Chujo Shiina Wants to Run Away
1
I know I’m not exactly attractive.
I’m 1.4 meters tall and 35 kilograms (and not the kind of silly girl who says “my weight is a se~cret”). That’s average for a 5th grader... which means people usually assume I’m a kid.
But! I, Chujo Shiina, am an honest-to-goodness high school girl: a “JK,” as we’re sometimes known.
True, most of my clothes are things my mom buys me at Shimamura and Uniqlo, and I’ve been going to the same neighborhood barber all my life... Well, actually, there was one time I got up all my courage and took my New Year’s money to Shibuya to buy some more stylish clothes (C-C-Cecil McBee and stuff!) But not only did nothing there fit me, I also got lost on the way back and a police officer ended up escorting me home. So humiliating!
Still, it’s just not in me to go around pretending to be a kid, acting all clingy and naive. No matter how I might look, inside, I’m still a high schooler—a JK, if I may (let me say it again). I have basic decency, for one thing, and I feel like going around invading other people’s personal space is really rude.
But the most important factor, I guess, is that I’m really awkward around people.
How long have I been this way? I don’t know! I just get so worried about what other people think of me that I end up freezing up, even for the most basic stuff. I just end up stuttering: “Um, um, um,” and “sorry, sorry, sorry.” Because of the way I look, most people end up looking down on me (both literally and figuratively) and acting a little too familiar. Then I don’t know what to say to that, and I end up panicking, and they eventually get bored and walk away.
I spend most of my time on the verge of tears, saying I’m sorry and feeling pathetic. Well... not even the “verge of tears”; any time you see me, there’s a good chance that I’ll be crying.
So when I got into Amagi High School, I decided I’d give myself a big makeover—what some people call a “high school debut.” I can’t do anything about my height, I thought, but I can change my behavior. Then I’ll make lots of friends and have a great school life.
I changed my hair, learned all about accessories and jewelry, and rented comedy DVDs to learn how to banter. I even got my mother to teach me some basic makeup tips.
But... on my very first day, it was already hopeless. I flubbed my way through my self-introduction. I had nothing in common with the girls sitting near me in terms of interests, conversation topics, or outlook on life. A girl who had taken the role of class leader did talk to me (probably out of pity), but everything I learned from those comedy DVDs just flew out of my mind, and after three days she stopped even saying hello to me. So humiliating!
Actually, I did manage to make friends with another practically invisible girl in the same class, but she was in the biology club, and she ended up spending all her time there during lunch and after class, and before long our friendship regressed to just bare-bones acknowledgment. The next thing I knew, a week had passed.
It was so bad. Time to panic.
Well, if my comfort zone isn’t in class, I thought, maybe I’ll find refuge in extracurricular activities, like that girl in the biology club. I’d heard the biology club was a very comfortable place. Still, I knew I couldn’t spend every day in a room full of specimens in formaldehyde jars.
Amagi High had night school, anyway, so it was very strict about when clubs let out. As a result, club activities weren’t very intense.
If only there was a cozy, snuggly culture club like the kind you see in late night anime, I thought to myself many times. But you can’t just will those kinds of things into existence. “Just make your own!” you’re probably thinking, but... come on, there’s no way I’m assertive enough to go out recruiting people. And while I dilly-dallied over that, a second week had passed.
It was so bad. Time to panic.
At this rate, I thought, I’m going to end up completely alone. (Though actually, I was already completely alone.) I decided that at the very least, I could stop pecking at my lunch all alone in the classroom every afternoon.
It was biologically impossible for me to eat lunch in a toilet stall, so I marched myself to a stairwell on the far end of the east building. The door to the roof above the fourth floor was sealed off, and the landing was used as a storage room. I had decided to eat my lunch there.
But oh, what was this? Someone had gotten there before me!
It was a second-year boy. He was munching on curry bread while he played with his smartphone, grumbling to himself. He seemed to be in a bad mood. I couldn’t fully make out what he was saying, but it sounded like “not enough funding...” and “have to sell the second park...”
He was a very attractive man, with sleek black hair and facial lines that seemed to be drawn with a very fine pen. His elegant carriage told me at a glance that he was a man of great intelligence and powerful convictions. Why was someone so attractive sitting in a place like this, eating curry bread and muttering to himself? That’s like the least attractive thing you can do!
“Hmm?” The handsome senpai noticed me and froze up. My presence must have shaken him; he probably didn’t like being seen eating all by himself. (It is pretty pathetic; I would have felt the same way.)
“Um... Um...” ‘I’m terribly sorry to startle you,’ I tried to say, but as usual, all that came out of my mouth was stammering.
But wait a minute, I thought. Is this a “meet cute?”
Let’s take a moment to imagine it: a girl and boy, experiencing the same(?) solitude, meet by chance in a corner of an empty school building. We end up eating lunch together every afternoon, exchanging the most trivial of conversations...
Oh no, oh no. I’m not ready for this! Soon, the emotional distance between us would close, and ah... I’d start bringing him homemade lunches! I’d burn the tamagoyaki a little, but he’d say, “It’s delicious, because you made it.” Then one thing would lead to another, and soon we’d... we’d...
