CHAT ME UP

On the first Monday of every month, the bar closed down at one. All items that were not nailed to the ground were removed from the bar and taken upstairs in neatly packed boxes while every surface was scrubbed clean. It was how their father had done it and their grandfather had done it before him. To anybody else it would have seemed like the most tedious of tasks, pulling an all-nighter in order to make sure the bar was spotless by Tuesday morning, but nobody treasured this particular task more than Gou.

Her earliest childhood memories were helping out their father clearing out a few chairs during Monday cleaning, although she had been too young to actually be of any help, she had ever since loved everything about it. How the scent of pine slowly took over the smell of tobacco, how with every slow scrub the oak bar gradually recovered some of its original lustre, the feel of freshly polished wood under her naked feet. It was a sacred tradition that had only been interrupted twice in her lifetime - when their mother had died and a few years later, when their father had joined her. Ever since then 'Sakura' had been run by her brother and her.

Although little could be said about her brother's enthusiasm when it came to running a bar, let alone Monday cleaning.

She couldn't say she didn't understand him. After all, their father had died under suspicious circumstances, but no matter how many times the siblings had turned to the police and practically begged to re-open the case and investigate further, they had always been cut short by replies of 'case closed' and 'there is nothing left to investigate.'

So Rin had become obsessed with the case and Gou had learnt to live with the idea that his brother would always go around chasing ghosts. After all, he had wanted to become a policeman since he had been very young. Only circumstances had never allowed it. Leaving a girl to run a bar by herself, no matter how safe their neighbourhood was, no matter if their home was right upstairs, had never been an option.

So the bar had re-opened the day after the funeral, Gou behind the oak bar and Rin behind his leather binder.

Years passed by and now here they were, living a comfortable life surrounded by good friends, good drinks and good music. Although business had been going down, some nights without seeing a single customer ever since about a dozen new bars had opened in the neighbouring streets during the last couple years, their regulars remained faithful and they managed to make a tidy living.

Tonight was one of those nights mostly due to bad weather and the threat of an approaching electric storm, so the only things keeping Gou's good mood were 9gag and the fact that she got to close early that day.

Gou looked up from her phone the second she heard the chimes of the bell by the door to be greeted by a pair of teal eyes that softened the second they landed on her.

"Sosuke!" she beamed and perked up from her stool behind the bar.

Sosuke took his cap off as he walked in, smiling softly.

"Hey kid," he said, petting her gently on the head the second she was within touching distance. "Long time, your hair's getting longer."

Gou huffed at the familiar gesture, always complaining about being treated like a child by their life-long friend.

"You were here like, two days ago," she replied, holding up two fingers to emphasise her point.

"Yeah but I was here on official duty, didn't really have a chance to say hello," he responded as he motioned with his head towards the espresso machine. Gou got the message and quickly jumped off her stool, snatching up a little white cup with a single cherry blossom on its side.

"You're still working now?" she asked conversationally.

Sosuke ran a hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh, looking out the window as if dreading going back out there. Gou couldn't blame him, she could hear thunder in the distance.

"Yep, almost done though, just stopped by to check in on you, by the way where's-" but he was cut off by the sound of his phone. Gou gently rested her chin on her hands as she watched Sosuke's expression change from mildly irritated to slightly outraged as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"No, it's fine, just - keep him there, I'll come pick him up," he replied looking utterly exasperated, he pocketed his phone and looked at Gou in a way that she had come to hate for the past few weeks.

"Don't tell me-" she began but didn't quite need to finish as Sosuke stood up, gulped down his coffee and put his cap back on.

"Mikoshiba's just caught him trying to break into old Tanaka's book shop," as he spoke, Gou let out an irritated growl much like an angry dog. "It's fine, good thing it was he who found him, otherwise, well. I'll bring him back, don't worry. You're closing early tonight, aren't you?" Sosuke quickly asked before opening the door.

"First Monday of the month," she replied as she noticed it had started to rain. With a curt nod of understanding, Sosuke walked out the door leaving Gou an irritated mess.

