Kotoko Strikes Back!

Chapter 8 – All In A Day's Work…

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NOTICE BOARD

AIHARA KOTOKO MOVING OUT OF THE IRIE HOUSEHOLD!

IRIE NAOKI IS FINALLY FREED FROM BAD LUCK!!!

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Who put up that notice? Naoki wanted to tear the notice down but he didn't. He just wanted to, that's all.

"Congratulation, you have finally get rid of that pest." Reiko saw the notice too. In fact, she was the one putting it. On the other hand, Naoki was not responding to Reiko's statement.

Without that pest around, life would soon be back to normal. Reiko thought as she quietly followed behind Naoki.

********

"Zinko-chan, Satomi-chan!" Kinnosuke rushed into the classroom looking for Kotoko's two best friends.

"Did you two see the notice board?" Kinnosuke asked, feeling very excited over the whole issue.

"Yes. We saw it." Both Zinko and Satomi nodded.

"Finally, Kotoko has done something for the sake of our happiness." Kinnosuke exclaimed happily.

"Happiness?"

Sweat drops.

"Kotoko is the best!" Kinnosuke shouted, ignoring the confused gazed from his two classmates.

********

"Why are we going via this direction? This is a longer route back to our class." Reiko asked. Naoki just kept walking until he passed Class 3-F.

She's not in the classroom? Naoki thought with an empty expression. He had stopped calling Kotoko 'baka' since the day se left.

So, that's the reason. Reiko thought and gave Naoki a disapproving glance, which he failed to notice. Naoki stopped his track when he heard someone in the class mentioning Kotoko's name.

Perhaps that baka knows where she is. Naoki turned back and looked into the class, trying to locate Kinnosuke, the next potential baka in Naoki's list.

********

Zinko and Satomi stared in awe when they saw Naoki coming into the class. Then Kinnosuke felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. "We need to talk. Meet me at the courtyard after school." Naoki briefly stated the purpose of his presence before walking away.

"He wants to talk to me?" Kinnosuke scratched his head in confusion.

********

Kotoko dragged two black trash bags into the back alley in order to throw them into the big dustbin. I must work harder, or else I might just get fired again before getting my dinner. Kotoko reminded herself.

Since that morning, she had been assigned to different duties. First, she was assigned to the kitchen, in charge of deep-drying the fries. The customers ended up having black fries instead of golden crisp fries. Then, she was assigned to the distributing areas but she got all the orders mixed up. Later that afternoon, she was assigned to the front counter to stand in for a cashier who had taken two-hour off from work.

"Wow, the business is good today." The manager could see a long stretch of queue in front of Kotoko, but surprisingly no one would queue at the other counters even though they were available.

"Sumimasen, the counters over there are available too." The manager politely informed.

"It's okay, we will queue here."

The manager did not insist any further since it would not be wise to instruct the customers what to do. Then, the manager realised another strange thing. It seemed that all the customers queuing on the line were buying the same type of set meals.

Ahh…I better ask the kitchen to prepare more set A today. I wonder why Set A is so greatly in demand today. The manager thought when he spotted more people queuing behind.

"Can you cope with the flow?" The manager stopped behind Kotoko to check out Kotoko's work.

"Hai!" Kotoko replied cheerfully.

"Good. Ganbatte!" The manager was quite satisfied with Kotoko's working attitude.

This job is so simple, everyone is asking for the same set meal. Kotoko thought happily. "Arigatou, that will be 600 yen for two set A." Kotoko informed out loud.

"600 yen?" The manager took a look at the two set meals on the tray, which the customer was about to take away.

That set meal is supposed to be 1000 yen. What happen? The manager thought worriedly. "Chotto!" The manager stopped the customer from taking the tray away.

"Kotoko, the price for set A is supposed to be 1000 yen and not 300 yen!"

"What? Then I don't want it anymore." The customer remarked.

"Chotto!" The manager jumped when he saw the line behind started to disperse upon hearing his remarks.

Well, even it's a loss, there are really more customers than usual. The manager tried hard to think of something in order to stop the customers from going off.

"Oh! What I meant was we are now offering Set A at 300 yen only for today. So please enjoy this offer while you can." The manager announced while smiling bitterly.

