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Yosuke’s parents ran the only JUNES in Inaba, which meant he was basically doomed to be working there all summer. At the very least, being in such a nowhere town, the rush hour probably wasn’t as bad as other places in the chain.
Emphasis on probably , because if this is what it was like working at one of the lesser known locations, he couldn’t imagine what it was like at literally any other Junes. At least he wasn’t going through it completely alone. His younger brother, Teddie, never failed to brighten his day. Even if he could sometimes be a little annoying, Yosuke couldn’t begin to imagine how much more dull his life would be without him.
If only Teddie learned how to keep his mouth shut when a certain someone walked into the store… Yu Narukami, with his six year old cousin in tow, tugging excitedly on his arm as she directed him towards the snack aisle.
“Look, Yosuke, it’s him!” Teddie cheered.
“I’m aware that it's him, now shut up!”
“Aww, geez, I was just making sure you knew!” Teddie said, pouting. “Remember how grumpy you got last time, when you didn’t get a chance to talk to him?”
“I didn’t get grumpy.”
“You got pretty grumpy…” Teddie mumbled. “It’s okay. Mom says boys always get grumpy when they have a crush.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“Okay, so you don’t mind switching with me and going to count stock in the back room, do you?” Teddie said, grinning. Yosuke shot him a look, making Teddie laugh. “It’s totally a crush!”
“Just… go count stock, Ted.”
“Sure! Good luck~”
Yosuke wasn’t going to lose his cool. He could be totally chill about this. There was no reason to-
Narukami was coming to his checkout.
Abort mission. Abort!
Yosuke was in the middle of trying to figure out how to leave his checkout without getting into trouble with his dad, when Narukami walked up, dropping a basket of snacks onto the counter. “Just this, thanks.”
How did he manage to look so effortlessly cool when he was just buying snacks? It was baffling…
Yosuke rang up the snacks for Narukami, watching as his cousin dutifully put them into their bag. “Big bro, I want gum too!”
“And some gum, please,” Narukami added.
Taking the gum off the rack, Yosuke handed it to Narukami. “I thought you two were cousins.”
“... how do you know that?”
Definitely not from asking people at school about you, that’s for sure!
“Oh, you know, you hear a bit of everything working here.”
“I guess so,” Narukami said. “Yeah, we’re cousins, but Nanako likes calling me her brother.”
Nanako tugged on her cousin's sleeve. “Big bro, can I pay?”
“Do you have enough money?”
“Um… how much is it?”
“3000 ¥,” Yosuke said.
Looking in her pockets, Nanako pulled out a few hundred yen. “How much is the gum?”
“200 ¥.”
“I’ll pay for the gum!” Nanako said, plonking two 100 ¥ coins. “Big bro can pay for the rest!”
Yosuke snorted. “Siblings, huh?”
Narukami grinned. “What would we do without them?”
“Well I can say this job would be a lot harder.” Yosuke began in the most pathetic attempt at small talk. “You’d be surprised how wordy he can be when he gets going.”
“Oh yeah, Nanako’s the same way. Gets her a lot of attention from the older folk. They’re always saying she’s the-”
“Sweetest little thing? Can’t get enough of them?”
“Yes!”
Nanako tugged on Yu’s sleeve. “Big bro, the ice cream’s going to melt…”
Narukami’s voice was fond as he ruffled Nanako’s hair. “Alright, I better get this one home. See you around Hanamura!”
“Y-Yeah, see ya!”
Teddie appeared out of nowhere. “So… how did it go?”
“He knows my name!” Yosuke exclaimed. “Well, my last name, but still!”
“Told you!”
Meanwhile, Nanako poked her brother’s side. “When are you gonna tell him you like him?”
“I don’t want to come on to him too strongly.” Yu told her as he ruffled her hair.
“Aww… why not?”
“I can’t really describe it. It’s just something you learn as you get older… and maybe watch more movies.”
“But those are always the most boring parts…” Nanako pouted. “And they always kiss! That’s gross.”
“Maybe I wanna kiss Hanamura. What do you think about that?”
Nanako thought for a moment. “If you like him, I think it's a good idea.”
Yu smiled. “You’re a good kid, Nana-chan. Now let’s get home before this ice cream melts.”
“Okay!”