Sosuke liked being a cop, he really did. Even if living in a small town meant he barely got to see any real action, he had no complaints so long as he had a few mornings off to hit the gym and a few nights to spend at the bar. And it was a lucky thing he had become a cop, especially with an extremely troublesome best friend who needed to be pulled out of trouble every couple weeks.

As he entered the 7Eleven down on Elm street, he spotted the dark blue colours of two men standing by the coffee machine.

"Hey," Sosuke raised a hand and the two men turned, almost identical grins on their handsome faces.

"Well, took you long enough!" the oldest Mikoshiba grinned from behind his paper cup.

"Where is he?" Sosuke asked curtly, glancing around in search of his best friend.

The Mikoshiba brothers snickered identically as they shared a look.

"In the back seat," Momo replied nonchalantly.

"W-what?" Sosuke replied looking incredulous while the brothers broke down laughing. "You assholes, he's your friend!" he raised his voice as he gestured for the car keys.

Seijuro tossed him the keys and Sosuke caught them with one hand.

"You said to keep him here, trust me, that was the only way we could do that!" Seijuro replied and Sosuke knew what they were talking about. He turned to leave but right before he was able to walk away, he was stopped by a firm grip around his arm. Seijuro had stopped him, all humour gone from his face.

"You can't keep covering for him all the time," he spoke almost in a whisper. "Next time I'm taking him to the station, friend or not."

Sosuke didn't reply, he looked away and nodded curtly, only then did Mikoshiba let go of his arm.

The Mikoshiba brother's patrol car was parked on the opposite side of the parking lot, no doubt trying to keep it as far away from prying eyes as possible just in case their friend was throwing a fit. It was beginning to rain rather heavily, so Sosuke sighed deeply as he prepared himself for getting drenched. As he approached the car he could distinguish a familiar mane of red hair, its owner slumped on the back seat. At the sound of footsteps, the head turned and a pair of crimson eyes met his own.

"Shit," he mumbled to himself, getting the keys and unlocking the back door. He was relieved to find that they hadn't cuffed him, although the look that Rin gave him spoke millions.

"Shit right back at you," replied the redhead acidly.

"Rin," Sosuke began but as soon as he spoke, his friend had gotten out of the car and began walking in the opposite direction towards the road, getting soaked with every step he took.

"Rin!" the dark haired policeman tried to pull him by his arm but Rin shook him off violently, his own hair slapping him on the face, eyeing his friend with a look of utter disgust.

"You know he's hiding something!" Rin screamed, pointing a finger at his best friend accusingly. "You know he knows something and he's covering for someone, how can you not be on my side here?"

Sosuke pinched the bridge of his nose at the phrase that he had heard about a hundred times before.

"You have to stop doing this to yourself," he replied patiently, as if talking to a child. "To your sister-"

"Do not talk to me about my sister! I'm doing this for her! For us!" Rin's chest was heaving, his stance as if he was readying himself for a fight.

"Rin, you can't just break into someone else's property, if the Mikoshiba brothers hadn't-" Sosuke was cut off by Rin violently pushing him away the second he had tried to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Fuck the two of them! Fuck this, fuck you!" Rin screamed, trying to throw a punch at Sosuke who quickly ducked, in a fraction of a second he had taken a hold of Rin's arm and twisted it behind his back, effectively immobilising him, rain now dribbling down both their faces.

"Rin," Sosuke raised his voice as his friend squirmed in his grasp, "I'll meet you tomorrow at 6 am at the gym, we're putting on our gloves and we're going to beat the shit out of each other until we're nothing but bloody pulp on the floor," as he spoke, he tightened his grasp on Rin's arm making him twitch in pain.

Rin looked like he wanted to argue back but holding back from right out screaming in pain seemed to take all of his will, so Sosuke continued.

"If you can't wait until tomorrow, we will head down to the bar and we can beat the shit out of each other as soon as I take off my uniform. But hear me out here," he turned down his voice to barely above a whisper. "The next time you try to punch me while on duty I will arrest you."

He let go of Rin who stumbled a few steps before turning on his best friend and began massaging his twisted arm.

They stood in silence under the rain for a few seconds, chests heaving and eyes locked before Rin's bark-like laugh rang throughout the parking lot.

