It was a shock that could only be described as the ground itself lifting up!
My body left the ground, and for a moment I thought I floated, but then I couldn’t even stand and fell as if slammed to the ground.
The doors to the drink corner all opened at once, and I saw plastic bottles and canned drinks flying out with tremendous force.
Seeing the shelves violently shaking and scattering their contents, I instinctively tried to stand up and support them!
But even if I tried, there was no way I could support them, and the shelf came crashing down towards me.
Then, all the lights went out, plunging the store into instant darkness. At the same time, a heavy weight pressed down on me, and I couldn’t move.
Fortunately, I didn’t hit my head, but it seemed my legs were completely crushed.
What’s more, the shelves were made of steel and were quite heavy… I tried to lift them with my arms, but my posture was bad, and they didn’t budge.
In the darkness, the violent shaking, making me lose all sense of up and down, continued relentlessly!
I messed up… In a situation like this, I should have immediately clung to the wall and sat down.
Trying to support a falling shelf during an earthquake was a foolish act of epic proportions.
On top of that, I was the only one in the store right now…
To be unable to move in a situation like this, isn’t that the worst possible outcome?!
As if I were invisible, the intense shaking continued… Unable to do anything, I resigned myself to fate!
…Pieces of mortar rained down from the ceiling.
Then, a particularly large piece seemed to fall directly towards my face. With a dull thud and impact, my consciousness faded…
…As my consciousness receded, I thought of the Manager.
“Please, be safe…” I prayed.
“…”
How long had I been unconscious?
…Sometime later, the shaking seemed to have stopped, and the surroundings had become completely silent.
The store was still dark, but my eyes had adjusted, and I could dimly see the state of the interior.
Somehow, I managed to prop myself up and realized my glasses were missing.
I’m extremely nearsighted, so I’m in a lot of trouble without them… But in that situation, I should be grateful to be alive!
“…Master! You’re awake! Oh, I’m so glad, nyaa!”
Suddenly, I was yelled at near my ear, and my face was suddenly enveloped by something soft.
“Wha—! Wh-What is this?!”
Unable to help myself, I yelled and pulled it off.
…There stood a girl I didn’t know.
In the dim light, she had large yellow eyes, black semi-long hair cut to her shoulders… and for some reason, a red apron… I understood she was wearing the Eleven Mart uniform…
Did we have a part-timer like this?
More than anything, the two triangles on top of her head were hard to ignore.
They were like cat ears… a very strange hairstyle.
Or rather, who is this girl? Did we have any customers? She wasn’t affiliated with us in any way… More than anything, where did she come from? And the earthquake! How many minutes had I been unconscious since then?!
I nearly panicked, but then I remembered something more important!
“That’s right! The Manager! Have you seen a black cat in the store! Ow! Gyaaah…!”
I tried to get up in a hurry, only to remember that my lower body was still pinned under the shelf.
On top of that, my thighs started to throb with pain.
I stuck my hand through a gap, and felt a slippery sensation… I might have cut myself somewhere.
This feeling was probably… blood, and quite a lot of it.
This might be bad.
“A-Are you okay?”
The girl, who had been watching, looked around nervously.
From what I could see, she was the only one in the store… In the pitch darkness, there was nothing else moving.
The downside of a one-person operation…
If there’s only one employee, they can’t handle situations if that person gets injured, falls suddenly ill, or encounters trouble like a robbery.
This was exactly the situation.
That’s why the manual recommended having at least two employees in the store at all times, and from a security perspective, it was the only logical thing to do.
Of course, I wanted to do that if I could… but the labor shortage problem couldn’t be resolved, and I had resigned myself to the situation of the owner working alone late into the night every day.
But… there’s no point in dwelling on that now.
In any case, I had no choice but to have this girl call for help…
Whoever she was, it was lucky that someone was by my side in this situation.
In this case, an ambulance? Rescue team? Will 119 be okay? But then again, it was such a huge earthquake.
The damage to the town must be considerable… I don’t even know if the phone will work.
Fortunately, there’s no sea in Gunma, so there’s no need to worry about a tsunami after the earthquake.
There’s a mountain right behind us, but this store is located on a slightly elevated mountainside, so even if there’s a landslide, there’s no need to worry about mudflows… It’s actually a good location.
There might be aftershocks, but since the emergency earthquake alert sounded before the shaking started, it was probably a shallow earthquake with the epicenter directly below.
Comparing it to the earthquake simulator I experienced once, it felt like a magnitude 5 or 6.
During the Great East Japan Earthquake, this area also shook quite a bit, but the shaking was shorter this time, so I don’t think the damage is that severe.
If that’s the case, the damage in other areas, including the city center, might not be on a problematic level…
In fact, even with the Kumamoto earthquake, the damage near the epicenter was severe, but the neighboring prefecture suffered no significant damage, and rescue efforts from nearby prefectures and across the country poured in, establishing a rescue system at a very early stage.
Well… Japan is an earthquake-prone country.
