"Damn it, why did it get dark so fast?!"
Karin had ducked into a small supermarket, her expression grim. Not only because Zero had previously said they needed to find an empty room—an active place crowded with people like a supermarket clearly did not fit that requirement.
More importantly, their agreed meeting spot was fairly open. If Sakura had not found shelter before it became completely dark, they would be in trouble.
The slap-slap of slippers sounded nearby. A middle-aged woman in a black striped apron came to the entrance, muttering complaints. "This is fucking awful. It's getting dark so early every day! How am I supposed to do business like this?!"
The woman pulled the glass door shut, though she did not lock it. After all, what if a new customer came in to buy something?
Karin used the snack shelves around her to stay hidden in the woman's blind spot.
But the small supermarket was not very large. After closing the door, the middle-aged woman began walking toward where Karin was hiding.
Karin's heart sank. She carefully shifted around like the King of Qin circling a pillar, with only a shelf separating the two of them.
The woman counted the goods in the supermarket, occasionally taking things down and putting them back. Before long, she had gathered several expired snacks.
Looking at the snacks in her hands, a trace of heartache flashed through the woman's eyes. In the end, she shook her head and tossed them into the trash can by the counter.
Seeing the woman leave, Karin was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Miss, are you here to buy something?" The woman sat behind the counter, glanced at the surveillance monitor beside her, and wrote in her ledger.
Karin, who had just relaxed, felt