Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Chapter 4

19th of July (Sunday)

Right after waking up, I confirmed the time on the clock next to my pillow: 7:30am. I was relieved. It's a pretty early time to wake up on a Sunday morning, but I resolutely got up. I did go to bed a bit later than usual the day prior, but my head feels fresh and clear, so I must have gotten a pretty deep slumber.

When I went to the living room, my old man and Akiko-san weren't present. They were presumably still sleeping. However, as I had anticipated, Ayase-san was awake already. She had freshened herself up, showing up absolutely no weaknesses or openings even at home. She was wearing a light fabric pullover overtop of her shoulderless shirt.

"Good morning, Ayase-san."

"Morning, Asamura-kun."

With these words, Ayase-san stood up. When she did so, I could see a ribbon made of similar fabric to her pullover right above her waist, with red hot pants beneath.

"Ah, I can take care of it myself. You've already finished eating, right?"

I would have felt bad having Ayase-san take care of my breakfast when she was already sitting on the table with a coffee, which was why I asked her to remain seated.

"I've barely finished mine, though. This one is yours, Asamura-kun." She pointed at the food on the table.

"I just have to heat it up, right?" I went to carry the soup bowl Ayase-san pointed at to the microwave, only to pause halfway.

Do I warm this up? Or eat it while it's cold? I started pondering that question, because I felt a certain gentle coldness from the thin soup bowl.

"Just like that is fine. It's a lot better cold. I actually just took it out of the fridge."

She must have heard me getting up and gotten it ready for me when I did so. As always, she's considerate about the smallest things. When I looked at what was inside the soup bowl, I could see some yellow-ish thick soup.

"What kind of soup is this?"

"Pumpkin."

"…Isn't pumpkin season between summer and fall? So you can get them already, huh?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I remember reading that you harvest them in the summer and eat them during fall. Just after harvesting them, they're still sweet, so you let them age a bit. On Halloween you hang up pumpkin lanterns and wait for the Great Pumpkin to arrive."

"The heck is that?"

"Don't you know 'Peanuts'? Snoopy? Charlie Brown?"

"Ah, Linus with the security blanket1."

"Why would that be the first thing that comes to mind?"

Linus, a friend of Charlie Brown, is always carrying this blanket with him. They called it 'blanket syndrome' or something like that, but in the end, everyone has something in their life they can't ever let go of, I think. Some people might keep worthless junk like it's irreplaceable treasure. I'm sure even Ayase-san has something she holds onto like that. If an adult thinks that it's trash and throws it away, the attachment grows even stronger. My mother's angry expression suddenly came to mind, but I shook my head and freed myself of that thought.

"…Well, no matter what season it is, you can pretty much eat vegetables all year round. I'm just a bit surprised to see such beautiful pumpkin soup."

It looked like sacred sake. It was a faint, almost transparent color.

"I heated up the pumpkin and some onions, added milk and raw cream, and threw it into the food processor." Ayase-san saw that I was interested and explained the recipe to me.

Of course, just because I was a bit interested didn't mean I'd start enjoying making food myself. Even if my lunchbox lifestyle doesn't change, it might be useful somewhere down the line. I took a mental note of the recipe as I stuffed some bread into the toaster.

"It's rare for you to put two slices in… Ah, sorry for prying like that."

"Both you and Akiko-san are always considerate about the smallest of things, not just about food, so I wouldn't ever take it that way." I answered, which caused Ayase-san to make a rather uncomfortable expression.

Ayase-san might not forget about another person's preferences, but everyone else isn't the same. That's true of friendships in particular. You don't act that way because you want other people to like you, but because you treasure the other person. Even if she only treasures me as the son of the person her mother got married to, I don't think it's a bother at all.

"I just felt like asking that." She muttered in a quiet voice.

Is it just my imagination, or is she acting a bit bashful? If you just looked at the scene itself, it seemed like something from a light novel or anime, but reality is not that sweet. If you mistake a reaction from someone close to you as bashful or kind, you might have misfortune or even sorrow from this one-sided misconception.

