A Guardian Dog's Favorite Meal

What lied beyond innumerable hours of relentless tapping, and a sleep schedule butchered to bloody splatters, was my eventual salvation.

At last, the Neri-nee SSR card event period had come to an end with me successfully in first tier, reserved for the devoted. Since I didn’t mind spending actual money, it had never been about just getting the card. I wanted every available copy and the bragging rights granted by placing in the top one percent of players – it was the only way I could prove my loyalty and love towards someone who my feelings, fundamentally, couldn’t reach.

However, that also meant having to bounce back on my feet and get back to the life I was living as a conscientious citizen of the nation: I no longer had a reason to neglect my shifts at work any further. To be honest, I much preferred breaking my bones and exhausting myself playing rhythm games than in the process of what I was doing now.

My boss had tasked me with lifting and stacking the heaviest rice sacks in the store – an assignment that fell upon me any time none of my sturdier coworkers were around. Although, I understood where he was coming from. If I ended up getting injured, my bones would heal relatively quickly compared to him getting into the same hypothetical accident.

The owner of the store was a moody, elderly man, most likely around his seventies – I didn't dare or care enough to ask for the exact number. He was strict when he was either angry or nicotine-deficient but most of the time he was a fair, gentle and understanding employer. I wasn’t good at talking to adults and the generation gap between us made things awkward at times but despite that, I respected him both as my supervisor and a person.

"Don't slack off now! Work’s been piling up thanks to your little absence. But I guess I can’t blame you for falling ill, you’re usually such a hard worker after all", he noted upon seeing my poor progress.

Guilt took a sharp stab at my chest. Had I always been such an ugly liar, taking advantage of the old man’s good faith so impudently?

Well, sometimes sacrifices are necessary. I’m sure he would’ve understood me if I had explained it through some epic sports metaphor. I didn’t have time to wallow in shame for long regardless – my consciousness was startled back to earth upon hearing another familiar voice.

“Yo, if it ain’t the Mikarin dude! Kakuji Ran, right? Unless Mecchon’s been lyin’ to us. So, yer a grocery boy?”

It was Hajime’s delinquent friend. If I recalled correctly, she had been referred to as Hana during our first meeting. That was the standard way I learned the names of people: I waited for someone else to call them out. Whether I remembered them or not was a story for another day.

“Yes, my... hobby... doesn’t pay itself”, I replied after careful consideration.

If there was one person in the world from whom I wanted to keep my whaling habits a secret from, it was the old man standing next to us. I didn’t want to imagine what would’ve happened if my boss had realized I was using him as my gambling fund... To my relief, he took the hint and excused himself as soon as he realized I was acquainted with the girl.

"Workin’ hard for Mecchon? She told us ya improved yer role tremendously between dates”, Hana relayed.

“Well, you know what they say. Experience makes a man. Just kidding. They don’t actually say that. I made it up just now”, I stammered.

"Cool. Can ya tell me why she’s been so quiet ever since she started minglin’ with ya?" she interrogated.

Her tone fell monotone and those eyes were looking for a fight. Intimidated by the abrupt change in her attitude, I vigorously shook my head in response. Though, I genuinely had heard nothing of the sort – based on the conversations me and Hajime had both in the real world as our personas and as ourselves on LIME, she seemed to be doing fine. The Hajime I knew had always been anything but quiet.

“I see, I thought she might’ve said somethin’ to ya. Don’t ya dare be takin’ advantage of her kindness! We’ve seen those people before”, she warned.

Just like that, all of the hostility in her voice was gone. Still, I was slightly irritated by the fact that Hana was talking to me as if she knew first-hand what was happening between me and her friend. Hajime herself had asked for this – we were doing it on her conditions and I had been doing best to follow along. But in that moment, there was no way for me to put it all into words tame enough to avoid conflict, so I merely denied the reason for her concern.

“Hajime and me are friends, I can’t afford to exploit her.”

Hana snorted at my response.

“Well, ya may be a lil’ dense but ya don’t seem like a bad guy. I think I can trust ya with Mecchon, as long as ya don’t steal her from us completely! I’ll stop buttin’ in on yer shift now and get the curry ingredients for dinner.”

“You’re shopping for groceries by yourself?” I marveled.

Usually, one comes to a grocery store to buy groceries. This was yet another great observation from me, Kakuji Ran, also known by his primary school nickname “Kuroi-san wannabe”.

“Is that strange? I’m the elder sister so I’m often in charge of holdin’ the fort down for my lil’ bro when my parents are busy”, she revealed.

“No, I’m probably the strange one. You know, never having done anything like that. That’s very kind of you”, I commended.

When I thought about it like that, I realized that I was a pretty spoiled kid. My parents were both well-earning, stable individuals. They did most of the work around the house and in the rare instance that I dared to complain about something, they were willing to listen and compromise. I couldn’t recall a single time I would’ve had to worry about anything serious.

“Thanks for the cheers but I think nothin’ of it. It’s like a duty to me. Sometimes, it’s nice to do favors without expectin’ anythin’ in return. The smile on my brother’s face as he gobbles up my curry is the only reward I need”, she explained with a faint grin.

“I see”, I acknowledged.

Because neither of us was continuing the conversation, Hana eventually turned away from me; it was then that I decided to say something stupid. I felt like I would’ve regretted staying silent even more.

“I hope your curry becomes delicious. For the sake of your brother’s smile?”

Fairly enough, she laughed at my vicariously embarrassing main character moment. But it was not a mean laugh by any means – I’d rather describe it as more of a motherly chuckle.

“Haha, it’s always good! Mecchon loves it too. I’ll make her bring ya some if there’s any left over. Take care of yerself. And of her!” she farewelled.

I thanked her for the offer and gazed back as her frame faded from my sight between the condiment shelves. Occupied by all the thoughts she had left me with, the rest of my shift had passed before I even knew it.