Chapter 4

Shinkawa High School's dismissal time is 3:15 PM, and Watanabe Toru arrived at Nishi-Shinjuku Station at 3:30 PM.

He works part-time at a supermarket near the station exit.

"Mr. Watanabe, you're here!" As soon as he arrived at the store, the young female cashier, Murai Chiharu, standing at the cash register, greeted him with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Chiharu-san."

Watanabe Toru walked into the staff room, put his backpack in the locker, changed into his uniform, put on an apron, and headed to the prepared food section.

"Mr. Watanabe, I'm off now." Keiko, who was responsible for training him, couldn't wait to put down her work when she saw him.

"Okay."

Keiko is in her twenties and has been a housewife since she got married. She started working again because she was bored at home after her daughter started kindergarten.

Every day, she rushes to pick up her daughter as soon as her shift ends.

Watanabe Toru was the only one left in the prepared food section.

He first checked the status of the oden. Only a few broken pieces of fried tofu were floating on the surface.

He skillfully took out the prepared ingredients from the cold storage area—slices of daikon radish, kelp rolls, rice cakes, and konjac—and placed them in the machine, filled it with broth, and turned on the heat.

Next were the fried foods.

The most popular pork cutlets and chicken skewers were almost out, and he needed to restock them quickly.

The oil used in the morning was still relatively clean. He put the chicken skewers in, and yellow bubbles rose to the surface, with a slight heat wave hitting his masked face.

"Mom! I want this!"

"We're about to have dinner, no!"

"Aww— I want it, I want it!"

Watanabe Toru remained silent, waiting for the tug-of-war between the child and the young mother at the counter to end.

In the end, the child happily took the freshly fried chicken skewer from his hand and obediently left with the still nagging mother.

"Thank you for your purchase."

As soon as they left, a student from another high school came to buy oden.

"One daikon, no, make it two!"

"Sure."

He used tongs to put two pieces of daikon, soaked in broth, into a disposable box.

"One kamaboko, two kelp rolls, ah, and an egg too..."

"Are you eating that much? Aren't you worried you won't be able to eat at the gathering later?" his friend laughed.

"Don't worry, don't worry." The person waved his hand. "And one rice cake, please!"

"Sure." Watanabe Toru did as requested.

"Then I'll have the same!" another student said.

Two minutes later, Watanabe Toru said "Thank you for your purchase" again as he sent off this group of customers, and someone else was looking at the fried foods.

"What would you like? They're all freshly fried." He walked over.

The customer glanced around and then turned and left.

He kept busy like this until 7:30 PM, when Watanabe Toru temporarily left the prepared food section to put discount labels on the leftover bento boxes.

At 9:30 PM, the supermarket closed, and he, along with Murai Chiharu and two other staff members, restocked the shelves.

At this point, it was more relaxed—meaning they could restock any shelf they wanted. Murai Chiharu followed Watanabe Toru.

"Mr. Watanabe, the paychecks are coming soon. Want to go out and play?"

"Paycheck... how much will I get?"

"Mr. Watanabe, you work five hours a day, three days a week, so in a month, um... about..."

The hourly wage is 960 yen, so that's about 57,600 yen, right? It's a bit low, but if I save a bit and eat at the school cafeteria, I can save some of the money sent from home.

Unfortunately, the 15 hours of part-time work per week already exceeds the school's allowance, so he's been working secretly.

If he finds another part-time job, he might be able to save some money.

Watanabe Toru thought about this as he took the potato chips from Murai Chiharu's hand and placed them on the shelf.

"About... less than 60,000 yen? Forget it." Murai Chiharu gave up on mental arithmetic and suggested with a smile, "There's a new karaoke place behind Nakano Station. Let's go sing to celebrate?"

"I'm planning to save money to buy a new game."

"What game is so expensive? You won't use up 60,000 yen, right?"

Watanabe Toru turned and smiled at her. "I'm not like you, Chiharu-san. My family isn't rich, and the money for games is saved up."

Murai Chiharu nodded reluctantly. "Okay, how about next month?"

"Sure, if I have the money."

"Then I'll look forward to it?" Murai Chiharu's tone brightened.

"Sure."

After restocking the snack section, Watanabe Toru headed to the toilet paper section, with Murai Chiharu following behind.

After restocking all the shelves, the four employees divided the leftover bento boxes and fried foods and said goodbye at the store entrance.

By the time he returned to his rented old apartment, it was already past 10 PM.

This apartment is specifically rented to nearby high school students, college students, international students, and people from other regions who come to Tokyo to pursue their dreams.

The rent is relatively cheap, but the space is cramped. The kitchen, with only a gas stove, is right inside the door. Three steps in, there's a room that serves as both a living room and a bedroom.

The toilet can only fit a toilet, but it's in a separate compartment and has a fan. The bathroom is also small but can be used for both showering and soaking.

There's also a balcony that's only big enough to hang clothes, not stand on.

Watanabe Toru wasn't dissatisfied. After all, it was just a place to sleep, and the size didn't matter.

He put the bento and fried foods in the microwave to heat up for five minutes.

He took a ten-minute shower, then took out the heated food from the microwave.

He put the anime DVD borrowed from Kuroi Shu into the TV—his parents bought it cheaply to keep him from getting lonely and to pass the time.

He poured a glass of water and started eating the bento.

His attention wasn't on the anime, which he used as background noise, while his mind was elsewhere.

With the April paycheck and the 150,000 yen he had, he wondered if he could get Tamamo Komi to agree to be his girlfriend.

According to the "market rate" he heard from Kuroi Shu, it usually costs 15,000 yen, and there are even cases of 6,000 yen.

Based on this, he could find these girls in Shinjuku Kabukicho or Akihabara and pay them to be his "girlfriend" for a night, which would help him accumulate points.

But Watanabe Toru didn't plan to bet his life on this dating game.

At 15, spending money on a one-time "girlfriend" could jeopardize his future plans, especially if the school found out. Even graduating high school would be at risk.

Moreover, he couldn't let down his parents, who worked hard on the farm back home.

Finally, he didn't have enough points to buy the "Detector."

This meant that Watanabe Toru's current targets were only Seino Rin and Tamamo Komi.

Seino Rin has an IQ of 8, a charm of 9, and a cold personality. The "Detector" didn't provide any useful information.

Watanabe Toru was surprised by her appearance but wasn't interested in such a person and didn't want to waste time on her.

Tamamo Komi has a charm of 8 but an intelligence of only 5. Getting into Shinkawa High School was probably her limit. Even if intelligence doesn't equal emotional intelligence, she was much easier to manipulate.

Plus, she likes money, which is very convenient.

If he could use money to solve the problem, that would be best. Watanabe Toru didn't want a real relationship. Even if he did, he wouldn't choose someone like Tamamo Komi, who doesn't share his values.

He decided to approach Tamamo Komi and use money to make her his girlfriend.

According to the "Appendix," there are sign-in rewards for relationships lasting a week, a month, a year, or ten years.

Watanabe Toru didn't expect to last a year or ten years, but he wanted to get at least the one-week and one-month rewards.

150,000 yen to make Tamamo Komi his girlfriend for a month... what's her "market rate"?

There were also other risks: a third party finding out about the deal.

Watanabe Toru was most concerned about this—rumors at school suggested that Tamamo Komi might not be very discreet.

But it could also be that other students just happened to see...

It would be better to find a time to approach her and observe for a while.

By the time he finished thinking, he had finished his bento. He collected the trash and put it by the door to throw out in the morning.

He turned off the still-running TV, pushed the table to the corner, laid out his bed, brushed his teeth, and went to sleep.