Goda High School finished classes at 3:15 PM, and Dubian Che rushed to West Shinjuku Station by half-past three.
He had a part-time job at a supermarket near the station's exit.
"Mr. Dubian, you're here!" The young female cashier, Murai Chiharu, greeted him with a smile as soon as he entered the store.
"Good afternoon, Chiharu."
Dubian Che entered the staff room, placed his backpack in the locker, changed into his uniform, put on an apron, and then headed to the deli section.
"Mr. Dubian, I'm leaving first," Keiko, who was responsible for training him, said eagerly, putting down what she was doing as soon as she saw him.
Keiko was in her twenties and had been a housewife since getting married. Once her daughter started kindergarten, bored of staying at home, she returned to work.
As soon as it was time, she was always eager to leave and pick up her daughter.
Now, Dubian Che was the only one left in the deli section.
First, he checked the oden; only a few broken pieces of deep-fried tofu were floating on top.
He skillfully took out prepared chunks of radish, kombu rolls, rice cake lucky bags, and konjac from the refrigerator, sorted them into separate categories, placed them into the machine, filled it with broth, and began cooking.
Then it was time for the fried foods.
The best-selling pork patties and chicken skewers were almost sold out; he needed to quickly restock.
The oil used all morning was still relatively clean. He dropped in the chicken skewers, and yellow bubbled emerged, sending a mild heat onto Dubian Che's face protected by a mask.
"Mommy! I want this one!"
"We're about to have dinner; no!"
"Ah— I want it, I want it!"
Dubian Che said nothing, waiting for the tug-of-war between the child and the young mother at the counter to end.
Finally, the child happily took the freshly fried chicken skewer from his hand and was quietly led away by his still chattering mother.
"Thank you for your patronage."
No sooner had they left, students from another high school in their uniforms came to buy oden.
"One radish, no, two!"
He used tongs to place two juicy radish pieces into a disposable container.
"One Bamboo Wheel, two kombu rolls, oh, and an egg too..."
"You're eating so much? Aren't you afraid of not having room for the dinner party?"
"Don't worry, don't worry," his friend waved off the concern, "Give me a rice cake lucky bag too!"
"Okay." Dubian Che complied.
"Then I'll have one too!" said another student.
Two minutes later, Dubian Che sent off this group of customers with the same "Thank you for your patronage," just as another person was eyeing the fried food.
"What can I get for you? Everything's freshly fried." He approached.
The customer glanced for a moment then turned and left.
So it continued until 7:30 PM, when Dubian Che temporarily left the deli section to place discount stickers on the remaining boxed lunches.
The supermarket closed at 9:30 PM, and he joined Murai Chiharu and two other employees in restocking the shelves.
This was when they had more freedom—they could choose whichever shelf to stock. Murai Chiharu followed around Dubian Che.
"Mr. Dubian, the paycheck's coming soon. Want to go out and have some fun?"
"The paycheck, huh... how much will it be?"
"Well, Mr. Dubian, you work five hours a day, three days a week, so in a month, um... about..."
At an hourly wage of 960 yen, that would be 57,600 yen, right? It's a bit little, but if he's thrifty, Eats at the school cafeteria, he could save some of the money sent from home.
Unfortunately, the fifteen hours per week of part-time work already exceeded the school's allowance, and he was doing it secretly.
Maybe if he found another part-time job, he could even save money.
While Dubian Che was thinking about these things to himself, he took the bag of chips from Murai Chiharu and placed it on the shelf.
"Probably... less than 60,000? Forget it." Murai Chiharu gave up trying to calculate in her head and suggested with a smile, "There's a new karaoke place behind Nakano Station. How about we go sing to celebrate?"
"I've been planning to save up for a newly released game," Dubian Che said with a smile, looking back at her.
"What game is so expensive that 60,000 yen won't cover it?"
Dubian Che replied with a chuckle, "I'm not like you, Chiharu. My family isn't rich, so the money for games has to be saved up."
Murai Chiharu nodded somewhat reluctantly, "Okay, what about next month?"
"Yeah, if I have the money, I'll definitely go."
