Lea’s Part-Time Job Life

Tsumiki Nozomuno was, quite literally, fatally bad at cooking.

After a complicated series of events about two months ago, I’d agreed to become her taste tester. And once again, today I was at her family’s cafeteria, Nozomiya, to sample her food. But this time, the fish (?) dish that she offered me exploded. It was quite possibly the most confused I’d ever been in my life.

An indescribable silence descended on the cafeteria.

I wasn’t the only one who was shocked. Tsumiki, the chef; Tetra, the waitress; and Lea, a Nozomiya regular, were all standing there aghast, covered in pieces of fish. Since when did fish... explode?

“Tsumiki.”

“...What?”

“Over the past two months, your food’s about killed me several dozen times, but... I never thought...”

“What? Out with it.”

“Fine, I’ll just come right out and say it.”

I slammed my hands against the table and stood up.

“I never thought I’d see the food I was just about to eat blow up on me! Have you finally decided to just kill me?!”

“Of course not! Sometimes food just explodes!”

“What kind of food explodes?!”

“Surströmming.”

“That’s just a can filling up with gas and bursting!”

Sometimes cans of surströmming, the smelliest food in the world, would explode because the herring inside would ferment, releasing gas and building pressure inside the can. But even so, the food itself never blew up.

“Oh, jeez! Just shut up and eat it!”

“Eat what—Mwgrah!”

Tsumiki forced some of the leftover pieces of fish into my mouth.

“How is it?”

“Mm... Mmgh...”

She looked so serious that I felt like I had no choice but to at least chew it. But when I bit down...

Boom!

“Bwhragh?!”

I-It exploded in my mouth! The blast, which was literally inside my head, made me black out for a second. I fell backwards to the ground, but Tetra helped me up again.

“Rekka, are you all right?”

“Y-Yeah. It was a small one, so it’s not going to kill me.”

“I’m glad... I guess I shouldn’t have let Tsumiki do any cooking with strange space food.”

“I really wish you’d realized that earlier!”

“I mean, I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

The space food she was talking about was a fish from Berano, the planet we’d just visited. Rain, the planet’s princess, had moved into town, so Tsumiki had asked her for some. Nozomiya’s menu was already different from your regular cafeteria, but this was getting even weirder. Intergalactically weird.

“So, you’re not going to eat any more, Rekka?” Lea asked as she pointed to what was left of the fish.

“Yeah, you can take care of it.”

“Thanks,” Lea said happily as she eagerly picked up a pair of chopsticks and chowed down on Tsumiki’s failure of a dish.

“No matter how many times I see you do that, I just can’t believe it... Is that good?”

“Yes. It’s good.”

Bang! Hers exploded, too.

“Mmm!”

But she didn’t mind. She kept picking up the little pieces with her chopsticks and popping them into her mouth one after another. I knew she liked unusual foods, but this took adventurous eating to a whole new level. A dangerous one, even. And if she enjoyed this stuff, what in the world was her day-to-day diet like?

Huh... Well, she was probably capable of eating normal food. I’d just never seen her do it.

“Hey, Lea.”

“Hm?” Lea swallowed before she turned towards me. “What is it, Rekka?”

“What do you usually eat?”

“Huh? What do you mean by usually?”

“Like, on days you don’t come to Nozomiya? You never really struck me as the home chef type.”

“Same. But I can’t see you buying lunch at a convenience store, either,” Tsumiki joined in.

“You don’t cook, Lea?” Tetra asked as she brought us all cups of water. She seemed interested, too.

“Nah. I used to only eat food raw or roasted over an open fire, so I’m honestly amazed at this thing that you humans call ‘cooking.’ Eventually, I want to try it for myself.”

“...When you do, just don’t learn it from Tsumiki.”

“Shut up!”

“Gyah!”

Oww... I took a karate chop with a plate. Right on the nose, too.

“But if you’re not cooking for yourself, then what do you eat when you don’t come here?” Tsumiki repeated my question from a moment ago.

“I don’t really eat when I’m alone.”

“You don’t get hungry?” Tetra asked.

“Well, I spent millions of years without any food. I can go a few days without eating.”

“Then... Don’t tell me the only thing you’ve really eaten since coming to the surface has been Tsumiki’s cooking?!”

I was terrified at the thought. Tears were forming in the corners of my eyes... And then I got hit with the plate again!

“Oww! Come on, not the eyes!”

“Shut up! I don’t usually get mad, but that was certainly enough to do it!”

“You’re always getting mad!”

“That’s because you’re always making me mad!”

Tsumiki and I glared at each other. For some reason, Lea laughed.

“You two really do get along, huh?”

“No way!” we both shouted in unison.

But Lea just laughed more and finished her meal.

“Thanks for the food.”

“Glad you liked it.”

Tsumiki took the empty dish behind the counter. The conversation came to a temporary halt, but by the time Tsumiki came back, we were all talking about Lea’s eating habits again.

“Well, it doesn’t bother me if I don’t eat, but I do sometimes eat at places other than Nozomiya.”

“Oh, I see.” Tsumiki looked half surprised and a little disappointed.

“Of course, your cooking is the best. But you guys know how I lived underground for so long, right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“And so now that I’m back, everything seems so new. Sometimes I go flying around on trips just to see it all.”

Now that she mentioned it, I remembered Tsumiki saying something about that before.

“So far I haven’t left Japan, but every part of this country has its own special dishes, right? Whenever I see those, I always want to try them.”

“Huh... Even if it’s just normal food?”

