Haruka appraised herself in the mirror one last time. She looked dapper, but not too dapper. A reasonable dapper, a personable dapper. Or, she thought so at least. She swallowed hard and left the locker room. She needed this job, however much she doubted she’d do well– there wasn’t even an automotive section here.

The customer service desk was a drab affair, and the worker behind it looked neither personable or dapper.

“Er, hi.” Haruka rubbed her palms on her pants. “I was told to look for a Ms. Aino? It’s my first day.”

The worker sighed and picked up the desk phone. “Minako to customer service.”

Minutes passed. The worker said nothing. Haruka thought it best to follow suit.

“You must be Haruka.”

Whatever Haruka had expected in her manager, Minako Aino was not it. She was younger than Haruka by the looks of it, with long blonde hair and a variation on the uniform that looked like it should be drawn in a pin up calendar.

“You’re gonna do well here, I can tell.”

Haruka did not ask why she thought so. Haruka couldn’t quite find the words to say anything.

“Here in this fine establishment, we have two rules. One. Sell shit. Two. No hitting the customers. We used to only have one rule, but then my predecessor made us realize the need for rule number two.”

Haruka could not tell if she was being serious. Minako led her to the jewelry counter. “This is our domain.”

“Um, this isn’t where I thought they’d put me.”

Minako smiled. “My buddy who interviewed you knew this was your place. He likes to send me the genuine ones. Balances me out.”

“I see.”

Minako gave her a playful punch in the shoulder. “Don’t worry so much. We’re gonna get along great.”

Whatever she had implied about being insincere, Haruka found she believed her.