"Since when did you become such a badass?" the redhead laughed incredulously.

Sosuke snorted and waved a hand in dismissal.

"Damn, you've been watching way too many good cop/bad cop movies haven't you?" Rin teased as he took a step closer and punched his friend on the shoulder. "Officer Yamazaki," he continued as they started walking back to Sosuke's car.

"Worked didn't it?" Sosuke teased back, noticing how Rin kept massaging his arm. "Sorry about the arm," he apologised.

Rin shrugged and looked away.

"Guess I deserved it, sorry for going off on you like that," he almost whispered the last few words. "I'm a shitty friend," he added for good measure.

Sosuke nodded once before throwing an arm over Rin's shoulders and pulling his head down to rub his knuckles all over his best friend's red locks.

"You suck!" Sosuke replied laughing loudly as Rin tried to escape his grasp by waving his arms about like a ruffled chicken.

"Agh! Stop it, stop it you dick! I'm getting wet!"

She couldn't believe it, she couldn't fucking believe it. He had done it again.

It was the third time that month that his brother had almost been arrested, first for harassment, then for breaking his restraining order and now this. She sighed as she poured herself a healthy measure of whiskey the second Sosuke had walked out the door.

She sat down on her stool, phone completely forgotten, as she gulped down her drink and began biting her nails. It was only 11 pm and there was nothing she wanted to do more than to close the bar and begin scrubbing every surface she could reach. Then the memory of her father's voice brought a smile to her face.

'Closing time's one am, not a minute earlier. You never know who'll walk through the door when you least expect it' he always used to say before winking at his children.

That single memory had always helped whenever she felt the urge to close down and go to bed early. And it was exactly what she needed in order to stop thinking about her idiot brother. Fantasising about a romantic prospect walking through the door, ordering a drink - maybe buying her one as well? Had always been one of her deepest, best-kept secret hobbies.

"Hello. Welcome to Sakura," she spoke as she stood up from her stool and with a graceful wave of her arm, gestured to the empty bar. "What can I get you?" she recited out of memory as she began acting out what she had decided would be her behaviour should said prospect walk through the door. She giggled quietly, turning up the volume of the music, a slow jazzy tune playing.

"Oh, these?" she shyly brought her hands up to her earrings, twirling her fingers around them. "They're just trinkets, but thank you for noticing." She began swaying to the music, randomly grabbing a few bottles and a martini glass as she began mixing an invisible drink. "Here," she said, pushing the empty martini glass at the empty space before her. "It's on the house."

She jumped as a particularly loud thunder was heard over the loud music and no sooner had she snapped out of her dreams that the sound of chimes was heard again as the door opened and a young man drenched to the bone that she had never seen before walked in.

The stupidity of it all sent her into a fit of giggles that she tried to mask by grabbing a rag and wiping the nearest glass she could find.

"H-hello! Welcome to-" she began to speak but immediately stopped as the stranger pulled back his hoodie revealing a mane of longish black hair and a pair of clear blue eyes. "Sakura…" she finished rather lamely, completely awestruck by the stranger's looks. He was extremely handsome and she had always been a sucker for good looks.

"Are you open?" he asked rather calmly considering how wet his clothes were. He stood by the door as if afraid to walk in unless certain that they were still open.

"Y-Yes! Please, come in!" she almost tripped as she tried to walk towards him, maybe help him take his coat? But no sooner had she said those words that he was making his way towards the bar, taking a seat on the nearest stool.

Gou walked back to her place behind the bar as steadily as she could, hoping her smile wasn't faltering.

"What can I get you?" glad those words were carved into her memory as she would have found it extremely hard to come up with anything else to say.

The stranger's eyes met her own and she noticed he was wearing a rather confused look. He didn't speak for a while, glancing around and eyeing the display of liquors as if he and never seen anything like it before.

"I… I don't really know. I've never been to a bar before," he replied after a minute.

Gou's eyebrows shot upwards in surprise.

"You've never been to a bar before? How come?" she questioned unable to hide her surprise, instantly noticing how rude she must have sounded. She then waved a hand before the stranger with every intention of apologising when he suddenly spoke again.

"It's just, I didn't bring an umbrella," the dark haired stranger spoke guiltily.

