said, "I mean, Jounouchi-kun and Honda-kun don't have jobs, and I still owe Minato-kun for helping me and Atem when we first got to the Island."

By the time they would be paying attention to Anzu again, she was standing at the end of two long tables put next to each other. She indicated the seats with her hand. There was a stack of menus in a holder. She picked up a bunch and set them on the table before grabbing a few more. She wasn't saying anything to the group, and she still looked miffed. She'd handed the last one to Teddie when the bell at the front of the store rung. She didn't even notice it until Sally was shouting her name.

"Anzu, that guy from yesterday who gave you the trenchcoat is here!"

Anzu froze up and looked up, managing to forget to hide her uniform in the process. She was standing just ahead of where Atsuro had been seated. Yuugi and Atem had both looked up at the shout, Teddie was watching another one of the waitresses. Ryoji seemed to be leaning to the side a bit in the way of much towards the one Teddie was looking at, so neither of them was aware of the person in the doorway.

He really wasn't anything all that special. Dark skin, long black hair held in a thin ponytail, seemed to share some features with Atem although the skin color was darker. He had on a black jacket and dark grey pants of cargo material, with what looked to be knee pads for no apparent reason other than looking cool. Probably the most noticable part of his outfit was the yellow bordered choker with triangles of dark red and dark blue. Hanging from it was a large gold X. The tops of his black boots were designed like his choker. He had a black windbreaker on, which he was in the middle of pulling off, showing a dark blue tanktop underneath. He lifted a hand towards Anzu when she froze up to look at him.

All she could think was, Not now. Why now?!

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro had just sat down when the door at the front of the store opened. When Anzu froze, he blinked and craned his neck to the side so he could get a look at the guy Sally had indicated.

"Trenchcoat?" Minato was looking toward the door. The guy who had just walked in didn't seem Japanese. Anzu also seemed to be freaking a bit more than one would think she should over the guy.

"Oh yeah, the guy who was hitting on Anzu yesterday," Atsuro remembered. Probably not the smartest thing to say.

[mugenginga]

"He was not hitting on me!" Anzu hissed.

Yuugi, Jounouchi, and Honda all gave rather violent winces. Even Atem grimaced and twitched a bit. Ryoji blinked and looked towards her in confusion, the look on his face similar to the one he often wore when being brushed off. Sort of a confused amusement. Teddie just looked confused. Anzu put the tray down on the table and didn't even bother saying she'd be right back as she trotted over to where the man was standing.

* "What doing here you?" * Anzu asked in her poor English. She didn't sound upset, at least not in contrast. She just sounded surprised.

The man smiled, it seemed to take a year or too of his age, which seemed to be young adult, * "I just wanted to ask about the trenchcoat. I was coming here anyways, I didn't know you were working here today." *

Anzu looked over her shoulder, suddenly blushing and holding down the back of her skirt, * "Now is large bad time! With... friend." *

* "Oh hey, is he Egyptian?" * the man indicated Atem.

Atem noticed the gesture and he looked towards Souji, "Should we be worried? He looks Egyptian."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro actually blinked a couple times at the man. He was speaking English, and from what he could follow of their conversation (which was hardly any of it; his english was pretty bad), Anzu was trying to get this guy to go away, which wasn't working too well, especially since the guy had noticed Atem.

Souji frowned. The man did appear Egyptian, but Souji couldn't quite sense anything from him. He looked toward Atem and shook his head. "I'm not sensing anything from him, so either he's not Osiris or he's really good at hiding his energy."

Naoto leaned forward a little bit so she could see the man better. * "Excuse me, but who are you?" *

[mugenginga]

Anzu had blinked at his question and turned towards Atem. The proper answer was probably yes, but he couldn't exactly speak the language... could he? Come to think of it, she'd never actually asked that. And Malik had only ever spoken Japanese. She decided to try and play it safely, she turned back and shook her head.

* "Not as you thinking. Birth only, raised in Japan," * Anzu looked uncomfortable. She really didn't like lying like this.

The man looked up as Naoto addressed him, * "Oh, you can speak English! My name's Adil, Adil Solomon," * And then back at Anzu, * "I never got your name, by the way." *

* "Ma-Mazaki Anzu. With surname first coming, it be Anzu Mazaki." *

Adil's eyes widened, * "Oh, am I in your way? I didn't mean to interuppt you at work!" *

Jounouchi was looking at Adil with suspicion. No, he hadn't even thought of Osiris. That Haytham guy had been all yellow with his outfit, and Honda said Asim had been rather blue. It was a rather lucid leap for Jounouchi, but he figured Osiris would be red. Honda had a flat expression towards the situation once Atem and Souji had spoken up. He looked towards Souji.

"Does that mean you can't be sure it's not another one of those guys? I've had it up to here with that Asim guy."

