I'm in a Messed Up Situation that I Couldn't Care More. - Chapter 3: Suddenly a Minimalist

Chapter 3: Suddenly a Minimalist

I sat on a park bench, a large sports bag slung over my shoulder, lost in thought.

Inside the bag were a few textbooks I’d managed to sneak out under the suited man’s watchful eye, and two to three sets of clothes.

As well as the paper bag containing the 1 million yen I’d received from the man in the Hannya mask.

(Is this all I own now? I’ve suddenly become a minimalist.)

The game console my father gave me in high school.

It held a lot of precious memories for me.

I really didn’t want to lose that game console.

I wondered if there was a way to get it back.

***********

My father suddenly disappeared in May this year.

He withdrew all the savings from our bank account and vanished with the money.

I haven’t heard from him since.

The financial support from my parents stopped, and my mother informed me that they couldn’t afford the tuition fees anymore.

I loved my dad very much.

He always listened to me intently.

He respected my thoughts and never made fun of me.

When I was little, he played with me, and as I grew older, he became a great confidant to me.

That’s why I don’t really hate him even if he just left me and dissapeared without a notice.

It’s causing me a lot of problems though.

There must be a compelling reason why Dad disappeared without a trace.

I missed the application period for scholarships.

I worked hard during the day and night shifts at my part-time job.

But I reached my limit.

My everydays became too busy, and I neglected to check the mailbox regularly, something I now regret.

Yeah…

I’d been so focused on the tuition fees.

I should have also paid more attention to the rent on the apartment where I lived at.

It’s an excuse, but I’m a bit scatterbrained as I have already mentioned.

When I focus on one thing, other areas of my life tend to become hazy.

(I have 1 million yen. I could probably survive by living in internet cafes with this money… But…)

But as I thought about it, I realized that 1 million yen might not last very long if I had to pay for daily living expenses as well.

I had learned the hard way over the past few months just how valuable money is.

1 million yen could easily disappear just on living expenses.

No matter how frugally I spent it, it would eventually run out.

And that would be just for the purpose of “surviving.”

Nothing would be left, and it would all be gone…

I had this vague sense of anxiety.

I didn’t want to spend this money just on daily living expenses; I wanted to use it for my “university tuition.”

That was the strong desire I had.

(But what am I supposed to do? Surviving is also important, isn’t it?)

As the day drew to a close, I still hadn’t come up with a good idea, and my hunger and loneliness were growing.

(…That’s right, that suspicious part-time job.

Maybe I should give that a try.)

I remembered the part-time job I’d been offered a few days ago.

It was a training gym job, but the hourly wage was unusually high, and the woman who approached me about it seemed suspicious.

Today, I also did that strange favor for that man in the Hannya mask… I suddenly realized that I’d been getting offers for a lot of strange part-time jobs lately.

But at that time, I didn’t have the suspicion, common sense, nor mental leeway to question it.