[Book of Eros] Chapter 42 - Getting the job. (Patreon)

Leonardo had started by 2:30 pm and finished close to 5:30 pm. But he had thoroughly cleaned the three fishing boats, washing, scrubbing and waxing until the things were shining. The sun was starting to set. His new boss, he supposed, had disappeared into the office the moment he started working, leaving him alone. Wasn’t that too trusting? What if he made a mistake or there was an accident and something happened to the boats? Well, whatever. He took off the gloves and the apron, leaving all the utensils outside the gates to the shed and went to report.

It was too weird. She hadn’t even asked his name, and neither did he know hers. She looked exhausted, though. Could it be she went back home after leaving him working? There was no one else around, he’d noticed. Not working at the fishery, at least. Perhaps he’d just been taken advantage of and he wouldn’t even get the job. Well, whatever. The deed was done. He needed to go back home and make dinner, or Angela wouldn’t let him hear the end of it.

“Hello? Uh… I finished cleaning the boats!” he announced as he entered the small building. He wasn’t sure what to call the lady. Proper use of honorifics was still an issue for him.

Again, the door bust open and the woman looked at him with wide, astonished eyes. “Are you serious!?” she asked. Leo nodded calmly and encouraged her to go check if he did a good enough job.

“T-This is… This is amazing!” she said when she saw the boats. “And in only three hours!” There were a few words here and there he didn’t understand, but so long as he understood most of it, he got the message. Besides, with how big her smile was, it was easy to tell she was satisfied. She turned to him, took his hand in both of hers and shook it gratefully. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” she said, nearly crying. She went on to say more, like she was explaining something but it went beyond what Leo could understand so he had to stop her.

“Sorry,” he said, offering a self-conscious smile. “My Japanese is very basic.”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” she said, laughing awkwardly before her expression turned flat. She blinked a few times before face palming. She grimaced and then pointed to herself. “Uh… I’m Sasaki Sara. Nice to meet you.”

Leo nodded in acknowledgement. “Leo- Um, Contreras Leonardo,” he introduced himself, remembering people give their surname first here. “Just Leonardo is fine.”

“Leonardo-kun, come,” she said, gesturing for him to follow her. She took him to her office, walked behind her desk and grabbed a small pile of documents. “This and the boats,” she said, shaking her head. “No time.”

Oooooh. Then… she had to finish some urgent paperwork, but she couldn’t do that AND clean the boats. “I understand,” Leo told her with a smile. “But… no other people?”

Sasaki-san sighed and shook her head. Perhaps she wanted to say more, but it was either too complicated for him to understand or she just didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, she asked “The job. Still want it?”

“Ah. Yes,” he answered, much to Sasaki-san’s delight.

“Wonderful! Um…” she started to flip through some papers, looking for something, before Leo spoke again.

“Can I come back another day? With translator?” He might have to ask Reiko for help, since there might be some paperwork to get done.

“Yes! Monday?” Sasaki-san offered.

“After school?” Leo asked in return, to which Sasaki-san nodded. She shot him another genuinely thankful smile before thanking him again for his help. Leo turned to leave, but noticed his new boss sat down at her desk again.

She seemed like a hard worker. Now he felt bad for thinking she’d left him alone and gone home. Adding to that, he realized that what he knew of Japanese was not nearly enough. He needed to study more.

He calmly made his way back to his house, passing through the center of town. There were more people around than usual, probably because it was Saturday. He didn’t have anything to do here, so he walked straight towards the residential district. Yet as he went further away from the crowds and the liveliness of town, he started to notice. One, two, three, four. Four people were following him. All guys, none very subtle, their steps too loud even at the distance they were at. Approaching the residential district, Leo turned at a corner that led away from his house, and as he expected, the four guys followed. From the corner of his eye, he noticed one of them had a pompadour, making him remember the four guys Angela beat up the other day.

Leo sighed. Were they frustrated Angela kicked their asses and were looking to take their frustrations out on him? Seemed possible, and if they were the type to start a fight over a little insult, then perhaps they were petty enough to want to get revenge by beating up one of Angela’s friends.

Now, what could he do? He could try to fight them, but it didn’t seem appealing. Chances were people would see, and he didn’t want to get a reputation as a delinquent. They were far enough and Leo still had plenty of energy, so if he started running now and going around random streets in the residential district, he was sure to lose them. Yeah, that seemed like a good plan. And confirming that the guys were following him, they started running after him the moment he set off.

Leo had to give them their due credit. They lasted about five minutes at full sprint before they started to lag behind him. He slowed to a jog as he turned another corner, feeling that this might be where he lost them. But…

“H-Heeeey! Mister! S-Slow down, pleaseeee!”

Mister!? What the hell? He didn’t look that old, did he? Perhaps a bit more than your average Asian youth, but enough to be called that? And besides, they sounded tired and pleading. Could it be a trap or was he giving them too much credit? Should he stop to see what they wanted?