Prologue: The Sudden Beginning

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Thank you for reading this cute story, and also for your patience. This is not an official translation of this novel, and I’m a newbie at that. If you find wrong grammars and misspellings and even context, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.
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Shit Kudo, I absolutely won’t forgive you. I just wanted my holidays…

I took a sip of mineral water from a plastic bottle that has become completely warm, and coughed a few times that it can be heard by my kouhai that was seated in front of me. The late shift for work starts from 10 am, I haven’t had my lunch yet and its already 5:30 pm.

People don’t have time for breaks, the staff room is sparsely populated. The cafeteria counter was closed a long time ago, and only we only have the water dispenser and a few stacked cups for use. Finally, I got a well deserved break in between, my kouhai struggling to sit opposite of me just sighed.

“Oh, it looks like my foundation is melting…”

I stole a sideways glance at the mirror and saw my kouhai trying to fix her make-up, you can see clearly the fatigue on her face. At this state, I’m not even sure if I am hungry, I have no appetite, and even if I’m already tired I still have to return to the sales floor again. I still have to send home the staff that started early.

~Unlucky

~It should have been my day off today. For eight years, I have been working as a staff member of the beauty department. The holidays that I was waiting for, after working for 10 consecutive days. I was planning to sleep in, do some housework that I accumulated since living by myself, and I also made reservations for the beauty salon. Yesterday, I bought strawberries at the supermarket just before they closed and I thought I really wanted to make jam on my holiday. That’s all. But by 7 o’clock in the morning , I woke up from a call from my sales representative.

“Sorry, I know its your holiday today. It’s bad, can you please help at the third store today?”

“…Kudo-san, what’s the story from this morning?” I had a husky voice from waking up but it was still loud. At the beginning all I heard from the younger salesman was ‘pingya’. If I was to be woken up, I’d rather hear a cool and beautiful voice than yours.

“Sakashita-kun has gastroenteritis and had to go to the hospital urgently. No one else can cover, please just for today.”

“Sakashita-chan?I’m sorry, Kudo-san, I can’t do it. I’m very sorry. I told her many times before that she should take care of her health, she’s the type to ignore warnings.”

“There shouldn’t be any problems with the shift, it’s just she was a very narrow margin.”

“Yes, I understand but I can’t today.”

“I know, fine, I’ll manage!”

~~Really, I’m too kind, I couldn’t refuse after all. Since everyone is busy and barely managing with the people, I know the difficulty if we’re missing a person. I worked at the third store two years ago, so I knew I can handle it, and I also know some of the staff members well, so it would be easy in that respect… but I’m tired. What’s with the number of visitors today? What is going on? It wasn’t even like this on the first day of the campaign that the customers in the front counter was never ending.

“It’s very crowded… if sempai didn’t come help, there would definitely be a storm of complaints. Especially the customers in that area, I would get preached on.”

“Oh, did you have trouble before? Hmmm, I guess its difficult to serve customers, but it was just a cute grandma who usually is very lovely.”

“Only sempai would say that! Just last time, it took a little time to check out. She got so angry at the department store and the floor manager even came out and apologized, so it was very difficult.”

“I guess I was a trainer for the department, so I’m used to it. I know it may be difficult sometimes, but it takes time to get used to.”

“With that kind of history, in how short amount of time? The ‘Elderly Killer’ is alive and well…”

“What do you mean…?”

“Because there are definitely older customers who like sempai, and they will definitely come back to the with referrals.”

“Well, certainly. There will be, but I was like a grandmother, and even in the apartment where I lived, I’m surrounded by older people, so I guess I’m used to it.”

I was born eight years younger than my older brother, and with both my parents working, I feel like I was raised by my grandmother. My everyday life, school life such as class visits, it was my grandma.

My grandma was the type of person who loved housework and took care of handicrafts. For a broom or a hataki, or making rice balls on the equinoctial week. I was always attached to my grandma and became familiar with nature and the way that we lived in an old-fashioned way. She was always watching over me, as a child I was overturning the dried plums under the sun with these small unreliable hands — such a memory would surely be a way to talk to an elderly customer, I guess.

Although my parents had little time to interact with me, they were took good care of me as a child. But still I missed my grandmother who was taking care of me everyday. It’s no wonder I feel sorry thinking about it now, but there is a part where my parents welcomed me home even though they were tired from work and returned home late, and they didn’t complain even though I was acted spoiled.

My beloved grandmother died, and soon after my parents passed away in an accident. So in order to live with my older brother, we had to sell the large house and move to an apartment where many elderly people lived.

“I missed you because I had a lot of things to do. Well, why don’t you try to serve me as a sister for practise for reference.”

“Eh, I absolutely can’t do that! I don’t think I’m going to like it.”

“Yeah? Yuko-chan, I think you’re cute.”

“When I get married next year, and just I decided that my new house will be close to my parents’ home!”

I know this bright and cute kouhai has been single for the past year. Speaking deliberately, she fell exaggeratedly at the table and lamented. “Sempai is mean… I know you won’t meet anyone in this place ever.”

“Single men have no use at the cosmetics counters. Well, isn’t Kudo-san single?” I absolutely hate workplace romance. As a person, I don’t have any use for it.

I was bitterly convinced by the store before, and my kouhai agreed with a bitter smile about the sales representative in charge, who by the way is the closest man(refers to Kudo-san) . The sales floor is a women’s garden, but the manufacturers have bosses and sales representatives are usually men. The girls who work under them are the sales staff in the department stores that take the beating in the spot, and to say the least, they just don’t sell wax. The point is that the men aren’t cute, and its hard to develop such a relationship.

