— At a Certain Bookstore in Tokyo —

Here I am, slugging it out on another day of my part-time job.
I work at this chain bookstore, which is well-known around these parts.
I’ve been here for a good five years, blending into the background, but lately, there’s been talk about possibly making me a full-timer.
I guess all those days of hard work are finally paying off.

Huh? My name? Ah, just call me Clerk A or something.

Today’s a Tuesday, the day when we get a flood of magazines and weekly publications…

“Hey, boss, is it just me, or does it seem like there’s an unusually large crowd outside?”
“Huh? People lining up for this chain? That’s rare. Most magazine freebies these days get sorted online… What’s that?”

“See? I told you I wasn’t seeing things.”
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen a line like this in a while.”
“We don’t have any special releases today, do we?”
“No, not that I know of…”

“WHAT’S GOING ON THEN?”
We exchanged confused glances.

As the doors opened for the day, a swarm of customers poured in.
One guy at the front bolted off like a shot.

“Sir! No running inside!”
Then, upon closer inspection, it turned out that everyone except the man at the front was slowly making their way into the store.

The man in the lead ran off with incredible speed, impossible to stop.

“(That’s odd, they usually follow the runner…)”
Normally, if one person starts running, a few others follow suit.
Still, this was my first time seeing such a large group act differently.

Then, I overheard snippets of conversation around me.

“Is that guy a scalper?”
“What if he is?”
“That’d be bad.”
“I can’t forgive scalpers.”
“If he’s scalping, we should help each other out.”
“Scalpers really have no manners. They should learn from us.”
“We can’t let Yuka-chan down.”
“Exactly.”

What were they talking about?
Yuka-chan? Was there a special magazine feature on someone famous named Yuka-chan?
That would explain the crowd and their enthusiasm.

Then it hit me: if the front-runner was a scalper, he might try to buy up everything.
I needed to talk to the boss about setting a purchase limit.

“Boss, I overheard the customers talking. They’re looking for a magazine featuring someone named Yuka-chan, and they think the guy who ran off might be a scalper. Should we limit purchases to avoid hoarding?”
“He ran through the store? Did you stop him?”
“He was gone before I could say anything.”
“All right, if he tries to buy multiple copies, let me know. You can handle it, right? Tell him we might have to ban him if he doesn’t follow the rules.
Set the limit at one copy per person.
We only have fifty copies of the magazine in stock today.”
“Roger.”

For now, I made sure to alert the cashier staff so they could be ready to act immediately.

I also instructed them to notify me right away if there were any complaints or demands to process the payment immediately.

Back to work for me.

…Or so I thought.

Trouble had already started…right in front of me.

“Hey! Why are you trying to buy all those copies?”
The first to confront the suspected scalper was one of the more intimidating customers who had entered calmly.

“What’s it to you?”
“It matters to all of us here. We came wanting that magazine.”

“Hah! Too bad! I got my hands on them first, so I’m buying them!”
“Really? You’ve got some nerve saying that after that sprint. You’re a scalper, aren’t you?”
“What are you on about?”
“Don’t play dumb. I saw you at Comiket before, causing trouble for the vendors.”

“I said you got the wrong guy! I’m heading to the checkout!”
“Hold it.”
The man blocked the scalper’s path.

“Buying one copy is fine.
But taking twenty? That’s not happening.”
“Should’ve run if you wanted them so bad, you hypocrites!”
“No, following the staff’s instructions is the norm here.”

I knew it was my moment to step in.
“Actually, you’re right.”
“Huh? The clerk?”

“Please, if you could just buy one and leave the rest for everyone else here. We won’t allow you to take them all.”
“What?! I’m a customer here!”
“So is everyone else. You ignored our request not to run inside. Honestly, you’re not acting like a customer should.
If you refuse to cooperate, we’ll have to ban you from entering the store again.”
I tried to wrap my warning in the politest words possible.

“Huh?”
“What I’m saying is, please don’t come here if you’re not going to abide by the rules,” I explained, wrapping my words in diplomacy, hoping he’d grasp the hint.

“What the heck?! I’ll never come back here!!!”
He cursed out loud but ended up taking just one copy to the checkout.

So, he was still gonna buy one, after all…

“The rest of you are free to buy the remaining copies. Please, just one per person.”

“Thanks, clerk, you really helped us out.”
“Man, you were cool!”
“It’s nothing. Just remember the one-copy rule, okay?”
“Of course!”
“No problem with that!”

I couldn’t say whether everyone who wanted a magazine got one, but seeing it go to the guy who spoke up felt right to me.

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