“I’m not picky.”

“I see.”

I knew what it was like to want to eat something tasty on a trip.

“The last thing I had that was really good was takoyaki.”

Takoyaki, huh? Had she been to Osaka? Lea closed her eyes and looked like she was remembering the day she tried some.

“They were so soft and gooey. I couldn’t believe how good octopus is. There were so many different kinds of them, and they were all good.”

“Mmm... You talking about it like that makes me want to try some for myself.”

Did they sell those at the convenience store? If I wanted them fresh, I’d probably have to take the train to someplace with a department store.

“If you really want some takoyaki, should I ask Rain to get me some space octopus?” Tsumiki asked as she raised her hand.

Oooh, that actually sounded really good.

“But have Tetra make it,” I said.

“Tsumiki can be in charge of putting the sauce on them,” Tetra said.

“What’s with you two?!” Tsumiki started to flail her limbs in a tantrum even as she sat in her chair.

It really was kind of amazing how Tsumiki never got better at cooking. She’d gotten to the point where she was capable of putting seaweed around a rice ball or putting store-bought sauce on top of takoyaki, but that was it. I was starting to think it might actually be some kind of curse.

“Are these space octopuses any good?” Lea asked. I noticed she was leaning forward a little without realizing it.

“They’re very big. And they’ve got something like 50 arms.”

Tetra spread out her own arms to show how big they were. Lea’s eyes started to sparkle.

“Oh, I bet we could make lots of takoyaki with that. I was a little sad when the last place ran out of octopus.”

“...Huh?” We all turned and looked at Lea.

Did... Did she really just say that?

“Lea, you mean to say the restaurant ran out of octopus?”

“Yes. Why?” Lea seemed confused.

“Does that mean you ate all the octopus they had?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t really need to eat?”

“I just meant that I can store a lot of energy, not that I don’t enjoy eating. When I want to eat, I can eat as much as I like.”

“Huh...”

Come to think of it, in her Leviathan form, Lea was huge. And while she was tall, her core—in other words, Lea in her human form as she stood before us now—was still just a normal-looking girl. If that meant all the energy needed to transform into her Leviathan form was contained inside her human body, that would explain things. But there was something else I didn’t quite understand.

“How’d you get the money to pay for all that takoyaki, anyway?”

“Money? Oh, you mean those hard, round, flat things and the scraps of paper that humans use?”

“Hang on...”

Did that mean...

“Tsumiki, Tetra.” I beckoned to both of them, and they moved closer. “Hey, do you think there’s any chance Lea doesn’t know about money?”

“She knows it exists, right? I mean, based on what she just said...”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t seem to really understand it.”

I looked up.

“So, Lea, where did you get the money for it?”

“Hm? Oh, somebody would always give it to the owner.”

“Somebody?”

“It was someone different each time. Whenever I would stare at a shop or restaurant, somebody would always come talk to me... Actually, it was always a man, come to think of it. When I said I wanted to eat something, a man would always buy it for me.”

“...”

We put our heads together again.

“...They were trying to pick her up, weren’t they?”

“Lea’s really pretty, after all.”

“But she probably didn’t even realize what was going on.”

Tetra was right. She probably had no idea.

“Knowing you, Lea, there’s no way... but did any of those men do anything to you?”

“Do anything...? Hmm, when I started eating, they were all really happy, but they gradually started to act strangely as the meal went on.”

“Strangely?”

“Their eyes would start to dart between me and the food, but when I asked if they wanted some, they’d shake their heads. I’d keep eating, but they’d suddenly start shouting, ‘Please stop!’ and ‘No more, please!’ When that happened, it meant I was supposed to stop eating, I guess, so I would thank them and leave.”

My head started to ache a little.

“...She probably drained every last yen out of their wallets, huh?”

“If she was eating enough to close down the store, then yeah...”

“I don’t know who those guys were, but I feel sorry for them...”

Well, I knew exactly what those men were after, but I still couldn’t help taking a little pity on them.

“Rekka? What are you guys talking about?” Lea was staring at us, clearly confused.

“Man, I don’t even know where to start... Actually, let me ask you something first.”

“What?”

“Lea, do you have any of those hard, round things or paper things?”

“Nope.”

“I knew it...”

After I’d saved Lea’s story, I’d gotten so wrapped up in getting ready for Tsumiki’s Food Champion cooking competition that I’d completely forgotten to explain to her how money worked. There was no way she’d be able to survive in modern society without it... Right?

“Lea, have you ever run into problems because you didn’t have any money?”

“No, not really.”

“But normally you’d need food and a place to stay... Where’d you get those clothes you’re wearing?”

“These? Tsumiki gave them to me when I came to the surface.”

“I just thought that you’d stand out too much if you wore what you did when you first got here,” Tsumiki responded. “Since my skirts didn’t fit and neither did my mom’s, we ended up having to give her a pair of Dad’s pants.”

That was nice of them, but...

“Did you never notice she was in the same outfit all the time?”

“I gave her several outfits... and she’s been washing them, too.”

“Huh?”

How was she washing them if she didn’t have a washing machine?

“I washed them in the river.”

She did what?

“Rivers these days aren’t that clean...”

“That’s true, they aren’t. But, fortunately, I can control water.”

Water magic sure is convenient, huh?

“So, um... you have clothes and food, I guess, but where are you living?”

“Where do I live?”

“I mean your home.”

“My home?”

“...Where do you sleep?”

“The sea. I just float on the surface and sleep.”

