Antique Shop?BEAR? - Chapter 27
Chapter 27 – Magic Lamp
A headache shot through him. Ito Sakuya pressed against his head.
“Did you drink excessively?” His wife, Azusa, remarked in dismay.
I know that, okay.
“I didn’t have a choice. It was a New Year’s party.”
Rising from the bed, Sakuya headed for the kitchen and downed a bottle of water with headache and stomach pills.
“Can you even make it to work??”
Like I can take a day off! Don’t ask obvious questions!
“I can’t be absent.”
Sakuya washed his face and finished setting his hair, then went to his bedroom to retrieve his suit.
At that point, he happened to notice a lamp on the side table next to his bed. It was precisely the magic lamp from the movie itself, made of a slippery golden material with a ruby-like decoration on the lid.
“Azusa?! What is this?”
“Ah, you bought that yourself! Have you forgotten?”
“Huh? I drank so much that I couldn’t remember…”
“Seriously, you’d better be careful not to forget something like that.”
Understood, understood.
Once Azusa had finished getting ready, she set out butter rolls, yogurt, and coffee on the table.
“Do you remember putting the lamp on the side table and saying, ‘This is a magic lamp that will grant you three wishes? Three wishes shall be fulfilled?’”
“Not at all.”
Azusa giggled. “I said, ‘When I wake up, I wish to find 300 million yen deposited in my account and a house on the top floor of a high-rise condominium with a luxury car’.”
“Heh…”
“And you said you wished for the manager and section chief to disappear so there would be no more overtime hours.”
Sakuya nearly sprayed out as he gulped down his coffee.
Upon stepping out of the apartment, he sped off to the station. Not only was the hangover giving rise to a headache, it was also causing an upset stomach. Sakuya’s house was an apartment along the river, and it took about ten minutes to reach the station from his house. He purchased his current apartment second-hand because of the beautiful scenery along the river. Well, partly due to his work quota.
After arriving at the office by train, he glanced from his desk to check if the section chief and the manager were there, and as usual, they were both working.
If a magic lamp existed, life wouldn’t be so strenuous, right?
Sakuya settled down to work. His job was to handle sales for the manufacturer of houses for sale. He was in charge of sales and marketing, mainly customer management, not to mention cultivating new relationships and dealing with the owners. Complaints from owners were called in at all hours, thus it was quite a challenging job.
“Ito, can you make an inspection of three owner’s houses and a site of a house under construction this afternoon?”
A thin-haired manager, Nakamoto, popped up at his desk. He had a skinny figure and wore black-rimmed glasses. In his heart, he swore at him that he was bald.
“Sure. Materials for the weekend’s events will be submitted by the end of the morning to you.”
The truth was, he wasn’t done with the assignment at all, and was preparing the documents rather aggressively, but if his manager got pissed off, he would yell at him for a lengthy speech, hence he gave an appropriate response.
Geez. Talking to this guy makes me feel even sicker to my stomach.
“This is an event for a new apartment building, so you better have your act in place.”
The manager left the floor. He was probably just leaving for a smoke. In this day and age, the only person who would smoke a cigarette outside of break time would be the manager.
Sakuya turned to face the front and strained to keep up the pounding.
In the outer area, he was with Shinotsuka, the section chief. Before leaving the floor, he moved the magnet on the magnet board to the outer area. The Chief’s magnet was attached to the outer area as well.
This is the worst. Why do I have to ride in the car with this guy? His high and mighty face is driving me nuts.
After emailing the event documents to the manager, he departed before the lunch break.
Although the chief was well past forty, he still styled his hair with wax. In the past, he had an appealing air of popularity, but now he’s nothing more than an old man who still fancies himself as an attractive guy. Whenever he chats with female employees, he adopts a pretentious tone. That’s why he’s still single.
Sakuya set off in a melancholy mood as he drove the company car.
“Convenience store.’
“Yes?”
“Will you stop by the convenience store for me to buy lunch?”
“Certainly.”
I am not your leg man!
Stopping by the convenience store with the chief, Sakuya also picked up some rice balls and tea for lunch. He couldn’t eat while driving, so he hurriedly stuffed himself and drank the tea.
“The first house is Mr. Goto’s one-year inspection and next is the confirmation of the construction site. The second house is a detached house with a water-related complaint by Mr. Hayakawa, and the third is a condominium with a problem report on the bathroom by Mr. Sado. This is a lot to cram in a day.”
“Excuse me, I have to go… due to the inconvenience of the client. By the way, the site inspection is relatively close, so I assume it will be over soon.” The chief heaved a sigh as he consumed his lunch. “Please drop me off at the station, I’m leaving after checking Mr. Goto’s house and the construction site.”
He grabbed a black coffee from the takeout.
Sakuya was not the type of person who could drink coffee. The smell that enveloped the car was so overpowering that he felt like throwing up.
“I understand.”
Chief Shinotsuka gave him a distinct atmosphere of disinclination to attend a house where there might be complaints. After paying a visit to the pleasant Goto’s house for an inspection and visiting the construction site as requested by the chief, Sakuya continued on his own to the remaining two houses. As predicted, the complaints persisted, and after hearing the customers grumbling on and on, and even mentioning irrelevant topics, he finally returned to his car.
Ahh? What a bunch of noisy people. Why don’t you tell your complaint to the person who did the work? I am only in charge! Your house was not constructed by me! Stop talking nonsense! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!
But still, it reeks! The car stinks too bad! It’s the chief’s fault! Like I can stand it!
Sakuya’s frustration was reaching its peak.