Chapter Fifteen: Girls are Supposed to Prevent Boys From Having Fun. It’s Just Their Nature.
「That’s why he had to wait outside?」
Saki seemed relentless in her criticism of Trash this evening.
「You guys need to stop reading so many comic books. It’s warping your concepts of normal.」
「I’ve never wanted to be normal,」Trash interjected.
「Obviously.」
「Enough, you two. Trash has his rules. He doesn’t have a lot and as long as I have known him, he never breaks them. Unlike some people who have hundreds of rules and break them all the time…」
「What’s that supposed to mean?」
「I’m just saying…」
Pazu and Saki kept arguing as they walked up the road. It was only a few minutes to their destination. Family Restaurant Jonathan’s.
Family restaurants filled a unique place in the food and beverage scene of Tokyo, and of course Akihabara had its own special flavor.
Trash rarely went to one, and never alone. While no one would ever consider it fine dining, the huge menu was hardly budget-friendly. For many people, there was a nostalgia associated with them. Childhood memories of going there to celebrate birthdays, or winning an award in primary school. Trash had no such memories, so the food offered him little comfort.
Another reason that they drew customers was far more relatable to Trash. They were open 24 hours a day, and many of them offered unlimited, self-service drink bars. It seemed like almost nothing could get you kicked out of one, either. He had seen everything; snoring people slumped over a cold cup of coffee, manga artists with the table covered in drawings as they desperately worked to finish a deadline, gangs of comic fans passing around their NSFW haul as they returned from a Comic Zine convention. From cheap dates, to shady business meetings, to refuge for the pseudo-homeless office commuters, family restaurants were an always-open oasis to the population of Tokyo’s crowded metropolis.
Pazu adored them. He would drag Trash along whenever he could convince him to come out for a late-night adventure. He would order big piles of fried foods. Then they would spend hours shooing away the staff every time they came by to clean the table.
Trash only ever got the unlimited drink bar. He never let Pazu treat him, though no one would ever account for who ate more of the french fries and fried chicken and calamari.
Now, as the four of them piled into a giant booth, Pazu started to pore over the menu. Soon, he called over the waiter with the button on the side of the table and listed off a large amount of food, not forgetting to add the drink bar.
Trash took this as his release to escape the table and grab some water and coffee for everyone.
He took his time, loading up a tray with cups, mugs, creamer, and sweeteners, just to get a few moments away from the odd tension at the table. Pazu and Saki had been together for over a year, and they usually got along great. As much as they joked about her being a lousy waitress, the truth was that a lot of Pazu’s current success was due to her involvement.
It’s true that Charon, as a business, was supposed to be a cafe/restaurant. That said, it was rarely actually open, had very few customers, and was in a horrible location for such a business. It was too far from the station, too far off the main road, and half hidden at the bottom of a small mixed-purpose building.
But Pazu had little interest in running a successful restaurant. He was a YouTuber. He had plans and goals around creating content videos, and the quiet little restaurant was the perfect place for him to create.
The first part of the plan had gone far better than expected. His first videos had featured just his hands. He did actually enjoy cooking, although he has no professional chef. Amongst the multitude of part-time jobs he had tried out during high school, one that he had really enjoyed was as a cooking assistant at a large hotel.
Pazu had mostly washed dishes and cleaned up, but he was fascinated at the speed and diversity required by the kitchen. From room service, to the two dining rooms, to the huge catered meals for events, the kitchens were always bursting with activity, while still conscious of the importance of the appearance and presentation of each plate.
After trying out several other restaurants, Pazu discovered YouTube. Videos of every type of cooking, of every style and cuisine. For weeks, he wouldn’t stop talking about it. He would send Trash links to different vlogs from all over the world. Street food videos and gourmet meals filled his inbox until he begged Pazu to stop.
At first, Pazu had come up with an idea to start a food vlog, traveling all over the world and sharing the different foods with his viewers. This plan collapsed immediately when he tried to go out and film at a local shopping street.
After days of planning and preparation, the stress and overstimulation from filming in the open managed to bring down the whole experiment in less than ten minutes. While he had the drive and determination, he lacked the strength and constitution to deal with cameras, presenting, communicating with the subjects, and avoiding interfering with bystanders. He soon collapsed from the stress and spent the next three days in the hospital for observation.
Before he even left the recovery wing, Pazu had revised his plan. Instead of filming others cook, he would film himself, in his own kitchen. That way, he could film whenever he wanted, with no worries about environmental concerns, and could break it up as much as he needed. He could easily reshoot segments that he wasn’t happy with and take as long as he wanted between shots.
Using only YouTube, Pazu taught himself how to frame and film shots, edit the videos, and add sound, titles, and graphics. This was before most people in Japan had even heard of streaming video. He enlisted Trash to help him build a custom camera rig setup with LED lamps sourced from the Electric Town, and several cheap action cameras.