As for me, I'm always careful to not get the wrong idea from Ayase-san's actions. I certainly won't here. Then again, I know that it can't be helped if some people misread situations like this. Reality isn't any anime or manga. But if you were to experience a situation similar to a scene that you've watched or read before, it's easy to get the wrong idea. It is an unfortunate habit that all human beings share. Even I blanked out for a second when Yomiuri-senpai made the joke about her life expectancy. Surprise attacks are the worst of all.

"So, about the slices of toast. I worked all day yesterday, so I got hungry pretty early. I only had one slice of toast yesterday, so my stomach was growling all the way until break." I said with a casual voice as I sat down on a chair.

"Good work on your job."

"Thanks."

Thanks to this exaggerated conversation, the atmosphere slowly turned back to normal, as flat as how it always was. I guess this is something people do to rid the air of awkward moods like this.

Along with the two slices of toast and pumpkin soup, a large bowl with chicken salad inside stood on the middle of the table. The morning sunlight entering from the windows caused the bowl to shine with a green hue.

"Use whatever dressing you prefer."

"Thanks."

Ayase-san looked back down at her smartphone, coffee in hand. Since she's not listening to anything on her earbuds, she must be looking something up. Anyway, I guess I'll try out the pumpkin soup first.

I scooped up a bit with a spoon and had a taste. I could pick up a bit of scent when I raised it to my mouth, but once it was on my tongue, the taste of pumpkin became even more obvious. Boiled pumpkin was always soft enough, but thanks to the food processor, it had almost turned into a smoothie. Although it was sweet, it went down easily. Eating this cold was the right choice after all. I had always thought you needed to eat soup warm.

"Hey."

When I was stuffing my cheeks with the chicken salad, Ayase-san suddenly spoke up. I looked up at her.

"You put a towel over me last night, didn't you?"

"Ah, well…"

If I answered honestly, she'd find out I saw her sleeping face. But I was aware that beating around the bush here would only make it worse. Last month I just happened to spot Ayase-san's underwear drying in her room, which caused me to sweat buckets in panic. That being the case, saying 'Well, yeah', would be a little too painfully honest. It'd make it sound like I was hiding something.

"I figured."

"I know you really want to avoid supplementary classes, but ruining your health for the sake of the exam is not an option either, you know?"

"Right. Yeah… thanks."

"You don't need to thank me."

If you start thanking me, then I'll feel the need to thank you for constantly making food for me. Of course, I came up with the conclusion that I should help her, but Ayase-san flat-out declined my offer. She has to do both, or she doesn't mind doing both. It really helps, but can you really keep that work-life balance going? She says she likes to give more than take. I know that's easier said than done. I really need to look into another method to increase her academic efficiency other than music.

"I heard you went to watch a movie yesterday?"

Ayase-san's sudden question caused my voice to stick in my throat.

"Um… Well, I watched a late-night movie that was going to end screening this weekend. Where did you even hear that from?"

"Taichi-san seemed really happy. During dinner he said 'This is Yuuta's first time going to play around at night! I was really worried because he's too diligent for his own good, and he's a bit boring to be honest, but I guess he's grown up now!', and such…"

"Phrasing! Again!"

Also, how do you remember all of that word for word? How is your memory that amazing?

"You were with your Senpai from work, right?"

"That's true, but we weren't playing around or anything. We just wanted to watch the same movie. And without Senpai telling me about it, I wouldn't even have come up with the idea of watching it at a late-night screening."

"Hmm."

"Have you heard of the novel 'Azure Night's Interval'?"

"Ah." Ayase-san nodded. "I've heard of it. I feel like I've even seen an ad for the movie."

"I'm surprised you have, despite not even watching that much TV."

"It was on the internet."

