CHAPTER 44: MAYHEM AT THE MOONLIGHT CLUB

«Come on, Aoshi — hurry up with those damn appetizers! Those three bratty little shits at table twenty-one won’t stop screaming and bothering everyone. I’m only not kicking them out because they spent a ton of money, but the sooner we serve them, the sooner they get the hell out — so get moving!» Gorō Tobita, the Moonlight Club owner, growls nervously.

«Y-Yes, I’m sorry, Mr. Tobita, but I only have two hands and they’re both busy — let me drop off these cocktails first, then I’ll deal with the pains in the ass at table twenty-one,» Aoshi replies humbly, trying hard not to piss his boss off even more.

«If that’s the case, Eliss also has only two hands, and yet she still works twice as fast as you!» Mr. Tobita snaps. «Bringing that girl here was, without a doubt, the best thing you’ve ever done since I hired you. If I haven’t fired you yet, it’s only because I’m afraid Eliss would get mad at me and quit out of spite. Really now, couldn’t you have been born as a beautiful, efficient girl like her?»

If I’d been a beautiful girl, this would’ve been the last place on Earth I’d choose to work...

«M-Mr. Tobita, I don’t mean to contradict you, but if I were a beautiful girl, I wouldn’t be dating Eliss — which means she wouldn’t even be working here in the first place,» Aoshi says, offering an awkward little smile.

«Quit philosophizing and get to work, slacker!» Mr. Tobita roars, his voice echoing across the entire club.

«R-Right away, Mr. Tobita!» Aoshi mutters, panicked, and bolts off immediately.

And then he wonders why customers run off and never come back... Between him screaming at his employees all day long — except, of course, when it comes to his beloved Eliss — and the way he tries to flirt with any woman who dares sit alone at the counter, it’s a miracle this place still has customers at all.

Honestly, it’s thanks to Eliss alone that this fat old geezer hasn’t gone out of business yet. I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him his precious golden goose has left forever and is never coming back — watching him whine like a kid who just lost his favorite toy is going to be priceless.

Anyway, it was smart of me not to tell Mr. Tobita that Eliss and I aren’t officially a couple anymore. If he knew, he’d be all over her even more than usual — and honestly, I don’t even want to imagine how that would’ve ended...

«Alright... table twenty-one. Yeah, that must be them. Mr. Tobita’s right — they really are a bunch of annoying brats,» Aoshi mutters under his breath.

Three boys sit at the table, dressed and styled exactly the same — if it weren’t for their different hair colors, they’d look like clones. Trendy clothes from head to toe: skinny jeans, white sneakers, black leather jackets, and more gold chains and rings than most women wear on special occasions.

They’re screeching like monkeys at the zoo, shouting vulgar comments. At first, Aoshi assumes they’re talking about Eliss — he hears that kind of stuff about her every day — but as soon as he gets close enough, he realizes their hungry eyes aren’t on her at all.

They’re glued to a phone screen that two of them keep snatching back and forth, while the third — Shin, fourteen — nods proudly.

«Damn, Shin, your older sister is insanely sexy! She’s seriously the hottest girl on the planet — I’d sell my soul to the God of Death just to fuck someone like her even once in my life!» one of the three brats blurts out — Gaku, sixteen.

«For real though — how the hell do you live under the same roof as someone like that and manage to keep your dick in your pants?! If I had her as my sister, she’d already be pregnant with my second kid by now!» another adds — Rikuto, fifteen.

«Cut it out, Rikuto — you watch way too much sibling hentai for my taste,» Shin mutters, shaking his head in disgust. «Your mom is a total bombshell too, and I don’t see you fucking her. Anyway, give me back my phone — if my sister finds out I took a picture of her without permission, she’ll literally murder me. She’s not all there in the head.»

So young and already this depraved? God, kids these days are a lost cause...

As Aoshi steps up to their table with the appetizers, his eyes "accidentally" land on the phone screen — still showing the picture — that Rikuto is handing back to Shin.

Well... not entirely accidentally. After hearing all those enthusiastic comments about Shin’s supposedly unbelievably hot sister, Aoshi’s curiosity is fully awake.

I’m only checking to see if she’s actually the hottest girl in the world or if Eliss still keeps the crown... not because I actually want to peek at some random girl’s sexy photo. Yeah, sure.

The picture is surprisingly clear despite the dark blur around the edges — proof it was taken through a keyhole. Aoshi’s eyes widen instantly the moment he sees it.

A girl with long raven hair, an athletic, perfectly defined figure, generous breasts... and completely naked — covered only by a few patches of foam. Her pose is natural, unguarded, clearly taken right as she stepped out of the bath. And above all, she clearly has no idea the photo was taken.

But it’s not the full nudity or even her breathtaking beauty that shocks Aoshi. It’s the fact that he knows her — Miori Yukinaga.

W-Why the hell does this kid — this Shin — have a nude photo of Miori on his phone?!

Okay, to be fair, Miori naked is absolutely a sight to behold, and thinking back to that time at my place when she— Oh, come on, Aoshi! This is NOT the moment to fantasize about the most infuriating girl ever born!

Wait... They called Miori "Shin’s older sister". Which means... H-HE’S MIORI’S LITTLE BROTHER?!

«Waiter boy, are you planning to stand there holding our food until the place closes? If it gets cold, I’m not paying for it!» Shin hisses, addressing Aoshi with that classic tone of superiority only a spoiled rich kid uses when talking to someone with a humble job.

«Y-Yes, sorry, I was just lost in thought...» Aoshi apologizes immediately, placing the tray of appetizers in the center of the table.

