Chapter 138: The Concept of Friend

After closing the bar, I came back to the locker room.

The result of the popularity contest is that I’m at the bottom again today.

I knew it wasn’t something I could simply improve, but it was more difficult than I expected.

Still, I didn’t offend anyone today, and even though it was only two votes, a customer voted for me.

Such a small thing made me inexplicably happy.

It made me want to work even harder tomorrow.

Although I am still impatient to get the first place as soon as possible, and I am still angry at this unreasonable situation.

Somehow, I felt as if I had started to look forward.

I can’t thank you enough to Mako-san.

Not only did she teach me how to entertain customers, but also during my work, she quickly followed up on my conversations when it started to go wrong, and carefully taught me how to prepare drinks.

When I thanked her, she said.

「It’s natural, we’re friends」

And smiled.

I was surprised. Apparently, that’s what friends are supposed to do.

Today’s girls are the same as yesterday.

There are thirty-one cast members in total, and they work in shifts, but today’s cast member happened to be the same as yesterday.

Everyone is changing in the locker room in the morning, with the air somewhat unsettled.

I myself have nothing to change, but I am forbidden to speak out about my problem in the presence of other people, so I sit on a pipe chair in a daze, doing nothing, waiting for the other girls to finish changing.

The chirping and joyful behaviour of the girls was not much different from that of my classmates at school.

「Hey, what’s wrong, Taka-chi? Aren’t you going to change your clothes?」

「Y-yeah, after a short break…」

The person who approached me was Rena-san, who was the top vote winner yesterday and today.

When I talked to her, she told me that she is a student of the law department of a prestigious university that I want to attend. I was surprised to hear that she wants to be a judge in the future.

When I asked her why she was doing this part-time job, she said.

「You know, I’ve been given a chance to go to university, and I can’t bother my parents. There are a lot of people here, and I think it will be a good way to get a good work experience」

Will the Japanese court system be okay?

If the judge decides the case on a whim, it’s not good.

To my eyes, she doesn’t look particularly pretty or cute, but for some reason, there are many regulars who come to see her.

When I smiled at her, she came up to me in her underwear and stared at my face.

「W-what is it…?」

She smiles and opens her mouth, wondering if I have said something to offend her.

「What a waste! Even though, you look so cute! Your skin is so tanned and your hair so colored, but you’ve got it wrong… After all, the more flashy you are, the more your face looks bland without makeup, and the less impressive you look」

「B-bland?」

Then, the other two girls and Mako-san came to peek at me as if they were surrounding me.

「Oh, now that you mention it」

「I see. There was something strange about it」

「Alright, Rena-chan will teach you some tips on makeup」

「E-eh? Eh?」

While I was confused, they took out makeup tools from their bags and started applying makeup to my face.

「The key to gal makeup is the eyes, you know. If you have such a dark skin tone, you need to apply a lot of makeup or it will be blurry. Use eye-pouch, eyeliner to make your eyes appear double… Although I’d like to get false eyelashes」

「Oh, I have a new one, I bought it before I came, I’ll give it to you~」

「Oh, that’s nice! The latest trend is to make the eyes droop a little, to make them look sweet. It’s better to match the eyebrows to the hair color as much as possible, but for now, I’ll do yours today」

「Oh, um…」

「You have beautiful skin, Taka-chi. If I were you, I’d start from the foundation and add more layers, but it looks natural enough」

I don’t know what to do. But… The girls are having a good time. I didn’t want to interfere by rejecting them.

Eventually…

「Yes, it’s perfect ☆」

Rena-san nodded, and the remaining three girls clapped their hands in excitement, saying “Wow!”.

「Okay… Come here, Taka-chi!」

As she said this, Mako-san turned the mirror toward me.

There was a gal in the mirror. She looked like a foreigner with well-defined eyes and nose… And she’s pretty in her own way.

「You’re not a bad looking girl. You’d be so cute if you got it right」

「It’s not good, I’m already in love」

「Hey, hey, you’re right, Rena-chan」

「Well, I have no idea what you think, I’m not an esper, you know」

With that, the girls start laughing.

「Taka-chi, let’s do your makeup properly tomorrow. Then the popularity contest will go up for sure」

Why do they do such a thing as sending salt to the enemy?

Is it that they don’t care if I make a little effort?

「If you don’t know how to do your makeup, you can always ask. Rena working five shifts a week this month」

「T-thank you…」

When I told her that, Rena-san smiled and spoke.

「That’s what friends do. You smell like water, you know[1]」

「Only for the girls’ bar, of course」

Mako-san made a comment, and the girls all laughed again.

I was surprised. Apparently, they are my friends, too.

Apparently, the concept of friends here is different from the one I know… It’s complicated.

Eventually, after a lot of noise, the girls finish changing and leave the locker room.

「See you later! Taka-chi! See you tomorrow!」

The locker room fell silent as Mako-san left at the end.

What is it? I can’t sort out my feelings.

I’m not in a bad mood, but ….

With such marbled feelings, I opened the commuter door and went back to my room.

As I ate my breakfast.

All that was left was to take a shower and go to sleep….

By the way, is there any make-up remover in the bathroom?

If not, I’ll have to ask cockroach maid to remove my makeup.

While thinking about this, I looked at the table, where I saw a portable DVD player and some DVDs on it.

…I wonder what it is. It’s not even Blu-ray nowadays, which is subtly petty.

Yesterday evening, before I went to work, I asked cockroach maid to prepare something that could be used as a reference, but apparently she prepared some video materials for me.

It seemed to me that if I wanted to learn about gal and entertain a customer, a video would make more sense than a book.

But…

「W-w-w-what… what the hell is this!?」

I shouted out when I saw the pile of DVDs.

『Black Gal Pick-up – Premium Edition』

『Black Gal Tie Up! My friends’ friends are all bitches』

『Manko Capac, Sex Black』

『Nasty black gal sister! Fascinating cum squeezer』

『Slippery black gal gets oiled! Ah ☆ Please extract my oil field!』

『The black gal I picked up on the beach won’t let me leave』

『Black Gal Bitch Semen Festival. I’ll be there until morning』

『A DVD to help you prepare for the second level salesman exam』

It was AV. It was so much AV that there was no way I could mistake it.

No… The last one was not an AV, but I felt as if cockroach maid were telling me, “It’s exactly what you want, Takata-sama”, and that made me absurdly angry.

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(1) Being distant even though you are close to each other. (e.g.) I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about your problems. You’re so watery