───● The Crying Tsundere OL ●○●
The class I was taking with Koumi ended. Today wasn’t Friday, my part-time job day. Normally, I’d play a little basketball or kill some time somewhere before heading home, but Aika-san contacted me asking, ‘Sorry, we’re short one person today, can you come in on an emergency basis?’ and so I headed to work.
If I can work, there’s nothing better! I have to pay back my scholarship, so I always want money.
Today is Wednesday, so my regular, Seira-san, probably won’t come. I’ll likely be doing back-of-house work like reception or making drinks.
If I’m not serving customers, I can just wear the back-of-house uniform, and if so, there’s no problem.
“Good evening~”
The time was a little past 6 PM.
The bar was already open, and there was only one person in the break room. A senior, who was styling his hair in front of the mirror, noticed me.
“Oh~! Masato, long time no see! Heard you got a regular~? Not bad, man.”
“Yuusuke-san, good evening. Ahaha… it’s just a coincidence, really…”
“You’re a different type from us, but I think you’d be popular. Too bad Aika-san made you a Friday regular!”
Yuusuke-senpai is the senior who helped me out a lot when I first started… and in this bar, I feel like his way of thinking is the closest to the world I came from. Though he is a bit of a playboy.
His attitude towards women isn’t arrogant at all, he has a good personality… he’s a senior I really respect.
Except for the fact that he loves women so much he does this job, and that he has a number of incredible romantic exploits…
“…Wait, what happened to your arm?”
For some reason, he has a light bandage wrapped around his right arm.
“Ah~, this? Yeah, my girlfriend did this the other day… You be careful too, HAHA.”
“Hey, I was just thinking, come here for a sec, Masato.”
“Eh? What is it?”
Yuusuke-san beckoned me over, and I was made to sit in a chair.
He picked up the wax he had just been using.
“I bet a slicked-back style would look great on you, Masato. Just for today, why don’t you let me style your hair? Just trust me.”
“Ehh~…”
“Come on, come on! I’m the one saying this, and I go to beauty school, you know? Leave it to me.”
Well, it’s not like Seira-san is coming today, so I guess it’s fine.
If Seira-san, who I see every week, were to see me in a slicked-back style that doesn’t suit me, she might say something like, ‘Eh… Masato-kun, that’s really not it~’ and it wouldn’t be surprising.
It would be a pretty big blow to hear that from a customer who goes so far as to request me.
“Just for today, okay?”
“Alright, leave it to me~?”
Yuusuke-san took out some gel-type wax and a hair iron from his bag.
I really don’t think it’ll suit me, though…
“Masato! Two gin highballs for table three!”
“Yes!”
I knew it, but even on a Wednesday, which isn’t a weekend, it’s still pretty busy. There are even some die-hard customers who come every day.
I made the drinks as ordered and took them to the table.
“Sorry for the wait…”
“Be my man!”
“Ehh~ stop joking around~”
…Yeah. Well, it seems like they don’t even see me.
That’s a relief.
I clear the glasses and retreat. This kind of thing is a daily occurrence.
As I’m washing the glasses in the washing area…
“Masato! Sorry, but can you go buy some toilet paper from the drugstore in front of the station!? Looks like we ran out!”
Yuusuke-san, who seemed to be busy, poked his head into the washing area and asked me to go shopping in a flustered state.
Running out of toilet paper is bad. I wonder if they didn’t check the restroom properly when they closed up last night.
“Understood! I’m on my way!”
“Sorry, man! Everyone’s with customers right now… The card is over there! Make sure you get a receipt!”
“Yes!”
I wiped my hands and left the bar.
It’s a little embarrassing to go out with this hairstyle and outfit, but oh well.
The area was already dark. The station front was crowded with office ladies and students on their way home from work.
It wasn’t as big as a major city station, but there were enough people that I had to be careful not to bump into anyone.
“I have to buy it quickly and get back…”
I have no hobby of willingly walking through such a crowd in this kind of outfit. I’ll just finish my shopping quickly and go back to the bar.
That’s what I was thinking. The moment I saw my destination, the drugstore…
“I’m sorry…! I dropped my contact lens…! I’m so sorry…!”
A girl was crying, squatting on the side of the road. I don’t know if her contact fell out because she was crying, or if there was some other reason, but…
Seeing the people around her passing by without a care… I couldn’t choose the option of ignoring her.
“Are you okay? It’s a contact lens, right? I’ll help you look for it.”
“Eh…? …I’m sorry, thank, you.”
With one contact missing, I don’t know what her original eyesight is, but looking for it in that condition must be extremely difficult.
Luckily, my eyesight is good… so I should be able to find the contact faster than her.
“Excuse me! We’re just looking for a contact lens!”
I called out to the people around us, and took out the phone from my pocket. I turned on the flashlight and got down on the ground. This is nothing. Luckily, I’m wearing my work uniform today, so it should be fine if I wash it. Sorry, Aika-san!
