Chapter 5
by Need_More_SleepChapter 5: An Uninvited Guest
At Tohyama Kanako’s home, besides herself, only her grandparents were still alive.
Although her grandparents said they could cover Kanako’s living expenses, she didn’t want to rely on them too much.
Kanako believed that, given their age, her grandparents needed to keep savings for emergencies. If illness strikes, they shouldn’t have to worry about affording treatment.
Fortunately, when Kanako enrolled at Tokyo Martial Detective High School, her older brother had already paid her tuition for three years, so she didn’t need to worry about high school fees for now.
Moreover, after her brother’s death, Kanako received a compensation allowance from the Martial Detective Bureau, so her basic living expenses were covered.
However, being a martial detective meant there were always other expenses.
Bullets had to be bought with her own money. Weapons needed maintenance, and sometimes information had to be purchased.
Besides, Kanako also had to consider university in the future, and college tuition wasn’t a small change. Even national or public universities weren’t cheap.
A year at a national or public university costs over 500,000 yen, with an extra enrollment fee for the first year. Law or medical programs were even more expensive.
Adding exam fees, living expenses, and other costs made Kanako’s head spin just thinking about it.
Private universities? She didn’t even dare think about them. She also lacked the confidence to rely solely on scholarships to pay for college.
As a martial detective, Kanako could earn money by taking on assignments. However, her current rank was only E, which limited the types of assignments she could accept.
Low-rank assignments didn’t pay well, and easy, short jobs didn’t come often. The income was unstable.
Still, every little bit counted. If she had the time, Kanako would take on suitable assignments to earn some extra money and acquire necessary credits.
High-rank assignments were lucrative, but Kanako normally lacked the strength to handle them alone.
She certainly couldn’t bring another girl along as a “burst mode activator” during missions.
No matter how she thought about it, Kanako felt her situation was frustratingly weak.
Thus, to save money, she also worked part-time at a convenience store. The job provided relatively stable income, some employee benefits, and a chance to experience ordinary life and work, truly a win-win situation.
On the train, Kanako watched the school gradually fade from view. She estimated that in about half a year, she would transfer.
Transferring from Martial Detective High to a regular high school had time restrictions.
According to Martial Detective Law, students’ firearms and knives had to be reported to the Public Safety Commission, so transfer or withdrawal applications couldn’t be submitted until the April update.
Martial Detective High also required students to apply for transfer at least six months in advance.
This meant that if Kanako applied now, the earliest she could leave Tokyo Martial Detective High would be October.
Fortunately, she had already prepared the necessary documents, spending most of her spring break on them aside from her part-time job.
Soon, Kanako got off at a train station in Minato Ward.
The convenience store where she worked was about a twenty-minute walk from the station.
At first, Kanako had been nervous about submitting her resume, unsure whether the manager would hire a martial detective student. After all, martial detectives weren’t viewed favorably by the general public in Japan.
Ordinary people found the idea of a detective carrying guns pretty intimidating.
Perhaps because the store’s neighborhood wasn’t entirely safe, with occasional delinquent youths or gangsters, the manager wanted someone to maintain order. Kanako was hired without difficulty.
Additionally, the manager was a woman… twenty-nine years and fifteen months old, single, actively participating in marriage activities, with an annual income of…
Kanako knew these personal details only because the manager had volunteered them herself during the interview, which had felt more like a matchmaking session than a job interview.
Easily getting the part-time job, Kanako had to admit, was one of the perks of her social skills.
As night fell, Kanako finished her shift without incident.
Since starting this job, she had never needed to reveal her identity as a martial detective, thankfully.
“Shirogane-kun, the canned beers in the fridge are running low. We need to restock.”
Kanako was handing over the shift to another male employee. The manager had said he was a student at a preparatory high school, apparently the student council president. His schedule happened to complement hers.
“Okay, leave it to me. Kanako, you can clock out.”
Collecting her pay and politely declining the manager’s dinner invitation, Kanako followed her usual routine, before leaving, she used her employee discount to buy two half-price bentos, one for dinner tonight, the other for tomorrow.
Later in the evening, the price would drop even further, but she wouldn’t wait that long.
Beyond employee discounts, Kanako could also buy other nearly expired items at lower prices, milk, bread, rice balls, desserts, instant noodles, saving quite a bit on living expenses. Her job was planned with this in mind.
Dragging her tired body back to the detective course’s female dorm, Kanako was surprised to see a pink-haired figure curled up in front of her dorm room door, head buried in her knees, seemingly asleep. A rolling suitcase stood beside her.
Since Kanako had transferred mid-year from the Assault Course to the Detective Course and there happened to be an extra bed, she had been able to occupy a four-person room alone.
However, her experience in the four-person room in the Assault Course hadn’t been much different. Her roommates were mysterious, leaving her alone in the dorm most of the time.
Living alone saved Kanako a lot of hassle.
“What are you doing, Kanzaki?” Kanako asked, approaching the pink figure. It was unmistakably Aria, the same girl who had fired guns during the homeroom meeting, her signature pink hair spilling onto the floor.
“Where have you been? Why are you coming back to the dorm so late?” Aria mumbled sleepily, clearly having actually fallen asleep.
“Working. What about you?” Kanako asked again.
“Open the door! I need to use the bathroom!” Aria pounded on the door, avoiding a direct answer.
“Tsk, running into someone else’s dorm to use the bathroom, don’t you have your own room?” Kanako asked disdainfully, still opening the door.
Of course, Kanako didn’t foolishly think Aria had come solely to use the bathroom, her large suitcase beside her was a giveaway.
Once inside, Aria kicked off her shoes, flopped onto the floor, and fumbled around the hallway as if searching for the light switch.
It was already eight o’clock, and the dorm was pitch-black.
‘Of course, living in a VIP apartment, she doesn’t even know the layout of a standard girls’ dorm,’ Kanako thought, helping to turn on the light and pointing out the bathroom. Aria then hurried inside.
“Move my suitcase in, and just call me Aria,” she called before entering the bathroom.
Kanako had no idea what was in Aria’s suitcase. It felt heavy, but with a branded tag, she dragged it to the entrance and left it there.
The dorm door had barely closed when Aria emerged from the bathroom. She walked straight into the common room, surveyed the environment, and didn’t question why Kanako lived alone after having been previously rebuffed.
Then, Aria suddenly pointed at Kanako.
“Kanako, I want you to be my partner!”
[To be continued.]
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