Track 6
“Lovesh me, lovesh me not, lovesh me, lovesh me not…”
Sonia was plucking the petals off a flower. This flower was a daisy.
A sea of tears spreads at the feet of the Happy Prince.
“What do you desire?”
I was asked as such, and so I answered.
“I want to be the little boat that will carry you across the sea of sorrow and bring you home.”
“Lovesh me, lovesh me not, lovesh me, lovesh me not…”
“Loves me, loves me not, loves me, loves me not…”
Which way is home?
HAMA House, Rat Room — Thursday
WAKE THE FUCK UP, HACHINOYA!!
Y…yes. I’m up.
……gh, huh. The Happy Prince?
You have time to talk nonsense? Get your ass moving.
Um, well. I just woke up, and I haven’t changed or washed my face—aaaaaah……
Ryui drags Nagi away.
HAMA House Meeting Space
You’re late, Gii~! You sleepyhead~!
You slept in much later than usual today, Nagi.
Oi, oi, he’s still in his pajamas. Did you drag him here like that?
This fucker was sleeping so soundly that he wouldn’t wake up even when I shook him.
Nagi-kun…!
Everyone’s here… Why, when and what for?
Ehem. Ahem, ahem. Today is Thursday. Here’s the agenda for the Very Serious Emergency Night Team Leaders’ Meeting.
Agenda item one! Allegations of forced labour, mistreatment, and harassment against Toy!
F-forced…!?
Agenda item two! The impending bankruptcy of flower LAUNDRY~!
B-bankruptcy…! What… who could have caused such a thing…?
It’s you, dumbass!! Why did Toi have to get caught up in all this trouble!?
Even when I thought I could leave him in your care… Don’t take Toi’s goodwill for granted!
…Nagi. I recall you mentioning that flower LAUNDRY has had an increase in customers because you were offering free fortune-telling, yes?
I hear that to get a readin’ from Toi, you gotta go through his membership-based store and pay an arm and a leg, yeah?
So if you can get your fortune told easily and for free, of course it’s gonna cause a ruckus.
……ah……
Ryui noticed this and checked with Toi, which is how all of this came to light.
It… It’s not like that, Anisama…! I was doing the readings voluntarily, Nagi-kun is not at fault…!
It’s alright, Toi. You did nothing wrong. All the blame lies with this bastard.
PL, BS2, just hearin’ things like that makes me shiver. It’s just a corporate version of a regular household budget, but the name’s so grand n’ everything.
Eh? FloLaun’s revenue is—
Yikes…
This is… quite serious……
Ahaha~! A net profit ratio of minus 120%!! A huge deficit, massive! It’s time to apply for bankruptcy~!
Bankruptcy……!
Oi, wait. What’s this entry? Why’s the cost greater than the revenue?
Oi, Yowa. Give me the ledger! And the daily reports!
How naggy~, Ryooey’s a bossypants. Knock yourself out.
…This is it, two weeks ago. The numbers are off by a lot only on this day.
Ah, that’s the Queen of the Night that I bought, so it’s fine. The old man at the market told me that if I didn’t buy it, he’d have to throw it away, so I couldn’t help myself…
Then what about this!? A month ago!
It was the same old man… His daughter was going to be in a big recital or something, so to help pay for that, he purchased a large amount of this plant called bugleweed—
ARE YOU AN IDIOT!!
He got well n’ truly scammed.
Using my genius brain, I’ve applied all sorts of formulas like Finabocci3 and Maclaurin to arrive at this conclusion~!
If things continue like this, you’ll have to close down after the customer appreciation event!! Goodbye, farewell~.
(((DUUUUN……!!!!)))
Haah… If the store closes down, I’ll be sacked from the night shift too.
Ah… wh… Minemori-san’s shop… The night shift, wh…!
I, I’ll cancel the fixed deposit I signed up for after being persuaded to by the salesperson, and the insurance policy I signed up for after being persuaded to by the salesperson—
Why…? Nagi-kun only wanted to make people happy!
Toi…
If you cherish everything that’s right in front of you, you won’t be able to protect what’s truly special.
…Truly special…
The things we have—our time, our lives—it’s all limited. We have to carefully consider who we spend our time with, what we use, and how much of it.
If you give money to every stranger you see, you’ll become bankrupt and have nothing left in the end.
Unfortunately, everything is finite… Because we humans are neither gods nor immortal.
That’s…!
What should we do… What can we do…
It’s alright, my boy. All of us on the night team will help with the customer appreciation event and bring the deficit up to a full recovery.
But… that would cause trouble for everyone…
Indeed! Such trouble!
Things have gotten to the point where you can’t handle it alone anymore. Just shut up and cooperate.
Toi is already committed, so I’ll help out as well.
A-anisama…! You’re so reliable, kyuuun…!
I guess I'll go out of my way to help poor Gii whose future looks bleak~. You owe me a big favour.
Alright! Let’s plan quickly, then go drinking at Yumejuuya!
Okay!
By the way, Nagi. You were sleeping on the floor last night, are you feeling alright?
(Ah… that’s right. I think I was talking to Shunin when I suddenly got sleepy and almost headbutted him, and then we both went our separate ways.)
I was really tired yesterday, probably because I had to roll my bike back home. As soon as I got back to the room, I was completely exhausted.
I see. Your habit of dedicating yourself to others is one of your strengths, but I’m worried that you might be pushing yourself too hard because of it.
I may be such a man, but I can carry you to bed. You can always rely on me.
Jiiiiin…
(It’s an unexpected crisis of bankruptcy, but everyone is so reliable…)
(I have to protect Minemori-san’s shop no matter what.)
HAMA House — Boar Room
Ahh…
(I want it… I can’t forget that flower.)
(How can I get that desireless, honest, unassuming fool to make flowers with ‘that’ regularly…?)
…I have no choice but to do him a favour…
That fool enjoys being exploited, so if I give to him, he’ll surely cut into his own flesh to repay the debt. I must guide him, even if it means using Toi.
PL refers to 'profit-loss record/income statement'. It shows the company's expenses and revenue.
BS refers to 'balance sheet', which provides information on a company's financial position at a specific point in time.
じーん, transliterated here as 'jiiiiin', is onomatopeia for being overwhelmed with gratitude or emotion, and is often used by Nagi.
Cherophobia is a phobia where a person has an irrational aversion to being happy.