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Now that Kurata—the lazy, bossy jerk who always bullied the girls into doing his work—was out of the picture, things got a lot easier for Mahiru Shiina and Asada Shino.
The other male employee, Takagi, was a little intimidated by Andrew at first. But after working with him for a short while, he started warming up to him.
Unlike Kurata—who abused his "seniority" status to slack off and dump his tasks on the new hires—Andrew actually pulled his weight. Once he joined in, their work efficiency basically doubled. Tasks that usually took 30 minutes were done in just a few minutes.
Takagi ended up with nothing to do but play on his phone and wait quietly for the boss to assign him something else.
It was the first time he'd ever experienced the joy of slacking off at work. Honestly, it felt great.
"If only every day could be this chill," he thought.
Unfortunately, Andrew said he was only covering for Kurata today and probably wouldn't be back tomorrow.
But would a guy who smashed Kurata's face in and knocked out his teeth really come work for him so willingly?
Takagi wasn't buying it.
And it wasn't just him—Asada and Mahiru didn't believe it either.
That afternoon, there weren't many customers, so Mahiru and Asada, who worked the register, got to relax a bit.
Since Andrew beat Kurata up behind the store, in front of the storage room, none of the customers noticed the commotion.
But the store manager sure did—she'd seen the whole thing on the security camera and rushed out to break things up.
What shocked Andrew was that the store manager was none other than Saionji Odoko.
Yeah, that Odoko—from a certain hentai anime. A mature, single lady.
Her daughter? Saionji Sekai. Yep, the girl who stabbed that scumbag Makoto.
When she saw one of her employees getting beat up by a customer, of course she came out to handle the situation peacefully.
But Andrew calmly told her everything: how Kurata was lazy, abused his seniority, and ordered Asada around like a slave.
The moment Saionji Odoko heard that, she was furious and fired Kurata on the spot.
She hated men who bullied women.
But with Kurata gone, they were short-handed—Takagi alone couldn't manage everything.
So Odoko turned her sparkling eyes to the handsome Andrew and asked if he'd be interested in working part-time at the store.
Of course, Andrew said yes right away.
There was no way he was gonna let Mahiru and Asada work here alone with a woman like Odoko running the place.
Odoko, after all, might seem like a gentle, caring woman—but she had a thing for cute boys. If you know her hentai origins, you know exactly what that means.
Women like her tend to attract all kinds of shady guys.
That's why Andrew decided to stay a few days, working alongside Mahiru at the store to keep an eye on things.
And hey, if any bad guys show up, he could collect their evil souls to power up his magic.
Call it grinding mobs in the real world.
Before he knew it, it was already 9 p.m.
Odoko came out of the break room and announced it was time to close up.
She handed envelopes of cash to Mahiru and Asada one by one.
Andrew got one too.
Convenience store wages in Japan aren't bad at all—about 1,100 yen per hour. A few hours of work, and he already had enough for a couple meals.
For high schoolers, this is one of the easiest part-time gigs to land.
Odoko originally wanted someone to work the night shift, but there had been a recent string of murders—some psycho who targets women walking alone at night. Way too dangerous.
Besides, she had more than one store, and wasn't hurting for cash. There was no reason to risk anyone's life.
So she made it a rule to close up shop at 9 p.m. sharp. Lock the doors, and everyone goes home.
As she handed Asada her envelope, Odoko looked at her seriously and said:
"Asada, from now on, just stick to your assigned tasks, alright? There's no silly rule here that says new hires have to do the veterans' work."
"You've been working so hard, but someone else was taking the credit—and the money. Doesn't that feel unfair? You're a good kid, and I've seen how much effort you've put in. If something bothers you, you should speak up."
"As for Kurata, I already fired him. My store doesn't need lazy jerks who bully girls."
Hearing all that warmed Asada's heart. She nodded firmly.
"Okay… I understand. Thank you, Manager."
Odoko just smiled and waved it off.
"You should be thanking Andrew. He's the one who told me what happened."
Other companies might turn a blind eye, but not her.
She wouldn't tolerate workplace bullying in her store.
Why should part-timers make life hard for other part-timers?
Kurata was a grown man, and just because he heard a stupid rumor, he started harassing Asada and threatening her into doing his work. Absolutely disgusting.
Keeping someone like him around was just asking for trouble.
Odoko's words made Asada glance over at Andrew, gratitude in her eyes.
He'd saved her. Again.
"Alright, it's getting late. You all should head home soon," Odoko added. "Oh—and be careful. That murderer I mentioned earlier? He specifically targets women walking alone at night. So don't let your guard down, okay?"
With that final warning, she locked up the shop and went home.
Once her silhouette disappeared, Andrew turned toward the two girls.
"Asada-san, you heard the manager. How about Mahiru and I walk you home? It's way too risky to walk alone this late."
Asada looked tempted but hesitated. "Wouldn't that be bothering you guys…?"
Mahiru gently took her hand and smiled. "Of course not. Safety comes first. If something happened to you after we left, that would be the real problem. We'll feel better knowing you got home safe."
"Alright… then I'll be counting on you two," Asada said, finally giving in.
She realized there was no point in keeping her distance just because of her insecurities.
Having someone willing to stand up for her… having real friends—that was something to be grateful for.
"Let's go," Andrew said with a shrug, taking the lead.
Mahiru and Asada quickly followed behind.
"..."
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