CH 39

9-12 minutes 20.12.2021

Mitsuhiko Okaya and the others are spending their vacation in Karuizawa staying at a luxury hotel.

At the same time, Okaya’s ex-wife, Misae Nagano,

Misae was at an internet cafe.

“Ugh ……”

Misae squirms and sits up.

What she feels immediately is an intense cold.

“It’s cold. ……”

The air conditioning in this internet cafe is on full blast.

In the midst of all this, Misae was using the many layers of blankets lent out free of charge to keep the cold at bay.

“This sucks ……”

She is staying in the flat seat space of an internet cafe.

She can lie down, but she has to curl up to sleep.

She once made Okaya buy her an expensive bed, saying that she couldn’t sleep without a luxury bed. ……

Misae, however, has no choice but to sleep in a flat sheet like this.

This is because she has no money.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

Misae wobbled over to the door of the room and slid it to the side.

There are a number of similar reading areas lined up.

There are also private rooms, but they’re more expensive and she’s forced to use a flat sheet.

And to be honest, it’s not the most secure either.

There is no roof, the walls are thin, and the voices of the people next to her can usually be heard.

“…………”

She heads for the shower room.

All Internet cafes nowadays offer free showers.

There are also towels available for rent and a good selection of toiletries, which is very useful for Misae, who has no money.

Just then, a happy-looking couple walked up in front of her.

“Which one is it?”

“The comic book adaptation of Digimath is really interesting.”

“Heeh!　I want to read it too!”

“Let’s read it together.”

The aura of happiness emanating from the couple brought a black feeling to Misae’s heart.

Tsk, Clicking her tongue, Misae stepped aside from the woman.

Don!　She purposely bumps her shoulder and clicks her tongue as she passes.

“No, what’s with that old lady ……”

“Stop. She’s a refugee from an Internet cafe. It’s better not to get involved. ……”

Ka……!　Misae’s blood rushed to her head.

Internet cafe refugee. It was the last thing she wanted to hear.

“Hey you, ……!　Who says I’m an Internet cafe refugee? ……!”

Misae raised her voice and lashed out at the couple.

The couples were frightened, but soon turned their scornful eyes towards her.

“You’re a refugee from an Internet cafe, right, old lady?”

“How many days have you been wearing that dress? Honestly, it smells.”

As a woman, it was nothing but humiliating for Misae to have her smell pointed out to her.

“S-s-shut up!　It’s defamation!　I’ll complain!”

Gyāgyā, that’s when she started yelling.

” Customer.

“Aa?!　What!”

A shopkeeper who had heard the commotion came over to Misae and the others.

“What’s going on?”

“This old lady took the liberty of pestering me and started making a scene. It’s annoying, you know?”

“Haa……?!　What the hell!　You guys made fun of me!”

It’s true that they made fun of her.

But it was Misae who made the fuss bigger.

“I’m sorry, customer, but could you please leave?”

Now, ……, Misae’s face turns pale.

“Why?　I’ve already paid you!”

“How many times have you been warned?”

The shopkeeper gave Misae a scornful look.

Yes, this has happened more than once.

Misae is now envious of everyone who is happy, except herself.

A few times, she has poked fun at couples or people with children who come to the cafe.

There were many times when she was warned for it.

“Please leave now.”

“I-I can’t!　Because ……”

She had no one to stay with, no one to rely on ……, and most importantly, no money.

“Just get out of here or I call the police, okay?”

Misae’s mind replayed the trauma of the past.

She had been caught once before, and she didn’t want to relive that humiliation again.

Her father was furious with her, and her mother looked down on her …….

She didn’t want to go through that again. ……

“I-I get it! I will just leave!”

Midnight.

Misae gets kicked out of an internet cafe and heads to the next one.

But …….

“Why!　Why doesn’t anyone let me in!”

She is currently sitting on a park bench.

[She doesn’t know why, but] Misae has been banned from the surrounding internet cafes.

Information was spreading that Misae was causing trouble at various Internet cafes and was being kicked out each time.

“I don’t…… want to be …… homeless!”

But even if she wanted to stay at a business hotel, she would need money.

But …… she has very little money now.

“Damn it!”

Misae was irritated and made a phone call.

“Yes, this is Deli (Super Paradiso). [Escort service]

…… Of course, Misae is not the one who uses the Deli.

She is working for them.

“Hey, manager!”

‘Oh, Misa. What’s wrong?”

