Chapter 6: Retro Hug Machine

"You forgot your bento!"

"Fine!"

"You forgot to say: mommy goodbye!"

"Fine! I'm leaving, happy?!"

Nik twitched with every shout. The Souma household had personal rooms for the three daughters and a master bedroom on the ground level at the end. But the Souma Household lacked a guest room and the couch of the living room was pushed back to give way for 'futon', Nik's temporary bedding.

With the loud thud of the door, Nik turned around and closed his eyes once again before he was poked on the top of his head.

"Hey, if you're awake then get up. You don't want to leave a bad impression on the first day of your job, right?"

Nik turned on his stomach while hugging the pillow and looked up with half-lidded eyes as he found Reiko crouched right in front of him. She wore a skirt suit similar to yesterday but right now she looked quite fresh and actually... naive. As if the sight of her underwear through the translucent stockings was simply a profound greeting of the morning for people encountering a language barrier and maybe it was given the fact that Reiko's gaze turned awfully similar to her mother's.

"Here, Mom asked Sayoko to prepare these before going to sleep," Reiko placed a sheet of paper and pointed at the fifth line written in two languages. The translation was a bit iffy and the writing of Hindi was a bit dubious but Nik understood it either way.

He's getting late for the job.

And this sheet of paper was a cheat sheet prepared for him through which he can convey basic needs.

With a slump of his head against the pillow, Nik turned around and sat up. A yawn escaping his lips as another round of shouts began to echo. This time with Mitsuko and Reiko. Still, Nik stood up and scratched his chin while folding the piece of paper and looking at the futon. Folding it up, he silently picked it and brought it to the small shelf behind the sliding paper door and placed it where he got it from.

'I don't have a toothbrush,' Nik realized. The morning routine seemed similar in this world but he didn't have an integral part of it so he freshened up a little and wore his clothes from yesterday. Beggars can't be choosers and in Nik's case, this was quite a literal sentiment.

As he walked towards the kitchen, he found Mitsuko humming a tone while mixing rice and egg in the pan as the delicious scent filled the room. A bowl of soup was already present on the table as Mitsuko looked back. But seeing Nik, a frown touched her face as she pushed the contents of the pan into the plate and mumbled, "You need some clothes. But it would be such a waste if you remember something and found you already have a wardrobe full of clothes..." pointing at the table for him to sit, Mitsuko returned to the stove as Reiko spoke up while eating in big gulps.

"Maybe you don't think about being a sugar mommy before accomplishing all your goals as a... simple mommy?" Reiko smiled, feeling particularly good for such a remark this early in the day.

"Stop being so snobby and eat quickly. Do wake Sayoko before going out, kay? And be sure to not tease Nik-kun too much while dropping him off to the shopping district."

"Yes, mom!" Reiko mumbled before eating as Nik copied their movement from the dinner and folded his hands together while mumbling, "Itazamasu..."

"No, no," Reiko instantly looked up and waved her chopsticks while Nik still used the spoon. A special pass due to his circumstances.

"It is 'Itadakimasu.' Like i-ta-da-ki-ma-ss!" Reiko repeated the words slowly and Nik nodded, continuing the supposed custom before digging in.

The morning was uneventful. Unlike the evening, the women of the Souma Family truly seemed normal. He wasn't leered at, or tried to be held, or continuously exposed to by a certain twin-tailed persona with a rather fiery yet withdrawn nature. Even Mitsuko saw them off with a calm smile while Reiko continued to exchange pleasantries with a few others walking down the street but didn't speak too much about Nik's condition.

Even their walk was quite a silent and calm one. Reiko would try to communicate but the more she tried the more frustrated she got.

"Ahhhh... he's cute and all but what's the point if I can't even chat with him. Mom and Kurumi are the weird ones bickering over him, right?"

She mumbled while walking past a particular pillar with trash bags placed underneath. Nik couldn't help but be gaze at the trash bags with a thoughtful expression.

As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure, right? Can't he make this term more literal?

"Anyway, how did you even get that scar? I saw it yesterday but thought otherwise to ask it in front of mom."

Reiko typed into the translater as Nik blinked and looked at his left arm. Certainly, the red ring mark on his left forearm was noticeable but while Nik wondered if Mitsuko didn't ask because of not being able to see it, he just realized that she was simply refraining from asking personal questions.

But as already developed...

"I don't know," Nik shook his head.

Reiko let out a long sigh as they made their way towards the Shopping District. Reiko seemed to be a regular of this place, especially one of the restaurants close to the Amano Bookstores, and then dropped Nik off before hurrying to her own work. Anyone would mistake the Souma Family as an ordinary and hardworking family from their morning routine unless they get the first-hand demonstration of the situation.

Knocking on the closed entrance of the bookstore, Nik waited until his employer quickly came out to unlock the door. The woman looked at Nik with a hint of embarrassment, "Ah, Good Morning. I'm sorry for not keeping the entrance open. I kind of forgot that I employed you..."

