The office fell silent. Qian Xiaoyi had thought the kid might have seen something terrifying at night and come to him to get his eyes sealed, or perhaps a friend had run into a paranormal incident and needed advice on what to do.
If it wasn't too much trouble, Qian Xiaoyi didn't mind helping out. He had nothing else to do, after all. But he'd never imagined the kid was here to apply for a job. He couldn't even support himself, and next year's rent was still up in the air. Where was he supposed to get money to hire anyone? Especially some green kid who hadn't even grown out of his baby fat. If anything happened, Qian Xiaoyi couldn't take responsibility.
"Go home." Qian Xiaoyi lit a cigarette and held it between his lips without taking a drag, letting it burn quietly.
"Huh?" Inuyama Heita looked up, trying to explain. "But..."
"No buts." Qian Xiaoyi replied bluntly. "I don't need an assistant. I know how kids your age think. When you hit puberty, your sense of self gets inflated, and you start thinking you're the chosen one. When something out of the ordinary happens, you want to get involved. I get it. We've all been that age. But unfortunately, reality isn't some cartoon for kids. The world doesn't need a high schooler to save it, and I'm not obligated to hire an inexperienced kid. Not even if you can see spirits. Go home."
After all that, Qian Xiaoyi's main reason was that he had no money. He also didn't want to expose the miserable truth that there was nothing to do at his office. If he had enough work, he'd have liked to hire someone to run errands, but unfortunately, he hadn't gotten a single real job.
"Please. I can do errands or anything else. I won't cause you trouble. I really need money right now," Inuyama Heita said.
I need money too... Qian Xiaoyi thought silently. He tapped the ash into the ashtray, then asked, "What do you need money for?"
"Food and tuition," Inuyama Heita answered.
"What about your parents? Don't they give you any?"
"My mother died of an illness when I was little, and my father disappeared a few years ago," Inuyama Heita said calmly. "He left me an apartment."
Qian Xiaoyi felt a headache coming on. He'd seen the kid going after discounted bento with him, so he'd known his family was struggling. He hadn't imagined things were this bad. He asked, "How have you managed until now?"
"My grandma in the countryside sends me some money every year, and I work part-time too," Inuyama Heita said.
"So you have a job, then," Qian Xiaoyi said. "Why not keep it?"
"I got scared when I suddenly started seeing ghosts. I acted strangely and caused trouble for the shops, scaring the customers," Inuyama Heita explained simply. "Then the managers fired me, so I never kept any job for long."
Qian Xiaoyi looked at the unlucky kid and sighed. "All right. I was lying earlier. I've actually been in Tokyo running this office for three months, and I haven't gotten a single real job. I can't afford to hire anyone." He dropped the act. He came clean. He was broke.
Inuyama Heita's eyes widened. "But... didn't you say you were more capable than a lot of famous mediums? How come nobody comes to you?"
Qian Xiaoyi sneered, his voice full of cynicism. "Kid, that's the sad reality of this society. Smooth-talking losers often get further than people with real skills. Outsiders can only see the surface; they don't understand what's underneath. Otherwise, why would I have met you at the discount bento section?"
"..." The light had gone out of Inuyama Heita's eyes. He didn't have a cent in his pocket, and he had no idea where his next meal was coming from. He was even considering taking out a loan from a loan shark to tide himself over.
Just then, his stomach suddenly growled loudly.
Qian Xiaoyi gave him a strange look. "Didn't eat breakfast? Out of money? Was what you got robbed of yesterday your last bit?"
"Yeah..." Inuyama Heita nodded awkwardly.
"Tsk." Qian Xiaoyi stood up, pulled a cup of instant noodles out from under the desk, and tossed it onto the table. "Eat. It's all I've got. The water dispenser's over there."
"I..." Inuyama Heita was about to refuse, but then he thought about how he might not have anything to eat at lunch, and how he still had to look for work that afternoon. Torn, he took the noodles. "I'll pay you back."
Qian Xiaoyi shrugged. It was only a cup of instant noodles, and it was discounted stock that was almost past its expiry date.
The fragrance of the noodles soon filled the whole office. As Inuyama Heita ate, he sneaked a glance at Qian Xiaoyi, who seemed to be playing on his phone and hadn't noticed him at all. Still, Inuyama Heita felt awkward. He'd come here without any thanks to offer and was now freeloading a cup of noodles, putting Qian Xiaoyi to even more trouble. It was enough to make anyone lose sleep.
Thinking this, he ate faster, planning to leave as soon as he finished and never come back. Once he'd earned some money, he'd send it back along with a gift.
Just then, Qian Xiaoyi's phone buzzed. He glanced at it and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Heitaro, I've got a job for you. Interested?"
"It's Heita..." Inuyama Heita looked up warily. "What kind of job? You just said..."
Qian Xiaoyi waved his phone. "Not here. I have a friend in Tokyo. I just asked him, and he can set you up with a part-time job at the Chinese restaurant he owns. He gets a lot of customers every day and needs more hands. The hours are weekday evenings during dinner, and all day on weekends. You get paid daily. What do you think? Want it?"
Inuyama Heita stared at Qian Xiaoyi, confused.
"Hey, you zoned out?" Qian Xiaoyi waved a hand in front of his face. "Or do you not want it?"
"Why are you helping me like this? Not just last night, but now too..." Inuyama Heita asked, perplexed. "We're practically strangers who've only met once. Isn't this really weird?"
"Weird?" Qian Xiaoyi looked puzzled too. "I haven't done anything. I just sent a text to ask. It was no trouble at all. What's weird about that?"
"It's weird." Inuyama Heita nodded. "I've never met anyone like you in Tokyo."
"This may sound rude, but..." Qian Xiaoyi stubbed out the half-burned cigarette in the ashtray. "This is just a normal thing to do. A kid's in a desperate situation, so I give him a hand. The strange thing isn't me. It's this city, which is far too cold, and all of you who live here. Before I came here, I never knew people could be so numb and repressed. Spirits and ghosts are everywhere. This place is practically a paradise for exorcists."
Inuyama Heita was stunned by what he'd said.
"Are you taking the job or not? If not, forget it," Qian Xiaoyi said impatiently.
"I'll do it! I'll take it!" Inuyama Heita said excitedly. He didn't even have money for food, so there was no way he could turn down this lifeline.
Afterward, Qian Xiaoyi wrote down the restaurant's address and phone number. Inuyama Heita thanked him profusely, and Qian Xiaoyi sent him on his way.
"Phew. Talking to Japanese people is such a pain in the ass. Even kids beat around the bush." Qian Xiaoyi sat back down and idly scrolled through his phone to kill time. He'd helped the high schooler simply because he didn't want to see him die in some dark corner. If Qian Xiaoyi ignored him, what would a kid with no money for food, no luck finding work, and the ability to see spirits do? The answer was obvious: he'd use that ability to make money. And if a rookie like him went charging in, he'd only hurt himself and others. There were no exceptions.
Time passed. Another day of poverty and leisure at the Lingkong Exorcism Office had gone by.
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