"I worked eight hours on an assembly line yesterday and didn't sleep at all. I'm in a terrible mood."
"You've got it easy. They made me clear out a sewer!"
"Damn it, if those guys weren't so scary, I would've run off ages ago! Who wants to work hard, anyway?"
"Yeah, yeah. But the pay really was great. It's the first time I've ever earned that much with my own two hands!"
"We finally got a chance to hang out together, so it's kind of a relief that we blew all our money."
"Let's just hurry up and finish this. Then we can beat these guys up, right?"
"..."
Watching the thugs in front of her crack their knuckles, Nagase Kumari realized she had caused this mess.
She quickly stepped in front of them, trying to keep things from turning into a fight.
She knew these thugs, too.
"What are you doing? Honestly, we're all friends here. For my sake, can't you just get along?"
Nagase Kumari forced a smile as she tried to defuse the tension, hoping to keep Akimoto Yoichi, Ise Yuri, and Fukayama Midori out of trouble.
"No way. You ruined our good mood. You'll have to make it up to us by handing over your money. A hundred thousand yen! Give us that, and we'll call it even."
This was standard practice for them. They were just doing what came naturally.
Usually, they went after office workers or older guys.
They'd ask to borrow some money. They had more people, their victims had fewer, and the trick had never failed them.
"Right. Lend us some money, and we'll let you go."
"Come on, hand it over. Otherwise, none of you are leaving."
"And just so you know, we've already called for backup. Don't think that Blondie's