Pleaseshow up in front of me and say something if you had something on your mind.

Feelfreeto laugh at me. Say “You understood my feelings, right?” or even curse atme.

Youwere such a pure person and I…

“―Hey, senior.”3e

Avoice abruptly reverberated from behindme.

“Why…”Translator: MadHatter

The voice of familiarity startled me, and I turnedaround.

Withlong black hair, a knee-length skirt, and a sailor uniform, she was wearing a pair of red-framed glasses.

Anexpression of somewhat uneasiness lingered on her childlike face.

Hyugawasstanding there.

“Why… didn’t you trust me back then?”

Hyuga…2ewd

“Eventhough I figured you would believe me…”

Shewas still looking at me in the same way she did back then.

Hyuga… Were you Hyuga?

“I… wassad.”

Fromthe forehead of Hinata who said so, red blood spilled out. Lines and lines of blood streaked from Hyuga’s forehead as she stood still…

Witha gulp of breath, I backed away in abject horror at the sight of my junior, who appeared in front of me without warning.

However…

Inmerely one blink of an eye, in that single moment…

Shedisappeared out of my sight.

“Hyuga…!!”Not shared on aggregator sites

Eventhough I called out to her, she was nowhere to be found. Regardless of my efforts of searching around, I couldn’t spot her anymore. Theempty cemetery was filled with the sound of my voice. A cool breeze swept across the place, drying the perspiration from my forehead.

Whatwas that… earlier?

Wasthat Hyuga?

Really, Hyugawas…

Didshe respond tomy call…

[I… wassad.]magic

No, if it wasn’t Hyuga, then what was it?

Iclenched my fists in front of the grave.Thatperson was still in the same state as back then… and still retained lingering regrets for this world.

[Eventhough I figured you would believe me…]

Afterall, that guy… about me…

“Damn…”3erc

Whatwas I supposed to do? What should I do to be forgiven, Hyuga?

Tell me.32dec

Pleasetell me.

Despiteall the calls in my heart, she never emerged in front of me any further.

Itwas only several seconds, yet the vivid and distinct appearance of Hyuga was more than enough to shock me.

WhatHyuga uttered to me and the expression on her visage that I could not shake off seemed to have left a gaping hole in my heart.“Hakamada? Areyou under the weather?”

Themanager, who had substituted for Hirai, who was absent from the store for the Comiket, tried to gauge my state of mind from my complexion, but I just made it up as I went along.

Thisperson was equally surprisingly perceptive, which posed a complication. Despite being a barcode guy, damn.

“Myappetite has been a little low lately due to the summer fatigue, and my staple food has recently consisted of somen noodles.”

“Isthat so? Oh no, a young person has to eat properly.”

Didn’t I say I was suffering from summer fatigue…

“Whew…”3254y67

“Youmust be getting awfully tired, are you okay?”

“Noproblem. I’ve got the energy, so I’ll work as long as I can without collapsing.”

Though that being said, I didn’t do much, except for standing around in a store with no customers, cleaning, ordering, inspecting, and so on.

Right, right. Since the cat incident, the delinquents had turned up no more. Even the underlings were extremely spooked by that incident. They were probably horrified to know that the shady history of this place was true. I was very happy about this but…

These days, all the noise had faded away and the late-night hours were quieter than they had been in a long time.

“Hopefully, nothing will take place today.”

“Speaking of which, you can see them too, right?”

“Only very faintly.”dw

“Is that so?”2435

“Hakamada, have you ever seen that? The women’s toilet.”

“Huh? No, I haven’t…?”

“Sometimes late at night during cleaning, a girl hangs upside down from the top of the door, so be careful.”

“What!?”3eda

“She’s probably injunior high school… she pops out every once in a while.”

“H-Hah.”

“Shejust wants to frighten people, so neither Hirai nor Takenaka did anything to her.”

“Isee…”

“And sometimes…”

Themanager pointed to an “ATM” near the entrance of the store.

“That ‘ATM’ there occasionally starts chattering on its own, but you don’t have to worry about it too much, though it might be scary. It rarely speaks when it is not alone.”“Ugh…”

Itook a small step back to gain some distance from the “ATM” that I could see over the counter.

“Apart from that…”4

“Ah, that’s enough!”3

If I lethim go on, he was going to start spouting off a hundred ghost stories about this convenience store, so I covered my ears and pleaded with the manager to stop.

“It’s hot, so I figured it might chill you out.”

“I don’t wantthat kind of chill!”

Goodgrief.

Evenwithout listening to that, I watched something terrible every day, you know.

A legless man. Headless children. A woman with only the lower half of her body. None of them could be called customers but were wandering beings who stayed in this place.

Ah. Please, I beg you, don’t let anything strange befall today. Peace was the utmost, for everything. Oh, for heaven’s sake. Since I was all alone with the manager today, to say I was twice as anxiety-ridden as usual would not be an overstatement.

In the midst of praying this, the automatic door opened and the chime rang. It was a customer. By the looks of it, it was a young man in his 20’s.

That guy walked into the store, didn’t even bother to look around, but rather strode forward, stopped in front of the cash register and said, “…Give me a steamed azuki bun…”

This guy… What was wrong with him?

That was my initial impression.

Indeed, Nico Nico Mart operated year-round selling Chinese steamed buns, but on this midsummer, with the weather brutally hot, I had not seen a single person who went out of their way to buy one of these buns since the beginning of this summer. Furthermore, it was not a standard meat bun, pizza bun, curry bun or this summer’s new product, “Tropical Fruit Bun”.

He chose a bun with anko filling, which was an irregularity.

As a staff member, I would typically be internally researching this subject. However, digging deeply into this matter was not the point. The fact that he came all the way to such a place in this hot weather and wanted to buy a hot bun with anko filling was not the only aspect to be poked at.

At around 1:00 a.m.

A customer, presumably a young man of about 20 years of age.

His eyes were as searingly piercing as the delinquent who had his way with me in front of the convenience store the other day. He had long, black hair that reached his shoulders and long bangs that hung inconveniently about his eyes. A red sleeveless hoodie, a black tank top, and loose-fitting damaged pants.

Aslender yet muscular physique.

At first glance, he appeared to be the type of young man you would come across anywhere.

Andyet…

Forwhat reason? He was carrying something so heavy in one hand that I wanted to ask him where in the world he had obtained it.

On a bright red wooden bat, numerous nails had been driven into it.

Thatwas the so-called spiked bat.

Withthat alone, my spine tingled as I wondered what kind of clan he belonged to, but this was only the beginning.

Thegreatest part of the situation, which made both me and the manager freeze, lingered with the customer.

Afterall, that customer…

Hishead was dripping blood. In large volumes, so much so that the sound effect was a “whoosh”.

Itappeared as though he had been severely struck in the back of the head by someone or that he had engaged in combat with a person who intended to murder him.

Hewastruly drenched in blood. That was the only word I could use to describe it.

Thoughthis was my impression objectively, I was now standing in front of a bloodied man who had come in as a customer.

Nota meter across the counter, not even a meter away.

Hey, imaginethat.

Howcould this not be terrifying?

Rightin front of you.

Franklyspeaking, I could pee my pants.