It was complete chaos.
"Pay me my mangas!"
"Hey, what's wrong with you?! What you doin'?!"
"You two, stop it!"
"What are you doing to him?!"
"Yuck! I really need to wash my hands!
"Yeah, sorry about that, but we have to go!"
Izumi yelled, Sotoka-san yelled, I yelled…
"Pay me my mangas!"
"Leave me alone!"
"You, get the hell outta here!"
"Someone call the police!"
"Let's go, Izumi-chan!"
"Grosssssss!"
Khanna-san didn't yell because she's weird and emotionless, but we already know that.
"Are you ok, Yamamoto-san?"
"Shut up!"
"Ok."
"AAAHHHHHHH!"
"Pay me my mangas!"
"Why don't you call a supervisor or something?!"
"Get back in the line!"
"Let me go, you perv!"
"AAAAAGGGGGGG! My eyes!"
I even attacked someone with an air freshener.
"Stop spraying everything."
"Someone stop her!"
"You stop her!"
"Shut up!"
"You shut up!"
"PAY ME MY MANGAS!"
"Just leave me alone, please!"
"Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!"
But he deserved it.
"NO, SOTOKA-CHAN, HE OWES ME MY MANGAS!"
"Let's just go! Open the door, Khanna-san!"
"Ok."
"No, close it!"
"No, let 'em go!"
"No, let the cops get them!"
"Shut up!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHH! MY EYES!"
"OMG, they're crazy!"
"Let's go, Izumi-chan!"
"BUT MY MANGAS!"
"Just leave her, come on!"
"Don't let them go!"
"I guess we're leaving, Izumi-chan!"
"WAIT FOR ME, SOTOKA-CHAN!"
"We're leaving now. And sorry for everything."
"Get the fuck out!"
"WAIT FOR ME, SOTOKA-CHAN!!!!"
"Close the door now! Don't let 'em in!"
And we ran as much as we could, but they could run way more than me, so they left me alone.
Well, whatever, it's not like I need them to get back to Izumi's place.
And, while I walk back, let me tell you what happened from the beginning:
It as a morning like all the rest.
As always, we went to Izumi's place.
As always, she had that crappy music loud as fuck.
And, as always, ringing the doorbell was useless.
"We're here, Izumi-san!" Sotoka-san yelled.
"CHAN, CALL ME IZUMI-CHAN!" Izumi yelled from inside her house, and ran to open the door. After her usual: "SoTokA-cHaN, sOtOkA-ChAn! I lOvE yOu AnD i HuG yOu and etcetera!" she asked us if we help her to pack some stuff she'd sold on the internet.
We didn't have anything better to do, so why not?
We walked through the hallway, we went up the stairs and we walked through more hallways.
There were less decorations than I remembered.
But, anyway, we entered Izumi's parent's room, and it was as spacious as the rest of the house but Izumi's room.
And something smelled.
Not too much, but it smelled.
The room seemed very clean, so I thought the smell came from somewhere else.
"This is what we're packing," Izumi pointed at the bed. For a moment I was a little excited to know she managed to sell another bed, but no, on the bed there was a bunch of clothes and books and sheets of paper with tracking guides printed on and a painting.
I was close to ask her why she sold a painting, where did she get it and who bought it, but if she managed sold her bed, the fact she sold a painting wasn't that surprising, right?
And it's not like I cared about it. She could sell whatever she wanted.
"And we're using this to pack it all," Izumi opened her parent's closet, and between the hanged clothes and the shoes on the floor were a bunch of boxes, newspapers and those big envelopes with bubble wrap inside.
Izumi grabbed a box, some envelopes and a newspaper.
"Just grab the books and put them in an envelope; then close it with some tape."
"Hey, Izumi-chan, why there are so many boxes and envelopes in your parent's closet?" Sotoka-san asked, and yes, it was weird, but more importantly:
"Why does it stink that much?" I asked while I covered my nose.
"And where's the tape?" Khanna-san asked about something nobody cared about because she's that weird and emotionless, and apparently she's also missing her sense of smell.
She took 2 boxes and 2 envelopes from the closet, and gave me one of each, but when I received them I realized they were all dirty.
