chapter3 · 045-ep45

Episode 45: For Now

After lunch break, Sōsuke moved right away.

Apparently he spoke to the classmate looking at that job listing and got them to make a little time to talk after school.

The place was an empty classroom on the third floor.

It was normally used for elective classes and committee activities, but apparently nothing was scheduled there today.

After school.

Sōsuke and I headed for the empty classroom, climbing the stairs.

"Sorry, Ren-kun."

Walking beside me, Sōsuke spoke quietly.

"For what?"

"For dragging you into this so suddenly."

"No, I'm the one who said I wanted to talk to them."

"That's true, but... Aizawa-san was a little troubled too."

Aizawa-san.

A girl in Sōsuke's class who apparently participated in the Awakener Development Program too.

The job listing Sōsuke had shown me at lunch had originally come from Aizawa-san asking him about it.

"Does Aizawa-san intend to take the job?"

"She seemed unsure. She thought it might be suspicious, but maybe that was just how jobs for Awakeners were."

"Well, that makes sense."

For a regular high schooler's job listing, thirty thousand yen a day with no stated work would be over right there.

But when you called it for Awakeners, it looked a little different.

Work ordinary people couldn't do.

That was why the pay was high.

You couldn't say that didn't make sense, but.

While we talked like that, we reached the empty classroom.

The door was slightly open.

There were two people inside.

One was a girl.

Her hair came down to around her shoulders, and she held a phone in both hands.

Probably Aizawa-san.

The other was a boy.

He was sitting lightly on a desk by the window, looking at us.

Unlike Aizawa-san, he didn't look uneasy.

"Ah, Makino-kun."

Aizawa-san noticed Sōsuke, looking a little relieved.

"Sorry to call you over so suddenly, Aizawa-san."

"No, I wanted to ask about it a little too."

After saying that, Aizawa-san looked at me.

"You're Himuro-kun, right?"

"Yeah. Himuro Ren."

"I'm Aizawa. Aizawa Chinatsu."

Aizawa-san dipped her head a little.

Then the boy beside her spoke.

"Segawa Takuma. I was planning to take that part-time job too, so I thought I'd hear this out at least."

There was no hostility in Segawa's voice.

But he seemed to be a little guarded from the start.

It was like someone butting into a part-time job he intended to take.

He probably didn't find it amusing.

"I heard a little from Sōsuke. You two were thinking of taking a job for Awakeners?"

"I haven't registered yet."

Segawa answered immediately.

"We were just talking about whether to send the form today. We meet on-site Wednesday evening, hear the explanation there, and if it's fine, do the job."

"You work that same day?"

"Yeah. Apparently just an hour or two."

"What's the daily pay?"

"Thirty thousand."

Thirty thousand yen for a high schooler's day job.

And only around two hours.

By the amount alone, it was pretty abnormal.

But there was no point saying that head-on.

Because it was for Awakeners.

That one phrase settled it in Segawa's mind.

"Can I see the listing?"

"Sure, but."

Segawa held his phone screen toward me.

【Next Works Co., Ltd.】

【High-Paying Jobs for Awakeners】

【First-Time Applicants Welcome】

【Level Doesn't Matter】

【On-Site Support Staff】

【Daily Pay: 30,000 Yen】

【Meet Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.】

【Work time: approximately 1–2 hours】

【Details will be explained by the on-site representative】

【Meeting place: Former Minami Ward Third Materials Yard】

【Participation details will be sent after registration form submission】

Short.

Only the thirty-thousand-yen daily pay stood out strangely.

But I could barely tell what the actual work was.

On-site support staff.

Details will be explained by the on-site representative.

The meeting place wasn't a company or a meeting room.

It was a former materials yard.

This was just way too suspicious.

"Did they tell you what specifically you'd be doing?"

"On-site support, obviously."

"Support for what?"

"Aren't we supposed to hear that on the day?"

Segawa answered, sounding a little annoyed.

Aizawa-san kept looking down at her phone screen.

"What about you, Aizawa-san?"

"I... thought it was scary not knowing. But if it's work for Awakeners, maybe it's different from a regular part-time job."

"I get that."

I answered while looking at the screen.

That was why it was a problem.

The world had become abnormal.

Then it left room to think abnormal job listings weren't strange either.

"Segawa. What do you put in the registration form?"

"Your name and contact information. Then whether you're registered as an Awakener, your Level, whether you have a Job... I think."

"Doesn't it feel a little scary to send that information first without knowing what the job is?"

"It's for Awakeners, so of course they'd check that."

"I get the checking itself. But I feel like the order is backwards. I don't think it's too late to do it after you know what the work is."

