CH 11

“Still, it’s 81,000 yen. It’s still not enough.”

It was the night after my second day of business in another world.

I was spending a sleepless night in a vacant tenant space that I was using as my living space.

Incidentally, I had just reassembled my bed, which had been disassembled and brought in, so I no longer had a mattress laying directly on the floor.

I also brought my stuff from the second cart, and this tenant space has become my room.

I haven’t finished unpacking yet.

“Monthly net sales of 100 million yen. In Japan, the supermarket division alone can afford it.”

The reason I couldn’t sleep was because I was trying to figure out how to reach the sales target, which was too high.

The gardening products I started to sell sold reasonably well.

Compared to the day before yesterday’s sales of 16,000 yen, sales were almost five times higher, but not close to the target at all.

At the Aion Mall Kasugano, sales would exceed 10 million yen per day.

“In the first place, we only had 80 visitors in two days. We have to do something to attract customers as well as products to sell.”

There is much to think about. I have a lot to do.

Especially since I’m the manager of the Aion Mall Otherworldly Store, and I am in charge of all management of the store.

“Sigh. I’m going to go wash my face for a bit.”

It’s already around 2 am.

In an attempt to blow off some sleepiness, I leave the tenant space.

My destination is the restroom.

“Ah, I’ll have to think about a bath too. It’s too much trouble to boil water in the food court and carry it outside to take a bath.”

The Aion Mall Otherworld Store has electricity, running water, and the restrooms are clean and comfortable.

However, it is not made for human settlement.

The issue is only the bathrooms.

It is possible to use a stove and boil water with a magic stone, so the location is the only problem.

I thought about using the industrial sink in the food court as a bathtub, but I decided not to.

The flames are frightening! No, I’m in another world, so I can’t use the Internet to upload the pictures in the first place!

“I wonder if there’s anything in the furniture section or camping supplies. …… They are even collecting my personal belongings, so maybe Aion already has prepared something for me. I’ll look for it tomorrow.”

I walk through the dimly lit Aion Mall store, using a large flashlight to illuminate the area.

The area lined with tenants on both sides has a central atrium, and I can see the first and third floors from the second-floor passageway where I am walking.

No one is around.

The reason I’ve been mumbling as I walk is not because I’m scared.

“I remember the first night I saw the dragon on the rooftop. No, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to go near it.”

Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store at night.

I feel like someone is watching me, and sometimes I feel a presence, but I think it’s just my imagination.

I don’t see any security guards, and I’m the only one in the Otherworldly Store at midnight.

“…… Really, it’s just me? In a world with monsters, where merchants hire escorts to move around, and there’s no one guarding the place?”

I stiffen at my own monologue.

Of course.

Even Aion Mall in Japan has security guards to prevent break-ins and theft.

Even in other worlds, there may be thieves. There might even be so-called “bandits”.

And it’s not just people.

On my first night, I saw a dragon and a bunch of big, horned rabbits.

If those things ran into a building, there would be a lot of damage.

There could also be goblins, orcs, ogres, and other humanoid monsters.

“I’ll check with Chloe tomorrow. No, it’s okay, everything’s locked up. No way, a monster could get in, and I can’t fight it if that happens, hahahaha.”

I grip the flashlight tightly.

I look through the stairwell to the first floor.

I look up to the third floor.

I shine the flashlight at the end of the second-floor corridor.

There’s nothing there.

“I-I’m fine, I’m fine. I’ll just have to go to the bathroom. I’ll hold out till morning. …… No, there’s nothing in there!　I’m not scared!”

It’s quiet.

The second and third floors of the Aion Mall Otherworld Store are both carpeted.

I can’t even hear my footsteps.

It’s dimly lit and quiet late at night at the Otherworldly store in the Aion Mall.

All I can hear is the sound of me brushing my clothes and my breathing.

I turn a corner in the aisle.

In the light of my flashlight, I can see red and blue paint.

It’s the restroom.

It’s a clean and comfortable restroom in the Aion Mall.

It’s the men’s restroom, dimly lit, with so many turnstiles that you can’t see what’s ahead, mirrors that show you where you don’t expect to see, and an empty space behind you.

I gulped and swallowed my saliva.

“No, no, no, I’ve been here plenty of times! I’ve even used the restroom at night many times since I came to the other world! I’m not going to bother about it now!”

Only my voice echoes in the quiet space.

Why is it that once I have an unpleasant imagination, I can’t get it out of my head?

I’m not shivering because I’m cold, I’m not cold because I’m holding off on going to the restroom. I’m not really holding out on it.

“Easy peasy. When I was still a child, the toilet was outside the main house and it was really dark. I could go to the bathroom without any problem. I had my grandfather accompany me.”

I keep talking to myself all the time so that I don’t have to listen to the silence.

I place the flashlight at the base of my neck and free my hands between my shoulders and cheeks.

I unzip and do my business.

“You see, it’s nothing. Nothing at all. I just did the small one. I can’t tell anyone that I was this freaked out. Chloe is going to burst out laughing. No, she’s going to tilt her head back and not understand why I was so freaked out.”

Raise the zipper.

I turn around.

There was a semi-transparent shadow.

“Owaaaaaaaaa!”

The flashlight between my shoulder and cheek falls.

The translucent figure steps back a little.

I start running.

I think of something unimportant, like, “Oh, I haven’t washed my hands,” but I don’t care about that.

I exit the restroom and approach the corner of the aisle.

A translucent figure comes up behind me, and I run without looking back.

If only I turn that corner.

I step on the carpet and turn around the corner with a dash.

There was a skeleton.

A skeleton was standing there, the white bare bones.

“Yikesi!”

Unable to stop, I run into the skeleton.

I hit it and hear a clang.

I roll over and stop.

When I open my eyes.

The entire field of vision is filled with a cranium.

I hear a rattling sound and a laugh.

“Ah!”

I felt a cold sensation on my shoulder.

When I woke up, I was on my bed.

It’s on the bed in the tenant space I’m using as a room.

I lay down and looked around.

There is nothing odd.

“I had the strangest dream! I dreamt that ghosts and skeletons appeared in Aion Mall at night! Haha, am I a kid? Oh, the familiar ceiling is wonderful!”

I sat up.

I guess I had slept with one shoe on.

The other shoe was on the floor next to the bed. A large flashlight was lined up right next to it.

It was as if someone had picked up and laid out the flashlight along with the other shoe that had fallen off in their haste to get to it.

“I must have been sleepwalking. I knew being tired was bad for me! From now on, I’m going to stop staying up until midnight! Damn, I had a terrible dream!”

I get up and get out of bed.

I casually look outside the tenant space, past the gridded shutters.

There was a skeleton.

The skeleton was standing in the bright morning light.

“AAAAAH! I don’t want to live in another world anymore! Please send me home, I really don’t want to be in another world!”