A Different Turn

Chapter 8

(8man PoV)

"I have a request."

A request is the act of asking for something to be given or done, especially as a favor or courtesy; solicitation or petition for something like this is regarded as the act of making a request. Requests have been made since ancient times, common people requested their kings to provide them with protection or sustenance, requests for military aid were made by European Countries to the U.S.A during world war two to counter the forces of Nazi Germany, developing countries scramble requesting for aid to the United Nations or richer countries, rich people with loans request the government to give them tax cuts, males request the fathers of their prospective spouses to assent for forging matrimonial ties, the kind of requests made by humans is endless and evergrowing, but all requests have one thing in common, they are made in a polite manner, with a subservient attitude as you are asking something from another person to do something he or she is not ordinarily bound to do.

That means you are putting an extra burden on someone, hence you try to show your gratefulness for the extra work you dump them with, the entire point of the stupid club of ours was taking such extra burdens. But whoever came to us atleast had the decency to make a request normally, maybe Isshiki could be an exception, but then I owed her... and she tingled my siscon-I mean my brotherly reflexes. All that set aside, beating a guy and making him come to a place where he is forced to spend his money while he could be peacefully leading his life was not a way to make a request.

"Helluva way to make one"- I snapped, my annoyance, which had returned now that I was nearly done with my food, surfaced full force.

"What?" Haruno asked me, her expression unchanging as she spoke, "I invited you out, accepted the change in venue and even offered to pay for this outing." She spoke, her lips curving into a visible smirk as she moved back and looked at me.

"If that's not a good way to make a request, then I fail to understand what I should have done instead; I mean I'm being really polite here you know~" her face was now beset by a full blown smirk.

While her words painted a gleeful picture of an honest girl in need of help, it could not be any farther than the truth than it currently was, the afternoon fiasco was still fresh in my memory, no way in hell would I have been here if I didn't fear a repeat of that episode.

I leaned back and took in her words, as I let the situation sink in, Haruno was well aware of my intentions, my emotions and my circumstances, moreso than I would like, but there was nothing to be done about that. She knew why I was here, and the fact that given a choice, I would prefer to be anywhere but here, hence she was calling me out, knowing that this time, I would be forced to respond as I could no longer ignore her actions without fear of the consequences.

Making a request under these circumstances was, for lack of a better word, unusual, I was here to know what she wanted, so that I could form some sort of strategy to minimize the possible damage that I was going to suffer catering to her whims, or as the best possible outcome, avoid any potential damage to myself. But a request? What was she thinking? If all she had to do was make a request then she could have easily done so in the clubroom, we sat there for the same reason. If she wanted to make a request to me only, she could have done so over the endless texts she sent me, or talk when she caught me outside on a few rare instances, but fixing a meeting at midnight, and then giving me a shakedown for not responding, this was not a way to make a request, it was a clear tactic with a clear objective, Intimidation by show of superior strength.

In other words, what she was going to say was not a request to me, but an order I had to follow.

"Why not take it to the service club?"- I countered her with a question, I was going to have to play along now that I knew her motives, but if all she wanted was someone to order around, she could have contacted the club, sought me as a grunt and have it all done for free without all this...trouble.