[Webnovel translation] I started working the night shift at a convenience store: (Chapter 1 pt4)

  Horror webnovel: I started working the night shift at a convenience store (Ch.1 pt4)

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Chapter 1: The automatic door (pt.4)

The doors had remained open all this time, they hadn't moved one iota.

Then, they closed violently, before openeing again, as soon as they had, they closed again, and then opened once more.

There I stood, in front of doors opening and closing erratically again and again, and again.

"What the..."

Even I got creeped out by this and took a step back before I had realized it.

Every time the doors would open and close I'd hear the mechanism's noise and the chime ringing intermittently.

Could there be more to it than a simple malfunction...? Nothing adds up here.

"EEEK!"

I squeaked. 

I don't know how to describe what I felt, but it was as though something had just brushed against my right leg. Something like that.

Cold air skimmed around it.

Wh— What was that?

I raised my eyes, and rubbed my leg in an attempt to get rid of the goosebumps.

The doors stopped closing and opening randomly at once. And they remained that way.

I don't think I'd usually put it this way, but it was as though the doors had calmed down.

"Hey Hakamada!"

"A—Aoyama!"

I turned around after hearing him call my name, only to see him coming from the bathroom at the back of the store, with a refreshed look on his face.

It seems that he had been shut in there the whole time, while I had to deal with these malfunctioning doors.

"I wondered where you'd gone this whole time!"

"Sorry for that! I've been constipated for the past four days and finally managed to do my thing. Man, I feel alive again!"

Whoa! Hold it there buddy... that's like way too much information.

"Anyway, why're you standing here?"

"Ah, about that..."

I told Aoyama everything that had happened while he was gone.

"Are these doors giving up the ghost or something?"

I said, pointing at the doors that were now dead calm. 

Aoyama's lips started trembling and he let out a loud cry.

Wow! What's happening?

Seeing Aoyama crossing his arms and shaking in what was obviously fear was somehow more chilling than these doors had just been.

"Did it come again?!"

"Huh?"

I furrowed my brows listening to him, his words filled with fear. He slammed a hand on my shoulder, and said:

"That happens sometimes, a bit after 2 AM the doors suddenly start opening and closing again and again! I've witnessed it myself! 

I thought surely they were just broken, you get me?! But they weren't..."

Aoyama said, before bringing his face closer to my ear.

"In reality, it's a little boy playing around, coming in and out of the store." he whispered into my ear.

"What...? A little boy? What's that supposed to mean?"

His breath on my skin sent shivers down my spine again, so I decided to cover my ears.

"It's a little boy's ghost."

"A gh-ghost?"

"Yeah. Takenaka is the one who told me about it, about this little boy playing in front of the doors."

I wonder if hearing this much would usually scare people.

I, for one, couldn't help but instantly find this whole story to sound fishy. 

"Are you for real?"

"What! You don't believe me?"

"Not really... I have a hard time believing in things I can't see for myself."

After all, no matter how you put it, to me there's nothing more to it than simply the doors being broken.

Seeing this little boy he talked about may have me change my mind, but until then...

"Interesting... People usually are usually creeped out when I tell them about this. In fact, it creeps them out so much that they often ended up calling it quits the next day."

He said.

"Were you trying to scare me off with this?"

"Not even, this is nothing but the truth. You'll understand once you meet Takenaka."

"..."

And back to that Takenaka guy. I haven't met him yet, but I already have doubts about him.

From what I gathered, this Takenaka dude seems to say he can see ghosts, and that whole shenanigan about this little boy going in and out of the store in and of itself is enough for me to be a bit wary of what he says.

Other people are just that, other people. There's no reason for me to believe what someone else says when they don't have any evidence to back it up.

Ghosts aren't real.

"I guess letting you think this way might help you stay around for longer."

He said, forcing a smile on his face as I kept a look of confusion on mine.

The rest of my first shift working this job played out without anything noteworthy happening until dawn.

How could I put it? I was still confused and uncertain of what happened back then, but I certainly don't think I needed to blow this whole ordeal out of proportion and pin it on some ghost manifestation.

I believe in what I can see for myself.

In fact, I can only believe in what I can see for myself.

It might be a shame but I'm not the type to let what others tell me scare me or rock my boat.

I yawned. Working so late at night sure wasn't a walk in the park.

No customer shows up, and you're left alone with nothing but time. I rubbed my eyes to fight my drowsiness, climbed on my bike and rode my way back home under the morning sun.

A few days later...

I was watching the security monitor when I saw a weird shadowy shape. It caught me off guard so much; I ended up spitting out my canned coffee.

Back then I still had no idea that this much was nothing, and that much worse and much more terrible events awaited me in the near future.

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Hi everyone!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter too, or rather part of this chapter. This was the last part of this chapter, the next one will let us learn more about the protagonist, and the store itself.
Hope you'll enjoy it too!

See you next time, take care!

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

Original author: 天野　アタル  (Ataru Amano)