Tokyo: Oreimo

For him, it was more comfortable than washing dishes in a restaurant.

After transporting the box back to the store, Kenji Yamashita opened the box on his instructions.

Inside was a bunch of game disc cases, with the title "White Album 2 (Trial version)" written on the cover, along with a logo of a company I'd never heard of before.

"Miura, get this area organized as soon as possible and display the games from the boxes here."

The store manager pointed to the most prominent spot in the store and said this.

"Manager, don't we need to put up price tags?" Miura asked, showing how important this job was to him.

The products displayed on the shelf must have prominent price tags. Before today, he had carefully read the employee handbook to ensure that this was also part of his job.

"It's okay, these are all free gifts."

Kenji Yamashita, still with a cigarette dangling from his lips, stood at the shop entrance fiddling with his phone, not even looking up as he spoke.

Free gift?

Eiji Miura paused for a moment.

Shouldn't that kind of thing be put in a cardboard box and then put into a bag when the customer pays?

He had seen similar promotional methods in large supermarkets, where the free gifts were usually inexpensive items.

He looked down at the game box in his hand, which was decorated with exquisite CG artwork. Two beautiful girls stood on either side of him, one with brown hair and wearing a pure white stage costume, while the other wore a completely opposite color.

The packaging is very exquisite, and it looks completely different from the cheap packaging I had in mind.

To be honest, he thinks that just looking at the packaging, it's already more exquisite than most of the games in the store.

Is this a free gift?

Eiji Miura didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he obediently followed the store manager's instructions and neatly arranged all the CDs from the two large cardboard boxes on the display stand.

By the time he finished, more than an hour had passed, and thousands of game disc cases were neatly stacked on the display stand.

Something seemed to be happening outside the shop; there had been some commotion for about half an hour, but he hadn't finished what he was doing and hadn't paid much attention.

"You're a really efficient worker, kid. I knew I hadn't misjudged you."

Kenji Yamashita chuckled and walked out from behind the front desk.

He crossed his arms, looked at the sample in front of him, and a satisfied smile spread across his face.

"With these free gifts here today, we'll be quite busy. You'll be in charge of the cash register, and I'll keep order."

"Huh?"

"Does the store manager mean that they plan to use these free gifts for promotional purposes, and that some customers will make purchases just for the free gifts?"

Eiji Miura couldn't help but ask a question.

"right."

After receiving an affirmative answer, Miura was even more confused.

Selling games and selling daily necessities are completely different, right?

Customers who come to the store usually have a specific purchase in mind; if they're not interested, they won't even come to the store.

This strategy is clearly not going to work.

"Alright, stop daydreaming. It's almost time to open. Head over to the cashier."

"....good."

Will guests arrive at this time?

You know, I came for the interview around the same time yesterday, but the shop was practically deserted.

He saw Kenji Yamashita take something that looked like a sign from behind the counter, write a line of text on it, and then place it next to the pile of freebies.

—"Aniplex's latest demo, available for free with any purchase, limited edition!"

Then the store manager walked to the store entrance and pulled open the door.

"They're finally open! I couldn't wait!"

"Offline game stores are still the most reliable. The latest Dengeki Magzine issue won't be released until next week, and the version with free gifts is quite hard to buy."

"It seems like Gen Urobuchi didn't write this script. Who did it?"

"I heard it's CLAMP, but it doesn't matter anyway, I'm here for Rumiko Takashiro."

"Before the sequel to FSN is released, let's taste the new game first. With that company's standards, they certainly won't be disappointed."

Outside the shop, a cacophony of chatter drifted over, and as Miura Eiji peered through the entrance, his mouth gradually gaped open.

The long queue stretched all the way to the door of the shop next door, with at least a couple hundred people, and it was still growing.

The early morning in late October was already quite chilly, but the people queuing up showed no signs of complaint. Instead, they chatted in twos and threes, creating a lively atmosphere as if they were attending some kind of celebration.

Kenji Yamashita took out numbers from his work uniform pocket and handed them to each customer in line in order.

"Don't push or cut in line. Enter the store in groups of twenty. Don't worry, there are three thousand sets of free gifts available. You can take them with any purchase."

