Tokyo: Oreimo

"Wait, isn't that blonde girl the one who drew the fan art of Amane Reiwa at the Denki Gai festival?"

"Wow, really! She looks even better than in the photos..."

So sometimes being good-looking really can be a lifesaver. Something that happened a few months ago actually made me recognized offline.

Ling Nai heard the discussions and, somewhat shyly, hid behind Ryosuke.

"What?! Even with all this disguise, how can you still recognize me?"

Ryosuke chuckled.

Even a mask, sunglasses, and a baseball cap couldn't hide that head of blond hair; it was just too eye-catching.

He pulled down the brim of his hat and continued signing autographs.

After a while, when the flow of people slowed down a bit, Shota Okubo slumped into a chair, looking completely drained.

"How much money did I collect? For the first time, I realize that counting money until your hands cramp isn't just a joke... How much have we sold so far?"

Yosuke Kobayashi took out his counting notebook, adjusted his glasses, and calmly announced a number.

"From nine o'clock until now, in an hour and a half, we have sold nearly three hundred copies."

"Three hundred?!" Tian Zhongxue almost threw the rice ball in his hand away.

"At this rate, won't we sell out all 500 pre-ordered copies on the first day?"

The activity room fell silent for a moment, and everyone stopped what they were doing.

"Isn't that a given? At this rate, they'll be packing up soon, won't they?"

Ling Nai said matter-of-factly from the side.

What a joke! This is a script written by Ryosuke, with illustrations personally directed by Rumiko Takashiro.

If fan works of this caliber had been announced beforehand on the Aniplex website, the booth at the Comic Research Center would probably be in an uproar by now.

With only 500 copies, even without prior promotion, achieving this level of quality based solely on the work itself is quite common.

But the other members of the comics club obviously did not anticipate the current situation.

The increasingly long queues were making it difficult for everyone to cope.

Tian Zhongxue stood behind the stall, still holding the half of the rice ball that Ayumi had broken in her hand.

His glasses were fogged up, his hair was a mess like a bird's nest, and there were grains of rice stuck to the corners of his mouth. He took off his glasses, wiped them hard with his sleeve, and when he put them back on, his eyes were a little red.

"Um... I need to use the restroom..."

He turned and ran, but Xiaolin grabbed him by the back of the collar with lightning speed.

"President, the restrooms are in the opposite direction; East Building 5 is over there."

"If we go around in circles and come back, we might already be sold out! Are you trying to slack off, Chairman!"

"No, I'm just so excited I can't tell which way is which."

Misaki Asakura burst out laughing, Ayumi's lips curled into a smile, and even Ryouno let out a soft hum.

Ryosuke sat on the inside of the stall, holding the coffee that Ryouna had given him, watching the group of people making a ruckus.

Chapter 249 Reprint Decision

In the afternoon, the crowds thinned out.

There were still a few people stopping to look at the sample books at the manga club's booth, but the last bit of excitement at the booth had dissipated.

Shota Okubo slumped in the folding chair, his legs stretched out straight.

"It's gone."

He was still clutching the change box in his hand, the lid open, with only a few coins left inside.

"It's really gone."

After dealing with the tourists, Misaki Asakura stood outside the stall, still holding the well-sealed sample display book in her arms.

"Five hundred books, all gone."

Yosuke Kobayashi closed his notebook and pushed up his glasses. "From the start of the show until now, one hour and forty minutes have passed, and all five hundred copies have been sold out. That's an average of five copies sold per minute. The last copy was caught by three people at the same time, and the ownership was decided by rock-paper-scissors."

"I said, this is a huge success!"

Shota Okubo jumped up from his chair.

"It's not just a great success, it's a historic victory! Last year, we sold less than a hundred copies of that doujinshi after a whole day on display, but this year we couldn't even hold out for two hours!"

He turned around and stared straight at Tian Zhongxue, who was holding an inventory list on the inside of the stall and whose expression hadn't yet adjusted.

"President, what do we do now?"

Tian Zhongxue stood inside the stall, his glasses still covered with a layer of mist from running around earlier.

He took off his glasses, wiped them with his sleeve, put them back on, and then opened his mouth.

".....I have no idea."

He was outrageously honest.

“I never thought it would be not enough to sell. Five hundred copies! Five hundred copies! I was worried last night about what would happen if we couldn’t sell them all.”

