Chapter Text
“You're fired,” Emi’s manager said plainly; handing the termination paper to her.
Ehhh?? Emi thought as she sat across from her manager while looking through the paper.
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Earlier that day, right after Emi left school to go to work, she was held back by her teacher to talk about an upcoming project. Emi knew that her manager hated it when his workers were not on time, but this time she didn’t have any control over the matter.
When she finally made it to the grocery store, where she worked, her manager yelled at her for being late. This wasn’t a regular occurrence, so she didn’t understand how her being late one time made him so angry.
“Are you listening? Ugh, just get back to work,” Her manager scoffed as he walked away.
Emi bowed so many times that her head was starting to hurt.
“Someone defiantly woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Emi mumbled as she put on her uniform and began moving the produce.
From the corner of her eye, she noticed one of her co-workers using his phone while leaving the live lobsters on the ground in the middle of the aisle. She was pretty sure that they were supposed to be put away by now, but that wasn’t any of her business.
Emi continued to shelf products in the next aisle over until she heard a child scream.
She ran in the direction of the noise only to find a crying child on the ground, soaked in water with lobsters crawling everywhere.
Before she helped the child she quickly put the container that held the lobsters up and put them all inside. This wasn't a difficult job as she was very fond of the creatures.
Emi helped the child up, and luckily she only had a bruise on her knee.
“Are you ok?” Emi asked.
The child began to cry even more, causing Emi to panic.
Turning the corner, she saw a frantic-looking woman.
“Suki! Oh, Suki there you are!” The woman pulled her daughter into a hug.
“How did this happen?!” She yelled.
Emi responded by saying, “I, uh think she might have tripped and fallen over the lobsters.”
“And you didn’t think to move it out of the middle of the aisle!?” the woman seemed to get more and more agitated.
Before Emi could de-escalate the situation, her manager came into the aisle.
Emi ran next to him, relieved that she didn’t have to deal with this alone. It took a little bit of time, but they both bowed and apologized to the woman and her child. Emi clutched her chest and let out a sigh of relief.
“What were you thinking?” Her manager said.
“Huh?”
“Why would you leave out live lobsters in the middle of the aisle?!” He yelled.
“Wait, no! Ikari was supposed to put away the lobsters, not me!” Emi responded.
“It doesn’t matter, when you’re done with your shift, come to my office,” He said coldly.
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Emi sat down on the train with a defeated look in her eyes.
Shit, I needed this job to help Mom pay for my therapy and schooling! How could I let this happen? She thought.
Before she let her anger take control of her, she practiced some of her breathing exercises. When she finally calmed down, Emi sighed and thought that she would make use of this time to find another job or paid internship. Since she wanted to become a biomedical engineer, Emi applied for paid internships at hospitals, universities, research laboratories, and this thing called… Blue Lock?
Now, she couldn’t afford to be picky so when she applied so she made a mental note about doing more research about it later. For now, Emi had to go to her mom’s work to tell her about the news.
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When Emi opened the door to the nail salon she heard the familiar sound of a bell ringing, signaling to the workers that a customer had come in.
“Good to see you again Emi! How is your new fancy school?” Hina, one of her mom’s co-workers asked.
“Not bad, though I just got fired from my job,” Emi said, sweat dripping from her forehead.
“No way! The one at the junkyard or grocery store?”
“The one at the groceries store…” Emi responded.
“Aww, sorry to hear that. Do you need any help finding a job?” Hina asked as she handed Emi a piece of candy.
“Mmm, strawberry is my favorite flavor- ah anyways I’ve already applied for some jobs, but thanks anyways.”
“Okay then, well your mom is in the back taking a break and your younger sister already went home,” Hina said.
Emi took a handful of hard candies from the bowl on the front desk.
“Thanks!” Emi said as she stuffed the candies in her school bag.
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Emi made her way to the back of the store all while skillfully avoiding the customer's freshly painted nails.
“ Hey, Emi. How was school? ” Her mom asked in English.
The Chie family typically spoke English at home due to her grandfather who used to work in America and wanted to get his family to speak English as well. Knowing a second language fluently would also increase Emi’s chance of getting into her dream college, Tokyo University.
“ Not bad, excepttttt uh for the fact that I just got fired from my job at the grocery store,” Emi said while holding a strained smile.
“Ehh!? Well, at least you have your other job. In the meanwhile, make sure you apply to some more.”
Woah, I thought she would be mad, Emi thought.
“ I already did, oh and by the way my next interview is for this place called… Blue Lock?” Emi said as she brought her phone closer to her face while adjusting her glasses.
“Amazing, I bet you’ll do great!” Emi’s mom said.
Her eyes were practically sparkling with optimism.
“Yeah, I hope so too."