She quickly came to a stop as she saw Nik barely fazed by her explanation, "You didn't understand a single thing, right? Well then, ehm, I wasn't late at all."

Bringing Nik inside, Yuuko did not have a tough time to relay some of the tasks at all because they were fairly easy. Dusting off the books and shelves, taking out the stands for the advertisement of some of the popular novels and things like that. Although she also noted the presence of the same clothes as yesterday and as much as it is frowned upon, Yuuko simply couldn't help but feel a little pity since Nik happened to have nothing.

The task of dusting the shop took less time than Yuuko expected. Why?

[Authority Rank: 0 (0.00008/100)]

Sucking in the dust from every swipe of his left palm and an hour of work only increased his AP by 0.00001. He needed things much more than simple dust and trash to even gain a single point. If he truly wished to collect more points then he needed to seek opportunities at finding rarer objects. Right now, to Nik, AP was more important than money. Once he gets the hang of the language, he would be able to try and settle down. And...

[Transmigration in: 118:46 hours.]

He needed at least one point for the trip his [Paradise] had in store for him. Not to mention...

Nik touched his left arm once again. Even if everything doesn't work the way it's planned, he can have a quick getaway whenever he wants.

"Nik-kun," Yuuko's voice sounded as Nik peeked his head out from behind the shelf in the middle of the store and gazed at her. Yuuko was surely popular as she should be. Though sad her circumstances were, her endearing nature had already won over plenty of the families residing in the Shopping District and had also garnered enough regular customers to get by daily. Seeing her smiling and beckoning him, Nik walked forward curiously. He had removed his jacket currently and wore an apron over his shirt with a wooden duster in his hands. He also wore a bluish mask that Yuuko provided him while she wore a similar article to cover her face.

Genta had spoken a little about the pandemic, but Nik understood that it must have had lasting effects. Everyone seemed to be wearing masks like these and even if Reiko didn't, she had one in her pocket. But it didn't look so flimsy like the blue one over his lower face and seemed to be customized and made of comfortable fabric.

With Nik taking care of the chores in the shop, Yuuko sat behind the counter and a middle-aged man stood in front. He wasn't wearing a mask and wore a formal grey suit with a blue tie in hanging through his collars.

"This is Nik, Yakima-san. Nik... um," Yuuko fumbled on her cellphone when the man adjusted his glasses and nodded, "I will take it from here, Yuuko-san."

Her brows twitched a little but she remained unresponsive as Yakima cleared his throat.

"My... name iss Yakima Toshi. I h-heard about yo-u from Megumi. Lea-ve this famil-ly alone."

'I bet I can greet a stranger more politely even in their language...' Nik mused. The man gave off a sense of aggressiveness which Nik didn't understand. He didn't remember doing anything to this individual called Megumi or even Yuuko. Until now, he had been the very picture of politeness.

"I'm sorry. I didn't understand much of what you spoke," Nik spoke fluently and the individual named Yakima frowned.

"W-what did you say? Spe-ak a bit slow..."

Nik's lips twitched and then his eyes brightened. There are other ways of communication, right?

Nik stretched his arm towards Yakima and waited to shake his hand. Gazing at Nik's hand and then at his youthful face, Yakima raised his eyebrow in surprise and shook Nik's hand and it was at this moment a powerful grip that threatened to break him that made Yakima realize that he should have just gone to his work without any sidetracks.

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Nik wasn't too strong. His body's functionality and senses were surely better than previously but in the end, he was an untrained individual but that didn't mean he cannot reply aggression in kind. Yakima's grip involuntarily tightened but it barely fazed Nik as the duo continued to grip each other's hand until Yakima's expression turned into a scowling one and he pulled back with the move of his body, jerking Nik's hand away and Yuuko gasped in surprise.

"I- I'm getting late for my job. Take care, Yuuko-san."

Yakima nodded hurriedly, stuffing his hand in his pocket, and walked out quickly while Nik looked at his own hand, the back of it already a bit red and he clenched it, feeling the pain coursing through his body that made his body twitch.

'Great... It's going to leave a mark temporarily...'

Nik turned around and calmly began to clean the top of the shelves, one of the responsibilities blessed with a greater height. He pulled down the mask for a moment because he was only getting used to the article of clothing which seemed somewhat mandatory in a shop when compared to the public.

Yuuko looked at him working silently and wanted to speak something. She was distinctly aware of Yakima's intentions even if she couldn't understand what he spoke. Although a good man, she just didn't want to distract herself but he didn't give up and even acted kindly towards Megumi and has a great reputation which only made it harder for Yuuko to simply reject his advances outrightly.

"Heh~ Yuuko-san, my son just got into cooking and I'm thinking to buy him a good recipes book—" The middle-aged woman stopped for a moment and silently gazed at the picture of perfection silently working. His hair a bit disheveled yet his movements... his movements made from his body...

'His body...' The woman stood rooted as Yuuko's lips twitched. Isn't this too drastic of a reaction? She complained internally but this was good!

Even better than she could have imagined.