This time, I was the one to nod. Advertisements and announcements should be shown where the greatest number of people can see. Even if our generation doesn't watch much TV, we use the internet. In that case, you just have to put it all over the internet.

"How was it?" Ayase-san asked.

I guess she's asking for my impression of the movie?

"Ehhh… Well, it wasn't half bad." I told Ayase-san what I remembered.

The source material was a so-called light literature novel, which told of a romance between a highschool boy and a girl who ran into each other. There's funny parts to the story, but it eventually gets a bit more serious, and the final plot twist is still stuck in my head.

"There's a girl the protagonist can meet with only once a week at midnight in a public park. She's actually a student at his highschool, but whenever they meet at noon, she acts like they don't know each other. They can only meet at midnight, and she acts like an entirely different person. The more they meet, the more attracted they become to each other. And then, one night, she tells him—" I paused for dramatic effect. "'I only have half a year more to live'."

Ayase-san swallowed her breath. Yeah, it was a pretty big surprise. I mean, look at my reaction when Yomiuri-senpai told me that.

"The climax is from there on out, but I don't want to spoil you too much, so I'll just leave it at that."

I'm not on Maru or anything, but I tend to keep blabbering on about something if I'm in the mood. That just shows how the movie wasn't 'half bad', but actually left me with a deep impression. It also shows in that I've been thinking of buying the source material.

"Thanks. It sounds interesting."

"Right? If not for your supplementary exam, I'd recommend you to watch it today."

"After the exam is over."

"Right."

"If there's source material, then I might just read that instead. Since I want to help my Modern Japanese grades, I need to read more books as well."

"I don't think a light novel will appear on the exam."

I don't really know if light literature is technically light novels or literature.

"I've never really read novels or manga. Maybe there's something I might be able to learn from them."

"Maybe."

However, strictly speaking, Ayase-san isn't bad at understanding the contents of literature. She just has trouble dealing with works that depict emotions other than her own. If someone loves someone else and yet insults them, or if they scream to kill someone else despite their actual feelings, it might be lost on her. When I told her about that, she seemed slightly bothered.

"They should just be honest about things like that."

"People act differently than each other. That's how drama is born."

If two people who have fallen in love with each other could put their honest feelings into words, the story would be over. Of course, there are plenty of stories that are like that. Discrepancies happen when people don't adjust to someone else. Both tragedies and comedies are born from this. A dramatic love story uses misunderstandings and discrepancies to advance its plot.

"I really don't get it."

"That's why I think we should leave that as a black box, and focus only on the few works that could come up in the exams, as well as correlating information for those. By the way, do you feel like you're making any progress?"

"I'm just working on the mock questions, but I feel like I'm getting more points than before. It seems like what you said was true, Asamura-kun. If I just remember the historical background and its relation to the work, I feel like I can answer a lot of questions."

"Because it's an exam after all." I felt the urge to stress that.

"What do you mean?"

"Since we're doing an exam, there won't be any questions or problems that don't have an answer. Ayase-san, have you heard of the term 'open ending'?"

"Like an open conclusion?"

"That's a different name for it, but yeah."

Then again, she must be taking this seriously. Is that why it sounds so weird? I doubt Ayase-san is playing dumb.

"It happens a lot in movies. The movie ends without you knowing what happened to the protagonist. It's basically an ending that leaves the conclusion up to the imagination of the audience."

"I hate that. It'd probably stress me out."

"I figured you'd say that. Anyway, the point is that this won't happen in an exam."

And this isn't constrained to open endings in particular. There are a lot of other places where an author doesn't explain everything in detail, instead leaving it up to the interpretation of the reader. I could list a lot of examples of this. However, these don't appear in exams either. You can't grade someone on their opinion about something, after all, especially if it's different from person to person.

"That makes sense."

"Exactly, which is why they'll make questions about things where the reader's experience won't be any different… at least not to a level where it could impact your grade. A famous cram school teacher once said 'There will not be a problem where you can't pick a choice at a multiple-choice question2'."

