Chapter 14: I’m A Scumbag, But Not A Bad Guy
Sakamoto Ken silently walked to the storage room and took the uniform from his storage box to change into it.
Facing the dressing mirror, Sakamoto Ken frowned in thought.
Just now at the first meeting, his thoughts hadn’t caught up yet, but now he realized a problem.
Why would Mio appear here?
Why would she work part-time at this convenience store?
Sakamoto Ken didn’t believe in so many coincidences.
Recalling all the experiences from after rebirth, starting from the exam room until today.
Logically speaking, she shouldn’t know his residence.
The only explanation is that she remembers things from the previous life.
So, she deliberately came here to apply for the part-time job at the convenience store just to catch him?
But in her eyes just now, there was no killing intent.
If it was continuing the emotions from the last moment of the previous life, she should have come directly with a knife to kick down the door…
Right.
Maybe it’s because she also knows she “reborn” to before everything began.
In her view, at this point in time, he isn’t a scumbag.
Huh? Following this logic, doesn’t it mean she has already chosen forgiveness?
Besides, even in the previous life, he was only a bit scummy, not bad.
A bad man toys with emotions and betrays them, but he didn’t.
He liked every girl the same way and gave them the same love.
So, Mio actually wants to monopolize him before he meets the other two?
Sakamoto Ken felt his line of thinking was correct.
But there was still one problem.
Why did she suddenly change her hairstyle?
In the previous life, from high school until the final scene, over so many years, she always had the same hairstyle, at most tying her hair in different styles.
And as far as he remembered, she had never tried braids.
This hairstyle isn’t actually common because if not handled well, it looks very tacky, so hairdressers generally don’t recommend this hairstyle.
But today’s hair was definitely specially trimmed.
Gotta say, Makima’s hairstyle looks pretty good on Mio.
Even her figure is similar; actually, Mio is a bit bigger than Makima.
Just lacking a bit of the young lady temperament.
Being able to make her hairstyle exactly like Makima’s, doesn’t that mean she saw 《Chainsaw Man》 and then went to get her hair done?
Although the pen name uses his real name, who would normally go search for someone’s name specifically on JUMP+?
He didn’t serialize on JUMP+ in the previous life either.
Are things starting to develop in a suspenseful direction…
Anyway, facing Natsume Mio, he wasn’t panicking.
Although her combat power is very strong, and taming her each time took a lot of effort.
But actually, this girl is an obedient little dog deep down.
Now Sakamoto Ken was no longer in a completely avoidant mindset.
Haruna copied his manga, Mio came to work part-time near his home…
Who knows what antics that big sister with intelligence crushing the two of them combined would pull.
After confirming they most likely have memories from the previous life, Sakamoto Ken knew some things couldn’t be avoided.
“A Jian~” From outside the door came a girl’s voice, “A Jian, have you changed your clothes?”
Sakamoto Ken straightened the wrinkles on his clothes one last time, kept a calm smile, pushed the door open, and walked out.
Natsume Mio stood obediently in front of the door, and upon seeing Sakamoto Ken come out, she slightly bowed like a housewife waiting for her husband to return home.
“A Jian took a long time changing clothes,” Natsume Mio said.
Sakamoto Ken glanced at the time and said, “I start work at 7, still 2 minutes left.”
Natsume Mio didn’t expect him to say that, and her emotions suddenly became incoherent.
“Ah… then? Then should A Jian rest for two more minutes before starting work?” Natsume Mio asked.
“Not caring about the salary for these two minutes.”
Sakamoto Ken walked between the shelves, took a basket, and started organizing the goods messed up by customers.
After going around once, he first washed his hands, then went behind the oden machine next to the cash register and added some soup to it.
At this time, a customer walked into the store, took a bento and a bottle of juice, and came to the cash register.
Natsume Mio skillfully scanned the goods.
“Hello, total 680 yen, would you like it heated?”
“No need.”
“Okay, cash or…” Natsume Mio moved the tray for customer cash and pushed it over.
“I have a discount coupon.” The customer directly interrupted her and placed a piece of paper with the FamilyMart Convenience Store logo and barcode on the table.
“Oh oh, discount coupon…” Natsume Mio subconsciously went to click the verify coupon option on the screen but quickly pulled her hand back.
She smiled slightly and looked at Sakamoto Ken.
“A Jian~ um, this customer wants to use a discount coupon, how do I operate it?” Natsume Mio asked.
“You don’t know how?” Sakamoto Ken asked doubtfully.
“Eh… first day working at FamilyMart Convenience Store, previously only worked at Lawson,” Natsume Mio said, “A Jian, teach me.”
Sakamoto Ken walked to the cash register, directly clicked the verify coupon button on the screen, then picked up the barcode scanner and scanned the barcode on the coupon.
“Beep—”
“Hello, after coupon it’s 480 yen,” Sakamoto Ken said.
The customer nodded, silently rummaged in his wallet, and finally placed 4 100-yen coins, 1 50-yen coin, and 3 10-yen coins on the tray, then took his things and left.
Sakamoto Ken sized up Natsume Mio, feeling there was a hint of mischievous thought in her gaze.
She shouldn’t not know how to use the FamilyMart Convenience Store cash register computer.
After all, in the previous life, they worked part-time together here for quite a long time: carry, organize goods, cash register, even distributing flyers outside the store, they did all kinds of tasks.
You’re not pretending, are you?
Sakamoto Ken thought from her perspective.
With rebirth, he himself decided not to tell anyone, and presumably Natsume Mio made the same choice.
The two stood in the space behind the cash register, one body length apart.
Natsume Mio suddenly turned her head to Sakamoto Ken and said, “A Jian, I remember you said before that after graduation you wanted to publish manga and become a manga artist.”
Sakamoto Ken thought for two seconds and decided to call her out, directly questioning why her hairstyle was exactly like his heroine’s.
“Correct, actually I’ve already published it.”
Sakamoto Ken paused, about to continue, when Natsume Mio interrupted him: “Hehe, I’ve already seen it. Last time searching A Jian’s name on Google, I found a writer with the same name as A Jian who published a serialized work on JUMP+.”
She stepped closer, staring intently at Sakamoto Ken: “《Chainsaw Man》, that’s A Jian’s work, right!”
“Look~” Natsume Mio lifted her hand to flick her braids behind her head, then said, “I specially went to get the same hairstyle as the heroine. Does it look good?”
Sakamoto Ken could see very fervent emotions in her eyes.
Her next words being a confession wouldn’t surprise Sakamoto Ken.
But he couldn’t push the relationship to that level now, or he’d be caught in a dilemma later.
Having experienced the previous life, Sakamoto Ken’s biggest realization about love triangles was to balance.
Like walking a tightrope, too much weight on either side or too little would lead to falling into the abyss.
Moreover, the current situation reminded him of meeting Haruna in his past life, which started from manga and gradually deepened.
Replacing Haruna with Mio, Sakamoto Ken didn’t think it would be much safer.
Sakamoto Ken smiled calmly, maintaining a calm tone, and said, “Correct, it’s my work. Thanks for the support.”
He avoided commenting on the hairstyle, his tone like a famous writer encountering a fanatic fan on the street.
His expression was appropriate but maintained a subtle distance.
Having been a scumbag, Sakamoto Ken didn’t overthink some things or jump to conclusions.
