Tanin wo Yosetsukenai Buaisouna Joshi ni Sekkyou shitara, Mechakucha Natsukareta SS

SS

[Recommended Read after Vol. 2] SS Risa Enami and Earphones

TLed by: TanoshiKara

**Note: This is NOT SS1, this is the final SS the author uploaded after SS6**

That back, while giving off an air of loneliness, akin to a dark room lit by a single light bulb without the very bulb itself, comes into view of the shelves on the sixth floor of the electronics store. When she found the back of this seemingly young woman, Hiromi Sanada almost dropped the monitor, which was to be used as a display. After hurriedly placing it at its designated spot, she wipes her forehead with the sleeve of her sparkly new Blouson.

"Second floor. I will leave that other customer to you"

She hears such a voice from her right ear, which has earphones plugged in but her gaze does not leave the back of that person.

From looking around the store, it seems like the other staff do not have the time to serve that customer. The interior of the store, adorned with red and green decorations, is overflowing with people and there are customers queuing in front of the register.

"......Fifth floor's Shimura, heading there"

While feeling relieved by the young voice of a staff member who joined recently and leaving the handling of the cardboard box to her future self, Hiromi walks towards that back without any hesitation.

Long dark brown hair. As that person moves very little, with the exceedingly pure white light from the ceiling and the surrounding pop-cutout decorations at the ends of the shelves, it looks like their entire feet are stuck to the floor. While she seems to be boldly standing up straight without bending her back in the slightest, the flow of time around her surroundings is slow to the point where it even feels like she might just be left behind.

*clonk* *clonk*.

My steps feel even louder than usual, or so Hiromi thought.

"Is something wrong?"

When the person with that back turned around, Hiromi felt like her heart was about to stop.

She could not help but hallucinate that the celebrity displayed on a huge screen suddenly jumped out of it. Silky skin, like that of a brand new home appliance, and two sparkling eyes, with double eyelids, side by side each other in the perfect position. She had a graceful air even with her back turned, but there is no comparison to be made for her blinding appearance when seen from the front.

However, with five years of Customer Service, she is able to hide her surprise behind her Business Smile. The young girl, who was shocked due to being called out all of a sudden, spoke after looking at Hiromi for a while.

"No......nothing at all. I am only at a loss about...whether or not I should buy......"

When she takes a peek from behind at the product the girl is holding, she finds out that it is a relatively cheap Wireless Earphone.

Is it a present? Or is it perhaps for personal use? A selfish curiosity wells up inside of her but she wisely holds it back as the corners of her lips curve upwards.

"Is that so? The one you are holding in your hand is one that is more limited in function. If you have no preferences, that would be the recommended product"

"......Preferences......"

"Yes. For example, if you would like a higher sound quality, rather than SBC, earphones that have compatibility for AAC or apt-X may just be better for you. Also, as Earplug-type earphones carry the risk of being lost after they are dropped, there are also people who feel that a combined earphone with a neckband is better”

"Hrmmm......"

She is most likely around ten years younger than Hiromi but she seems somewhat aloof.

"If it is fashionable designs you are looking for, these over here are colorful and, as their shapes are also very stylish, they are extremely popular among young adults. Although they are priced slightly higher, they come with a remote control so it is convenient you see. Also, this here is......"

Hiromi understood that the girl was showing no interest in the product explanation that had been going on and on.

However, she did think that she could not leave the girl alone. The reason is something even Hiromi herself does not fully understand but she was drawn in, instinctively, to that seemingly lonely back of the girl, who was standing stockstill in the lively store.

After the explanation finished, the girl turned her face slightly to the side

"Thank you. Very much."

"My pleasure. If you need me for anything, please do not hesitate to call out to me"

That said, there is nothing else I can do beyond this. Hiromi, who obediently backed down, returned to her assigned location with lingering concerns in her heart.

While folding the cardboard boxes and placing them on top of the piles upon piles of cardboard boxes at the corner of the floor, there is another transmission.

"This is the first floor. Register needs help"

After reaching out to the person in charge of the floor, Hiromi heads down to the first floor.

"Thank you very muucchhh!"

While she was serving the waves of customers, around twenty minutes passed.

The first floor mainly handles phones and their accessories. As the shelves are arranged in such a way that there is room between each product, she can see better on this floor than the others and it is possible to see the lines of customers that go past the entrance.

As she had not yet seen the figure of that girl from earlier there, she thought that it was probably because the girl was still pondering over it.

It happened roughly when she finished serving another three customers.

"Ah......"

That very girl came down using the escalator, holding onto a paper bag with one hand, she seemed to be trying to pass through the entrance.

Even though this might be obvious, Hiromi is not able to leave the cash register unattended and rush up to her. Those legs of Hiromi's, bound by her sense of responsibility, grind against the sparkling white floor, producing a sound resembling that of the croaking of a frog.

Even though, at first glance, she looks like a girl who shines brilliantly with that appearance of hers, why then does she feel like she is being haunted by a gloomy shadow? While Hiromi's voice and hands faithfully carry out their respective jobs, her right eye follows the back of that very girl the entire time. The faint sunlight, that shines through from the Altostratus clouds, envelops that brown hair of hers as it sways with her every step. Her legs are walking forward but that back of hers feels fleeting and lonely, much like earlier, on the sixth floor, when she stood stockstill. Hiromi wished for the words 'Thank you very much' that left robotically through her mouth to drift through the air and come ever so much closer to reaching the back of that girl.

Eventually, even the back of that girl was no longer visible to her. May that girl, who is headed to a place unknown, be able to immerse herself in getting her ears used to beautiful music, even if ever so slightly, with that pair of earphones in her hand on this one day when it is ever so lively and noisy, or so Hiromi secretly prayed for in her mind.

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Feel free to comment/pm me if you find any mistakes. This also marks a temporary end of the translation for this series as it is currently on hiatus. Thank you very much for reading all the way to this point, though my time translating this series has been short, I enjoyed every moment of it and I sincerely wish that you too were able to enjoy reading this series!