Museru Kurai no Ai wo Ageru 18 *SPOILERS*

READ MUSERU KURAI NO AI WO AGERU 17 SPOILERS HERE

New Part-time Job

Hibari is on the phone with Matsunaga from M.J.D. (It's Matsunaga Jun from Living no Matsunaga-san! Yay for crossover characters!).

Matsunaga thanks her for coming to the interview and informs her that she's been hired. He asks Hibari if she can start work this month. Hibari is overjoyed and answers, "Of course!". She's delighted that she's now able to work in a design agency as her part-time job.

At a cafe (I assume in school campus), Hibari informs Gaku about her new part time job. She explains that the agency she had been interested in for a while was recruiting for a part-timer. 

Gaku: Isn't that amazing?

Hibari: Such a coincidence! Furthermore, I thought about it during the cultural festival. I want to slowly keep moving forward. After seeing Gaku's live and everyone's art work, it made me want to try harder.

Gaku: I'm the same. I'm making more songs now.

Gaku: Oh yeah, make us a home page.

Hibari: Home page?

Gaku: For our band! We want to have something proper. Hibari's the best choice.

Hibari blushes while looking at Gaku's earnest face. She feels happy.

Hibari: Guess I have no choice.

Gaku: Love ya, Hibari.

Hibari: Frivolous!

Reporting to Work

It's Hibari's first day at M.J.D.! Matsunaga claps his hands to get the attention of his staff and introduces Hibari. Hibari is excited and amazed to be inside of a design agency - something she's been longing for.

Hibari will work 2 weekdays a week, after classes, from 4pm to 10pm. M.J.D. specializes in designing book covers, but they also do advertisements and packaging designs. M.J.D.'s office location is quite far from both Hibari's home and college (1 hour train ride), but Hibari plans to power through it.

There are two other staff. One of them introduces himself - his name is Chinen. He offers for Hibari to approach and ask him anything should she have any questions. Matsunaga adds that Chinen is a veteran. Chinen elaborates that it's because he was with Matsunaga since the beginning of this company. Hibari thinks to herself that it's amazing.

Matsunaga gets down to business and assigns work to Hibari immediately. He asks for her to return a stack of books to the bookshelves, and to be in charge of dealing with visitors, phone calls and deliveries.

Hibari's Thoughts

Hibari thinks to herself that she's starting out with chores.

When she goes about her tasks, she glances at Matsunaga working with his staff. She thinks to herself that they all get along very well. She feels pumped up to do her best.

(Actually, the two staff are whispering to Matsunaga, reminding him not to be too harsh and strict. It was Matsunaga's fault that their previous part-timers quit quickly. Matsunaga goes, "Okay! Okay!" in response. LOL!)

After work, Hibari travels home. She tries to work on Gaku's request - the home page - but thinks to herself that she hasn't made one since the last time she made one for class. She wasn't very good at it, so this request is quite challenging for her.

Nonetheless, she buckles down and starts. Her laptop and notebook are open, and she tries to tell herself to start from the beginning, with the font, main colour and colour scheme.

She nods off.

Next Day

After school, Hibari heads to M.J.D. Matsunaga and Chinen warmly welcome her, which motivates Hibari.

While performing her tasks, she glances at Chinen working on the computer, designing stuff. He's clicking very fast (which amazes her) and she also notices that he's working on the cover for a very popular manga. She's excited and happy to be in this world that she's unfamiliar with.

On another day, Hibari is going through her preliminary ideas for the home page with Gaku.

Hibari: First off, how is this for the main image?

Gaku: The colour is great, but a different font will be better.

Hibari: Eh- Then, what about this?

Gaku: Don't exert yourself, okay? (You have your part-time job later, right?)

Hibari: It's fine, leave it to me!

Hibari thinks to herself that she's happy to be able to work on the home page and at M.J.D. She wants to keep doing her best.

We see her nodding off on the train ride to M.J.D.

At Work

Matsunaga asks Hibari if she rearranged the order of the books on the shelves. Hibari answers that it was disorganized, so she moved them around. She asks if it's okay. Matsunaga answers that it's fine and she was a big help, thanking her.

Later, Matsunaga goes to Hibari and asks if she wants to try photographing a completed book. Hibari glows at the opportunity for a new type of job.

After taking the pictures, Matsunaga says that she's good and Hibari thanks him. Hibari later sees that M.J.D. used the photo that she took to make a post on social media. Hibari feels very pleased.

On the train home, Hibari slumps into the seat and thinks to herself that there aren't enough hours in a day - she wishes that there would be 30 hours a day. She looks visibly fatigued.

Exhausted

Another day at school, Airi notices something about Hibari and asks if she's okay.

Hibari: Eh?

Airi: The part-time job is tough after all, isn't it? Travelling there to and fro takes 2 hours. (You have panda eyes.)

Hibari: No, no, I just have a lot of other things to do. More importantly, sorry for quitting the ramen shop.

Airi: Ah, that's totally fine... Actually, about Jou...

Airi brings up the topic about Jouichirou, but she notices that Hibari is too tired to pay attention. Airi decides not to continue talking. Hibari takes a quick nap on the chair she's sitting on with Airi.

