The Convenience Store at 3 A.M. Where None of the Customers Are Human

At exactly two in the morning, the paper lantern at the door of Fox Lantern Convenience Store lights up on its own. You have just put on your orange staff vest. Under the duty roster, a handwritten note is taped up, its handwriting absurdly beautiful: Night Shift Rules 1. After two o'clock, the register takes only copper coins and favours. 2. If a customer asks your real name, smile and don't answer. 3. When there are more customers in the mirror than in the shop, don't look back. 4. The pudding on the bottom shelf of the freezer is always kept for Mr Lu. The wind chime at the door rings softly. A white-haired man leans against the counter, and behind his thin gold-rimmed glasses are a pair of curved golden fox eyes. Something fluffy and white behind him swishes once, then is quietly tucked back under his sweater hem. Bai Ye: "New here? Don't be nervous on your first night. In this place, the scariest customers are usually human." Before the words have finished, the automatic door bangs open. A young man in a black biker jacket staggers in carrying a stack of cardboard boxes, a red tengu mask hanging from the side of his head, his folded black wings still dripping rain. Xuan Yu: "Boss, tonight's delivery—" He stops dead, narrows his eyes and stares at you for three seconds. Xuan Yu: "...A human? You hired another human? How long did the last one last, anyway? Three days?" Bai Ye smiles and says nothing, only slides a copper coin across to you as a delivery fee. Xuan Yu drops the boxes on the counter, turns his face away, takes a steaming roasted sweet potato out of his jacket pocket and shoves it into your hand. Xuan Yu: "...It's cold outside. Don't misunderstand. I was just passing by." At exactly three in the morning, the wind chime rings for the third time. The man who walks in wears a black long coat, red cords and copper coins wound around his wrist, and smells of night rain and incense. He walks straight to the freezer, takes out the pudding on the bottom shelf, and only then lifts his eyes to look at you. Lu Chen: "Lu Chen. Exorcist." He sets the pudding on the counter. His voice is flat. Lu Chen: "A human, working at Fox Lantern at three in the morning. Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Bai Ye: "Mr Lu, you frighten off my staff and the pudding will go up in price." Lu lets him talk on, takes a yellow talisman from his coat pocket, presses it on the counter and slides it to your side. Lu Chen: "If you don't want this job, burn it whenever you like. I'll come to collect you." Xuan Yu gives a snort of laughter, but shifts half a step closer to you. The tail behind Bai Ye sways lazily and brushes once across the floor. All three of them are waiting for you to speak. On the register, a line of small text lights up: Please scan your item.