"I've got a pretty useless Quirk too," Aoyama Akira said with a wry smile. "It just makes my body glow. No real combat power at all."
"No, no, no—how can that be useless?" the bespectacled man immediately objected. "Think about it. If your body glows, you never have to worry about walking at night. And if you run into trouble, you can focus the light into a single point and flash it straight into someone's eyes. That alone could blind them long enough for you to escape. The uses of a Quirk like that go way beyond what you're imagining. You're just being too low-key."
Akira froze for a moment.
Then it hit him.
He was right. If power was concentrated into a single point, the effect would be drastically amplified. His Quirk wasn't just something that made him glow—it had real combat potential.
Today's work hadn't been for nothing. Something he hadn't fully grasped before had been pointed out by someone else. Akira suddenly felt lighter, even cheerful, to the point where the filthy water around him didn't seem quite as disgusting anymore.
A few pedestrians had stopped nearby, covering their noses as they watched Akira digging through the foul ditch. They couldn't understand what could possibly have fallen in there to justify such effort.
Still, no one asked questions. They simply watched in silence for a while, until some of them couldn't stand the smell and hurried away.
"Got it!" Akira called out at last.
After groping around for a while, his fingers closed around the missing phone. The faint glow of Holy Light had made the search much easier—without it, finding the device so quickly would have been extremely difficult.
"Seriously? All this for a phone?" a man in his twenties muttered as he walked away. "I thought it was something valuable, like a ring or a necklace."
The rest of the onlookers gradually dispersed as well. With nothing else to see, the spectacle was over.
"Thanks," the bespectacled man said with clear relief. "Go wash your hands first. This place isn't far from Broken House anyway. You can give me the phone after you clean it."
He didn't mind spending a bit of money. There was important information stored on that phone—losing it wasn't an option.
After returning to Broken House, Akira immediately washed his hands, then carefully cleaned the phone as well. It took a generous amount of soap before the smell was finally gone.
Only then did Akira properly learn the man's name.
Tanaka Hiroto.
He was a university student, majoring in a field that relied heavily on calculation and data processing—perfectly suited to his Quirk. Apparently, he was ranked fairly high among his peers.
Once everything was settled, Tanaka left. The first official job since reopening had been completed successfully, without any major issues.
"You worked hard on your first day," Usagi Gin said with a grin. "First you cleaned the shop, then you went digging through a ditch. Lunch will be here soon—eat something first. If business stays good these days, I'll make sure you get better meals."
Gin genuinely felt that Broken House was about to pick up again, heading back toward its old peak.
"I don't mind working hard," Akira replied, then paused as something occurred to him. "But I really don't want to take on too many messy jobs alone. Gin-san, you can't seriously plan on running this place with just the two of us, right? What happens if orders pile up?"
"That's obvious," Gin said confidently. "I'm already recruiting. Someone will probably come apply in a few days. Don't worry—now that Broken House is open again, people will show up. If we end up with too many, I'll keep at most three people. You're definitely staying. I'll even give you a raise."
Akira didn't fully believe him. Competition for a place like this sounded unrealistic. Still, Gin was the boss—his word was final. As long as the pay was reliable and the conditions were decent, Akira wasn't going to argue.
Lunch arrived right on time, and the delivery driver left immediately after dropping it off.
Akira looked at the food and found it… modest.
There were three dishes: two vegetable sides and one with meat. The "meat dish" turned out to be sushi rolls—only two of them actually contained salmon, while the rest were vegetable rolls.
He sighed inwardly.
Still, as long as it was edible, that was enough. Akira wasn't in a position to be picky. Once he earned more and had money left over after daily expenses, he could try more of Japan's local cuisine.
After all, this was a country known for its variety of food.
After lunch, another order came in.
This time, the client was an elderly woman. She looked anxious, clearly troubled for days. Broken House had been closed before, and the entrance had been so unkempt that she hadn't dared come in. Today, seeing the shop open and cleaned up, she entered immediately.
Her request was simple but heartfelt.
Her pet dog had gone missing a week ago. Despite searching everywhere, she hadn't found a single clue. With nowhere else to turn, Broken House represented a final sliver of hope.
"We can take the request," Gin said kindly. "But at the moment, there's only one person handling jobs, so it may take some time. If we find any leads, we'll contact you immediately."
The elderly woman waved her hand. "I understand the price. As long as you can find my Huahua, I'm willing to pay more."
Huahua was the dog's name.
She took out several photos and handed them to Gin and Akira. After discussing the initial fee, the order was accepted.
Once the woman left, Gin turned to Akira. "This one isn't urgent. Take your time, but keep an eye out. Remember what the dog looks like. If you see it, bring it back. If you run into trouble, call me. I still have a few connections."
"Understood," Akira replied, committing the dog's appearance to memory. When he had free time, he could look around nearby neighborhoods. Maybe he'd get lucky.
The afternoon passed quickly. Only two orders came in that day. Gin said that was normal for a newly reopened shop, and that business would pick up in a few days.
Akira, however, wasn't eager to get swamped with work. If it took up too much time, he wouldn't be able to train his body and Quirk properly. Training was his real goal—this job was just a means to survive.
Dinner was ramen, and surprisingly, it tasted quite good. That alone made Akira curious about how the delivery worked. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all different, yet consistently prepared.
At eight in the evening, work ended right on time.
Gin didn't try to keep Akira any longer than agreed. He sent him off to rest as scheduled, which left Akira genuinely satisfied.
After all—
Who wouldn't be happy about never having to work overtime?