The bizarre mart just before closing time.
The store darkening as the lights went out.
Na-na-na-na na-nan-na-na-na-na na-nanan~
Amid the bright jingle, I could feel through my hand the rapid breathing of the high schooler whose mouth I was covering.
The tension tightened through my whole body.
And beyond the noisy music and that trembling, from far away, a very faint scraping sound gnawed at my nerves as it rang out….
Creeeak.
The sound of a metal door opening.
And in a mart, if there was a metal door rather than a glass one….
‘…A staff area door.’
That was the sound of employees coming out.
‘Ha.’
Swallowing the groan rising up inside me, I turned my head and slightly poked it out past the display shelf to look outside….
Wobble, wobble.
Things in mart uniforms were appearing one by one inside the darkened store….
Grotesque employees, shaped as though someone had imitated the form of a human being with balloons, waddled out.
[LOOKY MART]
The logo of Looky Mart, which imitated Lucky Mart.
The crude imitation pinned to their chests and caps appeared for a moment under the lights, then vanished back into the darkness.
And at that moment—
“Hurry up, let’s go. They said they’re closing.”
“Okay.”
Someone passed through the liquor section right beside the shelf we were hiding behind and headed toward the checkout.
“…!”
It was two or three of the past shoppers still left in the store.
Then… one of them lightly bumped…