Starting a Night Shift Part-time Job at a Convenience Store - Chapter 9.4: A Man Drenched in Blood IV

Dropsiof rain descended as though soaking through the dry concrete. In less than a couple of minutes, it gradually rose in intensity, and in no time at all, it became a torrential downpour like an overturned bucket. Thanksito this, the flow of customers thoroughly stopped.

While inspecting the interior of the store, we waited quietly for the storm that was shaking the trees so ferociously and the downpour that was pounding the ground so loudly to subside. The downpour roared and pounded against the glass like a living creature, andithe trees in the copse were so driven by the wind that they seemed to topple over. For some reason, it was unsettling toiwitness.

“Iticame out of nowhere, perhaps it will subside in the morning.”

“Thatitree looks like it’s going to collapse, doesn’t it?”

“Theithin ones will probably fall over.”

Theimanager remarked that it was not uncommon for trees to be knocked down by storms like this in the summer.

“Sometimesithey obstruct the road, but the contractors usually come right away to remove them, so there’s nothing to be concerned about.”

Theiweather got worse throughout the course of the following hour and the rain did not cease at all. At last, thunder began to rumble. Fromithe magnitude of the sound and the small distance between the thunderstorms, I assumed that the thunderstorms were fairlyinear.

“Theipower might go out.”

Theimanager prepared a flashlight. All of the doors and windows were temporarily shut to prevent rainwater from entering since the floodwaters were already in full forceioutside.

Didithe weather forecast mention a storm like this was on its way? As I was musing on this, the scenery outside was instantly enveloped in a dazzling flashiof light.

Itiwas a blinding flash. Withithe next beat, an explosion rather than a roar resounded throughout the whole area, followed slightly later by a rumbling of the earth that jarred myieardrums.

Myibody involuntarily stiffened, not understanding what had struck.

Theifluorescent lights in the store briefly went out before flickering on and off once more. A booming crash resonated through the copse before disappearing.

Thatiwas when I finally grasped that lightning had struck.

“It seems to have struck rather close to here.”

Wow, soithis was what lightning looked like when it struck nearby. The force of it was overwhelming.

According to the manager, the lightning probably struckithe sea of trees.

“I supposeiit must be the sound of the tree falling.”

“Seriously?” Translator: MadHatter

“Don’t worry, it’s close, but it’s only a tree.”

Aitree falling down wouldn’t cause much damage here. Because this place was called a seaiof trees.

It will pass soon. Trueito the manager’s words, the storm passed within a few hours, and by dawn, the sky was perfectly clear.

Itiseemed like it would be hot and dry again for the rest of the day. Branches, leaves, and other debris were lying around on the road, but fortunately, no fallen trees were obstructing the road, and I was able to make it home without any trouble.

Ah, Iiwasigetting sleepy.

Noimatter how hot it was during the day, I would probably drift off into the world of sleep until the evening. To create an environment that facilitated sleep, I would draw the curtains and turn on the fan.

WheniI arrived home, exhaustion was kicking in, so I took a quick shower, slipped into the comfiest, lightest clothes I could find, and fell asleep on the futon.

“800… That will be 20 yen.”

Iiwasisimply working at the cash register.

Todayiwas a strange day. Eveniat this time of the day, customers kept flowing in, one after the other, and a long line of people was waiting in front of me.

Whenione person left, OL workers and salarymen on their way home from work came in.

Whatiwasithis? Was there a get-together party somewhere today?

Likeia machine, I operated the cash register, filled the bags, and handed over the change, yet the line of customers was unceasing. Hey, hey, how long was this line? When I looked up to ascertain the length of the line, a familiar face flashed into my field of vision.

Itiwas Hyuga.

Whatiwas going on? Whyiwas Hyuga in the line…

Atithat thought, Iilooked at the line once more, but I was not mistaken. Behind the fifth person in line was Hyuga, pale-faced and bleeding from the mouth.

Myihands stopped unconsciously.

Hyuga, herself in the line, was seemingly out of place among the other people in the place.