Understanding hit Gou before she could utter a word.

"It's okay!" she beamed, getting the stranger's full attention for once. "There's a first time for everything, right?"

The stranger seemed to consider her words for a few seconds before nodding, a small bite-sized smile on his face.

"Yeah," he replied. "What do you recommend?"

Slightly cheered up by the stranger's smile, she picked up a little coaster-sized menu and set it over the bar before him.

"These are all our house specials," she said a she ran a finger down the small list. "They're all flower-themed," she added looking rather proud.

The stranger scanned the list looking utterly confused as every cocktail's name was followed by the liquors it contained.

"This one, then. Named after the bar."

Gou looked down at the cocktail the stranger had pointed at, surprised to see he had chosen The Cherry Blossom, a gin-based pink monstrosity that contained cherry liqueur, lychee extract and about a thousand cherries, all topped with a few sprinkled cherry blossoms if available. Her brother's only original contribution to the menu.

She giggled at the memory of how adamant her brother had been about changing a single thing about the drink.

'Take it or leave it!' he had replied, unruffled by all the teasing he got from both her and Sosuke. 'You just don't have an eye for beauty!'

"Alright then, I hope you like sweet things!" she chanted before turning around and gathering her ingredients.

She worked in silence for a few minutes, very much aware of the fact that the stranger's gaze was following her every move. In order to hide her awkwardness and utter fear of dropping something before his scrutinising glance, she tried to make small talk, only to find the stranger wasn't much of a talker. Once the drink was finished, and it took much longer than it should have, she topped it off with a single cherry blossom instead of the dozen his brother would have added.

"Thanks," he replied, pulling the drink towards him and examining it for a whole minute before so much as sniffing it.

Gou pulled her stool directly in front of the stranger and rested her chin on her hands as she was so used to, knowing fully well that it was rude to stare, she just couldn't get her eyes off the man's handsome features. He looked about twenty-five, tall and muscular, perhaps an athlete? His eyes were kind and his voice was steady. He had long thin fingers with perfectly manicured nails, not that she would admit to notice that kind of things. Only she couldn't stop noticing every little thing about him. How his eyes moved as they scanned the drink up and down as if he had been looking at a crystal ball, the slow blinking and the length of his eyelashes. She almost fell off her stool the second those baby blues turned to look at her.

"Wah-! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to stare!" she almost yelled, covering her face with both hands and looking utterly mortified.

The stranger smiled benignly, his eyes twinkling with delight.

"It's a beautiful drink, thank you, uh…?" he said, as if he had not heard a single word she had uttered, lingering on the last syllable.

"Gou," she replied. "My name is Gou."

"Thank you Gou. I'm Haru," the dark haired stranger replied, stretching out a hand towards her. She smiled in relief as they shook hands.

"Sorry about the staring," she said rather awkwardly. "Not used to seeing many new faces around here, usually it's just the regulars," her voice had a tinge of bitterness that the stranger called Haru couldn't help but notice.

"Hard times?" he ventured to ask.

Gou shrugged, pointedly not looking at Haru. "Could be better," she replied.

For some reason Haru felt something like sympathy for the young girl. He couldn't really imagine what it was like, a young, pretty girl working at a bar that wasn't doing very well for some reason.

"Is it because of the other clubs in the area?" he ventured to ask. Gou only sighed in response.

"Guess so," she shrugged again, chipping at her nail polish. "But it's okay, dad always said it's good to have some competition, that's why our service has to be the best!" she recited, lifting a finger and shaking her hair in a perfect imitation of a severe school teacher.

Haru couldn't help but chuckle at her gimmicks.

"That's a good attitude," he spoke before stopping short, not sure about what to say next. "Does your father work at a bar as well?"

The question puzzled Gou for a second before she realised what she had been asked. She was so used to talking to her regulars that she hadn't realised this was one person who didn't know her father was dead.

She smiled sadly as she replied something that she hadn't said in a long time. Haru seemed slightly embarrassed after such a reply that he could only think of one thing to say.

"Maybe… maybe I could help?"

Gou looked slightly taken aback.

