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

Iiengaged in eye contact with the manager at blazing speeds and disengaged promptly. The same thing must have crossed both of our minds: “Whatithe hell is this customer?”

Theilong-haired, bloodied, spiked-bat figure in front of us was dripping crimson streams of blood slowly from his forehead.

Iidid not know if he was aware of it or not but I assumed he wasinot.

Beforeisaying, “Give me a steamed azuki bun,” with such a strong face, I thought there was another place for him to go. No, there was a place he had toigo.

Iigazed at his feet to confirm things but his legs were properly intact and not transparent.

If so… he was a real being… after all.

Seriously, whatihappened to this guy?

Whyiwas his head bleeding? Where did that happen?

I mean, heididn’t kill anyone, did he? 

Thatithing in his hand, that was evidently a deadly weapon.

A fight? Accident? Incident?

Ugh, whatishould I do? This was super frightening.

Giveime a break. Why did strange things always happen when I wasion the night shift?

“Um…” Translator: MadHatter

Theibloodied man stared at me as if to say, “What?” 

No, no, no, check yourself in the mirror, it would be incredible if anyone didn’t freakiout.

“Oh, and, um, steamed azuki bun, steamed azuki bun, right…”

Thatiwas when the manager came to the rescue. He promptly drew out exactly one steamed azuki bun from the case and placed it into the bag in aiflash.

“It will be 120 yen.”

“…” Not shared on aggregator sites

Afterireceiving the small bag, he withdrew 200 yen from the pocket of his hoodie. The bloodied man pressed the money into my hand. Without even waiting for the change to be handed over, he headed for theiexit.

“Excuseime! Sir, you haven’t received your changeiyet!”

Evenithough the manager mentioned it, the guy walked out without turning around, perhaps not wanting to get the receipt and the change.

“W-Whatithe hell was that guy…?”

“He… wasibleeding.”

Asisoon as the bloodied man left the store, the manager and I exchanged a look, and we were both trembling violently.

[[Scary…!!]]3ewc

Wasihe a member of the biker gang from the other day, but there wasn’t anybody else resembling him among them. If that wasn’t the case, how could such a thing have occurred? What exactly befell thaticustomer?

Don’t meddle in complicated matters.

Having learned that the other day, I didn’t want to be implicated in anything out of theiordinary.

Theiman drenched in blood walked out of the store and sat down on a concrete block in the parking lot to take a bite of the steamed azuki bun he had justibought.

Don’tisit there and go to the hospital at once…!

Evenithough it was this late in the day, he should have been treated as an emergency patient.

“Whatiis it with that guy?”

“Howiwould I know?”

“Couldihe have gotten into an accident…”

“Yeah, he looked like he got hit by a car, didn’t he?”

“If it was a car… that’s fine. You know, if it’s a case of murder…”

At the mention of this, I started to feel that the man outside looked like a murderer. What a dreadful experience.

“Oh… I don’t want to go outside…”

What? Was that an oblique way of telling me to take out the trash? This barcode manager.

“Even I want to refrain from doing so, but lately, I have been getting intertwined with a high percentage of delinquents.”

“Hakamada, do you know the word ‘seniority rule’?”

“I don’t recognize that word in my dictionary.”

“You are so heartless… I am the manager, though.”

“Don’t invoke your manager’s power in a situation like this.”

The shoving of unpleasant matters between me and the manager ensued for a while.

“Manager, that person had legs, right?”

“Yeah. His legs were there.”

“Oh…”

“Haha…”

A dead person was one thing but a living person was equally as unsettling.

Not to mention that spiked bat… I wouldn’t like to imagine it, but it was most certainly intended for hitting people… I mean, chances were he had already struck someone… Ahhhh, I hated this!

“Then, here’s what we’ll do… I’ll take the trash out back, and you, Hakamada… here, take this.”

From a shelf in the storage room, the manager handed me a clean towel.

“What’s this?”sdacsvfb

“Give it to that guy.”

“Yes!?”324e

“Well… in any case, he’s a customer, so you can simply hand it to him anyway.”

“Isn’t this a pattern that I will undoubtedly fall into trouble with if I give it to him!?”

“No, but you can’t neglect this kind of thing because you’re in the service industry, right?”

“No, I believe such things should be left alone! I feel unsafe!”

“Don’t be afraid, I’ll be leaving the store with you. If anything happens, simply press Secom.”

