CH 6

V1: NOVEMBER 9 THE FIRST FRIEND IS CONFUSING, ISN’T IT?

1

Now, after school on the day before the school festival.

With many students excited about the school festival that would finally come tomorrow in his side vision, Sandai parted with and saw off Shino going to her part-time job as usual, and then booted up the app listing part-time job offers that he had just installed recently.

Although there had been various stuff going on day by day, he hadn’t forgotten to also look for a part-time job. While he would use his PC when at home, he would use an app to look for one when outside with a free time like this.

“Let’s see…”

When he specified the area and filtered the search, rows of new job offers showed up. As he was checking it one by one while scrolling down, he suddenly discovered one that caught his attention.

‘We are looking for cleaning staff for a new, medium-sized aquarium scheduled to open on December 1!’

The conditions for this were close to ideal.

Sandai was aware that his communication ability wasn’t that high, so he was avoiding places where there might be an established circle of interpersonal relationships, but that concern now disappeared if it was to be a staff on opening day where almost everyone would meet for the first time.

In addition, the job description of ‘cleaning’ was also a welcome to Sandai. After all, he could get the job done with just minimum communication even if there was someone he couldn’t deal with.

A job offer this ideal for himself was unexpected and rare with no telling when it might appear again, so he hurriedly contacted them for an interview.

Then Sandai was told, ‘If the time is all right with you, please come for an interview now,’ so he hurriedly got back to his apartment to change to plain clothes and then headed out.

When he got near the address mentioned in the job posting, he could see a building under construction nearing completion. It seemed to be here.

There was an information board at the front entrance that said ‘Interview is this way,’ so he followed the instruction and arrived in front of a room with a paper written with ‘Interview Room’ on it.

There were many chairs lined up in front of the room, but it was deserted with no one there.

Since the opening seemed to be close, the large-scale recruitment of the main staff might have already been done much earlier. And then perhaps, after that the condition was that they were recruiting whenever they identified the personnel they might need.

“…Well, I get nervous when there’s a lot of people, so it’s just right, though.”

For the time being, he knocked on the door to let them know of his arrival. However, no voice signaling him to get inside was returned from behind the door. “Hmm?” Sandai knocked on the door once more while tilting his head; harder this time, but there was still no response returned.

“I hurriedly came here after being told to come now, but absent, huh. …Guess no choice but to wait. They know I’m coming, so they’ll probably be here soon.”

He sighed at the unexpected situation, but the other side might have their own circumstances, so to lose temper would be narrow-minded.

Sandai decided to sit and wait in a chair in front of the door.

And then before long, a girl about the same age as Sandai showed up to where he was.

From the casual outfit of a sweater with the sleeves long enough to hide her hands and skinny jeans, she didn’t seem to be here for an interview, however…

The girl was looking around restlessly. Everytime she shook her head, her evenly-cut short bob hair swayed.

“Ah… err… um… hello,” when the girl noticed Sandai, she greeted him with a very husky, androgynous-like voice and timidly gave a slight bow.

Lured by it, Sandai returned a slight bow. “Hello to you as well. Umm… Could you perhaps have come for the interview for the aquarium here?”

“Yes.”

She seemed to have come here after seeing the recruitment like Sandai.

Sandai wasn’t good at dealing with new people, and in addition those with a truly girly vibe, but they might become co-workers. Sandai decided to be as friendly as possible.

“I’ve also come here for the interview, but it looks like the interviewer still hasn’t come, so I’m sitting here and waiting.”

“Oh, I see. …May I sit next to you?”

“B-By all means.”

“Well then… Umm, I’m called Saeki Hajime, second year in high school… I’m sorry but, are you maybe the same?”

Setting aside the fact that she had guessed he was of the same age from his appearance, to think that it was a real life bokukko1.

He would always see it often in manga or anime, but it was exceedingly rare in real life.

But nevertheless, there was no particular feeling like it was out of this world; she was a strange girl who was oddly suited to it and hardly out of place.