Everyone knows that cooking books are more novelty than anything now. Many young and aspiring chefs that cook for fun and personal satisfaction simply use the internet and more popular platforms to learn their trade or those specialized tutors.

"Ehm," Yuuko coughed.

"Yeah, in a minute," the woman waved her hand as Nik glanced at her. Confusion flickered on his face and then he looked at Yuuko who had a gloomy expression.

With a thought, Nik walked over to the customer, most possibly, and smiled before touching the corner of his lips.

"Yeah, I like them..." The woman almost leaned forward as Yuuko groaned, "You're drooling!"

"Huh?" Breaking out of her stupor, the middle-aged customer found the left corner of her lips a bit wet and 'filled' as she hurriedly took out her mask and wanted to wipe her lips.

Quickly catching the woman's arm, Nik smiled and used his left thumb to wipe it off as the woman stood in a daze. Seeing him naturally wipe his thumb against the apron, the middle-aged woman blushed deeply as she hurriedly walked out.

"I'll come back later!"

"Listen here... can you not act like this?" Yuuko glared at Nik, a blush creeping up her cheeks as this dark-haired youth whose first impression was none other than his 'cheeks' acted simply too out of bounds! You can't just help someone wipe their drool, right?

But looking past the entrance of the shop and at the skipping customer of hers... apparently, this was quite the 'correct' action.

With a smile, Nik leaned over to the counter and Yuuko's heart thumped while she quickly leaned back. If it just wasn't for Nik's strange introduction to this family, she might not have been any better than the customer that just left. Nik's left arm stretched sideways before he picked the cleaning cloth placed at the corner of the L-shaped counter and Yuuko's expression turned bleak.

"I would have deducted your bonus... if I paid you anything at all... but, I just got an idea."

A crafty glint appeared in her pupils while a mischievous smile that made Nik feel curious appeared on Yuuko's lips.

---

"Huff... finally made it," A loud sigh echoed as a few youths got off the bus at the stop near the Shopping District. Out of them was one Twin-tailed Kurumi wearing a brown sweater over her uniform: a white shirt with a red bow tie and a dark grey skirt that barely reached the lower ends of her thighs and a pair of long socks down her knees.

Another two happened to be none other than Megumi Amano. Although Megumi also wore her hair in twin tails, her coffee-brown hair was tied loosely at the end and had her tails over her shoulder and onto her breasts. She wore the same uniform but there didn't seem to be any form of a positive relationship between them. In fact, Kurumi and Megumi glared at each other as they walked at the same time. Behind them was a bespectacled dark-haired youth who silently read from a small cheat-book with a ponderous expression.

Tension was high between the three of them and the boy would throw odd glances at Megumi and then Kurumi. Soon, the trio reached the flight of stairs leading to the Shopping District as Megumi frowned and scoffed, "Souma-san, why are you following me?"

Kurumi glanced at her and then walked away silently.

"Hey! I asked you something!"

"Whatever," Kurumi snorted and continued walking up the steps.

Megumi frowned and hurriedly ran up the stairs. She held her bag tightly and wrapped her other arm around the clothed sack of her bokken to keep them from falling. Soon, she passed Kurumi and in turn, even Kurumi began running.

"Are you two kids...?" The bespectacled youth was speechless as he walked at his own pace, unwilling to get into this mess.

"Huh? You are following me!" Megumi hissed as Kurumi closely followed. She glared at Megumi before her blessed torso and sneered, "You've got baggage!"

Kurumi sped up and surpassed Megumi, "Oh, look, you're following me."

"I'm not! You know I live here!"

Both of them glared at each other before Kurumi suddenly lost her stepping.

'Uh...' Kurumi's eyes widened.

'—Oh...' Megumi's lips twitched and she readied for the incoming disaster as she ran into Kurumi who had lost her stepping and both of them collapsed before sliding forward till they reached a small crowd of girls just a little ahead of them right in front of a bookstore.

"Kyah! Are you alright?" One of the girls hurriedly walked up to Kurumi and Megumi. Others' attention was pulled towards the two girls in school uniform crumbled on top of one another and they hurriedly helped them up.

"Uhh..." Kurumi groaned, scowling from the pain of her knees scraped and she looked up.

*Blink*

Two sets of eyes gazed at each other.

A Kurumi helped by two women to gather her bearings and a Nik wearing nothing but a tanned flat cap with suspenders over his naked torso connected to a slightly shorter pants a little above his waist than ordinary and a pair of slightly worn boots. Meanwhile, he held a large banner: Sale on Retro Collection! Free Hugs!

Kurumi's almost lost it when Nik waved at her without any hint of embarrassment before placing down the banner to hug a slightly older woman with greying hair who smiled happily and entered the store with strangely energetic steps that shouldn't match her age.

"Ah! Why is he here?"

Kurumi heard Megumi gasp as the women around them quickly surrounded the shop once again while scraped and disheveled, Megumi and Kurumi looked at each other.

"He's my friend from overseas, any problem?" Kurumi snorted and crossed her arm. Much to her surprise, Megumi did lash out.

"I do! He appeared in my backyard naked!"

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