It was just another day. He worked just as hard as any other day. And as per usual, made no mistakes.
"We're short some fillets again!" Someone shouted across the kitchen.
Like a pig to the scent of a carrot, the manager's ears perked up. Without wasting a second, he was in front of Akira, his nose digging into Akira's chest.
"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU?!"
Akira immediately folded his shoulders and assumed a defensive posture. Although he was motivated to switch to another job, over the last week he did the maths. He couldn't just immediately drop this one tempted as he was to escalate today's argument. He still needed a couple more yen to cover immediate costs.
His internal condition compelled him to look for another job with great diligence. But until he found one, this was his one guarantee, especially with the bills around the corner.
Well, that was the logical side of his brain. He had already put all of his eggs in the basket of finding another job and quite frankly he had been abused enough. Given this month's pay, he had the cash to pay his bills. He could make up for the next bill by working more hours.
As the bald manager shouted, the people behind him snickered. All of them had a good reason to screw Akira over. Akira was the cheapest labour in the house. He received all the work hours, while the others had to pick up his scraps. He was as sick of them as he was of the manager.
"You've been here for months, why can you still not count?!" The manager grabbed the back of his own neck, trying to fake a rising blood pressure. "What do I do with youuu!"
"I counted it right." With his head still down, he looked at the manager.
"What did you say?"
"I said that I didn't mess up the counting." Just saying something this small made his chest feel lighter.
"Oho, this fucking kid." The manager pulled his chin up and shoved a paper to his face. "What number does it say here?"
"Twelve."
"And are we out of salmon already?"
"Yes."
"What time is it?"
"Twelve."
"When do we open?"
"Eleven."
"How many customers have we had?"
"Four."
"So did those four fuckers eat twelve whole fucking bags of salmon fillets?!"
"No. But the trash can might have."
"The gall on this kid. I cut you some slack because I took pity, and look at you now." The manager let go and slammed the counter next to him. "You're out."
"Huh?"
"Fired, jobless. You are fucking OUT!" He rushed out of the kitchen and Akira followed him.
"I am telling you the others are trying to sabotage m-" If he was going to leave, it would've been on his own terms.
"I don't want to hear any more from you." The baldy ran his hand across his egg-like head.
"Stop fucking waddling away you fat shit." Akira grabbed his shoulder. Never had Akira felt this sort of anger. At least not since his time in school. The manager stopped and turned around slowly.
"What the fuck did you just say? Not apologizing and begging me but shouting at me?"
"Why the hell would I apologise? I told you that I didn't do anything wrong. I don't want to take part in your whole slave-owner fetish anymore. I've had enough. You know that I didn't screw up counting as well as anyone. But for some reason, you wouldn't want to admit that there's someone in that kitchen who wanted to screw me over."
Akira knew why he wouldn't admit it. Because the others were all probably in on it. Pathetic adults acting like high school retards. It was always easier to shout at one worker than to reprimand the entire workforce.
"The gall on this kid. You know I'm your only hope shot at life right? How was your Pa doing in the hospital again?"
"If you're my hope I'm better off hopeless. Fucking baldy." For the first time in a year, Akira's shoulders were far apart while confronting the manager. "Just give this month's wage and I'll fuck off right away. You can dock today's shift. I quit."
Tick tock. The slowed clock was loud.
"Pffftt--" The silent manager, after thinking grew a devious smile on his face. Then started laughing maniacally. "What if I don't?
"Don't what?"
"Give you this month's money? I have no reason to."
"That's illegal."
"Akira." The manager put his hands on Akira's shoulder and looked straight at him. "Who are you going to report this to? You working here was illegal."
"What a pig."
"That's what you get for talking back."
He was overcome with emotions. He didn't know what to do. It only took a moment for him to realise that he wasn't seeing that month's money any time soon. He was unable to leave on his own terms. He did the only thing he could at that point.
"Hwak twoo." Akira spat on the manager's forehead and left.
"Hey!" The manager chased him with a fist in the air. But the waddle couldn't match the speed of Akira's strides.
It was still the middle of the day, but even though the tall buildings and domains canopied against the sun, Akira was drenched in sweat. It was a concoction of all of the ugliest feelings a human could muster.
He ran to his usual spot by the stairs, but being the day the spot was full. Ah, I hadn't seen this place during the daytime in half a year at this point. Not being able to wait any longer, he took his spot anyway and buried his head in his knees.
Be it through sheer anger, or standing in the kitchens smoke all day, his eyes burnt.
The passerby probably heard the muffled sounds of screams and saw a strange boy hitting the back of his head.
It took a while for him to get to his senses. By the time he picked his face back up, the sun was already setting. The stairs were almost empty again.
He laid his head on the railing, with a blank stare.
"What do I do now?"
The bills were due tomorrow, and he was an entire month's worth of income short. But on the other side of the equation, he was confident that he would be able to get a higher-paying job in the near future.
But the bills were still due tomorrow.
If the manager was crazy, so was the lady running the clinic. There was a chance she would throw the two of them out if he left them unpaid.
There was only one solution. To borrow money. He had to trust his ability to pay it off after getting a better job.
Who would lend to a jobless high school dropout though? Perhaps borrow it in the name of his granddad? Still unlikely considering how he had a seemingly negative credit score.
Instinctively he went to his first answer. The one friend he fashioned throughout highschool.
"Do you have money I can borrow?" The question was addressed to the convenience store worker, Jonny.
"Do you need a thousand?"
"Two hundred thousand."
"For real?"
Akira just silently nodded.
"Brother, I work part-time at a convenience store chain to pay off my high school. I don't have that sort of money."
"Oh."
"Is it important?" Johnny had a serious face. He was kind of like his senior in life. He too dealt with many hardships, and lived frugally. Well in his case, he spent all his money on in game stuff.
"Very."
"More importantly, you sure that you can you pay it off?"
"Absolutely."
"Then your only option is going to be to go to a loan shark. They aren't as bad as the movies make them out to be, especially if you're on your toes. Lately they have had to compete with each others, so the terms aren't complete scams either."
"So it's gotten to this huh?" It was something Akira wanted to avoid at all costs.
"There is a street a couple of blocks down from here. The shops should still be open."
"I know the one you're talking about." He was visibly let down as he started to leave the store.
"Be careful."