“Second year… I’m the same as well. Ah, my name is Fujiwara Sandai.”

“Really? I’m soooo glad we’re in the same year—eh, ah, I-I’m sorry that I talk casually…”

“Aah no… we’re the same age so talking casually is… right, okay, then I’m just gonna do that. You can also go do the same.”

“O-Okay! Nice to meet you, Fujiwara-kun!.” The girl who called herself Hajime smiled carefreely.

That cheerfulness with no sense of particular motifs behind it gave off the impression of modest and gentle like that of blueberry flowers.

Surely, she must be captivating a lot of men on a regular basis. Although with so much charms both in looks and impression that it seemed natural, the one called reality would sometimes hit you with an unexpected reality.

“Ehehe,” Hajime stuck out the tip of her tongue and laughed, “but I’m glad, that the person I met was the same sex. I’m not good with women, so…” only to make Sandai’s eyes pop out of his head.

“…What did you just say?”

“Eh? Umm, err, I said I’m glad that the person I met was the same sex.”

Hajime’s appearance, no matter how you’d twist it, was that of a girl, and despite the voice being androgynous-like, if anything, was that of a girl, that was why the impression Sandai he’d gotten was completely that of a girl.

It was suddenly hard to believe for Hajime to be a man, but… the person in question also didn’t seem to be lying. Sandai rubbed his eyes again and again in worry, wondering if his eyes had gone crazy, but that still didn’t change the reality.

A normie with crazy high communication ability might be able to give the correct response in an instant even in such a time, but it was impossible for Sandai. He could only be baffled, and looked away to flee from the mismatch between reality and his perception.

“Fujiwara-kun, you’re suddenly looking away, what’s up?”

“It’s… nothing.”

“? Ah, is there maybe something on my face? Where is it? Hey c’mon tell me.”

“D-Don’t come any closer.”

“Aww why~? C’mon.”

“It’s not good.”

“C’mon, I’m not gonna do anything weird, I just want you to tell me. …I wonder where. My cheek?”

Maybe this considerably close sense of distance was the embodiment of Hajime’s ‘I want to get to know you quickly’ feeling. Or perhaps, Hajime would like to be friends with Sandai, going beyond the category of co-workers or acquaintances.

But Sandai was hesitating and troubled; he had never gotten any friends because he had been a loner for so long. He got no idea about that sort of thing.

He knew how to treat a lover, however…

As Sandai was lightly scratching his head wondering what to do now, a woman around her mid-twenties wearing a cardigan showed up from further down the hallway.

“Let’s see… Are you two the ones who came for the interview? You were surprisingly quick. I guess I ended up making you wait. I’m sorry for coming late. Then I will start the interview. Come with me into the room. …You can sit in any empty chair over there.”

She seemed to be the interviewer. If he were to be alone with Hajime, he would surely end up thinking about this or that, so it was perfect timing.

Sandai entered the room and sat on an empty seat as told. Having entered the room a step behind, Hajime sat next to Sandai.

“Then to start with… I think I’d love to see your CV.”

Sandai handed her an envelope with his CV inside.

“And mine…” Haijme submitted his CV as well.

As the interviewer took turns comparing the CV she had gotten, “Ooh… So you both are high schoolers? Well, from the looks it seems that way, though. And so… if I remember correctly I think the desired position from both of you is cleaning. As for Fujiwara-kun, I somehow understand from how he seems, but Saeki-cha… eh, s-so you’re a boy. I-I see. Oh well. Saeki-… kun, you have a cute appearance, so I feel like it’s a waste, I guess. You seem suited to putting on some cosplay and standing in front of people, though?”

Apparently Hajime also wanted to do cleaning. Sandai was under the vague impression that Hajime seemed to want to work in a position that would appear in front of people, so it was unexpected.

When Sandai glanced at Hajime, Hajime was trembling with his cheeks dyed bright red redder than a ripe apple.