The new format worked well for Pazu, and soon, he had gathered a small but loyal fanbase. His videos were basic cooking demonstrations of simple meals for singletons. He never included more of himself than his hands and his voice.
At the time, Trash had been doing a job for a Hong Kong businessman who had asked him to locate a specific costume worn by a popular cosplayer at an event. It seemed pretty seedy, but the pay was good, and there was no risk, so Trash set out to track down the cosplayer.
Needless to say, the deal fell through. After speaking to the cosplayer, she informed him that the man was actually an online stalker who had been harassing her for months. Trash was mortified, and quickly terminated the contract and blocked the offender. Luckily she had believed him that he had no idea what the man was involved in.
Trash thought the incident was over but, several weeks later, she contacted him. As it turned out, she was a fan of Pazu’s channel and in one of his videos, he had mentioned that Trash had helped build the camera setup. Recognizing the unique name, the cosplayer had reached out. She was wondering if Pazu would be interested in a collaboration.
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Saki was reaching the peak of her career, and she knew it. Being a cosplayer wasn’t actually a career, after all. She was currently one of the most popular cosplayers in Tokyo, but that hardly earned her enough to make a living off of. Sure, she had been offered modeling contracts, as well as several offers to pay her insane amounts to produce adult videos, but she had no interest in pursuing that path.
She had finally been accepted into a design program at a good school in Ochanomizu that her parents had agreed to support. Of course, they did not really understand the extent of her hobby. Saki loved clothing design, and in particular the intricate and complicated designs from cartoons and movies. Ultimately, she wanted to design and make costumes for Hollywood movies.
Worried that there was nowhere beyond events that she could use to expand her art, she started looking for other venues and platforms.
She started watching online videos and was focusing on low-budget filmmakers when she got addicted to cooking videos. She couldn’t explain her fascination with the genre, but had soon had a dozen creators that she followed. There was just something relaxing and healing about watching people cook. She particularly liked one channel that featured a cook making simple recipes. She loved his sexy voice and fingers.
It didn’t take long after they had connected for Pazu and Saki to redesign the channel to focus on him cooking and his waitress explaining various aspects of the food and the process. Pazu quickly came up with the concept for Charon’s Cafe. Trash didn’t know at first that this was a plan that his friend had been formulating for years.
Trash was surprised when Pazu said that his parents were backing him in turning the channel into a full restaurant. It somehow seemed like it was too much, too fast. It wasn’t until Saki started pushing him to go into live-streaming that Pazu had shared his ultimate plan with Trash. It had shocked him at first, but he knew that it reflected his best friend perfectly.
It was also clear that he had yet to share the plan with Saki. Things were getting more and more tense between them, and Trash was getting dragged into the drama. Saki was getting more critical of his presence, and Pazu was getting more scared of how she would react.
By the time Trash had returned with the drinks, they were bickering again. He awkwardly placed the tray down and transferred everything to the table. As he put a glass of water in front of Saki, he asked,「Is this okay?」
She bolted upright from her seat in the booth, and wiping tears from her eyes, she ran right out of the restaurant.
Trash froze. He was sure he didn’t do something wrong. Mostly sure, anyway.
「Aren’t you going to go after her?」 Pazu asked Meg.
She gave him a strange look, Like a teacher trying not to berate a child who had defecated in the middle of the classroom.
「Isn’t that your job?」 She said, with an almost cruel edge to her voice.
Pazu got up and walked out after his girlfriend without a word.
Trash stood there. He picked up the tray again. Maybe he could pretend to return the tray and try to slip out the back,
“Don’t even think about running away.”
Trash looked up and blinked. She had switched to English, her English that was perfect, compared to his self taught imitation. He hated that the only thing he was good at, was now mediocre compared to the new arrival.
Grabbing him firmly with her eyes, she patted the seat next to her, where Saki had been seated a moment ago.
What is going on with my life? Why am I suddenly dealing with monsters all day?
“Aren’t you going to sit down?”
“…wellimhm… hhmbll…”
“No use pretending. I know you speak English. You were going at it with that douchebag yesterday. Sit!”
His body reacting instinctively to the command, Trash put the tray back down and quickly sat next to the scary woman.
His eyes moved away from the tattoos covering her arm, then slid momentarily over her still-too-tight t-shirt, then tried to avoid the piercings and shaved head. Finally he gave up and grabbed a mug of coffee and took a swallow so fast that he burned his tongue and the roof of his mouth.
“Hey, take it easy there. You must really like coffee,” she said as she patted his back while he coughed and sputtered, drops of coffee flying all over.
He quickly grabbed a napkin and started to wipe the table.
