“Boss!” Upon seeing our arrival, a woman dirtied from head to toe in stains walked up to us after seeing us through the numerous cooks. Wiping her hands on a towel, she ordered the rest of the people inside to continue cooking, the occasional flame erupting out from their skillets pulling my attention now and then. “What do you need?”
“This one here.” Motioning her head back towards me, causing the chef to give a quick glance, she looked around inspecting the kitchen. “He’s new, so give him dinner and take him to where the employees eat. Don’t bother him with questions.” Here a weird stern inflection entered her voice. “Make sure the others know. He’s new, understand?”
Gulping, the chef flickered her eyes back and forth between us.
“G-got it boss, he’s new…don’t bother him.” Putting the towel she used to wipe her hands on a counter, the chef placed her hand on my lower back. “The seating area for coworkers is this way. Your food should be out soon, it’s just going to be what the most expensive thing on the menu is tonight.”
Allowing myself to be gently guided, once I had taken a few steps I looked back towards Lexas and saw her muttering something inside the ear of a woman who was dressed in an all black trainers gear. Assuming that they were discussing business, since this was a casino that was packed full of people, I let the scene drift from my mind. It wasn’t any of my business anyway.
Finding myself in what looked to be a cafeteria, I saw a few guys and gals spread out across a couple tables.
“Just choose any spot and relax, your food will be out soon.” With that she headed back towards the kitchen, adjusting her chef’s hat as she hurried away.
Standing there, feeling the stares of almost every woman, of which only a few looked attractive enough for me to flirt with a little, I chose to sit at a table that had primarily guys, and only one girl. Walking towards that table, they all collectively looked up when I took a seat.
“Hey.” I said casually. “My name’s Koal, I just got here today.”
The men looked at each other for a few seconds while the woman just stared at me with a growing smile, her eyes tracing my face. After a few moments had passed, one of them soon hesitantly spoke up.
“You’re new?” Hand coming up to brush his shaggy brown hair out of his sight, he looked around a bit before breathing in and out. “It’s good to see you!” He exclaimed with a dazzling smile, all of his white teeth on display.
Caught off guard by the sudden energy, I recovered with a smile of my own.
“Thanks!” Reaching out my hand as an offer to shake his, he looked at it curiously before grasping it.
“It shouldn’t be that weird for guys to shake hands, what’s with that pause?” I thought with a little confusion. “Girls do it back in my old world too, but I guess it might not be the first thing they do when meeting another girl. I don’t know, I’m not a female even though I’m supposed to act like one in this world, maybe it’s weird in certain scenarios or it depends how the girl was raised. Maybe a diva or a girl who thought she was all that wouldn’t shake hands or something.”
Shaking the hands of the other guys, who had responded much quicker than him, it only added to my suspicions that this guy might just think he’s all that. Reaching the only woman at the table, who had long purple hair tied into a ponytail, I once again held my hand out, earning a look of subtle appreciation on her face. Once our hands clasped together, she squeezed a little tighter and gave a look of surprise.
“Pretty firm handshake for a boy,” Releasing my hand, she rested her chin in hers while lazily looking at me, the smile on her face still present.
“I try.” Shrugging my shoulders, I looked around at the cafeteria noticing that a lot of the people here had lost interest in me. Thinking that I needed to keep the conversation going so that it wouldn’t get awkward, I brought up a topic we can all relate to. “So, you guys work for Helpful Hand while getting help from them? I’m supposed to start tomorrow.”
“Yeah, you can say that.” The brown haired boy said with a knowing smile. “Came here a year ago because my family all died in a random attack from a Charizard. There were no trainers in the town at the time so before we could get any help a lot of people died.”
“Oh, uh, sorry to hear that.” Shifting awkwardly, I watched the boy roll his eyes.
“It’s no problem. They treated me like shit from not being born a girl anyway.” Leaning closer, the boy shared a look with the woman. “So why are you here? It’s not that bad once you get used to the…work, but I wouldn’t expect an innocent looking guy like you to go through much trouble in your life.”
Seeing them all give curious stares, I scratched my cheek and just stated my story.
