CHAPTER 11

  I definitely cannot handle this.

  I had been joking about getting the PTA to show up, but I did not expect it to actually happen.

  The day after PTA Mom appeared in the store, I joked that she might show up the next day. I was wrong. I worked from 11 AM, thinking that I might see her, or others, but instead, it was a quiet, and arguably lonely day. I felt like a dog waiting for its owner to come home, sitting at the counter with nothing to do.

  After the sunset, the frogs came back. With nothing to do but watch them try to intimidate me, I was starting to notice small differences. There was one specifically that was missing a finger that I certainly did not name “Old Que”, because that’s what a crazy person does when they are losing their mind from solitary confinement. Instead, I ignored them and cleaned, dusted, wiped, and stared at the wall, a lot.

  Before I went to sleep, I added a few more items to my escape box. There were two now, the top box held the items I had set aside and purchased, mostly with my discount, but a few, like some of the instant noodles and disposable batteries, I paid full price so that I could legally use them to barter.

  There was another box on the bottom that I had packed with items from the stock in the back room. There really wasn’t much for now, besides water and drinks, but we did keep some boxes of popular items like the protein energy bars and dried fish snacks to restock the shelves between shipments. I stashed some of these items in the second box. If the protection of the store stopped and I needed to make an escape, I didn’t think I needed to worry about the rules anymore. Until then, I wasn’t technically stealing.

  I went to sleep shortly after 6AM when my night shift ended, and set the alarm on my phone to 10AM. The only “good” thing about being a temp was that I could work as many shifts as I wanted. Temp workers were not eligible for overtime, since hours were calculated daily rather than weekly. To be honest, I think they were skirting the lines of legal labor practices, but convenience stores weren’t known as the last resort employer for no reason.

  When I had made my plan for the next day, I hadn’t expected to be woken up by the door chime.

  BING BONG

  BING BONG

  BING BONG

  BING BONG

  BING BONG

  BING BONG

  BING BONG

  Uh, what the—

  I woke up suddenly, feeling a sharp pain in my back from sleeping on the hard, flat bed I had made. I had to stumble around in the dark for a minute, to find the light switch for the back room. For some reason, it was hidden by the refrigerator’s rear access doors.

  Through the frosted glass, I could tell that there were shapes, people hopefully, moving around inside the store. I ran over to grab the tablet, which I now kept with me whenever I was in the back room, and pulled up the surveillance screen. There were now a half dozen people moving around inside the store. My heart fell into the pit of my stomach.

  I should be safe, they could not come into the back room without smashing the door. I hoped that the store would step in before something like that happened, though.

  The security view was very powerful. It was actually a composite view made by combining all the different security cameras in the store. With one window, I could change the angle in any direction, and zoom in and out to see every bit of the store. It was almost impossible for someone to block the view in order to swipe anything, since even I didn’t know where all the cameras were located. I quickly checked each person in the store, and soon I found her. PTA Mom was standing near the counter looking around with a concerned look on her face.

  No one else in the store looked to be a problem. They were all older, four women, and three men. They were all dressed casually, in outdoor clothes similar, to but less dirty than PTA Mom had been when she had shown up the first time. The only thing that concerned me was that several of them appeared to be armed. By armed, I mean one of them had a baseball bat, and two were holding golf clubs like they were ready to take a swing at something.

  I watched as one of them, an older, balding man, walked over to the door. He seemed to be talking to someone outside. While the cameras of course recorded sound as well as video, I was unable to access the audio due to privacy laws. The AI could use microphones to communicate, but employees weren’t allowed to listen, so I had no idea what the man was saying.

  I selected the external view on the security interface, and pulled up the view in front of the store. There, in the middle of the street, was the big high schooler, Wataru. He stood there with two other men, both just as large as he was, and all of them holding what looked like heavy steel pipes.

  So they have backup outside? Are they guards or something?

  I was slightly happy to see more people finally, but was mostly apprehensive about what was going on. I hadn’t felt this much anxiety since my last job interview.

  I switched back to the store interior on the tablet, and saw a woman filling up a wheeled crate with bottles of water.

  Oh crap!