"Is this a problem?" Ryoji asked. He looked very worried, "I mean, things seemed to be going smoothly for a change..."

"When are we ordering?" Teddie asked. He didn't see a situation, even with the past. With Souji having said he wasn't Osiris, he figured the potential mess was past.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Naoto sat back in her seat. She couldn't be sure whether this Adil person was hitting on Anzu or not, but it honestly wasn't of much concern to her. Kanji looked over toward Naoto.

"So, uh... what're they talking about?" Kanji asked.

"Nothing quite so important that you need to stick your nose in it," Naoto responded jokingly.

Souji turned to Honda. "Well, like I said, they'd have to be really good at hiding their energy for me to not know. I'm pretty sure this guy isn't one." He looked toward Teddie as he spoke up. "As soon as Anzu gets done talking to her friend."

"So everything's actually fine, right?" Minato asked. Souji rolled his eyes.

"Yes, everything's fine. Nothing's going to blow up in our faces this time," Souji said.

"Don't say things like that, you'll jinx it!" Atsuro cried.

[mugenginga]

"She wants us to trust her, we can do that much," Atem said. The truth was he wanted to talk as well. He was able to speak passable English, about as well as Anzu. But Souji had said they didn't need to be concerned, and Anzu had asked them to trust her. He folded the menu he'd been looking at and set it down.

Ryoji looked tentatively relieved at where the conversation had gone. He was a worrier, so this was going to go over in his head several more times. Still, things seemed to be okay now. He forced a smile at Atsuro's comment.

"You know, he's got a point?"

"I don't know about you, but I'd call that him hitting on her," Jounouchi said.

Ryoji chuckled, "I really don't think he is, which means he's either not into girls or blind. I'm pretty sure she's trying to get his attention that way."

Which lead to Yuugi looking embarassed, "H-hey! Don't talk about her like that! And how would you even know that?"

Ryoji hadn't put his menu down. This meant the lower half of his face was concealed. He raised an eyebrow and gave a wider smile, "Minato knows what I mean."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato only gave a chuckle in response to Ryoji's comment. Oh yeah, he could tell juuuust fine. It was even possible Anzu didn't quite realize it herself, or didn't want to admit it, but she was trying to get this guy's attention. Of course, the fact that this guy wasn't noticing meant that he was either, as Ryoji said, not into girls or completely blind.

"...Anzu found out about you and Atem recently, didn't she?" Minato asked. It would make sense, especially if she really had liked Yuugi, that she was throwing herself at this guy.

Atsuro said nothing. He was not getting involved in that conversation. That had not been a good day, and he didn't even like thinking about it. Though, that had to have sucked for Anzu. She found out the guy she liked was gay for the guy he used to share a body with on Christmas.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi had looked annoyed at Ryoji's comment. Atem had looked back at the exchange after Ryoji had spoken. He hadn't thought of that just yet, but it didn't seem impossible. Teddie was paying attention to the exchange as well, but he was swinging his legs under the table. It was probably a miracle he hadn't kicked someone.

Yuugi looked guilty as Minato asked his question, but he nodded. It hadn't been fair to keep it from her, but she'd seemed to be doing well. Atem sighed at Minato's comment and gave a nod as well. So it hadn't just been him who had come up with the rebound thought.

"He doesn't even look twenty, I'm not sure what the big deal is," he said with a shrug, "Like I said, it's not like he's even noticing the cues."

"Well, I did suggest she get a job because she was de-Ouch! Hey, Honda, what was that for?!"

Honda gave him a glare and dropped his menu. The angle it dropped at meant it moved towards where Atem and Yuugi were sitting, "I don't think we have to worry. Guy looks blinder than a bat in that regard."

* "Talking later! *" Anzu said with a smile, * "Off in hour, alright?" *

And now Adil seemed to get the message. Those actually watching the exchange would notice the expression of surprise come across his face. Well, those that could actually read that sort of thing. Pretty much cutting it down to Naoto, Souji, Ryoji, and Minato. Possibly Kanji, Atem's observance in that regard didn't extend to guys he didn't know. There seemed to be a moment longer than was needed in surprise, and then it faded to a bit of a smile and a nod.

* "I'd planned on eating lunch here, so I can wait until you're off without a problem." *

Anzu's entire stance change. Her face lit up in pleasant surprise. Given that she straightened up and the tray was still on the corner of the table where the group was sitting, that meant she was about a centimeter away from showing what the uniforms were modeled to give glimpses of. Sally came up to Anzu and said something in a low voice.

* "Sally sitting you," * Anzu said, * "Be seeing you in an hour!" *

Anzu trotted back over to the table and pulled a notepad out of a well concealed pocket in her uniform. She seemed in a much better mood. She had lifted the pen and was about to take the orders when she realized most of the table was staring at her.

".....what?"