Wow, yet another answer I hadn’t expected.

“It feels good to sleep on top of the waves, but once in a while, I get hit by human boats. That does hurt a little.”

For most people, that would do a lot more than “hurt a little,” but that wasn’t even what I was concerned about right now.

“So you’re sleeping outdoors. In the sea.”

“It doesn’t matter. No, I guess it does matter.” Tsumiki sighed loudly. Then she grinned as if she’d gotten an idea. “I guess I need to teach you about the importance of money. And how to get rid of sleazy pick-up artists!”

“No, it’s more important that we get her a place to live.”

“Right, right. I know that,” Tsumiki said with a nod. “My dad knows a local real estate guy. We can find her an apartment. And until she can pay rent, she can stay in my room. Tetra’s already using the guest room.”

“Oh, that’s all right! I’ll just commute from New Jizu.”

“That’s a long walk, though.”

“But...”

The two of them argued for a bit.

New Jizu was originally the artificial world where Lea had been imprisoned. But now with her gone and the seal undone, the mole people had moved in. There used to be a hole out back at Nozomiya that led straight there, but we’d sealed it up because it was dangerous. That meant if Tetra wanted to get back and forth between here and New Jizu, it would mean several hours of walking through the cave tunnels in the mountains behind the school.

“You don’t have to give me a place to stay. I’m perfectly happy at sea.”

Lea still didn’t seem to understand what the problem was.

“You can’t do that!”

“That’s not okay!”

“R-Right...”

Getting shouted at from both sides, Lea seemed to shrink a little.

“You know, my living room’s free, and I’ve got an extra futon. She can stay with me,” I offered.

“That’s even worse!”

“You definitely can’t do that!”

“R-Right...”

I got yelled at from both sides, too...

“Well, so what do we do about Lea and money for now?”

“Huh? There’s only one answer to that.”

Tsumiki looked at me in an exasperated manner and clenched her hands into fists.

“A part-time job!” she yelled.

▽

And so, three days later, I was on my way to the supermarket on the shopping street after school. Tsumiki had gotten both me and Lea part-time jobs there.

“Hey, Lea.”

“Rekka.”

Lea was waiting for me in the parking lot. She stood up from the low wall she’d been sitting on and walked over to greet me.

“Sorry, Rekka. I didn’t mean for you to have to get caught up in this.”

“No, it’s fine. Both Tsumiki and Tetra are busy at Nozomiya, I guess.”

Today I was here to support Lea.

We’d taught her most of what there was to know about money, but she was still just learning how to function in modern society. I was worried she’d run into other problems, so I’d ended up getting a short-term part-time job alongside her.

“Okay, before we go greet the manager, let’s go over your story.”

“My story?”

“First, you’re from overseas, and you’re here on a homestay program. Second, you’re 24 years old. Third, you arrived in Japan two months ago, and now that you’ve settled in, you’ve decided to get a part-time job.”

Tsumiki and I had come up with this story to explain how Lea looked.

“Where is ‘overseas,’ exactly?”

“Just say ‘the American countryside,’ and you’ll probably be fine.”

Nobody was going to ask her what state she was from, probably. Really, the hardest part was deciding on her age. She was so pretty that she could’ve passed for either a youthful woman in her thirties or a mature girl in her late teens. And the fact that her real age was at least seven figures only made things harder. In the end, we’d just decided to split the difference and say she was in her mid-twenties.

“Also, if anybody asks why you came to Japan, just say you’re into Japanese culture.”

“Got it. But is that something they’re certain to ask?”

“It’s just kind of a thing you always ask foreigners.”

I knew I probably would.

“Hmm, I see.” Lea seemed satisfied.

It wasn’t a perfect back story, but that’s why I was there to support her. Tsumiki had explained to the manager that I’d be helping out Lea, too. If I could stay with her while we were on the clock, I could help resolve any issues that came up.

“All right, it’s almost time for our shift to start. Let’s go in.”

“Yeah.”

If I remembered right, the manager wouldn’t be in his office right now, so we’d have to search the store to find him. We went through the sliding doors into the supermarket. The air conditioner made it nice and cold inside. I could feel the sweat on my skin starting to cool as I asked one of the employees where I could find the manager. I was directed to the produce aisle.

“How about a hot dog?” One of the employees, an older woman, offered us a sample.

Since I was on a mission, I just smiled and waved. I then walked over to a man in a store uniform who was working the produce aisle.

“Um, excuse me. Are you the manager?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The man looked to be in his fifties and was wearing glasses. He turned to us with a pack of vegetables in his hand.

“Hello, I’m Rekka Namidare. I believe Tsumiki Nozomuno might have told you about me.”

“Oh, yes. You’re the boy Tsumiki was talking about?”

“That’s right. Thanks for letting me work here.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you. Good to see you’ve got so much energy.” His gaze drifted behind me. “So... that’s the foreign girl I’ve been hearing about?”

“Yes, that’s... What?!”

“Hm?”

I turned around and saw that Lea was happily gobbling up the hot dog samples.

“Lea! What are you doing?!”

“She said I could eat them,” Lea said as she swallowed down another one.

The hot plate where the hot dogs had been roasting was now empty, and the lady who was handing out samples had a smile frozen on her face. I wasn’t even sure she was blinking.

“I-I’m sorry! Lea, you apologize, too!”

“H-Huh?”

I grabbed Lea by the head and forced her to bow.

“...Are these two going to be okay?” I heard the manager whisper behind us.

