Chapter 8: Chapter 2.2

It was basically the end of the school day. Well if I had to be exact. The time is 6:30p.m. So obviously, it's the end of the school day.

I stood in the campus supermarket with a shopping basket with a dark blue handle in the grip of my right hand. The layout of the building felt complicated to me.

There were rows of shelved items ranging from cereals to drinks. This would be my first time shopping on my own, so here goes nothing.
I navigated through the first aisle and looked at the items. It was basically junk food, you know, chips, candy bars, lollipops, and other things along those lines. I am not a big fan of sweets or junk food on the whole, but I still managed to slip two bags of BBQ flavored chips into my basket.

Moving on now, I had my eyes out for the canned food section. It probably would have been easier to look at the signs, but they were on an electronic board which switched to different sections too quickly. What a flawed way of informing customers.

Ah, what a drag, but like a pirate after lost treasure, we'll keep searching.

Finally! I still stumbled across it. After 3 painstaking minutes of searching, it appears that the cheapest items are on the lower shelves while the higher priced items are above them. A smart sales tactic by the store that will influence the lazier customers to just pick up the first one at eye level.

However, I think I'll burn the extra energy by crouching down and checking. even though my grandparents are sending money to my debit card account on a bi-weekly basis. I should still save money when I can.

Still in a crouching position, I grabbed a can of beans and observed the expiration date. Despite the fact that tin cans have a longer shelf life, I don't want to be the unlucky guy who gets the bad apple of the bunch.

As I was about to get up, I heard two people speaking from the aisle on the other side of me. It sounded like two females.

"I heard there's a child of a prominent family in class 1-4."

The other female replied, "I hear she seems to brush off people wanting to be her friend."

"What a snob."

The voices then sounded a bit further away now. They were moving away from my location.

A child of a prominent family in our class? Well, I must have missed that. Also, from what I heard, the person is a female student who dislikes the idea of friendship. Just by going off of that, I am beginning to form an image of the person in my mind already. Now that I put two and two together, she does give off that type of energy.

I stood up from my crouching position and dropped the can of beans into my basket. Hmm, is bacon and beans even considered a proper dinner? Well, not according to the cooking shows that I normally binge. I guess I'll have to find out, so on to the aisle with the bacon.

Within two minutes, I was there and picked up two packs in my hands. sliced or diced. I mean, it's basically the same thing, right? There's no way I could be stumped between sliced and diced bacon.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Maybe I should get two packs? The reason for the question is, will I ever use the two packs? My cooking skills are pretty much non-existent.

Focusing my attention on the two packs. I let out a deep sigh. I am being indecisive about bacon right now.

"Are you seriously debating about bacon?"

That voice broke me out of my deep focus. I slightly shook my head and turned to face the person. It was Minori Takeda who held a basket filled with items in her right hand. I guess she is taking advantage of the heavily discounted prices.

"Uh no...." I replied as she approached me, then took the two packs from my hands.

"Slice is more of a breakfast item and diced could be an extra additive on rice or anything along those lines."

Hmm, it makes sense. I was just overthinking it as usual.

"Oh, I see."

Minori sighed and replied, "First the house cat thing and now this? You're hopeless, aren't you?"

I took the sliced bacon from her grip and dropped it into my basket.

"Hopeless no. A bit overwhelmed? Yes."

Minori eyed me then replied, "If something like this overwhelms you, then you'll be dead weight during the class clashes."

"You know, if I was more thin-skinned, I would really be offended."

"Ok, good. Now that I know I can freely speak my mind around you without considering your feelings."

"I still think you can consider it."

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She replied, "Hold this." as she dropped her basket into my only free hand.

When did I become her personal bag holder?

As I was about to say something, she said, "Come, let's walk."

I sighed and walked forward. Honestly, I wasn't sure how this even happened.

"Eh Minori, why am I holding your basket?"

"Oh that's because my hands were hurting and, technically, I helped you choose your item, so as a gesture of gratitude, you'll hold my basket."

"I am not quite sure if that's fair or an equivalent trade off."

"She curiously asked, "How so?"

"You know what, never mind."

I don't think I want to argue with a wealthy person when it comes to unfairness or equivalent tradeoffs.

Minori shrugged her shoulders and kept walking. We approached the feminine products section, and I hesitated a bit.

She must have noticed because she said, "Something like this bothers you? Are you like 12?"

I sighed, "Not necessarily." and walked into the section with her. We probably spent 7 minutes properly looking at all the brands.

During that time, students would occasionally stare at us I am not sure what the stares were about, but I do have a fair idea.

Finally, we were done and moved towards the cashiers.

As we stood in the lines, I said, "I am surprised you even spoke to me again."

As the line started to move, Minori walked forward a bit, "I just happened to see you here and took advantage of the encounter to relieve myself of the workload of carrying the basket."

"Hmm, bold of you to come out and admit it."

"There is no point in concealing the fact any longer."

"Sounds like you're a bit of a manipulator."

Minori side-eyed me and replied, "It's human nature, right? There are those who manipulate and those who are manipulated. It's up to you to decide which one you want to be."

I placed both baskets on the counter as we reached the front of the line.

"I wonder how you'll react when you run into someone who is capable of manipulating you."

She snickered a bit and replied, "I doubt that, but we'll see."

Her thinking is similar to her family background. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Minori approached the counter even more and said, "I'll be paying for both baskets."

"Are you sure?"

She just kept quiet and handed over the cash.

Well, I am not sure what to think about her at the moment. Then again, it's too early to even formulate a proper opinion. 
   
 
 
 
 

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