Chapter 3

The afternoon sunlight grew even more brilliant.

Nagayama Naoki walked down the street towards the convenience store. Even though he chose to walk in the shade of the trees, he soon felt beads of sweat on his forehead.

His body was still too weak; he needed to strengthen it in the future.

The convenience store wasn't far from his residence. As a high school graduate who had just come to Tokyo to work, he couldn't find a job too far away. Plus, with his reserved personality, he had barely managed to get through the past half year, and he hadn't met many people besides the store manager and the landlady.

Naoki came to Tokyo without much thought. After graduating from high school, he didn't want to stay in the izakaya with his father and older brother. So, with a bit of saved pocket money and a stubborn resolve, he came to Tokyo.

The convenience store was his first job, where he earned his first salary and paid his first rent with his wages...

Thinking about it this way, working at the convenience store was full of meaning...

Even so, he couldn't continue working there, and he wouldn't be able to work there in the future...

...

It took about 40 minutes to walk, and the small convenience store was nestled in a residential area. In the Showa era, convenience stores didn't have as many products as they do now. There were even some vegetables on the shelves, making it more like an advanced version of a general store. However, there were already open refrigerators, ice cream, soda, and other drinks.

The store manager, Ishida Yuichi, was wearing his work uniform and was checking the receipts behind the counter. Naoki could see another young man organizing the goods inside.

"Mr. Ishida, I'm sorry to disturb you," Naoki said as he walked inside and greeted the manager.

"Naoki, you're here!" Ishida looked calm, but Naoki, who knew his character well, knew that a serious conversation was about to follow.

"Even the formality of the address has changed..." Naoki thought to himself.

"Hi, I was hospitalized for a few days due to some reasons, so I couldn't come to work for the past three days," he said honestly.

"I'm really sorry for causing trouble for the store!" He bowed deeply...

Hearing about the hospitalization, Ishida's expression didn't change, but his tone became much gentler: "What happened, Naoki? Are you feeling better now?"

Sure enough, the formality of the address had returned.

"Hi, I ate something bad and had to have my stomach pumped," Naoki decided to explain his purpose as well,

"I'm fine now, but I need to rest for a while..."

"I see, so Naoki, why are you here today?" Ishida seemed to have guessed.

"Hi, Manager, although I'm very reluctant, I'm here to resign from this job!" He had to say something nice,

"Thank you for taking care of me during my time here!"

"Ah, I see," Ishida looked somewhat relieved, "Naoki, you've been a great help here. Take care of yourself in the future!"

"Hi, thank you!"

Naoki walked down the street, holding an envelope in his hand, which contained 50,000 yen.

Manager Ishida said it was his previous wages, but he had already been paid weekly. If he worked full-time and even a night shift, he could earn around 150,000 yen a month. With a few more part-time jobs, he could earn even more, possibly matching the income of a regular employee.

He had only worked for five days in October and caused trouble by being absent, so the manager didn't have to pay him.

"Mr. Ishida is indeed a good person!"

...

Wandering aimlessly down the street, looking at the unfamiliar Showa-era scenery, Naoki had no immediate plans to return to his apartment.

At this time, the Nakano area was mainly residential, and it was a hot afternoon. The pedestrians on the street were in a hurry, and there wasn't much to see.

He slowly made his way to the train and then to Shibuya, an area he didn't know much about.

Sure enough, Shibuya was bustling even on such a day.

The neon lights on the streets were still off, perhaps only at night could one feel the charm they represented for the country.

In the stores facing the street, various trendy items were displayed, including fashionable clothing that wouldn't be outdated even in the 21st century. Maybe fashion really was a cycle.

Occasionally, groups of girls passed by, always followed by varying numbers of attentive boys. The trend of one girl being surrounded by at least four types of boys during the bubble era seemed to be already evident.

Naoki, walking down the commercial street, wasn't overly captivated by these scenes. Looking at Tokyo's most prosperous district, with its dazzling array of goods, he thought:

How can I get the first pot of gold to start my path to wealth?

Seeing the discotheques and closed nightclubs around him...

Could I sell myself?

Would my physical strength be enough?

...

What future ideas could I sell for a good price?

As he walked and thought, a melody suddenly reached his ears.

He had passed a record store.

Yamaguchi Momoe's poster still smiled gently, and the store was capitalizing on her retirement by placing all her old records in the center, hoping to earn more from fans' nostalgia.

On the other side, a poster of a smiling young girl caught his eye. The song he had just heard was Matsuda Seiko's hit, "Blue Coral Reef."

Naoki felt the strange atmosphere of this transition, thinking about the fierce competition in the entertainment industry during the bubble era...

The cheerful melody he heard was no longer...

But the sound of the first pot of gold pouring over him...

...

"Thank you to the Bilibili up主s, thank you to Seiko and Akina for their beautiful faces, which have introduced me to many great songs from the Showa era~"

"My first pot of gold, it seems, will come from selling songs!"

...

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