01: Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You

Chapter Summary: Hikigaya, an overworked salaryman, goes through an average stressful day for a single light at the end of the tunnel: Yamada, the always cheerful cashier at his favourite supermarket. One day, Hikigaya takes an extra amount of time at a company meeting, and by the time he gets to the store Yamada has already clocked out. However, as he leaves, he notices a young woman with piercings smoking behind the store.

"Here's your change!"

It was pathetic really. But that's the life of a salaryman for you. A middle aged salaryman who worked for a black company, he might add. But no, if he was telling the truth that's not what he found pathetic about his meager existence. No, it was his slight obsession with Yamada-san, the young woman who worked the second counter at the supermarket which he had begun to frequent on a steady basis.

"…Thanks."

He couldn't really explain it but there was something about her demure nature, her friendly behaviour, her kind eyes, her natural beauty and her ever present smile which he found rather endearing. It also helped that she was really good at her job and knew a thing or two about proper manners and customer service.

It wouldn't be a stretch to describe her as the perfect customer handler.

He wouldn't really be shocked to learn that the supermarket received more customers because of her. After all, he was one of them. He felt a tad embarrassed to admit it, but after a grueling day at the office, he sometimes visited the supermarket just to relax and loosen up. And interacting with Yamada-san, no matter how small their interaction might be, always had a healing effect on him.

As such, it wouldn't be a complete lie to at least admit to himself that he was always looking forward to his next encounter with Yamada-san, the cute cashier at the supermarket.

"Thank you so much!"

Yamada-san's smile seemed a bit forced.

Now that he thought about it, he might have made a small miscalculation on his end. How could he be so stupid? But if he was telling the truth it wasn't exactly his fault.

Since he visited the supermarket often to rejuvenate himself by taking his fixed dosage of Yamada-san, and since Yamada-san worked the cash counter at the supermarket, the only way he could interact with her was if he bought things. But he had severely underestimated his need to get his daily fix of Yamada-san and as a result he might have gone overboard and bought a ton of things, things which he didn't really need.

He lived alone, didn't have a family and though the stuff he bought were mostly snacks and food items, he had to look after his own health. He wasn't a young man anymore. And just giving them out to his colleagues at the office would be weird and awkward and completely out of character for him. People might think he was dying or something.

As such, the only recourse he had was to give them to Yamada-san, the cute cashier at the supermarket, who must be overworked and underpaid and might appreciate getting a pack of delicious okaki, crispy rice crackers made out of mochi rice cakes, salt and oil.

But being an experienced salaryman who worked in sales, he knew when someone was lying.

Yamada-san was definitely not happy.

"Here's your change! Thank you very much!"

And just when he thought the day couldn't get any worse, Yamada-san wasn't there at the counter to meet him. He should have expected it. After all, yesterday he might have upset her a bit. He might have assumed a thing or two and completely misunderstood the situation. Yamada-san was a nice girl. She was nice to everyone. He was not special. Besides, he was a middle aged man and she was a young woman in her mid-twenties. It was only natural for her not to want anything to do with him. He must have given the wrong impression. And tonight when he thought, he would finally get a chance to explain himself, she wasn't even at the counter.

But perhaps he was over thinking things a bit too much. It could be possible that she took the day off (because she didn't want to deal with creepy customers like him, a voice in the back of his mind informed him) or perhaps she had already clocked out. He liked to think it was the latter. After all, he was stuck at the office far longer today, because the boss thought it would be a good idea to have a late meeting. A rather pointless meeting he might add. And just when he thought he would refresh himself by interacting with Yamada-san, it turns out that she had already clocked out for the day.

Today was just not his day.

Oh well,

It seemed like he would have to resort to good old fashion cigarettes to get the edge off and relax for a bit after a tiresome day at the office. Besides his interactions with Yamada-san, it was nicotine which got him through life. It was an unhealthy habit and he was probably reducing his life span by more than a couple of years, but he didn't really care one way or the other. After all, who wants to live forever?

But just as he took out a cigarette and a lighter from his suit pocket, he came face to face with a problem which plagued all smokers in the country – annoyed glares and judgmental looks. Well, he didn't really care about random strangers on the streets and what they thought about him. But he was worried about whether or not he was breaking the law and as it turns out this was a no smoking zone. Really, what was wrong with this country? You can't even smoke without breaking the law.

Now where can a man get his daily fix of nicotine without being reported to the authorities?

"Psst, mister." A voice called out from the back. "C'mere, c'mere!"

