I Was a Loner Who Tried Finding an Otaku Friend on a Matching App and Ended Up Matching with the Number-One Beauty Who Won the University Miss Contest - Chapter 17-18

Chapter 17: The Miss Con Queen Is Kinda Naughty ♡

It was time for my shift, so I left the shelf-stocking stuff to Tamura-senpai and headed over to the register with Amane-san.

Even in a rundown store like this, they’ve got self-checkout machines for renting out DVDs, so us staff only actually man the register when someone can’t use the auto one or when it gets super crowded every once in a while.

But on days when a new trading card set drops, customers flood in no matter what, so she definitely needs to learn how to properly handle the card payments at the register.

I walked her through all that stuff once, and then I fired up the PC at the register so I could teach her how to process the DVDs sitting in the return box.

If you’re gonna work at a rental DVD place like this, this is the one problem you just can’t avoid.

“Um, so when you’re processing the DVDs from the return box on the PC, you do it like this… Does that seem okay?”

“Yeah, I got that part, but… can I ask you something real quick?”

Amane-san said that, then reached into the return box and picked up an A● title.

The package showed a barely-dressed actress standing by a room window. The cover was so see-through that if you took the curtain away, everything would basically be on full display.

Yup. The biggest issue is that we also have to process R18 DVDs when they get returned.

Our store is already running on a super small staff, so whether you’re a guy or a girl, you end up having to do this job.

That’s exactly what the manager asked about during the interview—if you’re bad with dirty jokes or anything like that, you’d probably be better off not working here.

I figured since Amane-san reads those ero light novels she’d be fine with it, but there’s a huge difference between 2D R17 novels and straight-up hardcore 3D R18 stuff.

Honestly, I wasn’t totally sure how she’d handle it.

“Even super naughty DVDs get processed here, huh?”

“S-super naughty… uh, yeah, pretty much.”

Surprisingly, Amane-san’s face looked totally chill about it.

Don’t girls usually show some kind of disgust when they see these kinds of DVDs?!

“Hmm? Akito-kun, why do you look a tiny bit awkward right now~?”

Amane-san grinned and leaned in close to peek at my face.

Crap. She’s gonna tease me.

She’s 100% about to tease the hell outta me!

“N-no, I’m not awkward or anything. Anyway, yeah, stuff like this obviously exists too, so if you’re not comfortable with it—”

“Summer Vacation with the Lewd● Announcers ~Reading Hidden● Scripts in Front of the Camera, Get It Wrong and You Get Punished—”

“W-waiiiit!! Don’t read it out loud!!”

Amane-san started mumbling the title right next to my ear, so I frantically shut her down.

“More importantly, how are you so calm about this, Amane-san?”

“Well duh, if I can like those kinds of light novels then of course I’m fine.”

“I don’t know what kind of ‘of course’ that is!!”

Yep, Amane-san’s always one or two steps ahead.

She easily blows past whatever I expect.

“Aaah~ Maybe Akito-kun thought I’d get all flustered over naughty DVDs~?”

“I-I was… I was just genuinely worried, okay? If you hated this stuff, I figured I’d have to cover for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

I answered honestly without arguing back.

Amane-san applied to work here specifically so she could spend more time with me.

So if there was something she really couldn’t stand, I’d obviously feel bad about it.

“Hehe, you’re so sweet even to your ‘senpai,’ huh, Akito-kun.”

“W-what do you mean ‘even to your senpai’?”

“Nothing~ Anyway, it seems like you’ve got the wrong idea, Akito-kun.”

“Huh?”

“Girls… actually watch this kind of stuff properly too, y’know.”

Amane-san said it with a slightly shy look in her eyes, her lips wiggling a little as she spoke.

Girls… w-watch this stuff too, huh.

After that, Amane-san kept calmly processing one A● title after another like it was nothing.

“Actually, wanna watch one together at your place sometime, Akito-kun? We could borrow one from here~”

“W-watch?! No way!!”

“Ahaha, there you go getting all embarrassed again.”