▽

We began our shifts by working the cash register.

“So, when you press this button on the screen, the cash drawer opens. Make sure you count the change twice before you hand it to the customer.”

“Okay, I understand.”

“...Okay.”

Lea and I both nodded at the manager’s instructions.

“All right, let’s get you some practice. You can each take turns. Switch off every few customers. It’s not busy today, so you don’t need to be in a rush.”

The manager smiled, then ran off to do some other work. We were lucky to have such a nice manager.

“Okay, let’s do this. Do you want to go first?”

“...Can you go first? I’d like to watch you before I try it.”

“Sure, I guess I can do that.”

I was still a little nervous myself, though. It was my first part-time job, too. But just like the manager said, it wasn’t busy, so it was a while yet before anybody came to my register.

Ka-clunk.

“Oh...”

The old lady at the next register over walked off. Well, there weren’t any customers, so it was probably normal to take care of other work when it was slow. But that meant that out of all five registers, ours was the only one that was manned. That made me more uneasy, but I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

It was fine. They told me that if there were suddenly too many customers to handle, I could hit the button near the register to ring a bell and someone would come to help. If things got bad, I could just do that.

Finally the first customer came to my register.

“Oh, a student? You’re new, aren’t you?”

“Yes. This is just a temporary job, though.”

“Oh, how lovely.”

The woman that walked up looked like a cheery housewife, and her basket wasn’t that full, either. She seemed like the perfect first customer.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“That will be 1,860 yen.”

“Here you are.”

She handed me 2,000 yen.

“Thank you.”

Crap... My mind went blank for a second.

“Y-Your... Your change is 140 yen. Oh, and here’s your receipt.”

“Thank you. May I have a bag, as well?”

“Oh! S-Sorry.”

“Thank you.” Instead of getting angry at how slow I was being, she just smiled.

Man, I really messed that up. I almost forgot her receipt, and I totally forgot about bagging her stuff. I also forgot to count the change, too. I don’t think I screwed it up, but the manager had just told me to check it twice.

“Ugh...”

No point in getting upset about it. I just needed more practice. As long as I didn’t forget the order, I probably wasn’t going to fail but so badly. I decided to just focus on the next customer, and by the time I’d checked out five or six people, I’d actually gotten the hang of it.

“Your change will be 500 yen. Thank you very much!”

Whew... I finally got through a checkout without making a single mistake.

“...Oops.”

I’d forgotten about Lea. I quickly turned around and saw that she was standing in the exact same place as before. Had she been staring at my hands the whole time? That explained why some of the customers had been looking behind me.

“Lea, do you want to try?”

“...Okay.”

She was a little hesitant as we switched places at the register. I was a bit worried, but if things got bad, I could lend her a hand. That was the whole reason I was there, after all.

“Excuse me.”

“I’m sorry?”

I turned around to see an elderly woman with a cane.

“I’m sorry, but can you tell me where the seaweed is?”

“The seaweed...?”

Uh-oh. I still didn’t know where anything was in the store. There were no other employees around, and the old woman had come to me for help. I couldn’t ignore her. I didn’t like the idea of leaving Lea by herself, but...

“Do you know where the seaweed is?” she asked me again.

I had to do something.

“Lea, I’m going to have to go for a minute. If something happens, ring the bell.”

“B-Bell? The bell?”

“That’s right. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I took the old lady with me and began to check the shelves, but I couldn’t find the seaweed. I’d never bought any on my own, and after my mom and dad moved out, Harissa had done all the shopping.

The canned goods aisle maybe? Nope, no luck there, either.

“Do you not have any seaweed?”

“No, I’m sure we have it...”

“I don’t know what I should make my husband for breakfast then...” she said quietly.

She sounded a little unnerved, but I was feeling it, too.

“Sir Namidare, is something wrong?”

“You’re looking awfully lost, human.”

Suddenly I heard voices I recognized. I turned around and saw Suzuran holding a shopping basket. With her was Ulaula, who was trying and failing to get Suzuran to let her fill the basket with candy and snacks. Both of them were wearing their maid outfits. They were probably here shopping, as well.

“Suzuran, do you know where the seaweed is?”

“The seaweed? Answer: It’s next to the spices.”

“Thanks!” I waved at her and took the old lady in the direction she pointed. “Here we go! Sorry, this is it.”

“Thank you, sonny.”

Whew. I guess that worked out. What a relief.

“Um, is everything okay, Sir Namidare?”

“Suzuran? Yeah, you really helped me out there.”

I was really starting to panic. I don’t know what I would’ve done if Suzuran hadn’t come by.

“Question: What are you doing here, Sir Namidare? That apron seems to belong to the store. This is puzzling.”

“I’m working here.”

“Oh, I see.”

“That’s right. I’m helping out Lea... Lea!”

I’d forgotten something really important!

“Sorry! I’ve gotta go! I’ll thank you properly for this later!”

“Wait! Sir Namidare!”

“That human’s sure in a hurry, huh?”

I left Suzuran and Ulaula behind as I raced back to the cash register.

“What the heck happened?!”

By the time I got back, there was a long line at the register.

“Lea!”

“R-Rekka...” Lea turned towards me with tears in her eyes.

“What are you doing? I told you to ring the bell if something happened!”

“I didn’t know which button it was...”

I almost fell over right then and there. She didn’t know which button the bell was?! I hit it for her to call in emergency reinforcements.

“I’m sorry for the wait! Let me take those for you!”

I then switched places with Lea at the register, bowing and apologizing to the customers as I rung them up.