Just then, the senpai spoke. “This is my spot. Get lost.”
.........Er?
“Didn’t you hear me?” he demanded. “Get lost. ...Oh, I get it. You were struck by my breathtaking good looks, and now you’re daydreaming about us being friends.”
How could he have gotten it so right? Was he an Esper? A Newtype?
“I get that a lot, you see,” he explained. “But I’ll never be interested in someone like you, and also, I’m thinking about work right now. I have a mountain of PDFs I have to read through, so get lost.”
“U-Um... but...” I stammered.
“Do I need to say it a fourth time? Get! Lost! Right! Now!”
“S-S-Seally rorry!!” I shouted, even managing to flub my apology. So humiliating! Unable to even argue my case, I turned around and sped away.
I spent the rest of the day feeling depressed. At times like these, I needed some solo karaoke—that’s what I always do when I’m sad. On the way home from school, I belted out about 20 anime songs, and got myself feeling a little bit better.
The employee at the karaoke shop, when he came around with the bill, looked at me and said earnestly, “You’re really good at singing.” It was all lip service, of course, but in reply I managed to stammer, “Ah, um... tha... (nk you very much).”
All that aside, it was time to just admit it: my school situation was hopeless. Even the seat usually reserved for the loneliest of outcasts, the top of the stairs leading to the roof, had been claimed by a scary, aloof older boy. In that case, I realized, could I not pursue some fun escapism outside of school? Of course! A job! A fun workplace! Amiable colleagues! Cute uniforms!
If I could carve myself an extracurricular niche, that would propel me through the bitter hardships of school life. And I’d get paid! Two birds with one stone! With that decided, I thought, let’s get searching for a job. First, to the classifieds!
The classifieds site I visited was filled with job offers. Fast food! Family restaurants! Oh, what about a fashionable cafe?! I searched all around and applied for jobs at some nice-sounding places in the city. I’ve never worked a job before, but I’m sure I’ll work it out! I thought. Let’s do this, Shiina!
......It was a disaster.
Well, of course it was! Getting a job means going through an interview, and it was unreasonable to expect that someone who flubbed her class introduction could suddenly manage a job interview. Those prying eyes of the owners and the managers scared me, too. None of the places with appropriate conditions would hire me. So humiliating!
Another round of solo karaoke soothed my injured heart.
It had been a disaster, but I had to get back into the search. There was only one left that was appropriate; my final candidate was an amusement park.
It was a theme park in Amagi City, the city where I lived, known as Amagi Brilliant Park. When I was little (chronologically speaking), my parents took me there a lot. I loved their cute mascot, the Fairy of Sweets, Moffle. I still do, in fact... I always have to have my Moffle plushie with me at bedtime.
This must be destiny! I thought. Surely the reason none of the other jobs worked out was because fate was guiding me here!
Anyway, I applied immediately. I’d been through the interview ? rejected pattern enough times by now that I’d worked up a pretty thick skin—the first time I applied to one of these, it had taken me about three hours of hesitation before I finally pressed “send.”
I received a response from the manager that same day and we decided on the date for the interview.
The day of destiny arrived. So as not to be late, I headed for Amagi Brilliant Park first thing in the morning!
Then I got on the wrong bus!
I got thrown out in some unfamiliar spot in the Tama Hills. I ended up arriving at the park on the verge of tears, two hours late. So, so late!
It was clear that I wouldn’t be hired now, but I thought I should at least apologize in person. All the other applicants seemed to have gone home, so I hesitantly poked my face into the interview room.
“Hey, where should I wash with the mop?”
“Give it to me. I’ll handle the washing.”
The two employees(?) inside were cleaning up the venue. I didn’t recognize the woman, but the man’s voice was familiar.
Amazing! He was that same handsome senpai who had claimed my lonely lunch spot! Was he working here at this park too? He was handsome, but scary. It made me nervous. On top of that, I was so, so late!
But, I screwed up my courage and spoke up: “U-Um... Is this where the interviews are being held?”
“Who are you?” the senpai asked. He looked exhausted. The interviews he’d been conducting must have been really taxing.
The next day, I overheard some girls talking during lunch break; it seemed that that rude second-year was named Kanie Seiya. The first years talked about him a lot, I guess, because of how handsome he was.
They talked about how he had excellent grades and incredible athletic ability, but that he also had an awful personality (to which I could attest), so he didn’t have any friends.
At the very least, it proved that I wasn’t alone in the way Kanie Seiya-senpai treated me. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that... if he was especially cold to me, that was at least better than being treated like an extra.
I also overheard them saying that Kanie-senpai tended to spend time with another girl in his grade, Sento Isuzu-senpai. There had been rumors that the two were dating a while back, but it seemed they weren’t true (although that was also just rumors, so I couldn’t be sure).
At lunch, that very same Sento Isuzu-senpai came to my class to ask to see me. I knew it was Sento-senpai immediately, because the girls in the seats around me whispered, “That’s Sento-senpai, the second year! Isn’t she so pretty?”