"Yeah? Are you some sort of genius entrepreneur or something?" she teased, pouring herself another drink as she spoke.

The stranger shrugged as he watched her drink.

"Not really, but I know some people," he added with such innocence that Gou couldn't help but giggle.

"You're on! I expect you and your people sometime next week!" she teased, laughing it off without noticing Haru's curt nod. "Come on, enough about business! How's your drink?" she beamed expectantly.

Haru's eyes turned to his drink looking confused. He then gently picked up the glass, gave it a sniff and pursed his lips, barely touching the liquid as if he had been expecting to taste something toxic.

Gou started feeling bad for the guy, she had tasted that drink before and she knew how horribly sweet it was. The only person who actually drank it was her brother, and that's because he had invented it and he knew everyone else hated it, so he claimed to love it. They all knew he didn't like sweet things, but he'd prepare it for himself once in a while just to prove a point.

So Gou watched enthralled as Haru's tongue peeked out to lick his lips the second the glass left his mouth, and the way his eyes began twinkling before pulling the glass back to his parted lips and gulping down a large part of it.

The younger Matsuoka could not believe her eyes.

"You like it?" she asked incredulously before covering her mouth with her hand, but Haru didn't seem to notice.

"I've never tasted anything like it," he replied as if in a trance.

"I'll be sure to let my brother know!" she smiled broadly, happy that she had finally found someone who wouldn't return the drink and ask for their money back.

Haru looked up at her looking more confused than ever.

"Why?"

"Oh," she replied. "He invented it, you're the first one to like it!"

The dark haired stranger looked down at his drink as if wondering if he was supposed to hate it, eyebrows pinched together.

"You're not a very good saleswoman, you know that? No wonder business is not great," he deadpanned, a trace of humour in his voice making Gou laugh awkwardly.

"I know, sorry! Anyways, Haru-san. What do you do?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Just Haru is fine. I… do a lot of things," he had hesitated for a few seconds and that seemed like the best he could come up with to describe what he did for a living.

"Huh? Like what?" Gou asked, a bit intrigued by his response.

"Painting mostly," Haru responded instantly, looking a bit more comfortable than he had a few seconds ago. "Sometimes writing. Sometimes cooking. I like swimming too, and travelling."

Gou giggled as she realised the misunderstanding.

"I mean what do you do for a living?"

"Oh," responded Haru. "I guess, all of the above?"

Gou's puzzled expression lasted for a few seconds as if someone had pressed pause. Sighing audibly, Haru reached for his back pocket, pulling out a small presentation card.

The youngest Matsuoka took it with both hands as she glanced down at the name written in elegant calligraphy. She did a double take before glancing back at the man in front of her as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

"You - you're…" Her mouth was hanging wide open and before she could articulate another word, the sound of chimes called her attention towards the door where her brother and Sosuke had just walked in, soaked to the bone.

"I'm telling you man, Ai swears he saw Tanaka's car parked right outside that club!" Rin spoke loudly as he walked backwards into the bar, eyes never leaving his friends' as if breaking eye contact would end all possibilities of convincing him.

"Watch where you walk," Sosuke said a bit exasperated but evidently glad to be somewhere other than outside. "Hey Gou."

"Stop bossing me around you big tree. Hey Gou get us two b-" Rin immediately stopped talking as he turned around and saw that Gou wasn't the only one at the bar. "Oh, sorry. Good evening! Horrible day isn't it?" Rin waved at the stranger with an all-too-friendly smile that bared all his teeth as if he had known him all his life. "What's a good-looking chap like yourself doing alone at a bar at this hour? That's just looking for trouble," he teased with a wink, making Haru's eyes widen and shoulders tense.

Gou and Sosuke exchanged looks and the latter rolled his eyes at her motioning towards her brother, silently letting her know that he was in one of those moods. During their ride back to the bar, Sosuke had confessed that he also thought Tanaka was hiding something, but he urged Rin to stop playing detective and let him do his job. Rin was immensely cheered up by his best friend's admission and had spent the rest of the ride home telling him every little piece of information he had gathered since his father's death. Soskue already knew everything by heart.

