Mei was glad that there were no more requests for her regarding the river spirit. The headache didn’t last for longer than about fifteen seconds, and that was while she was near the river. No more strange things happened so she was glad. Finally she could be at peace within her mind, that she was grateful for. She was helping around in her house that day, her mom had told her to water the vegetables and get some things she needed from the market. So Mei set out to the market with some money and got all the things she was told to get, checking off each item on her little shopping list as she got them. It was a small list, so she was done in no time. However, the request board was on her way back, so she decided to take a look and of course, there was a job that interested her. She picked up the request sheet and headed back home. She read it on the way, and this time it wasn’t as strange and mysterious as the river spirit jobs. All she had to do was keep someone out of the bar. And that someone was no other than Mitya, one of the local bar owners whom she had taken a request from one to take care of his mother.

Once she got home, she dropped off the stuff she had bought, announcing her return to her mom who was making food. She read through the details once again while she snacked on some cookies. Her mother didn’t seem to need her help anymore, so she would leave in a while. She took a shower and dressed in a pretty casual outfit, leaving the house at about five in the evening. People usually went to bars in the evening, so she assumed this was the best time.

Enil was at the bar when she arrived. She recognized him because she had been to this bar before with her friends. A lot of things happened, most of them being embarrassing things she wasn’t very proud to share. After all, everyone did stupid things when they were drunk. Mei wasn’t the type to drink or go to bars but since her friends insisted a few times, those were the only times she would go, just to please her friends. She wouldn’t step into a bar otherwise. Well, maybe the only exception would be for requests such as now. As soon as she spotted Enil, she rushed to him, pointing at the request paper in her hand and saying, “I’m here for this,” with a smile. Enil raised an eyebrow before noticing what was written on the paper. He nodded at her and said good luck to her as if he knew what she was going to deal with. She wondered how troublesome Mitya was. The last time she met him he was probably hungover and didn’t even have the energy to talk much to her about the job.

Mei took a seat at the bar, telling the bartender why she was here and that she wasn’t drinking tonight. He seemed confused at first but decided to ignore her and let her occupy one of the stools. The other men who arrived later gave her some looks but she ignored them. She knew men were perverts and there was no way to prevent that so she just chose to ignore when men stared at her, and give them glares if she met eye to eye with them. The men later realised she wasn’t here for any of that, so they returned to their drinking, conversing with each other. Mei tapped the wood of the bar as she waited patiently. She didn’t want to be here for any longer but she would have to tolerate all the cigarette smoke and everything until her job was done.

Soon, a familiar face entered the establishment, looking at everything with a displeased look and everyone with an unimpressed expression. It was Mitya, the other bar owner. He was probably jealous of Enil. Maybe Enil was making more money that he was. Mei didn’t know for sure, however, since she wasn’t interested in this bar business. She didn’t care enough to find out, she wasn’t concerned.

“Give me something to drink,” she told the bartender immediately. It would be too awkward if she just sat there with her eyes stalking Mitya. She had to act natural and probably drink some alcohol so that she didn’t look so out of place. The bartender gave her a confused look but then shrugged and mixed a drink for her. Hopefully it wasn’t too strong. Mei turned to face the bar, picking up her and glass and sniffing it to check if there was too much alcohol. She couldn’t get drunk from a few sips, so she took some and then turned back. Mitya was coming to sit at the bar as well. He probably didn’t recognize her as he probably met a lot of people everyday. The closer he got to the bar, the louder she could hear that he was grumbling about something. He told the bartender to mix a heavy drink for him, which she thought was going to be a problem, but she would only watch for now.

After a while, she noticed that Mitya was downing these glasses like they were water. It was going to get pretty annoying soon, she imagined. She only took a few sips, not even getting to half her glass yet while Mitya had drunk like five glasses already. Not too long afterwards he started to get rowdy. “Oh god,” she muttered under her breath so he didn’t hear, which he didn’t. The moment he stood up and started yelling some bullpoop, Mei got up as well, saying some things to make him stop, telling him this was a public place and that he needed to keep it down. Mitya picked up a bar stool and placed it on the bar, which Mei grabbed and placed it back on the floor. “Listen, I’m going to need you to calm down,” she tried to say, but was ignored by Mitya completely. That was it. She needed to take some kind of action, so she grabbed him by the arm, fishing for some notes and slapping them on the bar. She made some kind of message through eye contact with the bartender so that he understood she was going to take those jewels back.

She took Mitya out of the bar, who didn’t put up much of a fight since he was hella drunk at the moment. Once they were outside, she stopped, holding him so that he was facing her. He was taller and larger than her, but she managed to hold him up. “Listen, Mitya. I know where you live, I know you have an old mother. You don’t want her to get hurt,” she said. That was a threat, but Mei felt like that’s what she needed to say to keep him out, although Mitya just gave her a dismissive wave and left. She was pretty much left hanging. Mei shrugged and went back in to collect her reward.