Snacks on Snacks

As usual, I arrived on time for my shift at the convenience store; although today, it was just barely. Having been ignored by my manager and fellow closing staff, also as usual, I began to replenish the shelves with dried blood coating my forearms. My backside was in pain as well, as the shards of glass and impact of landing directly on my camera in my back pocket had bruised and scraped quite a large area of my buttocks.

Magical Mai... Mai who is also magical... So, her name is Mai, but she can use magical powers... What a shitty heroine name.
My hands moved mindlessly for hours, rearranging the almost expired packages toward the front of the shelves as I loaded the back with fresh products.

"Nakahara-kun."
A familiar voice had approached from behind. It was my much older co-worker, Yamamoto Natsume. She's a single mother of three, working two jobs just to support them and pay for their studio apartment fifteen miles away from this store. Talk about dedication.

"Yamamoto-san... did you need something?"
I wasn't exactly on friendly speaking terms with her, given the fact that we had very little in common to actually discuss. Regardless, I held an immense respect for this woman.

Oh, and don't worry. She won't be too much of a recurring character in this story.

"There's a spill on aisle four... some clumsy girl dropped a slice of cake, stepped on it, and slipped. What the hell is this, a gag manga?"
Yamamoto Natsume ran a hand through her hair.

"Right... I'll clean it in a second."
Reluctantly, I raised myself from my squatting position and headed toward the storage closet where we kept an array of cleaning products and supplies.

Wait a second... clumsy girl, dropping cake, slipping on it? Don't tell me...

Sure enough, the girl who had fallen flat on her bottom, sitting in the middle of the snack aisle at 11:00 PM... was Magical Mai. Hair cascading like a cape around her backside, glasses resting slightly askew on her cute face; Magical Mai was sitting with her knees together, her white dress stained with chocolate frosting near her thighs.

"What do you think you're doing?!"
I shouted from across the aisle.

"Oh, Nakai Kazuya! What a coincidence running into you here!"
Magical Mai smiled up at me, calling me by the name of a famous voice actor.

"Not even close! It's Nakahara Kazuo!"
I landed a soft tap from my broom handle on her forehead.

"Ouch! Sorry, I'm bad with names. Also, why are you carrying a broom?"
She tilted her head in honest confusion, as if she hadn't seen my uniform or my nametag.

Wait, had she really not gathered the fact that I worked here?

"Oh, it's because I really like sweeping stores. It's kind of a side hobby."
I gave her a mischievous smirk, thinking my joke would land with enormous success. She seemed like the type of girl who would enjoy light sarcasm.

"Oh, that's so kind of you! I'm sure the store appreciates your volunteer work!"
Magical Mai smiled from ear to ear.

"Um, hello?!"
I shouted toward her,
"I just told you earlier that I work at a convenience store! Where do you think you are right now? I was being sarcastic about my love for sweeping."

As if my harsh tone had no effect on her, Magical Mai stood from her chocolate-covered throne on the ground and tapped her chin. She stood there, thinking for what seemed like way too long to arrive at the conclusion she soon came to.

"Hey, is it just me, or did you say you worked near your apartment? Does that mean your apartment is in this neighborhood, too? That makes us practically neighbors!"
She smiled, adjusting those much too large glasses around her face.

Cute.

"Well... yeah."
I did my best to speak casually.
"I do live kind of close by."

"Umeda Apartments?"
Magical Mai hit the nail on the head.

"What?! I mean... yeah, Umeda Apartments. How did you guess so quickly?"
I began to sweep the remnants of chocolate cake into a dustpan as casually as possible. Due to my awkward nature as a man actively searching for romance, my movements were as stiff as a robot's.

"Because they're the closest apartments to this store, duh."
For some reason, Magical Mai did a victory pose, sticking her finger toward me at about hip level, as if her deduction were straight out of Detective Conan.

"Objection!"
I raised my own finger, not to mimic her, but to pay tribute to Phoenix Wright.
"The closest apartments are the Esprit apartments, not Umeda!"

"W-well then it was a lucky guess! I'm not even spying on you, so don't act like you solved some sort of detective case!"
Magical Mai's eyes trailed to the door.

"I didn't say anything about spying."
My eyes narrowed with suspicion
"You just gave yourself away. I rest my case."

Magical Mai let out a soft click of her tongue, unsure of how to salvage her innocent act. Her face had finally contorted into something more... human. She had a furrowed brow and pursed lips.
"Okay... I may have seen you enter your apartment earlier. And I may or may not be checking up on you at your job."

I began to mop the floor beside her, my eyes never leaving hers.
"Why would you need to spy on me? You could have just admitted to it instead of acting like you don't know where I live and purposely slipping on cake to get my attention."

Magical Mai chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck with her marked palm.
"The cake incident was accidental... but I'm sorry for spying on you. I really needed to make sure the Mark of the Phantom wasn't affecting you negatively. Its power is unpredictable at times, especially when first received."
She spoke in a hushed tone.

"The Mark of the Phantom? Is it dangerous?"
With my final mop stroke, I leaned against the shelving unit lining the aisle. Inspecting my marked palm, I checked for any signs of a "negative side effect," but only continued to feel the anxious phantom sensation that had been pulsing in my body since yesterday around noon.

Magical Mai took a small step in my direction, bringing her mouth closer to my ear with a covering hand.
"Just be sure to contact me if you get a strange, overwhelming sense of despair... then, I'll know for sure if you're really one of us. That's how we can tell if a Mërk is nearby."

"Right... I'll stay in touch."
I rubbed my head, still trying to process these words she had been spouting since we met earlier today.

Mërk... Mark of the Phantom... I'm going to need a beer after my shift.

I watched as the clumsy girl exited the convenience store and into the late summer night. Once again, my eyes were entranced by her gorgeous stature as the breeze swayed her dress skirt against her figure. I couldn't help but feel just a tad lucky that I had become somewhat acquainted with such a cute girl, even if her dress had a brown stain around her thigh. Perhaps, this nonsensical Mark of the Phantom was a blessing in disguise.

She forgot to pay for her damaged cake...