“Welcome.”
When I entered the convenience store, I heard the disinterested voice of a part-time worker. At the register stood a gal—just one. Though I call her a gal, she didn’t give off a flashy or over-the-top vibe. It was just her bright hair color and her seemingly lazy attitude that made me assume she was a gal-type clerk.
She had short, golden bob-cut hair, narrow eyes, and thin lips. Her convenience store uniform was slightly disheveled, with a single accessory on her wrist and a blue earring in her ear. Her eyes had a bluish tint.
A cool, golden-haired gal. That’s the kind of vibe she gave off. Which, in other words, meant she was exactly the type I wasn’t good with. Seeing someone so confident in their own path made me feel utterly immature and shrink into myself.
I moved quietly, trying not to enter her line of sight as she continued fiddling with her phone without even glancing my way, and started browsing for tonight’s dinner.
My go-to is frozen tantan noodles. They take a bit of effort to thaw, but the perfect level of spiciness makes them incredibly delicious.
However, eating tantan noodles every day would make my diet too unbalanced, so maybe I should go for a different bento today. No, no, I think I’ll stick with the usual tantan noodles…
As I was caught in this utterly meaningless internal debate, a loud voice suddenly erupted from the register.
“Hey, if you’re gonna work as a clerk, at least stand up properly! This is why kids these days are so useless!”
I flinched and turned toward the voice to see a bald, overweight middle-aged man yelling at the golden-haired gal.
The gal looked annoyed but didn’t seem particularly intimidated.
“Are you looking for something, sir?”
“I’m talking about your attitude! Don’t you have any respect for customers?!”
“Oh, if it’s not here, then it’s not here, I guess.”
“You little…! Don’t you dare mock your elders like that!!”
About thirty years ago, dungeons started appearing in the world. Before that, while it wasn’t exactly male-dominated, there was still a strong undercurrent of that kind of thinking. Even now, some older men still have a habit of being overly harsh toward women.
“And what’s with those ears of yours!? What kind of idiot pierces holes in the body their parents gave them?!”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Speaking of bodies, sir, it looks like you’ve been treating the one your parents gave you pretty poorly too. Might I recommend the salad chicken over there?”
“You… you piece of trash!!”
The gal kept egging him on, and the man only got more heated. I didn’t think I needed to help her or anything, but if the register didn’t open soon, I wouldn’t be able to get my tantan noodles.
With no other choice, I decided to use my weapon.
I’m 178 cm tall—fairly tall, I’d say. And while good looks are pretty much useless in a world where experience points are everything, I’m not bad-looking. If I push my bangs up and stand up straight, I can pull off a decently intimidating presence.
To add to the effect and avoid having to look the man in the eye, I took off my glasses, grabbed an ice cream, and walked over to the counter where the two were arguing.
“Hey, can I get some help here?”
“Huh!? What do you want!? We’re in the middle of something he—”
The man, who had been about to yell at me too, suddenly trailed off as he saw me. Guys like this tend to fold when faced with a bigger man.
“Sorry, sir. I just wanna buy this ice cream. If I don’t hurry, it’s gonna melt.”
I deliberately gave him a gentle smile and bowed my head slightly. This kind of gesture tends to stroke their ego—seeing a younger guy bowing to them—and they usually calm down.
“Tch. Fine. But next time, show some respect to your customers, got it?”
The man spat out those words and left.
“Yep, I’ll make sure to restock on respect, sir~”
The gal’s sarcastic remark was thankfully drowned out by the sound of the automatic door closing.
“Phew. Oh, sorry about that. Can I get this, please?”
I placed the tantan noodles and the ice cream I didn’t even want on the counter, and the gal looked at me with a surprised expression.
“Wait, are you… the tantan noodles guy?”
Who the heck is this delicious-sounding person?
◇
“Man, you really saved me back there. Thanks, huh?”
“Ah, no, it was nothing. I didn’t really do much.”
“Who would’ve thought the tantan noodles guy would come to my rescue? You’re always so quiet and looking down, so I thought you were just some gloomy introvert.”
She laughed loudly, slapping my back repeatedly. Gals are scary.
After that, as I was finishing up my purchase and about to leave, she said, “Hey, I’m off my shift now. Wait up for me, okay?” As soon as the next part-timer arrived, she quickly changed and came out. Now, for some reason, I was standing in front of the convenience store chatting with this golden-haired gal. We were sharing the ice cream I bought—thankfully, it was the kind you could split in two.
“By the way, you’re not bad-looking. You should push your bangs up more often.”
“Nah, in this day and age, the only thing that matters for guys is experience points. I don’t wanna give people false expectations and then disappoint them.”
“Wait, so you’re saying your experience points are low?”
“Well, yeah, kinda. Also, what’s with this ‘tantan noodles guy’ thing?”
It was so natural the way she called me that that I almost accepted it without question.
“Huh? But you always buy tantan noodles, don’t you?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say always…”
“Every time I’m on register, you only buy tantan noodles. Do you even remember buying anything else?”
“……”
I tried to recall, but she was right. I always ended up buying tantan noodles. I’d agonize over the decision every time, but in the end, I always chose the tantan noodles.
“You’re always so serious about it, but in the end, you always go for the tantan noodles. Hence, ‘tantan noodles guy.’”
It was a pretty lazy nickname.
“Wait, do you live alone?”
“Ah, yeah. I had some reasons for wanting to get away from my hometown.”
I wanted to get away from everyone who knew about Yura-chan, so I got permission from my parents to live alone and transferred to my current high school.
“Huh. Well, I get wanting to get away from your parents, but you should still try to be good to them while you can.”
It was sound advice, but it felt oddly out of place coming from a golden-haired, blue-eyed gal.
“You’re thinking that doesn’t sound like something I’d say, right?”
I guess my expression gave it away.
“Ah—well, yeah. Honestly, it’s a bit surprising. You don’t really seem like the type.”
“Ahaha, you’re so honest!”
She laughed again, slapping my back.
“I just dress the way I like, but people always slap labels on me. Gal, delinquent, yankee… Like, just because I have blonde hair, people assume I’m a yankee. There’s no rule that says that, you know?”
“Uh… sorry about that.”
I had been one of those people who’d labeled her without thinking. I couldn’t help but apologize.
“Don’t worry about it. I was the one who labeled you as a gloomy introvert, after all.”
“Well, you’re not wrong about that part.”
“If you just pushed your bangs up and stood up straight, no one would think you’re a gloomy introvert.”
We kept chatting about trivial things like that until we finished the ice cream. It was the kind of conversation where it was hard to find a good stopping point, and while part of me wanted to be done with it, another part of me wanted to keep talking to her.
As the sun began to set, the gal suddenly spoke up.
“Oh, by the way, you bought tantan noodles again today, right? Are they gonna be okay?”
“Ah, well, they’re probably melted by now. But it’s not like they’re inedible or anything.”
I peeked into the bag and saw that the once-frozen tantan noodles were now a sad, soggy mess.
“Whoops. Sorry, it’s my fault for keeping you here…”
“No, it’s fine. I was gonna heat them up anyway.”
“But they’re probably not gonna taste good like that, right? And eating tantan noodles every day can’t be good for you. Oh, I know!”
I had a bad feeling about this.
“How about I cook you dinner as a thank-you for helping me earlier?”
Bullseye.