Everyone was staring at me, shocked that I was the one she was there to see. How embarrassing!
Anyway, it turned out Sento Isuzu-senpai was the person who had been cleaning up the interview venue with Kanie-senpai last night—she really was beautiful and had a great figure. It was hard to believe we were from the same country! I don’t typically swing that way, but I couldn’t help staring at her.
“Are you Chujo Shiina-san?” Sento-senpai asked, without even a greeting to break the ice. My mouth flapped uselessly. All I could do was nod. “I emailed you last night,” she said. “You haven’t seen it yet?”
“Ah... u-um...” That was right. I’d been so busy soothing my wounded heart that I hadn’t checked my emails at all last night. Anyway, about the only emails I ever got were promotions from my usual karaoke parlor and spam about making money by dating women past their prime. LINE, you say? What’s that? Is it tasty?
“You didn’t see it, then?” she asked.
“Um... um, no,” I answered.
“I apologize for our acting manager’s behavior at last night’s interview,” she said. “There were a number of incidents that left us all rather on edge.”
“R-Right...”
“I know this might be a little confusing after all that’s happened,” she sighed, “but...”
What could she be about to ask? I was so confused. Was it just an apology? Was it a declaration of rivalry, telling me to stay away from “my Kanie-kun”?
“Would you consent to a re-interview?” she asked. “If you still want the job, of course.”
“Huh? U-Um...” It was so strange. I had been late, after all. I could hardly complain if they rejected me.
“Of course, I call it an interview, but it’s just a formality,” she explained. “We won’t take up much of your time. Are you free at the moment?”
“Um... um... yes.” How frustrating. Why was it that “Um” and “Yes” were all I could say? At a time like this, I should work hard and try to say something else. Like “darshe zanna,” which means “thank you” in Farbanian. Well, better not to say that, actually. Sorry.
“All right. Come with me, then.” Sento-senpai started walking swiftly, and I ran to catch up with her. When we arrived in a deserted hallway in a corner of the east building, Kanie-senpai was there, waiting for us.
“Here she is,” Isuzu told him.
“Right,” he affirmed. “I still can’t believe you’re really in high school...”
Senpai looked me up and down closely as he spoke. It wasn’t the way a man looked at a woman; more the skeptical eye of someone trying to decide whether or not to buy a slightly questionable city bike in a hardware store. It was an awful way to treat someone, but he really was handsome. So annoying!
“Sorry about yesterday,” he told me. “Mistakes were made. If you still want the job, we can get the interview out of the way here.”
“Y-Yes?” I said.
“The trial period will last two weeks. During that time, you’ll get 750 yen per hour. You requested merchandise and food services, but we’d like to have you as an actor assistant. Saturdays will be full time,” he went on, “and weekdays, you’ll work the closing shift at least three days a week. If you accept those conditions, we’ll hire you. What do you think?”
“Um... ah, well...” I was so confused. Just what titles did Kanie-senpai and Sento-senpai hold? Wasn’t it a little bit bizarre that I had to decide whether to take the job or not right on the spot, in a place like this?
“Well?” he demanded. “Will you do it or not?”
“Um... ah... W-Wuh...”
“You won’t?”
“No. Yes. Ah, um...”
“Which one? Out with it.” Kanie-senpai was clearly getting annoyed. It was cruel of him to push me like this, when I was already struggling to answer. So annoying!
“Ah... Ah... Alboot!!” I shouted at the top of my voice. I’d flubbed it again. So humiliating!
Incidentally, I had meant to shout, “I’ll do it!” This felt like my last chance to change myself. If I turned it down now, I would be consigning myself to a miserable, ashen high school life. A repeat of middle school... that was one thing I wanted no more part of. Kanie-senpai was very unpleasant, and Sento-senpai was inscrutable and kind of scary, but I couldn’t run away. I mustn’t run away.
They both stood there dumbfounded for a moment, maybe because I had shouted so loud.
“Alboot?” he asked. “What does that mean?”
“I wonder if it’s some kind of dialect?” Sento-senpai whispered.
“Sounds a little like Arabic,” Kanie-senpai whispered back.
I realized I would have to try again.
“...I-I’ll doobit! No, I’ll boodit! I... I’ll boo my dest!” I was trying to say, ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do my best,’ but for some reason it came out as ‘I’ll boo my dest.’ My language center was utterly hopeless!
Sento-senpai at last seemed to catch on, and threw me a lifeline. “Are you trying to say that you’ll do it?”
“Y-Yes...” I said, relieved.
“All right then, we’ll start you up this weekend.” With that, Kanie-senpai seemed about to leave, but he stopped and spoke just once more. “That reminds me... Have we met somewhere before?”
“Y-Yes...” I told him. “Um, on the sta—”
“Ah, never mind. Don’t be late again.” He turned around and left without even listening to my answer.
Why did you even ask me, then?! I wondered. So, so annoying!
After watching him walk away, Sento-senpai spoke to me again. “I know exactly what you’re thinking.”
I don’t know why, but in that moment, I felt like she and I could really get along. Anyway, that’s how I got a job at Amagi Brilliant Park.
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