Volume 1 - CH 24

“Tendo, will you wait at the store for 30 minutes? You can order anything you like.”

For some reason, the manager said something like that to me, and I moved from the office to the restaurant and took a seat at the counter.

“That girl who just came in, does she want a part-time job?”

The person who spoke to me was a senior part-time worker.

She is a college student who works a shift mainly when she does not have classes.

She counts as an old-timer in this store, and I was trained by her.

“Yes, I brought her here because she is a classmate of mine and happens to be looking for a part-time job.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You’re available on Sundays, right?”

You ask the same thing as the manager.

Indeed, both the manager and the senior manager are almost guaranteed to be in every Sunday.

The store must be very short on staff on Sundays. Well, I’m almost always on shift on Sundays too.

I make some small talk with my senior, order my usual blended coffee, and wait for the interview to be over with my phone in hand.

They said it would be thirty minutes, so it should be over soon.

“Oh, thank you for waiting.”

My coffee order finally arrived.

It took a long time, but was there ever a staff member with a voice like this?

I looked away from my phone screen to the face of the staff member who brought me my coffee, and there stood Himekawa, dressed in her coffee shop uniform.

Coffee on a tray, the black and white maid-like uniform suits Himekawa.

And with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she is, to say the least, cute.

I looked directly at Himekawa’s face while she was holding the tray for a while, and we exchanged glances without saying a word to each other.

I was so puzzled as to how I should react or respond that I couldn’t speak or act.

Hey, if you don’t say something…

“Cute”

Suddenly, Himekawa’s cheeks turn red.

Oh, what am I saying?

In the distance, a senior is looking at me with a smirk on his face.

Why is senpai also looking at us with a smirk?

“Oh, thank you. The manager asked me to practice…”

So, that’s why you’re the one who brought my order.

She puts the coffee on a saucer from the tray in front of me.

The cup clatters until she put it on the table. Himekawa’s arms are trembling.

She trembles at first, and so did I. But once you get used to it, you can put it on the table without hesitation.

“Is that everything you ordered?”

“Yes, that’s all I ordered.”

Himekawa returns to the counter with the tray in hand.

The manager stands next to her, calling me to come over.

Is this his way of telling me to come to him?

With the coffee delivered intact, I start walking toward the manager who’s calling me.

And the manager went straight into his office.

This means he wants me to come to his office.

I went into the office and the manager talked to me. [TLN: Yeah, the manager only told Tendo to come to the office, not with Himekawa]

“She’s hired. Today is a two-hour trial job. I’ll contact her later about the actual shift.”

“I understand. Thank you very much. Then, I’m going home. Please take care of the rest.”

“Tendo, I need you to stay on shift for the next two hours.”

“What? I didn’t take a shift today.”

The manager smiles and grabs me firmly by both shoulders.

Oh, it hurts when he grabs you so hard.

The manager smiles and grabs both shoulders firmly.

Oh, it hurts when he grabs you so hard, doesn’t it?

“We were very busy through Sunday yesterday. Someone suddenly took the day off, so it was a lot of work. Right, Tendo?”

I silently put my bag in my locker and moved behind the curtains with my coffee shop uniform in hand.

How could I refuse if he said that to me!

After changing, I open the curtains and put my school uniform away in my locker.

I slightly fix my hair with wax that I had in my locker and straighten my clothes.

“Then it’s only two hours! I’ll leave after two hours!”

Leaving the office I somehow ended up working at a time when I wasn’t supposed to be on shift.

I pressed my time card firmly when I left the office, so I wasn’t working for free.

I should get paid properly.

As the manager said, I should get paid properly for my work.

I go out to the kitchen and go about my business as usual.

While doing my normal work, I also follow up on Himekawa. There’s a lot to learn, but once she’s used to it, the rest will be easy. It’s only the beginning, so let’s make sure she’s learning it well.

As Himekawa and I were washing dishes, we were approached.

“Tendo-kun, you look very different from your image at school, don’t you?”

Indeed, my hair, clothes, posture, and way of speaking all seem different.

“Because it’s my job.”

“Which one is the real Tendo-kun?”

I could not answer that one question.

The real me? What does that mean? They’re both me, right?

Is it different from Himekawa’s point of view?

Unable to answer the question, I was called by a customer and walked to the table.

TLN: Sorry for releasing an unreadable chapter at first, I fixed it already but if there’s still something weird please comment it down below. Thanks Hhhhhhhqqqqqqq in the comments for telling me about it.