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They say life is what you make it. If that’s the case, life is making just slightly over minimum wage for one Asagiri Gen. Unfortunately.
Sure, the idea of being a headlining magician, bestselling writer, and television psychologist seem glamorous as fuck. Hell, just imagine the perks! A manager to pick and choose his gigs for him, swimming in vats of cash like Scrooge McDuck, the harem of his dreams, and even an assistant on call to bring him a can of cola the second the urge for one crosses his mind.
Tragically, reality is a cruel mistress and fantasies of fame and power don’t pay the student loans, and neither do the birthday parties and side gig performances he takes for extra cash. Hopeful visions of one’s post-graduate life can only get them so far. So, Gen has embarked on one of the most irritating ventures in his short existence… Getting a part time job at the local pet store.
This particular pet store is part of a large corporate chain that just so happens to be in constant, desperate need of employees. As a result, it employs some of the strangest people Gen has ever met. One has to wonder… Honestly where do the hiring managers find all these people? Oh, well. Beggars can’t choose their coworkers, as they say.
“Why?” you may ask, “Why is Gen stuck working at this particular store? I’m sure he’s qualified for plenty of other positions in the area!”
Well, the answer is a multi-faceted one. For one, it’s located exactly between his apartment, the university, and his internship at a local theatre. Loan debt can absolutely tank your credit score and make it pretty difficult to buy a car, so if he can’t get somewhere by foot, he’s not going. Secondly, the job pays better than pretty much anywhere else in the area. Sure, he may have lied and said that he was great with both customer service and animals, but what’s the point in learning psychology and stage magic if you don’t use a little harmless misdirection every once in a while? Plus, it turns out that interviewers don’t exactly appreciate it when you perform a magic trick during the interview, so that takes most of the other jobs in the area out of the running.
Finally, and Gen would die of embarrassment if anyone found out, he desperately wants to try some cheesy animal magic tricks. Hey, keeping pets is expensive and not allowed in his apartment complex. Nothing wrong with making up your own job benefits, as long as you don’t get caught hiding behind the aquarium wall at work trying to train a rabbit to sit quietly in a top hat while you’re supposed to be restocking the cat food. And in his defense, it only happened one time! It’s not his fault his manager has crazy good hearing…