We’ve experienced multiple earthquakes on a scale that would cripple a country abroad, like in Hanshin-Awaji and East Japan.
Buildings are sturdy… In fact, this building held up well.
It’ll be okay… we’ll manage!
In any case, in situations like this, it’s important not to panic, and not to make others panic.
We should respond as calmly as possible.
“I’m sorry… as you can see, I can’t move. And it looks like I’ve injured my leg. I’m sorry, but could you please go and call for help quickly? Please.”
The problem was that another shelf had fallen on top of the one that had fallen, putting double the weight on me.
Fortunately, the shelf had deformed and created a gap between it and the one below, so I wasn’t crushed… but even so, without heavy machinery or tools, there’s no way I can move this.
“Master, you can’t move, nya! This is in the way, so I’ll move it right away, nya!”
Master? You called me that before, what does that mean?
…Is this girl not a customer? And what’s with the “nya” at the end of your sentences?
Ignoring my questions, the girl reached for the shelf that was on top of me.
“…Moving this by yourself, a girl, is probably impossible… It’s dangerous, so step away…”
I wanted her to step away because it was dangerous, but before I could finish speaking, she effortlessly lifted the shelf.
Huh? Wait a minute, the shelves had fallen in two layers, and she did that so easily?!
“Nnnh! Hnnngh! U-nyaa!”
Even though she didn’t look like she was exerting much force, with a creaking and crashing sound, the fallen shelves were put back in their original position.
I just stared, dumbfounded.
Moreover, as if she had too much momentum, with a grinding sound, the shelf deformed and fell over to the other side…
What was that just now? Raw strength? She effortlessly lifted two stacked steel shelves and even bent them?
Is this girl a cyborg or something?
I’ve moved shelves before when redecorating or taking inventory…
These shelves aren’t light enough to move that easily, and they’re not weak enough to be bent with bare hands.
…However, I was definitely free now.
I wanted to check the condition of my leg, but I couldn’t see well without light.
My smartphone… it should have been on the register counter, but it seems to have flown off somewhere and I couldn’t find it.
That’s only natural… I hope the screen isn’t cracked.
“Ah, thank you… I’m sorry. Right! Do you have a smartphone or something you could lend me? I need light… I have to check my injury first…”
My left leg seemed fine, but my right leg felt numb and I couldn’t put any strength into it…
The pain wasn’t too bad, but I felt a pulsing, warm sensation spreading from my thigh.
…I might have cut a major blood vessel.
This is seriously bad… It was being stopped by the pressure from above, but now that the pressure is gone, the bleeding seems to have increased.
…This isn’t good.
The girl knelt down and looked at my leg.
“Master! You’re bleeding a lot, nya! It’s terrible, nyaa!”
Despite the darkness, she seemed to be able to see the condition of my injury.
“G-Get me something to tie… with, please… I need to stop the bleeding first…”
This amount of bleeding is really bad… Humans don’t die from injuries to their limbs, but with a deep wound, there’s a possibility of dying from excessive blood loss.
In fact… if I delay treatment, it will definitely be life-threatening.
I need to stop the bleeding and get medical attention at the hospital as soon as possible… but the girl just stared at my injured leg and didn’t move.
It’s no use, I guess… Unless she’s a nurse, she wouldn’t be able to provide first aid on the spot.
“…F-First, call 119… And stop the bleeding… Please! Tie something around the base of my leg… That’s fine, just do that!”
My panic was growing.
This was a life-threatening situation, no joke… I felt a chill, and my head was starting to feel foggy.
“It’s okay! I’ll handle it, nya! Leave it to me, nya!”
Saying that, as if making up her mind, the girl put her hand near my thigh.
“…Gather, light of healing! Lend a hand of salvation to the wounded! Nyaa! Nyaa! Nya nyaa!”
As she whispered, a faint, hazy light gathered around my leg.
That part of my leg felt warm, as if illuminated by sunlight, and the pain disappeared as if it were a lie.
As sensation rapidly returned to my numb right leg, a warm feeling enveloped my entire body.
I tentatively moved my leg and it moved normally… with no pain.
I touched the area that seemed to be the wound, but there was nothing there.
The only evidence of injury was my torn pants.
There wasn’t even a trace of the blood that had been gushing out…
“N-No way…”
…It was like magic from a fantasy, a major injury was healed instantly and perfectly, as if it had never happened.
No, that was… magic itself.
What on earth is she—?!
Trying to support a falling shelf during an earthquake… I did something similar during the Great East Japan Earthquake. (lol)
Midway, I thought, “This is no good,” and tried to let go, but my boss and others were desperately trying to support it, so I managed to stay in a position where I could escape and supported it until the end.
If I thought about it calmly, why would I bother supporting an empty shelf that had just been assembled?! But when people panic, they tend to act irrationally.
By the way, during the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, a relative’s uncle said that an electric rice cooker flew off and embedded itself in the wall!
And so, a cheat heroine appears! (lol)
