Honey Bee - Chapter 7

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Café “Cinnamon”

Niki: Rinne-kun.

Rinne: ♪~

Niki: Hey, Rinne-kun!

Rinne: Aahn? Damn, why so noisy? Are you lonely when Rinne-kun doesn’t pay attention to you?

Aw~, there, there. Sorry, but I’m real busy right now.

Niki: All you’re doing is trespassing into a café on its closing day and loitering around reading magazines. You’re making it hard to clean the place.

Rinne: I can just move out of the way for that, ‘s all good. Look, look, you missed a spot! I don’t approve such sloppy cleanin’ practices!

You heard me, so make like a worker bee and get busy ♪

Niki: You’re such a nag… I wanna get the cleaning over with before I get hungry, so I’d like to get back to it as soon as possible. But y’know, I can’t help but wonder.

Is this really the time for you to be reading magazines all leisurely? Ever since the contest started, all I’ve seen you do is gamble and laze around.

It’s almost time for us to show the job we found to Kohaku-chan, right~?

Rinne: Oh, now that you say it, the deadline’s approachin’ fast.

Kyahahaha ☆ The day of the crucial match, huh. Gets me hyped! Can’t wait to see if Kohaku-chan managed to find a proper job...♪

Niki: Why’re you talking like a dad on parents’ day* at school. You realize that you’re a participant in the contest too, right, Rinne-kun?

You were the one who told me, “Just take it easy, Niki, ‘cause I’ll find us a job”. And yet you’re not doing anything.

We’ll both be held liable if we lose the match, and I don’t wanna do the penalty game~.

Rinne: It’s all a-okay ♪ Don’t worry ‘bout it. ‘Cause I’ve got an infallible “secret plan” up my sleeve. See, you’re in good hands!

Niki: Eeh…? A gambler’s “secret plan” is just about the most anxiety-inducing thing I’ve ever heard of.

Rinne: Oioi, isn’t that a little too harsh? I guess if you have that little confidence in me, you could always start lookin’ for a job on your own?

Actually, why is it on me to do the dirty work anyhow?

Niki: The way you said that with such an innocent look in your eyes made it hurt all the more! Rinne-kun, are you serious right now!?

Rinne: Yup yup. This totally goes against all laws of nature! Now I get it.

If “Crazy:B” stands for crazy bees, that makes Niki the worker bee, and I’m the drone² that gets waited upon!

That’s why you’re the one who should be workin’ his ass off! Work, work~ ♪ Kyahahahaha ☆

Niki: Nothing gets through to this guy! And actually, that’s the queen bee, not the drone, right...?

Location: Staff Canteen

Niki: --And that’s what happened.

HiMERU: ………….(Rolling his eyes)

Kohaku: ...Well, you’ve got me speechless.

That dimwit, after he acted all high and mighty towards me! He’s really lookin’ down on me, ain’t he!

HiMERU: This reminds HiMERU, he once heard that in English, “a drone” means “a person who does no useful work and lives off others”. That does sound like Amagi.

Kohaku: Ko ko ko, good one. It fits him like a glove ♪

--Wait, this ain’t the time for jokes.

...Hm? Bees...? Speakin’ of bees, there was this one job…

Umm, where’s the HoldHands page for it..

Niki: Kohaku-chan, what’s the matter? What’cha suddenly checking HoldHands for?

Kohaku: …………

Yeah. This might work… It’s worth checkin’ out in more detail, I think.

Niki: Checking what out?

Kohaku: HiMERU-han, Niki-han! Some urgent business came up, so I’ve gotta skedaddle!

Niki: Huh? Well, you already paid for your meal, so I’m fine with it… But what’s up?

Kohaku: That’s a secret for now! So long~♪

HiMERU: --My, my, he left in quite the hurry. Seems like Oukawa’s got a flash of inspiration.

Niki: Seems like it. Well, it’s great to see Kohaku-chan in high spirits like that.

Guess that means our loss is already set in stone, then.

HiMERU: Fufu. You’re unexpectedly gracious in defeat, Shiina. But HiMERU thinks this match is not yet settled.

Niki: You think? Pretty sure we’re done for. After all, we are lacking the most vital thing: a job.

HiMERU: --HiMERU is worried about that “secret plan” Amagi mentioned, though.

Niki: Oh right, he did say something like that, huh?

But this is Rinne-kun we’re talking about, so rather than a “secret plan” it’s probably a “ridiculous crapshoot”.

If you’ll remember, this is the kind of guy who has no problem saying stuff like “The foolproof way of winning any gamble is to double your bet after every loss³! So lend me some money ♪”, right?

HiMERU: --HiMERU hopes that this will turn out to just be his needless anxiety at work.

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* Parents’ day in Japan involves the parents of the students observing their children in class.

² From Wikipedia: “A drone is a male honey bee. Unlike the female worker bee, drones do not have stingers and gather neither nectar nor pollen. A drone's primary role is to mate with an unfertilized queen.”

³ This is the Martingale betting system.