The store was bustling with the usual amount of people. It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so at the moment most of the current customers were students who just got out of school so it was quite lively. Tamamo is serving a group of boys who have just arrived, she serves them courteously, one of them asked her if she would like to go out with him later, she answered as politely as possible no without giving a specific reason. It must be difficult to be the most popular employee in a restaurant, but she still seems to like to be the center of attention with her cheerful way of acting. Lisa instead is sitting at a table talking with a group of girls, it seems that she heard them talking about how to make that dream person fall in love and she herself is asking them for advice, it seems that they like to talk about it and they invited her so I let it go, but if more clients start to arrive I'll call her back. The new improvement has been Momo who is already learning to cook, she can already make several dishes and we have even put them for sale, so now it is easier to replenish the inventory. Levia only comes in the afternoon because she is the one who offers entertainment when families or important people arrive after work, but when someone rents the place for a festive event is when she shines the most, because she is now the hostess for the parties, especially for the children, they love to take pictures with her.
Saeko is still in charge of the morning shift, she is in charge of keeping everything under control while I'm gone, she seems to have gotten used to the other girls. What a surprise she got when a couple of days ago Momo slipped and dropped her mask in front of her, obviously there was no way to convince her that the glass was a disguise, she came running in panic looking for help so I had to calm her down first. Seeing that I needed help the other girls came acting normal, Tamamo came with an order, Lisa looked for momo to tell her that we were missing some dishes that are sold frequently. Saeko found that she was the only one who acted weird because of Momo's appearance, so she got up and tried to pretend she knew too, patted the angel a couple of times, and went back to the kitchen. When the shift was over she came to me to ask me what the hell was going on so I told her the truth, he and the girls working in the cafeteria were really monster girls, she didn't want to believe me but I reminded her again that there was someone made of glass in the kitchen at that very moment. ut Saeko was my friend, we had both gone through a lot to create the cafeteria and she had been working here for quite some time, she knew the other girls herself at this point, she knew they were not bad people, most of them. But I think what convinced her the most to keep working here was the work environment. This restaurant was more of a hobby than a serious business, Saeko received enough benefits that she could only dream of another job in Japan. Things like family were very important to me, so whenever she asked for permission to go out with her son to an event I never refused her, plus her hours were pretty short, part-time but I paid her like a full-time employee. She was a divorced mother and her son had some difficulties, I could not refuse to help a friend.
The last employee to join on the other hand has yet to come to work a single day. The bastard Cedric has been taking the money and working a third job, I'm sure of it. I'm waiting for someone to come and rent the place again to put him to work as a clown all day. Or maybe I could ask him to help out the next time Cesar gets in trouble even though it's his day off.
***Ding***
The door opens again, the bell announces the arrival of a new customer, a regular, someone who looks a little out of place here but he didn't mind because in the end he also liked the atmosphere of the restaurant, and especially talking to me.
"Mr. Yamamoto!"
"It's a pleasure to see you again"
"I saw the news this morning, I am very happy for the medal you received"
"On the house, for the celebration"
"Thank you very much for the food"
"I hope you wouldn't mind adding a coffee"
"...."
"You know, it's strange, I'm still not used to the ceremonies"
"This is the first time I've received a medal in front of someone else"
"I need a moment, I just put the coffee machine on"
"But don't worry about that, it's about time you started getting recognition from others"
"You've done enough for others all these years"
"It's about time they pay you back and give you the honor you deserve"
"I would rather get paid for the car I lost that day"
"These last few days my granddaughter and I have had to share the same patrol car"
"It's a little uncomfortable depending on someone else for transportation"
"They didn't give you a new car?"
"But you're a national hero on the TV!"
"Actually, they did offer me a couple"
"But they are all those modern cars full of computers"
"I hate them."
"Those things are useless, they're a mistake!"
Just then, as bad luck would have it, Charlotte was arriving with the coffee pot to serve the inspector his drink when he started talking about it.
"Sorry!"
"I was talking about cars!
"I don't mean to offend, you are a good computer!"
"Thanks to you little girl for protecting me that day"
"Car computers are designed to be as cheap as possible"
"So they are quite limited in their capabilities"
"It's nothing new that people feel annoyed by them, they are really quite useless"
"Yes, yes little supercomputer"
"How about you calculate the environment and hurry up and take care of the girls over there?"
"While you're at it call Lisa, tell her to move her ass now if she doesn't want to get a new flip flop sole tattoo"
"Hey, are you sure about treating her like this?"
"They won't do something like selling all your information on the internet, will they?"
"Hey, it wasn't me who said computers were useless in front of her"
"..."
"You really didn't accept a free car because it was new?"
"I like cars!"
"What I don't like is that people like your little android granddaughter can deactivate it with a beep"
"What I am looking for is a sturdy car, one that can be hit by lightning and still work"
"But also fast, after all, I have a couple of past experiences where I noticed that a fast car is better"
"The most recent one was where I won the medal"
"But it's pretty hard, people are noticing more and more that the real cars are better than the new ones"
"It's not so easy to find them now"
"Ahhh..... I understand......"
