Alternate Names - Tumblr Posts

Chapter 5

"I'm Ozo, in case you forgot!" Ozo jabbed a thumb towards himself with a lazy wink, leaning his forearm on the countertop you just wiped down. "And this is Chorosuke, my younger brother." He waved a hand over to the man beside him with less enthusiasm, "The only interesting thing about him is that he's rich."

"Th-That is not true!" Chorosuke growled, his hands clenching into fists.

"Ah, yeah, you're right..." a mischievous grin crossed Ozo's lips which he targeted towards his brothers. "He's also a huge otaku--"

"Shut up!" Chorosuke'a hands moved dangerously close to Ozo's neck, his fingers twitching with the urge to choke him, but the sensible part of his mind managed to stop him from doing so. He took a deep breath and lowered his hands to his sides, taking a large sidestep away from Ozo whilst doing his best to ignore the man's snickers.

You could only watch on idly, unsure of what to do or say. You began picking at the skin around your nails, a bad nervous habit that you had. The sting of your skin being pulled from your body no longer hurt as much as it used to. You ran your thumb over your flaking skin, catching your nail on the small cuts you had reopened.

"So, [Y/N]!" Ozo called for you. You locked eyes with him for a brief moment, then shifted your gaze to his hands that rested on the table instead. "You work here, huh? I never would have guessed! Does that mean you'll be taking care of us tonight?" His grin became sleazy as his voice lowered into what he thought to be a seductive tone, leaning in closer to you.

Chorosuke almost choked on air, his face becoming beet red at his brother's words. You weren't doing any better, with your skin heating up and palms becoming sweaty.

"..Uh, I don't... Well..." You fumbled, your brain working overtime to try and come up with a suitable answer. But what were you supposed to say in a situation like this? How did you do it all that time ago?

"What do you mean, 'us?!' Don't drag me into your bullshit, Ozo!" Chorosuke yelled over the music, reluctantly stepping closer to Ozo again to make sure he had heard what he said. He turned to you with a nervous grimace, brows scrunched up tight as his eyes avoided yours. "I am s-so sorry about this!"

You wanted to say it was fine, but when you could feel your fingers begin to shake a little as you pressed your palm together, you just couldn't bring yourself to say it. Instead, you shook your head, giving them another awkward smile. Ozo was peering up at you with a little too much curiosity, and you threw your gaze over the top of his head, only to freeze at the sight of four other faces staring at you.

Noticing your blanched expression, the two men also looked back over their shoulders, producing two polar opposite reactions; Ozo smirked, prompting the four figures to slowly stand up one by one and head towards you, whilst Chorosuke immediately began to shake his head, as if it would ward off the demons creeping towards your small group, but it did nothing.

The both of you watched helplessly as they were now within earshot, and one man wearing large aviator sunglasses smirked your way with a wink, causing Chorosuke to turn around and run a hand down his face with a groan.

"God, please help me..." you thought you heard him mumble, however you weren't given a chance to mull over it as someone else spoke to you, garnering your attention.

"Burazzas!" You barely managed to withhold the confused expression from working its way onto your face upon hearing the man use the English word with so much confidence, even though it was pronounced entirely wrong. "I hope you are not intending to keep such a beautiful lady away from us the whole night, hmm?"

You couldn't stop the sudden new wave of heat that rolled over your face upon being called 'beautiful.' Although, your heart clenched painfully, as your mind told you it wasn't true.

"Well, there goes my plans," Ozo chuckled, shuffling over slightly to make room for the new faces (Technically, you thought, they weren't new faces, seeing as they all somehow looked eerily similar to one another).

"I've never seen you around before!" Another with large sparkling eyes cooed, earning a 'that's what I said!' from Ozo, which ultimately went ignored. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

The pet name throws you off, your wide eyes blinking quickly as you spluttered. Another voice cuts you off before you can answer, a boisterous laugh somehow sounding louder than the music still ongoing in the background.

"Ahaha! You're really pretty, miss!" A wide smile seemed to be permanently etched onto this man's face, his plump cheeks a soft pink under the dim light of the bar as he stared at you unabashedly. The final figure beside him, slouched over with his shoulders hunched up near his chin, elbowed the smiler roughly, his low murmuring voice lost in the music.

"I... Th-Thank you, uh..." you trailed off nervously, briefly clearing your throat, "My name is—"

"[L/N] [Y/N]!" Ozo cut in with the smuggest smirk you've ever seen. The others seemed to be glaring at him, the quiet one on the end even baring his teeth slightly. "I've been telling you, I met a cutie yesterday! Not my fault you guys never believe me!"

"Why would we? You constantly used to tell us you had a new girlfriend every week, but it turns out that they're just actresses from all those pornos you buy," the one with large eyes snidely remarked, crossing his arms over his chest in triumph as he shoved Ozo out of the way with a nudge of his hip.

"[Y/N]..." sunglasses man was talking again, grabbing your attention by taking a gentle hold of your hand (he looked ridiculous since he was leaning so far over the counter to reach it). "What an exquisite name! Suitably fitting for a gorgeous damsel such as yourself..." His words may be very over exaggerated in your mind, but you couldn't deny the small shiver that ran up your spine as his already smooth baritone voice dipped even lower.

"O-Oh, thank you, mr... uh..?" You trailed off, hoping he would catch the hint for him to finally give his name. You didn't want to have to keep referring to him as 'sunglasses man' in your mind for the rest of his visit.

