Volume 6 - CH 10.5

‘Good evening, Sajou-kun.’

‘Sorry for the late reply, I was taking a bath.

Evening, Ichinose-san. Is your shift over?’

‘Yes, just now.’

‘It’s already been two months, huh. You’ve gotten used to working, right?’

‘No…not fully.’

‘You don’t need to be so polite via messages. Or is it just a bad habit?’

‘Yes…Ah, well, it’s like I’m writing a letter…’

‘Talking about a letter, I actually tried writing you a letter of my own, and I ended up with a similar tone, haha.’

‘Huh? You thought of writing me a letter?’

‘You sent me one before, asking me to add Sasaki-san, right?

I couldn’t do it at all…’

‘So you couldn’t…Was it left unfinished? Do you have it somewhere?’

‘Ah, well…It was just on a whim in my notebook, but that page is already gone.’

‘……’

‘I mean, I’m sorry.

Since you gave me a letter, I wanted to write one back, but my heart broke first.

Maybe a letter would have been better after all?’

‘No, um…I just admire the idea of exchanging letters, so.’

‘I see…Then I guess I should try a bit harder.’

‘Huh…?’

‘I mean, you talk a lot when we chat like this.

I figured it’d be best if we could switch to letters as well.’

‘Um, I’m sorry for not responding yesterday, Sajou-kun.’

‘Totally fine. Something wrong?’

‘I was just thinking. That…writing letters might be nice, after all.’

‘Well, it’d be with someone who doesn’t even know how to write letters, you know?’

‘T-That’s not…’

‘I know, you had your own thoughts about it.’

‘Yes, um…’

‘You don’t have to force yourself to say it.’

‘No! I just want to…!’

‘Holy smokes, it feels so weird to see you use “!” in your messages…’

“I have trouble finding it, actually…’

‘Huh? You have the same type as me, right? It should be to the right of the “Wa” button.’

‘That would be “?” for me.’

‘Press it for two seconds.’

‘!!!!!’

‘Wahaha, there it is, lol. By the way, it should also show up as a candidate if you type in “Shock”.’

‘You’re right! It does!’

‘Ichinose-san?’

‘Now I can show my excitement!’

‘You’re right, lol.’

‘Why are you laughing!’

‘Was just imagining you all excited, haha.’

‘All excited!’

‘Please, my stomach…it hurts www’

‘What does “w” mean!’

‘wwwww’

‘I’m sorry…I took things too far.’

‘It’s fine, I had a good laugh, lol.

It’s better to be honest than act as someone you aren’t.’

‘Um, about the letters…’

‘Yep.’

‘If we really switched to letters, we wouldn’t be able to talk as easily as we can now.’

‘That is true. It’ll take a lot longer.’

‘And…I don’t want that.’

‘I see. Well, your letter was pretty cute, you know.’

‘In what way!’

‘Sorry, sorry, lol. I wasn’t making fun of you.

Just the way you explained the part about Sasaki-san and everything.’

‘Was she…angry?’

‘Definitely was. She almost chewed my ears off about how I dared to just leave without telling her anything.’

‘She did tell me about that.’

‘Via a message?’

‘When she came to the bookstore. She laughed a lot.’

‘I see. She’s as kind as always, huh.’

‘Um…I hope you take care of her not as a customer, but as a junior.’

‘That’s what I plan to do. Well, she sure doesn’t look like a junior.’

‘…’

‘I wasn’t comparing her with you, okay?!’

‘Sajou-kun…you had mistaken her for a university student…’

‘Let’s drop this topic, mkay?’

‘Is your work over?’

‘Good evening, Sajou-kun. My shift just ended, yes.’

‘Ah, yeah, evening. Sorry for the abrupt message.’

‘Is it weird for me to say “Good evening”, I wonder?’

‘Hmm…I think I only see it when I’m talking to you, Ichinose-san.’

‘Maybe I should stop?’

‘Nah, I think it’s great. It’s part of our conversation.’

‘Um…so, what’s up?’

‘Well, I didn’t contact you for an entire week, so I wanted to say sorry.’

‘You don’t have to apologize…’

‘Did any weird customer trouble you today?’

‘Sajou-kun, you sound like Onii-chan and Dad.’

‘Urk…’

‘Not today, but…from time to time.’

‘Wha, will you be okay?’

‘I got a buzzer so I can call over Gramps if I need help.’

‘O-Okay. That…should be good, then?’

‘Recently…’

‘Hm?’

‘Just as you said last summer break, I’ve been trying to work on myself.’

‘Really?!’

‘Really!’

‘www’

‘I’m sorry, Ichinose-san.’

‘Actually, I was influenced by one of our messages…’

‘Oh, really?’

‘I’ve been watching videos with high school girls.’

‘…Hm?’

‘Huuuh? Wazz ya problem?’

‘Hold up, hold up!’

‘Yes.’

‘You only use this kind of tone in here, okay? Don’t you dare use that with your family or at school.

They will be shocked. Also, you don’t have to work that hard, you know?’

‘Are you sure…?’

‘Let’s go with the buzzer. Having Gramps help you is more than enough.’

‘If you say so…’

‘Wait, you said your shift just ended, right? Are you outside right now?’

‘On my way home.’

‘Wait, at night? That’s dangerous.’

‘I have a flashlight with me, and a crime-prevention buzzer.’

‘Is that really enough?’

‘This flashlight can light up the way for 300 meters ahead.’

‘Wat.’

‘I was warned to not peek inside the light…’

‘Your family is quite serious, I see.’

‘They forced this onto me when I said I wanted to continue working…’

‘Must have been a shock.’

‘When I looked up the cost of it, I said I would repay them with the money I earned, but they flat-out declined…’

‘Give the girl something, dangit!’

‘Good evening, Sajou-kun.’

‘Good evening, Ichinose-san.’

‘Sasaki-san came to visit today.’

‘Oh, really?’

‘She was sad that she couldn’t meet you, you know…?’

‘Sent me a message as well. Makes my senior heart burn strong.’

‘She mentioned that she’d stop by at the culture festival.’

‘Seriously? Guess I’ll have to show her around, then.’

‘Yep. Ah…I actually wanted to talk about that…’

‘Should probably make a group for that. I can add you later.’

‘A group…! Yes!’

‘I just asked her, so I’ll make it once I get an answer.’

‘Yes!’

‘A great response, I dare say.’

‘I think you can see the stars tonight.’

‘Sure did. Albeit faintly.’

‘You seem busy lately, Sajou-kun.’

‘Well…I think it’ll be over soon.’

‘I see…’

‘Did I make you worry by any chance?’

‘No, I knew that out of all people, you’d be able to clear things up.’

‘So much trust and pressure!’

‘But…you looked a bit exhausted.’

‘Wha, seriously?’

‘When I took shelter behind you, you kept on sighing…’

‘Maybe you should just get used to Shirai-san and the others?’

‘With this flashlight…’

‘Don’t make them go blind. At least keep it to the buzzer.’

‘If you’re almost done…will you stop being busy?’

‘…Hm? Probably?’

‘Then…um…’

‘What’s up?’

‘If you have time, during lunch break…’

‘Hm?’

‘Well…’

‘Yeah?’

‘Sajou-kun, if I want to start a call…what button do I have to press…?’

‘Ichinose-san, about last time.’

‘Huh? Ichinose-san?’

‘Ah, err, wrong chat, soz!’

‘Sajocchi, wait a damn second!’