These past few days, Saiki had been living especially comfortably. He arrived at school right on time in the morning for classes, ate lunch leisurely on the rooftop at noon, came home in the afternoon to watch Famous Detective Conan while eating coffee jelly, played some games or read novels in the evening when he had time, and then repeated the same three-point routine the next day.
Today, just like usual, Saiki finished his coffee jelly and sat on the sofa in the evening reading a novel.
[Ya!! This is exactly the life I want. Mm, nice, nice... but it feels like I'm forgetting something...]
Saiki closed the novel and set it aside.
[What was it?]
A brainstorm ran through Saiki's mind, and suddenly a scene popped up.
A few days ago, Gotoh Hitori had finally squatted at the stairwell long enough to catch Saiki. She grabbed him, dragged him to that familiar park, knelt down, and begged him to help her refuse the part-time job.
Although Saiki had refused immediately and even explained that it was for her own good, from the way Gotoh Hitori looked before he left, he knew she would probably try something else.
[I remember the work shift starts around tomorrow. Kinda curious.]
Saiki lowered his head and pondered for a moment.
When he looked up again, his eyes had become crossed.
[Clairvoyance.]
Saiki locked onto Gotoh Hitori's location with clairvoyance to see what she was doing.
The view zoomed out and in, landing directly in a bathroom. Gotoh Hitori, with her hair tied in two buns, was taking a bath.
But the bathtub was filled with water and packed full of ice cubes. Seeing how blue her face looked, something felt very wrong.
(What is she doing?)
Gotoh Hitori [I've already soaked for a full 30 minutes. I should catch a cold now, right? Sorry, sorry. Except for work, I'll give it my all.]
Gotoh Hitori slowly sank deeper. In the bathtub, only a little yellow duck she was holding onto remained floating.
(So that's it. Frozen princess soup?)
Only Gotoh Hitori's hand was still gripping the edge of the tub. Her little sister Futari Gotoh pulled her up and saved her.
Gotoh Hitori, now wearing her school swimsuit, sat in front of a fan while desperately strumming her guitar, frantically battling her immune system.
Gotoh Hitori's face was already starting to turn a bit blue. [Ah!! Give me a cold, give me a cold, give me a cold, give me a cold.]
(What are you even doing? Gotoh, you can dodge the first day, but you can't dodge the fifteenth.)
Seeing this scene, Saiki remembered someone from the past who had done the exact same thing as a kid to skip school...
He deactivated the crossed eyes... clairvoyance. Saiki sighed.
[Yare yare, this kind of behavior isn't good. Sorry, Gotoh. I won't let you get away with it.]
Later that night, after Gotoh Hitori had fallen asleep, a figure suddenly sneaked into her room.
It was the kind-hearted Saiki-sensei, here to deliver warmth.
He glanced at Gotoh Hitori, who was still sound asleep.
Without bothering to check if she was actually sick or not, Saiki directly used his restoration ability to return her body to its condition from yesterday.
[Mm, that should do it.]
After delivering the warmth, Saiki teleported back home to sleep.
...
The next day, the first thing Gotoh Hitori did upon waking up was to take her temperature.
"Beep beep beep beep beep beep."
Gotoh Hitori pulled the thermometer out from under her armpit and looked at it. 36.5 degrees.
"Why? I hate this robust constitution of mine."
(See? I told you it wouldn't work. Just go to work like a good girl.)
Saiki, back at his own apartment, took a sip of milk and continued watching Gotoh Hitori's situation with clairvoyance.
Gotoh Hitori: "No choice now. At this point, I can only pretend to be sick."
(Seriously, you're really not giving up, huh.)
Saiki took out his phone and sent a short message to Gotoh Hitori.
Gotoh Hitori received Saiki's message and opened it:
"Gotoh, your part-time job starts today, right? It's fine, just take it easy. I'll come watch. I believe you can definitely do it. You absolutely won't run away."
"Trusting in you, your close friend, Saiki."
=͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪ ‧̣̥̇)
A wave of guilt surged through Gotoh Hitori's heart, hitting her hard. Just moments ago, she had been thinking about running away, and now she received a message like this. It was too much.
"Beep!"
Another message arrived. Gotoh Hitori saw it was from Ijichi Nijika and had a bad feeling, but she still opened it:
"Good morning! Today's your first day of work. You must be really nervous, right? But don't worry, I'll help you. Let's do our best together!"
Another pang of guilt struck Gotoh Hitori, shattering her body and soul. She could almost see Ijichi Nijika's sunny smile comforting and forgiving her sinful self who had wanted to flee.
(Hmph! Now you won't run away, right? I almost forgot about that girl Nijika.)
...
Saiki finished his coffee jelly, set down his novel, and calculated the time. It was about right now.
(Time to head over and check on Gotoh's situation. By now she should have been there for a while!)
Since Gotoh Hitori's house was quite far away, even though she had sent a message suggesting they go together, Saiki had still told her to head out first.
[Alright.]
Saiki changed into casual clothes and placed his hand on his forehead.
[Teleportation.]
After all, if he didn't use teleportation, he'd have to take the train, which was too much hassle and a waste of time and money. Saiki didn't want to walk or spend anything extra.
Saiki arrived 100 meters from the entrance of a place called "Starry." He had just reached the stairs when he stopped.
After calming down for a moment, Saiki walked forward and pulled Gotoh Hitori out from the bushes.
[What are you doing?]
"F-First let go of me..."
Gotoh Hitori struggled free from Saiki's grip, landed, patted her butt, and then switched to a surprised tone. "Ya, Saiki, what a coincidence! You just got here too?"
?
(This day and age, and people still treat others like idiots.)
(It's obvious you've been squatting here for a long time.)
But Saiki didn't call out Gotoh Hitori's bluff. He let her save a little face.
Gotoh Hitori: "Then, um, shall we go in together?"
[Sure, sure, sure!]
Saiki and Gotoh Hitori walked down together. As soon as they touched the door handle, a voice came.
"Tickets don't go on sale until 5, you know~"
The two followed the voice and saw the store manager of this place, Ijichi Seika.
Gotoh Hitori instantly tensed up.
Gotoh Hitori [Th-this is the employee... what do I do? She suspects me. I have to clear up the misunderstanding.]
Gotoh Hitori took a deep breath, opened her eyes again, and her expression gradually twisted. "You first calm... calm... calm calm calm calm calm down..."
(You're the one who needs to calm down!)
Gotoh Hitori [Failed again.]
Gotoh Hitori quickly hid behind Saiki to block her line of sight and tried her best to calm herself.
"We're still in preparations right now."
Ijichi Seika had originally thought they were customers here to buy tickets for the show and was about to explain further, until she saw Saiki.
"Ah!! It's you, you little punk."
[Yare yare, is that any way to talk to a customer? That's not good.]
...
The group entered the store. Ijichi Seika crossed her legs. "So you're the new employee. You should've just said so!"
Gotoh Hitori: "S-sorry..."
"I'm the manager here. Nice to meet you."
Gotoh Hitori's eyes still darted around, unable to make eye contact. "N-nice to meet you..."
Gotoh Hitori [The... the manager is so scary. She's exactly the type I can't handle.]
Saiki sat down at the ordering counter.
[One coffee jelly.]
"You little punk, are you here to work or to be a customer?"
[I'm here as a customer. The one working is her. Don't get it wrong.]
Ijichi Seika walked up to him, looked down at Saiki. "You really put me through hell."