  I quickly threw on my uniform tunic, then rushed for the door. I just made it into the store when I saw it. The woman had tried to wheel the water outside when she faded away. Just like the high school kids before, she vanished. This time I saw clearly that the moment she disappeared, she reappeared on the street, looking shocked and disoriented.

  “I told you not to— Oh, Hi Ming. Ummm, sorry about that.”

  PTA Mom was looking at me with an embarrassed look. The others in the store had various reactions, from fear, to open hostility from the bald man.

  I was still a bit disoriented, still shaking off the sleep from my head. I ran my hand through my hair, then bowed slightly and greeted everyone.

  “Welcome to One Mart,” I said weakly.

  “Ming! Good morning! I brought some people over. Sorry, I know the store has rules and all, and we—“

  “What is the meaning of this?” The bald man roared.

  I hadn’t realized how short he was through the security view, but he was probably barely over a meter and a half. He had a roundish face that was flushed red around the nose and mouth. He looked to be about sixty, and reminded me of a school principal I had hated as a student.

  “What did you do to my wife? Who are you? What is going on here? How can you be hoarding all of this during a national emergency? Don’t you have morals?”

  He kept shouting and sputtering and it was hard to keep up with his energy. I had been almost entirely alone for several days, and suddenly there were people everywhere and someone was screaming at me.

  Grandpa, just cut me a break. Who the hell are you anyway?

  “I’m sorry. I just woke up. I was working the late shift an—“

  “Who are you? Where is the person in charge? How dare you… what did you do to my wife?”

  Oh my god. Can you please just shut up for a second?

  “I’m sorry sir. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on right now. I’m sure I can expla—“

  “Get me your manager!”

  “Alright, gramps. Enough bullying poor Ming here. I told ya all that you need to be careful. Follow the rules. He doesn’t know what’s going on any more than the rest of us. No use making his life any harder than it needs to be.”

  I felt a wave of gratitude to PTA Mom who had come to my rescue. Still, Principal Tightpants wasn’t having it.

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  “Listen, do you know who I am? I’m not going to stand for any nonsense here. I am here on official business.”

  Seriously, is this guy a comic book cliche?

  It would have been hard for me to stop laughing in this pompous jerk’s face if I hadn’t spent the last month dealing with people just as bad, or worse.

  That “Do you know who I am?” line. That’s like the cherry topping on the entitled jerk sundae.

  “As I explained to your companion—“

  “Oh, he’s not my companion. He’s just some old guy who followed me here.”

  PTA Mom is the best!

  The volcano in the middle of the old man’s face seemed ready to explode.

  “I AM the president of the Babasaki Street Neighborhood Association! As far as you are concerned, I am the one in charge here!”

  I blinked a couple of times, trying to register the new information.

  “Isn’t that street a couple blocks down?” I asked foolishly.

  “Tell me who else should be in charge? There’s no one else! No police, no soldiers. Until the country re-establishes order, we need to band together and take care of ourselves until the crisis has ended. As such, since you still have power and supplies, I am ordering you to turn over this facility and the Association will handle distribution to the community.”

  Are you kidding me?

  I barely had time to register my disbelief when PTA Mom burst into laughter.

  “You saw what just happened. Mrs. Sawa just got zapped outta the store for trying to steal water. Poof, like a magic show. Shouldn’t ya make sure she is alright?”

  The angry little man didn’t even bother to turn and look at his wife, who was looking quite frail and leaning against one of the escorts to stay upright.

  “We are NOT stealing! This is an official act, during an emergency, for the good of the community. It is only right that I exercise control over all available resources to ensure the care and safety of the people. I am ordering you to deactivate whatever security systems there are in the store immediately!”

  Oh my god! Can’t you just shut your mouth hole, it’s giving me a headache.

  “I’m sorry, customer, I am unable to change anything about the store’s functions. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

  “President!”

  “Huh?”

  “President. You should address me as President. President Sawa of the Babasaki Street Neighborhood Association.”

  Seriously?

  “Ah… yes. Well, as I said before, I cannot control the store, or the rules. Look, if you want to shop here, I am happy to help, but please keep in mind the time limit of thirty minutes per person. The Store is pretty serious about that. Ask that big guy outside.”

