Chapter 5 The Current Town, The Current Life

The Current Town, The Current Life

“Thank you very much!”

Inside the fast-food restaurant, well past midnight, I was cleaning the floor when the last customer finally left.

“Naoe-kun, good work. You can clock out now.”

“Ah, okay…”

When the store manager kindly called out to me, I gave a curt reply without changing my expression.

“Hey, hey! Still as unfriendly as ever! Come on, give me a proper smile!”

“Sasaki-senpai…”

With a big grin, Sasaki-senpai gave me a firm pat on the back. I shot him a deadpan glare.

This is why I can’t handle these overly energetic, sporty types…

“Haha! Yuuta, your emotions are written all over your face as always!”

“Ugh…”

Hearing Sasaki-senpai point that out, I couldn’t help but turn my face away. I didn’t want to hear him add anything unnecessary…

“Well, compared to when you first joined, Naoe-kun, you’ve gotten a lot friendlier.”

“Sigh…”

Was the store manager trying to cheer me up? He said it with a wry smile, but I gave only a vague response.

Still… compared to back then… I guess I’ve improved a little… maybe.

“Anyway, Yuuta! We’re short on people for the next mixer. We’re in a real pinch! Please, come with me! Think of it as helping me out!”

Sasaki-senpai clasped his hands together and practically begged me.

“…Sorry. Not this time either…”

“Ugh… Are you really going to abandon your senpai when I’m this desperate…?”

Clinging to me, he pleaded, but even so… I just couldn’t do it.

“…I’m really sorry.”

“Sigh… I see. Well, can’t be helped. I’ll just have to ask someone else this time too…”

Shrugging his shoulders, Sasaki-senpai let out a bitter smile.

Honestly, he’s way too good of a senpai for someone like me.

Thinking back, it was during the entrance ceremony when he first approached me to recruit me into the futsal club… wasn’t it?

At the time, I never imagined that Sasaki-senpai, from the same high school, would also be attending this university. Feeling awkward, I tried to escape quickly, but he dragged me into the club anyway.

Since then, over the past year and a half, he’s also pulled me into this part-time job and invited me to every mixer he could.

All of it… I’m sure… because he knows about my high school days. He’s been looking out for me, though never in an overbearing way.

…Thanks to him, compared to when I ran away from that town, I’ve at least become capable of having minimal, business-like conversations.

“Well then, good work today.”

“Yeah! Good work!”

“Naoe-kun, good job today.”

After exchanging farewells with the two of them, I left the store.

Like always, I stopped by the convenience store on my way home to grab bread and milk for breakfast tomorrow.

I’d love to eat something more nutritious, but unfortunately, it seems I have no talent for cooking. Whenever I try, it ends up inedible.

I’d prefer to cook for myself, especially since I can’t bring myself to use the money my parents send me, but still…

My tuition is covered by a scholarship for now, but my parents pay the rent for my apartment and send me enough money for living expenses.

However, I don’t want to touch that money.

I… want to sever ties with my parents.

Some time after I rejected Hiyori completely at the park, Hiyori’s parents came to my house and apologized.

Our families had always been close as neighbors. When her parents noticed her strange behavior recently and confronted her, she confessed everything.

Haha… When my parents found out about it…

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

That was the first thing they said.

Without saying anything, I retreated to my room and shut myself in. What could my parents have been feeling when they hurled those merciless words at me?

Were they expecting me to explain everything?

Should I have admitted, “I was cheated on by Hiyori, the childhood friend I always loved, and she even slept with my best friend?”

Should I have accepted that I’m a failure as a man, that I deserve this humiliation, and that I need to just move on?

But my parents never realized how cruel it was to force me into such a public display of humiliation.

After that, it was only natural for a rift to form between me and my parents.

After all, I can no longer trust or rely on them.

That’s why… I’ve been working part-time to support myself through university, and no matter what, I have to graduate in four years.

So I can finally be free from unnecessary burdens.

So I can escape from that miserable past, free from anyone’s control.

“Sigh…”

Standing in front of my run-down apartment, I glanced up at my room—the one on the far end of the second floor, and…

“Huh?”

I tilted my head in confusion as I noticed a light coming from the room next door.

As far as I knew, no one was supposed to be living there…

“…A new tenant, maybe?”

Sigh… Until now, not having a neighbor meant I didn’t have to deal with anyone…

Feeling a little gloomy, I climbed the metal stairs and headed to my room… when…

“Ah…”

“…(nods politely)”

Unfortunately, I ran into the person from the next room.

However, she silently bowed her head and quickly walked away without saying a word.

“…And it’s a woman… huh…”

I really don’t want to get involved with women anymore…

Covering my face with my hand, I slumped my shoulders and walked into my room.