Shinkawa Prep School finishes at 3:15 PM. Watanabe Tetsu arrived at Nishi-Shinjuku Station around 3:30 PM.
He worked part-time at a supermarket near the station exit.
"Hey, Watanabe-kun, you're here!"
As soon as he entered, a young cashier, Murai Chiharu, greeted him with a smile from behind the register.
"Good afternoon, Chiharu-nee."
Tetsu went into the staff room, put his bag in the locker, changed into his uniform, put on an apron, and headed to the deli section.
"Watanabe-kun, I'm off now."
Keiko, the woman training him, saw him arrive and eagerly put down what she was doing.
"Okay."
Keiko was in her twenties and had been a housewife since marriage. When her daughter entered kindergarten and she got bored at home, she decided to start working again.
She always left right on time to pick up her daughter.
With her gone, Tetsu was left alone in the deli section.
He first checked the oden pot. Only a few tattered pieces of fried tofu floated in the broth.
He skillfully took prepped ingredients from the cold storage—radish chunks, kombu rolls, mochi pouches, konjac, and the like—placing them into the pot, poured in the broth, and turned on the heat.
Next up: fried foods.
The best-selling pork cutlets and chicken skewers were almost gone. He needed to restock them fast.
The oil from that morning was still clean enough. As he placed the skewers into the fryer, yellow bubbles rose, and a light wave of heat hit his mask-covered face.
"Mommy! I want that!"
"No, we're having dinner soon!"
"Awwww—I want it, I want it!"
Tetsu remained silent, waiting for the tug-of-war between the child and the young mom to end.
In the end, the child happily took the freshly fried chicken skewer from him and was led away by the still-chatting mother.
"Thank you for shopping."
Just as they left, a few students wearing different prep school uniforms came over to buy oden.
"One radish, no, make that two!"
"Got it."
He used tongs to pick up two broth-soaked radish chunks and put them into a disposable box.
"One chikuwa, two kombu rolls... ah, and a boiled egg too..."
"You're eating that much? Won't you be too full for the group dinner later?" a friend teased.
"Don't worry about it."
Waving dismissively, the boy added, "Throw in a mochi pouch too!"
"Sure."
Tetsu filled the order one by one.
"I'll have the same!" another student said.
Two minutes later, he sent them off with another "Thanks for shopping," and immediately turned to help a customer checking out the fried foods.
"Anything you'd like? These just came out of the fryer," he offered.
The customer glanced, then walked away.
It went on like this until 7:30 PM. Then, Tetsu left the deli section temporarily to label the unsold bento boxes with discount stickers.
At 9:30 PM, the store closed. He, Chiharu, and two other staff restocked the shelves.
This part of the shift was more relaxed—they could choose any section to refill. Chiharu stuck close to Tetsu.
"Watanabe-kun, payday's coming. Want to go hang out?"
"Payday, huh… I wonder how much I'll get?"
"You work five hours a day, three days a week… That's around..."
960 yen per hour. That would be about 57,600 yen a month. Not much. Still, if he saved by eating at the school cafeteria, he could reduce how much money he needed from home.
Too bad 15 hours a week already exceeded the school's limit for part-time jobs. He was doing this secretly.
If he found a second job, maybe he could save some money.
As Tetsu thought about this, he took the chips from Chiharu and arranged them on the shelf.
"About... just under 60,000 yen? Ugh, I give up doing the math."
She laughed. "There's a new karaoke place behind Nakano Station. Want to go sing and celebrate?"
"I'm trying to save up for a new game that just came out."
"What kind of game is that expensive? You won't use up all your pay on it, right?"
Tetsu smiled and replied, "I'm not like you, Chiharu-nee. My family's not rich. Even game money, I have to save up."
Chiharu looked a little frustrated, then nodded. "Okay, how about next month?"
"If I have money, I'll definitely go."
"Then I'll look forward to it?" she said cheerfully.
"Sure."
They finished restocking the snack aisle, then moved to the toilet paper section.
After restocking everything, the four employees divided the leftover bentos and fried food among themselves and said their goodbyes at the store entrance.
Back at his rented, old apartment, it was already past 10 PM.
The apartment was meant for local prep school students, university students, international students, and those who came to Tokyo chasing dreams.
The rent was cheap, but the space was tight. Right at the entrance was a kitchen with only a gas stove. Three steps inside was the single room that served as both living and sleeping quarters.
The bathroom barely fit a toilet—but at least it had a fan and was in a separate stall. The bath area was also cramped, but he could shower and soak at the same time.
There was also a balcony only big enough to hang laundry—not to stand on.
Tetsu didn't mind. It was just a place to sleep. Size didn't matter.
He put the bento and fried food in the microwave and set the timer for five minutes.
While it was heating, he took a 10-minute shower.
Afterward, he pulled out the hot food.
He placed the anime DVD lent to him by Kunii Osamu into the cheap TV his parents bought—worried that he wouldn't make friends in the city, that he'd only study and become reclusive—just to help him kill time.
Pouring a glass of water, he began eating.
His attention wasn't on the anime; it served as background noise while he thought.
With April's pay, he'd have 150,000 yen on hand.
Would that be enough to make Tamamo Hiromi agree to be his friend?
But Tetsu didn't plan to bet his life on this "friendship system."
If the school found out, not only would he lose his future government-funded education—he might not even be able to graduate.
Besides, he couldn't betray his parents who toiled away in the countryside.
In the end, he didn't have enough points to buy a detector.
Right now, his only targets were Seino Rin and Tamamo Hiromi.
Seino Rin had 8 intelligence, 9 charm, and a cold personality. The detector didn't give any useful info on her.
Tetsu was impressed by her looks, but not interested in someone like her. Too much work.
Tamamo Hiromi had 8 charm, but only 5 intelligence. Getting into Shinkawa Prep was probably her limit.
Even if intelligence didn't equal emotional smarts, she'd still be easier to manipulate.
And she liked money—which was convenient.
Solving things with money was ideal. Tetsu didn't want a real relationship.
Even if he did, he wouldn't pick someone like Tamamo Hiromi, whose values didn't align with his.
He was set: he'd pay Tamamo Hiromi to pretend to be his friend.
According to the system's notes, there were bonuses for keeping a friendship going for a week, a month, a year, or even ten years.
He didn't expect a year or more—but a week and a month? He had to grab those rewards.
150,000 yen to make Tamamo Hiromi pretend to be his friend for a month...
But what was her "market rate," really?
And there was another risk: if a third party found out about their deal.
That was his biggest concern.
Rumors at the prep school hinted Tamamo Hiromi wasn't exactly tight-lipped.
Then again, maybe no one had seen it yet…
He decided to observe her for a while before making a move.
By now, he'd finished his meal. He packed up the trash and left it
by the door, ready to toss out in the morning.
He turned off the still-playing TV, pushed the table to the corner, rolled out his bedding, brushed his teeth, and went to sleep.