It was a young woman and she was calling out to him from the back of Yamada-san's store. As he followed her voice, he found out that there was a small space around the back of the supermarket, and from what he could tell it was private and secluded enough not to bother anyone from the street. The place was used as a makeshift storage and a few boxes, cartons and crates were strewn about in an orderly manner. The woman who had invited him to this spot was sitting on top of one of the plastic cartons and most importantly she had a pack of cigarettes in her palm.

"Is it really okay to smoke here?" He asked.

"Yeah. I come here all the time." She informed him.

He looked around, unsure for a bit, before finally giving in, blaming it on his need to grab a quick smoke, consequences be damned. What's the worst that could happen, he asked himself and received no real answer. As such, it wasn't before long that he mimicked the young woman's action, and grabbed another yellow plastic crate and sat on top of it, not thinking too much about how, for some reason he had placed the crate next to hers and sat beside her. In his mind he made the argument that she was the one who invited him here, so it would be rude to sit anywhere else. By now, he knew a thing or two about social etiquette. Besides, he wasn't sitting really close to her. There was still a proper bit of distance between them. He was maintaining the suitable decorum which needed to be observed between two complete strangers who had found a spot to smoke in peace.

He lit a cigarette. "Thanks."

She held the entire pack of cigarette with one hand, bought the pack close to her mouth, and without using her other hand, popped one of the sticks into her mouth like a pro. "You're welcome."

While he smoked, he looked at the other woman. She was young, in her mid-twenties and were his eyes deceiving him or did she have an uncanny resemblance with Yamada-san? But no, she couldn't possibly be her. Granted, both of them had the same reddish-brown hair and reddish-brown eyes, but that's where the similarities probably ended. This woman wore a leather jacket and had several ear-piercings and most importantly smoked cigarettes. He couldn't imagine Yamada-san being a smoker. No, this was a completely different woman, someone who was probably into the whole goth lifestyle and worked at some seedy bar or a tattoo parlour.

But it never hurt to be sure. Besides, he shouldn't pass judgment on her based solely on her appearance.

"Hey miss. Do you work at the -!"

For some reason she had reduced the distance between them by leaning forward and he would have really misunderstood the situation and reacted in an embarrassing manner had he not caught sight of the unlit cigarette trapped between her lips. She probably wanted to light her cigarette, but instead of asking for a lighter like a normal person, she decided to be a bit forward and ask a complete stranger to light her cigarette.

Kids these days, he thought, even as he reached for his lighter, didn't they know that it was a rather intimate act to have someone, especially a man, light a woman's cigarette. But he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Huh. I thought you would be a bit more flustered." She observed nonchalantly.

See. This is why he didn't give other people the benefit of the doubt.

"I am not easily embarrassed." He lied.

"Okay. Okay. I get it. You are cool…" She waved him off and just when he thought he could smoke in peace, the woman added beneath her breath."…for a middle aged man."

Any other day, he would have let it slide, but today was not his day. He blamed it on his boss, his clients, the late meetings and the fact that he missed out on his dose of Yamada-san. If he sounded like a bitter old man, you couldn't really blame him. "I may be old, but my ears work fine, Miss…?"

The woman actually took her sweet time, before mentioning her name and now that he thought about it, he really couldn't blame her. If she worked at the supermarket, (which seemed more likely, how else could she know about this place, where you can smoke in relative peace) then she might be scared about getting reprimanded by her manager. After all, she had been a bit rude to one of their regular customers.

He decided to put her mind at ease.

"Ah, I'm not gonna complain to your boss." He informed her. "I just wanted to know your name, because I thought it would be a hassle to call you 'Miss'." He gave her a quick once over. "You seem like the type of woman who doesn't like being called a 'Miss' for some reason."

She let out a thick trail of smoke. "I didn't even think you would go to my manager over something so small. What if I report you to the police?"

This time he couldn't help but visibly react. "Wha-! On, what grounds? You invited me here!" He pointed out.

"To smoke. Not to check me out." The woman replied coolly. "Sexual harassment laws have changed a lot since your time. You should definitely give them a look."

The cigarette almost fell from his mouth as he blushed in embarrassment. "It wasn't sexual! It's just that you look a lot like Yamada-san."

For some reason his words seemed to have an effect on her as she turned her head around and looked away. For a while the two of them smoked in silence and he thought she was upset over something. He had no clue about what went on inside a woman's head, let alone a young woman in her mid-twenties, so he decided to smoke in silence. But before long, the woman who looked like Yamada-san, found her voice again.

"I'm Tayama." She introduced herself. "Yamada is my…cousin."

Ah, so they were related. That explained why they looked so similar. They were family.

"Huh."

"What?" Tayama asked.