Aside from questions where your creativity, originality, or knowledge of a topic is being tested, of course.

"It's a bit direct, but it makes sense."

"Right?"

However, I have to agree that keeping it vague at times is what makes books so charming. In such a case, the lack of clarity stimulates your imagination. I might prefer flat relationships that omit guesswork in real life, but I can gain more viewpoints on different things by reading books and increasing my knowledge. Not only am I escaping narrow-mindedness by reading books, but I can also train my imagination and creativity, broadening my horizons. That's why I don't want Ayase-san to read books solely because of a thirst for knowledge… Though I wouldn't really complain if she did.

"So are you going out with that Yomiuri-senpai?"

I nearly spit out my coffee. What do you mean by that, huh? When I realized she was staring at me, I subconsciously straightened up and answered like I was the defendant being interrogated by a public prosecutor.

"We aren't like that."

"Really?"

"Really. She's just a senior at work."

"Hmmm."

"She likes books, so we get along. That's all."

"You read a lot of books too, don't you? That difference is pretty significant, I guess… I see. I should read books too after all… I might have to go shopping." Ayase-san said, only to suddenly stop herself, fumbling over her words. "Big emphasis on 'might.'"

"I'm more than happy to see the birth of another book lover. Though your exams are more important right now."

"Huh? Ah, yeah… You're right." Ayase-san sounded a bit flustered, and she directed her gaze down towards her phone again.

She put her wireless earbuds in her ears and opened her notes, signaling that she had gone into studying mode. I cleaned up after I finished eating breakfast, loaded the dishwasher, and then headed back to my room. I have another full-time shift at work starting around noon today. Since I went straight to bed after coming home yesterday, I needed to finish up my homework. Since tomorrow is the deadline for said homework, I was panicking a bit. I became so focused that I was working on it until my phone's alarm rang. Thanks to that, I yet again wasn't able to eat a proper lunch.

When I stepped out of our air-conditioned house, the summer heat hit me like a wave. I was forced to blink a few times from the strong sunlight hitting my face. Our dear sun was really motivated today. I could even pick up the faint scent of scorched asphalt. Although it was barely noon, the temperature had already passed 30°C. This was the third consecutive day of mid-summer.

Despite the fact that it was a Sunday, a large crowd had gathered in front of the Shibuya train station. I somehow made it through there, arrived at the store, changed into my uniform in the back room, and stepped out into the front. Today, my shift lasts to 9pm.

"Yo, Junior-kun."

When I entered, Yomiuri-senpai called out to me. She acted the same as ever, almost like that event last night didn't even happen. Of course, that made it easier for me, and I was very thankful for it. She must be good at reading the room.

"Hello Senpai. Are you filling up the shelves?"

"That's right. Could you help me?"

"Of course."

Yomiuri-senpai was pushing the trolley with a cardboard box in front of her. When I took a peek inside, I could see some heavy magazines in there. Luckily, I could avoid the cash register today, so instead, I focused on filling the empty spaces on the bookshelves and organizing the other shelves. If I had a spare moment, I would fix any bent covers as well, or put any returned goods into a cardboard box. When you work at a bookstore, there's always something to do.

Of course, I can't tell the store to order any books for me from printers, but I can tell Yomiuri-senpai about them, and she can recommend them in my stead.

"Women's magazines, huh… Seems tough this month."

"Righto. Probably in my top 3 list of books that are bothersome to deal with."

"Oh yeah, the extras are crazy."

For magazines targeted at modern women or housewives, there are always limitless extras appended to such volumes. Thanks to that, the magazines are always thick and heavy. These extras often contain eco-bags, makeup samples, or even stylish pouches. Whenever you have these large extras, you need to make sure that they don't end up all over the place.

To achieve that, you either tie them together with string or tape, or you use rubber bands. Both of these have their merits and demerits. Keeping them together with string or tape is always a secure way to attach them together, but in the event that you use too much, it can damage the magazine in the process. Rubber bands are easy to put on or remove, but if someone gets a magazine without the extra, you'll get complaints.