In addition, the situation of “being surrounded by the opposite sex” alone is really troublesome to fall in love within the workplace, it would be like a harem. For that reason alone, steady girls never have serious workplace romance. Of course, me too.

However, I’ve been enjoying my freedom after breaking up with him half a year ago, after being together for a long time. I have no use for a man who doesn’t put effort in work or in his private life… Oh, that’s why, I’d rather stay unmarried, and that’s why people getting married are declining.

“Anyway, if Chief Sakashita quit because of gastroenteritis? Sempai, please return to this store by becoming an Elite Player.”

“The disaster has calmed down, and we can keep in touch, so I think you’ll be okay. I like it at the ‘R’ site we just finished it, and I can barely keep up as it is. The head office in the morning rush is terrible.”

–The interview for the promotion had come quite a long time ago. I’ve been told about it, but it seems that it was decided by the superiors already. I’ve become the nominal manager in exchange for a little pay-raise, but I get a heavy workload and unpaid overtime. They scold me like I have the option to refuse, but in this situation, its either I accept or quit. Being an ‘Arasa’, I have no plans of getting married, so it would normally mean that I would have to have a firm position and bury my bones in the company. But I can’t stay here. Even if I know I’m being half-hearted, it is not the job that I wanted.

I guess I feel this way because I didn’t have time to think of anything so much since I arrived. Still, I lack courage or opportunity to abandon my current life and jump to a new one… Oh no. I’m tired and I’m hungry, that’s why I’m thinking about it negatively. I’ll rest tomorrow. Absolutely.

When I glanced at my watch, I let out another sigh again. “–No, I shouldn’t let my happiness runaway.”

“No we shouldn’t”

The two of us sighed, the look on her face was bitter. Under the long table of the break room, my bare feet were hanging, I put on my heels and then stood up. — Now let’s return to the battlefield.

Will I have enough inventory before the store closes? We are still serving customers on the sales floor and the counters. While I was free, I left a note on the counter saying that I need to pick up stock that was left on a separate delivery.

It seems that nobody has time to pick up the cargo at this time when the store is about to close, and there is no sign of employees in the dark receiving area. As a long established department store, it already has deteriorated. The front store has been renovated and reinforced to make it update the interiors, but the back is left alone. While feeling the history of the exposed concrete walls with stains here and there, I quickly rushed to the receiving area, the boxes where placed at the corner near the parking lot.

There is no security guard in the small booth-like management room when I arrived, on the ground in front of it, there was a cardboard box. When I looked at the shipping tag it was still addressed to our manufacturer. I signed the receipt on the slip and picked up the box. Suddenly a truck from the delivery company rolled in the parking space. It wasn’t slowing down.

~Huh? Why?

I’m at the back parking, because I had to drop off a delivery, so there’s a space for me to do a turn around. I’m a newcomer, so I’m still prone still make mistakes. Oh! When I thought I saw something it was already too late. The truck was rushing in fast enough that I can feel the wind pressure, and then suddenly it struck down the old pillars, crashing into the building walls, and finally I stopped.

The old concrete floor cracked and the ceiling came crashing down in slow motion, there was a loud sound hitting the ground. I couldn’t avoid it, it was without reason – I didn’t hit it directly, but I was wondering if this would have been a traffic accident.

Oh, that’s not what I’m going to do on a holiday. Hey, is this considered a work injury?

***

…Hmm? I felt something tickle my neck something is on my face, its getting wet… Uhm, I’m okay? I don’t understand, ok, I need to wake up, I need to get up and then suddenly slam! I felt a breath… Oh, a dog? Wow! What a big dog, like an Afghan Hound.

This is awesome! Amazing! Huh, where am I? The Sky? An Afghan Hound against the blue sky?

What?

Huh…Oh, am I lying on the floor? So was I looking at the Afghan hound’s face.

Why?

Uh, I– what happened? I can’t remember…

Yeah…. work, I was at work…

Was the truck driver okay?

So — Oh. Maybe… I’m in heaven? The sky was blue and the wind was whispering and gentle.

Grandma? My parents are going to be angry. Um, my brother, my sister-in-law, I’m so sorry and thank for cleaning up my apartment. I know its going to be time-consuming, I was an ungrateful little sister. Oh, the strawberries are going to waste, I just wanted to make jams… The first thought in my head at this time was jams.

I wonder what was that about.

But it’s strange, I feel anything else. I think I’ve lived with no attachment. Does dying mean letting go?

— Really, this ground is damp and humid. The smell of the soil and the green sap of the leaves are likely to soak in my clothes, this feels real. This place looks like the meadow I used to play as a child. Yeah, wasn’t heaven above the clouds… that old dog, where did it go?

Oh… I’m tired. My whole body feels heavy that it feels like its made of lead. I want to sleep again, yeah let’s do that…

In the corner of my failing consciousness, I heard a dog’s cry and the soft voice of a woman, she’s sounds like she’s in panic, maybe she’s in trouble, but she sounds far away.

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this is a hataki, the equivalent of Japanese Duster.

Gastroentritis as known as the stomach flu, Viral gastroenteritis is an intestinal infection marked by watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea or vomiting, and sometimes fever.

Elite Player is a person takes everyone on his team, including himself, on a higher level when it matters the most.

Nominal Manager is a manager in name only

Arasa is Japanese-made English expression that refers to a lady around her thirties. This expression is based on the English expression “around thirties (アラウンド サーティーズ)” to refer to a lady who is about to enter her thirties or who is a bit more than thirty.

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