20 The First Unofficial Customer

~Tokyo, Japan; 6:54 PM GMT+9

Devil's Halo Bar & Restaurant.

School had ended about an three hours ago, and as promised, he was at the 'Devil's Halo' helping out to start up. He was underaged but he was going to be working at the bar in the evenings, and the restaurant on the weekends, then bar again every other weekend evening once the shop opened officially. It wasn't clear how he would get away with it, but numerous fake IDs were made for different scenarios in the event a cop stopped by.

An official date for the shop's opening hadn't been decided yet, but it was agreed that it would open about two days after they were done, so they were aiming for Saturday, and had printed out flyers just in case.

The store was quite impressive. Contrary to how it looked on the outside, the store space was quite big. The bar counter stood at the front of the space, with bar stools placed in front. Several tables and chairs lined the area, and a couple bar stools by the open window close to the entrance.

A dart board, a poker and a billiard table were set up in the corner, as entertainment, though the music that was to be constantly played would be classical. The shop itself contradicted itself that way. Was it a quaint but classy bar hidden at the end of a busy street in a popular alleyway? Or was it a rowdy bar that provided relief and entertainment for lonely drinkers? But that contradiction was what gave it its charm.

That and the young, good-looking employees that already drew the attention of various youths that passed by every day and evening, eagerly waiting for their shop to open. The restaurant was sure to attract lots of female customers, especially since Lucien, the most handsome man among them was the head chef, and most of the other employees were male. To top it off, the only female employee was more gorgeous than most women around. Plus, they were all foreigners. It was already set to be quite popular, so they could afford to not specify an opening date.

Ding!

The bell on top the door rang, alerting everyone in the shop that someone had just come in. Every member of their team and Satoma were currently present, so they instantly and reflexively put up their guard.

Though it was not seen, there were several weapons hidden around the shop. Some actually hidden in plain sight, like the twin katana swords that was hung up under the digital clock, and over the music system. Should this be an intruder, they were prepared to engage in combat.

"Sorry," Katri started, staring up the man that had just walked in. "We aren't open yet."

He wore a business suit- though his tie was a bit crooked, simple square shaped glasses, and carried a brown leather bag in his left hand. He was sweating, though the weather was quite cool. Every member of the team was currently profiling him.

170cm, left-handed, looks to be in his early to mid thirties, is sweating quite profusely so most likely very anxious about something, looks exhausted and wears a suit, so maybe overtime as an office worker, no ring- then he lives alone, and took the train here which means... he came alone.

Each of them had surmised a couple of these, basically coming to a conclusion that he was currently harmless to them- at least for now, but still, they didn't let their guard down. Lesley finally spoke, breaking the silence that was starting to make the man very uncomfortable and even more anxious.

"What is it you need?"

"Uh... um," The man started, clutching his bag to his torso now, and eyeing each of them. "Is... Is this Devil's Halo?"

"That's what the sign says," Lucien sighed, but more in a small laughing manner, before tossing the dishrag he had been using to wipe the mirrors over his shoulder, and gesturing for the man to take a seat on the counter stools.

"Oh," He voiced as he trudged up to the counter and settled in a stool, a bit embarrassed at asking something obvious. Though the sign wasn't lit, he was still able to read it, and come in. "Yes. That's right. Um... I... saw you're ad on that website."

"That website?" Oliver murmured, before understanding exactly what he meant, and so did the rest of the team.

"So you're a customer?" Lucien asked with a slightly wicked grin.

"You should've just said so," Luck said, his usual mischievous grin plastered on his face, as he served the man a glass of ice tea that he had quickly prepared. He had forgotten that Japanese had a formal way of speaking, and had been speaking to him quite familiarly. This caused him to get in trouble with the teachers in his school quite a lot.

"So what's your name?" Lesley inquired with his usual stiff, and irritated tone, understanding the formal way of speaking, but just didn't bother using it as he asked informally to a man who looked twice his age.

"Uh... S-Sugawara Chigusa," He stammered, feeling intimidated by the people that now surrounded him. He did not know they were still teenagers, but was aware that he was much older than them, yet he was still unnerved by them.

"Man, you're really nervous aren't you," Jin stated carelessly, patting his shoulders as he took the seat next to him.

"That's because you're crowding him," Katri said, making a shooing gesture at them so they could lay off the poor man. "Geez."

Of their age group, Katri was the most mature of them, and tended to mother over them when Oliver wasn't around, as he was known to be the general mother of the team. Not because he frequently nagged or had the most gentle smile, but because he was the kindest of all of them. And that was quite a rare trait among holders, especially ones below the age of 30.

"So what business have you brought to us today?" Lucien asked, not minding the occasional playful side the younger members of his team displayed.

"Must be something really tough seeing as he's sweating all over," Luck remarked, garnering laughter from Lesley and Jin.

The three of them were considered the wild cards of the team. Luck because his only driving force was the thrill of danger he always tried to get himself into, Lesley because he didn't care much for anything unless it was fun, entertaining, and/or a bit dangerous, and Jin because he was up for anything, but mostly preferred something dangerous. They were the biggest sparks of the team but were also the ones that held the most respect for Lucien- right after Akira. This was more or less mainly because they had initially been against being placed in Lucien's team at first, that is, until he beat them each one on one and all together. Since then, they have considered every word of Lucien's to be law.

"Um..." Sugawara started, but trailed off as his nervousness caused him to stutter.

"Sugawara-san," Jin chimed, for the first time addressing him in a formal way. "Just spill it out okay? This is a safe place."

"Safe place?" Sugawara asked, repeating the last statement made by Jin. "I-Isn't this... a place that takes... kill orders?"

"Hmm..." Jin hummed, now getting interested in what Sugawara had come here for, as well as was the reaction of the rest of the team. "And you came for...?"

After a big and quite audible gulp, Sugawara finally spoke with a stutter, "Please... I... I w-want you to kill someone for me. I beg you."