Death's Hunt

Chapter 8

The next day, Chiyoko and I met up at the bar as planned. I had the intention of asking her how she would prefer to learn to be a death. Unfortunately, it was impossible for her to hear my question over the racket of Anga’s oven. Even I had to cover my ears as the alarm blared.
“I’m coming! I’m coming you stupid machine!” Anga yelled from behind her mask as she stomped over to the annoying noise. She opened the oven and pulled out the food. Much to everyone’s frustration, the beeping continued. “Would you quiet down?!” Anga shouted at the inanimate object. Of course, the oven didn’t listen to her. Cracking her knuckles, she began hitting the kitchen appliance in order to turn it off.
“Just unplug the thing,” someone shouted from the back exasperated.
“Hey! Hey! I don’t tell you how to do your job! Now either shut it or get out!” Anga retorted. “Worthless piece of machinery.” She then kicked the oven causing the alarm to finally die. “I swear I’ve got to get something better.” She then hit the bell on the counter before yelling, “Tables 5, 6 and 11! Come get your food!” A couple of deaths walked up and picked up their meals.
“Are you done shouting?” I asked.
“I thought you didn’t care if I shouted.”
“I don’t. She does,” I bluntly stated as I moved one of my wings to reveal Chiyoko trembling behind me.
“Oh, sorry. I’ve just been having a hard day, you know,” Anga apologized.
“But isn’t having many customers good for you?” Chiyoko asked as she moved forward.
Anga took off her glasses as she rubbed her eyes. “Normally, you would be right. But with so many customers today, I’m having a hard time keeping up. And that stupid oven isn’t helping,” she added while glaring at the machine. She then sighed and looked at us, “All right, what will it be?”
“You know I’m not here to eat,” I replied, but then looked down at Chiyoko and asked, “Do you want anything?”
Shily she answered, “I’ll… I’ll just have the same thing as last time.”
“Coming right up,” Anga muttered as she walked back to the kitchen.
Now that the commotion had passed and I sat there waiting with Chiyoko, I took this opportunity to finally ask her my question, “Chiyoko, when we’re done here, is there anything you’d want me to do differently?” She looked up at me with some confusion. “Training. Is there anything you would like me to change about your training?” She looked away. I could see she was a bit nervous. I gently placed one of my hands on her back and said, “You don’t have to be scared. Just tell me.”
After a few minutes of silence, she answered, “Could you…?” She stopped.
“Go on,” I said encouragingly.
“Could you… could you not throw things at me?”
“All right. I might have an idea that could work,” I simply stated. Looking down at her, I noticed a small smile.
At that moment, Anga returned and placed a plate of food in front of Chiyoko. “All right. Here you go,” she said sweetly, or at least as sweet as she could be. “Now Kakrix. Can I talk to you for a moment?”
I sighed while holding my head in one of my hands. “I saw this coming,” I mumbled under my breath. “Is it okay if we can talk about this outside?” I whispered. She didn’t say anything. She just started walking toward the backdoor. As I got up from my seat, I asked Chiyoko to stay here. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry. If ever you need me, I’ll be just outside.”
“Oh… okay…” she responded with some hesitation.
As soon as Anga and I exited the building, she grabbed the collar of my shirt and started yelling in my face, “You listen to me very well Kakrix! Alger came in two days ago and he told me that you threatened him – after he was trying to convince you to get Chiyoko excited about this Soul Hunt!”
“Anga, I…”
“I’m not done yet! I had to listen to his complaining for I don’t know how long! Do you realize what you did?!”
“Anga, you are…”
“YOU COULD HAVE COST US THE GAME! Now, you’re lucky Alger is more interested in the amount of players then he is about how they act! If it was otherwise, we could have been disqualified! DO YOU HEAR ME?”
“ANGA!”
“WHAT?”
“GET OFF MY FOOT!”
It’s only at that point that she looked down and saw that she had been stomping on my left foot the whole time. Anga let go and got off before looking back up at me, still clearly cross.