"Then, I'll look forward to it, okay?" Murai Chiharu's tone became cheerful.
After restocking the snack section, Dubian Che headed toward the toilet paper section, with Murai Chiharu following behind him.
After all the stock was replenished, the four employees shared the remaining boxed lunches and deep-fried foods and said their goodbyes in front of the store.
When he got back to the rented old apartment, it was already past ten.
This apartment was rented out mainly to high school students, college students, international students, and others who came to Tokyo to chase their dreams.
Although the rent was relatively cheap, the space was cramped; as soon as one entered, there was a kitchen with only a gas stove, and three steps further was a room that served both as a living room and bedroom.
The toilet was just big enough for one person, fortunately partitioned and equipped with an exhaust fan. The bathroom was also narrow, but it was possible to shower and soak in the bath at the same time.
There was also a small balcony where clothes could be hung, but it was not designed for people to stand on.
Dubian Che was not dissatisfied; after all, it was just a place to sleep, and size didn't matter.
He put the boxed lunch and deep-fried food in the microwave and set the timer for five minutes.
Without waiting for it, he took a ten-minute shower, then took the now-heated food out of the microwave.
He inserted the anime DVD borrowed from Kunii Shuichi into the TV—his parents, worried he wouldn't make friends in the city and concerned he would become introverted from only focusing on studying, had bought this inexpensive item to help pass the time.
Pouring himself a glass of water, he started eating the boxed lunch.
His focus wasn't on the anime; he used it as background noise while he contemplated other things.
With the salary from April, and having 150,000 yen on him, he wondered if that would be enough to persuade Yuzao Haomei to become his girlfriend.
Based on the "market rate" he heard from Kunii Shuichi, a normal transaction was 15,000 yen, and there even existed high school girls who would agree for as little as 6,000 yen.
Starting from this point, it seemed that by going to Shinjuku Kabuki or Akihabara, he could find these people to become his one-night girlfriends, which seemed like a way to earn a lot of points quickly.
But Dubian Che was not planning to gamble his life on this love game.
At the age of fifteen, spending money for a one-time "girlfriend" would cause trouble if his school found out, not to mention jeopardizing his future plans funded by taxpayers, even graduating high school would be in question.
Moreover, he couldn't let down his parents, who toiled away farming back home.
In the end, he didn't have enough points to buy a "detector."
That is to say, Dubian Che's current goals were limited to Kiyono Lin and Yuzao Haomei.
Kiyono Lin had an IQ of 8 points and charm of 9 points, but her personality was cold, and the "detector" didn't provide any useful information.
Although Dubian Che was surprised by her appearance, he wasn't interested in such a person and was too lazy to spend time on her.
Yuzao Haomei had charm of 8 points, but her intelligence was only 5 points. Getting into Goda High was probably her limit, and even if intelligence didn't equal emotional intelligence, she was much easier to fool.
Additionally, she liked money, which was very convenient.
If he could solve things with money, it would be for the best, as Dubian Che didn't want to be in a real romantic relationship. Even if he did date, he wouldn't choose someone like Yuzao Haomei, who fundamentally disagreed with him on most things.
He resolved to make a move on Yuzao Haomei, to use money to make her his girlfriend.
According to the appendix, there were sign-in rewards if the relationship lasted a week, a month, a year, or ten years.
Dubian Che had no expectations for a year or ten years, but he was determined to at least get the rewards for a week and a month.
150,000 yen to make Yuzao Haomei agree to be his girlfriend for a month... he wondered what her "rate" might be?
There were also other risks to this endeavor: keeping their transaction a secret from a third party.
This was Dubian Che's greatest concern—rumors around the school suggested that Yuzao Haomei had a tight lip, which was worrisome.
But it could also be that other students happened to see...
He decided it would be best to find time to interact with her, to observe her for a while.
By the time he finished this thought, he had already eaten the boxed lunch. Dubian Che tidied up the garbage and left it by the door, convenient for throwing it out the next morning.
Turning off the still-playing TV, he pushed the table into the corner, laid out his bed, brushed his teeth, and went to sleep.