The Last-First Day

It was 8:00 in the morning. Akahiko’s boss, Nishiyama Orochi, was unlocking the building for the day, when he heard something behind him. He turned as a car pulling into the parking lot caught his attention. Of course, it did; it was completely totaled. The windows were shattered, the front had been crumpled from the impact with the fence, the driver’s side rearview mirror was dangling by a single wire, and the passenger side door had multiple bullet holes. Orochi backed up against the door out of caution. When the miraculously movable pile of scrap was parked, the driver’s side door buckled once, twice, thrice, followed by a string of profanity. The door was unable to open. Orochi’s eyes widened as he watched a man in a tattered suit push himself through the broken window. A disheveled Akahiko emerged and landed face-first on the pavement like a dead fish. Barely managing to force himself up, he stumbled his way to the boss while struggling to fix his hair. Orochi squinted but was eventually able to recognize him.

“Motosaka Akahiko? What the hell happened?”

Out of breath, the only words Akahiko could manage to utter while he handed his boss his resignation were:

“I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

Orochi was so shocked that he wasn’t able to say anything in response as Akahiko walked back to his car and began pushing himself back through his window. Orochi’s eyes never left the car or blinked and his jaw remained extended as what remained of Akahiko’s car faded from view.

While Akahiko drove back to the market to get trained, he couldn’t stop thinking about Rei. She was initially so unassuming, but her cunning businesswoman side showed itself very suddenly that night.

“Well, I guess she survived working in the markets for a reason.”

After half an hour of driving, he arrived at the market. When he made it to the lemon stall, Rei was selling a basket to a customer. The customer turned around and was startled by Akahiko, almost dropping her lemons.

“Uh… I’m here…”

Rei sighed and grabbed Akahiko’s wrist. She dragged him to the back and forced a company shirt in his arms.

“Clean up and put this on, then I’ll train you.”

“You’re pretty lively for someone who was recently injured.”

“I’m alright now. They were glass cuts, it’s not like I broke my arm or something.”

“Still, didn’t you lose a lot of blood?”

“Just put on the damn uniform.”

As soon as Akahiko did as he was instructed, there was already a line of customers.

“It’s the mid-morning rush, just bring me the items that I ask for and we’ll be fine.”

“And the lemonade?”

“We’re not quite ready for that right now.”

Akahiko worked until everything slowed down. He didn’t interact with the customers very much, but he was okay with that. He knew his time would come.

“Alright, everything’s slowing down… I guess now is as good a time as any. Run to the store and get an industrial-strength blender. We don’t want anything that will break during a shift.”

“What about the other ingredients?”

“This could be a good opportunity for some networking. Scout out the stalls and see what we can make. Don’t buy the ingredients yet, though. We should want everything to be as fresh as possible. We’ll buy them every morning before they start selling.”

At the request of Rei, drove his car to the store. As he was looking for the blender, he heard a familiar voice.

“Akahiko, is that you?”

“Oh, Nobuo! What brings you all the way over here?”

“I was going to visit the market nearby, but I realized I needed some sunglasses. What’s with the shirt?”

“Oh, it’s my uniform for my new job. I just so happen to work at that market.”

“You already quit and found a new job?”

Nobuo looked closer at Akahiko’s shirt.

“Selling lemons now? That’s a hell of a leap.”

“You could say I already had some background in that field.”

“Man, I wish I could get a job somewhere relaxing like that.”

“It’s actually been surprisingly dangerous so far.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Follow me out once I buy a blender and a strainer, and I’ll show you.”

Akahiko and Nobuo continued talking as they found what Akahiko needed. As they exited the shop, Nobuo saw Akahiko’s car.

“Wait, is that your car!?”

“Yes, I don’t want to go into detail, but I’ve already had an attempt on my life.”

“Oh my goodness. If the job is that bad, why are you still in it?”

“My life savings were also stolen by the mob, so I don’t have much opportunity to change.”

“That’s terrible! Did you call the police?”

“I’ve been told by my business partner that the police have ties with that gang, so I don’t think they would be able to do much.”

“What!? That’s ridiculous! How could selling lemons be so dangerous?”

Akahiko proceeded to tell Nobuo about how the insider trading that was taking place eventually escalated into a turf war. At first, Nobuo thought it was ridiculous, but while he was listening, he tossed the information around in his head until it made sense to him.

“So yeah, it’s not the lemons in particular, it’s just working in the markets. It makes me wonder if that’s why we moved to the city when I was a kid.”

“I’m sure you could ask your parents about that.”

“Man, I haven’t seen them in a while. I should definitely visit them if I get a day off.”

“How long has it been?”

“Who knows? When I was working data entry with you, I kind of lost track of the days.”

“Do you not respect your parents?”

“Oh, I respect them plenty, but I’ve kind of been on autopilot for a few years.”

“Good grief! You should really pay them a visit soon, Hiko!”

“Don’t worry, I’m planning on it.”

“Keep planning on it! I’ll see you later.”

“It was nice catching up. Drop by the market anytime.”

“I’ll treat the market like I treat drugs. I’ll buy, but you won’t catch me selling!”

They both chuckled and parted ways. As he headed back to the market, the ridiculousness of his circumstances continued to set in. The rest of the day was surprisingly uneventful. The overall sales of lemons were looking pretty decent, but not significantly higher than normal. After the day ended, Akahiko and Rei packed up and went home.