5 Yen Coin

It was 10 o'clock in the evening. The night sky was moonless with the clouds covering the stars. In a quiet neighborhood, stood the only place emitting lights from its inside. A 24-hour convenience store.

Behind the counter, a young man played with his phone by himself. His name was displayed on the plate by his chest, but people usually just called him Shin.

He was a college student. Today was the first day he officially worked part-time for this convenience store. He was short on money because of his hobby and just at that time, he saw this convenience store put out an ad about hiring a worker.

The timing was perfect, so he decisively asked the store manager if he could hire him as a part-time worker. After an interview, he was accepted.

The store manager said that he was specifically looking for a worker to fill in the night shift and asked whether or not Shin was up for it. His major wasn't that tight on schedule, and he also didn't have that many assignments, so he agreed.

At that time, he thought that he would be doing this night shift with someone. It turns out that there really was nobody filling in this particular shift hours in all the days in a week. Fortunately, he's not a scaredy-cat or anything. If it was his roommate here that guy would definitely bail in the first hour.

There was nobody coming until nearing midnight. His shift was until 4 AM. The neighborhood has always been on the quiet side so he wouldn't be surprised if nobody came until the end of his shift. If this goes on in his every shift, then wasn't he practically earning money by sitting on his ass?

He stood up and decided to clean the place. At least he could do that much or else he would feel guilty about his salary. The manager told him where the cleaning utilities were and where to throw the trash, so he started his cleaning activity shortly.

Just as the clock reached midnight, the chime at the entrance door rang indicating there's someone coming in. He put the broom aside before going to the front to welcome the customer.

Then, he found that the customer was a little girl less than 10 years old. She was wearing a cute white shirt and a pink skirt. Her hair was tied up into a twin tail with a daisy ornament on the hair tie.

But what surprised him, more than that there was a little girl coming alone into an empty street in the middle of the night, was that she was drenched from top to bottom. She was so wet that the water droplets has pooled on the floor. Even her face was sickly pale.

Shin told her to wait for a moment and hurriedly took a clean towel from the break room. He knelt down to match their height and started drying her.

"Are you cold? Do you want to drink something warm?" Shin offered worriedly. He never dealt with little kids, not to mention little girls, before, so he wasn't quite sure what to do.

The little girl stayed silent. She only continued watching him trying to dry her with her big eyes.

After a while, even after the towel has absorbed all the water it could, the little girl was still dripping wet. Shin stared at the towel incredulously. What trashy brand was this towel from? He would make sure to never buy it.

The little girl didn't seem to mind and walked away when Shin was distracted. Shin didn't know what to do and so he followed the little girl to help her get anything if it was out of her reach.

They stopped at the candy rack. The little girl looked up at him before pointing up at a candy bag with a girl sticking out her tongue at the cover. Shin understood and took the candy bag for her.

Without looking anywhere else, the little girl went back to the counter. Shin walked inside the counter and scanned the candy bag.

"That'll be 130 yen."

The little girl took out the money from her pocket and put the coins on the counter. It was all 5 yen coins and the girl have to put them out in batches because of her small hands.

Shin watched in bafflement as the clanging of the coins kept echoing in the stores. It took a while for all 60 coins to be on the counter. Where in the world did she keep all these coins??

When she finished, he didn't forget to recount it which took another whole minute. After putting it into the cashier and finished the transaction, Shin gave the candy bag to her.

"It's dangerous walking outside at this hour by yourself. Why don't you call your guardian and wait here until they arrive? You'll also get sick with how wet you are." Shin tried to persuade her.

The little girl was about to leave but stopped her track. She put her hand into her pocket once more and took out another piece of 5 yen coin, "For big brother."

"?" Shin accepted it although his head was getting more and more confused.

Unfortunately, the little girl has already left.

Shin studied the coin in his hand but however he looked at it, it was just an ordinary 5 yen coin.

He scratched his head and put it into his pocket before taking out his phone. He tried to call the store manager to tell him what just happened and what he was supposed to do, but the call couldn't get through.

In the end, he decided to report it to him tomorrow when the store manager comes in the morning. He picked up the mop and cleaned the floor from the water.

Finishing that, he went back to the counter and wanted to rest at the break room when the door slid open again.

This time, it was a guy. Looking at him briefly, people would think he was middle-aged, but if properly, he seemed to be around the same age as Shin.

Shin welcomed him as per etiquette and waited at where he was.

The man walked directly to the beverage section and picked 2 cans of beer. He went to the counter without looking around just like the little girl.

Do midnight customers all so decisive?

"XX Cigarette, please." The man pointed at the cigarette pack behind Shin.

His voice was raspy and sounded very dry. Like he hadn't talked for a very long time. Now that their distance was closer, Shin also noticed a bruise mark on the man's nest.

"Yes, right away," He took the pack the man pointed and scanned the products, "That'll be 870 yen."

The man put his hand into his pocket and dumped out a handful of 5 yen coins. Shin blinked blankly. He had a bad feeling about this…

Reality proved he wasn't wrong. The man kept fishing out fistful after fistful of coins that Shin had to count and organize them quickly as to not fall off the counter.