“Well, umm, I was forced into a strange outfit at my previous part-time job… and it was so embarrassing. …I was made to serve customers in a qipao for girls, and there were also older men looking at me with strange eyes…”

Contrary to that appearance and personality of his, there seemed to be a really good reason as to why Hajime wished to do cleaning in which he wouldn’t appear in front of people.

Simply listening to his words, it might seem like he had just been taking part in a fun event, but the important part was how the said person felt about it.

Hajime looked like he would burst out crying at any moment. He saw it as a past that would be painful to recall.

“…I think I’ve asked something I shouldn’t. I’m sorry. …I’ll make sure not to bring it up again.”

“No, It’s the fault of my weak heart.”

Sandai somehow got curious and imagined Hajime in qipao, despite thinking it was a bad taste.

However at the same time, Shino all of sudden popped up in his imagination. Shino pouted her cheeks like a hamster and swung her arms around to start erasing Sandai’s imagination.

He simply had just imagined a feminine guy in qipao; of course no ulterior motives, and Shino herself was not here either.

And yet, it was strange as it was making him feel like he had done something bad.

2

“Well then, this will conclude the interview. As for the pass or fail, you are both hired. The truth is, I’d like to say that it will be told after a screening process, but cleaning is not that attractive and we don’t receive enough applications to warrant one.”

The interview went smoothly, and fortunately cleaning wasn’t that attractive, so the result was decided on the spot.

“And so… you will be doing training on the cleaning procedures, but as expected it won’t be today so on another day, okay? It’ll still be under construction for several days after all. I’ll contact you about the date and time of the training later on. Also, this came in the end, but I’ll introduce myself. I’m Omaki Mika. I’m more or less the vice director and my age is 28,” the interviewer—Omaki introduced herself, and then lightly announced, “and then you can leave now.”

It seemed to be over with this.

It was Sandai’s first time to have an interview for a part-time job which made him plenty nervous, but he managed through it somehow. He sighed in relief.

And then, “Hey, Fujiwara-kun,” Hajime tugged on Sandai’s sleeves.

“What’s up?”

“…We both passed, huh?”

“Ah… You’re right.”

“I think there will be, like, times when we both have troubles, or things we want to consult each other about. That’s why… umm.” Hajime pulled out his phone and gripped it tight. “I hope… you can tell me your contact address. …Is it a no? It’s weird for co-workers to not know each other’s contact, you know?”

Certainly, there would probably be times when they would have to contact one another or exchange information for a bit, so there was a point in exchanging contact address.

But nevertheless, that way of saying that was filled full with cunning cuteness that made it strangely hard to refuse.

It didn’t seem Hajime was aiming for it, but… Sandai felt that this was probably the cause why Hajime had been forced into weird outfit in the past.

“It’s okay… right?”

“…Well I guess so. I guess it’s better to know.”

“Thanks! I’m so happy, ehehe. Then your phone number, email address, messaging app ID, and then SNS ID where you post photos and short videos, and also…”

“H-Hold on, I don’t have any apps like that.”

“Is that so?”

“Just look at me. I’m an asocial loner just like how I look here. I almost never do any SNS.”

“Hmmm… You do look reserved, but not so much as to be asoci… I mean, there’s no law saying you can’t do SNS if you’re asocial, you know? I mean, I’m a more asocial type myself.”

“You look like the social type to my eyes, though.”

“That’s not true. …This is a good chance, so you go install the app too, Fujiwara-kun. C’mon, let’s take a selfie and post it. And adding some hearts on it and making it look like a couple.”

“D-Don’t wanna.”

“Eeh~.”

Sandai was overwhelmed by Hajime’s close sense of distance, but he was able to come to a conviction thanks to it.

The fact that Hajime would like to become his friend.

He was in a lot of confusion in the face of an existence that could become his first friend, but he didn’t feel bad about it. In some respects, there was softness in Sandai’s expression as he gazed at the new contact address registered on his phone.

However, there was also a point that bothered him.

It was Shino.

Sandai was slightly troubled not knowing how Shino would take in Hajime’s existence, but… he thought of hiding it for now.