"Aogo Karatsugu, though Karatsugu is just fine, my dear. Unless you would like to call me, 'your hon—"

"I'm Momose Takashi! My friends call me Taka-kun, though, so I wouldn't mind if you called me that, too!" Takashi giggled cutely, snatching your hand from Karatsugu and delicately holding it in his instead. Not a moment later, however, it was taken into another's hands, these ones much warmer and vigorously shaking your palm.

"I'm Jyushimatsu! Hello, pretty lady!" His enthusiasm never seemed to end, you noted as he began shaking your arm up and down in greeting, making you wince. Chorosuke swooped in, finally snapping out of his internal meltdown long enough to pull you free from Jyushimatsu's grasp with a heavy sigh. He then leaned in to you, albeit reluctantly, and began to murmur:

"His real name is Ogami Toshio. He's the mayor's son, and very unpredictable, so I highly suggest you keep your guard up around him."

"What was that, otaku?" An arm snakes around Chorosuke's shoulder, causing the man to jolt with a (pathetic) squeak. The quiet man, who was now smiling so menacingly you actually got cold chills, tugged Chorosuke away from you.

"H-H-Hajime! We were just, I-I mean I was just—"

"We'll get six glasses of the most expensive liqueurs you have, and a couple of beers for our shitty eldest over there, too. And give the bill to this guy," Hajime's grin grew wider as Chorosuke whined quietly in protest, though ultimately did nothing to stop this exchange. Hajime turned to you, then, as if seeming to snap out of some dark spell he was under, dropped his expression into one of sheepish terror, his cheeks tinged red as he averted his gaze away from your bewildered eyes.

"...please..." he added to the end of his sentence mutedly, before promptly shuffling back to his table with his hands shoved deep inside his pockets. Jyushimatsu — Toshio? — immediately followed after him with a loud laugh, leaving the other four to take their own leave, too.

"Well, someone has to go keep those two idiots in check," Takashi sighed dramatically before shooting you a cute cat-like smile. "I'll see you later, [Y/N]! Maybe we can exchange details, too, if I'm feeling up to it," he shrugged nonchalantly.

You slightly raised a brow at this, watching silently as he turned and headed back to his table.

"This first meeting of ours is only the beginning of our journey!" Karatsugu was quick to take your hand again, clasping it firmly in his large and calloused hands as he stared into your eyes (a little too intense, if you were being honest). "I look forward to your company tonight, my dove! Until we meet again..." he slowly began to leave your hand, letting his fingers trail to your own fingertips in a movie-like exit before turning on his heel.

Ozo and Chorosuke watched him retreat with put-out expressions, grimacing at his weird farewell before turning back to you. Ozo clapped Chorosuke's back roughly with a boyish and playful chuckle.

"I'd say good luck to paying the bill, but you're loaded, so it won't be a problem at all!" Chorosuke only groaned in response, sharp eyes looking dull and tired. "See you later, [Y/N]! And remember, if you get bored, you know where to find us. We'll show you a good time." He rubbed a finger under the bridge of his nose with a wink before finally leaving.

Heaving out a sigh, you gently rubbed the pads of your fingers against your temple, already feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. This group was a lot to handle, it seemed. Maybe you had your work cut out for you tonight, but it's not like you could do anything about that.

"...Sorry about them."

You jumped slightly having completely forgotten that Chorosuke was still there, slouched over onto the countertop with his chin pressing against the surface. He looked so glum and pouty as he peered up at with apologetic eyes... The pang in your heart had nothing to do with him at all.

"Don't worry about it. I'm the one who's just not used to so many customers," you shook your head, turning your back to him so that you could pick out the liquids you were going to mix.

"Are you... really picking out the most expensive ones?" Chorosuke gulped, sitting up a little bit straighter as his fingers tapped against the table top. You chuckled softly, returning back to the table with a a couple of bottles and a large silver glass.

"No, don't worry. The drinks here are relatively cheap, anyway. I'm just picking out the more high quality ones..." you trailed off as you began to focus on your task at hand. Your hands moved with expertise as you poured and mixed your chosen liqueurs, twirling the cup in your hand with a certain finesse that caught Chorosuke's eyes, who continued to watch in awe.

After pouring the drink into six glasses, you topped it off with a small shot of wine. The deep blue of the bottle glinted under the lights, capturing the man's gaze as he curiously stared at the scratched off label. He had no time to ponder, however, as you placed the bottle back under the counter and left to fill up large glasses with beer, returning to place all the drinks onto a round platter and carefully picking it up into your hands.

You gently gestured towards the table, carefully manoeuvring around the other empty chairs with Chorosuke on your heels. You felt a bubble of nerves settle in the pit of your stomach as you approached the others once more, but you pushed it down in favour of leaning between Karatsugu and Takashi to place the tray on the table.

"Damn it, I knew I should've sat there..." Ozo grumbled to himself, then yelped as Hajime kicked his shin from under the table.

"I hope you enjoy your drinks," you politely said, bowing briefly before moving away. There was a chorus of 'thank you's and compliments thrown your way as you made your way back over to the bar.

You brought a hand up to massage the back of your neck, wanting to rub away the stress before it got too heavy on your shoulders. As you did so, you caught the eye of the lead singer up on stage, Totoko, who was preparing herself for the next song as the heavy bass intro began. You saw her raise a brow, her eyes flitting between you and the group, and you blushed.

'This isn't what it looks like!' You screamed internally, mortified by what she could be thinking of you, and you were sure you wouldn't get a response back as she just continued performing.

Looking back at the six men, you could just about hear their laughter drifting over to your ears over the music. With a sigh, you picked a clean rag up from beside you and went back to wiping the table top, holding onto the hope that this night would be over soon.