▽

“If you don’t know how to use things, you need to say so up front.”

“I’m sorry...”

“I’m so sorry...”

Both Lea and I apologized to the manager.

“I need someone who can use a cash register, you know.”

Ugh... This wasn’t good. The manager was starting to have second thoughts about hiring Lea.

“No, um... I wasn’t there when it happened, and I think Lea just panicked! I’ll teach her how to do it as fast as I can, so please...!” I was begging him to let Lea keep her job.

“Hmm, well, I suppose that’s true. So, Lea, what can you do?” The manager turned from me to Lea.

“Hmm... I can lift heavy things, I guess.”

“You’re a girl, but you can lift heavy things, huh? There are some people in the back unloading things. Can you go help them?”

Did he mean cardboard boxes filled with merchandise? To find out, we walked down the corridor in the back of the store that went outside, then headed for the loading dock. From a distance, we could see the shutters were open.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” an older man asked us as we approached. He was in the middle of moving cases filled with boxes and bottles.

“The manager told us to come help out!”

“I see. These are pretty heavy, though!”

“We’ll still do our best!”

“I like your spirit! All right, start by taking all the boxes off that shelf. Load them onto the cart there and move them to the rear entrance of the store.”

“Got it!”

We started hauling the boxes just like he’d told us, and he wasn’t kidding. They were pretty heavy. From the sounds they were making, they were probably filled with canned goods. I carried them to the rickety cart, panting heavily, and then pushed the cart over to the rear entrance to the store.

“Hey, are you okay, missy?!”

Once I was done, I heard the old man yell out in surprise. I hurried back to see Lea standing there, holding a stack of ten of the heavy boxes.

“You don’t need to be in such a hurry. Actually, how can you even lift all that?!”

The man didn’t know who Lea was, so of course he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“This is nothing,” Lea said casually, then proceeded to carry the boxes over to the rear entrance without using the cart.

“Lea, next time carry less at once,” I whispered to her as she walked along, being careful not to get in her way.

“Why?” she asked.

“Normal girls can’t carry that much. It’s not a good idea to stand out like that, you know?”

“All right, I understand.” Lea nodded and set down the boxes she was carrying.

As I watched her walk back for more, I couldn’t help thinking that this whole thing might be harder than I’d thought it was going to be.

“Ngwaah!”

Suddenly, I heard the old man shouting. It looked like he was trying to carry a huge load of boxes now, too.

“What are you doing?!”

“Hrrrgh! I’m a man! I won’t let a kid and a girl beat me!”

No, listen, Lea’s special! Also, I certainly didn’t carry that much!

As I tried to figure out a way to explain things to him without revealing Lea’s identity, he suddenly lost his balance.

“Uwaaah!”

“Gyaaah!”

We both screamed.

“Hmm?”

Lea came back from carrying another load of boxes, confused at the scene she walked up on.

▽

“I know this isn’t really your fault, but...”

“I really don’t know what to say. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too.”

We both bowed to the manager again.

It wasn’t directly our fault, but even so, quite a lot of merchandise had been ruined because of us. If he wanted to fire us now, I couldn’t blame him.

“...All right, you can stop bowing. Nobody was hurt, and you didn’t mean any harm, so I’m willing to give you another chance.”

“Th-Thank you...!”

Our next job was to take inventory. We went from shelf to shelf, aisle to aisle, recording how much of each product was currently in stock.

“Hmm... These snacks aren’t selling, huh?”

The label read “dried herb snacks.” They sounded healthy, but it was hard to imagine what they might taste like.

“Lea, how are things looking for you?”

“Huh? Oh, f-fine.”

“What’s wrong?” I turned towards her.

“Nothing... I was just thinking that making money is a lot harder than I thought.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“If all the men who paid for my meals worked this hard for that money, I should’ve thanked them more politely.”

“...”

She still didn’t quite get it, but I decided not to say anything.

“I’ve been causing a lot of problems for you, too...”

“Aww, don’t worry about it.”

“But...”

“It’s fine. Really, don’t worry. Our relationship might be a little different than most, but you and I have been through a lot together. I’ll stay with you until you’re happy.”

“Rekka...”

For a few seconds, Lea pensively closed her mouth as if considering what I’d said, but then she gave me a dazzlingly bright smile.

“I’m counting on you to make me happy then.”

“Yeah, leave it to me.”

When I smiled back, Lea’s eyes narrowed happily as she smiled even brighter.

“...Oh?”

It was a pleasant moment, but Lea suddenly piped up like she’d just realized something.

“Rekka, I have a question.”

“What’s that?”

“Are you allowed to put things in your pocket before you pay for them?”

“Of course not. That’s shoplifting.”

“That man over there just did it.”

“...What?!”

Lea pointed towards the alcohol section of the store. I could see a man standing there swiveling his head left and right to look around him. Both of his hands were in his pockets.

“Lea, did you see what he put in his pockets?”

“A little bottle and a little bag.”

A bottle of sake and some snacks? That fit the bill considering the aisle he was on. It wasn’t that I doubted Lea, but yelling at him didn’t seem like the right thing to do. I hadn’t seen him do it myself, and it was possible that Lea was just mistaken somehow.

I decided it was probably a better idea to talk to him first. I headed towards the shelves of beer and sake... and my eyes met his. He then turned and ran.

“Whoa!”

Crap! I’d stared at him too long.

“Damn it!” I chased after him.