"Gross! What's wrong with you, Khanna-san?! Why did you give me this?! It's disgusting!" I yelled and dropped what Khanna-san gave me; then I started wiping my hands on my jeans, but realized I was getting them all dirty, so I wiped my hands on Khanna-san's clothes, but if she used to grab dirty boxes without even flinching, maybe her clothes were dirty as well, so I wiped my hands on the sheets on Izumi's parent's bed instead.
They were so soft and, probably, so expensive.
But they were clean.
"We need those boxes to pack all those things," Khanna-san said as emotionlessly as always. "It's smell is irrelevant."
"But where did you get these boxes, Izumi? From the trash?" I asked Izumi because there was no point arguing with Khanna-san.
"Well, yeah," Izumi said like that wasn't disgusting or anything.
Both Sotoka-san and I stared at Izumi as surprised as disgusted.
And Khanna-san didn't react in any way because she's weird and emotionless and lacks her sense of smell and, apparently, her common sense too.
She's even weirder than Izumi.
"What? They're still useful," said Izumi like that was true. They were in the trash, and if they were there was because of something. "And sooner than later you'll get used to the smell."
No, that's not true; I still don't get used to your smell, even though you always smell like coffee, and that smell's not half bad, like that light sweat stench of yours, but your coffee smell is way stronger, so that balances it out a bit.
But still I don't get used to your smell, I only tolerate it.
"Yes, Izumi-san, but you shouldn't grab stuff from the trash," finally Sotoka-san supports me.
"Boxes cost money, Sotoka-chan, and with that money I can buy more manga."
"But these ones smell," I said for the eleventh time. "Haven't you received any complaints about them?"
"I don't speak to customers once I sold them something."
Well, yeah, I'd do the same.
"But haven't they complaint?" I asked because I would complain; I mean, who thinks sending stuff on a smelly box is a good idea?
"No, 'cause before I send them I use this," Izumi takes out a can of air freshener from her parent's closet.
"Well, spray them, because they stink," I took the can and started to spray the closet insides.
"NO; YOU'RE GONNA USE IT ALL!" Suddenly Izumi jumped on me like the crazy person she is and tried to take her can back.
But that didn't stop me from spraying everything.
"LET ME GO, IZUMI!"
I even sprayed her a couple times.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH! YAMETE, KUDASAI! IT STINKS, AND YOU'RE GONNA USE IT ALL, AND I'LL HAVE TO GET ANOTHER ONE, AND WITH THAT MONEY ICOULD BUY MORE MANGA!"
"Stop it, you two! And stop spraying everything, Ino-san!" Sotoka-san tried her best to get Izumi off me.
But it's Izumi we're talking about.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH! DŌSHITE, SOTOKA-CHAN?! SHE'S THE ONE WASTING ALL MY AIR FRESHENER! STOP HER!"
"You two, stop it right now! Help me out, Khanna-san!"
And finally Khanna-san helps her to get Izumi off me.
And, to show my gratitude, I stopped spraying everything.
But I kept the can on the pocket of my Loveless hoodie, just in case.
Everything smelled like air freshener.
"Hey, Izumi-chan, don't you have any boxes that weren't on the trash?" Sotoka-san asks irrelevantly; even if she had, she kept them with the ones coming from the trash, so they probably are already impregnated with the smell and the mold and the bacteria and who-knows-what-else.
If you ask me, the best option here was to burn all the boxes and envelopes and newspapers, wash all the clothes and shoes there at least twice, and clean the closet until it's completely pristine.
But, knowing Izumi, this will never happen.
"Some of those are from mangas I order online, but, yeah, most of them come from the trash, and I have to go find them early, or some weirdos yell at me and they me that's their territory or something like that. But it's ok 'cause I like to look for stuff there; it's like looking for treasures, and sometimes I find them. People throw a lot of manga away. In fact, some of the manga in my room come from there.
Note to myself: never go to Izumi's room again.
And never get close to her.
Well, I was never close to her, but now I have another reason not to.
At least 6 feet apart at every time.
And, now that I think about it, it's surprising that she doesn't smell like garbage too.
"Well, I don't know about you, girls—
"We're teenagers, not girls," Khanna-san interrupts me rudely.