"You sound exactly like Elise with respect to cars"
"...."
"I'm sorry I'm not good with them, I just need them to turn on and they walk forward"
"...."
"...."
"I also came for something else..."
"...."
"I need your help...."
"...."
"????"
"Ok, go ahead"
"How can I help a friend of mine?"
"I need information about what happened that day"
"What the hell happened?"
"How did a bomb like that end up there?"
"Why did such a big shooting happen?"
"Ok, that's pretty hard to explain without all the context"
"Ms. Adelis, we go way back, I'm a detective, you know my old job."
"I've already seen your fox girl jump from one moving car to another like it's no big deal"
"You have an android for a granddaughter, the girl in blue is a serial killer, and you have an engineer from the Empire working in your kitchen"
"You think you can surprise me now?"
"Yes, quite a lot actually"
"Wait! That's how others see my team?"
"Oh, what bliss!"
"?????"
"Oh well, since"
"After the president left my office an alert came in from the north"
"Near the vegetable market in fact"
"Several teams had gone missing and did not report back"
"So I was worried that it was something serious and sent Elise and Tamamo to investigate"
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"...."
"They mentioned they were attacked by a werewolf"
"What? Really?"
"I was also attacked by one of those several days ago!"
"On the mountain"
"Wait, what?"
"You too?"
"She said it was several meters high."
"Small caliber shots don't work on him"
"Did it explode without a trace after it died!?"
"Yes, exactly!"
"How did he attack you?"
"I was following an investigation related to Jirou Iwasaki"
"Remember him? the one who had chopped up his girlfriend on a street in the middle of Tokyo, the one who is still among the most wanted?"
"Several strange deaths in the mountains"
"The most recent were those of a matai hunter and a homeless man"
"While I was investigating, a criminal gang appeared as suspects"
"I went to talk to them, but when I arrived they were all dead, the werewolf killed them and attacked me right away"
"So it is not causality"
"Do you think it was the same group that left the bomb?"
"Elise mentioned that she found the bomb by pure chance"
"She said there was something strange in the bag, she had experience with bombs so she went to check it out and that's where she got the surprise"
"She radioed me and Charlotte went immediately to jam all signals in the immediate area"
"So it was because of the android that we couldn't communicate"
"Well, it was either that or let it explode"
"Oh sorry, I wasn't saying it as a criticism."
"I was saying it like : oh look she can do that too"
"...."
"What about the groups?"
"Do you have them identified?"
"The men dressed in skeleton masks are all foreigners"
"Multiple nationalities: Americans, English, Germans, there is even a South African"
"Nothing in common, different days and methods of entry to the country"
"Bank accounts in different countries and strange money movements"
"They were paid in cryptocurrencies, the money was exchanged several more times until they lost track of it in Russia"
"Kasumi, the other android spent all night searching the records of the companies they worked for"
"All phantom companies in Central America: Nicaragua, Salvador, Guatemala"
"It's insane, impossible to trace them, those countries have almost all records on paper and not on computers"
"The only thing I can say is that they are mercenaries, there is no doubt about that"
"They showed a lot of combat training"
"Hell"
"Japan is a very closed country"
"Very few foreigners come here, mostly for tourism"
"Because of disasters like this, people will be even more against foreigners coming to the country"
"If they would just not come to our country and go back to their places maybe they would leave us alone!"
"Hey! You know you're talking to a foreigner too, right?"
"Oh, sorry again, I didn't mean it that way"
"I was copying the opinion of that annoying journalist"
"Oh come on I was just teasing you too"
"It is funny to see how you don't know how to talk to the young people"
"Well, not all of us work for schoolchildren in our spare time"
"Besides, you're not that y......"
"I guess my young ears didn't hear well what you were trying to say but I did mishear in that sentence and you will be Lisa's next victim"
"!!!!!"
"As I was saying what about the other group?"
"The Kanenaga terrorist group"
"They have been a pain in the ass to us"
"This time even President John wants their heads on a silver platter"
"It no longer matters what the Japanese government thinks about them, they are now a problem for the US and they will stop at nothing"
"It will be a blow to the pride of the Japanese people"
"But don't worry, making the most of these moments is what made me famous"
"I have a plan, we will take care of all the investigation, the twins are right now gathering all the information possible and marking all their members and locations"
"Then we will pass them on to the Ministry of Security which will launch a campaign to arrest them all on the same day"
"In the eyes of the Japanese people, it will be their own government that saved them from such an extreme group of criminals"
"All that is needed is a hero to lead this short but heroic crusade"
"Someone like Inspector Yamamoto of the Tokyo Detective Department"
"Publicly you will be the center of attention, you will take almost all the credit for breaking up the gang"
"We'll tell the media that this was all your investigative work and that's it! international hero finally recognized for his work!"
"How about that? Not bad, huh?"
