Convenience Store Woman

by Sayaka Murata

When I first started here, there was a detailed manual that taught me how to be a store worker, and I still don’t have a clue how to be a normal person outside that manual.

Since I’d left the store, I no longer knew what time I should wake up in the morning. I slept whenever I felt sleepy and ate when I woke up. I didn’t do anything all day except fill out résumé forms, as ordered by Shiraha. I no longer knew what standard to live by. Until now, my body had belonged to the convenience store, even when I wasn’t working. Sleeping, keeping in good physical shape, and eating nutritiously were all part of my job.

“I realize now,” I went on relentlessly. “More than a person, I’m a convenience store worker. Even if that means I’m abnormal and can’t make a living and drop down dead, I can’t escape that fact. My very cells exist for the convenience store.”

“Do you think a convenience store and a human can have sex together?” thinking it would make you blush and get all flustered. But you answered smoothly, your face utterly serious, “What are you talking about? We’re already doing it, aren’t we? You enter me every day.” I think that’s the moment we became lovers.