“Rekka, is shoplifting bad?” Lea asked as she ran up beside me. She still didn’t seem to understand what was going on.

“Yeah, it’s bad!”

“Then is it good if we catch him?”

“That’s right!”

“Got it,” she said with a nod.

She then started to run faster. She jumped over the people and carts in front of her, and she seemed to move even faster still when she hit the ground again. She was now running quicker than any human possibly could, and she caught up to the man with no trouble.

“Taah!”

She jump-kicked him. She’d probably held back, but that only meant but so much with someone as insanely strong as she was. The man went flying through the air, smashed through the automatic doors, and rolled out into the street.

“Oh my God...”

I put my hand on my forehead and looked up at the ceiling.

▽

“Sure, the man was a thief, and I’m glad you caught him, but... You know, we’re a customer service business at the end of the day. It’s not good to go too far...”

The manager then sighed, scratched his head, and told us we were fired.

“I’m sorry, Rekka...”

“No, don’t let it bother you.”

Feeling down, we headed back to Nozomiya to tell Tsumiki what had happened.

“Huh? What’s wrong, you guys? You look a little down in the dumps.” Tsumiki was working, but she frowned when she saw how bummed we looked. “Tetra, go get the table ready.”

“All right.”

Tsumiki then led us to the living room on the second floor, and I told her what had happened.

“I didn’t think you’d get fired on your first day.” Tsumiki pressed her palm to the bridge of her nose and sighed softly. “Weren’t you supposed to be looking out for her? How did this happen?”

“I’m really sorry.” There wasn’t anything else I could say to that, so I just shrank back into my chair.

“...Well, you can’t change what’s happened, can you? We need to think about what to do next. Come on, Lea, don’t just pout in the corner.”

Tsumiki looked up and smiled at Lea, who was awkwardly sitting on the floor in the corner. She slowly staggered to her feet and walked over to us, but she still looked really down.

“...I’m sorry I’m such a failure...”

“Now now, you’re just not used to working yet.”

Despite how mean she normally was to me, Tsumiki was being really sweet to Lea.

Well, I guess that made sense. Nozomiya was doing really well right now, but it had been on the verge of bankruptcy until recently. It was only thanks to Lea that it had survived, so I could understand why Tsumiki would want to go out of her way to help Lea.

“So, anyway, about the next job I have lined up... There’s kind of a problem.” Tsumiki crossed her arms and sighed.

“A problem? Are there any weird jobs like that on this shopping street?”

“Our shopping street is quite normal, I’ll have you know. But the next job I have lined up for you isn’t here.”

“Huh? Is it really that hard to find a job here?”

“Well... Remember all the mole people who moved to New Jizu with Tetra?”

“Yeah.”

“After things settled down, a lot of them have started coming up here to work. They’re doing the same thing Tetra is, trying to learn about our culture to develop their own. So right now, most of the places around here are well staffed with new employees.”

“Huh, I see.”

The mole people (or perhaps the Jizuians?) were working hard now, huh? When I’d met them, they were all so lifeless that they were practically like zombies, but maybe things were starting to change for them. Tetra’s hard work had paid off after all. Anyway, putting that aside...

“Okay, so I get that there aren’t any jobs available around here, but what’s this about a ‘problem’?”

“Um... One of my dad’s old classmates just bought an old restaurant and renovated it, and he’s going to reopen it.”

“What kind of place is it?”

“The menu and prices are the same as a typical chain restaurant.”

“Huh? So it’s just a normal restaurant then.”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s not a chain, though. It’s just him.”

“I see. But if this is a friend of your dad’s, he can’t be that bad, right?”

“Of course not... He’s a nice guy. Personality-wise.”

“...?”

Tsumiki seemed to be doing a really good job of avoiding the point. She was choosing her words a little too carefully.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“So what is this ‘problem’?”

“Um... Well, I was actually supposed to see if any of my classmates wanted the job, but I think Lea’s close enough...”

“Tsumiki...?”

“This restaurant is...”

Tsumiki finally relented and started to explain.

▽

That Sunday was the grand opening of the new restaurant Lea would be working for, Linda Lovers.

“Okay, everybody gather around!”

Linda, the manager and owner of the restaurant, clapped his hands and assembled the employees. He was, as his name might suggest, rather feminine. Despite his personality and his tone of voice, however, he had the body of a professional wrestler.

“It’s almost time for us to open. Everybody be friendly and energetic, okay?”

“Right!” the other employees shouted in response.

“R-Right.” I wasn’t feeling so confident.

All of the employees except for me were women. Well, the manager was technically a man, but something told me he wouldn’t be happy if I singled him out for that. The awkwardness I was feeling wasn’t just because I was the only guy there, though.

“Wow, this is a really nice place, huh? I like what I see.”

R, the girl from the future who didn’t care in the least about our modern sexual harassment laws, was going around and examining each of the waitresses’ uniforms in turn.

Honestly, the uniforms here were pretty lew... Ahem. I mean to say the skirts were a little short, and the design definitely emphasized the chest. It was kind of hard to look at them directly. R might’ve been enjoying herself, but as the only guy there, what was I supposed to do? I didn’t feel like there was anywhere safe to rest my eyes.

“Hmm? You sound down, Rekka. Give me more some energy!”

“Right!”

“Non, non! You’re not just supposed to be loud. Come on, be sexy.”

“R-RIGHT!”

“Yes, that’s just fine, hun.” Linda nodded, satisfied.

I didn’t know why it was so important that I be sexy, but he was the boss, so if it was important to him, it was important to me.