About a minute after I started looking.
I found the small, shining contact lens on the ground relatively quickly.
“Found it…! I found it!”
“…!”
I carefully picked it up, took a handkerchief from my pocket, and placed the contact on it. I approached her.
Her semi-long black hair had red inner-color highlights. Though her face was tear-streaked, her eyes, in contrast to her hair color, were a beautiful light blue.
I’m sure that if it weren’t for this situation, she would be a more than sufficiently cute girl.
But I only got a glimpse of her face. She immediately averted her gaze and looked down. She probably didn’t want me to see her crying face.
“…Here. Be careful.”
“Thank you… so much.”
“Oh, you don’t have to return this handkerchief. Well then!”
“…Eh, ah, um, please wait a moment!!”
…Ehh~, if I had just left coolly like that, wouldn’t that have been unusually cool of me? I turned to face the girl once more.
…
A pause.
…? Wait, she did call out to me, right?
“…Um… sorry, I’m in a hurry!”
“…Ah.”
It pains me, but the mission comes first.
Well, she can see now, so she should be fine! Yep, yep! It feels good to do a good deed!
I quickly bought the toilet paper and returned to the bar.
“I’m back~”
“Oh~! You were gone for a while, was it crowded?”
“Yeah… it was a little crowded!”
I immediately headed to the restroom and restocked the toilet paper. While I was at it, I cleaned the toilet and was about to write my name on the check sheet when…
“Huh? Where did my ballpoint pen go?”
It should have been here until last week, but the ballpoint pen I had in my breast pocket was gone.
Oh, well. There’s probably a new one somewhere.
Without thinking much of it… I decided to borrow a new ballpoint pen from the back.
Just then.
“Hey, Masato! Go get changed, now!”
“…Eh?”
“A request! Your regular girl? She’s here and she’s requesting you.”
…Seira-san? I told her I’m basically only here on Fridays? Ah. Is that it. Maybe she was planning to request me, and if she found out I wasn’t here, she’d request another boy?
“O-Okay~!”
“I’ll show her to her seat! Table two!”
“Yes~!”
I threw my uniform into my locker and changed into my customer-service suit.
After a quick change worthy of a certain idol group… I was heading to table two with a glass and some ice.
There, as usual, was a woman in a suit, frozen stiff.
“Seira-san, good evening. Thanks for coming again.”
“…Yeah.”
Huh? She seems down. Her ponytail seems to be drooping listlessly, and her cheeks look gaunt… though she’s still beautiful.
Maybe she’s tired from work. In that case, I think my role is to cheer her up in times like these, so I have to do my best today…
“But I’m surprised. You said you only come on Fridays, Seira-san.”
“…I saw you go into this bar from outside…”
“Ah, I see! I was just doing some shopping! I wasn’t scheduled to serve customers today, so I was in my uniform! It’s surprisingly embarrassing…”
Usually, she’s a busy person, looking at me and then looking away while I’m talking, but today she just kept her head down.
Oh dear, she’s really down.
“…It’s okay. You don’t have to hide anything here, just say whatever you want. I don’t know what happened to you, Seira-san, but… I actually… quite like listening to you talk, like you always do.”
“…!”
Seira-san gripped her hands, which were resting on her lap, tightly.
Did something really sad happen…
“I’m… sorry…”
“…Eh?”
I noticed something falling, drop by drop, onto the back of her hand.
Seira-san was crying.
“I’m sorry… I’m really, really sorry…! I…!”
Seeing her like that, it was painful for me too…
Before I knew it, I was reaching for her back.
I slowly rubbed her back.
“It’s okay. I don’t know what happened… but… I’m sure it’s not your fault, Seira-san. You’re a good person, Seira-san.”
I think to myself that my words are empty. We’ve only known each other for a little over a month. We only get to see each other about once a week.
Most of the time, she’s drunk, bad-mouthing her company or her ex-boyfriend to let off steam.
But still. She’s helped me out when I was in trouble, and I couldn’t bring myself to dislike her true self that I saw here.
The words that come out of her mouth might be aggressive, but she’s a kind person at heart. So even if my words are empty, if they can help her…
I found myself wanting to lend her a hand.
As I continued, Seira-san leaned her body against me. Our shoulders touched, and Seira-san’s small head rested on my shoulder.
…Is this going to be a problem if someone sees us…? Well, I can probably make an excuse for something like this. Probably.
Besides, in a situation like this, I can’t bring myself to be cold to the current Seira-san.
“It’s okay, Seira-san. I know you’re a kind person.”
“…I’m sorry…! I’m… a horrible woman…!”
As I rubbed Seira-san’s back, I felt a slight doubt. Every time I was kind to her. Every time we got closer like this.
For some reason, I felt like Seira-san was crying even more.
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