Ayumi sat next to the stall, still holding a pen in her hand. She folded the price tags and put them into the storage box, her hands trembling slightly with excitement.

"I've been drawing for so many years, and this is the first time I've ever been robbed."

She saw that Tian Zhongxue was looking up at her, and Tian Zhongxue was looking at her too.

The president scratched his head, his eyes crinkling behind his glasses: "It's all because Ayumi drew it so well."

"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm just helping everyone turn the story into images. I'm not the one who wrote the story."

Ayumi stood up and looked in Ryosuke's direction.

This newcomer to the club is enjoying Ling Nai's 'service'.

My wrists are a little sore from signing so many documents.

The blonde girl frowned and glared at him, muttering complaints, but her small hands kept squeezing his hand.

"It's okay, it's just a little sour."

"Stop rambling."

Ryosuke was both amused and exasperated. He had only mentioned that his wrist was a little sore, but Ryouno had forced him to rest.

"Thank you for your hard work, Gao Cheng."

Tian Zhongxue walked over, excitedly telling him that the doujinshi had sold out.

"What are the president's plans to do next?"

Ryosuke smiled and asked a question.

Excitement alone is not enough. Selling well is one thing, but selling too fast is another.

This is a doujinshi produced by Manga Research Institute, not a formal publication from a major publishing house. There was no advance distribution, no reservation system, no inventory warning, and even a decent sales record sheet was made by Kobayashi this morning.

It's only 11:30, the winter COMI has just started, and their booth is already empty.

An empty booth means that for the next two and a half days, all participants passing by the East Fourth Hall will see is a booth with a manga club flag and a poster of "Kara no Kyoukai" (The Garden of Sinners), but no merchandise to sell.

The opportunity cost is so high it's terrifying.

"How about... printing more?" Tian Zhongxue finally stopped and uttered the word.

The club members at the stall looked at each other in bewilderment.

It's common practice for groups to urgently print additional copies during doujinshi conventions, since about 80% of the booths at CM conventions are makeshift operations like theirs.

No one can predict the sales of their work, and most groups are relatively conservative.

Tian Zhongxue's suggestion was correct, but the manga research group had never done anything like this before, or rather, they were completely unprepared.

Last year, Tianzhong Middle School was not qualified to run its own small business, but this year is the first time it is qualified to consider this issue, which has made everyone feel troubled.

"Of course we should add more, the question is how much." Yosuke Kobayashi steered the conversation back to the main topic.

“We sold 500 copies on the first day and are now out of stock. We can’t print too few copies, otherwise they will sell out again in a short time and we will have to print more. We don’t even know if the print shops will have a slot available then.”

Okubo Shota clapped his fingers.

"But adding too many isn't good either. The main sales period for winter COMI is the first two days. There will be far fewer people on the third day. Besides, we are still a new club with no reputation. If we reprint and don't sell out by the second day, the rest will just have to be moved back to the activity room to gather dust."

"Then... one hundred books?"

"One hundred is too few. Five hundred books didn't even last two hours today..."

"Those three hundred?"

"What if we can't sell them all? Who will cover the extra costs? After deducting the expenses, it might be better not to print any more."

Yosuke Kobayashi calmly added a sentence.

The group of people looked at each other, speechless.

No one had experience with selling well, and no one dared to make the decision.

The excitement of selling out hadn't even faded when the risk of needing to reprint was already mitigated.

For a group of university fan fiction club members, selling out 500 copies is an achievement they never dared to dream of. To increase the number of copies sold beyond that is tantamount to throwing all the chips they have already won back onto the gambling table.

"Ayumi, what do you think?" Tian Zhongxue turned to the vice president sitting in the corner.

Ayumi put down her pen and thought for a moment.

"Judging from the data, we relied on booth displays and on-site previews to drive sales today. We did not do any pre-sales promotion. In other words, the people who bought our books today, at least until tonight, did not know about the existence of 'Kara no Kyoukai' among their friends, enthusiasts, or club members."

"You mean, there will be more people buying tomorrow than today?"

“Very likely.” Ayumi frowned after saying that. “But this is just speculation. I haven’t done any market research, so I can’t be sure.”

Her gaze swept past the crowd and landed on the person inside the stall who had been leaning back in his chair the whole time, with no change in expression.

"Gao Cheng, what do you think?"

Ryosuke put down the coffee cup in his hand; it had just been bought for him by Ryouna and was already cold.