Hirai’s Secret II |
“Hakamada, you’re not good with people like that, right?”
“That’s because I try not to be involved with people like that… dealing with them is a hassle…”
“But to me, you look like a badass delinquent, Hakamada. You don’t look that different from them, you know?”
“No, no, no, no!!”
For sure, I bleached my hair and had my ears pierced, but!
“Isn’t mine just a look! Even though I say so myself, I am quite a coward!”
I didn’t even have the balls to get my nose pierced!
“Is that so? You give me the feeling that you used to be a rascal in high school.”
“I was a fairly healthy high school baseball player with dark hair and glasses… I had contacts and dyed my hair after I retired.”
Incidentally, the reason for the makeover was that I was fed up with people labeling me as “serious” or “studious” when I had black hair and glasses, something that I had no image of myself as. Despite the change in appearance, my inner self remained exactly the same. I didn’t like the punks who caused a commotion in the school, nor did I want to hang out with them.
I never liked those who stayed out of the community, yet clustered together and stirred up trouble. The same applies to the neighborhood nuisance gang of delinquents and girls who were adept at forming substandard relationships with their fuzzy eyelashes.
Or perhaps the truth was that I was simply intimidated.
“But it would have been terrible if Hirai had been with us today.”
Hirai would have unarguably been frightened. Moreover, Hirai was petite… and… had a bewitching body. It was customary for someone to accompany another for the night shift job, but I was sure she would have been terrified… On top of that, we were in this kind of place.
“Oh my, that girl will be fine!”
“What!?”
“Hirai is rather fearless.”
“But she’s a girl, and inwardly, she must be…”
“At least she’s tougher than you, Hakamada.”
“For real?”
“For real.”
Tougher than me… Then how much of a weakling was I being viewed as?
Oh, speaking of which…
“Aoyama, did you see that… on your way here?”
“That?”
“The cat… the cat’s…”
That sprang to mind when I brought up Hirai. Aoyama raised an eyebrow when I inquired about whether he noticed it and lightly smacked me on the head.
“Hey! Don’t remind me of that!”
Oh, so he did see it, after all. His reaction was exactly what I had expected, and I chuckled inwardly.
“Every now and then there’s an animal carcass lying around, but that almost made my heart stop!”
“Me too. It was right after passing through the tunnel.”
“Takenaka would have had a stroke if he had seen it.”
“Ah, haha, Takenaka had a hard time yesterday.”
Time passed as the conversation carried on, and Aoyama and I went about our usual late-night tasks of adding and organizing merchandise, placing orders, cleaning, and the like.
However…
“Those guys, they’re still there…”
The delinquents were still out there having fun.
Riding around outside all the time on their bikes was a nuisance, but staying in front of the store was even more disturbing. Thanks to them, not a single customer had arrived at the store since then. Even within the store, the unceasing laughter could be heard echoing from outside. Perhaps they have had a lot to drink, some of them were clapping their hands and emitting strange noises.
I was watching them incredulously, but Aoyama admonished me, “You shouldn’t do anything. It’s best not to be concerned about them.”
“But those guys, they’re definitely the ones who litter.”
“It can’t be helped. The place is what it is, and sometimes there are people like that.”
“…”
I didn’t get what he was talking about, but I didn’t want to get involved, so I stopped gawking at them.
That was my thought, but unfortunately, there was still trash to be disposed of, so I gathered up the trash and stepped out of the safe zone of the store and into the danger zone. The hot and humid August night wind swept over me, and I was almost staggered by the sound of vulgar laughter that stimulated my eardrums.
“Oh, the staff is coming out.”
“What the hell, did you come here to complain?”
Nonetheless, I ignored it completely and went around to the rear side of the store.
Oh, if I had been a little stronger in a fight, I would have protested without hesitation.
Good grief… Being young must be good―
To be able to do anything and have fun, even if you were aggravating people without even realizing it, must be a blessing in a sense.
What a breath of fresh air it would be if I could say it to them. Impossible, though.
I walked to the building’s back with a large garbage bag as frustration began to set in. After all, listening to that foolish laugh made me furious. You know, that smile on your face like not knowing even a millimeter of the harshness of society… you should be working, damn you!
The spark that was steadily igniting in the pit of my stomach cooled off when I reached the garbage dumpster in the back of the store.