“It’s not about being embarrassed!!”

In the end, the one thing I was worried about with this job turned out to be no big deal at all for Amane-san.

It was all just me overthinking things, and once again I ended up dancing right in the palm of her hand.

—

Chapter 18: The Beauty Pageant Queen’s Past and Teasing Master Amane-chan

“Akito-kun, is this okay like this?”

“Yeah. Looks good.”

Even though she teased me a ton about the A● thing earlier, after that Yui-san actually got serious and did her job properly.

Right now, I’m teaching part-time work to a senior who’s basically worshipped as the beauty pageant queen back at university.

Feels kinda weird, y’know?

And just like that, day one of her shift went super smooth with no problems at all. Yui-san handled everything perfectly without missing a beat.

When closing time came, we headed to the break room together.

Tamura-senpai said she had to talk about shifts with the manager, so she went to the manager’s office. That left us completely alone… well, all that’s left now is taking off the apron and heading home anyway.

“Whew— Akito-kun, good work today~”

“Nah, you too, Yui-san. You picked things up so fast and your movements were super smooth. Really helped me out.”

Yui-san seemed way too used to working the register and stuff… she must’ve had part-time jobs before, right?

“By the way, Yui-san, what kind of part-time jobs do you usually do?”

“Part-time? Um… actually, this is my first one.”

“Wait, seriously!?”

Yui-san fiddled with her beautiful black hair a little while saying that, looking kinda shy and embarrassed.

First part-time job… but she’s so quick and got almost everything down already!?

“I wasn’t allowed to work until I finished my first year.”

“Not allowed?”

“Yeah. My parents are pretty overprotective, y’know? They finally let me live alone, but they were super against me getting a job.”

Ohhh… so her family is really that strict and sheltering…?

“Your family sounds pretty tough, huh?”

“Nah, it’s not like that.”

“Huh?”

“This is kinda an old story now, but when I was still in kindergarten, some boys pulled my hair and bullied me.”

“That’s… pretty awful.”

“Well, stuff like that happens a lot when you’re little, right? Boys are just bad at showing they like someone, y’know?”

Yui-san poked my cheek lightly with her index finger.

Wait—is she talking about me right now?

Hey, come on, where do I fit into that?!

“But anyway, after that happened my parents got super traumatized about me getting bullied by boys… and, well, they figured since I look especially cute, I’d probably get targeted a lot.”

“I gotta admit the last part is 100% true, but you really lose points for saying it yourself.”

“Yay—! Anyway, putting that aside,”

Yui-san just brings it up and then brushes it off herself, huh.

“Remember how I told you I went to an all-girls high school? That was because of this too. They put me in an all-girls private school from elementary through high school, so I basically never talked to a guy until I got to university.”

“Ohhh… so that’s why even part-time jobs—”

“Yeah. They let me go to a co-ed school like Southeast University instead of a women’s college, but jobs were still a no-no.”

Man… Yui-san really is some super sheltered rich girl, huh.

With all these restrictions, no wonder she’d get curious about stuff like A● and super perverted light novels… right?

But saying that out loud would be unfair to ojou-sama everywhere, so let’s not.

“Ah! But don’t worry, Akito-kun!”

“Uh… worry about what?”

“When it comes to romance… I’m totally free, y’know?”

Yui-san leaned right up to my ear and whispered in this super soft, almost ASMR-level quiet voice.

“…Huh.”

“Huh?! That’s where you’re supposed to go ‘Yesss!’ or ‘I might actually have a shot with Yui-san~’ like some light novel protagonist!”

“How deep does your light novel brain go exactly? I’m not falling for your teasing anymore, Yui-san.”

“Muuu…”

She’s teased me way too many times already.

I’m not gonna keep falling for the same tricks.

“Then lemme just keep teasing you over and over~”

“Wait—! Why are you straight-up announcing you’re gonna tease me?!”

Looks like Yui-san’s teasing attacks aren’t stopping anytime soon… wait, aren’t we supposed to be light novel buddies!?