Chapter 276: Overthinking
“Ding-ling—”
A crisp welcome rang out from the small decorations at the entrance of Star Bikini Supermarket. The black-haired boy inside, who was carrying a box and arranging some items, put down his current task and turned his head.
“Welcome….Eh, Shimizu?”
“Good evening, Noyoru Senpai.”
The expressionless, short girl walked in through the automatically opening glass door and managed a smile as a greeting towards the boy in the distance, who had a fierce appearance that gave him a somewhat delinquent look. Kazumi then reached out to take her apron from the work area by the wall and familiarized herself with putting it on.
“Good evening, Shimizu. You’re quite a bit earlier than usual today. I thought you’d come after 7:30 like always.”
Placing the box in his hands on the work counter, the boy glanced at the scattered people outside the door before turning his head to look at the girl clocking in behind the counter.
“Mhm, today’s homework was simpler, so I came early after finishing. Are you stocking shelves? Let’s do it half and half.”
In response to Noyoru Yokota’s greeting, a slight smile appeared on Kazumi’s face. Nodding gently, she picked up a few bags of snacks from the box in the boy’s arms and turned towards the shelf area.
“Oh, okay!”
It wasn’t until the girl walked past him that Noyoru Yokota belatedly responded. He curiously followed her with his gaze, only to find that the girl, wearing the familiar uniform, had already opened the area where goods were stored, leaving him with only a slim, diligent figure working.
Noyoru Yokota silently looked down at his palm, which was covered in scars from ability training, and quietly sighed, embracing the box in his arms and walking towards another shelf.
…
What exactly is my relationship with Kazumi Shimizu right now?
Regarding this point, the boy actually hasn’t figured it out yet.
For Noyoru Yokota, his life was probably like the packaged food he was currently placing on the shelves, with a full exterior concealing a dried-out core and… a large amount of empty space.
Perhaps his appearance is indeed mature for his age (laughs). After all, having experienced so much, it would be too difficult not to be mature. This boy, who had just turned eighteen not long ago, had his own plans for himself, or rather, for his future life.
Deal with those punks who were bothering him, study and work hard, and then properly repay Uncle Masamori. And also… also open a supermarket branch for him?
At some point, ideals had become something very distant for Noyoru Yokota.
His already not-so-fortunate life had become dark and dim due to the existence of a group of societal dregs. The boy had once thought of using his controlled abilities to severely punish those former colleagues of his, but then he remembered Uncle Masamori’s hopeful gaze, and his clenched fist could only weakly loosen.
Looking back at his actions at the time, he might find them a bit immature, but more than that, it was the powerlessness of being caught in the situation…
There was nothing wrong with the method of resolution at the time, and it was precisely because of this precociousness that Noyoru Yokota did not choose to impulsively solve this long-troubling matter with his fists.
The consequences of a student psychic carelessly using their abilities were extremely severe. In Shikoku, if this disciplinary offense were to be incurred, in serious cases, even the qualification to become a hero could be lost.
Therefore, all the boy could do was to study hard and strive to pass the intern hero test. As long as he could join a professional hero agency, even as an intern, these troublesome pests, as they were seen by him or Uncle Masamori, would surely be resolved easily.
Of course, the matter was indeed resolved in the end, but in a way the boy had never expected.
Actually, the boy was quite unwilling when Manager Masamori wanted to hire more people. How could Noyoru Yokota not know the reason why this bald uncle wanted to hire another boy was to have someone help him when he was being bullied? Otherwise, neither the financially strained Uncle Masamori nor this not-so-large, dilapidated convenience store would need an extra salesperson.
That’s why he rarely utilized his innate talent, driving away one applicant after another.
But in the end, under the presence he intentionally projected and a metal bat, the first one who remained unfazed was a girl.
Kazumi Shimizu, an ordinary girl in every way. If it weren’t for the cold and aloof aura of keeping people at a distance that the girl possessed, she would probably be an ordinary high school girl who would be indistinguishable in a crowd.
But it was precisely this short and small girl who, within her slender body, could unleash such powerful and confident strength. The iron baseball bat held by her delicate arm swung repeatedly, striking deep into his heart, as if shattering the dim world within his heart.
What followed became the present. The girl, who he thought would go to jail for assault, was not punished for some reason. Instead, he, who had been prepared to take responsibility for her, inexplicably began to live the peaceful life he had always dreamed of.
Life’s hardships always reach a peak and then rebound. For Noyoru Yokota, this was indeed the case.
The nightmares that had troubled him for a long time were dispelled, the business in the store gradually improved, his final exam scores were surprisingly high, and he was recognized by the top hero agency in the industry, successfully passing the interview and becoming an intern.
All of this was too good to be true, so good it felt like a dream, and so good it felt like the soft little hands he occasionally recalled even in his dreams.
Indeed, girls’ hands are soft and smooth!
The boy’s fierce face showed a strange smile as his mind wandered into some illicit (one-sided) thoughts, but then the smile quickly subsided, and finally, it converged into a worried look with some contemplation.
Scenes of interacting with the girl kept flashing in his mind, and his close friend Takuma Fujiyui’s conclusive words echoed in his ears. However, the faint worry and uncertainty in his heart made him unwilling and afraid to make any further moves towards her.
[Maybe she just wanted to look up some information?][It’s just normal interaction between a man and a woman, what are you thinking?][Have you already forgotten how you were humiliated and rejected back then?]
A silent murmur arose in his heart, and the faint light in the boy’s eyes instantly dimmed. His right hand, which had been about to reach for the bag, unconsciously retracted, and his dejected head slowly lowered.
[Sigh, why think so much? She’s just a colleague at work. Let’s just work properly.]
The long-standing discrimination had actually made the boy’s heart very strong. Even in areas he hadn’t experienced, Noyoru Yokota was only slightly down for a short while, but he quickly recovered, straightened his body, and intended to continue his work.
However, just as the boy was about to reach into the box, a cold little hand abruptly pointed to his waist.
A faint fragrance drifted slowly from behind, and in his ears came the cold and aloof words with a hint of chill.
“Oh, are you slacking off, Noyoru Senpai?”
