LIQUIDATE: Chapter 2

Gohan Kaiso, a sushi restaurant franchise owned by Nestle, is his latest go-to whenever he feels content in today’s work. When he is still able to keep up his rent. Today is such a day.

Two bowls of miso soup, a bowl of rice and tori karaage are served on the table, followed by a cold jar of sencha delivered by your kawaii waitress, Meko-chan. A chrome feline on wheels based on the Sphynx breed, its precise coordination and speed compensates its limit of carrying only one tray on its back. Its jaw and tail are capable of additional, yet smaller capacity. Three chrome, small prongs are grouped together at the tip of Meko- chan’s tail.

Bowing towards the kitty waiter, Lad picks up a black spoon and digs into his first miso soup, washing portions of seaweed down with his sencha. When the bowl is nearly empty, he is about to go for his second bowl when he is suddenly aware of a white mass appearing at his side.

From where he sits, the entrance is behind him and to his right is the revolving sushi belt. The left is his only exit, now obscured by the mass.

Lad feels his body jolt when he recognizes the set of suit and pants. The same designer wardrobe that berated his tardiness three months ago. While looking up to the face, a pale skinned slender hand is sliding his second bowl of miso towards the opposite bench.

“Good evening, Lad,” says White. “I see you are enjoying Japanese tonight. Mind if I cut in?”

Lad’s lips remained shut as his eyes follow her motions. She sits opposite him, sets her metal briefcase on the bench and helps herself with his miso soup, eyes fixed upon his gaze.

“It’s rude to stare, Lad. Say something.” Lad shakes his head.

“No…I am, erm, just surprised to see you here of all places. Is there business here, madam?”

“No. I have decided Gohan Kaiso as my dinner,” White answers with a smirk.

Lad looks at the entrance while White briefly glances at the table’s holographic menu, clicking her tongue as she scans the latest promotions that offer two free sushis for every order from a certain menu of meal sets.

“Done,” says White as she confirms her order.

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The table welcomes new dishes and another cup of sencha. More rice. An unagi eel coated with soy sauce. Two pairs of chuka idako gunkan. Another miso. A chawanmushi.

Both White and Lad go through their respective meals while she begins her icebreaker by grilling questions about his taste for Japanese cuisine.

“When did you start eating Nippon, Lad?”

“Since I was a kid. My first dish was tori karaage and a bowl of miso.” “How was your first taste?”

Lad shrugs, his lips restrained from smiling, “Magical? It felt wonderful. Came back to the same place whenever I could afford it.”

His attention falls onto White’s face, body leaning against the bench while he sups his cold sencha. “What about ma’am? What was it like?”

“Same as you,” she answers. “Got addicted to them. Can’t blame myself, they are so good that I’d buy off Gohan Kaiso just to have all the Japanese shit I want for every meal.”

She lets out a snort and shakes her head with a tiny laugh, then gulps down her own sencha. The second she sets it down on the table, her red eyes stare through Lad’s. Any attempts to restrain his smile is now gone. He doesn’t need to. With a rapid heartbeat, he breathes deeply as White opens her mouth.

“Let’s talk about your performance,” says White as she leans her chin on her knuckle. “Your KPI is noticeably improved. Sometimes, you are still edging, but not as much as you did three months ago.”

White circles her finger round the rim of her sencha’s cup, her eyes following it.

“Quit edging at all and maybe in two months, your full wages will be restored. Am I clear?”

Her eyes shoot back at Lad. He nods, gulping down the last of his drink and pouring another full cup with the sencha jar. Another gulp down.

“Still thirsty?” asks White.

Lad snaps back to attention as he hears her voice. Her suitcase is opened and she fishes out a black and red Maxis USB stick among her papers. She hands it to his direction as she explains, “I want you to check a recent MayCimb press release in the “News” folder. It addresses the Short Selling Crash Error in our MCTrade application. Do not tamper with other folders.”

Lad takes the stick into his thumb and index, examining it. Rectangular, the connector is covered. The black body is adorned with a contrasting, bright color. A familiar, glowing green squiggle. Lad looks up.

“What’s wrong with the press release?” He asks.

“Proofread the whole press,” White answers. “Any grammatical, spelling and punctuation mistakes must be rectified. Just edit them straight away and send it back to me tonight.

Understand?”

Lad nods and slips the stick deep into the pocket of his dress pants. The digital clock on the wall reads 8:15 pm, 50 minutes since he arrived here.

“Lad.”

Lad snaps back to attention, “Y…yeah?”

White opens her mouth but stops midway to fish out a fresh cigar from her pocket, lights the filler and blows a gentle cloud of smoke at Lad’s direction. While her lips hold its

head, she rests her chin on her palm and lays her red eyes upon his face.

Lad’s own pair dart away from her gaze, but in a second White commands, “Look at me.” His eyes comply. Blowing another smoke, she asks, “Why do you choose to work here?” Lad chews on the tender flesh of his lip, “Wasn’t my reason in my cover letter?”

“Yeah, no. I know it’s probably bullshit when you wrote “willing to learn as a new hire in the financial industry.” Still, you were fit enough for MayCimb to put you in the block.

And now…”

Lad turns around behind him and scans the background outside. Neon and holo advertisements floods the air, shoppers phase through palettes of imagery. New 9mm ammo, now integrated with heat-seeking capability. A public service announcement by Astro reminding the populace that AI-written applications will automatically be rejected and the candidates marked as “Dishonest” for every other megacorps to see. A pair of lips blowing a kiss to the viewer. Gift your soulmate with a Blazing Ruby. Only 250,000.

Lad is almost lost in the background’s scenery when he sniffs the billowing smoke and quickly snaps his head back to White’s gaze, her lips pouting while she continues to blow out smoke. He clears his throat.

“I wanted to be a writer. But it did not happen. Looked for alternatives. The rest is history.”

White raises one eyebrow.

“…I studied communication. Bachelor’s. Thought I can be a screenwriter. Copywriter.

Content writer. Then I graduated and tried to apply left and right. No responses. Get rejected. Said I lack sufficient experience apart from internships.”

Lad takes a deep breath, inhaling through his nose.

“No other options but to apply for any jobs that don’t sound…foreign to me. Science. Engineering. I avoided those stuff. Still took me a long time until I found a suitable one in MayCimb. Now…now I’m here.”

White blows out the last of her smoke and slowly shakes her head. She fishes out a silver ashtray and extinguishes her cigar inside, crushing it to flattened brown and ash. Lad stands up and takes the USB stick into his hand, but it is grabbed by White’s. “Sit down, Lad.”

“I have to go…”

“Sit down,” repeats White, staring up at him as her irises contract. Lad sits back down, his hand still in her grasp.

“We haven’t had dessert yet. And you will be paying,” she adds.

Lad frowns, gazing at her as she tugs and pinches the smooth skin of his cheek. “Smile, Lad. Have some ice cream.”

Her lips are formed to a small smirk as she lets go of his hand. Scan the menu. Two bowls of double scooped chocolate.