“A job! You!”
Minori pointed at Taiga, looking at her with cold eyes.
“It’s not me so much as Ryuuji.”
Taiga’s finger pointed at Ryuuji’s nose. You! Minori turned her cold eyes on Ryuuji and nodded decisively.
“It’s for just today and tomorrow. I’m selling Valentine’s chocolates. Do you have any secrets on how to sell stuff? He said that if we sold a lot in the two days, we’d get a good bonus, too.”
“Secrets to selling, huh… Hmm, I guess just not to let it show on your face if something bad happens.”
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, Taiga listened to the advice as she pulled on Minori’s sports bag, as though entreating her.
“That’s heavy,” Minori said as she brushed Taiga’s hand away. “And when the manager’s eyes open, you get away as quick as you can.”
“That only applies to your ramen place, Minorin…”
Their classes were done for the day, and they had finished saying goodbye. The bachelorette (age 30) had called out Taiga during lunch, but it seemed the conversation hadn’t really been that fruitful. Taiga wasn’t in the mood to actually listen to a lecture.
Minori was comparing their faces happily.
“Putting the jokes aside, I think you don’t really have to worry if you’re just a salesclerk.”
There we go—the girl with outstanding reflexes lobbed her empty juice pack. Standing at the center of the classroom, she threw the pack right into the trash bin at the entrance.
“There, nice! You’re not doing kitchen work, so it seems like a great job, right? When it comes to selling Valentine’s day chocolates, today is the main event. If anyone’s going to give someone chocolates, they would buy them today. What’s the place you’re working at?”
“Ummm, what was it again?”
“Alps.”
At Ryuuji’s response, Minori’s voice pitched up. “Whoa.”
It seemed she was familiar with the store.
“I’ve been there before to buy their tarte Tatin! I see. You’re going to become part of that fancy background at the Alps, huh, Takasu-kun?”
“I know I don’t really fit in…”
“Ryuuji was supposed to be working by himself, but he’s so out of place that the owner almost said no. He said he’d hire Ryuuji if I came, too. Ryuuji was so sad. That’s why I’m going with him,” Taiga explained with strange obstinacy.
“That sounds pretty nice?”
Minori put her sports bag back on and turned a smile like a budding flower to the wall clock. It seemed she needed to head to softball. Next, she pointed a finger right at Ryuuji’s face.
“Okay! I’m going to be cheering you on, Takasu Ryuuji! Do your best on the first part-time job you’ve had in your life! Take the crimson impact!”
“Right… What’s that supposed to be?”
Scarlet needle! Minori jokingly jabbed her fingers a few times, turned right on her heel, and then left the classroom ahead of them.
Yasuko healed right up after sleeping for a night. While she wasn’t over-drinking, and she promised she would finish work before midnight, Ryuuji really wanted her to take a longer break. On the other hand, her regular customers would make sure she didn’t push herself, and he’d do a better job of that than she would herself. She believed the lie he told her. “I have an exam the day after tomorrow, so today and tomorrow I’m going to study with Taiga and Kitamura and the others at a family restaurant.”
There was one other lie. He told her that the night before, after Yasuko went to bed, there had been a call from Alps saying something to the effect that she didn’t need to come back. Yasuko believed that lie more easily than he’d expected. She looked disappointed for a second, but then immediately lifted her head and laughed. “That happens sometimes. I’ll find another good job. ☆”
For some reason, she rubbed Ryuuji’s head like a child’s. Even though he was the biggest mommy’s boy under the skies, it was awkward.
The guilt from lying hit him heavier than he’d expected.
“There are two prices, okay? The bigger box is five hundred eighty yen, tax included. You press this yellow button on the register. The small one is three hundred eighty yen with tax and you hit the blue button. You put the money you get inside and press the transaction button.”
Ka-ching. The register made a familiar sound as it opened and hit Taiga in the stomach, “Ngh.”
“You put the products in this plastic bag or in this paper one. Okay? Think you can do it?”
“Yes. I can do it. I think.”
Ryuuji was full of enthusiasm as he stood in front of the register. In order to practice, the owner said, “This please,” in a grossly high-pitched voice as he handed Ryuuji one of the big boxes and showed him one thousand yen. Without hesitating, Ryuuji pressed the yellow button, punched in 1000, and then hit transaction. The register popped open, and he grabbed the change the register indicated.
“Thank you very much!”
Grin!
“Uh! We’re definitely having Aisaka-san do that part!”
“Thank you very much!”
Responding to the owner’s call, Taiga turned around and broke out into a fake smile. All I’m doing is saying that, she said.
Yeah, good, the owner nodded. “Over here.” He pushed Taiga to stand right in front of Ryuuji, like he was trying to hide him, which was apparently “Perfect!” What’s that supposed to mean? Ryuuji thought.
After saying that, the owner went back into the store. Busy-looking people passed by Ryuuji and Taiga’s eyes. The wagon piled with pre-packaged chocolates had been put out under the eaves of the store, right into the cold December winds.
Under the midwinter sky, which was starting to darken, it was still a little too early for shopping on the store-lined street. There were some chatty private high school students from a school nearby walking around. “Oh, they’re selling chocolates!” “I guess tomorrow’s Valentine’s,” they were saying as they pointed at the wagon, but they just passed through.
The owner had placed a stove at their feet, so they wouldn’t be shivering from the cold.
“There’s way more than I thought there would be, but…I’m pretty sure it’d be impossible to sell out of these.”
As she stood right under the Valentine’s Day ornament that hung from the eaves, Taiga stared at the wagon and cocked her head. A load of pristine chocolates was piled into the shape of a mountain. They had cardboard boxes full of more chocolates underneath, too.
“Actually, don’t I look exactly like a scammer in this outfit?”
“Hmmm…exactly like one…yeah.”
From a slight distance, Taiga looked at Ryuuji and knit her eyebrows together as though in a conundrum. The part-time uniform the owner had lent him was a pure-white cook’s coat—it was one of those white outfits that pâtissiers wore in the kitchen. Selling chocolates while looking like this made it seem as though Ryuuji himself had made the chocolates at the store. But if anyone were to look at the price stickers stuck to the chocolates, it said in small lettering that the chocolates had come right from a production plant.
“Your outfit looks better.”
“You think so? It looks okay? I wonder if it does. Could you take a picture for me?”
Taiga was in an aproned black velour dress. She pushed her cell phone at Ryuuji after she pulled it out of her pocket. Yasuko might have worn the same outfit, too. With her wavy hair in pigtails, Taiga really did look like a cute French doll.