Emma's Bar

Walking down the streets at night always felt alive as the lights from signs shined brightly as people travel up and down with shouts from workers advertising their stores.

"Hey! Come on down to Heart bar! We have a great band inside!"

"Blue Sea Club is right here people!"

"Please come down to our maid cafe! It's just down the street!"

"Our group will be singing at the LL Cafe! Please support us!"

"Our shop is having a great sale right now! You won't regret coming!"

The many people advertising their work called out as people walked by. Ken looked at the maid cafe flyer he received from a cute girl wearing a maid uniform while he was walking towards Emma's bar where Mike was waiting for him.

"A maid cafe..." Ken muttered to himself as he scanned through the flyer.

It was rather cute as it had a pink background with a drawing of maids on the flyer with information on where it is and what the cafe is about.

I wonder how different a maid cafe is to Starway Club. Mike should know something about this; I'll bring it up when I meet him.

Ken pocketed the flyer and stopped at a store with the sign showing the words.

"Emma's Bar"

The store looked very different from the other clubs and bars; the store had a western theme to it with flowers decorating the windows. Through the windows, Ken sees Mike happily talking to the female bartender with a drink in hand.

Opening the door, Ken felt a gentle cold breeze from the bar and a sweet sounding bell ringing as though it was welcoming him inside. Ken stepped in, and Mike turned around with a smile.

"Yo, you're finally here! Come and sit! I saved this spot for ya!"

"You dodged meeting the boss again."

"Ahh, don't bring him up. I don't like seeing him; it's too suffocating!"

Mike finishes the leftover alcohol in his glass as Ken sits beside him.

"Emma~! Please pour me another!"

The female bartender chuckled as she poured Mike another glass and greeted Ken.

"Good to see you again Ken, doing well I hope?"

"Doing well? Ken and I have been doing all the boring jobs recently! It's like the boss ran out of things to throw at us!"

"As long as we can get by I think we are doing well."

"Ken, you seriously need to think bigger! Imagine hitting the big time; we'd be rolling in cash! Don't you want to get out of that shitty one room apartment? The last time I came around that room looked more run down than that Pine guy's place!"

"Mike, you shouldn't be so mean to Ken."

"I'm not being mean Emma; I just wanted to point out how miserable he is! Come on let's try that MMA thing I mentioned!"

"I'm satisfied with my living conditions and don't get me involved in your crazy schemes."

"Oh come on it'll work trust me!"

"The last time you said that we got kicked out."

"That causes the bastard was a cheapskate! Just trust me on this one!"

"No."

"Emma, please convince him!"

"I won't butt into your affairs~."

Mike sighed as he gave up and took another sip from his glass while Ken received a glass of alcohol from Emma with thanks.

"So Ken, what do you think about Leah?"

"Leah?"

"Oh is that the idol who arrived in the city a few hours ago?"

"That's right Emma! You're sharp as always!"

"Oh the one on the news, what about her?"

"Oh come on didn't you remember me saying that we should get tickets for her show?"

"We were busy working; I can't always be keeping track with your random chatter during a job."

"Rude! Anyways I think we should quickly do another job to get some money and see it!"

"Why we?"

"Come on! We are a team, help me out! Look I'll only take enough money for the ticket and give you everything else how about that?"

"Hmm... Fine I accept. But what job will we be doing?"

"I'll tell you that tomorrow, for now, let's drink the night away!"

...

The next day Ken woke up to his phone buzzing. Annoyed and sluggish Ken grabs his phone and slowly brought it up to his face to see who woke him up. Ken squinted his eyes as it adjusts to his phone's bright screen and finally saw Mike's phone number.

"What took you so long to pick up, this is already the 3rd try!"

"I was still sleeping, now what is it."

"I got that job I was talking about last night! Meet me outside Emma's bar, and I'll talk more about it!"

"You called me for this? Text me next time and let me have some more sleep!"

"And that is why I called! Now get your ass over here, Ken!"

The call ends, and Ken sighed as he got out of his bed. After grooming himself properly and wearing his white business suit, black suit pants and black leather shoes he walked out of the old and dull room.

Ken slowly walked from his apartment and arrived at Emma's Bar with Mike who was wearing a black business suit and sunglasses.

"You took an hour to get here, aren't you always an early guy?" Mike asked as Ken approached him.

"It's early so cut me some slack."

"It's only 6 in the evening."

"And we got out of the bar at 2, I don't know where you get all your energy from."

"Hehehe, having company on your bed always make you energetic! Anyways let's get talking about the job!"

"So what did you find?"

"Well! This time we are bodyguards for a certain woman! Can ya guess?"

"You can't be serious..."

"Yup, Leah is our client for today!"

"What did you do? A job like this is out of our league!"

"Hey try it out for once, this is a chance to strike big! Anyways it ain't gonna be that hard; we gotta deal with her fans that's all!"

"I feel a lot of regret joining you now."

"You can thank me later! Now take this suit vest and sunglasses on and let's get moving!"

"Is this why you're wearing something formal for once?"

"It's required for the job, can't be looking all gangster like while escorting such a popular idol!"

Ken quickly puts on the vest and wore the sunglasses; it surprisingly fit well.

"So then let's get moving! We can't keep Leah waiting!"

"How did you even find this job?"

"Well I have a friend that specializes in bodyguard duties, and he hooked me up with it!"

"And he can be trusted?"

"Well I wouldn't turn my back towards him, but I think this will go fine!"

"And just like that, you have lost my trust."

"Hey, you accepted! Now when we meet Leah act all professional like you always do in front of the boss aight?"

"Fine."

"Now then we are supposed to meet her at the Swan Hotel, it's in the district with all them rich bastards live at."

"That's an hour walk from here."

"We can just take a Taxi, and don't worry I'll pay the driver!"

"Anything we need to look out for during this job?"

"Just be cool and protect Leah, simple enough right?"

Ken didn't want to agree with Mike, but the job seemed simple enough. All they had to do was just block people from touching Leah like how the bodyguards do on TV. But Ken still had a bad feeling about it. After a short walk, they reached the main road and got into a Taxi that was waiting for them.

"Yo! Swan Hotel! We gotta get there quickly!"

"No problem boss, we'll be there as quick as possible!"

The Taxi started, and they left the red light district.