Conquering Villains and Capturing Targets Is Harder in Real Life than in Games

Extra 15.5: Can you not afford to go on the school trip either?

For as long as Fumiya Satoru could remember, there had never been a period in his life when his family had not been pitifully dirt poor.

So impoverished were the Fumiya family that Satake, Satoru's eldest brother, had even once jokingly remarked that had the feudal caste system lasted until present day, without a doubt, their family would've been considered peasants of the lowest rank.

Although being poor meant that they grew up with few of the privileges that the other children around them had, Satoru and all of his siblings had never once resented the fact that they were born into the Fumiya family because they all knew that their parents had always worked extremely hard to provide for their large family. Furthermore, not only did the Fumiya children not resent their plight, they were also incredibly diligent and filial. As soon as they were old enough to help, they took over all of the household chores that had to be done to alleviate some of their parents' burden.

Thus, when his mother passed away from poor health when Satoru was 11, their family was more or less able to continue functioning despite their grief.

When Satoru turned 16, he decided to find a part-time job to help contribute to the family purse and also settle his own school fees. Although his elder siblings and father were against it at first, in the face of Satoru's persistence and earnestness, they eventually agreed to allow him work at a convenience store close to their home.

Incidentally, because his workplace was also fairly close to his school, Satoru often saw schoolmates during his shifts, like the female student whom had just entered the store.

"Hmm, Shii-chan likes this brand of chocolate and oh-they have that popping candy Fuu-chan enjoys," murmured the girl to herself as she placed things into her basket.

I think she's someone in my grade. Sadou-san? Satou-san maybe? I'm pretty sure she's part of that trio of girls that everyone's always talking about.

As there was nothing else for him do in the moment, Satoru found himself observing the student. From where he stood at the counter, he could see that she had a ribbon fastened to her hair. From his experience with women's hair accessories garnered from years of helping his younger sisters do their hair for school, he could tell that the ribbon she had on wasn't a product that was commonly sold in small corner shops or cheap flea markets.

When he noticed that the girl was approaching the counter with the intention to pay, he quickly retracted his gaze and put on his usual professional demeanour.

After he had unloaded various snacks from her basket and scanned them one by one he said, "Your total is 2300 yen. How will you be paying today?"

"Credit card please," she answered in a soft voice.

Satoru's face twitched as he reached for a plastic bag. Uwah, a high schooler with a credit card...I'm a little envious...

Satoru hit a few buttons on the screen then he turned to her and gestured to the machine and said, "Any time you're ready."

From her bag the girl produced a faded and aged brown wallet with fraying edges and began digging through it. 

As someone who had been perennially penniless, Satoru felt his heart swelling with solidarity at the sight of her wallet.

Oh wooow, that wallet looks so worn out...

As the girl flipped through various compartments of her wallet, her appearance grew increasingly more flustered.

Out of concern Satoru asked, "Is there something wrong?"

The girl's head hung as she wistfully said, "...I seem to have left my credit cards in my backpack."