Of course, you could seal them together in the same plastic wrap, but sealing already-thick magazines along with the extras is something barely any bookstores do. At the very least, I doubt the cost of doing so makes it really worth it.

"I wish they'd at least make it the same size as the magazines themselves. They really don't care about how difficult it makes them to stack. Here, hold this."

"Woah! Don't just throw it at me. …Wow, this really is pretty unbalanced."

"You can say that again."

This time, they had added a small paper box about the same size as the magazine, which offset the heaviness from the other magazines.

"What's even inside there?"

"Some kind of treasure box."

"Huh?"

When I looked at the cover, it said something about some kind of accessory inside that box. They wouldn't put actual jewels into a magazine extra, and yet the cover made it seem like something extravagant.

"Isn't this… false advertising?"

"It should be fine. It says it's 'something like a treasure box'."

"But…" I doubt that'd hold up in court.

"The outside box is fairly big, but the inside is maybe a third of that at best. That's why they're impossible to balance."

"Why didn't they just put it in the middle?"

"I guess they made the box first. Then the box ended up bigger in the end."

"Ahhh…"

I didn't know what was really going on, but Senpai's logic made sense.

"It's heavy already, but it weighs so much more on one side than the other…"

"It'll be pretty hard to stack, yep."

"This magazine sells quite well, though, so we have to stack it somehow."

"Let's give it a try."

However, once we got to the platform in front of the magazines, it was as bad as I had expected, and I cursed to myself. When we started stacking the magazines, we could only stack them about two-thirds as high as the tower next to it. Any more than that would make it lean and eventually fall. Since magazine covers are generally smooth and slippery, they slide and fall over particularly easily.

"This ain't doing it."

"Indeed. It might be possible if we alternated every other one upside down."

"Then you won't be able to see the front cover once one is sold. You can't do that."

"Right~"

This is quite troublesome. In the end, we decided to stack the bottom half of them upside-down, with the upper half stacked on top showing their covers. Even if some copies of these magazines are sold, they shouldn't reach the place where the covers are upside-down, at least not before we could add more copies on top of them. Once we're completely out of them, we can just flip the lower ones back over. It's more work, but that'll at least give the magazines proper treatment. After that, we built the other stacks of magazines up around them.

"All right. That should do the trick."

After slowly working through the mountain of books in the cardboard box, I raised my head when I didn't get a response from Yomiuri-senpai. She wasn't even looking at me. Her gaze was fixated at a point near the corner of the bookshelf.

"That girl seems like she's looking for something. I guess I'll go ask her if I can help."

I followed Senpai's gaze. She wasn't looking at the magazine shelf, but rather at a point in front of one a bit further away. A girl about my age stood there, acting confused. She had light hair and an ear piercing that sparkled thanks to the interior lights shining down on it. Right when I thought to myself Wait, she looks familiar, Yomiuri-senpai had already started walking towards her, talking to her in her employee mode.

"Are you looking for something by any chance?"

The girl twitched in shock and turned towards Senpai. "Umm, I'm searching for a book…"

"Huh? Ayase-san?!"

When I raised my voice, Yomiuri-senpai turned back towards me, and the girl gave me a glance from a distance. It seems like she didn't realize it was me for a second. I guess that makes sense. This must be the first time she's seen me wearing this store's apron. Her mouth was wide open and round, and when Yomiuri-senpai saw this, she started running towards her like a cat chasing its prey. She's definitely going to use this for some kind of blackmail later.

"So you're searching for a book. Let me help you!"

"Um, thank you very much."

"Leave it to meeee!"

Oddly uncomfortable polite language came from the usually outgoing girl as the diligent literary girl employee brimmed with curiosity. Yomiuri-senpai, you're showing your true colors here. I approached the two of them, pushing the empty trolley.