Hyugaimade eye contact with me, offered an uncharacteristically uncanny smile, andimoved her mouth to say something in the distance.

Rushed by the customer, Iiresumed the transaction. I handed over the change, one person left, and the line was packed. I was overcome with a desire to cease my work. Every time a customer left, Hyuga would approach with an ominous smile on her face.

One person left, and then another came. Hyuga was approaching me soon.

I wanted to flee. I was afraid. Even though these thoughts arose in my mind, my body did not obey me, and my hands struck the cash register regardless of my will.

Hyuga eventually made it to the front of the queue. My eyes were wide open, and I couldn’t even raise my voice.

Hyuga neither carried nor placed anything on the counter. Instead, she suddenly leaned forward with both hands on the counter.

My vision was dominated by the reflection of Hyuga. Bloodshot eyes, mouth hanging up like a crescent moon.

When she saw me, she said this.

“You will never be forgiven.”

At that point, I woke up.

It was a dream―Not shared on aggregator sites

Itiwasia horrible dream. An abnormal amount of perspiration was running down my forehead. I didn’t feel the wind from the fan, perhaps because I had turned it off in my sleep. No wonder this room was so hot.

Itiwas pitch-black here. Oh, I remembered…

Yeah, my sisteriwoke me up at around 4:00 in the evening and made me boil somen noodles. After I had my fill too, I went back to my futon, dozing off again, and apparently ended up falling back to sleep.

It seemed that my sister had gone home. It was dark outside and was night now…

Puttingimy hand on my forehead, which was drenched in perspiration, I closed my eyes.

Working part-time even in my dreams, how work-oriented I was, I let out a small laugh audibly but I couldn’t really laugh.

Hyugaiappeared. Furthermore, she said to me, “You will never be forgiven.”

I couldn’t believe it was a mere dream now.

Just like yesterday when I visited the grave. Hyuga emerged before me with blood.

Blood was a symbol of pain.

Everything that had taken place until now couldn’t be a coincidence, even the dream I had just had.

Unforgivable―

Her voice was laced with a horrifying abhorrence.

Sweat trickled down my forehead again as it replayed in my brain. At that moment, I immediately felt the presence of someone at my bedside. The room was vacant, with no lights on. The curtains were softly ruffled by a nocturnal wind.

My younger sister… what, so you were still here huh…

With my eyes now accustomed to the darkness, I turned my head to the side.

The one at there…1qaz

Was not…2wsx

My younger sister…

Long, dark hair…3s

A woman.ews

“―”2345

Standing by my bedside and staring down at me was a woman with long, disheveled hair.

Here, I lost my cool. When my mind established that the person standing right next to me was unanalyzable, my heart sprang out of my chest instantaneously. Without remembering how to breathe, I couldn’t avert my eyes from the person standing right next to me.

Myimind went blank.

Who…eqwds

Rightias I thought this, a distressed moaning sounded in my ear, and the woman with the long hair who was looking at me with her head down said something to me.

“…Re…”2w

Sheipeered out from her drooping hair at me with wide-open eyes.

“Sa… ve… me…”

BeforeiI could hear all of the screams I thought I had screamed, I woke up. For real this time.

The bright lights. The TV left on. The fan that swiveled around.

Raising my sluggish body from the futon, I cast a glance around.

Itiwas a… dream…

Myistrength was depleted when I came to this revelation. Even if it was a dream, I hated it, but I was glad it was a dream. It was the worst nightmare ever. I thought I was awake, only to realize that I was still dreaming.

Iimust be very exhausted… I was sweating all over and it was a little past midnight when I looked at the clock.

Howimuch more sleep should I get for my body to be refreshed? My rhythm of daily life had been disrupted. More importantly, my sister left the lights and TV on when she left… that jerk.

Evenithough I told her to turn it off all the time.

