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

“H-Hello…”21eqsw

“Y-Yeah.”21wqs

“Leisurelyias ever, isn’t it? Hahaha…”

“W-Well… it’s lateiat night so yeah…”

Iicould tell byithe atmosphere.e2q

Forisure, Takenaka likewise caught a glimpseiof that hellscape.

Furthermore, it was sold, I couldn’t even joke about it.

Theitwoiof us were so uncomfortable that ourieyes were darting from one to the other as weiconversed.

“…What’s theimatter, dressed like that at this hour?”

“Oh, ah, um.”

Rightioff the bat, I wasiasked the thing I least wanted to be questioned about.

Of course, Iicouldn’t say, “Yes, Iiam on my way to the sea of trees over there.”

Notigood, I hadito concoct some kind of convenient lie.

“M-My younger sister suddenly said she wanted to watch fireworks.”

“…And you are here for that?”

Ohino. Takenaka and my local area were fairly close. If I wanted to buy something, I could normally just go to the convenience store in front of theistation.

Idiotiof me. Tell aibetter lie!

“I amigoing for a walk… to feel the wind…”

Whatiwasiwithithat catchphrase?

“Iisee.”e2sw

Heigoticonvinced!

Thankigoodnessihe was straightforward.

Iiwasirelieved.

Having finished myiexchange with Takenaka simply, Iiwent to the cashier with batteries and a flashlight.

Receivingithem, Hirai carefully putithem in a bag.

“Hakamada? Howiunusual for you, even though it’s youriday off. Areiyou going somewhere now?”

Ugh, stop it, don’tiaskime that. My faceiwould scrunch up.

Eveniso, I tried to maintain my composure and spoke as I normally would.

“Iiam going to go see fireworks later. My sister wants to watch fireworks, she’s so fussy.”

“Heh, atithis time of night?”

“Yeah, atithis time of the night, she’s an active little sister of mine.”

“Hmm. I see. It’s tough, isn’t it? Yeah, yeah!”

Iiwondered what she was going to say to me this time, and then she blurted out something outrageous.

“You see! It’s sold out! All the readers were so thrilled with it! They even asked me to do a sequel! The next one will be much thicker, so I’m working on the name now, without changing the model, of course!”

Foriheaven’s sake.

“Hirai. I begiyou, please stop mass-producing that kind of thing.”

“Ohino, the late-night convenience store is a new genre, so it was rather well-received!”

“Like I said, stop it!”

Ah, foriGod’s sake, this person. Wasishe going to shamelessly release that kind of thing to the world again? Please change the model at least, I begiyou.

When I leaned over the counter to protest to Hirai, she abruptly and roughly grasped me by the chest. Hirai, who was wearing a fearless smile, was a complete change fromibefore.

“Hey, newcomer. I won’t dig too deep, but tonight you are possessed by a nasty thing.”

“H-Hirai…―”

Soiitiwas Hirai (Mother)…!

Whenididitheyiswitch?

“Howidoiyouiknow…”

“Don’tiunderestimate me. Thatimuch I can tell from the presence. Well, it looks like he’s not dead yet. There is another person outsideithe convenience store who seems to have the same condition as I do. He may be concealing himself but I can see him. What, is heiyour acquaintance?”

“Well… something likeithat.”

“Isithatiso? Heh.”

Ayameispokeiin a whispering voice so that Takenaka would not notice. Myivoice lowered to a whisper to match hers.

“Whatever youido is up to you but unfortunately I can’t help you tonight like I didithe other night.”

“Iiknow… Iididn’t come here to ask for your help.”

“Hmph, doiyour best, huh? Justiso you know, if you venture into those guys’ territory with any sort of light-heartedness, you’re not going to walk off with a freeipass.”

“Isithat a threat…?”

“A warning, idiot.” Translator: MadHatter

You could tell what I was going to do huh.

Sheitold me something horrifying. Yet, she showed no signs of desperate attempts to stop me. Perhaps she didn’t care about anyone butiher daughter. Nevertheless, Iiwondered if her warning me could be taken as kindness.

“Um, areiyouigoing to tell Hirai and Takenaka about this?”

“Iiwon’t divulge it, because if they hear something like that, they’ll do everything they can to stop you.”

“Thank you…”

“Haha, if youimake it back here alive, I will acknowledge you a little bit. The sea of trees will engulf your screams, and you will regret your choiceiimmensely… Seeiyou later.”

Thatiwasiprobably another warning and Ayame was gone shortly after.

“Hakamada.”

As I strode briskly out of the convenience store, Takenaka halted me just as I was leaving the entrance. Though he was not particularly expressive, I noticed that he was looking somewhat depressed.

“Are you really going to go and see fireworks with your sister now?”

“What?”Not shared on aggregator sites

“Are you about to embroil yourself in something perilous…”

“No, Takenaka. I don’t follow what you are saying.”

Squashing my conscience, I blurted it out to the utmost.

Takenaka eyed me with his characteristic stare, a touch of anxiety in it. This person often watched out for me in this way. I wondered why he was so concerned about me every now and then.

“Please don’t worry, everything’s fine.”

“Excuse me…”

“Oh, no, please don’t apologize.”

If anything, I wanted to apologize to him.

“I just kind of thought so… then take care.”

With a complicated look on his face, Takenaka went back inside the store. After making sure he was back in the store, I promptly went around to the back of the store and drew a deep breath.

I was nervous…

Ah…

Takenaka, you were not mistaken in any way, it was me who was stupid…

Sorry, really.

“―Are you ready, Sonny?”

Not even giving me time to sigh, Yakumo Akane appeared in a pose with hands propped up against the wall. This bastard, every time he did this, he should have a milder way of making an entrance.

“Shh, don’t let out a big voice, the sonny from earlier will come back.”

“A-Ah… yeah.”

“Whew, this place is truly bad for my heart.”

Fool, you didn’t have a heart now, you know.

The person who uttered the ghoulish remark was somehow extremely restless and slightly queasy.

“What are you being impatient for?”

“Of course, I am impatient because there are two seriously dangerous entities here…!”

“What’s that? Are you talking about Takenaka and Hirai?”

When asked, Yakumo shook his head repeatedly.

“To be honest, I am referring to the entities that are possessing them… Before I went to you for help, I was searching for someone else in this convenience store who might be able to help me, but the two of them are regularly attached to entities that would certainly land me in deep trouble before I could even talk to them. I couldn’t get close to them at all… The large sonny looked like he was going to slay me straight away. That voluptuous lady… gave me the most dangerous feeling I’ve ever had, I felt like if I got even a little bit close to her, she would twist my soul up in half.”

Voluptous lady…?

That remark alone probably won’t twist your soul.

“Now…”

The time was past 1:30 a.m. Midnight was just around the corner.

That was when spirits were most likely to emerge. As for me, I would like toisearch after the sun rose, but a whole day had already elapsed, and if I didn’t hurry, things would turn ugly. I doubted that Yakumo’s body, whichiwas now exhibiting remarkable vigor, would last until the morning.

Itiwas inevitable. While I cowered in fear of what would ensue should someone like me step into the source of the intense psychic magnetic field, I was even more terrified of abandoning this man and incurring his grudge. Letime show my guts here.

Iiwasialready determined.

“Let’s go.”dexw

“Yeah.”2wq