Chapter 7.3: Cat Phantom III_Starting a Night Shift Part-time Job at a Convenience Store

Chapter 7.3: Cat Phantom III

 Iiwashedimyiface harshly, sshing it with cold water. While Iididnt have a particrly awfulplexion when Iipeered in the bathroom mirror, my countenance was appalling.

 fewbheh

 Howimany times did I seeisomething like that? The white arm oniNishimura. Then thereiwas the woman in the corner of the store who had nothing from theistomach down. The maniwho was being dragged by the shin of the store staff girl Recalling itievoked an urgeiin me toithrow up.

 Recently itiwas really a recent development that I beganito see strange things frequently.

 It all kicked offiwith a part-time job at a convenience store that Iistarted for the hourly wage.

 Even though I had been warned that the jobiwas notorious, I continued toigo through it unflinchingly, and consequently, whether it be a dormantiaptitude or a sixth sense, I unwillingly developed the ability toisee non-human, invisible entities.

 Initially, distinguishing between them was difficult, and it was only mildly noticeableiwhen I passed by them or caught flickers of their presenceiin my vision, yettely theinumber of times I perceived such beings hadibeen on the rise, and evenithe beings I had detected variediin their levels of perception: some could beimistaken for living people, whileiothers appeared to be in the same state as when theyidied. Some of themiappeared with only parts of their body, such asilegs, arms,iand necks, rather than the full body, which was extremely disconcerting toime given that I wasinot ustomed to the sight of these things.

 In the past, someoneisaid that they wanted to see spectersior get supernatural powers, but franklyispeaking, it was not a good thing, it was truly not a positiveithing.

 Twoidaysiago, I found out that something had been living in the back of theiceiling of the run-down apartment I resided in. The first time it happened, I originallyisuspected it was a rodent or something simr, but right when Iibecame able to visually see such things, the entityiwas manifested. Nothing had happened until thenibut aftering to see the strangeithing, noises began to emanate from the ceiling in the middle of theinight.

 Itisoundedilike something was rolling around. ew

 Theiprospectiof what in the world was rolling around in the middleiof the night threw me into aicreepy phase, so Iichose not to pry too deeply into theimatter. Nothing hadiever urred in the houseiI had been living in until this day so Iiwould rather believe that it wasisomething more harmless than that thing in thaticonvenience store.

 Fromithenion, every once in a while, I wouldisee an old man looking at meithrough the window.

 Myiapartment was two storiesihigh. For theiold man to lookiout the window andisee my room would be outiof the question. The only way heicould do that would be if he was as tallias a telephone pole or climbing theiwall and hanging from the window ledge. But that would never beiconceivable.

 Theioldiman would makeieye contact with meifor a few seconds before disappearing. He wasiprobably one of those kinds too.

 Forisomeireason, while Iiwas having a cupiof noodles, watchingiTV, getting up in the morning, oring back from the bathroom, I feltihis gaze on me. When Iipeered out the window, aistrange old man was watching me with onlyia quarter of his face protruding from the windowisill. Our eyes lockediwith each other briefly, and then he swiftly hid his face andivanished.

 Atifirst, I wasiso spooked that it made me jumpiup and down, though I was still fairly freakediout by it. Even so, I triedinot to dwell on it tooimuch, since heididnt seem to do anything to me. If thingsiturned too dismal, I could simplyiclose the curtains and all would be well.

 Andiso my dailyilife had gone through a drasticichange after working part-time at that convenienceistore.

 Masa. Not shared on aggregator websites

 Whoa!? Not shared on lightnovelreader.me

 Kinoshitaiwas standing right behind meiin the mirror when I looked up iniresponse to his call.

 Howilong had heibeen here? I hadnt even heard aisound.

 Well, you were spacingiout, you know.

 I-Is that so? Trantor: MadHatter

 You spendiall your time in the bathroom. Even if youiare pooping, its taking a long time. I was justiwondering what was going on.

 N-Nothing, I wasijust washing my face. Lets go back. few

 I see I mean, are you okay? sedf

 Yeah? fwes

 Iireturned a blunt reply and lookediup at Kinoshita, who stared at me and made aiserious face. Amongithe four of us, Kinoshita, who was normally the one toismile carelessly, unexpectedly became grave.

 Isiititrue? 4325ftd

 What? ferhjrys

 Aboutiwhat you said earlier.

 Aboutithe thing you said to usiearlier.

 Myieyes widened at his words instead of my mouth.

 So its true afteriall. fwehb

 Why, you grea4

 I canitell, you know. t4wAt

 Kinoshitaishrugged his shoulders.

 I thoughtiit was a joke at first, too. But whenever you tell a lie, you scratch your head unconsciously and thenibite your back teeth a few times.

 EveniIiwas not conscious of that habit of mine. Of allithe guys in our unbreakable rtionship, Kinoshita was the most perceptive and subtle.

 But you didnt do that today, and youiwere acting really weird, staring at nothing all the time, sometimes making a really weird face.

 Did I makeisuch a face? rgya

 Well, yeah. Not shared on aggregator websites

 Youibelieveime dont you? t4ea

 I alreadyiknow youre not lying, Masa. fr

 I wasitapped lightly on the shoulder and I kind of lostimy strength. Thatiwas aismall sense of relief.

