STACK UP
@prnatsume
on any other weekend, establishments like these are swarming with customers. they’ve got the seasoned veterans: old men with leathery skin, loose coats and a keen sixth sense. boring lot, but good for business. then there are the yuppies, twenty-somethings strutting around in packs like they own the place. sore losers. still good for business. maybe even better, if they’ve got loose change rolling around in their pockets by the fistful.
dad’s taught them the fine art of observation. small details are just as part of the big picture, like the amount of hair gel slicked through crop-cut hair, or the brand of perfume clinging to fresh-pressed linen. indicators of class, age, bad habits and good. all it takes is one look, he’d say. just one look for you to start assembling the pieces. know thy enemy, or however it goes. proverbs aren’t exactly her thing.
sebin ambles in at noon. by then, most of the tables are completely occupied. only a couple empty singles remain. a quick scan of the crowd eliminates all but one spot in the back, just across from the king himself. she drifts over, a self-effacing smile in place. not a drop of familiarity in sight- natsume who? “’xcuse me- this spot taken?”