[Webnovel translation] I started working the night shift at a convenience store: (Chapter.1 pt1)

  Horror webnovel: I started working the night shift at a convenience store (Ch.1 pt1)

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Chapter 1: The automatic door (pt.1)

I'm still not sure whether it was a way to welcome me or some rookie hazing.

On my first day working here, right after I'd gone through my job interview, I got my first glimpse into this other world.

"You're 25? Aww, that's so young!"

For my first night working here I had been paired with Mr. Aoyama, who had the most experience working night shift.

He seemed to be a very caring and friendly fellow, and being introverted as I am, I was glad we had been.

He took the time to carefully run me through what I'd need to know for the job.

"If you ever have any question or need anything, feel free to ask me. We've got high expectations for you, you know!"

"Expectations? Why's that?"

"Well, it's just that the manager said we might finally have found someone that wouldn't resign after a week."

"I— I see..."

"It's not only about working night hours, but this place being what it is sometimes we don't see many clients coming until morning, if any at all.

So let's just take it easy and chat the night away."

He said, giving me a light tap on the shoulder.

When I tried picturing what working night shift must be like, rather than being busy I'd just picture it to be boring, so having someone to talk with seemed a great way to have the clock ticking faster.

It truly felt like we were professional slackers, just paid to do nothing.

Aoyama laughed at my remark.

"I know right?" he said.

It only took about an hour or so for us to start hitting it off. I was slightly relieved to not have to worry about getting along with my coworkers.

About Aoyama, he's a dude but...

He...? is what you'd call a trans person.*

A bulky man with a shaved head. He was big and tall, so much so that one could think he was a foreigner.  

However, standing out in contrast of his looks, the way he talked was that of a girl.

He seemed to be working part time here to earn money so he could "get some work done on his-lower half as soon as possible."

Getting some work done... does he mean...?

He's sharing some really personal stuff even though we've just met... He's also being kind of touchy but I'll just pretend that I'm overthinking it. 

I got good vibes from him.

"So, is the money what brought you here too?"

"I mean... surely the same goes for you, right?"

"The wage here is really appealing..."

"See? I knew it. You don't even need to hide it, the manager knows about it too."

Aoyama smiled, and moved his shoulders up and down:

"Then again, everyone who said they'd started working here for that reason ended up resigning in no time."

The smile I'd forced myself to show this far disappeared in an instant. Like someone had just blown out a candle.

"So you guys were dead serious when you said lots of people resigned..."

"Well, in the last year or so, out of dozens of people the only ones that haven't resigned are Hirai, Takenaka and myself.

But uh... these two are a bit special."

"Uh-huh..."

"Most people only lasted for a week or so. A few managed to work here a bit longer than that, but it ended up taking a huge toll on their sanity.

We've even had to send a few to a mental hospital."

"To a what now?!"

My voice cracked out of surprise.

What the hell was going on here?

"You know... A few months ago, a girl named Kawachi had been hired to work here. Ten days after she had started working here we couldn't seem to contact her at all.

Of course this worried the manager who then contacted her parents... That's when they found her. She had sliced her wrists in an attempted suicide."

A suicide? 

Picturing the scene sent shivers down my spine...

"Damn... but this had nothing to do with her work here, right?"

"I guess youngsters have their own fair share of issues to deal with and troubles in their private life.

But Takenaka worked the same night shift as her and said that—"

In that instant, the automatic door opened, cutting him in his tracks, and a peaceful melody that anyone must have heard at least once in their life echoed through the store.

Then, coming through the door, a middle-aged man wearing a suit entered the store.

"Ugh, looks like we have a client."

What the— This isn't a thing to say when a client enters the store...

In a stew and in an attempt to drown out whatever he was saying, I raised my voice and greeted our customer. 

He only took a bottle of tea and a lunch box, before heading straight to the counter.

I guess he must have stopped here on the way back home from work, nothing out of the ordinary.

This wouldn't be my first time operating a cash register, but since it was my first day working here I wanted to use this opportunity to observe how Aoyama would handle it.

Then again, I say this but whether it's in a supermarket or at a convenience store, working the cash register pretty much boils down to the same machine-like loop.

You check out what they want to buy, take the money, and give back the change. On top of that you also need to keep the store clean and in order, check for expired food on the shelves, it takes some getting used-to but it isn't all that difficult once you've got the hang of it.

"Thank you! Please come again!"

The man grabbed his change, walked up to his car waiting for him in the parking lot, got in, and left.

No one else came in for nearly an hour after that, so Aoyama and I went back to chatting.

Once you were done cleaning and inspecting the shelves for expired food, there really wasn't much more to it, so it's not like we had much of a choice.

Once in a while we could hear the engine of a motorcycle passing by, only to then slowly fade away. 

There was barely any traffic around here. In front of us was a road and surrounding that road, and us, a vast sea of trees.

Nothing but total darkness.

Anyone walking around here so late at night would certainly stand out as an oddity.

It was a place where even having a client seemed a rare occurence.

"So? What happened after they found that girl?"

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Hi everyone!

I just want to address something really quickly regarding the line I've followed with an asterisk.
I am not the most up-to-date person out there regardign LGBT issues and terminology, however I am dead aware that I've been calling "he/him" someone I'd call "she/her" IRL (if they wanted me to) but since this is a translation I had to do it like this.
I'm not the author so I can't and won't try speaking in their name, but the protagonist does seem a bit confused in the original text, so changing to "her" wouldn't have made much sense/wouldn't be faithful to the original text.

So this really wasn't a political statement or anything, it's just how things had to go to do a proper translation work.

I've already started working on the 3rd chapter and hopefully will be able to also upload it really soon, stay safe and take care everyone.

Source: https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054880681711

Original author: 天野　アタル  (Ataru Amano)