The First Hurdle Looms

7.5 km and 56 harrowing minutes later, I burst in through the front door of the Kyoudai Mart, huffing and puffing. The scarf, wrapped tightly in its package, is still underneath my thin jacket. The whole present can't be worth more than the price of dinner at a chain restaurant, and I still protected it like it was an egg and I was an emperor penguin.

The electronic jingle greets me as I walk through the door. "Good afternoon! Sakuta, reporting for duty-"

On one side of the cash register is Nakaumi, slathered in so much fake tan she looks orange, who barely even acknowledges my existence. On the other side is a guy named Fukui, who usually works a different shift than mine, who looks the part of a shifty character with a shaved head and a few wispy whiskers still on his face. I don't really know that much about him- he may be an upstanding person, for all I know, but we rarely work together. He doesn't look up either. Neither do the one or two customers browsing the shelves. We're not likely to get much business today with the weather being like it is. I really don't want to get sent home early. Especially since it looks like no Miyata today. It might be a relaxing evening for once.

As I head toward the locker room to change into my work uniform, the manager, all 160 balding cm of him, comes tottering out from the back and catches sight of me.

"Good morning, Manager-"

I stop. The expression on his face is usually one of meekness, but right now he looks a bit perturbed.

"Sakuta-kun, where have you been?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're almost an hour late..." He strokes his chin with concern. "You were supposed to be here at four."

"Eh? I what? There's gotta be some kind of mistake..." I could have sworn looking at my schedule yesterday that my shift started at five! "I was scheduled to come in at five today..."

"That's not what the schedule says." Morikawa-san glances toward me. "Sakuta-kun, surely you're not suggesting that I'm telling a lie, are you? I thought you wouldn't resort to something like that..."

"I- uh- no, I'm not saying that...there could have just been a mistake from yesterday to today...since you copy the schedules by hand and all..." Crap. Crap, crap, crap. The Kyoudai Mart is starting to blur in and out. There goes my heartbeat. It's gonna go through the roof in just a second.

"I'm quite sure I double checked." The manager turns toward the employees at the counter. "I scheduled Sakuta-kun to come in at 4 yesterday, didn't I? You two saw it, right?"

"Yeah, something like that." Nakaumi shrugs and continues looking at her phone that she's hiding underneath the counter.

"I guess so," replies Fukui.

Oh, no. They haven't even looked at the schedule. I know neither of them have. They just don't want to question the boss. My heart feels like it's going to jump out of my chest.

"There you have it." The manager clasps his hands together. "Sakuta-kun, I'm afraid you'll have to submit a written apology. I have to say I'm surprised. I expected that you'd take responsibility for your actions if anything like this ever came up."

"I swear, it was an honest mistake-" I can't let myself get fired here, or I'm screwed. I'm dead, and that's not figurative. The power will get cut and then I'll get kicked out and I've got nowhere to go in the middle of winter.

"I'm disappointed in you, Sakuta-kun."

"Wait a minute, boss." Suddenly, there's a voice that I recognize coming from behind me. It's the last person I wanted to see right now. "You put him down for five yesterday. I saw the schedule."

There's Miyata, 00s host haircut, bleached hair, tanned skin, reeking of cigarette smoke.

"Huh?" Morikawa-san looks slightly confused. "Miyata-kun, what are you talking about? Nakaumi-kun and Fukui-kun both said they saw him scheduled for four yesterday..."

"Fukui didn't even work yesterday night shift. And Naka didn't go by your office where the schedule was posted even once. I saw it with my own two eyes. He was scheduled for five."

Now an expression of confusion has come over the manager's face. "Let me check for just a second..." He hobbles to the back.

For what seems like an agonizing century, I stand outside, forced to grapple with the fact that the fate of my paycheck is in the hands of Aomori Prefecture's trashiest man, until Morikawa-san comes slowly walking back out.

"I did make a mistake..." he mutters. "I apologize, Sakuta-kun. It was a transcription error."

This happens often, because he's the most disorganized boss in the world, but I thought I would stay out of trouble and it would only affect other people. I guess that's like asking a dog not to bark. I'm just glad it's over, honestly. No use getting mad about it.

Trudging to the lockers, I realize that Miyata's come in the door behind me.

...Well, this is awkward.

I don't like him, but he just saved my skin.

What do I even say to him?

"Man, the boss's schedules are such a mess..." Miyata sighs. "Sorry, dude. It's happened to me about ten times. Don't sweat it. He makes schedules for the next day and then forgets what he scheduled you for by the morning..."

I still don't like him. And I still don't want to be around him. But I mutter in a low voice, "...Thanks. You really saved me. I thought I was about to get written up."

"Not a problem, dude. I'll give you some advice- you're not gonna get in trouble. I mean, that's the first time I've ever seen you make a mistake. And it wasn't even your mistake. Unless you're straight up huffing glue or fuckin' your coworker on the clock, you ain't gonna get fired. Who is the manager gonna replace you with? We're short-staffed as it is."

I don't care how nice he's trying to be, or how he helped me. He's still annoying. I still want him to go away. But I feel a little bad thinking that now.

"See you in a sec, bro." The door swings shut, and I'm all alone in the dressing room.

He didn't see the present I was concealing, or I never would have heard the end of it. Whew. I dodged a major bullet there. I'm just gonna keep it in my locker until the day's over.

Evening turns into night, the cold wind continues to blow and the snow keeps falling, and my shift at the Kyoudai Mart is the same as ever- monotonously stocking shelves where my mind is somewhere else. Once again, it's on Hashigami. I keep thinking about the little scarf that I purchased on ultra-clearance. The same two scenarios play out in my head: in one, she's disappointed with it, and slowly cuts off contact with me until by next year, we haven't talked in ages. In the other, she confesses to me.

It turns out my plan to do something I'd never normally think of in order to take my mind off the N*rou contest worked. Replacing one worry with another worry worked so well for me that I honestly didn't even remember the semi-finalists would be announced tonight until I open my locker in the changing room after clocking out.

As I quickly stuff the present into my jacket, hoping for all the life of me that Miyata didn't catch a glimpse of the wrapping paper, my phone sits in front of me, with 12:31 AM burned onto the screen in bright, thin white numbers, and below it is the notification for 1 new LIME.

@KurokamiSeigo: Check N*rou!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@KurokamiSeigo: Congrats Sakuta-kun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@KurokamiSeigo: Oops I mean Rayfar lol

@KurokamiSeigo: We ought to talk on my personal LIME account for non-writer stuff. I sent you a req

@KurokamiSeigo: But anyways congrats, you did it!

In my taskbar is 1 more notification.

@mitsu_bee_01758 has sent you a friend request.

I had already pulled up the N*rou homepage on my phone this morning. It only takes a quick refresh, and there, at the top, is a list of 36 novels. Out of the hundreds that were entered, less than forty were good enough to make it past the first round.

24. An Ancient Cave Only I and the Sorceress Know the Location Of, by Taki Takagi

25. Onipan!, by Torararu74

26. What Makes Sense About Being Reincarnated as a Frog Mutant?!, by Konomi Minohara

27. The Hero's Facing His Greatest Challenge Yet!, by Rayfar

As I stepped outside and the cold air hit my cheeks, and the wind howled and the snow blew sideways in the cold Tohoku December night, I may have screamed in jubilation like a small child. I may have jumped for joy. I don't know. I couldn't hear anything over the sound of the storm.