"I don't know"
"I'm not good with cameras and being famous"
"I've spent a lifetime hiding from them"
"Come on man, accept it"
"You've done enough for others, let others do something for you"
"Just think about it! You'll be in the news even more in the next few days!"
"Front page, Inspector Yamamoto dismantles terrorist group"
"Haru is proud to see his beloved grandfather being recognized by everyone for his work"
"It's time for you to start accumulating achievements that you can show to your granddaughter!"
"It's ok! I'll do it!"
"For Haru! So she can be happy for her grandfather"
"...."
"Can you send me a copy of the physical documents please?"
"The papers usually work better during a power outage"
"Yes, of course, no problem"
"Charlotte! Can you print the information for inspector Yamamoto?"
"Use the printer in the back, I think there is enough ink"
"Thanks"
The printer immediately began to ring, a sign that he was working, even though the girl who operated it was on the other side of the restaurant.
"You do have a lot of fun having those androids, don't you?"
"Since they arrived I have not had any more configuration problems with printers"
"They alone have increased my productivity by 200%"
"They are a godsend for my life"
"No offense, but I don't think you should be so dependent on them"
"What happens if something happens and the internet goes down for example?"
"Well, that's why Elise and Tamamo are teaching them how to do things manually"
"For example, they now know how to sew with needle and thread"
"They haven't turned out well, but it's a start"
"But that's not so difficult"
"It's just repeating the same movement over and over again"
"Well yes, but I guess I had to be more specific"
"They already learned how to sew up wounds"
"The day of the shooting they were so worried about Elise that they wanted to learn first aid"
"Since Elise has the experience, she has been teaching them these past few days"
"Oh, yeah, I get it"
"Yes, that's better"
The inspector spent a long time reading all the information sheets and asked me for a notebook to take notes, as I didn't have one I sent Tamamo to buy one at a nearby store. Yamamoto not only read it but studied it thoroughly. He also thought about how to execute some of the raids with just a few people as there seemed to be so many locations that the tactical equipment might not be enough. I had to stop him as it was getting late and he still had to go home, but I'm sure he kept working the rest of the night. And speaking of the night, Cesar came home quite late today, and when she did she was crawling on the floor, she was still wearing her school uniform, in her hand was a bag of food, too much food.
"Cesar?"
"What the hell happened?"
"Are you all right?"
"Does any part of your body hurt?"
"Hair"
"...."
"Hair is the only thing that doesn't hurt"
"...."
"...."
"Just give me something for the pain and let me die"
"...."
"What happened?"
"Did you eat too much?"
"They opened a new TacoBell near the school"
"Haru thought it was a good idea to invite me to eat there because I was Latin"
"...."
"I only went for two tacos, but I hit the opening day prize"
"...."
"Free food for three hours"
"...."
"Cheese"
"Oh no"
I quickly checked the bag I had brought with me, and sure enough, it was exactly what I had suspected.
"Cesar! Here's food for a whole family!"
"How much exactly did you eat?"
"Then you go around asking why your boobs got bigger again!"
"You didn't order everything with cheese, did you?"
"Mountains of cheese!"
"Tortillas with chili beans and even more cheese."
"Five-layer burritos with double the cheese!"
"A spicy chicken and cheese wrap"
"...."
"I ordered everything eight times"
"My goodness!"
"How did you even walk back?"
"I didn't"
"I crawled back"
"I had to visit two public restrooms on the way back"
"That's what you get for being a glutton"
"Only you can think of eating a month's worth of food in one afternoon"
"Especially from there"
"It was free cheese!"
"Cesar, you know that eating too much cheese at night gives you nightmares."
"...."
"Even before you joined the army!"
"A fair price to pay for cheese!"
"Then do as you wish"
"Don't even dare to cry or scream at night if it happens again today"
"...."
"Seeing the problem you have and you don't take care of yourself"
"You are already too old to have to be followed around like a child"
"Okasan, is darling OK?"
"No"
"He ate a lot of food, he has an upset stomach"
"I'm going to give him a couple of pills"
"...."
"Hell, he's raving like he's drunk and all he's done is eat cheese, his favorite ingredient in everything"
"...."
"Can't you do something? Magic maybe?"
"I can put a curse on her so that she will expel everything it has eaten"
"NOOO!!!"
"NOOOOOOO!!!"
"NOOOOPPP!!!!"
"NNOOOOO!!!!!"
Several people shouted against it from different directions in the house.
"Don't do it!"
"You don't understand Tacobell's power, is already that curse by itself"
"...."
"That food will eat him from the inside"
"It will come out by itself."
"It is a biological being that multiplies and consumes its host"
"Then it comes out with the strength of a thousand demons in a ritual known as the repentance on the throne"
"...."
"What he consumed is the nightmare of toilets and plumbers"
"...."
"Today Levia will sleep in the living room"
"..."
"Who me? Why?"
"The toilet is separate from the bathtub"
"They are in different rooms"
"The last time he had nightmares he sleepwalked into a bathtub full of water"
"Now just look at him, he even came without his shoes from the restaurant"
"When he's asleep, who knows what he'll be capable of."