The whole concept of this place, according to Linda, was “to bring out the ultimate cuteness a girl can have,” and the lew—ahem—cute uniforms were his idea. The original concept was to have an all-female staff—sort of overlooking the manager, of course—but he also wanted a male employee to have around in case something happened, so that’s how I got hired, too.

“Oh, my. Lea, your name tag’s twisted.”

“Oh... Is this right?”

“Yes, it’s just perfect, honey! Perfect! You look really cute!”

“Th-Thank you?”

At least, that’s what he said. I was pretty sure the real reason was probably just because he wanted to hire Lea. Tsumiki had introduced us both, after all.

“Listen closely, okay? This is a garden, and all of you are pretty little fairies. Your job is to heal the stomachs of modern men, who are all sick with ulcers and worry.”

“Right!”

Right... Wait, what?

“...Okay, I have to do my best...” I heard Lea say to herself.

Even if she didn’t keep this job, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be able to find another one. Tsumiki might not have anything else lined up for us, but there were still plenty of other places we could try. Even so, Lea seemed eager to put her best foot forward here and to make up for her previous failure.

Before long, it was time for Linda Lovers to have its grand opening.

▽

“Rekka, wash these plates for me, dear!”

“Yeah!”

“Rekka, be a dear and go get me the whipped cream.”

“Yeah!”

“Rekka!”

“Yeah?”

“I just felt like saying your name.”

“Please don’t mess with me like that!”

I was supposed to be in charge of the kitchen, but since the manager did all the cooking, I was sort of just helping out. I wasn’t even out in the dining room, but I was still being kept pretty busy.

The place was packed. There weren’t any maid cafés around here, but everyone had cell phones. When people came to the new restaurant and found what the manager had called “a garden filled with cute fairies,” word spread instantly. Since it was a Sunday and most people had the day off, a crowd gathered shortly after we opened.

The owner had gone a little overboard on the decorations, so there were only 30 or so seats available, but we’d had a full house almost the entire day. I’d just taken a glance outside, and there were still people waiting in line.

The prices and the dishes weren’t too different from your average restaurant, but orders just kept coming in. The manager was somehow handling all the cooking on his own, which was amazing, but the waitresses were all busy running back and forth with the orders. I had my hands full myself, but I might’ve had it the easiest out of everyone there.

Would Lea be okay like this?

When I reached a break, I took another look out into the front. I’d been told not to let the customers see me, so I tried to be discreet.

Lea was just about to take a customer’s order. She seemed to be attracting a lot of attention. Of course, from the kitchen I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it seemed like things were going okay. My idea of giving her a pen and paper instead of having her use a tablet to take down orders seemed to have paid off. The orders had to go into the tablet anyway to help determine sales at the end of the day, but I’d told her I’d help her with that later. It was the best thing I could think of to do for her.

Unlike at the supermarket, there was only one cash register here. Until Lea got used to it, the other waitresses could ring things up for her. It just meant she’d have to work twice as hard at the things she could do to make up for it.

“Rekka, go hand this to one of the waitresses.”

“Sure.”

Things sure were busy, but the work at Linda Lovers seemed to be going well. And just when things started to calm down...

Clatter!

I heard the loud sound of dishes clanking together.

“Oh? Did someone drop something? Rekka, can you go take a look?”

“Is it okay if I go out there?”

“I’m too busy to go myself. Just put on that skirt.”

“What?!”

“I’m kidding. If you want to properly wear a skirt, you’ll need to some estrogen injections first.”

“I don’t want to wear a skirt, and I don’t want any injections!”

“Stop joking around and get going.”

He was the one joking around, not me. And I contemplated that irony as he pushed me out into the front of the restaurant.

I looked around to see what was going on and spotted Lea frantically bowing.

“What are you doing? It’s all stained now!”

“I-I’m so sorry...”

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry! Wipe it off!” the man yelled as he pointed at the stain on his pants... right near his crotch.

“O-Of course.”

“HOLD IT!”

What was wrong with this guy? And why was Lea agreeing to do it?! Did she just not know any better?

“I’m sorry, sir, I’ll bring a towel immediately...”

“What, are you going to make me wipe it off myself?”

“Th-Then I’ll wipe it off for you.”

“I don’t want you to wipe it off! I want her to! She’s the one who spilled it!”

There was some logic to that, but I knew exactly what this guy was trying to pull! I could tell from that grin on his face!

“Rekka, I’ll just...”

“Lea, shut up!”

Lea didn’t seem to see what the problem was, so I was having a hard time trying to get her not to do it.

“Oh, my, what’s wrong?” the manager asked as he came out from the kitchen.

“Oh, um...”

Good timing. Hopefully the giant man in a dress could handle this.

“Who the heck are you? Are you the manager? You’re creepy as heck!”

“Waaaaah!”

“B-Boss?”

Exactly the opposite of what I’d hoped, the manager dropped to the floor and started sobbing. I never imagined he’d be that delicate.

“Get out of here, damn it!”

“Ack!”

The man pushed me hard in my stomach. It knocked the air out of my lungs for a moment, but I managed to stay on my feet.

“Rekka! Sir, I’m sorry. This was my fault. But please don’t hurt Rekka.”

“Is he your boyfriend or something?” the man yelled. “I’m pissed off here! Take responsibility!”

“Of course. Just a momen—”

“Hang on.” I stopped Lea again. “Sir... I’m sorry, but I can’t have the waitresses doing something like that. Would you be willing to just let this slide?”

