Transfer Student(1)

[Pitter-patter]

"Hm? It's raining."

I looked up at the sky and mumbled. I was planning on going to the hospital by bus. But, upon seeing the rain, I changed my mind. There would be some time to wait for the bus, and I didn't want myself got wet.

I had changed to my casual clothing that was consisted of a black shirt and black tight jeans. I also wore black jacket that I left unzipped. I quickly entered the apartment building and as usual, someone greeted me.

"Did you forget your umbrella, Mr. Seo?"

"Nope. I forgot my car key."

"..."

I ignored her and headed to my room to take my car key. I continued my way to the parking lot to take my car. When I arrived in front of it, I couldn't help but appreciate my taste of car.

My car is white 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. It has supercharged and intercooled pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, and direct fuel injection.

Its power is unquestionable as it is 600 HP. Not only that, but the performance is also satisfying. It takes 3.7 seconds from 0 to 60 mph, and its top speed is 190 mph.

But what matters the most is that the price is affordable. It costed me only USD $72,000 or around JPY ¥7,600,000. And with some of my connections, I managed to avoid the tax.

Ehemm..

I stopped my thought and entered the car. I turned on the car, the AC, and the Music Player. I opened the drawer and took my flash drive which is consisted of binaural beats[1]. I plugged in the flash drive and played the beat.

"Hmm... Let's play 3.2 Hz Theta Wave. It suits the weather."

Theta wave will ease your mind. Coupled with the relaxing rainy scene, it will be a good relaxation to my brain. I drove my car while listening to the beats and humming to myself.

I set the volume of the beats not pretty high, but I couldn't know what I was humming. Well, it didn't really matter though.

I stopped the car at the junction when the traffic light turned red. I waited while tapping my steer wheel. I looked at my car window and noticed that it was fogging.

[Squeak]

The window glass produced a squeaking sound when I draw a face that resembled the face of Hotei[2] which I saw from a book long ago.

"Hmm... The dew makes it looked like the dark version of Hotei! Or maybe, I'm just bad at drawing."

I mumbled to myself while watching the drawing I made on the window glass destroying itself. It didn't take long as I couldn't already figure out what I had drawn on it.

Tired of watching it, I cleared all of the fog from the window with a piece of cloth that I got from somewhere inside the car. When it was finally cleaned from the fog, I saw it!

A man cornered a woman in a narrow alley. No one noticed it as they were too focused on minding their own business.

But, I saw someone approached the man. He seemed to be a middle-aged man as some of his hairs were grey. He tapped the man's shoulders and said something to him.

The man who cornered the girl waved his hand and replied the middle-aged man in nonchalant manner. The middle-aged man seemed hesitate as he looked between the two people back and forth.

Not long after, he nodded said something to the man who cornered the girl. The man who cornered the girl nodded in annoyance and followed the middle-aged man who was leading them toward somewhere. The girl who was cornered also followed the two closely.

"Maybe they're heading to the Police Office. Huh.. even in this rainy day. They get bolder day by day."

I chuckled and moved my gaze to the traffic light. The light had turned green, and I didn't know since when. But considering the amount of the honking sound behind me, I could conclude that it was since a quite long time.

I stepped on the pedal and drove my car once again. Recalling about the previous event, I could somehow know what kind of talk that they had.

***

I, Nishino Yume am a saleswoman. There is nothing special about my job, but I love it. I lived by myself so my life cost is fairly low. Coupled with the good pay from my work, I have saved some quite amount of money.

A week ago, I browsed through the internet and coincidentally found a fairly low price real estate. I looked at the list of the houses and found one that suits my taste.

I clicked it and saw the details inside, I couldn't help falling in love with it. But when I saw the price, I was forced to change my mind. For the current me, it was too much. I might be able to afford it in the future, but it isn't the case for now.

[Sigh]

"Aahh... I wish I could have a better pay."

I leaned my body back to the chair while looking at the ceiling. Suddenly, I thought of an idea and tapped the keyboard.

"Hmm... What am I hoping for? There's no way that it could happen."

I chuckled hollowly while proceeding to stand up from the chair.

[Ding]

I was stopped by a notification from my laptop. I quickly sat down and opened the notification.

"No way... It's a lie, right?"

My eyes turned bright and I clenched my fist. I tried my best to suppress my laugh of happiness as I tapped my fingers to the keyboard once again.

When I saw the number, I was slightly surprised. It was a fifth of the house price. I hesitated a bit. But considering its low price, I finally agreed to pay.

The agency gave me their bank account and told me to send the money there.

Is buying a house this simple? Don't you have to sign something or doing some visit first?

There was some doubt, but I still sent the money regardless. After all, I had that much of money.

...

When it comes to luck, I might be called lucky for all this time.

But now, finally my luck ran out.

