[ON HIATUS] The Broker (Izaya X Reader)

7 Cheater Cheater

Author's Note: Chill out a bit with this chapter, pals. It's the calm before a storm. :)

"You've been working too hard today, (-Last Name-)-chan," said Tokunaga-senpai, the head chef at Swallowtail. "Why don't you take a quick break? I can take over for now. We're only prepping for lunch, after all."

He treats me as if I were his daughter even though he's only about ten years older than me. Thank goodness I finally have someone in this city who lets me relax.

I nodded. "Thank you, senpai." He smiled and continued working while I pulled up a stool next to the kitchen counter and took a seat. "I'll be here if you need me."

I closed my eyes, letting them rest. I wonder if Orihara-san got his jacket back. In return for his "hospitality", I kind of sent someone to deliver his jacket to him. After all, I have to work and I wouldn't have enough time in the day to give it to him. I don't think he'd mind me passing it off to someone else... I grinned menacingly for a second, but stopped once I remembered that I was at work.

"(-Last Name-)-san!" I could hear Yamada-kun calling.

I opened my eyes and sat up straight. "What's up?"

He was now standing in front of me, fiddling with his fingers nervously. Just watching his movements makes me feel like I scare him. Poor thing. "I figured that having a girl in the staff can help when choosing accessories, so--"

"Thats a gender bias," I interrupted, thinking back to the outfit I wore yesterday which consisted of a T-shirt, a jacket, and sweats. Not to mention the fact that I left my hotel with one coat and came back with three.

"Sorry, sorry!" he frantically apologized. I laughed and told him it was fine. "A-anyway... since most of our customers are female too, I thought that you might be more familiar with their preferences. Should I wear a top hat, a monocle, glasses, or...?"

I shrugged. "Does it matter? You always wear gloves, so just go ahead with it as always." I hadn't noticed that this cafe had so many props for the butlers, but I guess they need it to appeal to every customer.

Yamada-kun gave me a bright grin and bounded off to find his pair of gloves. Soon, people began filing in one after the next; others waited outside simply because they came early to their reservation. Now hard at work beside Tokunaga-senpai, I was put to the task of arranging the food nicely on each plate. Luckily, the restaurant specializes in "tea time", so the dishes are small desserts or sandwiches and such. Not too complex.

Tokunaga-senpai later inquired of me about what ingredient could be used as a substitute for paprika. Apparently, we had a female customer who was allergic to paprika, so one of our sauces had to be altered accordingly. I let him know that cayenne pepper could be used as a replacement if it's sweetened a bit. He looked at me with surprise gleaming across his features. To that, I simply told him that I knew someone with a paprika allergy as well. He just smiled broadly and went off on a bout about how glad he was that I was hired. I listened to his praise as I worked, slowly getting full of myself.

Not long after, I was pulled to the side by one of the butlers. He was a bit elderly and played the role of head-butler, so I found myself treating him as such whenever I spoke to him. "What can I do for you, Iwai-senpai?" I asked him, ready to accept orders.

"We have a customer that would like to give you their compliments," he said with unease, "and to meet with you. They mentioned something about... paprika...?"

I looked down at my feet in deep thought. The problem is the fact that I'm a female, and I can't go out to meet the customer, risking the secrecy of me working here. "Can we send out Tokunaga-senpai? He's the head chef. They should fall for it."