People passed by the Hanaka Nippon tea gallery, trying to get out of the cold. Katsuro showed no surprise as he watched out the window on this particular Monday, for it was January. A well-dressed young man walked up and stared at the “open” sign hanging in the door. “You have to push to come in,” Katsuro smirked to himself. After a minute of indecision, the man entered. “I don’t have coffee.” Katsuro smiled.
The man stared, a look of surprise on his face. His mouth opened as if to spit out words, but they just didn’t come, so he closed it again. Katsuro rolled his eyes. “Yes, I have a London accent, I grew up there, now do you want something, or are you just trying to get out of the cold?”
The man blinked several times, and coughed. “I’m sorry, yes. I would like,” he paused to gaze at the menu, “a cinnamon apple herb infusion.” The man smiled, a smug smile as if his choice should’ve impressed the proprietor.
Katsuro smiled back, a sarcastic smile, as if to say he couldn’t care less what the man ordered. “That’ll be two-fifty-three.”
The man paid and sat at a table in the corner, sipping his hot tea and smiling to himself. “How long have you worked here?” The man asked after a couple minutes.
“Since it opened six months ago. I own the place.” Katsuro flipped through the pages of a tea catalogue.
The man pulled out a newspaper. Katsuro checked his watch, 4:30. Suddenly, James burst through the door. “Man it’s cold out there!” James pulled off his gloves. “Katsuro, man, there’s gonna be an awesome DJ down at the Azure Serpent tonight. You comin’?”
“Only if you’re not.” Katsuro replied, sounding serious.
James just laughed and ordered a white tea. James was a student at CU Flatiron, but Katsuro knew him from the club. They got along well, mostly because they understood each other’s sense of humor. After James left, Katsuro decided to close up.
Back at his condo, he put together a meal of leftover Steak and Kidney Pie and “Salad Fixin’s”. Donning a flashy silk shirt and nice black slacks, Katsuro left for the club. He knew the DJ, Transient Sage, and he wanted to show off his lifestyle a bit.
Normally, the Azure Serpent didn’t bring in live music; they opened as a club to socialize on an intellectual level, so they only played background music. The patrons loved the concept, especially Katsuro. However, this kept most of the students away, since they only wanted to get laid, and deep conversation greatly eliminates most of their chances. As it turned out, most students didn’t like Transient Sage either, which is why the A.S. decided to bring her in. Most of her music consisted of Classical symphonies mixed over D&B, Jungle, Trance, Chillout and House beats.
Katsuro looked around the club as he walked in; James sat in a booth with a couple French girls from campus, Transient was bobbing her head to “Brahms Lullaby”, and a great deal of young rich people from the upper levels gazed down from the balcony at the “normal folk” dancing to the Sage’s genius. Katsuro closed his eyes for a moment, drinking in the ecstasy flowing from the sound system.
A moment later, he walked over to the bar. “Oi!”
Leon, the bartender, turned around and smiled. “What’s up, Cool Kat?” Leon thought he was a beat-nick, he also thought punning Katsuro’s name was clever. Katsuro agreed, most of the time.
“Get me a pint of Stout,” Cool Kat said. “And send a warm sake over to the DJ.”
“Sure thing, man,” Leon winked. “She’s been gettin’ drinks since eight, though.”
Cool Kat looked at his watch; 9:30. “What have they been sending her?”
“Martini’s or beer.”
Katsuro grinned. “Transient will know who sent it, and she’ll drink it too.” Grabbing his pint, Katsuro slowly made his way over to James’ booth. Mozart’s “Divertimento in D Major” eased over the room over a light House mix.
“Hey Katsuro, you made it!” James motioned the girls over to make room for Katsuro. “You remember Tiff and Shelly?”
Katsuro nodded. “You’re French right?” He asked, not expecting an answer. In the underground lake atmosphere of the club, they almost looked attractive, but he’d met them in his shop once and found them quite ugly.
Tiff and Shelly started prattling to James in French, leaving Katsuro to his thoughts. After twenty minutes, Shelly, a prissy little blonde-haired person, said she wanted to dance. Tiff echoed the desire and they scooted out of the booth.
James said he’d join them in a minute. “Are you okay?” he asked Katsuro.
Katsuro opened one eye and glared at James. “Jimmy, if you don’t get rid of them, I’ll make them leave.”
The smile faded from Jimmy’s face. “I just thought-”
“I don’t care what you thought. They’re ugly, ignorant, and arrogant. And they won’t shut up!”
“They like the DJ,” Jimmy argued. “And they’re not ignorant; they just don’t share the same interests you do.”
Katsuro closed his eye again. “Just get rid of ‘em. They’re pissing me off.”
“Fine.” James got up and walked down to the dance floor.
Less than two minutes later, the music stopped and a silvery English voice came over the PA, “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out tonight, I’m gonna take a short break, but the show will continue in about thirty minutes.”
Katsuro sipped his Stout, sitting up as the DJ walked up to his table and sat down.
“Katsuro Hanaka, you rich debacle. What are you doing here?”
“It’s nice to see you too, Rachel.” Katsuro grinned.
“Katsu, wow. Only you would send me warm sake! You living here now?”
Katsuro nodded as he swallowed. “I own a tea shop on the top level pavilion. Music thing treatin’ you well?”
“Yeah, I make a decent living. I toured Europe for almost a year, and I spent the last year and a half flying between clubs in New York and L.A. I heard about this place from an art student. Sounded like my kind of place so I called the owner.”
“You in town long?” Katsuro asked.
“Actually, the owner of the club is letting me stay in the apartment in the back. He’s paying me to play for the house once a week. I’ll keep the gig until I get restless. Sales are doing well so I can afford to stick around.” Rachel sipped her drink. “So, how long have you been here?”
“’Bout a year. When I left Tokyo, I decided to check out the tower cities here in the states. I liked it here so much; I bought a penthouse in Mountain-View West.”
They sat and talked for a few more minutes, and just as Rachel got up to return to her stage, James returned to the table. “I got rid of the girls,” he glared at Katsuro.
Katsuro chuckled. “You did us all a favor.” He motioned to the DJ, “This is Rachel, a friend of mine from London.”
James shook Rachel’s hand and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
Rachel returned to work, promising to catch up with Katsuro after the club closed. James and Katsuro sat at their booth enjoying the music and the fine beer on tap.