As the store manager maintained order, customers entered the store one after another, and almost everyone went straight for the free gifts on the display stand.

"Huh?"

Miura couldn't help but ask a question, his gaze falling on the pile of freebies on display.

Are there really customers who buy things just for the free gifts? And judging by the number, it seems quite large.

He saw a customer casually grab a cheap game from the shelf and run straight to the cashier to pay.

He was still clutching the "White Album 2 (Trial version)" that was included as a free gift.

“…”

Miura, looking completely bewildered, packed the food for the guests.

This was the first time he had encountered something like this, and he paused for a moment while paying the cashier, examining the company logo on the free gift in his hand.

Aniplex.

"Just who is this person?"

Chapter 169 The Rooftop

There were a total of 3,000 free gifts. Tourists came and went one after another, and the flow of people only became sparse after 2 p.m.

Eiji Miura finally breathed a sigh of relief after all the free gifts had been claimed.

The shop looked like it had been ransacked; apart from the display stands, the relatively inexpensive items such as figurines and dolls on the counters were almost completely gone.

The outermost game disc rack was now empty.

"Oh, what a wonderful day!"

Kenji Yamashita's face lit up with a big smile.

It was worth the effort he put in advance to place the long-accumulated inventory in the nearest position, taking advantage of this opportunity to sell off almost all the inferior goods that were stuck in his hands.

However, in terms of making money, these games don't actually generate much revenue. Customers aren't stupid; if those inferior titles aren't cheap enough, they'd rather spend a little more money to buy other newer, higher-quality games.

The real money is in figurines and dolls; the unit price is lower than that of games, but the gross profit is much higher.

"Manager, is the game really that popular?"

Eiji Miura still couldn't quite understand why he never spent money on unnecessary things.

Moreover, it was just a free gift, and the idea of ​​spending extra money to get it was something he simply couldn't understand.

"Popular?" Kenji Yamashita, a cigarette dangling from his lips, pulled a can of coffee from under the counter and tossed it to him. "Miura, you don't play games, do you?"

"Hmm." Miura nodded honestly, opening the can. "I rarely come into contact with it."

“No wonder.” Kenji Yamashita leaned back in his chair, his gaze falling on the completely cleared display stand.

Do you have a computer at home?

Miura shook his head.

That kind of advanced technology was a luxury for him. The only valuable thing he owned was his recently purchased mobile phone, which he had to buy for the sake of easy communication.

"If you want to work in my shop, you can't do it without playing visual novels."

Kenji Yamashita chuckled twice. "You need to understand your customers. For them, being able to play a masterpiece like this a few days earlier than others, even if it's just a demo version, is enough to make them happy for a long time."

As he spoke, he reached into his lower back, pulled out a CD case, and tossed it to Eiji Miura.

"Isn't this a free gift? There's one left?"

"Of course I'm interested in galgames since I run a shop like this. I was planning to keep it for myself, but I'll lend it to you first. I'm going to go show off my earnings to my friends. You can use the computer in the shop to play some games."

"Huh? Playing games during work hours?"

"There's nothing wrong with it. There aren't any new releases recently, and it's a weekday afternoon, so the foot traffic will be low."

"Take advantage of the time to train the staff. Of course, when guests come, we still need to be careful in our reception and not get too engrossed in the games."

Kenji Yamashita waved casually and then pushed open the door and left the shop.

.....

Eiji Miura did not immediately follow the store manager's instructions.

It's not that I feel any burden, it's just that I'm not very interested.

In his opinion, games are not fun at all; watching TV dramas is much more interesting.

But after sitting at the counter diligently for two hours straight, and finding that not a single customer had come in, he got so bored that he started yawning.

Eiji Miura originally thought he could get by on the coffee the manager gave him, but when there was absolutely nothing to do, even if he drank it, it wouldn't do much good.

Inevitably, his gaze fell on the demo disc left behind by Kenji Yamashita.

"Why don't we give it a try? Maybe it will make us feel more energetic."

"If this continues, she might actually fall asleep, and that would be troublesome."

With this in mind, he unpacked the game disc, took out the CD, and put it into his computer.

Regardless, I'm someone who went to university. Even though I can't afford one, my school taught me about calculators, so I know how to use them.