Internally, he really wanted to ask the man whether he has any 100 or at least 50 yen coins. In addition to the previous little girl's coins, the cashier won't be able to hold all these!

But the man looked so listless and depressed that he couldn't bring himself to ask. There's nothing wrong to only own 5 yen coins, but still…

Where the hell did they keep these many coins?? This man's pocket was flat without any bulge and there wasn't any sound when he walked.

Nevertheless, he completed the transaction, and the man went away with his purchase.

Shin stared at the coin stacks with a sigh. He entered the break room and searched around. After almost 3 minutes, he finally found an empty box in one of the unused lockers. When he got back out, he saw there was an additional coin lying by itself on the counter.

He put down the box and picked the coin. He wasn't sure if the man left this specifically for him like the little girl, but this definitely wasn't here before. He also didn't hear the door opened.

He checked outside but it was as quiet as usual. There wasn't a shadow of that man.

Eventually, he pocketed the coins. He didn't plan to use these 2 coins he received though. He would wait for the store manager's explanation tomorrow.

From then until 4 AM, more and more customers came. Just like the first two, they would go directly to get the item they wanted, went directly to the counter after that, paid with a bunch of 5 yen coins, and gave another 5 yen coin personally for him.

The customers were also as peculiar as the first two. There was a woman wearing a thin white dress although it was currently autumn, a pair of elderly wearing hospital gowns, a gloomy high school student with blood trickling down their head, and many more. He tried to call the ambulance for that high school student but, just like his call to the store manager, it couldn't connect.

That student said he was fine though and left after giving him a 5 yen coin.

His shift finally ended. The one who came first wasn't the store manager, but one of the employees who has a shift that morning. In other words, his senior.

"Hey, how was it? Can't believe someone really did fill in the position." the senior patted him.

"It was…well, confusing at the very least," Shin replied while he changed clothes, "I got this bunch of 5 yen coins from them that I can buy a meal complete with the drink for breakfast. Is it always like this? It troubles me they kept giving money."

"Huh?" the senior stopped his motion buttoning his uniform, "There're actual customers coming to the store?"

Shin nodded, "Why? Was it usually quiet?"

"Quiet isn't really the best word to describe it…"

He finished changing and picked up his bag, "Anyway, I'm leaving first. When the manager comes, please tell him I want to ask him some things regarding the night shift. I tried calling and messaging him, but it couldn't get through. There is a box under the counter where I stored the coins. After all, the cashier won't be able to hold that many coins. Have a good day, Senior."

The senior watched Shin left through the back door. After finished putting on his uniform, he went to the counter and indeed saw a box under it. He opened the box and there were countless 5 yen coins inside that he could immediately smell the scent of copper after opening it.

"Damn… he's not lying."

Arriving at his apartment, it was dark and quiet, so he turned on the light. Fortunately, his room and his roommate's bedroom were different. He didn't have to worry about waking him up.

He planned to take a bath and sleep. Before taking his clothes off, he took a tin box that he kept since childhood and put the coins inside. He closed it and put it in his bedside table's small drawer.

Today's first class started in the late morning, so he had plenty of rest before going to his class. His friend was already there saving a seat for him.

"How's your first day at work?" his friend asked.

"Super weird." Shin replied shortly.

At lunch, he finally told his friend about his experience last night. His friend listened casually at first before his face gradually turned strange. In the end, he completely moved 2 seats away from Shin.

"Dude, are you dense, stupid, or both? I'm bringing you to a shrine to be purified."

"What, you think they're ghosts or something? Do ghosts bring money with them to shop at a convenience store?" Shin rolled his eyes.

The last class finished for the day and his friend still insisted to visit the temple. He knew that he was just worried about him, so he relented. But first, they went back to Shin's apartment first to get the coins given to him.

There weren't that many people at the shrine. They quickly got to the altar to pray. But when his friend told him to throw the 5 yen coins into the offering box, he hesitated.

"Don't tell me you want to keep them?? It's creepy as hell."

"But they were given to me, and I still don't know what they want me to do with it. What if it gives me a worse result by throwing it here? More importantly, they're gifts."

"Shin?"

He turned around when he heard someone calling his name. Surprisingly, it was the store manager. In his hands was the box he used to store the 5 yen coins from the night customers.

"Manager, what a coincidence."

"Hmm… not really," he looked at the coins inside Shin's tin box, "Is that the coins you said were given to you by our customers?"

"Yes. Now that you're here, can you tell me what should I do with this?"

"It's best to keep it. It's very rare for them to voluntarily give someone their money. It's a good luck charm. You should bring one with you every day."

"Huh? Really?" Shin doubted it.

The store manager nodded his head when a shrine maiden approached them. He gave the box to her, and it was apparent how surprised she was by the weight.

When she left, Shin asked, "Then why did you give that to her? If what you're saying is true, then shouldn't we keep it?"

"That one is business. So we have to give it back to the proper bank."

"???"

"Shin, you're now officially my lucky star. I hope you can keep working the night shift in my store. Even better if you work full time after you graduate." The store manager patted his shoulder with delight before leaving in a good mood.

Shin and his friends looked at each other.

So, in the end, what really are these 5 yen coins??