"Did you hear what I said?" A girl with a normal ponytail raised her voice, her expression turning sour. "Hello? Earth to Yuuta?"
Yuuta blinked his eyes once. twice. thrice. And on the third time, he realized that he was still in the Lucid Dream Server. Of course, how else would he see the person in front of him if he wasn't in a lucid dream?
In that split second of observing his surroundings, Yuuta got a clear description of the girl in front of him. Brown hair, brown eyes, freckles, and a prepossessing and balanced face all add to the normalness of her look. But it was clear to Yuuta that the girl in front of him was beautiful. So beautiful in fact that for a moment, Yuuta thought that he was talking to a model or an actress, instead of an NPC.
"Yuuta? Yuuta?"
"Ah I— um, I'm sorry. I got distracted by the light." Yuuta continued.
"What do you mean you got distracted by the light? The light has always been there ever since you started working here. How could you be distracted by a mere light?" The girl continued.
Yuuta observed the girl a little bit closer. She was wearing some sort of waitress clothing, or rather, a worker on a fast food joint. It was your generic attire of a collared shirt, a red and yellow hat, and black pants that matched her shoes. One look and Yuuta concluded that the girl was working at a fast-food joint and from the looks of it, he was working with her, or worse, under her.
"Yeah, you know I don't usually get distracted that easily. But hear this out, that light blinked three times? And it happened at the same time you blinked! There! It did it again." Yuuta continued, pointing at the light.
"Did what?"
"It blinked! It blinked four times and you missed it every single time. Every time you blink the light blinks as well." Yuuta continued.
"Really?" The girl asked as she put her hand on her chin while thinking. She was trying too hard not to blink so she wouldn't miss the malfunction of the lights.
Of course, the blinking part was actually not true. Yuuta couldn't come up with a better excuse for not listening to the girl so he lied as naturally as he breathed. It was a pretty novel excuse though, and it somehow worked, much to Yuuta's relief.
"Enough about that! The girl said, her eyes were starting to tear up after she struggled to keep them from blinking."It's time for your shift and we can't keep the customers waiting. Chop chop! Go to your station now!"
Yuuta stood up before he knew it and he headed towards the counter. Just as he thought, he's working in a fast-food joint/restaurant.
It was a regular fast-food restaurant with tables and chairs inside and a few people lining up for order. The same red and yellow color could be seen everywhere. Yuuta also noticed that he was wearing the same uniform like the girl he met a moment ago.
The thoughts in Yuuta's head were drowned by the constant talks of the customer in front of him. Since it was his first time working at a fast-food restaurant— even though it was just part of a game experience— Yuuta experienced firsthand what it felt like on his first day on the job.
That's right, he froze in place.
"One french fries and one caramel sundae."
"Would that be the combo meal?"
"May I get a few packets of ketchup and mustard?"
"Hey, why did you put ice on my coffee? Didn't I specifically say not to put ice on my coffee?"
"I would like to order?"
"Shut up, I was first in line."
"No, you weren't."
"Can you please stop fighting! I'll buy you both the happy meal!"
"And that would be 15 dollars, thank you so much for ordering sir, ma'am."
The influx of the conversations was enough for Yuuta to have a mental breakdown. Since he had honed his hearing and perception skills to an extent that they became extremely sensitive, being in an enclosed space with a lot of people talking and shouting all at once was more than enough for him.
Tug!
Before he knew it, he was back at the room where he first woke up. And there, the brown-haired girl with the ponytail was standing in front of him once again.
"Sakurai Yuuta, what are you doing? You won't get paid if you're just slacking off in front of the counter! What are you standing there absent-mindedly for? Are you waiting for time to pass?"
Yuuta didn't know what to do. And furthermore, he was afraid that he might fail the test in front of him so he decided to do the next best thing when it comes to dealing with someone angry.
He bowed his head down. "I'm sorry um... Kirisaki-san." He continued after briefly glancing at the name tag of the girl. "I didn't know what happened to me but my mind just blanked out and I almost fell unconscious. Do you have some water?"
And another lie has entered the proximity!
"Here," Kirisaki concernedly handed Yuuta bottled water from the fridge beside her. Because of Yuuta's handsome and well-chiseled face, Kirisaki couldn't help but have a soft spot on the newbie. If it were any other worker, she would've snapped off right then and there. But no matter how angry or annoyed she was, she just couldn't get angry at Yuuta. "Look, Sakurai— "
"You can call me Yuuta, Kirisaki-senpai." Yuuta continued, adding another attack to the manager and making her heart skip a beat.
