However, just being eager to “make money!” doesn’t mean you can start a business right away. I don’t have any initial funds, and of course, no ideas. Furthermore, there’s daily life to consider. In the end, I ended up attending university lectures as usual and working part-time at a pizza place, riding my bike, freezing.
Of course, in the meantime, I went to home centers, supermarkets, and road stations to look for business ideas and items to exchange at the junkyard… At the same time, I also played through old games for the upcoming new game release. Hobbies are important. If you neglect your hobbies to make money, you won’t even know why you’re making money.
While I spent such a week, it seemed that Mars was busy going to the city hall and the health center for the continuation of his application to live in Japan. And now that all the procedures were over, and Mars was free and my part-time job paycheck had arrived, tonight we were finally about to start a strategy meeting for our business.
“Now then…”
“…Nn… Huh… Are we… going to… do it?”
Did he notice that I turned off the game console and changed the channel to the TV…? Mars, who had been fast asleep using my bath towel as a futon and my folded cushion as a pillow, seemed to wake up with a sleepy look on his face.
“Wait a moment.”
I put the leftover bean sprout hot pot in the kitchen and returned with a PET bottle of tea.
“But why does the bottled tea taste like this, even though the water in this country is delicious?”
“Is it really that bad over there? It’s from the supermarket.”
“I’m starting to get it, but isn’t that supermarket really a super cheap one? I think you should eat food from a proper place.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. That supermarket, which the food service industry also relies on…”
I poured tea into Mars’ cup, which looked somewhat dissatisfied, and also into my cup before putting the PET bottle on the low table.
” For now, from the direction of the junkyard? Since the other day when Mars saw it again, there was something exchanged.”
” Yeah, that’s right.”
” Okay, first of all, this.”
With that said, what I took out from the junkyard was something like a lantern. It had a cylindrical body with a swinging handle, giving it a look that seemed to shine. The label read [Yuo Space Transference Device Galaxy Net Yakata Custom Model], but as usual, I had no clue!
This had been exchanged over the past week from a persimmon → insulation material → spaceship paint → painting → lantern. It seemed that the exchange didn’t always happen every half day, as the timing varied depending on the item.
“Oh, I remember this from my parents’ house.”
“Eh, really?”
“It’s an old standard holographic viewer, but it’s a best-selling item, so it wouldn’t hurt to keep one, right?”
As I said that, Mars lightly pushed the lantern with his paw. The lantern swayed but didn’t fall over, eventually returning to an upright position.
“See, it has safety features, so it’s safe even if a child touches it.”
“Wow. So, what’s this used for?”
“It’s similar to that.”
Mars pointed to the TV in the room. Ah, a space TV. Let’s secure it for now.
“And next, this!”
What I took out was something like a rectangular black power adapter. It seemed to have been exchanged with one of the miscellaneous junk left in the junkyard for a long time. It said [Naracapa Iriki WZ Fun Assortment], but I seriously had no idea.
“Oh, these kinds of things exist, right?”
“Eh? What, what? What’s it used for?”
When I asked, Mars scratched his head with a wry smile.
“I don’t know if they have it on Earth, but they put together old games and sell them without getting licenses.”
“Oh, that? Yeah, they have tons of those on Earth.”
“Oh, really?”
“Or are they games!? I’m really interested in what space games are like! Can’t we connect it to that lantern TV!?”
“Unlike Earth games with controllers, do they have devices for mind control or something?”
“Mind control… No, I don’t think so.”
“Then it’s a no-go.”
I flopped onto the coffee table. I wanted to try space games…
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“The others don’t move?”
“The others don’t move, nope.”
“Well, but we had some big achievements this week, so it’s okay.”
As he said that, Mars moved his paw pointed upward. Yeah, yeah. As I took out three things on the coffee table, he sniffed satisfactorily.
“First, there’s the Force Field Conduction Fabric.”
“Barrier fabric, huh.”
It was a yellow fabric with a high force field conductivity rate that also acted as a force field booster.
“And the Stabilized Mao-ha Kilogram.”
“So what exactly is that?”
When I pointed to the rectangular glowing board on the desk and asked, Mars exaggeratedly raised his hand and shrugged. This had been exchanged from a box of oranges → an accessory for someone with three necks → a sketchy memory device → [Pure Mao-ha Substance 100%].
“So it’s like a gold ingot on Earth. Even if there’s no use for it now, you can use it for trading when dealing with someone who doesn’t use currency.”
” Well, it’s nice and all, but I can’t help but feel less appreciation for something valuable that I’m not used to seeing…,” thought Mars, happily stroking the bluish-purple rod.
” And the highlight of this week, without a doubt, is this, the contraband life support device from the Galactic Police.”
Reluctantly letting go of the rod, Mars tapped on the headphone-like device with faded paint and mysterious stenciled characters.
” By the way, what do those stenciled characters say?”
“It says ‘893-33-4 Oikage,’ isn’t that the name of the original owner?”
“Coming from space pirates…,”
“Well, either a casualty or contraband. It’s rare for a life support device to remain after death, so it’s probably contraband.”
“Yeah, probably!”
It would be scary if an alien ghost stuck to it. Salt probably wouldn’t help them pass on.
“Anyway, with this, combined with the force field conductive cloth, we can create a force field. You’re lucky, Tonbo. With this, we can go to the dungeon.”
“You said that when you got this, but are you serious? Going to the dungeon to trade?”
“Why not? I looked up various things on the information terminal at the library next to the office, and with this, we can probably make a killing.”
Making a killing is great, but… Honestly, I was a little nervous.
I knew there was no danger in experiencing the barrier’s power firsthand, but I was still scared. Well, of course, if everyone can be reassured by being told it’s safe, then there’s no one who can’t bungee jump.
“Tonbo, are you still scared even though you’ve tested the barrier so much?”
“No, I’m not scared at all?”
“You look scared.”
Mars chuckled at my startled reaction and patted my knee.
“Well, I understand. It’s natural to be anxious the first time. Even I couldn’t sleep the night before my first voyage. So, I couldn’t sleep until morning, and in the end, I boarded the ship feeling dizzy and surrendered myself to the vacuum darkness.”
“…………”
“It’s okay. Even if you’re scared, as long as you open your eyes and jump, you can usually handle it.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do.”
Well, no matter how scary it is, there’s no choice but to do it. Because of various purchases for experiments in the junkyard, I had barely touched my credit card’s revolving payment this month. It’s the limit. There’s no other way but to earn money.
“Then, can we start from tomorrow?”
“No, wait, I have a second foreign language class tomorrow, so can we do it the day after tomorrow?”
“The day after tomorrow, huh. Okay, it’s a deal! Let’s make a killing in the dungeon with [Convenience Store Operation]!”
With a smirk, Mars raised the cup of tea, so I raised my cup of tea in response.
They do this in space too…,” I thought, staring at the transparent cup, on the other side of which was a slightly chubby-looking cat named Mars, drinking tea with an unimpressed look.
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A typo’s spotted
> “It’s okay, it’s okay. That supermarket /also/ that the food service industry relies on..”
Something’s missing. /is also something/?
fixed, thanks