Rude!
I glared at her like I was telling her: "whatever, shut up. It's just a figure of speech. God you're so stupid!" and continue:
"Well, I don't know about you, girls, but I'm not touching that disgusting boxes and envelopes and whatever, so bye-bye," I said and left the room, went down the stairs and lied in one of the living room's couches.
It was so comfy I fell asleep.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Is she sleeping?"
"I think so."
"Let me get the sharpie."
"No, Izumi-sa—
"CHAN, CH—
"Don't yell."
"Call me Izumi-chan, then."
"Hey, what about we go send the packages while she's sleeping?"
"Sure, but let me draw on her face first."
"We're not drawing anything on her face."
"Ok, but we're definitely writing 'ANIME LIFE daisuki desu!' on her forehead.
"We're definitely not writing that on her forehead."
"Yeah, we shouldn't bother her."
"Too late," I said still with my eyes closed.
-----------------------------------------------
We went out Izumi's place, and it was too hot out there.
Izumi carried a seemingly heavy travel bag.
All the packages had to be there.
And they surely smelled.
We walked through the Street without talking to each other.
Well, Izumi was singing a dumb song that went kinda like this:
♫Sotoka-chan, Sotoka-chan, helped me pack my stuff♫
♫I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get… a big, big lot of money♫
♫I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get… a big, big lot of manga♫
♫And also a coffee, and also a coffee… for Sotoka-chan and Hanna-senpai♫
♫But nothing for Ino 'cause she didn't help us at all, and she sprayed my face, and probably she wasted all my air freshener, and now I'll have to buy another one. God damn you, Ino, you're such a nuisance, and I could buy more mangas with that money. Pay me those mangas! Pay me!♫
And Khanna-san didn't say anything to me because she's weird and emotionless and lacks her sense of smell and her common sense and conversation topics.
---------------------------------------------------------
We arrived to Xpress® shipping.
But there was a huge line.
We lined up at the end.
And we died of boredom.
---------------------------------------------------------
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH, I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!" Izumi yelled.
Only 5 minutes had passed.
"KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, TASUKETE KUDASAI!"
Everyone there stared at Izumi nerviously, confusedly and slightly annoyed.
"Stop yelling, Izumi-chan," said Sotoka-san, "he's going to kick us out," she said because there was only one, ONE, employee at the office.
No wonder the line was so huge and slow.
"But, Sotoka-chan," Izumi cries like a kid in a tantrum. "Every time I come here, there's no line, and I only have to give the guy my packages and that's it."
"Well, let me check if we can do that," Sotoka-san approached the only employee there.
"Hey, if our packages have a tracking guide already, can we just leave them here with you?"
"You'd rather not 'cuz I have to upload them on the system alongside all of those," the employee pointed at some huge piles of packages at the other side of the office; then he continued attending the customer. "So, can you tell me who's receiving the package?"
"Yes, let's see," the customer took out his phone and gave him the name, address, zip code, city, state, country and whatever on whoever was receiving the package.
And the employee typed them on the computer.
"Last name's Fukushima or Fujushima?"
"Fukushima."
"All right. Fu-ku-shi-ma," he spelled while he typed. "Perfect, and is the address correct? It's not appearing in the system."
"HURRY UP!" Izumi yelled, and everyone glared at her again.
"Well, that's the one they gave me," said the customer.
"Let's see, I'm gonna repeat it to check if it's correct, is," and the employee told him an address.
"The zip code is XXXXX instead of XXXXY. And the street name is XXXXXXXXX instead of XXXYXXZXX.
"Ok, I apologize. Let me correct it. Just one moment, please," and the employee started typing everything again.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HURRY UP!"
"Could you please be quiet? I'll get to you in a second," the employee lied shamelessly. "Now, could you give me your name and address, please?"
The customer gave the employee his name, address, zip code and so on, and the employee miswrote them and had to check them out and correct them, and Izumi yelled like three more times, and the employee and some of the customers had to tell her to shut up three more times.
"If you keep yelling, I won't receive your packages," the employee warned us, and then he took a measuring tape, measured the height, width and length of the package and typed them on the computer.
