Murasakino

First day at the supermarket

   Inside, the supermarket was surprisingly empty. There were only a few men in there, and they seemed to be putting more food on the shelves instead of taking it off. I noticed their name badges, and realised that they worked here. There were over twenty aisles, each one too long to see the other end. The range of things to buy was seemingly endless; fresh vegetables and fruit, frozen food, baked food, drinks, kitchen utensils, pet food and lots of clothing were among them, and the smells were fantastic! The floor had only recently been cleaned, and from the smell I could tell that the cleaner that had been used was lemon scented. The bread and pastries smelled as if they had just come out of the oven, and from somewhere I could detect a seafood stall full of fish and squid. The cash registers were at the front of the store, and there were a few self service checkouts too. I sat at the counter behind my sisters, and Tākoizu's was behind me for when she was ready for her first day. I had a cash register just in front of me and a conveyor belt leading up to it, and also some plastic stands that I wasn't sure how to use. Aka was telling Midori something about the store, when Dr Takeda announced that opening time was in five minutes.

   "Lots of people will visit you today. Remember to call the customers 'sir' and 'miss' and don't forget to ask if they need a bag or not. Good luck!" He turned and left the store, and we began to have a conversation.
   "Hey girls!" Ao shouted. "Who likes the store?"
   "I do!" Midori answered. "My seat is really comfortable! Is yours?"
   "Yeah!"
   "What about yours, Aka?"
   "Mine's a bit high up, but I'll still be able to use the machine!" Aka said, trying to push her chair down.
   "Murasakino?" Midori asked, turning to face me. I pressed down my seat with my hands and shuffled about on it.
   "Mine's okay too, yeah," I replied.
   "Nice! Honōiro?"
   "Yep! Did any of you see our packed lunches?" asked Honōiro.
   "I didn't!" We all looked under the counters that the cash registers were on, and sure enough each of us had a little plastic box with a sandwich, an apple, a carton of apple juice and a brownie inside it. The first things we would ever eat! I was excited to be able to eat something, and when none of the other girls were looking I tore a little bite-sized piece of my brownie off. It smelled really interesting, and as I put it in my mouth my eyes widened. It was beautiful! The flavours all worked so well together, and it was the best first thing I had ever eaten.

   The lovely flavour of the cocoa stayed in my mouth for quite a long time, and soon the doors opened. I looked over to them to see a man in a white shirt holding some empty shopping bags. He stopped to look at each of use one at a time, pulled a slightly confused face and walked over to the aisle with all the frozen food. The speakers overhead began to play a gentle, cheerful melody, and a woman with a shopping trolley entered the store. In under ten minutes, the supermarket had over fifty people in it, all searching for things they needed to buy. A woman walked over to Aka's counter, and she blushed, making the other girls giggle. She put a packet of pork buns, a bottle of milk, a frozen pizza and some herbs on the conveyor belt, then stood one of the plastic stands behind them all. Aka scanned them and told the woman how much she needed to pay, and offered her a bag too. A man appeared at Honōiro's counter with some bread and pastries, then some teenagers came up to Midori with some cans of a fizzy drink. Ao and I were the only ones not to get any customers for a few minutes, but soon there were small queues of people at every counter.

   "Morning!" a cheery man said as he placed his shopping on my conveyor belt. I looked at him, and he gave me such a friendly smile that I had to smile back.
   "Good morning to you too, sir!" I said in reply. "What are you buying?"
   "Oh, just some stuff I'm gonna cook on the barbeque later. We've got friends coming round, and need to get some sausages 'n' stuff for them."
   "That sounds like a great evening," I said, scanning the sausages and beef burgers. "Do you need a burger? Oh, gosh! I didn't mean burger! I... what I meant was a..." I felt my face going hot, and grabbed a bag for him.
   "A bag?" he smiled. "No, I've brought some, but thanks anyway."
   "Okay, sir," I replied quietly.
   "Is it your first day on the job?" The man asked, scratching his arm.
   "Yeah, it is," I said, "but I like it already. The store is so... so bright and... friendly, I guess."
   "I know what you mean," he said. "Well, I gotta get back to the house and see the kids. See you later..." He peered over to look at my name badge. "...Murasakino!"
   "Goodbye, sir!"

   After a while, it was lunchtime, and we all decided to eat. The sandwiches had ham and mustard in them, which was quite spicy but not too much. My apple was quite sour, and of course the brownie was absolutely delicious. As I drank my apple juice, I wondered who had made the brownies; Dr Takeda? His friend Cathy, the person who made our shirts? Whoever it was, they definitely knew a lot about baking. However, soon after I finished eating, I got a strange feeling just under my belly; it felt really full, and I had an urge to wriggle around on my chair.
   "Girls?" I shouted. "Something's happening to me, but I don't know what it is! Any of you know?"
   "Maybe it's food poisoning," Aka said, but Midori disagreed.
   "If it was, it would be from our lunch, so we'd have it too," she explained. "Maybe she needs the toilet?"
   "Murasakino, try going to the toilet!" Ao yelled, and I got up from my chair to run there.