“Woke up in the middle of a forest with no memories.” I answered, gaining wide eyes from around the table. “Some of my common knowledge is gone, so the people here said they’d help reteach it to me.”
Smile going the widest it’s been, the purple haired woman spoke up.
“Yeah, they’d definitely agree to that.” She said with some humor while looking at the brown haired boy. “Too good to pass up.”
Furrowing my brows, I crossed my arms with a tilt of my head.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Staring at the woman, she grew pale when my food was suddenly placed in front of me.
Five pound lobster, some melted garlic butter, a sprite, and some colossal shrimps. I was drooling almost immediately. In the back of my mind I noted that my dinner looked a little different from the rest of the tables, but right now, I didn’t care in the slightest. In the corner of my eyes, I think I saw the brown hair boy have a flash of what looked like anger appear on his visage once he saw what I was eating, but it happened so quickly I thought I might’ve been seeing things.
“She means that the institute gets a high amount of bonuses every time we get a guy or girl that comes in here with a special case.” Digging in, I saw that the girl in the ponytail shakily stood up to walk over towards the chef. “But she’s not supposed to say anything that can remotely lead back to that since it can scare people away if they think that they’re being viewed as just a pay check. Isn’t that right.”
Not looking behind myself, I nodded along with that logic while I ate.
“That would cause a lot of people to leave if they wanted genuine help only to feel like they’re being viewed at as a number.” Cracking open the tail, I dipped it in the butter before taking a bite. “Some people rely heavily on emotions, good thing I’m just using this place as a springboard for my successful future. I don’t give one shit about if they view me as a paycheck or not. As long as I learn about some things I might be missing in this world, it’s all good.”
“I–I didn’t mean-” The purple haired woman started behind me.
“Let’s go talk to Lexa. She’s going to be real disappointed knowing that someone who’s been getting help from us for so long has been saying things like that to new people.” Voice hard, I heard their steps fade away behind me.
Feeling the silence once I was completely done with the lobster and moving on to the shrimp, I looked up seeing that everyone had a casual expression. Like this was just another day.
“That’s what she gets for dropping hints like an idiot. I am surprised I didn’t get reprimanded for not being completely subtle too, though.” Touching his chin, the brown haired guy tilted his head with a pout. It was gross to see a guy do that.
“I already know about the work.” I spoke up, finishing my food.
“Really!? And you’re still here!?” One of the other guys at the table exclaimed in shock.
Throwing my hands up as if it was no big deal, I gave a lazy smile.
“I mean serving some customers with drinks and food in some short shorts and a tuxedo shirt with no sleeves while flirting a little bit?” Giving a little chuckle at the way some of them looked at their own clothes I just described, I shrugged. “A little on the pervy side but I get the business aspect to it. Also, I won’t be wearing that outfit when I start tomorrow anyway.”
Getting looks from all around the table, one of the guys was about to speak up when the brown haired guy interrupted them before they could.
“You…don’t have to wear this outfit?” Clenching his teeth, he looked visibly angry.
Ignoring his anger because I could understand it to some extent, I shook my head.
“Nah, Lexa said she wants more classily dressed guys or something. I won’t even have to serve customers. Lexa said that I’ll just be smiling and making sure that everyone is having a good time.”
‘BANG’
Me and the other men jumped at the noise. I saw that the brown haired guy had slammed his fists onto the table, his hair shadowing his eyes. Beside him, the other men were giving looks of uncertainty and scared expectation.
“Are you fucking serious!?” He whispered with anger. Looking up at me, I shuddered when I saw he was giving me a cold smile. “Well, let me not stop you from having a grand ol’ time. My name’s Roy, I’m so happy that you got such a nice dinner on your first day. I guess the…standards of this place had risen. The food I had to eat had been much different.” Standing up, Roy looked at the other men with a gaze that meant they’d better hurry. Watching them all scramble to stand next to him, he looked back at me with another cold smile. “I really hope it continues to go this well for you…but who knows, there’s some men here that get jealous after all.”
Watching him leave with his entourage, I cringed.
“Damn it. I think I just pissed that guy off.”