"Your brother is insane," Sosuke spoke directly at Gou while Rin turned to him and flipped him off. The one big downside of having to submit Rin by force was the adrenaline rush that always followed.

"Lend me a shirt," Sosuke spoke, and it sounded more like an order as he didn't even wait for Rin to reply before he made his way to the back of the bar and upstairs where the Matsuokas' rooms were.

"Get me one?" Rin yelled back as he took a seat by the bar, not even bothered by how drenched his clothes were. It was at that moment that he noticed the drink set before the stranger. "Whoa!" he pointed at it, his smile growing impossibly wide. "You ordered the Cherry B!" he beamed, eyeing him up and down before scooting two chairs closer to the handsome stranger who looked at him like he was mad.

"I invented that," he beamed proudly, pointing his own thumb towards him. "Hey you little runt, where's my drink?" Rin teased his sister playfully, who hadn't uttered a word since they had walked in.

She huffed indignantly and turned on her heels.

"Get it yourself!" she responded, suddenly remembering the fact that she was actually furious at her brother before storming off behind Sosuke.

Rin let out a bark-like chuckle, slapped the bar a couple of times playfully before getting up and walking behind the counter.

"Sisters," he almost chanted while picking up two giant jugs and filling them up to the brim, never really taking his eyes off Haru.

Haru looked from the redhead to the door where the other two had disappeared looking slightly horrified to be left alone with someone who had been diagnosed insane only a couple minutes before. At loss for what to do, he picked up his half empty pink drink and gulped it down in one go, shivering as the alcohol attacked his palate.

The redhead who had been openly staring at the stranger let out another chuckle before turning to the sound system and plugging his phone to the speakers. An upbeat tune instantly started playing as Rin swayed his hips to the music.

"So," the barman spoke, gesturing to the empty martini glass with a nod. "How'd you like it?"

Haru looked slightly appalled at his own behaviour, glancing at the empty glass as if it had offended him.

"Oh," Rin chanted, used to getting the same reaction from anyone who ordered his drink, "guess you don't have an eye for beauty either, huh?"

At this, Haru's shoulders tensed and he sat up like a spring, looking as if someone had slapped him.

"Wh-"

"Tell you what, the drink's on me. And the next one as well," he said as he gracefully waved an arm towards the counters lined with bottles behind him. "As a thank you for picking my drink," he winked at him playfully and Haru realised his hands hurt as he turned down and saw his knuckles had turned white from grabbing at his jeans. He looked up at the redhead whose smile hadn't shrunk in the slightest before pointedly looking away towards the window trying to see if it had stopped raining so he could run away from this mad person.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Rin's voice brought Haru back from his thoughts and his eyes locked for a moment.

"No," he deadpanned, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.

"Do you drink much?" he added flirtatiously.

"No," he replied.

Rin looked slightly disappointed for a second before hand flew to his chin, exaggerating a thinking position for a few seconds while humming.

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Blue," Haru found himself replying almost instantly, apparently unable to take his eyes off the now officially strangest person he'd ever met.

Rin nodded appreciatively, eyes only slightly narrowed as he stared at his customer.

"What's your name?" the redhead asked as he placed both arms on the counter and inched closer to the stranger who instantly flinched back.

"H-Haru," he responded.

"Haru, I like you," declared Rin while straightening back up and slapping himself on the chest a couple of times to the rhythm of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, not noticing how Haru's face lit up like a neon sign. "But you really need to relax."

If Haru had looked surprised before, he now looked positively flabbergasted. He stared silently at the crazy person before him who danced and sang along the song as he skilfully juggled bottles before pouring liquor into a shaker, drops of water sprinkling everywhere as he twirled, then juggling said shaker with a shit-eating grin on his face before pouring a clear-blue liquid into a frosted martini glass.

"Here," the redhead said as he pushed the glass towards Haru. "The Chat Me Up," he added with a wink.