“Ahhh! It’s so nice to speak freely. You know, It’s so much easier to express yourself in English! I can say whatever the hell I want, and no one gives a shit. It’s weird. It’s not like I censored myself in Japanese, it’s just like when I speak in Japanese, I think differently. Shit doesn’t even occur to me. Same thing in English, I guess. I can’t say a bunch of normal stuff from Japanese without it sounding totally messed up in English. You ever notice that?”
My God, it was like Hibiki with Danny’s mouth. I’ve died and was sent to hell.
“You just thought something rude, didn’t you?”
Even before the thought to stand and flee entered his mind, she had her hand on his shoulder.
“So Trash, aren’t you going to talk with me?”
“Who are you?” He asked the question without irony. He could not understand what was happening right now.
“I already introduced myself. Twice actually. I could ask you the same question, Trash,” she said, emphasizing his nickname.
“But, to be honest, I’m not that interested. I just want to know what your boy is gonna do.”
“Huh? Pazu?”
“Yeah. Boy is standing on a cliff right now. I’m sure he knows it too.”
Trash frowned. Maybe he was misunderstanding her English.
“He’s in danger? What kind of danger? What are you talking about?”
“Yes, he is in danger. Surely, you know. Thought you guys are besties and all.”
“We are. So tell me what is wrong with him. Is Saki going to attack him or something?”
She guffawed, her laugh was loud enough that her head turned to see where the noise was coming from.
“You don’t get it, do you? She ain’t gonna hurt him. I am. If he doesn’t fix things immediately. She’s the victim here.”
“Saki? The victim? What are you talking about?”
“He’s been holding out on her. You know that. You must know that. She knows it. Everyone knows, but he just keeps pretending everything is all cool. She’s sick of it, and if he doesn’t have a good explanation for it all, then he’ll be lucky if the worst thing that happens to him tonight is that she dumps his ass.”
“Huh? Are you talking about the live streaming? Is that what this is all about?”
“Live streaming? What does that have to do with…” Finally, she pulled back from him with a confused look.
“I thought they were fighting about the live streaming again.”
“Who cares about that kind of stuff? Saki is sick of him keeping secrets from her while he tells you everything. If Pazu isn’t ready to step up, she’s going to dump him and move on.”
“What? Step up? Secrets? Saki wants to break up with him?”
“This is why boys are useless. Cause you’re all so dumb.”
She reached up and knocked on his head a couple of times like it was an empty coconut.
“Hmm. Tall brother, aint cha? How tall are you anyway?”
“180… wait. Why is Saki going to dump Pazu? If anything, he should be th…” Trash stopped, danger alarms going as a murderous glint entered Meg’s eyes.
“Are you trying to say he isn’t hiding something?”
Trash paused, then looked down, realizing his reaction had blown it.
“Everyone hides things. No one shares everything.”
“Saki has hit a wall with Pazu and he won’t even tell her why. Every time, he just blows it off.”
“Pazu… it’s complicated. He needs time-“
“He has had time. If I am reading Saki right, he has about ten more minutes.”
Trash finally understood what was going on. He understood the stakes. He just wanted to know what to do.
He checked his watch. It was still just before midnight. It should be fine. If it would save his friend some pain, he would trade in as many secrets as he had. He owed Pazu that and more.
Trash grabbed the check from the table, then hoisted up the bags. Turning his head as he walked toward the register to pay for the meal they were not going to even eat, he shouted back to the shocked Meg.
“You coming?”
----------------------------------------
They found Pazu and Saki outside the restaurant. It was obvious that Saki had been crying, and Pazu was looking angry and frustrated, two emotions that Trash only recognized because they had been friends for years.
He motioned for Saki and Meg to follow as he grabbed Pazu’s sleeve and pulled him ahead.
「What’s going on? Why are we leaving? I haven’t even paid yet.」
「I took care of it. You can pay me back tomorrow… If you are still speaking to me.」
「Huh? What’s going on? Where are we going?」
「Not far. Someplace I haven’t even shown you yet. From my personal stash.」
「What?」
「You have to tell her. Tell her everything, or give up on her.」
「Huh? What are you talking about?」
「She knows you are holding back, and if you don’t explain to her now, then you might as well just give up and move on.」
Pazu stopped, but Trash pulled him back into motion.
「Trash… do I have to?」
「Don’t you know, only humans can feel shame」
It took a few seconds, but Pazu recognized the quote.
「Okay, friend, where are you taking us?」
「Beyond the peaks of those clouds, where nothing can be seen.」
This time, Pazu stopped hard. He swallowed hard, then jumped onto Trash’s back, attempting to give him a bear hug.
「Trash, you are the coolest!」
「Get off, you freak!」
「Hey! You guys want to explain where we are going? Came an annoyed voice from behind.」
Trash stopped. They were standing in front of a fancy-looking designer condominium. It was rather narrow, but it shot up at least fifteen stories, making it the tallest building on the block. Trash tilted his head up, looking at the top floor. Then turned to face their confused looks.
「We’re here.」