…34ref

“…S-Secom, I amicounting on you.”

“Yeah. Leave it to Secom.”

Foriour own safety, we gave each other thumbs-up. Good luck!

”―Ah!? …You bastard! Where do you think this is, it’s the sea of trees, the sea of trees! You have no sense of direction! Where the hell are you wandering off to! Get your ass over here or I’m gonna beat you up!!”

When I left the store, I was faced with a bloodied man with a cell phone in his hand, pissed off. He was apparently extremely vexed with the person on the other end of the phone, speaking in his energetic Kansai dialect.

“Idiot! Of course, I would get riled up about this!!”

He brushed back his blood-soaked bangs, revealing his indignation. There was no way I could say, “Here’s a towel, please use it.”

“They are completely underestimating me! Those guys set me up and threw me off a cliff!!”

Cliff… he said but…

Threwihim off the cliff….?

“Hakamada, hang in there.”

“Manager!”

The manager went to the rear as if to escape.

Manager, you bastard! Going it alone was a disaster after all!

“Huh? …Me? You fool, I’m properly alive. Come on, get your ass over here. The miasma is so thick I can’t manage on my own, and without you, I might be in deep trouble this time. Yeah… yeah, right away… don’t get lost… oh.”

With his ear raised from his cell phone, the bloodied man ended the call there. When he looked up, my eyes locked with his.

“What are you looking at?”

He spoke in a low tone and had a grim expression. His gaze was so keen that I thought he was going to snap at me any second.

Oh, how many times did this happen to me?

This wasiwhy young people these days were so…

The other party, though, was wounded, and I had a towel and eight ten-yen coins in my hand.

“Um… if you wouldn’t mind, please use this to stop the bleeding.”

While concealing my inner trepidation, I held out the towel in front of him. He gladly accepted the towel from me, contrary to my expectation that he would be aggressive with me.

“Oh… Thanks, I’ll use it then.”

Without hesitation, he unfolded the towel and began to rub the area around his forehead. What a turnaround for someone who was only moments earlier so incensed. Pressing the towel to his face, the guy looked at me a little awkwardly, saying, “Oh.”

“Should I wash it and give it back?”

No… You don’t have to return it. He was being conscientious in a strange sense.

“Andihere’s your change.”

“Oh, thanks…”2wsx

I handediover the change and my quota was reached.

“Phew, ah. Thank you very much, sonny, I feel a little better.”

Perhapsithe young man who had wiped up the blood with the towel was relieved, he thanked me and flashed me a smile. He seemed to have more sensibility than I assumed. Knowing that I didn’t have to worry about getting caught up in other circumstances brought meirelief.

Eveniafter the bleeding subsided, the young man’s body was riddled with abrasions, cuts, and scratches that I had no clue where they had been inflicted. Before coming here, what exactly had he been dealing with? From the array of injuries and the conversation we had, he didn’t seem to be the perpetrator.

“Itimay be none of my business, but you should go to the hospital, and if you want, I can call an ambulance here…”

Withithat said, the young man looked at me puzzled and put the bat away in his bat case. He then carried it over his shoulder and got to his feet.

“Thanksifor worrying about me, sonny. But I’m still in the middle of my work, so I can’t afford to be in the hospital right now.”

Hangingithe towel that had absorbed the blood around his neck, he stepped over to a bright red sport bike parked nearby.

“If Iipass by here again, I’ll return the towel… Bye.”

Afterisaying that, he swiftly departed the area.

“Huh, didihe leave?”

Shortlyiafter the mysterious young man in blood left the convenience store, the manager came back.

“Heisaid he has work to tend to, so he went somewhere else, and will return the towel the next time he passes by.”

“H-Heh… That’sinot necessary, I hope he’ll go to the hospital right away.”

“Well… Butihe had the strength to eat a steamed azuki bun.”

“Hisiwork…? Iiwonder what it is.” 

“Let’s notieven dwell on it.”

Somehow, itiwas terrifying.

“Anyway, I’ll check the perimeter later, and if anything goes amiss, I’ll call 110.”

“Yes…”3wsx

Theistorm-like unexpected occurrence had us in a cold sweat for a while, followed by…

“Ah.”32sd

Suddenly, theimanager spread his palm toward the sky.

A largeidrop of water fell down.

Itiwasirain―