"Hey, you're this kiddo's little sister, right?" Yomiuri-senpai asked Ayase-san, pointing at me.

"Ah, yes, that's right. So, um, who are you…?"

"Yomiuri Shiori. Nice to meet you."

Ayase-san made a satisfied expression. "Ah, so you're…"

"Wow! You really are a beauty, just like Junior-kun said! So cutesy wutesy~"

"Are you some kind of drunken old man, Yomiuri-senpai?"

"How could you tell, Junior-kun? Did you perhaps visit a bar before, Mr. Underage?" She retorted mercilessly as I approached the two of them.

If I had any kind of reaction there, it'd be my loss, which is why I kept talking with an unfazed expression.

"More importantly, what brings you here, Ayase-san?"

I had assumed she would be focusing her time on studying, so I asked it like it was odd behavior, despite it actually being fairly ordinary.

"I came here to buy a book…"

"Junior-kun, go and put these away, would you?" Senpai asked me, pointing at the trolley.

Now that I think about it, we're still at work, so that should have top priority. I pushed the trolley back to the back room, though slightly reluctantly—and ran back at full speed. When I returned, the two of them were still talking like before.

"I see. That big, huh?"

"Isn't that normal?"

"I don't think it's quite something you could call normal…"

The heck are they talking about?

"Oh, you back already, Junior-kun? That was barely two minutes."

"Haaaa, huff, y-you timed it…?"

How good is she at multi-tasking like that?

"Just going with my gut."

"You mean intuition? Also, you were the one who brought out the trolley in the first place, right?"

"I don't like it when my junior has such good perception."

"Tell that to an alchemist3 some other time… Sheesh. So did you ask Ayase-san what she was looking for?"

"Not yet."

Do your job, would you!?

"Um, Asamura-kun, I'm looking for a reference book. There was a place where I got stuck… and also, that movie you watched yesterday. I thought I'd buy the source material for that while I'm here."

I see. That explains why she'd take a break from studying—or so some anime or manga protagonist would say, and would already agree with her. However, humans aren't so pure as to act because of a single motive. Having only one motive is almost unrealistic. I don't think she was lying per se, but… if that were true, then the chance of her being interested in what one of her family members was doing at work must at least be plausible. Not to mention that she had always been curious about Yomiuri-senpai.

"Oh my, you're interested in that movie, little sis? Today's the last day it's showing. Should I come with you for the late-night screening?"

"Ah, that's a bit…"

"Ayase-san has to study. Could you please not drag her down the wrong path?"

"A sinful flower grows by sucking the blood of beautiful people…"

"How awfully inefficient. Flowers relying on light and water to grow usually end up being far superior."

"That's quite the harsh criticism you're making of me. Well, let's leave the jokes aside."

"I was being serious, though."

"We have our job as shop employees."

"I was doing my job. How about you?"

"Junior-kun, we don't have time for idle talk during our shift. We need to put our utmost into satisfying our customers!"

"…I don't have any objections there."

I mean, the other customers are laughing at our conversation. I want to get away from here as quickly as possible.

"So, little sis, the book you're searching for is—"

"It's Saki."

"Hm?"

"Ayase Saki."

"Ayase?"

"You can call me Asamura Saki, too, but that would make it hard to differentiate between us, so feel free to call me whichever you like."

I think this might be the first time Ayase-san has referred to herself as 'Asamura Saki'. This name was fairly unfamiliar to my ears, making it feel quite fresh. But I guess that makes sense. Going by that logic, there's a possibility that I'll end up as 'Ayase Yuuta'. If I introduced myself like that, I wonder if she'd feel the same way as I am right now?

"Hmm, I see. That's why Asamura-kun has been calling you 'Ayase-san', huh? Then I'll call you Saki-chan. So, about this reference book, that should be in the learning corner. We should start with the novel first."

"Yes. And… Asamura-kun." Ayase-san said, looking over at me. "If you have any other recommended books, please let me know. I think that the books you like might be a good starting point."