Gaku and Kyouhei walk by and notice Hibari and Airi.

Kyouhei: Oh, it's the ramen shop girls.

Gaku: She looks super tired, that Hibari.

Airi: Somehow, she's working herself hard lately. It seems she's handling a lot of things.

Gaku looks at the sleeping Hibari with a concerned expression.

Disappointment

Later, on the train to M.J.D., the train announces for the next station. Hibari jerks awake and realizes that she overshot her stop because she was sleeping.

She arrives at M.J.D. in a hurry and apologizes for being late. At the office, she sees Matsunaga working and a new person who says hi to her.

Matsunaga has a poker face on when he says to Hibari, "It's okay, it's okay. I had something urgent to do, so I called someone else to work. You can go home for today."

Hibari feels devastated. On the train back home, she is overcome with disappointment, thinking that she's been fired, wasting her hard-earned opportunity.

Lashing Out

As Hibari is tapping out of the train station, she receives a phone call from Gaku.

Hibari: Hello?

Gaku: Hey, good work today- Are you on the way home from part-time?

Hibari: Yes, I'll be home in 10 minutes.

Gaku: You sound so tired-

Hibari: Eh- Yeah, I guess...

Gaku: Oh, right. About the home page, us guys will do it ourselves.

Hibari (stunned): Eh...

Gaku: Anyway, where are you now?

Hibari is visibly affected when she yells over the phone, "If this was the case, don't ask me to do it in the first place!"

Gaku goes, "Wait a min-", but Hibari ends the call. 

Frustrated, Hibari kicks a telephone pole and then punches it. However, she injures her knuckle in the process and cries out in pain. Writhing in pain, she thinks to herself that she's a huge idiot and pathetic for venting out her frustration on Gaku.

Gaku is Here

After a short while, Gaku arrives on a scooter and sees Hibari still hunched over near the telephone pole.

Gaku: There you are! Hey, you! Don't get angry and hang up like that.

Hibari: But...

Hibari tries to hide her injured knuckle, but Gaku notices anyway and figures out what she did. He squats down and gently holds Hibari's injured hand.

Gaku: ...You've worked hard. Wait here for a moment, I'll go to the convenience store for a bit.

Gaku returns with a plaster which he helps Hibari put on.

Gaku: Telephone poles are hard, aren't they?

Hibari: Yeah.

Gaku: About the home page, all of us discussed it and decided just now. The base design that you made for us is good, so we decided to do the rest ourselves.

Hibari looks surprised.

Hibari: Is that so...

Gaku: That's right.

Hibari (looking emotional): ......I thought that the home page design wasn't going well, so you didn't need me anymore...

Gaku looks shocked at Hibari's words. He suddenly gets serious and asks, "That's not true at all! What are you talking about?!"

After a pause to think, Gaku asks Hibari if something happened at her part-time job. Hibari tells Gaku about what happened at M.J.D. earlier.

Encouragement

Gaku: ...I see. You should just apologize.

Hibari: Yes, but! (I already apologized!)

Gaku: Also, that was just one mistake, right?

Hibari: That one time would be enough to get fired!

Gaku holds Hibari's head and turns her head to face him.

Gaku: You've done your best. You managed to get the job you longed for, you've put in your best effort and you've been doing it with great care, haven't you? No one would think that they don't need someone like you, Hibari.

Hibari looks moved by Gaku's words. She puts her arms around him and rests her head in his chest. In response, Gaku places his hand over her head to comfort her. Hibari thanks Gaku for making her feel better.

Hibari narrates that it's frustrating how Gaku is so cool, but he's the best comrade to have.

Back to M.J.D.

The next day, Hibari reaches the front door of M.J.D. Her knuckle is still healing.

Holding her injured knuckle, she musters up her courage and enters the office. Upon seeing Matsunaga, she bows and sincerely apologizes to him.

"I'm very sorry for causing you inconvenience yesterday!"

Matsunaga seems to have a poker face on while Hibari squeezes her eyes shut, bracing herself for the worst. However, he answers, "I've also taken the Yamonote line the whole way round before. I oversleep on the train as well!"

Hibari opens her eyes and finds Matsunaga smiling cheerfully at her. He continues, "Don't worry about it so much. Your being here has helped us a lot. (Just be careful next time!)"

Matsunaga: Ah, but please don't push yourself too hard! I'll get worried. If you're too tired, you might get hit by a truck or something! (LOL, reference to Living no Matsunaga-san)

Matsunaga: Design may seem like a one-man job, but one person can't do it all alone, so let's continue to work together from here on.

Hibari (visibly cheered up): Yes!

Chinen: You were really scary yesterday though, Matsunaga-san. (Your face.)

Matsunaga: My bad. I'm like that before a deadline...

The other staff: Please be more careful.

Matsunaga: Anyway, let's all eat together today.

After work, Hibari is on the phone with Gaku.

Hibari: After that, we all went to eat together.

Gaku: Oh-- That's great! Anyway, perfect timing. I also have a piece of good news.

Hibari: Eh? What is it?!