Starting a Night Shift Part-time Job at a Convenience Store.

I didinot know where to cast my eyes and looked toward theiback room.

As usual, Ayame was puffing on my SeveniStar. How long was she planning to keep doing that? Enough, please let your daughter come out. That was my earnest thought. That being said, if I kept eyeing her, I was afraidishe would glare back at me, so I heaved a sigh and shifted my gaze back to the store.

The whole store, with its orderly display shelves, clean, freshly mopped floors, brilliantly glowing fluorescent lights, and a hideous woman clinging to the front of the magazine section, was reigned with silence. It was theisame old scene.

For me, this was everyday life, as I had grown familiar by now with the surroundings, evenithough extraordinary elements were thrown into the mix.

Perhaps I had giveniup, but the woman sticking around, the occasional transparent human being, the human body parts such as legs and heads, and even something I couldn’t even distinguish as a human being made me jump up and down at first, though lately I have gotten adjusted to it, albeit onlyia little. And now, my reaction was like, “Oh… here it comes again.”

Although I had been constantly denying this ability, itiwouldn’t have mattered if I had resisted. In fact, I have reached the point where I was amazed at how open I was to the idea that anything would happen.

Even so, the feeling of fear was still present, but I thoughtithat in time, I might not even be afraid anymore. Humans were creatures that adapted to their environment.

Good grief. Either my brain wasn’t getting enough nutrients becauseiI ate only somen noodles like a fool on a daily cycle or my brain rotted away ahead of my body. The things I perceived in my vision no longer felt fresh. Perhaps I didn’t have nerves of steel but I felt dry overall. Tension in the summer heat was tremendous, huh? It madeime not care about various things.

The woman, on the other hand, after having walked around the store for a while, started to stand in front of the display shelf at the end of the store.

Ballpoint pens and markers, brown envelopes, A4-size loose‐leaf notebook, paper clips, liquid glue, scissors and notepads. The kind of little miscellaneous items that were always sold in every convenience store.

The woman who had grabbed a pastry or bread without hesitation earlier and dropped it into the basket somehow exhibited a sign of hesitancy for the first time there and gazed at the miscellaneous items on the display shelves.

“…”

She then took a ballpoint pen and a loose-leaf notebook, set them aside, picked them up once more, and set them down back in the same place. It was kind of like she was truly wondering whether to purchase the product rather than checking the name and price of the item.

On top of that… I felt like she was awfully fidgety. How should I put it?

Something was out of tune.

Shouldn’t she just be looking at it without picking it up if she was confused?

Were there people like that?

After putting the loose-leaf notebook in the basket, she continued to take a ballpoint pen and an envelope down.

Oh, she put the envelope back on the shelf again.

The ballpoint pen was picked up from the basket this time and she was about to put it back, but whatever she was thinking, she dropped it back into the basket again.

Instead of fidgeting, she was behaving extremely suspiciously. What was all this about?

While I was observing her with mild discomfort… our eyes accidentally made contact again.

Before I could even shift my eyeballs upward, she swiftly turned her head away, grasped the basket, and turned her feet toward the magazine section as if nothing had happened.

No matter how I looked at it, that was too unnatural. What the hell was with this customer?

Picking up a magazine, she hunched over and stared at the pages as if she were devouring them. I feigned not to be watching her while I applied all the observation skills I had honed at this convenience store and pinpointed her out of the corner of my eye.

Oh… It was obvious that she was looking at the magazine while paying attention to me. I see… I get it.

In short, she didn’t want to be seen. About what she put in her basket.

Grinning inwardly, I deliberately turned around and began to tidy up the not-too-disorganized display of cigarettes.

Well, that should do it. No complaints about this, right? 

I restocked the shelves with new boxes of cigarettes as if to demonstrate this with my back. On that display shelf, not only miscellaneous goods but daily commodities were placed as well. Things for women and condoms. Even things that were a little embarrassing to be seen were on display.

While I wasn’t sure about the latter, I assumed it would be the former. At this time of the day, pharmacies were of course closed, leaving the convenience stores as the only place available for purchase. She was the only customer, and at the counter was a blonde staff member with a dull look on his face.

She was still a young girl. While sensing that the staff was watching her, she didn’t have the courage to put those items in her own basket. The huge amount of sweets and pastries might be a camouflage at least. In any event, that was what all this was about.

Such people like this existed. Women who hesitantly purchase while being self-conscious of the male staff.

But you know what… Regardless of how much they tried to cover it up, the cashier would see it when they brought it to the cash register in any case!

Don’t futilely resist, at any rate, I didn’t think anything of it. I could understand how you feel, though.

But it was kind of hurtful, I felt like I might be regarded as a beast or something. I wondered if Takenaka wouldn’t feel this way.

The sound of heels echoed softly then. Apparently, she confirmed that I didn’t turn around and went back to that place again.

In spite of my appearance, I have learned to be more attentive to girls than I was in high school. I have prepared a bag that was not transparent from the outside, so please feel free to browse as much as you like.

While thinking about this, I was refilling cigarettes and taking out the burnt residue from the fryer and so on, and I heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

Sure enough, I turned around and was struck by the sight of the young female office worker looking at me as she placed a basket full of products on the counter. Without uttering a word, she drew her purse out of her bag, her mouth agape with displeasure. She was probably trying to tell me not to stare at her. I know, I know, and that was my fault too.

Apologizing in my mind, I proceeded to scan the bar code of the large number of items I was looking at, as usual. Twelve loaves of bread and seventeen sweets.

Wow… Convenience stores didn’t have refrigerants, but she was a daring customer, buying so many products in the midst of summer, the cream would soon be spoiled.

From there, five sweet-looking packaged drinks were present… and then.

“Miscellaneous goods…”

A loose‐leaf notebook, brown envelopes, and ballpoint pens were buried in the bread and hidden at the bottom. When I moved them out of the basket, I found something that had been hidden even deeper down, bringing my hands to a halt.

“…”Translator: MadHatter

What was left in the basket was a woodworking utility knife.

And another thing.

Not… women’s daily necessities.

A roll of vinyl strings for packing. Vinyl… strings…

I raised my head and looked at the woman.

Swollen eyelids and dark circles under her eyes. Her cheeks were hollowed out and her complexion was not particularly good. Or rather, her complexion was poor. She was overall emaciated.

The woman’s face was so listless that I thought so at first glance. The events of a few days ago flashed back to me.

Vinyl strings and scissorー

The middle-aged man with tears streaking down his face.

A tingle seared deep in my chest.

No way…

This person…