  I nodded to Wataru, the high schooler who had been evicted a few days ago.

  “You are not listening to me! I am ordering you—“

  “Alright! Enough!” PTA Mom stepped in front of the little man whose entire face had finally turned into a tomato.

  She turned to the rest of the people in the store.

  “You guys remember what I told you before. Don’t even think about trying to bend those rules. They are up on the screen if ya forgot. Let’s just sort out what we want, pay the poor boy, and head back before something else goes wrong. I warned you that there is weird stuff going on, and this store ain’t the half of it. We don’t want to mess with it and we don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, either. Let’s just do what we came to do. Alright?”

  The others looked at her, then each other, then the little man. After a moment, they started moving around the store, filling up small shopping baskets with items.

  “Look, you are not in charge here—“

  “Mister President. I think your wife might need you.” My savior pointed outside where the old woman had finally collapsed onto the ground.

  President Jerk spun around and finally noticed his wife’s condition. He turned once more to face me, then spat out a threat.

  “Listen, this isn’t over. I’ll be back here to speak to your superior!”

  Then he turned and marched out the door. As soon as the automatic door opened, he stopped, then in one quick motion, he grabbed the handle of the wheeled cart and…

  …reappeared in the middle of the street, next to his wife, who was now sitting on the ground, leaning against Wataru.

  I checked the terminal. It appears that while his wife got just a warning, President Jerk got a full three-day ban.

  Serves you right, jerk!

  “Thanks…”

  “Saori. Saori Higa. You can call me Saori if ya want to.”

  “Ummm. Well, we aren’t supposed to call customers by name…” I admitted sheepishly.

  She stared at me with a shocked expression, then burst into laughter.

  “Well, can’t be breaking the rules, right Ming? It’s okay if I call ya Ming though, right? It’s right there on your shirt.”

  I allowed myself to smile and I felt the anxiety in my shoulders slowly melt away.

  “Ummm. Thanks… Thanks for that.”

  She tilted her head and smiled at me.

  “Don’t worry about it! We all need to work together for the good of the community, right?” She said, adopting the mannerism of the little man who was currently screaming at the escorts outside. The other two big guys looked over at Wataru, who looked into the store, and then shook his head.

  “Hey, we are going to want to get more batteries, and I need to swap this one out too. It lasted a long time, but it finally gave up last night. Just like you said, it worked like a charm, see?”

  She held up her cell phone, the back was covered in glittery fake rhinestones, and there were several large fist-sized stuffed animals hanging from a strap attached to the phone.

  Is that a middle-school girl’s phone?

  “Oi! Ya just thought something rude, didn’t you?” She said, glaring at me. Then without waiting for an answer, she pulled off her rucksack. From inside, she pulled out four empty water bottles.

  “You said you could fill these up, right? Is that still okay? I brought a few empties that I had at the house too if that’s cool.”

  “Sure… oh… wait.”

  “What? Is it too many?” She asked with a worried look.

  “No… ummm. It’s just. Well…”

  “Just spit it out, Ming! Life is short, especially these days.”

  This is embarrassing.

  “Well… I am not actually working yet. I just signed off at six, and I am not supposed to sign back in until eleven…”

  That seemed to take her off guard.

  “But… It’s not even ten yet.”

  “Yeah… I can fill the water for you though. And if you registered your account on the app, you can buy some things in unmanned mode. Just open the app and…”

  I took her phone and navigated the menu to the self-checkout screen. The little toys were dangling back and forth, making it very distracting.

  “Just take what you want and stand on the mat until it registers your payment.”

  “I installed the app on a few of their phones. Can they do it too?”

  I thought about it for a moment.

  “Yeah, they should… except they need to charge their wallets first, and I can only do that from the register… Sorry.”

  “it’s not your fault,” she said, knocking me on my shoulder.

  “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for all of us to hang out outside for an hour though.”

  I had a sudden thought. Thankfully my brain seemed to finally be waking up.

  “Wanma, with the new rules in place, how long does someone need to stay outside the store before the thirty-minute timer is reset?”

