Scorpion

Chapter 1 - Yuzuki

I should have stayed in school. My god, these long hours were driving me nuts! The manager of the place I worked at would never shut up and was always on my back for something or other. He was the type of person who always had to be right. And if something didn't go his way, he would get angry, very angry. He was a short stubby man with black hair who looked like he had been working at Club Shikijō for a long time. He was over in the kitchen when I heard him yelling about something again. I was just glad it wasn't to me. I sighed as I crouched down with my bucket of soapy water. And then there was the staff; some of the girls were nice enough, but most of the guys just looked at me like I was nothing. It was probably due to the fact of how I ended up in this club in the first place.

I used to live in the countryside with my mother, attending medical school as my dream job. But then she got into a horrible accident. She broke her leg in multiple places and had to have several surgeries. The costs of the surgeries piled up on us and I struggled to continue my schooling. I ended up having to quit, staying home to look after her. I didn't mind that but the cost of therapy, medicine, and the surgeries simply became too much. I had to do something for us, to keep us from drowning in debt. I hadn't wanted to leave her, but she had promised me that she would be okay and our neighbors were more than happy to help her with anything she needed while I was gone. We lived so far out that it took me about a day and a half to get from Toyo to Osaka. By train, it would have taken me five hours, but I had next to no money and ended up having to walk the distance. I tried for a lift, but even that, people didn't seem overly fond of. What money I had left went for the ferry ride over to Wakayama's pier. Thinking back, it had been such a nice day to take the ferry as well. There had been no clouds in the sky and the air had smelt so nice and fresh. From there I walked the rest of the way to Osaka.

Suddenly my surroundings come into focus. "Damnit," I whispered, realising I had been daydreaming again. The motion of the washcloth in my hand swaying lazily back and forth across the floor. The perks of working here? I get to smell the aroma of spilled wine as I wipe them up, jokingly thinking, Oh the joy. As I dutifully finish cleaning the mess that is known as our floor, I start to rise and stand to observe my work. I find myself battered against the floor again. I just about manage to look back to see I was shoved by a foot of all things, pinned against the floor. I could only hear what I would describe as a growl mocking me.

"Hey, that's not clean enough. I can't see my face in the floor yet." It was the manager, I could tell from the raspy voice. He always seemed to sound like he was losing his voice. I had asked him about it a while back, which ended with me on the floor with a black eye. The only reason I put up with the guy was that I had no choice. I had a debt to pay and it wasn't cheap.

Due to our immense debt, I thought it would be a good idea to break into a club that no one had ever heard of and borrow some money. That went so very wrong though. I was caught and got a nice beating from the manager. So my next few months were spent working at a place I didn't like, with people who were always looking down on me.

"Hey, kid! Listen to me!" a kick landed in my gut, knocking the wind from my lungs. "I said, scrub the floor. That means scrub it! Till it's so bright you can't even look at it," he snarled, leaning in close to my face and baring his yellowed teeth at me.

There wasn't much I could do against him, but he definitely didn't have to act as if he owned me. I sighed a bit and tried to get up just enough to be able to clean the floor as he had told me to. The foot that was on my back again after his kick, lifted just enough for me to move that little bit I needed. But he certainly wasn't making it easy. I took the cloth again and dragged the rag across an already clean floor. It took the whole rest of my shift before he let me go.