"I understand. Look here, Yuuta." Kirisaki continued as her face reddened a little bit. "You can't afford to be nervous on your second day at work. I know that you made a lot of mistakes yesterday but you can't let that get to you. What you need to focus on right now is accommodating all of our customers as best as you can. And then, all the others will all smoothly follow. Remember, just have an amicable smile and expression, and then kindly ask for their order. Once you got the order and punched it in the register, you confirm their payment, and then thank them. The other workers will take care of the orders. You just have to talk to the person who is currently in front of you. What do you think? Do you think you can do it?"
After a lengthy explanation of everything that Yuuta needs to accomplish. He didn't have any other choice but to just nod his head in agreement.
And with that, he was sent to the battlefield again. The only difference was that this time, he received instructions from the manager herself.
"I can handle this." Yuuta gave himself a pep talk before greeting the customer in front of him.
.....
"You did well today, Yuuta." Kirisaki said, lightly patting Yuuta on the back. "Here's your salary for today. I hope you do well again tomorrow, okay?"
Yuuta nodded.
Feeling as if he was in a daze, Yuuta watched as the fast-food restaurant closed. He noticed the name 'DcMonalds' flashing three times before finally dying out. After the lights were all turned off inside, Yuuta turned around and headed in the opposite direction.
"Now what?" Yuuta asked himself.
For once, he still didn't know what the test is all about nor how he'll be able to complete it. As for his purpose in the restaurant, or the hidden quest in the second test, he still couldn't figure it out. There was a lot to take in all at once that Yuuta couldn't do any thinking at all. One moment he agreed to take part in the second test, the next moment, he was serving french fries and vanilla ice cream to a nine-year-old kid with his mom behind him.
"What do I do now? Do I just pretend to go home and wait for the restaurant to open again? How about my salary? What's this about? What about the test? No, Yuuta, you've got to calm own for now. Think about this as rationally as you can." Yuuta muttered to himself while walking on the sidewalk.
"Oh, are you heading in this direction too? That's funny. My house is in the same direction as well." A voice called out to Yuuta, making him stop short in his tracks.
"Oh, Kirisaki-senpai. Are you going home alone?" Yuuta asked. "It's not safe to go home alone. I mean, this neighborhood may be safe, but it gets especially dangerous at night everywhere. May I accompany you on your way home?"
"I uh, sure! I don't mind at all." Kirisaki stuttered as her face reddened like a beet. "How about you, which direction is your house?"
"Um... " Yuuta dragged his answer as he tried to think of the best possible answer. 'How about this answer?' He said to himself before continuing on.
"Actually about that... uh no, never mind. It's a long story." Yuuta brushed it off as he forced a smile on his face. He was becoming a rather awesome actor that he was starting to think that he may be good at it."
"It's all right. I would love to hear it. We have a long way to go before we reach our place."
A smile almost formed on Yuuta's face as his expected response was given to him. 'This is my chance!' He said to himself, hoping that whatever it is he's about to do would work.
On the remainder of their walk, Yuuta talked about a make-believe story on how he was abandoned by his parents at such a young age and had his older sister support him. But recently, his sister died because of a car accident and then he had to support himself. That's why he risked what remaining money he had to move to the city and get a job there.
In short, Yuuta lied once again.
"And fortunately, I got a job at DcMonalds. It was all thanks to you, Kirisaki-senpai." Yuuta continued, trying to force a tear to come out from his eye but it didn't work so he stopped.
"I'm sorry I didn't know sniff~" Kirisaki-senpai cried a little bit after hearing Yuuta's lies, or rather, a heart-rending story about his life. "So, you just moved here in hopes that you'll get a job? Where are you staying? Did you eat anything today? ARGH! You know what, you! Come with me!"
Before Yuuta knew what was happening, Kirisaki clutched his hand and dragged him with her. "You're coming with me." She repeated with a determined expression on her face.
"Um... Kirisaki-senpai? Where are you taking me?" Yuuta asked. He didn't know how it came to this but it was so confusing that he also didn't know how to respond.
"Where am I taking you? Where else, stupid. We're going to my house." She continued.
" a-" Yuuta let out a single letter from his mouth as he was left confused.
Things just went from zero to one hundred real quick and Yuuta was too late to realize it. Turns out, someone who's got a fast reflex can sometimes be slow when it comes to using the mind.