Chapter 79: Colleague
“Well then, Shinichi-kun, I’m leaving now. Get well soon!!”
Outside the hospital room, the short-haired girl in uniform waved goodbye to the boy in the room with reluctance, then walked towards the stairs, looking back three times.
The reluctant and dispirited expression on the girl’s face lingered for a while. It wasn’t until she had walked out of the hospital gate that she slightly regained her usual indifferent demeanor.
Kazumi patted her face hard, confirming to herself that her thinking ability had returned to normal.
How to put it, she came to tutor him in order to get closer to him and to present a good image to Sato Shinichi’s elders at home!!!
The girl, who had just been thinking that there was no need to advance their relationship further, was trying to convince herself this way.
“Whatever!! I still have to go to work later!!”
She patted her cheeks again, casting away any strange thoughts. Anyway, Sato Shinichi would be discharged the day after tomorrow, and she was only visiting him for two days, which wouldn’t affect her life, right?
After finding a part-time job, Kazumi’s life had almost returned to normal.
She attended classes and studied during the day, visited Sato Shinichi at the hospital after school to go over his notes and lessons, then went to work at Star Bikini Supermarket until ten o’clock, and then returned home to use her spare time to study and plan for the future.
Yesterday was the first time she actually worked at Star Bikini Supermarket as a sales assistant, and for a young girl like Kazumi, as long as she overcame the shyness of interacting with strangers, it was generally a very easy but tedious job.
Kazumi, whose psychological age was ten years older than her appearance, stated that interacting with people was a capability that a qualified corporate drone should possess. Introverted children without these abilities would have long been eliminated by the harshness of society.
Therefore, the job of a sales assistant at a convenience store at night was also very easy for Kazumi. Especially after Manager Masamori learned that Kazumi, like Noyoru Yokota, was a student at Shikoku High School, he generously told Kazumi that she could read and study when there were no customers. This was the most suitable job for Kazumi.
As for Noyoru Yokota, who inexplicably held hostility towards her, she could simply pretend not to see him.
She wasn’t money, and she couldn’t expect everyone to like her. No, to be precise, given her original personality, temper, and not-so-outstanding appearance, no one had really liked her so far, except for her relative, Akihiko Fukada, and that blind, cheap boyfriend, Sato Shinichi.
Indeed, if you’re not good-looking, you don’t even have the right to be saved, do you?
And Noyoru Yokota, who didn’t like her very much, was a perfect colleague for her. There was no need for interaction. For Kazumi, who didn’t like to interact deeply with people, this place was simply heaven!!
Compared to the company atmosphere that was written as “humanity” but read as “exploitation,” Kazumi had always disdained it. Everyone was out there to earn money by contributing their labor. Was there any need to play fancy games? Finishing work on time and getting paid for the amount of work done was much better than all those flashy things.
Yesterday’s first day of work also went very smoothly. Although the tall, thin black-haired boy couldn’t hide the disgust in his eyes, his professional ethics were quite good. After briefly teaching her some operations she needed to learn, he quietly stepped aside to attend to his own tasks.
Basically, their division of labor was that Kazumi was responsible for the hot food like oden and sausages and the side cashier, while Noyoru Yokota was responsible for the main cashier. The two people who didn’t seem easy to talk to didn’t have much communication, but they were surprisingly cooperative at work.
Moreover, to Kazumi’s surprise, when there were no customers during free time, Noyoru Yokota was also hiding behind the counter, looking through an old notebook and reciting something. His diligent and hardworking appearance didn’t match his thoroughly delinquent aura.
She silently refreshed her first impression of Noyoru Yokota, the delinquent boy. According to Manager Masamori, he didn’t just dislike her; he had a particular aversion to women and was only able to attend Shikoku Junior High School with the manager’s financial support.
[In short, he’s just a lucky unfortunate person……]
She stretched her body silently. The lingering comfort from the delicious food was still around Kazumi. She had to admit that Sato Shinichi was really considerate!
After she visited him yesterday, knowing she would come today, Sato Shinichi had specially prepared dinner for her.
Kazumi had initially wanted to refuse, but Sato Shinichi, this silly憨憨, seemed to have figured out what she liked?
He specially prepared a large portion of high-quality ingredients for her: soup, meat, and even a dessert.
This made Kazumi instantly forget her long-desired cheap bento and shamelessly enjoyed the incredibly delicious dinner with Sato Shinichi.
She blinked her mouth. The taste of the tender and fatty beef still lingered between her lips and teeth. The cheesecake for dessert directly hit the girl’s sweet spot. Even the way she looked at Sato Shinichi became much gentler, and she even started looking forward to what she would eat for dinner tomorrow.
Sato Shinichi, this meal ticket, was really exceptionally useful!!
Thinking about all sorts of things, this period was a rare moment of relaxation for Kazumi. She didn’t have to study knowledge assiduously or think about how to proceed in the future.
It was like commuting home on a Friday evening after work, a rare breathing space for corporate drones. It was only during these short moments that she could truly feel that she was a person, not a working machine.
She walked along in a daze, feeling the comfort of having an empty mind. The pitch-black night sky also gave Kazumi a sense of security, as if she belonged to the darkness.
She walked swaying to the entrance of Star Bikini Supermarket. Kazumi looked up inside but found that the counter was empty.
“Hmm? Where is he?”
She looked around the convenience store with some confusion, confirming that Noyoru Yokota was not stocking shelves inside.
“That’s not right. Leaving an empty store like this at this time.”
Kazumi frowned. Regardless of whether he was hostile towards her or not, such irresponsible behavior made her very displeased.
She took out her mobile phone to call Manager Masamori to report the matter, but from the alley next to the supermarket, she heard some familiar fighting sounds.
