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The next day, before the start of her part-time job, Koguma made a detour before returning home from school. She was going to the home improvement store in Nirasaki, which she had been to several times before.
Starting tomorrow, she will be riding her Cub every day for her job. If she was going to ride two round trips of at least 80 kilometers, she needed to make her own preparations.
After doing some shopping while feeling a bit hesitant, Koguma went to the gas station to fill up her tank and returned to the apartment.
It was early afternoon, and there was still some time before the summer sunset. After returning to her apartment and washing off her sweat in the shower, Koguma retrieved her laundry. The washing machine had been left behind by the previous occupant of the apartment.
She quickly folded the clothes that needed to be folded and put them in a drawer box that was a substitute for a chest of drawers. She then sorted some of her laundry and threw them out on her bed before opening the bag with today’s purchases.
What Koguma spread out on her bed was her high school gym class tracksuit. Like the school uniform, it was a rustic navy blue top and bottom.
Her job that was starting tomorrow was treated as part of school business, so she was told to come in her uniform, but she modestly stated her refusal.
“I think wearing a uniform would be a little dangerous.”
It didn’t bother her at a bicycle’s speed, but when she rode on the main road at the same cruising speed of the other cars, the collar of her blouse, the hem of her vest, and the skirt instantly began to flail in the wind.
She said that because she thought that she would wear out her uniform if she rode in it everyday, not to mention if her clothes got caught somewhere or impeded the movement of her arms and legs, it would directly lead to an accident. But perhaps the teacher took the word “dangerous” in a different way and quickly said that her gym uniform would be fine.
It was good manners to wear your uniform when visiting other schools, but the students in the sports club went to other schools in their tracksuits as though today, This is our uniform.
The teacher said that even if Koguma was at another school in her tracksuit, the teachers and students would think she was there because of club activities, but for Koguma, if she was going to attract attention anyways, it was better to dress plainly.
It was said that you didn’t even need air conditioning in the summer in northern Yamanashi. The breeze from the southern alps was cooler when evening approached.
Koguma put her arms through the sleeves of her gym shirt and jersey she would be wearing tomorrow. She zipped it up and looked down at her navy blue jersey that was as unfashionable as ever. She began opening today’s shopping on her bed.
The first was shoes. She had always wanted a pair of shoes that covered the entirety of her ankles, but she found a pair of cloth high-cut sneakers at the home improvement store that was perfect for 1,000 yen, so she bought them.
She also bought a watch. She wanted to buy a watch that would allow her to see the exact time while riding the Cub, instead of a phone or a hundred-yen watch with a broken belt, so she bought a Casio digital watch that she found in the clock section of the home improvement store.
This one was also 1,000 yen. Koguma, who didn’t have any sentimentality or fancies about clock hands, preferred digital clocks that would always tell her just the exact time.
Still in her jersey, she put the shoelaces through her brand-new basketball shoes and put them on, put on the watch, and then looked at herself in the mirror on the bathroom sink.
Her familiar, plain face with bobbed hair. In her navy blue tracksuit, she looked like nothing but a countryside high school student. Even so, starting tomorrow, this would be her work uniform.
Suit, watch, and shoes. Like any rookie office worker, Koguma was trying to make up for her helplessness with new armor and sword.
At the very least, if she didn’t work hard tomorrow and get her day’s wages, Koguma, whose wallet was almost empty from today’s spending, would starve to death.
As she was thinking about those things, her stomach began to growl. Koguma splurged a little from her stock of food and ate some eggs and a ready-made hamburger steak, then went to bed early, still wearing her tracksuit, watch, and shoes.
She tried to go to sleep, but she was too tense to do so. She had to go to sleep, so she forced her body into sleep.
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