Volume 1 - CH 5

The presence of Himekawa disappeared from behind the door, I wonder if she’s gone.

I hold my phone in my hand while looking at the monitor of my computer.

In the meantime, I’d better call her.

—beep—beep—beep

“Oh, it’s me, me, me.” 

“I don’t know anyone who says ‘me me me’, do I?”

The person who answered the phone on the other end of the line was someone I know well.

And he knows me well, too.

“It’s your son Tsukasa. Are you serious?”

{Just kidding. It’s unusual for you to call me at this hour.}1

Sort of. I think I can get one person for the experiment. She’s a classmate, but she won’t be a problem, will she?”

After a few moments of silence, my father asked me on the other end of the phone.

{You chose this person, right? Don’t cause any problems, okay?}

After speaking so briefly, I hang up the phone early.

My father and I don’t get along badly, if anything, I think we have a good relationship.

We don’t interfere with each other too much, but he always listens to me and answers my questions.

He probably trusts me, too. That’s why he doesn’t pry too deeply into my affairs.

After hanging up the phone, I selected another number from the phone book and called again.

—beep—beep—beep

After a few calls, I finally got through.

{Good evening, Tendo-kun. What’s going on at this hour?}

It was a woman’s voice on the other end of the line. It was the manager of my part-time job.

“I’m sorry to bother you at this hour. I know it’s short notice, but can I take tomorrow’s job off?”

{Tomorrow? It’s a little tough on the shift.}

I know, right? Sundays are busy, aren’t they?

Even though I’m a high school student, I’m more than aware that it hurts when there’s a vacancy.

“I’ll take care of it. I’d like to negotiate with you tomorrow to see if we can get one more part-timer.”

{What? Is that true? That’s fine then. By the way, what are the person’s qualifications?}

The manager was shouting over the phone, so loudly that it hurt my ears.

Are there really that few people? It’s not a shady company, and the hourly wage is reasonable.

The work environment is not bad either.

“She’s a girl, and I think she’s pretty cute. She speaks politely, and I’m sure she’ll learn the job quickly.”

{All right. I want you to do whatever you can to get them. I’m seriously short on staff right now. You’re available on Sundays, right?}

“Maybe. If the conditions are right, I think I can make it. Oh, by the way, she’s a high school student like me, is that okay?”

{No problem. Bring her in if she’s ready to talk.}

As we talked, I decided to take a sudden day off from work tomorrow.

I’ve never asked for a sudden day off before, and I’ve always contributed to my shifts.

For now, is this all right?

I don’t really like to make phone calls.

However, a phone call would be essential to communicate with someone in a hurry or at a distance.

While I was thinking about tomorrow, I looked at the screen of the computer I had started up and logged into a video posting site.

This site publishes uploaded videos and earns advertising revenue based on the number of times they are viewed.

In short, it’s a great way to get regular income once it’s up and running.

I set up the camera I had prepared earlier and started preparing for the close-up.

Himekawa is taking a bath. So what I’m doing right now, she won’t find out.

I sit down in front of the camera and start filming.

Today’s theme was towers. I made a pyramid out of playing cards and stacked coins vertically to see how many would stack up.

It’s a very simple shoot, but I upload it every Saturday night.

I upload them every Saturday night, and they get a lot of views, which leads to a good income. I’ve been posting steadily and diligently.

I don’t have to work normal jobs to earn money. I’m doing my best to make a living.

After I finished shooting and posting. That’s the end of my work for the day. Good work today.

After that, I moved to the kitchen and started preparing tomorrow’s breakfast.

Himekawa said she didn’t have any likes or dislikes, so I thought I’d make a Western-style meal.

I went through the refrigerator and finished the preparations as I saw fit. All that was left to do was a little light preparation tomorrow morning and breakfast would be served.

It’s not so bad to prepare a meal while thinking about her.

If it was just for me, I would just cook it randomly. When I think about the nutritional balance and the number of items, it’s for my own good.

I’m not making it for her. I’m making it for me. I make it for myself.

—knock—knock

“May I come in?”

I was in the kitchen and Himekawa calls out to me.

She’s done already? She’s earlier than I thought. I’ve heard that it takes a long time for women to take a bath, but is that not the case with Himekawa?

“You can come in”

I replied to her and start washing the utensils and dishes that Himekawa has used.

When the door opened and Himekawa walked in, I was fascinated for a while.