Although it was a blessing that I didn’t have to work part-time today, I couldn’t keep up this irregular lifestyle indefinitely. Even if my days and nights were reversed, I would still have to restrict my sleeping hours. Despite my repeated attempts to correct my standard of living, it didn’t solve the problem that I could not bring myself to eat anything but somen every time.

Having had only a light meal for lunch, I was so starving that I crawled out of my futon and went to the kitchen to boil some somen noodles. Ah, noodle soup, noodle soup.

I tookia container of noodle soup from the cupboard under the stove and grabbed a bottle of barley tea from the refrigerator…

“―”Not shared on lightnivelreader.me

Iiturnediaround swiftly.

Thereiwas no particular meaning.

Itiwas simply somehow. I really somehow felt like there was something behind me just now… What was that feeling… Was the dream I had earlier still making me queasy?

Thatiwas nothing more than a dream. What was I frightened of?

Itimust be due to all the bizarre occurrences that have been unfolding in recent days. My daily life was warping and shifting with each passing day, and I was starting to accumulate stress little by little, becoming hypersensitive to even the subtlest details.

This ability did not come into the world with me, but it unexpectedly manifested one day. I wondered whether the day would come when I would be able to accept everything calmly like Takenaka and Hirai.

Would this ability disappear from me someday? Would it accompany me for the rest of my life?

I… took all the out-of-the-ordinary things as a matter of course.

After draining the boiled somen and placing it on a plate, I set the evening meal on the tatami table and, despite the lack of appetite for the familiar menu, I nonetheless put it in my mouth.

A comedian and a well-known idol were introduced as the late-night TV variety program got underway as upbeat background music played.

I didn’t like this idol…

While moving my mouth, I changed the channel at random.

Late-night anime, news, some variety shows, and foreign dramas.

It was difficult to find a program that caught my attention.

And then…

“Oh… what…?”

All of a sudden, the fluorescent light on the ceiling flickered and the room went dim. I stood up and touched the light appropriately to check if the light was not working. Even so, the fluorescent light kept flickering on and off, disappearing and reappearing.

How strange, I had only recently replaced it with a new one.

Why…dewxs

While thinking it was odd, I threw the somen noodles into my mouth. This time, a noise was heard on the TV screen.

“Huh!?”1234

The screen, which had been in color, turned to black and white and shook furiously without warning.

Involuntarily, I nearly dropped my chopsticks.

The timing was too poor for a malfunction. Whether it was the light or the TV, what the hell was this?

Thisiwas… it was not a mere malfunction, it couldn’t be…

Almost reaching that conclusion, I leaned over and slammed the TV with all my might.

Buzz, buzz. The TV produced a weird noise and turned into a sandstorm screen as if what I had done had really wrecked it.

Theifluorescent light still kept malfunctioning. Even more strange things were brewing.

A low, mechanical sound started playing in my ear or perhaps in my brain. The sound kept escalating and never relented.

Before I knew it, the fan that was spinning had ceased.

Theiair, which had been hot and humid, somehow became cooler…

Thisiphenomenon…

Iiexperienced an incident similar to this once before.

It was a harbinger that something unwelcome was about to strike.

That was when the TV turned off with a bang.

The lights flashed in a steady rhythm.

The sound of the TV faded.

It was supposed to be quiet, yet the ringing in my ears and the sound of my heart, which was gradually amplifying my impatience and anxiety, created a feeling that the area around me was awfully noisy.

I was prepared for this. Though I didn’t want to. I was absolutely convinced this was the pattern by now.

Without even trying to get to my feet, I simply waited quietly for the moment to come.

But when they came out, I was hopeless. Keeping my composure was ridiculous. I would never get adjusted to it.

At once, the dimming of the light proved it.

Across the table. In front of me.

A bloodied woman with long black hair emerged.

Her face was not clearly discernible but only one eye peeked out through the gap in her bangs.

Sheiwas casting a reproachful look at me. From the corners of her eyes, chin, and neck, streaks of fresh blood were running down her face.

Theiappearance of the woman was a staple of Japanese horror movies.

Sheiwas exactly the one who popped up in the dream I had.