"Nothing. I just noticed a weird coincidence." He explained further. "The surname 'Yamada' translates to 'mountain rice field' and 'Tayama' translates to 'ricefield mountain'. It kinda makes sense for you two to be related. Perhaps a bit too much sense." He dismissed the thought as quickly as it had occurred to him. "But like I said, it's just a coincidence."

She blew a thick trail of smoke. "Like how you always queue for the second counter, right?"

"Oh, that's not a coincidence." He admitted. "I like Yamada-san."

She huffed. "Well you are not the only one. Yamada-san is really popular. She's cute and has big boobs, but no boyfriend. All she gets are creepy customers who constantly hit on her and don't know how to take a hint. Just because you gave her a pack of snacks, doesn't mean that she's gonna fall for you."

The last bit seemed like a personal attack. But by now the nicotine had mellowed him out. But as he expected, his actions had led to a misunderstanding. And since, Tayama was practically family, Yamada had shared her woes with her. Now he had to remedy the situation and share his side of the story.

"I'm not interested in dating Yamada-san. Believe me, I'm highly self-aware about who I am and who I am is a middle aged man. There's no way Yamada-san would be interested in me and even if she was, I would tell her not to waste her youth on an old geezer like me. But having said that, I like the present status quo. I take comfort in our small interactions. In fact, I look forward to it. But I guess, I took it a step too far." He flicked a bit of ash from his cigarette and looked on forlorn.

Tayama sat in silent judgment, pondering, smoking, looking ahead and after a while she let a small smile play across her lips. "Guess I was wrong." She observed quietly. "You are different, Hikigaya-san."

"Sir!"

It was the next day and he was spacing out thinking about Tayama and what she said and that's no good because he was missing out on his balanced dose of Yamada-san. Thankfully, everything was back to normal and she was at the second counter, greeting him again with a smile.

"Um, Hikigaya-san."

Huh. Did Yamada-san call out his name? How did she know his name?

"It's printed on the rewards card."

Oh, that explains it.

Huh, that also explained how Tayama-san knew his name as well. But did every worker at the supermarket had to remember their customer's name. Seemed like a lot of unnecessary work. They probably remembered the name of the regulars. But he had never met Tayama-san in the supermarket before. She probably heard about him from Yamada-san. After all, they were practically related.

"Thank you for the okaki." Yamada-san said. "It was delicious!"

Huh.

Yamada-san was talking to him some more?

Was this his lucky day or something?

"Glad you liked it."

"Also," Yamada-san was cheerful as ever and the smile on her face took him off guard, so he didn't have time to prepare himself for the fatal blow. He never saw it coming and he had no way to defend himself from her level of cuteness. "Tayama-chan told me that you like me, Hikigaya-san."

Huh.

Was he blushing?

What kinda middle aged salaryman blushed in front of a girl like a teenager? Definitely not cool. He presumed somewhere out there Tayama was having a laugh at his expense. Cheeky little brat. Well, not little and definitely not a brat, but still, he was too old for these kinda things. And it would be better not to cause another misunderstanding and upset the gentle and kind Yamada-san.

"I like you. But, it's completely platonic."

"…Platonic, you say?" Yamada-san asked.

"Yeah!" He nodded. "Just think of me as your number one fan!"

He immediately cringed at how embarrassing it sounded, when said out loud. He wanted to die, he needed a smoke, where the hell was Tayama-san now? He wondered whether it was a one off thing or would she invite him back to the back of the supermarket, where the two of them could enjoy a nice smoke in peace.

For some reason, he missed the look on Yamada-san's erstwhile innocent face as he left the store. It was a playful look, a look which wouldn't be amiss in the face of another woman, because for a single, brief moment she looked exactly like Tayama-san.

"Fufu." Yamada-san giggled. "You really are different, Hikigaya-san."

A/N: Welcome to "Across The Manga-Verse."

Don't worry, this time it won't be deleted, because I actually finished the chapter before posting it.

And the first chapter featured one of my new favourite mangas – "A Story About Smoking at the Back of the Supermarket."

Of course, I have changed the story a little bit, because I don't want to just write the manga chapter and insert Hikigaya into the story. But yeah, if you like the chapter, check out the manga. It's great!

Also, please suggest lots and lots of manga. I will try to write everything you suggest. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that, the manga can't have an anime adaptation.

I am basically writing this fic so that I can learn about more and more manga, both new and old. So please, if you know about a great manga which doesn't have an anime adaptation yet, tell me about it and I will read it and try to write a chapter with Hikigaya as the male character.

Next Chapter: Sensei Can't Teach Me About Love.