…

Matsuo unbuckled his seat belt and got out of my FC after I parked the car in the school parking lot. As per the rest of Saitama City, the high school looked like a regular public Japanese school, with students walking in wearing their uniforms.

I got out too and locked the car hearing a ‘beep’ before I was greeted with the most unfamiliar sound in the world.

“What? What is it?” Matsuo looked at me.

I stopped and looked around. While Saitama was completely new to me, and the buildings at least looked semi familiar, there was a sound that stuck out to me as unique.

I recognized it in an instant. It was the Japanese Cicada, it played with a slow methodical hum in the background of all the chatter from the other students entering the school. Here it was, a digital sound file actually being repeated in my ears.

I felt the wind carry my hair as I looked up at the front entrance of the school.

Was this really my home now? A virtual world in which I shared friendships, dreams, and activities which I never truly experienced?

Matsuo tapped his wrist, “Come on buddy, we’re gonna be late for class if you stay daydreaming all day.”

“R-Right.” I said, still surprised at my skill with Japanese.

According to the other students who were acting casually around me, apparently it wasn’t out of the ordinary for someone who wasn’t Japanese to be walking around the school.

A brown haired boy waved to us a little further down the hall before walking toward us.

“Ah crap here comes Ishiro.” Matsuo looked in the other direction before he waved back with me.

“Hey guys, how was your weekend?” The younger student asked us.

Instantly I used |Observe.|

[Ishiro Koda - LV 1 Schoolboy

-Info]

I brought up his info instantly.

Sighing, Matsuo shrugged. "It was all right."

"Oh man, I was so pumped! Check out this new issue of Sports Monthly!" Ishiro said reaching for his backpack before Matsuo reached out and stopped him.

"Not out here genius!" Matsuo hissed as held his wrist and looked around. "Let's go up to the rooftop in case a teacher confiscates it."

I followed both of them down the hall as Ishiro looked at me. "And you Friedland? How was your weekend?"

"Oh uh." I chuckled. "It was one of those weekends where you do a bunch of stuff you can't even remember."

"Wow." Ishiro chuckled in a low growl as Matsuo rolled his eyes. "Sounds pretty fun. Any details?"

"N-No not really," I admitted as Ishiro frowned.

Matsuo slid in a tiny smirk to me Ishiro missed as he sighed. "I swear, there's always stuff going on that I'm not involved with. I just don't know why."

We kept walking down the hall together as Matsuo led us when he turned left towards a staircase.

"Eyes low boys." Matsuo chuckled as we approached the stairs and a pair of girls descended. "Short skirts may be fun to look at but don't get caught."

"Oh, man." Ishiro snickered and kept his voice low. "Did you see Atara's chest last week? I could've sworn she went up by a cup size or two."

Even though I could tell Matsuo strained to agree with him on much, he nodded back. "Nice."

I rubbed my eyes a little. This was pretty par for the course. If there was almost nothing of significance so far in the game asides from my father being a racer and a doctor, it would make sense everyone else around here would be hormonal.

I wasn't bored at all considering I was literally in another person's shoes, but still, I could see the appeal if you had nothing else going on in your life but school.

We went up the stairs as I looked at a notice board nailed to the wall with pinned papers on it. While I had never read Japanese in my life before, I could understand it perfectly.

I stopped walking when I saw a Yen symbol on one of the notices though, my eyes attracted instantly.

Matsuo and Ishiro kept walking as I stopped and read the sign.

"Saitama City Job Notice -

Age Requirement: 18 or Older

Position: City Worker

Description: To assist with various Saitama City Park functions including assistant coaching for little league games, regular maintenance of facilities, and clerical work when needed.

Experience Needed: None

Training Required: None, but Driver's License preferred.

Pay: ¥1400 per hour.

Shift: Mondays through Fridays from 17:00 to 22:00.

To apply, fill out an Employment Request form at the Downtown Saitama Prefectural Office in 21-8.

Matsuo looked down from the second floor and noticed me. "Hey man, what is it?" Matsuo and Ishiro stopped talking and turned around at the top of the stairs.

They walked back down and Ishiro rubbed his chin as he read the sign I focused on. "Huh, not bad at all. I was thinking of getting some part-time work myself."

Matsuo looked at him. "You're just 16, to work with the city you need to wait a couple of years." Matsuo looked back at the sign and then at me. "Pretty good pay, I have to admit. How about we both go downtown after school and apply?"

I nodded to him as I did the math in my head. Five hours a day, for five days a week, is twenty-five total hours, times fourteen hundred Yen would be thirty-five thousand a week before taxes. It was simple, fourteen times two was twenty-eight, and fourteen times five was seven (seventy but seven for this), added up is thirty-five.

Luckily, I could just look up how much it would cost to get a better car or to improve my current one. The question was, which one was the better choice?

...