That brat... he actually took a picture of his sister while she was stepping out of the bathtub... and he even bragged about it to his friends? Is anyone normal in that family, or is the whole family completely insane? Unbelievable...

«Come on, don’t be so harsh on him, Shin — he probably got hypnotized by your sister’s tits too. Look at him — he’s got the face of someone who’s never seen pussy in his entire life, not even in a photo. It’s normal his brain short-circuited seeing one of that quality,» Gaku sneers.

«Here’s your order, and sorry again for the delay,» Aoshi says politely, choosing to ignore Gaku’s insults entirely.

«You’d better not tell anyone about that photo. I swear, if word gets out, even your own mother won’t recognize you anymore!» Shin growls, visibly on edge, fixing Aoshi with a murderous glare.

«Come on, Shin, relax,» Rikuto chimes in, giving his friend a slap on the shoulder. «What would he even say? As if someone like him even knows the girl in that picture.»

«Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone you secretly took a picture of Miori,» Aoshi replies, keeping a calm, composed face — even though inside he’s practically bursting with smug satisfaction, thrilled he managed to shut up those three idiots who thought he was some clueless virgin who’d never spoken to a girl in his life.

He also has to use superhuman willpower to stop himself from adding something like: And by the way, I know her tits better than you do, considering she shoved them against me a few weeks ago.

He really doesn’t feel like sparking Shin’s already overheated temper... even if bragging in front of these kids is incredibly tempting.

But when Shin realizes Aoshi recognized Miori, all the color drains from his face. He freezes — then suddenly explodes. He jumps to his feet, right in Aoshi’s face, glaring upward — Aoshi is about ten centimeters taller and five years older, but Shin doesn’t care at all.

«It would’ve been better for you if you’d just pretended not to know her, you damn peasant,» Shin growls, eyes overflowing with rage.

«No, it would’ve been better if you hadn’t secretly taken a picture of your sister while she was stepping out of the bathtub!» Aoshi fires back, losing the calm, composed demeanor a waiter is supposed to keep. «Aren’t you even a little ashamed? What kind of brother takes a nude photo of his own sister and then shows it to his friends?! Didn’t your parents teach you what respect is?!»

But even while he puts on a tough front, inside he’s a mess of doubts and second thoughts.

W-Why the hell am I defending Miori? Sure, someone had to teach these brats a lesson... but why does that someone have to be me? What the hell’s gotten into me?! Miori is the last person on Earth who deserves respect or protection — if anything, she deserves to be humiliated the same way she humiliates everyone else. And yet... I can’t shake the feeling that letting this slide would be deeply wrong, even if it’s her.

I’ve told Eliss over and over that paying someone back with the same cruelty they inflicted on you is wrong, and I’m not about to betray the very principles I drilled into her. No — I can’t just pretend nothing’s happening and let nude photos of Miori circulate among her brother’s friends... the person who, more than anyone, should be protecting her!

«Mind your own fucking business, you damn peasant!» Shin snarls loudly, shoving Aoshi and slamming him into the table behind him. «What I do is none of your damn business — and whatever that whore of a sister of mine does is none of your business either! Since you can’t shut your mouth on your own, I’ll shut it for you—»

THUD!

Silence falls over the entire club the moment a dull, heavy punch echoes through the room — followed by a thump on the floor and a string of curses and pained screams, all from Shin, knocked flat by a fist straight to the face from Aoshi.

«Now you’ve done it,» Rikuto snaps — he and Gaku jump to their feet in an instant, ready to avenge their friend.

Aoshi instinctively steps back, his fist still raised and Shin’s blood smeared across his knuckles. He’s trembling — terrified. It’s the first time in almost twenty years he’s ever punched someone in the face.

W-What the hell... what the hell did I just do? I... I punched Miori’s little brother? Shit... shit... I’m dead! I mean, it was self-defense. Yeah, that brat asked for it!

«Are you all out of your minds?! What the hell is going on here?!» Mr. Tobita bellows, pushing through the tables like a stampeding hippo.

«Your idiot waiter punched our friend in the face!» Rikuto fires back, helping Shin get on his feet — he’s still dazed from the hit, blood pouring from his nose.

«Aoshi, you really punched a customer?!» Mr. Tobita snarls.

Aoshi lowers his gaze and nods silently — his face bright red with shame, his whole body shaking.

«You three — out of here. NOW!» Gorō Tobita roars, pointing sharply toward the exit.

«As if I needed you to tell me, you fat piece of shit!» Shin spits, livid. «You and that peasant who hit me are both going to jail — count on it!»

«Fat piece of shit?!» Gorō explodes, turning scarlet. «Say it to my face, you pissant Come on, say it again!»

Disaster is avoided only because Rikuto and Gaku drag Shin out of the Moonlight Club by the arms.

«Aoshi. In my office. NOW!» Gorō growls, angrier than Aoshi has ever seen him.

Aoshi follows without a word, under the heavy, judgmental stares of every customer.

«Aoshi, losing your mind like that isn’t like you — tell me what the hell got into you?!» Gorō asks once they’re inside, calmer but still fuming.

«W-Well... those kids were drooling over a nude photo of one of their sisters, and I just told them it’s wrong to take secret pictures — especially of a family member. One of them got mad and attacked me, and I... I reacted on instinct and punched him,» Aoshi stammers, breathing hard and uneven.

«Let me get this straight... they were just quietly looking at a nude photo of some girl, and instead of telling me so I could take a look too, you decided to lecture them? Are you stupid or what? Do you have any idea what kind of damage you just caused to this prestigious establishment? Not to mention the risk of a lawsuit? Aoshi — enough is enough. You’re fired!»