The person on the other end of the phone is the manager of this Deli.

Misa is Misae’s first name.

“You haven’t had any customers lately!　What’s going on?

She couldn’t even get a part-time job at a regular restaurant or convenience store, so she finally resorted to working at a delivery health club.

At first, she got quite a few appointments.

Even though she was rotten, Misae was quite a beautiful woman.

She was also relatively young.

Because of that, she was getting a lot of appointments at first.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any nominations for Misa”

“W-why?”

“Hmm. I’m sorry to say this, but Misa doesn’t give a good impression to the customers.

The manager’s words were mild, but they contained a somewhat accusatory nuance.

“We get a lot of complaints from customers.”

“Why!　I’m doing it properly, right?!”

“You know, we’re in the customer business.　You have to be more friendly. Misa, you look really uncomfortable with them, right?

Doki, her heart jumped uncomfortably in her body.

“You’re getting paid, but that’s not a good attitude.”

“W-w-what is the problem!　I’m lending my body to a bunch of creepy old men that I don’t even like!　You can’t even thank me for that!”

Misae was proud of the fact that she was once the wife of Okaya, an employee of a major publishing company.

Perhaps it was because of this pride that she could not help but smile to her customers…….

As a result, more and more customers were leaving Misae.

“You know~……… Nagano-san.”

The manager’s tone became low.

“You’re fired!”

“Wha!?　F-fired!”

“Yes. You’re fired. Thank you for your hard work.”

But Misae hurriedly said over the phone.

“Why!?　Why am I being fired!”

“Yes. You’re too …… lax about your job and working.”

The manager said with a sigh.

” Listen.　Work is compensation for labor. Labor is the act of doing a job that someone doesn’t want to do, but is paid to do.

“I know that much!?　Are you making fun of me?!”

“No, Nagano-san, you don’t understand. Working and getting paid for it is a big deal. The money you get from your messy play is the money that the men you avoid have worked so hard to earn.”

The manager said coldly.

“Your work is too messy. You don’t understand the value of …… money. You’ve been in a situation where you didn’t have to work to get money.”

“S-Shut up! How dare you!　You’re just a young man!　Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“A naive, old hag.”

In an instant, her head boiled.

She knew she was naive, and she knew she was no longer young.

And it was the last thing she wanted to hear from …….

“S-shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!”

But even though she shouted ……, the manager replied calmly.

29…… oh, you’re already 30, right? At that age, with that attitude, you’ll probably never change your personality. You can’t work in the sex industry if you’ve lost your only advantage.

“Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutt uuuuuuuppppppppppppp!”

“Later Old hag”

Mumble ……!

She was alone in the park, slumped over and shaking.

“I’m not naive!　I’m not old!　I’m …… I’m!”

But …… flashes back in her mind.

That’s what she was told …… when she was interviewing for a part-time job.

“Eh 29? No, I’m looking for someone a little younger.”

“You’re a little too lax, you know. Honestly, you’ve got the worst attitude I’ve ever seen.”

We can’t hire someone as socially inept as you. ……”

…… So, Misae kept getting rejected from interviews with the same words.

“Working is …… so much …… harder than finding a job. ……

Once, Okaya, her ex-husband, was a novelist.

Misae made fun of Okaya .

Her husband worked like an idiot until midnight to write a novel for children to read.

He wrote and erased, sparing no time to sleep, even though he was almost sick.

What an idiot, Misae thought.

She wondered if it was necessary to put so much effort into such a trivial book.

And even after all that effort, Okaya’s book did not sell.

When he was told by her editor that the book would be discontinued, he went …….

Okaya collapsed on the spot, tears streaming down his face.

…..When Misae saw this, she thought,

“It’s disgusting …….”

It was as if she didn’t understand why her husband was crying.

She even thought that if it was going to be cancelled anyway, why not just write a quick sentence and throw it away?

She didn’t understand anything.

She didn’t know how hard it was to work, or why he shed sweat and tears…….

And then it happened.

“Hello, good evening.”

A policeman approached Misae, probably because she was making a lot of noise in the park late at night.

Misae was completely traumatized.

She was afraid that she would be caught again.

“I didn’t do anything!　I didn’t do anythingggggggggggggggggggggg!

Misae hurriedly ran away from the scene.

She felt like a criminal, running away from the police in fear.

It was a humiliating experience.

“Damn it!　Goddamn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!