Chapter Text
It was Friday afternoon. The clock showed that the hour was 3pm, meaning that today’s class was over. Everyone walked out of the painting room, well, almost everyone. There was still someone inside, seemingly not finished yet with his art.
“Hey Narumi, are you not coming with us?”
The person who being addressed as Narumi turned his head toward the door, waving his hand before he continued on his work. He could hear few of his classmates were talking about him, but he could care less about that. He needed to finish this painting before heading out to the art gallery tomorrow.
Narumi Gen, 23 years old, was studying art in university. He was the student people described as lone wolf, not caring about building relationship with his classmates other than education purposes. He would always go straight to his part time job or back home. He didn’t have that many friends, only one or two who seemingly really close to him.
Why? He was scared of relationship.
Narumi put down his brush, satisfied that he finally finished his project before the deadline. He checked on his phone, seeing that now it was past 5 pm. He rushed out of the classroom, leaving his painting to dry and locked the room. He gave the key to the cleaning service man before leaving for his job.
“WAIT WAIT WAIIIITT!!” Narumi shouted at the bus that slowly drove away from his sight. Lucky for him, the driver did a quick stop just so he could get into the bus. “Thanks, old man. I owe you an onigiri.”
“With ikura?” The bus driver laughed. “Go have a seat.”
Narumi nodded his head, sitting near the driver’s seat as the bus drove off. He took a moment to get some rest, getting some power nap before he began his 5 hours part time shift at the convenient store. He could’ve just walk, but he wanted to get some rest. It was a routine he grew used to, even though no one forced him to get a part time work. His landlord, Hasegawa, was always like a kind yet nagging parent to him. Even though sometimes he could annoy Narumi, the student was forever grateful for his attention. That was why he worked and study hard, so that he could repay Hasegawa.
“Narumi, you know your parents left all their inheritance to you, so take it easy, okay?”
Narumi shook his head as he put on his shoes. He turned around, to face Hasegawa and looked at him straight on the eyes. “I want to work for my own sake, stop telling me what to do!” He yelled as he ran to his school, leaving Hasegawa behind shouting at him.
‘Well, being an adult is hard,’ Narumi thought to himself as he stared at the road. Noticing that it was almost his stop, he quickly gathered his stuff and press the button for drop off. Once the bus fully stopped, he walked out and dropping some snacks for the bus driver to enjoy. He walked into the store staffs’ changing room, changing into his uniform before he got behind the cashier.
“Hey Narumi! I heard that you’re going to quit, why?” One of his colleagues, Kafka, approached him as he put on his jacket.
“You’re not wasting any time huh?” Narumi sighed, showing his phone to Kafka. “I got the internship at the art gallery, you know, the big one.”
Kafka’s mouth immediately went wide open. He quickly walked behind the counter, hugging Narumi so tightly that the younger one started to suffocate. “I KNEW YOU CAN DO IT!! THIS IS GREAT NEWS!”
“LET ME GO YOU OLD BEAR— GAH! I CAN’T BREATHE!!”
“Hehe, sorry! Don’t forget to visit the store if you have free time, okay?” The older man grinned as he opened the door, smiling and waving his hand toward Narumi. “Good luck on the internship!”
Narumi watched as his colleague went on his merry way back home to his wife, but then he had to serve customers that came into the store. It was a family, a complete one. Narumi smiled at them as he packed their items, bidding farewell as they left. He took a look at his phone, noticing a notification from his social media account showed up. He quickly checked on it, seeing that it was an order for commission.
“Nice! With this, I can get that figure by the end of the month!” He giddily kissed his phone, but his happiness didn’t last long.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the family, how they looked so happy despite the father and mother looking tired. Jealousy, one word that perfectly described his feelings. He couldn’t stop feeling jealous toward happy family, despite him kept reassuring himself that he was fine by his own. He opened his phone gallery, taking a look at his childhood picture with his parents. He laughed, yet it was bitter.
“Happy family, huh?” He muttered. “There’s no happiness built on a base of lies, you bunch of fools.”
Little Narumi was walking home from his school, obviously happy because he got good score again. He wanted to show both his parents that he managed to make them proud again. He couldn’t stop thinking about what kind of cake his mother would bake for him, or what kind of toy his father was going to get for him at the end of the week.
Just when he was feeling happy, he saw his father entering a hotel with someone he didn’t recognize. He didn’t pay much attention, but he made sure to tell his mother when he got back home. Ever since that day, his home situation was never the same. The one a home sweet home, now became a living hell for the child.
The once happy Narumi Gen was no more, the child only became more and more quiet as days went by. Even the teachers became concerned and talked to his parents, they cared nothing about him. Instead, they yelled at him. They both blamed him for the reason the household now crumbled into nothingness.
“B…but I thought that auntie was dad’s friend…” Narumi tried to argue, but his father gave him a hard kick on his chest.
“SHUT UP! BECAUSE OF YOU I ALMOST LOST MY JOB!” He screamed as he continued to kicked at Narumi. “BE QUIET! AS QUIET AS A DEAD PERSON!”
If that was what he wished, then Narumi should oblige.
“Relationship isn’t just for me, in the end,” he groaned in exhaustion. Still, despite all of the harsh stuff, deep inside his heart he knew he want to at least experience the feeling of being loved. Even just one more time, he didn’t ask for eternity.
Narumi stood in front of the art gallery, admiring the architecture before he walked into the building. He was nervous for the internship tour, which was normal because he had to do it alone. Among all students in his class, he was the only person who managed to have his application accepted. He didn’t understand at first, but the fact that his gacha rate had been worse this could be the reason. A little sacrifice was okay, it just meant he had more time to chase for the limited banner.
The tour itself didn’t take too long, no longer than two hours and he was done. With the free time, Narumi took his time to walk around the gallery. He was so deep into his own thought that he didn’t see someone was standing next to him. He bumped into his back, which hurt him a bit due their muscle mass differences.
“My apologies,” said the man as he offered a hand to Narumi, “are you okay?”
“Nah, don’t sweat it.” Narumi gladly accepted the helping hand. “I mean it’s kind of normal, right? The art collections here are just…”
“So many?”
“That too, but a lot of them are so complex.” Narumi glanced to the painting next to them, then he looked back at the stranger. “I get that you liked this one so much you want to buy it?”
The stranger nodded his head. “How do you know that?”
Narumi shrugged his shoulders, grinning smugly. “Well, I’m a man of taste! I’ll get one of the staffs for you on my way out!”
Before the stranger could ask for his name, Narumi already disappeared from his eye sight. Not long after that, one of the gallery managers came up to him with two other assistants.
“I was wondering who is the customer but it’s you Shinomiya-san, welcome! I heard that you want to buy this painting? I can pack it up and send it to your house, sir.” The Manager greeted him, smiling as she bowed down slightly.
“Ah yes, thank you Miss Okonogi,” said the man—Shinomiya—as he kept looking behind Okonogi. “That kid, is he…?”
“Oh, you mean Narumi, sir?” Okonogi looked at the entrance, trying to find Narumi’s figure. “He’s one of our new interns. He got some talent, isn’t he?” Okonogi chuckled as she ordered the assistants to pick up the painting and pack it up. “One look and he can tell which one you want to buy.”
“So his name is Narumi…”
Okonogi nodded her head. “Our interns are going to start their shift next Monday, it’s internship season after all.”
Shinomiya kept looking at the entrance, as if waiting for something to happen. However, after knowing the internship was going to start next Monday, he quickly wrote down a cheque before he went to take a look at other new collections. On the cheque, there was his name written on it.
Shinomiya Isao, the man who accidentally became Narumi Gen’s first customer.