“Listen to me, Anga. Chiyoko is still a kid. She has just been thrust into a world that is completely unknown to her. I’ll have you know that I’m trying very, very hard to get her accustomed to this place. But you throwing her into a game that you are determined to win isn’t going to work. If you want her to join, you are going to have to let me take care of this. That means you cannot rush me or her.”
“I haven’t been rushing either of you for starters,” Anga retorted defensively.
“Not purposefully. And you definitely haven’t been saying it outright to our faces. It’s just that I feel the pressure of training Chiyoko before these games start. So please, just let me do what I do.”
As I got ready to open the backdoor to walk back inside, I heard Anga call out, “Kakrix, listen. I’m sorry if I… made you feel… like I was pushing you. I’m sorry… that I just kept thinking of myself.” She then laughed a bit. “I mean, I was acting just like Sheri, wasn’t I? Some selfish woman who doesn’t care about anyone.”
“Anga, I can guarantee you that, without a shadow of a doubt, you and Sheri are nothing alike. Remember that. Will you?”
“I’ll do my best. Just call me out if I start acting like that, you know?”
“I can do that.”
I grabbed the door handle and started to twist it when Anga said one last thing, “Is it just me or are you acting a little bit different?”
“What do you mean?” I asked unsure of what she meant.
“I don’t know. There’s just something a little bit different.” She then waved one of her hands in the air, as if she was trying to swat a fly. “Nah. It’s probably just me.”
As I opened the door, I froze, and my eyes widened.
“Kakrix, why aren’t you moving?” Anga asked. I didn’t answer. Sitting right next to Chiyoko was the last death I wanted near her – Sheri. “Oh, come on! Just move.” As Anga pushed me forward, she realized why I had been blocking the doorway. “You!” Anga quickly sprinted towards a frying pan, picked it up and slammed it down in front of Sheri.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BAR?!?” Anga screamed at Sheri.
“You weren’t in, so I thought I’d let myself in,” she answered smugly.
“You know very well that you are not allowed here.”
“You know, not everyone can simply ban me from a spot. In fact, no one can.”
“Get out of her bar,” I growled as I protectively stepped in between Chiyoko and Sheri.
“Well, if it isn’t Kakrix… the big bad death. And I see you brought your little ‘friend’. How charming…”
“Leave her out of this.” I instinctively wrapped my tail around Chiyoko’s waist and pulled her close to me.
“You know. We were actually just talking about you. In fact, I was just about to tell her about your… um… little secret…”
“I have nothing to hide,” I snarled.
“Then why do you want to keep your past hidden?” I didn’t say anything. “Well… say it.” I simply glared at her. “Come on… say it… I’m sure everyone would love to know your past life. Even I would like to know a little bit more… How you lived, how you survived, how you fought, how you… died? I’m sure little Chiyoko would like to know.”
“Leave. Us. Alone.” Just as she was about to say something, Anga hopped onto the counter and slammed the frying pan on top of Sheri’s head.
“GET OUT!!” Anga kept smacking Sheri with the kitchen appliance as she chased the intruder out. Once Sheri had sprinted out of the building, Anga threw the pan after her before yelling at the top of her lungs, “YOU CURSED GREEDY WOMAN!!! If I ever see your carcass here again, I am going to…” She then stopped and marched back into her bar. I don’t know why she stopped. Maybe she figured Sheri was too far away for her insults to be heard, but one thing was clear. Her bad day had just gotten worse. “Everybody… get out of my bar. I’m closing down for today,” she said exasperated yet surprisingly calm.
This time no one objected or complained. They simply got up and walked out. Everyone except Chiyoko and I.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she mumbled.
I then looked down at Chiyoko. She walked behind the counter, and I assume tried to hug Anga. I then thought of something. Something all three of us could do. “Anga?” 
“What is it Kakrix?” she asked me without looking up from the counter.
“I think I might know what could cheer you up. Plus, this should help Chiyoko’s training. All we need to do is wait for Vlagor.
“Why do we need to wait for him?”
“Does it matter? He should be here in about five minutes.”
Anga just stared at me like I was food that had just gotten up and talked to her. “All right. It’s official. Something has changed about you.” I chuckled slightly at this statement. “All right. Now I’m actually worried.”
“I’m not,” Chiyoko said giving me a big smile.