Chapter 33

“Hakamada,

i

you’re not good with people like

i

that, right?”

“That’s

i

because I try not to be

i

involved with people like that… dealing

i

with them is a

i

hassle…”

“But

i

to

i

me, you

i

look like a

i

badass delinquent, Hakamada. You

i

don’t look that different from

i

them, you know?”

“No,

i

no, no,

i

no!!”Translator: MadHatter

For

i

sure, I

i

bleached my

i

hair and

i

had my

i

ears pierced,

i

but!ges

“Isn’t mine

i

just a

i

look! Even

i

though I say

i

so myself, I am

i

quite a

i

coward!”

I

i

didn’t

i

even have the balls to get my nose

i

pierced!

“Is

i

that

i

so? You

i

give me

i

the feeling

i

that you

i

used to be

i

a rascal

i

in high

i

school.”

“I

i

was a fairly

i

healthy high

i

school baseball player

i

with dark

i

hair and

i

glasses… I

i

had contacts

i

and dyed

i

my hair after

i

I retired.”

“Oh

i

my, that’s an exceptional makeover.”j

Incidentally, the

i

reason for the

i

makeover was

i

that I was fed

i

up with

i

people labeling me

i

as “serious”

i

or “studious” when

i

I had black

i

hair and glasses, something

i

that I had no image

i

of myself as. Despite

i

the change

i

in appearance, my

i

inner self remained exactly

i

the same. I

i

didn’t like the

i

punks who caused

i

a commotion in the school, nor

i

did I want

i

to hang out

i

with

i

them.

I

i

never

i

liked those who

i

stayed out of the

i

community, yet

i

clustered together and

i

stirred up trouble. The

i

same applies

i

to the neighborhood nuisance gang

i

of delinquents and girls

i

who were adept at forming substandard relationships with

i

their fuzzy eyelashes.

Or

i

perhaps the truth

i

was that I was

i

simply intimidated.

“But

i

it would

i

have been terrible if Hirai

i

had been with

i

us today.”

Hirai

i

would have unarguably been

i

frightened. Moreover, Hirai

i

was petite… and… had

i

a bewitching body. It

i

was customary for someone to

i

accompany another for the night shift job, but I was sure she

i

would have been

i

terrified… On top

i

of that, we

i

were in this

i

kind of place.

“Oh

i

my, that girl

i

will be fine!”

“What!?”g7tuy

“Hirai

i

is rather

i

fearless.”

“But she’s a

i

girl, and inwardly, she

i

must be…”

“At

i

least she’s tougher than

i

you, Hakamada.”

“For

i

real?”Not shared on lightnovelreader.me

“For

i

real.”Not shared on aggregator websites

Tougher

i

than

i

me… Then

i

how much

i

of a weakling

i

was I being

i

viewed as?

Oh, speaking

i

of which…

“Aoyama,

i

did you see that… on your

i

way here?”

“That?”Not shared on aggregator websites.

“The cat… the cat’s…”

That

i

sprang to mind when I brought

i

up Hirai. Aoyama raised an eyebrow when I

i

inquired about whether he

i

noticed it and lightly smacked me on the

i

head.

“Hey! Don’t remind

i

me of that!”

Oh, so he

i

did see it, after

i

all. His reaction

i

was exactly what

i

I

i

had expected, and

i

I chuckled inwardly.

“Every

i

now and then

i

there’s an animal carcass

i

lying around, but

i

that almost made

i

my heart

i

stop!”

“Me

i

too. It was right

i

after passing through the

i

tunnel.”

“Takenaka

i

would have had

i

a stroke if he

i

had seen

i

it.”

“Ah,

i

haha, Takenaka had a

i

hard time yesterday.”

Time

i

passed as the

i

conversation carried on, and Aoyama and I

i

went about

i

our usual late-night tasks of adding and organizing merchandise, placing orders, cleaning, and

i

the like.

However…gwrb

“Those

i

guys, they’re

i

still there…”

The

i

delinquents were still out there

i

having fun.

Riding

i

around outside all the time on

i

their bikes was

i

a nuisance, but staying in front of the store

i

was even more disturbing. Thanks to them, not a single customer had arrived at the store since

i

then. Even

i

within the store, the unceasing laughter could be heard echoing from

i

outside. Perhaps they have had a lot to drink, some of them were clapping their hands

i

and emitting strange noises.

I was

i

watching them incredulously, but Aoyama

i

admonished me, “You shouldn’t do anything. It’s best not to be concerned about them.”

“But those

i

guys, they’re definitely the ones

i

who litter.”

“It can’t be

i

helped. The

i

place is what it is, and sometimes there are people

i

like that.”

“…”piomg4r

I

i

didn’t get what he was talking

i

about, but I didn’t want to get involved, so I

i

stopped gawking at them.

That was

i

my thought, but unfortunately, there

i

was still trash to be disposed of, so I

i

gathered up the trash

i

and stepped out of the safe zone of the store

i

and into the danger zone. The

i

hot and humid

i

August night

i

wind swept over me, and I

i

was almost staggered by the sound of vulgar laughter

i

that stimulated my eardrums.

“Oh, the staff

i

is coming out.”grh3

“What the

i

hell, did you come here to complain?”

Nonetheless, I

i

ignored it completely and went

i

around to the rear side of the store.

Oh, if I had

i

been a little stronger in a fight, I would have

i

protested without hesitation.

Good

i

grief… Being young

i

must be good―

To

i

be able to

i

do anything and have fun, even if you

i

were aggravating people

i

without even realizing it, must b

e

i

a blessing in a sense.

What

i

a breath of fresh air it

i

would be if I could say it to them. Impossible, though.

I walked

i

to the building’s back with a

i

large garbage bag as frustration

i

began to set in. After

i

all, listening to that foolish

i

laugh made me furious. You know, that smile on your face like not knowing

i

even a millimeter of the harshness of society… you should be working, damn you!

The

i

spark that was

i

steadily igniting in

i

the pit of my stomach

i

cooled off when I

i

reached the garbage

i

dumpster in the

i

back

i

of the store.

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