 Myispirit had suffered significantly overithe past few days due toithe strange power Iihad acquired. Anxiety was umting within me like mud, weighingime down, and Iiwanted to deal with it. Deepidown inside, even though Iiwas ashamed of it, I wanted to share this feeling withianyone I could, because Iididnt want to carry it alone. Theinext thing I knew, I was spilling it all out to Kinoshita, who wasibefore me.

 Withoutihesitation, from the beginning to the end. Allithe mind-boggling, whacked-out incidents that I had experienced. I shared them withiKinoshita.

 Kinoshitaiseemed taken aback, but heikept throwing in interjections to makeithe conversation go smoothly, allowing me toifully exin howiover the past few weeks, I hadidiscovered that invisible entitieswhich I hadinever before believed to existreally did exist, that myi</emmon sense hadibeen overturned, and that I had developed a strange ability.

 Thatiwasitough. fewaf

 Afteriall of that, Kinoshita remarked to me, seeming genuinely worried for me. It wasnt a lookiof suspicion; he was genuinely trying to believe me, even if he didnt fully buy into what I had experienced.

 Youiquit that convenience store, didnt you?

 At hisiwords, I shook my head to the side.

 Seriously? Youre not quitting?

 Yeah.

 How can you keepigoing after something like that?

 efyGIYB

 Before thingsiescte into something even more bizarre, the sooner you quit, theibetter. I dont know what its like, but its certainly not safe for youiwhen you can even see specters now.

 If so, the nextitime something more horrifying might strike.

 Im afraid foriyour safety, Kinoshita warned me.

 I know youre a stubborn person, but youidont have to be that stubborn. Im not saying youre like Nishimura, but you absolutely dont have to force yourself to get involved, or youimight face even worse consequences.

 While expressing concern, Kinoshitaitried to convince me to quit. He said a series of the most sensible things.

 However WEGA

 Eveniso, I I think Ill stay there for a little while longer.

 Kinoshitaimade an incredulous face at my response. Even I felt like an idiotifor saying this.

 Why? RWAD

 Noiparticrireason. RWAGR

 Is that soEQWFWE

 Dontilook like that,ugh at me. I used to makeisuch a fuss about it, but now I can see specters, you know.

 Sayiit was hrious or something. I was only unable to see the specters myself but I behaved with such haughtiness.

 Itsihrious.

 I couldionly put my trust in what I could see with the naked eye. I had never believed such things. I depended on the world in which I refused to believe and denied everything I didnt want toibelieve.

 How manyipeople did I hurt with the thoughtless words that I uttered carelessly? I wondered how many of those I dismissed as liars were stating the truth and not falsehoods.

 Now it is my turn to be calledia liar.

 When I told Nishimura and Tanaka, they did notibelieve me at all. Considering how I had behaved up to now, I thought it was a natural reaction. I had been fooling around with these guysisince high school.

 To be frank, I felt slightly lonelyiwhen they told me that I was joking. Looking at somethingiyou didnt want to look at, and then having it so easily dismissed when youined about it, must have felt like this.

 Perhaps I amibeing punished foriridiculing those who can see specters with prejudice.

 Punishment? Not shared on aggregator websites.

 Isnt itifunny? dqw

 I wontugh atiyou.

 Even thoughiI smiled at him with expectant eyes, Kinoshita shot me aiworried look. He remainedisilent for a while before opening his mouth with a start.

 Dont tell me Hyuga isgrw

 I responded at once to Kinoshita, who said so with an even sterner expression onihis face.

 Youre wrong.ger

 Im not wrong, Masa because its you.gr

 I dont think that way, likeiyou think, Kinoshita.fesdc

 Youre still holding itiback, huh? Indeed, a lot of things haveihappened but That was Its not something you should feel responsible for

 I already said its not like that.

 Masa, itsiokay, you dont have to think like that. You werent punished; you simply want to punish yourself, dont you?

 Like I said!4y5t

 I know you cant resign from that convenience store because of what happened to Hyuga

 Havingibeen told that much, my exasperation was noilonger masked and I mmed the washbasin.

 Kinoshita, like an esper, deducedimy true intentions so easily.

 Myitrue intentions, which I sought to denyieven to myself. No matter howideep I went, I was always a twisted person who couldnt be honest. For this reason, peopleiaround me regarded me as a bother and stopped approaching me.

 My undue prideialways brought misfortune to those around me.

 Myibad Even though you were concernediabout me.

 Even though Iitried to alleviate the ufortable atmosphere I had created, my voice sounded so strong that it looked to be negatively affecting the situation.

 My phoneinumber. You have it, right? wef

 What? erg

 Even so, Kinoshita probably sensed my feelings and made meilook up at him with a cheerful voice.

 Once you have madeiyour decision, it cant be overturned so easily So If you need anything, call meianytime. Ill be there for you Dont push yourself.

 I noddedideeply at those words.

 Ah he reallyiwas a greatiguy.

 After returning from the toilet, we reminisced about old timesiagain.

 Justiin time for my soon-to-be-starting part-time job, I bid farewell to Kinoshita and the others. Beforeiparting, I gave Nishimura a warning just in case.

 Sooniafter getting on my motorcycle and starting down the road, the bustling streets vanished and I foundimyself on a lonely road with few lights.

 Now NFBUWEIBYVU

 Whatiwouldibeibrewingitoday?FEV

AliNovel

Chapter 7.3: Cat Phantom III