  The puppy on the nearby monitor hopped up and spun around before answering the question.

  [To prevent overcrowding and encourage efficient shopping, there will be a limit of thirty minutes of in-store shopping per visit. Once you have left the store for ten continuous minutes, you are welcome to re-enter the store for an additional thirty minutes. We are grateful for your continued patronage and hope to serve you often in the future.]

  “OMIGAWD! That is the cutest thing EVER! Hey! Do you have any Wanma souvenir goods?”

  Are you serious? She really is a weirdo.

  “Oi! Stop thinking rude things. Anyway… maybe this can work out.”

  She motioned outside and a moment later, Wataru came back into the store. He dipped his head in an awkward bow.

  “Thanks for taking care of us before.”

  “You know each other? Yeah, he mentioned he had been here. Of course, you met then. Anyway, this here is my little nephew, my brother’s kid. He looks like this and all, but he’s a good kid. Smart too. Thanks for lookin after him.”

  “Your friends? Are they okay? Sorry, I couldn’t do anything.”

  “Oh yeah, they’re all good. We shot out of here when the gobs started showing up.”

  “Gobs? I told ya, they’re kappa!”

  “Toshi says they are goblins though.”

  “Not this again! Wait… we don’t have time for this. How much longer until the store kicks us all out?”

  I was about to walk over to the register to check when I had another thought.

  “Just ask Wanma. It should be able to let you know.”

  PTA Mom looked at me, then a smile appeared on her face.

  “Wanma, dear, how much time do I have left to shop?” She said in a sickly sweet voice.

  [Customer has 12 minutes and 42 seconds left to complete your shopping experience]

  The dog wagged its tail, then started to run around the screen as though it was chasing a moth or butterfly,

  “Awwww. He’s so cuuute!”

  Shaking her head to dispel her cuteness distraction, PTA Mom sprung into action.

  “Wataru! Go tell one of the boys to take the Sawa’s home. They can’t come back in, and I’m sure they will only cause more trouble. Tell them to leave us some cash and we’ll buy what we can for them and drop it off later. If that asshole doesn’t want to, he can go swim for all I care.”

  The big guy looked uncomfortable, then looked outside.

  “Do it!”

  The lightning speed at which Wataru moved told me everything I needed to know about who he found more intimidating.

  “Alright, now you.” She said with a look like a python about to devour its prey.

  “Let’s talk.”

  Well over two hours later, the group finally departed the store. Altogether, they took almost two boxes of large water bottles, both of the remaining food warmers, two boxes of energy gel drink pouches, and another box of protein energy bars, wiping out the reserve from the back room, except for what I had already put dibs on. They also grabbed a healthy amount of the food, canned goods, first aid supplies, as well as four more of the rental batteries, and the only three for-sale power banks we had in the store. Those were not One Mart branded and I wasn’t sure if they would work like the rental batteries, but they were happy to try them out regardless.

  In total, they spent over three hundred thousand yen, and charged up five digital wallets with half a million yen. It was a staggering sum, until I realized that they had wiped out a sizable percentage of the remaining goods in the store. I wasn’t sure getting to a million was even possible at this rate. Well, there was still the high-end liqueur. Just that alone would probably carry the store over the limit.

  Alone again, I was free to chat with Wanma. He wasn’t a real person, but I was starting to warm up to interacting with others after meeting at least a few decent ones. The rest of the foragers were nice enough and were polite, especially after President Jerk was escorted back to his street.

  “What will happen when the store is out of all the products?”

  [When products are in need of restocking, Wanma AI will order replacement supply, based on predictive sales projections, to be delivered at the next scheduled delivery.]

  “Yeah, yeah, but when? Wanma, when is the next truck coming?”

  There was another pause, and I thought it was going to ignore me again, but it came up with an answer.

  [Next delivery is scheduled for 14:00–14:15 today.]

  I blinked, that was just a few minutes away. Then I felt a pang of sadness. It was like that story about a dog that waited in front of the train station for its owner to come home every day, for years. Even though the master had passed away. It waited, faithfully, trusting that the owner would come back someday.

  What a foolish dog.