"Aren't you being too cautious, Himuro?"

"Maybe I am."

I didn't deny that.

"But it's better than thinking lightly and getting in trouble. Especially with something like this."

"Something like this?"

"A listing where the work is vague, only the pay is high, and it just screams suspicious."

Segawa's expression hardened a little.

The wording was difficult.

To me, the name Next Works was almost black.

Because it was a name Takatsuki had said.

But I couldn't say that.

I couldn't bring up what we had heard while eavesdropping in Meeting Room Seven here.

It involved Mibu, and Mibu's father too.

And we didn't have proof.

Even if I suddenly said, "That company is dangerous," it would only look like I was jumping to conclusions for some unknown reason to Segawa and the others.

So I could only talk from the wording of the listing.

But that made it difficult.

If I chose the wrong words, it would sound like I was saying they hadn't thought about this at all.

"Thirty thousand yen a day isn't weird for an Awakener, is it?"

Segawa said.

"This isn't a normal part-time job. We're in the Awakener Development Program too, and we have Statuses. It's not like we're regular people who can't do anything."

"I get that."

"If you get it, why are you so hung up on this?"

I searched for words a little.

"The Awakener Development Program is suspended. We don't know when it will resume. You became an Awakener, but nobody will let you do anything. I get why you'd be interested if someone says there are jobs where you can be useful as an Awakener at a time like this."

I looked at the phone screen.

"And it pays thirty thousand yen a day. First-time applicants are fine. Level doesn't matter. Details will be explained that day. ...It feels like it's too perfectly tailored to the frustrations surrounding Awakeners right now."

Segawa fell silent.

Aizawa-san looked at Segawa a little anxiously.

"Segawa-kun, I think I should wait a little before registering too."

"You too, Aizawa?"

"Yeah. I don't think it'll be too late after we find out what the job is."

Aizawa-san's voice was quiet.

But that part was clear.

Sōsuke looked a little relieved too.

Segawa looked at his phone unhappily.

"It got complicated because Makino called Himuro."

"Sorry."

"No, Sōsuke didn't do anything wrong."

"Makino-kun only called you because I asked him for advice."

When Aizawa-san said that, Segawa got a little tongue-tied.

"...I'm not blaming him."

Some of the force left his voice.

Segawa probably didn't really want to blame Sōsuke either.

"You've got it good, Himuro."

Segawa put his phone on the desk.

"You've gone on expeditions, right? There are rumors that you went observing with Mibu, that you train with higher-level Awakeners, stuff like that."

Segawa looked away just a little.

"But all we do is take classes at school and go home. Even in the Program, it's just basic training all the time. We have Statuses, but nowhere to use them. It makes you think, then what did I awaken for?"

Of course, that wasn't a reason to register for a suspicious job listing.

But I understood what Segawa was trying to say.

He awakened.

He trained too.

But he was stopped before he could enter a dungeon.

He didn't even know when things would resume.

If a job where he could be useful as an Awakener appeared in front of him like that, he would want to hear it out at least once.

I could see that sequence, which made it bother me even more.

"I get what you're saying, Segawa."

"Don't say you get it."

"But I'd hate it too if I were told to wait around without being able to do anything."

Segawa's expression shifted just a little.

"That's why I think you shouldn't send the form today. There's too little information to decide when you're feeling impatient."

Segawa was silent for a while.

Aizawa-san and Sōsuke said nothing either.

"...All right."

Segawa finally spoke.

"I won't send it."

Sōsuke let out a small breath.

Aizawa-san seemed to relax a little too.

"Aizawa, you're okay with that too, right?"

"Yeah. I think that's better too."

"Then that's it for this."

Segawa put his phone in his pocket.

He still didn't look completely convinced.

But at least he wasn't going to send the registration form anymore.

That was big.

"Sorry for butting in like that."

When I said it, Segawa looked a little surprised.

"No... It's not like I think everything you said was wrong."

"Thanks for that."

After we had talked everything through, we left the empty classroom.

The hallway still held that after-school buzz.

It felt like school as usual.

"Ren-kun."

Sōsuke spoke softly from beside me.

"Thanks."

"Well, I don't know if he completely accepted it, though."

As I said that, I remembered the details of the listing we'd just seen.

Former Minami Ward Third Materials Yard.

Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.

One or two hours of work.

Details would be explained by the on-site representative.

The nastiness of the listing remained.

At least, the flow of those two going to take that job should have been stopped.

For now, that was a relief.

But unexpectedly, I had found out the date and location.

Before I had even gone looking, information that might connect the name Takatsuki had said had fallen right into my lap.

...Now then.

This was going to be hard to pretend I hadn't seen.