"Mine?"

Ayase-san nodded.

"I figured that if you recommended something to me, it'd be good. Watching movies all the time is a bit too expensive, but if it's just paperback books, I could buy a few, and reading will surely help with my studies as well."

"I see. One of the good things about novels is how far your money goes! You really get it, Saki-chan!"

"There's even the recent movie subculture as well."

I guess that makes sense. The price is the biggest factor when deciding to buy a book or not. Since working part-time is securing me enough money to spend, I don't worry about the price as much. Not to mention that books aren't that expensive to begin with. But I probably only think that because I like books.

Maru even told me before that "You really don't care about anything but books, huh?" with an exasperated tone. It's true that I'm not interested in making myself look good like Ayase-san does. I'm the type of person who thinks brand-name clothing is way too expensive. But everyone has their own set of values. Just look at Maru. He buys anime BD boxes as soon as they come out. That's why I was a bit bothered when he said that to me.

"But even if you ask me for recommendations, it's not that easy. I don't know what kind of interests you have."

"If she's curious about 'Azure Night's Interval', why not recommend something along those lines? After that, you can make recommendations based on those sorts of tastes."

"Ahh, that makes sense." I was a bit thankful for Yomiuri-senpai throwing me a helping hand.

That's a senior bookstore employee for you.

"Then I'm choosing one from the light literature genre. I think something more realistic would be better for starters… Ah, before that, the source material. Do we still have one of the volumes?"

"I don't think it's still up on the front display despite you setting it up so well before. It should be on the shelves now, and there might be an offchance that a customer can't find them there, so…"

Then the vice store manager called out to Yomiuri-senpai. He asked her to take care of the register, as she's practically perfect for the job thanks to her looks and appearance. With an expression consisting of resignation and acceptance, she accepted. Giving a brief farewell, Senpai headed to the register. Senpai, I won't ever forget what you've taught me. Please live strong.

"Is the cash register a lot of trouble by any chance?"

"I think it is. It basically requires a lot of brief communication with people who generally don't bother considering your circumstances."

When I said that, Ayase-san's face tightened, and she hugged her body with both her hands. Come on now, it's not that scary. Anyway, I took her to the light literature shelves, and we started looking for that light novel. Maybe it was thanks to it being on the shelves, or maybe because it was still early in the day, but there was a single copy left.

"Around here…"

"Ah, I read the manga for this. So it was based on a novel, huh?"

"I figured that a novel receiving a media mix4 would be a good starting point."

Though it depends on personal preferences if you'll enjoy a particular novel or not.

"The learning books corner is over there. There's a pillar with a large 'Hiring part-timer' poster hanging on it right in front of it. Though it might be hard to read with the dim lighting. Anyway, the shelf is to the right of that."

"Ahh, I see. I got it… I think."

"If you're having trouble, feel free to ask an employee around there, or come back and I'll take you there."

"It's fine. I should be able to find it by myself. You're working right now anyway."

"Got it. Then I'll be going back to work."

"Going back, huh? Oh yeah, that apron looks pretty good on you."

"That's… Thanks."

Suddenly receiving that compliment left me more bewildered than happy, to be honest. If possible, I would have preferred to take her to the corner myself, but I had already spent a lot of time dealing with Ayase-san, so any more than this would probably be considered slacking.

With the source material of the movie and two books I recommended to her in hand, Ayase-san headed towards the corner. After gazing up at the poster, she headed to the right, disappearing towards the bookshelf. After seeing her off, I returned to my own duties of organizing the shelves.

After a bit of time had passed, Ayase-san called out to me from behind me. When I turned around, she was carrying another heavy book, which seemed to be some kind of reference book.

"I'll buy this and then go home. Thanks for helping me during your shift."

"I was happy that I could help. Don't worry about it."

I watched Ayase-san walk off to the cash register, when suddenly someone called out to the side of me.