Upon hearing the announcement, all the counters were filled with people because Set A happened to be the most expensive meal in the fast food restaurant.

"Yutaka-san, please take over Kotoko for a while." The manager informed in a hoarse voice.

"Kotoko-san, come into the office with me RIGHT NOW." The manager demanded as he walked away angrily.

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"You are fired!" The manager slammed his palm hard on the table when they are alone in the office.

"Please, give me one more chance." Kotoko pleaded.

"BAKA! Do you know how much loss we are incurring due to your stupid mistake?" The manager then continued ranting how the mistake could be fatal if he hadn't realised it in time.

I really miss how Irie-kun had call me that. For a moment, Kotoko was lost in her thought.

"KOTOKO! ARE YOU LISTENING?" The manager screamed when he realised Kotoko's blank expression.

"Hai! Hai!" Kotoko nodded her head profusely. It's not the right time to think of Irie-kun. Kotoko reminded herself. "Please…let me stay. I will pay for the loss using this month's salary." Kotoko pleaded.

"Hmm…" The manager got back to his seat." Three months."

"Huh?"

"You have to work here three months without getting any salary. How?"

"But…"

"But what?"

"Would I still be getting my meals here?" Kotoko mumbled.

"Of course. You must work full shift today. Go and make sure all the full trash bags are being replaced and wash all the toilets."

"Hai." Kotoko was glad that the manager had decided not to fire her.

"And…"

"Yes?" Kotoko turned her head.

"Stay away from the cashier." The manager informed.

"Hai!"

After Kotoko stepped out of the office, the manager was punching some figures into one calculator happily estimating the money that he had saved for the company because the estimated loss was only equivalent to one month of Kotoko's salary as the extra customers they had today would probably covered the loss for rest of the 700 yen of each set meal.

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"Ha! Of course I know where Kotoko is. But I am not going to tell you! So you better leave her alone." Kinnosuke took this great opportunity to get back at Naoki and quickly walked away. Phew! I mustn't let him know that I have no idea where Kotoko is. Kinnosuke quickly wiped off the sweat on his forehead.

"Darn! That baka knows nothing at all!" Naoki muttered out angrily when he recalled the meeting with Kinnosuke during that afternoon.

"Eating take-away again?" Yuki grumbled when he saw boxes of food instead of plates.

"Mama is not feeling well today." Papa informed.

"It's all that baka's fault. I don't care, I want my dinner, and not junk food!" Yuki stomped hard on the ground to show his frustration.

"Yuki! Stop it!" Naoki screamed out, much to Yuki's surprise.

"Gomen." Naoki quickly apologized before going back to his room. Naoki did not touch his dinner.

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Finally, this is the last trash bag of the night. Kotoko threw the black plastic bag into the dustbin. "Goo~~" Kotoko's tummy was protesting because she did not have the time to eat her dinner due to the ongoing flow of customers (thanks to the 'special offer' of the day).

She had to keep replacing new trash bags in the bin and the toilets were always so dirty no matter how many times she had cleaned it. However, the people from kitchen did save some dinner for her. When Kotoko reached home, it was over midnight.

Tomorrow would be another day of full shift again? Kotoko sulked moodily when she took a look at the revised timetable of her shift work that her manager had just passed to her before stepping into the house. Kotoko slowly dragged her herself into the house without bothering to switch on the light.

* Tsk…tsk…*

Someone is in the house? Kotoko thought she heard some rustling sound from one room, which was locked when she first moved into the house.

Don't tell me that the house has been broken into. Kotoko quickly grabbed one vase from the shelf. Slowly and carefully, Kotoko tiptoed to the room where the noise was first heard and softly opened the door.

"There's really someone inside!" Kotoko gasped when she spotted one dark figure bending over the bed as though looking for something. Without any hesitation, Kotoko rushed over and…

"KYAAA!" The figure screamed after being hit on the head.

"Take this!" Kotoko gave the figure a kick on his stomach.

Silent.

The figure fainted when his head was knocked against the edge of the table after loosing his balance. Sensing that the figure was not moving anymore, Kotoko quickly switched on the light. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the blood-covered face on the floor.

"IRIE-KUN????" Kotoko gasped in disbelief.

To be continued…