Ninjas and Demons

Chapter 9: Schooling

"Come on Zane, I don't need a babysitter! I can be on my own!" Lloyd whined as Zane wore his casual outfit, grabbed a few things, and shoved them in a bag.

The others had left, having to seek out jobs to try and ensure that they get money for food and not be a financial burden on their new friends. Since they were still considered young, he and his team went to look for odd jobs to do around, like chores for example, and get paid for that. The older team was of age so were able to find decent pay with few hours, which works considering how many living in each boat. Thankfully, he was able to convince Pigsy to let him work for the noodle shop, after some persuading and proving that he could do it. Pigsy gave both him and Blaze a spot at his restaurant.

Both were considered the main cooks for their respective teams, and Pigsy was firm as to only pick one, but when Blaze mentioned that he could just go across the street, saying it as if it was no big deal, Pigsy allowed them both to work. Muttering how he could use the extra hands with how many more orders he's been receiving as of late, and how he wouldn't let his rival have any chance to get an up on him. Zane honestly can't tell if Blaze was attempting to be manipulative, or really had no idea. This was just yesterday after seeing how low on food both ninja teams were.

Then came the current situation, all the others were out and wouldn't be back for a while Zane had a shift soon, and that left no one to watch Lloyd, and they couldn't ask Sandy since he was at a therapy session. He called Pigsy and asked if Lloyd could pretty much hang around the shop so he wouldn't be alone and he agreed so long as he behaved.

The ice ninja sighed, "Lloyd, we are just not comfortable with leaving you alone, I can believe that you can take care of yourself, but we do not want to take any risks. Especially in our current predicament."

Lloyd pouted as Zane handed him his small backpack with things stuffed inside, "I packed you some things to keep you occupied until one of the others is done with their jobs for the day."

"Fine," he huffed as he took the bag from the teen and put it on.

"Okay, let's go."

***

The two made it to the restaurant just as MK was leaving with many boxes of noodles he had to deliver, he gave a quick greeting before having to speed away on the delivery vehicle. Blaze-Kai was already there behind the counter, "Heyyy, Frosty! Monty!"

"Hello Blaze," the blond returned the greeting as he made his way behind the counter and placed on an apron with Pigsy's Noodles' logo on it, and went right to the short order list. Lloyd sighed and sat at the bar next to the scholar who was always there, either eating noodles or talking to the head chef. He dug into his bag and pulled out a gaming handheld that Jay gave him. It was an older model, he thinks that it was actually scaped back together from the Walker's family junkyard, but it played games so it was fine. He wasn't really paying too much attention as he pressed the buttons, his claws not hindering him thankfully,  to complete whatever task he left off on, ignoring the people around him as he did so.

Tang watched the kid from the corner of his eye as the child played the game before glancing over at the two teens Pigsy allowed to work for him. He smiled slightly, he may seem like a hardass, but he was actually a real softie, especially for kids, so he wasn't too surprised that when they both asked if he needed any help in the kitchen he did let them after seeing their capabilities around the kitchen. Although he didn't like the fact that these kids were under so much stress, they were trying their damndest to be independent. Now working to pay for groceries and other necessities, on top of trying to find a way home, and even trying to learn their written language, as they recently learned after Mei had an outing with the girls the day before yesterday, they couldn't read their language. He also knew it was so much harder to learn a second language the older you got, well he did have some workbooks he could give to them if they wanted to at least know the basics to get around without them around.