"Excuse me, where is the cash register?"

When I turned towards the voice, I saw an elderly woman carrying a thick magazine. The arm she was holding it with was shaking. Although she had a bag with her, she probably thought that putting the book in there before paying it would get her in trouble, which was why she was carrying it with one hand.

"The cash register is to the left after you walk down this aisle… But do you want me to help you carry that?"

"I shouldn't, but… can I ask you for that?"

"Yes, of course." I accepted the magazine, which turned out to be the heavy one with the small box added to it.

I escorted the elder lady to the cash register, and since it was open right now, I could take care of the actual purchase as well.

"You really helped me. Thank you very much."

"No no. Thank you very much for your purchase!"

The elder lady stuffed the magazine in her bag and left after giving a brief goodbye.

"Please wait a moment."

There, I heard a familiar voice from the cash register next to mine, belonging to Yomiuri-senpai. Coincidentally enough, the customer she was currently dealing with was Ayase-san. They seemed to have finished the paying process. Senpai put the change into a silver platter in front of Ayase-san and slid the books into our store's original paper covers.

"You're pretty fast." Ayase-san said, speaking with a tone of admiration in her voice.

The two of them hadn't realized that I could hear them.

"Mm, well, I'm used to it. Yuuta-kun's pretty fast, too."

"Yuuta-kun…? Ah, Asamura-kun."

"Right. It would just be confusing if I called him 'Junior-kun,' wouldn't it? Here, your three books… Um, dear customer, would you like me to put a cover on your reference book as well?"

It's a bit too late to go back to polite language, Senpai.

"No need, thank you."

"Understood. Then again, he's the only one who started working after me, so he technically is my only Junior-kun. Oh, and here is your completed purchase." Senpai put the four books into a vinyl bag and gave it to Ayase-san.

"Thank you very much."

"Likewise. Thank you very much for your purchase! If you want to watch Yuuta-kun at work again, stop by whenever!"

"That's not why I…"

"For you, Saki-chan, I'll throw in a free smile for 0 yen!"

So you're taking money from other customers, Senpai? Ayase-san, however, ignored that comment and stepped out of the store. The next customer immediately moved up in line at the cash register, and I returned to the shelves.

Around when our shift ended, Yomiuri-senpai came to talk to me.

"Your little sis sure is cute~"

"Are you still going on about that?"

"Once you're my age, you need to absorb the essence of the youngsters, or you'll end up rotting faster~"

What are you, some kind of vampire?

"I don't think you're that far apart in age."

"We're talking about high school and university here. It's a huge difference. You really don't get it, Junior-kun."

"I feel like I never will, to be honest."

"She really was cute, though. She had such lively reactions. Whenever you came up, her expressions would change ever so slightly. Junior-kun, this one might be big money."

"Big what?"

"Big money~!"

For a second, I was unable to grasp what she was talking about. However, when I saw her bright grin and sparkling eyes, I figured it out. Basically, she's saying that Ayase-san's reaction hints at romantic interest.

"No, that's definitely not…"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Ayase-san's just my sister, okay?"

I can't look at her in any other way, and I'm certain that Ayase-san feels the same way. She must.

My shift for the day ended, and I made my way home straight away. Both of my parents were still awake, so we ate dinner together. Although it was pretty late, 10pm, they had waited for me all the way until then. Akiko-san had gone all-out for the first time in a while. She had made some excellent fried chicken. While we ate, my old man kept blabbering on and on about how great it was, munching it all down. How can he have this much energy despite already living with her for a month?

Ayase-san wasn't with us at the dining table. She apparently had finished eating earlier, and was now in her room studying. I didn't see Ayase-san again that evening.

───

1 Linus

2 Looked up the exact quote, but I couldn't find it.

3 This is a reference to Fullmetal Alchemist, a quote from the guy who made a chimera out of his dog and daughter. Of course, altered to fit context more.

4 Media mix