"Hello, welcome to Delivery Works. Do you have a package you're expecting from us today?"
"Uh. umm... There's something I'd like to ask"
"Yes?"
I watched the man on the other side of the delivery counter nervously play with his hands.
"Would it be possible to ship allmate parts through the courier?"
"Yes, we'll ship them. We also supply the box for you for a small fee."
"Ah, is that right. I see. Thank you very much."
"Would you like to send something?"
"Ah, no. Um, well..."
"Yes?"
"Well, this may come off as very sudden, but..."
I look at him, waiting patiently for him to continue.
"If you're okay with it, then... When you get off work today, could I meet up with you?"
"...What?"
"Ah, no, ummm, how should I say this, you see, your eyes. It's like, you have very beautiful eyes, I was thinking..."
A soft sigh I'm certain he didn't hear escapes my lips as I still try to offer him a polite smile.
"Thank you. I'm grateful to hear that. By the way, sir, I just remembered.. that will be all, right?"
"Ah... sure"
"If you're still interested we have a discount for shipping A parts that fall in a specific weight limit."
"It's a special discount for our loyal customers who ship regularly with us. Would you like your name added to the list?"
"Yes, um, but..."
"We can only do this for so many people, but if you plan to keep shipping through us I wouldn't mind putting you down now as I'm sure you'll make good use of it. I can do it as a special service for you"
"S-Service?"
"Yes... a service."
"A-ah, then by all means! I- I'd like to be added to your list!"
"Certainly. I'd need your personal data, if you could scan your coil here please."
He puts his coil up to the reader we have until the light turns green. I double check to make sure the information has been accepted properly.
"...Okay, you've been registered. Thank you very much"
"Please make sure to come in when you have anything you need to send. We look forward to your continued patronage."
"Yes!"
"Thanks!"
The man seemed to look at me happily for just a few more seconds before exiting the shop.
"...Haah."
As soon as he was out the door I let out a relieved sigh.
It wasn't too difficult this time but convincing customers to leave without problems can be pretty tiring.
Well, people have been coming by more and more, so it's worth it in a way.
— Your eyes are so dazzling. I need to meet with you outside of work no matter what.
Among the people who come in the shop, there are an awful lot of guys who say that.
They want to meet up personally when they hardly know anything about me...
If I were a woman it'd at least be somewhat flattering, but usually a guy wouldn't ask another guy something like that... right?
At first I could ignore it pretty easily, but like anyone else would, I became pretty uncomfortable when it kept happening.
But it also became easier to convince customers to keep coming back, sometimes just to send something a walking distance away.
From then on, like just now, I could bring up business more and more from simple promises.
Strangely enough, I don't have the same luck over the phone.
Sometimes a customer will call in but then seem rather disinterested and hang up shortly after, like they don't recognize I'm the same person behind the counter.
Since there's not much I can do I usually just brush it off and leave it be.
"Hmm... the boss should be back soon."
I take a moment to sit down and place my eyes on the digital clock on the counter.
This is Delivery Works. A shipping service that sends packages immediately to anywhere in the Old Residential District. Even though we're on a small island, no one could possibly walk the same distance within a day. So it's very useful for anyone, especially with how inconvenient automobiles and the like are in this town.
I was pretty fond of the idea of being able to help people in this way, so I started working here: I wonder how long it's been now...? I don't remember exactly but quite a while now.
"...Hm? A message."
I was spacing out with my hands in my lap when the Coil on my arm chirped. A coil is something like a mobile phone, but it's much more than just that. Phone calls, messages, payments, identification, and of course watching TV can all be done on this one machine.
"Who could it be...?"
I pull up my messages to see the new mail. Seeing the name and subject...
Subject: 'Unleash me'
Sender: 'Imprisoned Knight'
"Imprisoned Knight?"
Some sort of advertisement? Or an odd scam mail.
I try to guess what it could be about but I can't come up with anything reasonable.
Well it's from some stranger, nothing good could be in it right? I should just delete it.
"Ah!"
As I was hovering over the delete button, something slammed into my waist.
I fall from my chair and something heavy lands on my back.
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