Haru's eyes grew impossibly large as the drink was offered to him. Before him stood the strangest, by far the strangest person he had ever met and he couldn't tell if he was uncomfortable or really uncomfortable. He glanced at the drink before him, blue and sparkling like the clearest ocean during the hottest summer day, then back up to the man before him with his dripping hair and shirt stuck to his body as if he had gone swimming with his clothes on, then back down to the clear looking liquid the colour of bluest blue, then back up to the maniac with the reddest eyes and widest smile he had ever seen and then he realised he had never felt more uncomfortable in his entire life. Without thinking about what he was doing, he stood up almost mechanically, grabbed his hoodie and walked out of the bar as fast as he could, rain be damned.

Rin watched him go in disappointment without uttering a word, wondering if he had gone too far.

"Rin Matsuoka, where is my customer?!" Gou's shrill scream made Rin almost jump out of his skin. He turned around to find his sister, arms crossed in a manner their mother would have been proud, standing by the door that led to their rooms. He rolled his eyes at her as he began wiping the counter.

"Nothing," he chanted back.

At that exact second Sosuke appeared behind Gou wearing one of Rin's larger muscle shirts.

"Oh shit, why, why did you leave him alone with a customer?" Sosuke asked as he smacked himself on the forehead and walked towards his untouched jug of beer. He took a swig and joined Gou behind the bar as Rin took the seat that Haru had vacated.

"Where the hell did you two go off to anyway?" Rin interrupted before anyone else spoke, taking a swig of his own jug.

"Sosuke here was just telling me all about your latest adventure!" Gou replied reproachfully. "Did he at least pay for his first drink?" she asked, taking over the task of wiping the counter.

"Nah, drink's on me," he replied. "That's what happens when someone doesn't like the Cherry B after all, huh?"

"For your information, stupid face, he loved it!" Gou deadpanned and both Rin and Sosuke almost spilled their drinks at the news.

"You're kidding!" Sosuke said incredulously after recovering from a small cough fit.

Gou looked incredibly pleased as she shook her head.

"Loved it," she repeated. "He said it was beautiful and… and… " she stopped talking as her features took on a dreamy expression. Sosuke and Rin exchanged a look before Gou's shrill scream effectively scared the living shit out of the two friends.

"What the fuck, Gou!" Rin yelled, covering his ears.

"Do you bleeding idiots realise who that was?!" she screamed.

"No," both friends replied in the most obvious tone they could muster.

"That right there was Haruka Nanase!" she replied, taking out Haru's name card from her pocket and slapping it over the counter as if that ended all discussion.

Rin looked even more confused than before and turned to his friend only to find him knitting his eyebrows, evidently having heard the name before.

"Haruka Nanase, as in… the Haruka Nanase?" asked Sosuke.

"Duh!" replied Gou as she waved her arms about, instantly covering her eyes with her hand. "And we left Rin alone with him, oh my God!"

"Hey! I resent that!" responded Rin slightly outraged, "who the hell is Haruka Nanase anyway?"

Both Gou and Sosuke looked at him as if he was a talking fish.

"Haruka Nanase, the olympic medallist?" Gou asked, outraged by her brother's lack of general culture. "The painter? The philanthropist? The women's rights advocate?"

"I heard he's also the youngest person to fly around the world in his jet? He wrote a book about it man, come on," Sosuke added exasperated. "He's fucking Forrest Gump, haven't you heard of him?"

"No," Rin replied, his smile growing wider by the second. "But you seem to have heard of him, by the looks of it," he added hopefully. "Personally, there's only one thing I need to know about him."

"And what would that be?" asked Gou rather acidly.

"Is he gay?" asked the redhead.

"YES!" both Gou and Sosuke replied at the same time looking both exasperated and incredulous at Rin's ignorance.

"Well then," Rin said as he pocketed Haru's name card, pulled up the abandoned blue drink and took a small sip. "That's all I needed to know," he added before standing up, drink in hand, and headed upstairs. "Happy cleaning!" he yelled before closing the door behind him.

Sosuke and Gou looked at each other, completely at loss for words.

"Hah," Sosuke chuckled and Gou glared at him with the fury of a thousand suns. The policeman shrugged as he finished off his beer. "At least that'll take his mind off Tanaka."

"Why couldn't I have a sister?" Gou added regretfully almost to herself.

"Alright, this room isn't going to clean itself. Let's go," replied Sosuke as he began gathering the empty glasses, readying himself to pull another all-nighter.