“You little...!”

The man must’ve finally run out of patience, because the next thing he did was grab me by the collar and lift me up.

Ugh! He was stronger than he looked, or maybe I was just weaker than I thought. I could feel it getting harder and harder to breathe, and I could hear Lea gasp.

“I’m sorry! This was my fault, so please let go of Rekka!”

“Shut up! I’m gonna teach this kid a lesson!” he shouted as his grip grew tighter.

Man, this wasn’t looking good. But then...

“Let go of Rekka!”

Lea grabbed the man by the face.

“Gah! Owowowow!”

The man let go of me and tried to squirm out of Lea’s grasp, but she was far too strong. After just a few seconds, he started to choke and went down.

“I’m sorry, Rekka. I did it again,” Lea apologized.

“...Huh?” I asked while coughing and trying to catch my breath.

“I didn’t want to cause any more trouble, so I tried to control myself... but I guess I did it again anyway.”

“Oh...”

Was she bothered by the fact that she’d gone too far at the supermarket? Is that why she’d tried to settle this peacefully?

“Then you really didn’t want to wipe his pants off.”

“Of course not. I don’t want to touch or be touched by anyone but you... I thought if I used a giant stack of napkins it would be okay.”

“...”

That’s right. She’d been really hesitant at first. Why did I just assume she didn’t know any better? She was pretty upset about the situation, but she was so determined to do a good job that she just kept it in...

“You didn’t have to do that.”

I stood up and wiped the dust off my apron. Either way, what was done was done. We’d caused trouble on the clock again, so we were probably going to get fired again, too. I started to wonder what kind of job we should go for next.

“Lea! You’re so strong!”

“Dwah!”

The manager suddenly leaped off the ground and shoved his creepy, excited face between us. I screamed. He then grabbed Lea by the hand and began to shake it up and down wildly.

“If you’re here, we won’t have to hire a man as a bodyguard! I’m so happy I hired you!”

“Um... Does that mean I can stay?” Lea asked sheepishly.

“Of course!” He nodded with a huge smile on his face.

Come to think of it, Linda Lovers was a fairy garden. It was supposed to be a home for cute girls. He’d said that he wanted to have an all-female staff, and he’d only hired me because he wanted some muscle around in case of trouble. It was true that if he had Lea there, he certainly didn’t need any male bodyguards, but...

“But boss, what do we do with this guy?”

“Hm? Oh.”

The man was starting to come around. I could see his eyes slowly opening. Whatever the reason, we were the ones who’d knocked him out. I couldn’t see him just going home after something like that.

“Yes... You’re right.”

“?!”

What was that?! The moment the manager put his hand to his cheek, a cold shudder ran down my spine like nothing I’d ever felt before.

“I think he and I need to go have a nice chat. I think he needs to understand that I’m not creepy at all.”

Boss, your smile is scaring me...

“Come along,” he said. “Right this way.”

“Huh? Huh?”

The man, who still wasn’t fully awake, was dragged off by his sleeve towards the back of the store.

A few seconds later, we all heard a scream that sounded like a strangled chicken... but no one in the restaurant said a thing about it.

▽

After safely (?) ensuring Lea’s job security, we headed home.

“I’m glad you got a good job, Lea.”

“Indeed,” she replied with a nod. “Once you’re done looking after me, you can come as a customer. I’ll make sure you get great service.”

“Oh, um, thanks.”

I nodded, but I was sweating a little. When she was wearing that uniform, it was hard to look at her...

Well, as for the job, Linda was a little strange, but he was a good guy, and he seemed to like Lea, so I was sure things would work out. Lea would finally be able to earn a living. But... there was one thing that was bothering me.

“Lea.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Listen...”

I wanted to ask her about it, but I was still hesitant. It felt a little too late to be bringing it up now.

“Did you maybe not want to work?”

Working. Making money. Living in a house. Using a washing machine. Those were all things that normal humans did. Things that are a basic part of our lives. Things that are so fundamental to us that we’d all kind of instinctively told Lea she needed to do them, too.

She’d done what we’d asked without complaining, but... Maybe she didn’t really want to do any of it. Maybe she’d just gone along with it because we told her to. It really was too late since I’d already made her do all this stuff, but I still had to ask. She’d almost gone through something awful because of it... and she might have to do something like that in the future. That, at least, was what I wanted to prevent.

“Rekka.”

Lea looked at me and stopped walking. I stopped as well and turned to face her.

“I’ve never been bothered by your concern for me,” she said without a trace of hesitation. “I want to live alongside humanity. So doesn’t that mean that I have to live the way you live? Don’t you have a saying about this? When in... somewhere, do something?”

When in Rome, do as the Romans do, huh?

“I see... Okay, then.”

We both nodded and started walking again. The first thing we had to do was head back to Nozomiya and give Tetra and Tsumiki our report. We had good news this time, so there was a bit of a spring in my step as we walked along.

“Actually... There is one thing I have to take back,” Lea whispered.

“Take back?”

“I may have said this before, but what’s most special to me is you, Rekka.”

I-I didn’t know how to react to that!

“So, it’s not humanity that I want to live with, Rekka. It’s you.”

“W-W-Wait, L-L-Lea...”

I was stammering for an answer, but she was unfazed.

“Up until now, I’ve just been wandering around, but now it will be easier to find me, right? So feel free to visit me anytime.”

“You’re talking about your job... right?”

Lea didn’t answer. She just grinned.

“I’ll make sure you get great service.”