Romantic Killer But I Made It Gay

Part 45

Throughout the next few days more and more customers start pouring in, all chatting about the cute new boy working here. Something tells me they're not talking about me.

"Here." He hands the woman in front of him her full bag and her hands shake as she takes it, blushing profusely. "You can leave now. And you better come again."

"Y-Yes! I will!" she yelps, hurrying away. As the next customer stumbles forward I edge over to Ikeda.

"Isn't he bad at...all of this?" I murmur. "That's not how you're supposed to treat customers. Shouldn't we–"

"Oh, it's fine," she sighs wistfully, cupping a hand to her cheek as she watches Koganei work. "The customers love him, the manager loves him...Actually, you're the only person who doesn't love him. Do you two have a bad history together?"

I quickly scoot away before she can think of any crazy ideas. Ikeda tends to do that in situations she doesn't understand, and the last thing I need is her spreading rumors about me and Koganei. I just barely escaped that situation with Kazuki, I don't want to deal with it again.

The last of the line leaves and I glance outside. Since I don't see anyone I'm guessing we're in a lull, so I stalk over to Koganei angrily.
"You're supposed to say "please come again," you know. How high are you looking down on people?"

"Higher than the mountains is where I belong," he informs me crossly.

"You certainly sound higher than the mountains," I grumble under my breath and he raises an eyebrow.

"What did you say?"

"I said this is no customer service." I realize there's no one to back me up on this and my confidence falters for a moment before Ikeda leans around me.

"He's right, sweetheart."

"Really?" I blink in surprise. Wasn't she just saying how much she loves him?

"Of course! After "You'd better come again," you should add, "Not that I want you to come again or anything...""

"Don't turn him into a tsundere," I groan tiredly. "That's the last thing I want to deal with. Sir, you see how awful he's being, right?" I decide to plead my case with the manager. "Can't you make him change...pun intended?"

He shrugs unhelpfully. "The people love him. He's brought in more business than I think we've ever had in a day. People are calling him the "department store prince" or something."

"That's so lame."

I watch as a young woman walks in and starts quickly picking out her chips with hurried glances in Koganei's direction. Once she's finished she rushes over and hands them to him eagerly. He scans them and finishes checking her out, then says his usual, "You'd better come again." With a quick glance at Ikeda he adds, "Not that I want you to come again. It's just store policy to say that."

She nods along while Ikeda claps happily. I watch Koganei closely as he waits for the next customer. To be fair, he's nothing if not diligent. He's already signed up for a bunch more shifts in the near future, and he takes the job seriously. Maybe I underestimated him.