Episode 11: Day Four of Part-Time Life
Tuesday, day four of the job. By the time I changed into my maid uniform in the changing room after school, I was already thoroughly exhausted.
It wasn’t even about the work itself — going straight from school into a shift is just brutal, isn’t it!?
Before all this, my routine after school had always been the same: go straight home. Lounge on the bed still in my uniform, mess around on my phone, fuss over angles and lighting for selfies, eat snacks.
“I-if I work any more than this, I’m going to collapse…!”
“Eh? Riri-chan, you okay?”
Apparently I’d been muttering out loud without realizing it. Miyuki-san, using the locker next to mine, leaned in to check on my face.
“Oh, right. Here, have this — hope it helps with the tiredness.”
She pulled an individually wrapped milk chocolate out of her bag. I opened my mouth on reflex, and she fed it straight to me.
“How is it? Good?”
“Y-yes, it’s good…”
“Glad to hear it. Taming successful… just kidding, kind of?”
Miyuki-san smiled and patted my head.
M-Miyuki-san actually likes me a fair amount, right!? This isn’t just an introvert’s wishful misreading, right!?
“Good girl, good girl. So cute.”
“Ugh, ehehe…”
“Quit goofing around and get changed already. It’s almost opening time.”
I turned toward the voice to find Sora-san, already in her maid uniform, standing there with an exasperated look.
Her transformation from landmine-mode to maid-mode is still incredible every time.
“Also, Ruri.”
She waved me over, and I hurried to her side.
Since Sora-san and I, being high schoolers, can’t help with closing duties, we get a small window to talk together after our shifts end.
Just five or ten minutes, but those little pockets of time have added up — I can actually hold a conversation with her a lot better now than I could before.
“Open your mouth.”
“Y-yes ma’am.”
She popped a mint-flavored candy into my mouth.
“That’s good for your throat. You strained it a little yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Eh!? H-how did you know that…!?”
“You can just tell, watching you. Even though you’re barely raising your voice at all.”
“Ugh…”
She was right — my throat was a little sore. Before this, I’d barely talked at all after school, so suddenly having to communicate with customers constantly was putting real strain on it.
“You two get along so well.”
“Ugh, eh, yes, well, I suppose, in a manner of speaking, our friendship is progressing steadily…”
“You’re getting way too full of yourself.”
“S-sorry, sorry, an introvert getting carried away, s-sorry, um, actually it’s not progressing at all, I misspoke…”
“I never said that!”
“S-sorry, that extreme all-or-nothing thinking, typical of an introvert…”
“…Hah.”
Come on, let’s go, she said, tugging my arm along forcefully.
See, Sora-san and I really are getting along well, right!?
Might just be a painfully deluded introvert’s wishful thinking. I don’t have any friends besides Maria, so I have no idea how you’re even supposed to make one.
But looking at Sora-san’s faintly reddened cheeks, I couldn’t help thinking — yeah, it really is going well.
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“Aaah, there you are! Ruri-chaan, I missed you so much…”
Just past 9pm. Right before last order, a woman on the verge of tears walked into Sweet Stella.
Her hair, tied back in a low ponytail, was slightly disheveled, and behind her glasses her eyes carried the weight of exhaustion. Her worn-out suit gave off a certain melancholy air.
“Ah… Akane-san?”
“Eh!? Wait, no way, Ruri-chan just called me Akane-san!? Y-you remembered my name!?”
The instant I said her name, the exhausted woman — Akane-san — lit up completely. Her whole expression transformed, and she stared at me with sparkling eyes.
“Y-yes. Um… you came in yesterday too, right? You got a cheki with me…”
She’d shown up right before last order yesterday too, if I remembered right — her look (a corporate worker at the absolute end of her rope, paired with a striking face) had stuck in my memory.
More than that, the moment she saw my face, she’d bought chekis right up to the limit.
To avoid overcrowding, there’s a rule that each visit is capped at five chekis. When I explained that to her, Akane-san immediately bought all five.
“Ruri-chan actually remembered my name, I’m so glad I’m alive…!”
“Th-that’s a bit much…”
Compared to when I started, I could talk with customers a little better now, bit by bit, but I still wasn’t anywhere close to as smooth as the others.
But… just remembering someone’s name could make them this happy.
“Five chekis with Ruri-chan again today! Oh, and an omurice and an oolong tea, please!”
“C-certainly. Um, Akane-san?”
“Yes!?”
She’d definitely come to see me again today.
Even though she must be exhausted from work, and it costs money — two days in a row.
I’m happy. I want her to come again.
—I want her to think it was worth coming to see me.
“Th-thank you for your hard work today too. Um… I’m happy to see you, Akane-san.”
I’m still not as good as everyone else at the kind of lines that make customers happy.
But I wanted her to feel even a little glad.
And besides, it was completely, genuinely how I felt.
“…Ruri-chan.”
“Y-yes?”
“Please, let me give you my entire paycheck, pleeeeeeease!”
At Akane-san’s shout, Sweet Stella seemed to shake, just a little.