Pub Crawl

[Hagen-Autem]

Part of Vin hoped the drink would choke this woman. She talked too much; she was as razor-tongued. She even thought she was just a simple woman, one of those thirty-somethings who never made it past secondary school, among all sorts of other ideas that wandered through her mind to downplay her obvious talent for manipulating everyone at will. And also to make her feel trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Faced with the unfortunate sweet talk, Vin gave her a sidelong glance, narrowing her eyelids fiercely. If this inspector, a single mother, a woman with midlife problems, dared to take advantage of her younger colleague's condition.

Perhaps a kick would be the next shot, if the inspector ran out of the drink in her hand.

Being punished with some sanction didn't matter to her at this point, as long as she didn't get away with it at the expense of someone more fragile.

But Yusure spoke up, intertwining herself with the problem.

"Alright," she declared, adjusting her glasses as if the world had suddenly become blurry, and giving them both a thin, complacent smile.

Vin gasped.

"Wait, what?!" Her voice made Yusure jump off her stool, so Vin straightened up, slipping back into her role behind the bar. "I don't think that's a good idea... tonight is supposed to be for VIPs only," she exclaimed, glancing at the difficult customer.

Vin felt triumphant!

"Well, it's early, we open at 8:00 PM."

But now she felt as if a mountain had been thrown at her.

"Anyway, you need a pass." Managed to say

"I can get you one." But Yusure blocked without hesitation.

A vein appeared on the brunette's forehead. Yusure noticed it, leaning back as if she had realised that something was not quite right and that perhaps she was ruining it with her kind gesture. However, the brunette's heart sank; these were not the kind of emotions she wanted to see in her colleagues outside the ring.

Vin sighed, calming down, ready to say what no one else seemed willing to say.

"Yusu. This woman here is problematic." She pointed at Ayumi. Her voice was modest, polite, cordial, but not disguised. The few nosy customers could hear this conversation very well, and of course, some did not understand why she was pointing at her like that; others, the most gossipy ones, could sense the invisible quarrel between the two of them. "She doesn't deserve to be rewarded. She deserves to stay here, punished until she says what she wants."

She said all this while turning towards the woman of discord, crossing her arms and staring her straight in the eye as if to put herself on a level with her, even if it was forced.

On the other hand, it didn't take long for the sleepy assistant to grasp the real situation. She was trying to find something to sleep on, but she couldn't and needed to do something else to keep her eyes open for another day, just in case someone important showed up.

"I think she'll behave herself... right?"

She shifted her gaze from Vin to Ayumi.

Amidst so many glances and subtleties, she just said the first thing that came to her sleepy mind. It wasn't like her, and perhaps when she took a real break, she would wake up regretting it.

"What's more, I need someone... for something... important... necessary?"