Starting a Night Shift Part-time Job at a Convenience Store - Chapter 17.2: Alone at the Convenience Store II

Chapter 17.2: Alone at the Convenience Store II

The sound of a single person’s footsteps moving around the counter was awfully loud and somewhat unnerving. Time appeared to flow more gradually. Was it this quiet being alone?

On the other side of the counter, neither the chatty Aoyama, who was unusually fond of body touching, nor Hirai, who constantly called out strange words and seemed to be enjoying herself, nor Takenaka, who would dexterously start falling asleep while standing up if left alone, were there. Unless a customer arrived, I passed the time by doing chores and chatting with them until dawn came. With those people around and me remaining inside the store, I had nothing to worry about.

Even though I witnessed many things I disliked, I never once felt uneasy. This kind of thing… I couldn’t believe that I was having this… unfathomable uneasiness that something horrendous was about to unfold.

I thought that I was losing my mind. Wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead, I waited for time to pass.

Even so, the manager was late… Even though it was almost two o’clock.

Miscellaneous tasks that could be handled by one person were roughly done. Even cleaning, restocking products on the shelves and taking out the trash. I dashed outside to check if any customers were on their way. Speaking of the manager not showing up neither did the customers. Not even a single customer has turned up yet today.

This may be nothing out of the ordinary, but when nothing happened, I felt as if someone should come in.

Classical music playing incessantly and the sound of “karaage-sama” popping in the fryer oil. I was idly watching the hands of the clock. Since neither the manager nor any customers show up, I figured I should go to the back room for a break as I was just in the mood for a smoke. I decided to have a brief moment of relaxation and smoke until the deep fryer timer went off. 

The manager was… well, I was worried about him, but he would probably show up soon enough.

From my locker, I grabbed my cell phone, a Seven Star box, and a lighter that was about to run out of oil, and as usual, I sat right under the ventilation fan and popped one in my mouth.

Big bro, you’re smoking again! It reeks of cigarettes! Since my sister kept nagging me, I have been trying to refrain from smoking whenever possible these days. At least at times like this, why not smoke as much as I wanted to?

Letting out a puff of smoke, I released my anxiety as well. My shoulders slumped heavily.

This was exhausting… Not that I had done anything in particular, though… How soon would it be morning…

As I was thinking such motivationless thoughts and waiting for the timer to go off…

[Welcome―-please insert your card―]

Without warning, the ATM near the entrance was activated. Amidst the constant sound of fried food, the machine’s voice was distinctly audible.

I froze, still holding my cigarette. Goosebumps crawled all over my body.

Here it came―

The doorway chime, of course, had not rung. The absence of ringing signified that no customers had arrived and consequently meant that no one was in the store. If nobody was in the store, in essence…

The ATM was not activated…

The ATM started talking on its own… So…

In less than three seconds, I pushed the cigarette into the ashtray, stuck my face just outside, and withdrew it back inside.

No one was indeed there. I didn’t see anyone or anything.

The only thing I found was an ATM with the LCD screen activated.

The manager had already made it clear that it wasn’t a malfunction. 

Ah, of all times, why, seriously… The panic fuse in my head was already on the verge of being lit. No… no, don’t let the anxiety engulf you…! Once engulfed, it would morph into an uncontrollable fear―Calm down, calm down, calm down…!!

Taking a deep breath, I knitted my brows and clenched my fists together as if in prayer.

Please… please. I sincerely hoped that nothing crazier would unfold.

Bad premonitions invariably turned out to be true, though, and nothing has ever gone right at this convenience store.

Never―

Before I even noticed that the classical music that had been playing like customary had ended, my pulse rate has risen dramatically. The chilly sensation I felt was not just my imagination.

Something… was brewing… Without a doubt, something was…

My mounting apprehension was shattered by the automated door’s chime, which was devoid of any sense of urgency. I foolishly banged my head violently against the wall behind me.

Oh, damn…! You startled the hell out of me…! Enough already!!

Without even a moment to writhe in pain, I stood up, holding the back of my head, and walked briskly out to the counter. Shoving my panic into the pit of my stomach as best I could, I was inwardly enveloped in an inexpressible sense of relief.

Never before had I felt so grateful for the manager’s presence. Regardless of what arose, if I was not alone, I would be able to manage. While it would be a falsehood to claim that I could rely on him in the same manner as Hirai and Takenaka, his presence was nonetheless preferable to none at all. I felt at ease…

“Manager, you’re la―”

Until I looked directly at the automatic door.

“te…”

Before the automatic door that was left open, the manager was not there. Nowhere to be seen, either outside or within the store. As usual, the parking lot was vacant, and nothing that looked like the manager’s old secondhand car was parked there. The only thing in front of me was the automatic door that had been left open and refused to close. It was as if someone had been standing there for a long time, even though no one was supposed to be there. 

No way… I couldn’t help but imagine such an inconceivable thing.

Have I gone crazy? The automatic door would not close no matter how much time passed, instilling in me an overpowering sensation of dread.

Nobody was supposed to be there, yet for some reason it seemed to me as if someone was standing there, peering at me.

My diaphragm tensed up. An intense vibration in my heart, like that of a volcano before its eruption. Why, why, why? Why did I feel such a sense of foreboding in my body right now?

It was not like danger or anything like that, this “foreboding” was not on that level…

It was beyond anything I had ever experienced before. The catastrophe that descended upon me tonight was of the highest magnitude―

My life was in peril, and all of my systems were alerting me to this. I could feel everything being out of the ordinary, including the rate at which my heart pounded and the amount of sweat that was gushing.

When my held breath burst out of my mouth with a whoosh, I swiftly returned to the back room, closed and locked the door, still keeping my back to the automatic door. Sweat trickled down my gripping hand on the doorknob. It was unbelievable that such an extraordinary amount of sweat could run off my body in such a short period of time. This was not normal. My body undoubtedly detected something abnormal. But what in the world was going on? What in the world―

“…Ah―!?”

I shouldn’t have done that. At that moment. Driven by anxiety, I made the wrong move. Something I shouldn’t have done. Something that ought not to have been carried out. I was an idiot. I shouldn’t have seen that. On the desk right next to me. The security camera monitor.

I instantly bit down on the inside of my mouth as hard as I could to stifle a scream. Leaning against the door with my back to it, I fell on my butt on the spot.

On the black-and-white monitor.

It displayed the counter where I had just been. Inside the counter, directly in front of the door to the back room.

A woman in a familiar sailor suit was standing there.

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