I was so eager to see my house, so I went back early from the office. I called the agency a few times, but they didn't answer. I guessed that they were busy so I didn't pursue the matter any further.

I took on a taxi and told the driver the address of the agency. The driver looked at me strangely but he still drove me without asking any question.

"We're here."

After a quite some time, I've finally arrived at the address. But when I looked around, I didn't see any agency office there. I was confused so I asked the driver.

"Sir, is it really the place?"

"Yes it is."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"But... How can there is no Real Estate Agency Office here?"

When I looked at the driver cluelessly, he raised one of his eyebrows and kept silent. I flinched and lowered my gaze. I thought that he was mad at me who was doubting him.

"I am sorry... I will—"

'...go down right away,' was what I wanted to say. But I didn't manage to do it as I was interrupted by the driver's sigh.

"Hah... I'm sorry young lady, but if I may ask, have you paid for it?"

"Uhh... Yes I have. Why is it?"

I lifted my head and replied the driver. But upon seeing my puzzled expression, he sighed once again.

"Huh... I guess it has another victim."

"Huh? What do you mean by victim?"

"Young lady, the agency has been sold for nearly four years. Now, the ownership is handed to someone in Tokyo. It has also sold its assets long ago. So, there's no way that this agency sells house anymore."

I was dumbstrucked. I stayed silent as I looked at the man blankly. The man turned his body back restarted the car.

"No worries, young lady. I'll get you back to your place. You don't need to pay for this time. You just have to pay for your first trip."

"Wait! You're kidding right? Tell me that you're kidding!"

"I like joking around, but I have never joking on someone's misfortune."

"No. You gotta be kidding me."

"This is actually not the first time I encountered someone like you. There was also another one back then. If you don't believe me, you can type Nanaku Real Estate Agency on Gorgle."

When I heard the driver's word my eyes turned teary. Tears slowly falling down from my eyes. I don't know kind of face did I make but I am certain that it was miserable.

The car slowly drove while I was looking at the screen on my phone. My head turned into a mess. I cried silently. My eyes were full of tears to the point of being unable to see anything.

Namida Real Estate Agency is the agency from which I bought the house.

What the driver said was true.

When I arrived at my living place I didn't bother to rest myself as I directly went to report this matter to the Police. The police said that they were going to investigate this and told me to keep calm.

They said that it wasn't their first time handling this matter as there were also some people who got scammed by this agency.

I finally able to calm myself and returned home. 6 million is no small amount. I can buy many things with that money. But now it's gone, I can't help but scream.

"Aaaa!!! I can't believe it! Why did I believe it so easily"

[Bump]

I punched the wall continuously until my hands felt hurt. I stopped and my feet turned jelly. My head was against the wall as I started to weep again. No matter how much I tried to calm myself, I couldn't stop the stress I felt.

I have worked for 7 years to get that amount of money. When someone effortlessly took that away from me, it's normal for me to get mad.

Long time past and before I know it, it was already morning. I looked at the clock and noticed that I was late for work. I stood up weakly and went inside the bathroom.

I decided not to work because of my miserable state. I ended up absent for two days straight without notifying the office. When I came to the office, many people are whispering upon seeing me.

I sat down on my chair and turned on the computer. But when I was signing in, my account was rejected. It said that my account didn't exist. I was about to ask the staff when my colleague tapped my shoulder.

"Boss is calling you."

"Hm? Is something happen?"

"I don't know, you better go."

I nodded silently and left to the office.

"She's done."

I don't know who, but I was sure that there was someone said that.

...

The office was quiet as usual. But even I, who seldom entered the office knew that something was different.

"Nishino-kun. Please sit!"

"Yes sir!"

I did what my boss said and straightened my body. He looked at me silently and handed a letter to me.

"Don't open it. At least wait until I say something to you."

I nodded and received the letter.

"Nishino Yume, 29 years old, the best saleswoman awardee in 2015, 2016, and 2017. You broke the selling record in 2016 and since then on you are believed to be the most capable worker in our office."

I was puzzled by his sudden words but my heart was strangely in turmoil.

"Two days ago one of our clients protested that the product you sold was damaged and on a completely different state from what you said. We checked the state of the product, and the statement is true.

"What he wanted was simple, he wanted a refund. And so, we were planning to leave it up to you. But instead of dealing with the matter, you went absent for two days without saying a single word to the office. Where were you?"

"I was at home. I got some problems, so I was in no state of working."

"I see. Now let me continue the talk. Due to your absence, we decided to leave the matter to someone else. But, the person who was dealing with the matter found something unexpected."

And now I know what made my heart so uncomfortable since I entered the office.

———

[1] two tones that are slightly different in frequency, played one in each ear that makes your brain processes a beat at the difference of the frequencies.

[2] God of happiness and good health in Japan mythology.