Whether he accepted it or not, Kai’s classes continued. And with his mind still in a haze, the school day ended.
He had his part-time job that day. Indulging in his otaku hobbies required a war chest, so he worked twice a week to fill it. The schedule of his shifts depended on the day; on school days like this, he’d work for five hours from five in the evening to ten at night. He even got a paid fifteen-minute break in the middle, so it was a pretty above-board gig.
The place? Beaver Video Rental, store #4. It was a local, long-established chain that had expanded to eight stores around Sakata. Competing stores might have been forced into submission before the might of the Tsu**ya Empire, but Beaver kept up the fight through its unique brand of guerilla warfare. Yet despite their blow-for-blow battles, it found itself in an age where the fast-approaching tides of online streaming services threatened the rental industry as a whole.
Beaver hung on for so long by having each store double down on a particular specialty. For store #4, that specialty was anime, tokusatsu, and the occasional movie that otaku would find interesting—typically live-action adaptations of manga or Marvel movies. They offered this content via a wide selection of Blu-rays, DVDs, and CDs.
That factor tipped the scales in Kai’s decision to work there; the employee discount was a lifesaver. Jun had fallen deep into the Netflix rabbit hole, but Kai was still a BD renter. Keeping track of which streaming service did or didn’t have a particular anime was a pain, but he felt like it’d be a waste to subscribe to them all, so he couldn’t bring himself to make the leap.
It was a typical weekday shift—not too busy, but not too dull. Kai spent two and a half hours ringing up customers. Kai had been working this job since he started high school, so it was second nature by now. A bit of a heavy heart wouldn’t be enough to get in the way of his work.
Once his break came, he retreated to the break room in the back. Along with lockers and a water cooler, it had a table surrounded by four chairs, one of which Kai thrust his weary body upon.
Once he settled in...
“Good work, Nakamura.”
A girl who had also entered the break room greeted him. She was a coworker who had a more charming appearance than the average person, as well as the somewhat obnoxious expression of someone who knew it.
Her name was Kotobuki Hotei. She was fifteen years old—a year younger than Kai—and had just started high school the other day. But unlike Kai, she went to a public high school in her neighborhood, so their relationship was just that of junior and senior coworkers.
And she was a newbie, too; she’d only been on the team for two months. Kotobuki said she wanted to put off working until she started high school, but being done with her entrance exams left her with so much free time in middle school that she figured she might as well take the plunge then. Beaver usually only accepted applicants who were in high school or above, but they did hire third-year middle schoolers who were in that particular scenario.
Since he was the closest to her age, Kai naturally ended up as Kotobuki’s mentor. He called her “Kotobuki.” He worried that using her first name might come off as being overly familiar, but the one time he tried her last name, she got mad and told him, “Hotei makes people think of Buddha, but that fatso’s image clearly doesn’t suit mine,” so he never did it again.
At the moment, Kotobuki was in front of the sink.
“Shall I make you coffee?”
Her tone was noticeably rigid and lacking in vigor, but still polite.
“Oh no, I’m fine. Carry on.”
Kai changed his tone to match hers in response.
“Oh, it’s no trouble. I’m making some for myself anyhow.”
“Is that so? In that case, don’t mind if I do.”
“You simply could have agreed from the start.”
“Indeed, I’ll mind my manners in the future.”
Their back-and-forth might have seemed like a parody, but Kotobuki absolutely wasn’t playing around. That was how she spoke to everyone at work, employee and customer alike. She was undeniably obnoxious, but she also had the emotional stability of a wet paper bag.
People who are a bad fit for the service industry tend to be spectacularly bad fits, and Kotobuki was no exception. When she first started, her shifts were one nervous breakdown after another. Kotobuki wasn’t used to polite speech, so she fell apart constantly. Kai wanted to help her get used to it, so he kept her conversations with her as polite as possible, even though she was younger and newer.
Which brings us to the present. Two months into her employment, Kotobuki was still talking to customers like a robot. As such, Kai continued keeping his speech polite. He’d started to enjoy their curious conversational style.
Kotobuki placed two cups of instant coffee on the table and sat across from Kai. They began a chat that, as usual, would consume much of their allotted break time.
“Did you complete your viewing of ACCA yet, Nakamura?”
“Why, yes. I found it to be a splendid work of animation. I’ve already procured the manga it was adapted from.”
“By all means, tell me your impressions in detail.”
“I’d very much like to debate whether Lotta and Nino’s relationship shall grow into a romantic one. It’s quite the shame that I missed the chance to watch as it aired.”
“Ah yes, I suppose you’re late to the party. Writing off that which you haven’t tried is a bad habit of yours,” said Kotobuki.
“On the contrary, my palette is quite varied. But the world simply has too much anime I must watch, manga I must read, and games I must play.”
“So, you have trouble remaining faithful.”
“Heaven forbid. Unlike you, I’m not capable of viewing every anime out there,” said Kai.
“Heaven forbid, neither am I. I merely watch the first episode of every show in a season and decide what to continue from there.”
“Is that so? That’s quite the shock.”
“I believe this warrants some respect, no?”
Kotobuki looked triumphant. She may act arrogant and get on everyone’s nerves, but it was hard to hate her after seeing the many insecurities she attempted to hide.