Then he putt he package on a scale and typed the results on the computer.
Izumi was doing everything she could to not yell.
And there were like 8 customers before us.
She wasn't going to make it.
"Now we have the regular service, and it'll be taking from 3 to 5 working days, and it'll cost you ¥925.14; the Xpress® service, that it'll be taking from 1 to 2 working days, and it'll cost you ¥1,429.81, and the Xtra® Xpress® service, that will be arriving tomorrow, and it'll cost you ¥1,729.52.
"The regular one's fine."
"Ok, so ¥425.14, please."
The customer gave him a ¥2,000 bill.
"Ok, I receive ¥2,000. One moment, please."
The employee opened the cash register, put the ¥2,000 bill alonside the other ¥2,000 bills that were there, and gave him back… whatever change he was supposed to give him back.
"Ok, so I'll give you ¥XX.XX back. Anything else I can help you with?"
"Yes, I gave you a ¥2,000 bill, and you only gave me back this," the customer showed him his hand with the ¥XX.XX.
"Really? "Didn't you give me a ¥1,000 bill? I'm sorry. So, how much am I supposed to give you back?"
"Kami-sama-chan, tasukete, kudasai," Izumi said with infinite sadness.
And normally I'd have enjoyed it more than anything, but I was equally tired and resigned than her.
The employee and the customer finally solved their financial problem.
"Thanks," said the customer.
"Thank you," the employee replied. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No, thanks," the customer replied.
"Ok, thanks for choosing Xpress® shipping. Come again. Next."
And the next customer advanced, and it seemed he was going to take as much as last time.
When the employee was checking and correcting the customer's address, Izumi yelled:
"AH, I CAN'T HANDLE IT ANYMORE!" She went to the reception, pushed the employee aside. "BAKA, BAKA, BAKAYARO!" She yelled at him and started typing as fast as she could.
She typed really, really fast.
"Miss, go back to the line, please, or I'll call security" the employee tried to push Izumi out of the reception.
But it's Izumi we're talking about. She pushed the employee again with ease and kept typing.
"Ok, 3 to 5 day shipping's ¥873.24; 1 to 2 day's ¥1,258.76, and 1 day's ¥1,614.71. Which one?"
The customer didn't know whether to answer or not.
"WHICH ONE?!"
"Eh… t-the next day one, please."
And Izumi charged the customer even when the employee was trying to push her away.
He was definitely not going to receive our packages.
Unless…
I took Izumi's travel bag and opened it.
The packages smelled like air freshener and trash and rotten food and gross!
But I still grabbed them—now that I remember, I still need no wash my hands ASAP—and put them beside the piles the employee hadn't uploaded yet.
"I'm not receiving those," the employee saw me.
But then I knocked down the piles. All packaged fell, and I started to mix them with ours.
If she didn't know which packages were ours, she couldn't not receive them.
"Hey, stop it" he yelled and tried to stop me, but Izumi stopped her. "Ah, someone call the police!"
I believe someone did.
Maybe that's why Sotoka-san approached me and helped me out mixing the packages.
And Khanna-san arrived later, but we were practically done, and at the end she barely did anything.
"Let's go, Izumi-chan!" Sotoka-san yelled.
"Ok, Sotoka-chan!" Izumi finally let the employee alone and ran towards us. She was running without noticing all the packages that were on the floor and:
She stepped on one of hers.
And I know that because that package had the shape of a painting. One a huge and recent hole on it, that is.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Izumi yelled. "EVERYTHING'S YOUR FAULT!" She yelled at the employee, who was just getting up. "IF YOU HAD RECEIVED MY PACKAGES THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN, AND NOW THEY WON'T PAY ME FOR THE PAINTING, AND I WAS GONNA USE THAT MONEY TO BUY MORE MANGA—OR MAYBE EXPRESSO CAPSULES—AND NOW I CAN'T! PAY ME MY MANGA!
And now we're back to the beginning of the chapter.
I'm still walking, but I'm almost at Izumi's place. I know it because I can now hear her crappy music in the distance.
And, now that I think about it, the employee could easily distinguish between our packages and the rest; ours are the stinky ones.
But, anyway, why should I care?