After the death of Korosensei, Nagisa starts attending high school and gets a part-time job at a convenience store. Partially because he wants to save up some money, partially to get more time away from his mom, but retail life sucks! No wonder ther...
After the lunch rush, I'm just getting ready to start restocking the shelves when I see a familiar face out the front.
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I set up a cart near the entrance, impatiently waiting for Jim to enter the store with his wife. It takes everything in me to stop from screaming once I hear the bell go off.
*Ding-a-ling*
"Welcome to Convenience! It's so good to see you again!"
I'm not sure what I expected. I mean, they're old, it's not like I wanted them to jump up and down or anything, but the silence is very... not what I imagined.
My face muscles slowly turn to stone and the smile gets painful to hold as the moment drags on without a word.
She accepts the cart and looks at me for a moment when suddenly there's a flash of recognition in her eyes. She simply offers a polite smile and I move out of the way feeling like I'm in the wrong place.
"Feel free to wander around, honey, I'll be with you in a second." Jim explains, waving her on.
She stares at him with that same empty glance she gave me when her eyes light up again and he motions towards the store. She gives him a small nod and wanders in. Once she's headed down an aisle, Jim pats my shoulder, his expression so relieved and filled with joy.
He slowly turns to me. "She made it." He nods.
And that was all he needed to say.
I relax a bit more and smile after her. "I'm so glad she did. I was really worried when I didn't see you for so long."
He rubs my shoulder and lets me go. "She had to recover for a few weeks, but they got it all out. It didn't spread or anything."
I smile again, less nervous than before. "That's really good to hear."
"Don't take her silence the wrong way." He explains without my needing to ask. "She gets her words mixed up a bit and finds it rather embarrassing, so she's more comfortable with staying quiet for the time being. But she made it ." He repeats, but it sounds like he's saying it for the first time. He chuckles. "And she really wanted her mac and cheese, so we decided to stop by. She loves this place."
"Well how about we go get it for her then?" I offer, making my way to go and grab it for her.
I find her a couple of aisles over, appearing lost, but when I show her the box, her entire face brightens up. Instead of saying anything, I just hand it over so she doesn't have to talk. She responds with a smile that could light up a whole room and hugs the box dearly like a teddy bear.
Jim finds us shortly after and I go through the store with them, helping out with as few words as possible. She'll take her time, looking at some of the items, but Jim is patient and quietly waits for her. Even though it's different, she's still the same strong and independent woman that you don't just offer help to, but today, I'm with Jim, simply making myself available without imposing. Despite her occasional struggles, that determination she's always seemed to have shines through.
I use this time to straighten out some of the things on the shelves to make them look pretty, and easier for her to see. And then I find the same stupid thing on the shelf I found all throughout July.
The half eaten sushi.
My half eaten sushi.
It's really getting on my nerves that they aren't even bothering to at least finish it.
"I'll be up front." I inform them with a smile, hiding the wasted product.
The second I'm out of sight, I frown. Who the hell keeps doing this?? Argh! People suck so much!!
"Hey, you're back!" Taki exclaims in the other aisle. "I really missed you guys! I see you got your mac and cheese."
"Always." Jim responds.
I decide it's best to leave them be and to bring up the sushi thing later. It always seems to be in the morning. I pull out my notebook and put in a reminder to check the coolers once I come in and every hour after that to try and narrow down exactly when it's taken. I'm gonna catch you next time for sure.
"Oh, um, excuse me."
I turn towards the lady, putting my notebook away. "Welcome in! Can I help you find something?"
"Um, yeah. I was wondering if you had one of those tourist maps for Nikko?" She politely asks.
"Oh, sure." I head towards the front of the store where the rack is.
"I looked, but you were out." She awkwardly smiles, reaching for the spot where the maps should be for Nikko. "But this is for Yokosuka."
"Oh." I quickly look through the rack and nothing seems to be in the right place. "Oh." I grab a stack and flip through it. "I know we have some, but it must be in the wrong spot. I'll try to find one for you."
I flip through maps for eight different cities other than Tokyo in the Tokyo section. What the crap? This thing's a mess! Instead of putting it back, I hold it under my arm and go through the next section.
"Thank you. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to go through each one, but it should be faster with the two of us." She flips through two stacks and places them back into the same spot. Then she does a third one and puts it back somewhere else.
I furrow my brows and try to focus on my section. No wonder they're all messed up. Is it even worth fixing?
I end up finding the whole stack hidden behind one for Tokyo in the section for Edo and hand it to her. "Is this what you're looking for?"
"Oh, you found it!" She stuffs what remains in her hands into a random section and smiles. "Thank you so much! I'm actually hoping to take my husband there at the end of the year for our anniversary." She peeks through it a bit. "I hope he likes it."
"I'm sure he will." I politely return, putting in a serious amount of mental effort to not roll my eyes and clench my teeth. Guess I know what I'm doing when I get back from lunch.
I ring up her map and she leaves, Taki, Jim and his wife approaching the front.
"Want me to go to lunch?" I quietly say as he rings them up.
"Go ahead and pick something, but don't leave just yet." He responds, gently holding out his hand towards the wife.
She stares at it a second when her eyes widen and she smiles, handing him the box. He nods and scans it, handing it right back in its own little bag. And then she shows off that beautiful little smile again.
I'm actually so happy she made it through her surgery. I'm not sure what I expected, but I tried not to think about it and wished for the best. I hope she gets to live a long time.
Taki walks them out, asking me to watch the store for a few minutes while he's gone. I get started with sorting the maps, my mind wandering to Korosensei. I don't really like to talk about it, and it's wrong to say I completely regret it because I know he was really proud of us before I did what I did, but I do wish we tried harder to save him.
He did so much for us in a year.
Imagine the changes he could have made if he had stayed.
*****
End Note: Originally posted August 6th, 2022. Honestly, the amount of times I've found half eaten sushi when I go to the grocery store... Any guesses on who the sushi thief is?
