I’m Master Sergeant Yuriko Morimoto… Actually, I’m a former sergeant, having retired from the Japanese Army after serving for 25 years and participating in two wars. I was in the army for so long that it's sometimes hard to stop thinking of myself in that way. I’m now the manager of the SuperQuickly at the base of Mount Kumotawa. Yes, this is the same mountain where the Kumotawa Shrine is located. The shrine from the Legend of Kumotawa where Princess Chikako banished the demons back to their realm 500 years ago. The area remains lively with legend, and strange things still occur here.

  You would think it would be a huge change to become a manager at a konbini or convenience store, but it isn’t as much as you would think. I now work for the Imperial Management Agency or the IMA, Section Two. This extra-governmental agency reports only to the emperor and runs the supernatural affairs of the imperial family. When I retired, I was approached by people in black suits with a unique opportunity. I thought I would do some security consulting, but this was better. It would be more rewarding in many ways, and I would get small-town life and fresh mountain air. Still, I had to learn to become a konbini manager. The training for that was pretty interesting, too. There is a great deal to learn about marketing, human resources, inventory management, and the general operation of a store. A well-run konbini is a smoothly running machine.

  The customer is always right until I have to put them down with a smile and a 9mm round. I think that out of fun, mainly as I have plenty of patience and compassion for all but the worst customers. I was a drill instructor for a time, too. I’ve had plenty of green recruits who were scared, brave, clumsy, anxious, arrogant, disobedient, and more. You have to be strict to get the respect and whip them into shape, but I’ve never completely lost my temper. Being a mother helped with all of this. Raising a daughter on my own while serving taught me self-control and tested it, something that didn’t come naturally when I was young.

  My daughter is grown up and attending Tokyo University in the capital. I’m thankful to my parents and friends for helping to raise her, as it does take a community to do that. Odewara town is a four-hour train ride from Tokyo, making it a long trip, but mainly on the bullet train, so I’m glad we were able to spend some quality time together on some weekends. Our relationship has been rocky, but the last few years with this job have made things much better. I’m also volunteering as the combat coach for the Gun Girls Auxiliary at Odewara High School. I have a great group of girls there right now, too, and they are absorbing all of the training like sponges sucking up water.

  The rhythm of life in Odewara is pretty easy. The pace of life is slower than in the army, changing with the seasons since it is an agricultural community that lucked into a tourism boom. The area is in the foothills of the mountains near Hiroshima and is famous for growing various types of fruit, mainly citrus, with some of the higher hillsides being tea plantations. Further downslope lies the Seto Inland Sea, dotted with hundreds of islands between here and the large island of Shikoku, famous for its 88-temple pilgrimage.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Shikoku is a long island connected to the mainland by massive sets of bridges at its northeast and southeast corners. Odewara is famous as the starting point for the bicycle trail that runs for 80 kilometres to Shikoku’s northeast corner. The trail runs downhill from Odewara through Onomichi, crossing five bridges and four islands before ending in Imabari town on the island of Shikoku.

  That same bike trail passes by my SuperQuickly, and the store is quite busy on weekends, with tourists hiking up to visit the shrine or the summit of Mount Kumotawa and cyclists stocking up on supplies for their bicycle trip to Shikoku. On weekdays, the number of customers is halved, but we receive commuter traffic from workers and students, as we are located at a fairly busy road junction and a small train station that serves the shrine.

  I work most weekdays from 8 AM to 5 PM. I get up early, go for my morning run, shower, and put on the company’s standard white and red striped button-up shirt, then come to the store. I perform a range of administrative tasks, including shift scheduling, timesheet management, hiring, inventory management, sales forecasting, budgeting, and addressing any matters that require managerial attention. Most of the staff has been here for years, so much of the day-to-day work, such as product displays, ensuring our hot foods are prepared for the lunch rush, reordering products, and restocking shelves, doesn’t require much supervision, thankfully.

  However, I work evenings and nights once or twice a month. I don’t understand these forecasts from the sorcerers and scientists at the IMA, but I was hired for these occasions. Several of the other employees are also former military and employees of the IMA, including my army buddy, Travis Sanger.

  My night shifts happen when the Confluence appears. This occurs when the quantum boundary between many parallel worlds becomes weakened due to a peculiar space-time effect in the local area. The Confluence has occurred for at least a millennium, which is why the locals built the original shrine to Amenominakanushi in a cave on the mountainside. Amenominakanushi is the primordial god, but the Confluence has likely been ongoing for as long as the world has existed.

  When the boundary weakens, the air becomes still, and a heavy fog usually appears; there is radio interference, and people and creatures occasionally pass between worlds. Local legend claims that yokai, or monsters, have appeared on the mountain. People have vanished or have been mauled to death even in recent times. This is why many women in the area continue to practice the martial art of Naginata, which involves using a polearm, to defend their homes and families. The local Gun Girls Auxiliary at Odewara High School is related to this and is the modern descendant of the women’s defence collectives from the Warring States Period of history.

  I have had a few strange encounters on these night shifts, with extensive reports written for Section Two afterwards. I’m a monitor, a rescue worker, and a warrior at these times. The agency grants me extensive leeway on how to act, and I can even call in special forces if needed. There hasn’t been anything I haven’t been able to deal with so far, but I am keeping this small written journal in a safe place in case something does happen to me. My daughter, Miki, deserves to know the truth about my work, which I cannot share with her now. I’m sure she’s observed clues about my secret life since I moved to Kumotawa, but this will complete the puzzle for her. Just for the record, the job I’m doing now is something I want to do, and I know I've done well already.