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The bike squeaks and groans as your legs push down on the pedals to propel you faster to your destination, which is the only convenience store close to Kasuga village.
Ministop.
It's an odd convenience store franchise. One you've never seen before until you arrive in this village. It's the pathetic equivalent of a full sit-down restaurant in this neck of the woods because of the variety of prepared foods to be purchased. The place will likely be crawling with the old folks of the village and your fellow classmates.
Ugh, thinking about interacting with them makes you sick. The years of bullying have wrecked havoc on your social skills!with
You are Obata Itsuki and you're heading to the conbini to buy some snacks! You're actually pretty flush with cash compared to most kids your age, since back in the city, you practically had a part-time job finding scrap metal to recycle. It was hard work but surprisingly rewarding at times. The only problem was it was physically strenuous and you wouldn't have done it otherwise but you want to get out of your parents' control. For that, you need money!
The farmers around Kasuga always have jobs to do for anyone interested in working. However, it's all back breaking farm work, and you are pretty tired of doing hard work, but there might be a job opening at the Ministop! Maybe a shelf stocking job where you don't have to interact with anyone.
Looming before you in the growing dusk, a brightly lit neon-colored building nestled right next to the secondary highway is your destination. You can see a variety of bikes parked outside of it, so you know a few of your classmates are inside. As you enter through the automatic doors, you immediately note some familiar faces and your stomach forms a pit of anxiety.
"Welcome to Ministop!" A fellow classmate cheerily calls out from behind the cash register. She's ringing up an old lady's purchases with a practiced ease.
That's Iwai Asuka. You forgot her family owns the Ministop. She mentioned it once but you were practically comatose and trying not to engage with her at school. Her twin brother, Iwai Yamato, is also somewhere around working in the Ministop. You catch a glimpse of him at the bento prep area working with an elderly old man.
Wait... FUCK!
You remember overhearing Yamato telling another student there's no job opening at Ministop since they prioritize hiring the more elderly and impoverished villagers of Kasuga.
Hopes for gainful employment are dust in the wind now.
You can at least buy something to eat. The elderly employees are hard at work stocking some shelves and cheerily chatting with each other and customers. As you survey the aisles, you can see a classmate in the bread section filling a basket full of karepan. Your mind struggles to remember who the guy is...
