Kotoko Strikes Back!

Chapter 8: All In A Day's Work

NOTICE BOARD

AIHARA KOTOKO MOVING OUT OF THE IRIE HOUSEHOLD!

IRIE NAOKI IS FINALLY FREED FROM BAD LUCK!

Who put up that notice? Naoki wanted to tear the notice down but he didn't. He just wanted to, that's all.

"Congratulation, you have finally get rid of that pest." Reiko saw the notice too. In fact, she was the one putting it. On the other hand, Naoki was not responding to Reiko's statement.

Without that pest around, life would soon be back to normal. Reiko thought as she quietly followed behind Naoki.

"Zinko-chan, Satomi-chan!" Kinnosuke rushed into the classroom looking for Kotoko's two best friends.

"Did you two see the notice board?" Kinnosuke asked, feeling very excited over the whole issue.

"Yes. We saw it." Both Zinko and Satomi nodded.

"Finally, Kotoko has done something for the sake of our happiness." Kinnosuke exclaimed happily.

"Happiness?"

Sweat drops.

"Kotoko is the best!" Kinnosuke shouted, ignoring the confused gazed from his two classmates.

"Why are we going via this direction? This is a longer route back to our class." Reiko asked. Naoki just kept walking until he passed Class 3-F.

She's not in the classroom? Naoki thought with an empty expression. He had stopped calling Kotoko 'baka' since the day se left.

So, that's the reason. Reiko thought and gave Naoki a disapproving glance, which he failed to notice. Naoki stopped his track when he heard someone in the class mentioning Kotoko's name.

Perhaps that baka knows where she is. Naoki turned back and looked into the class, trying to locate Kinnosuke, the next potential baka in Naoki's list.

Zinko and Satomi stared in awe when they saw Naoki coming into the class. Then Kinnosuke felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. "We need to talk. Meet me at the courtyard after school." Naoki briefly stated the purpose of his presence before walking away.

"He wants to talk to me?" Kinnosuke scratched his head in confusion.

Kotoko dragged two black trash bags into the back alley in order to throw them into the big dustbin. I must work harder, or else I might just get fired again before getting my dinner. Kotoko reminded herself.

Since that morning, she had been assigned to different duties. First, she was assigned to the kitchen, in charge of deep-drying the fries. The customers ended up having black fries instead of golden crisp fries. Then, she was assigned to the distributing areas but she got all the orders mixed up. Later that afternoon, she was assigned to the front counter to stand in for a cashier who had taken two-hour off from work.

"Wow, the business is good today." The manager could see a long stretch of queue in front of Kotoko, but surprisingly no one would queue at the other counters even though they were available.

"Sumimasen, the counters over there are available too." The manager politely informed.

"It's okay, we will queue here."

The manager did not insist any further since it would not be wise to instruct the customers what to do. Then, the manager realised another strange thing. It seemed that all the customers queuing on the line were buying the same type of set meals.

Ahh...I better ask the kitchen to prepare more set A today. I wonder why Set A is so greatly in demand today. The manager thought when he spotted more people queuing behind.