Day 2 : Tooru Masamune

Tooru Masamune sighed. He took a peek at his forever slim wallet, and there were only a *thousand yen note plus 500 yen shillings in it right now. He sighed again. Usually he wasn't that negative about having too little money, but right now, he was desperate. He just entered university, which fortunately was kind enough to give him scholarships, and was able to be exempted from paying the tuition fees. But that doesn't mean he can left a breath of relief yet. Right now he needed money to buy his textbooks. But after paying this month's house loans, some bills, his little brother's school tuition fees, and some household needs, his once in a lifetime thick wallet turned into the slim version once again.

Tooru was definitely sad. Of course, he could borrow his friend's textbooks, but it have been going on for about 2 months already. He wanted his own books to study with, and photocopying the books costs more than actually buying the books he needed. He was almost to the point of depression until his eyes caught sight of the sign of a second-hand bookstore. He contemplated for a bit, thinking that the books he wanted to buy might not be in that kind of bookstore, but...! Slowly, his legs moved and walked him towards the door of the bookstore. Click-a-ring! The sounds of bells distracted him a little, and he found himself already inside the vast bookstore. He tried to look around, too amazed by the unusual size of the bookstore.

"Welcome, sir. How may I help you?" A shopkeeper in the store showed out from one of the many shelves in the store with a smile. Tooru smiled back sheepishly. He hasn't intended to go into the bookstore at first, but since he was already inside it, he might as well find the books he needed. "...Umm, do you, by chance, have any books... or textbooks for Law students?" The shopkeeper blinked, quite surprised by the question, but nevertheless still maintained his comforting smile at Tooru. "Well, well, it was an unusual question, but yes, by chance," he emphasized the word 'by chance', and started to walk toward one of the shelves not far from Tooru. "...we do have them." He turned in front of Tooru and showed him his neverending smiles.

Tooru was flabbergasted. He's never thought a second-hand bookstore would have something like that! The shopkeeper showed him the shelf the books were at and said, "There's lots of them here. Pick whatever books you wanted, as much as you want." Tooru gulped. "Yeah right, as much as I want. I don't even know if my money will be enough to pay for it," He muttered under his breath, embarrassed by his lack of money. As if he could read Tooru's mind, the shopkeeper gave him a dose of his smile once again. "Don't worry, customer. We'll assure you that all the books here are very affordable by everyone and most of them are still brand new, too." Somehow Tooru felt that the shopkeeper can't be trusted, but he believed in it nevertheless.

He walked stiffly toward the shelf, still quite wary of the shopkeeper with his thousand smiles. The man moved a little bit, giving Tooru space to browse through the many books on the shelf. Then, he left Tooru alone, continuing with his abandoned work just before Tooru came in. After seeing that the shopkeeper has left, Tooru began hunting for his books. 'He was talking the truth,' Tooru thought. In front of his eyes were volumes and bundles of books related to his field of study. "Corporate Law, Civil Law.... etc." He couldn't help his hand from wanting to touch the books in front of him. He couldn't believe his own eyes. There was even the complete volumes of each of every kind of books he needed! "This bookstore is awesome!"

"Excuse me?" The shopkeeper's head popped out from behind one of the shelves again, surprising Tooru. But he was too overexcited to even be embarrassed for shouting out loud. "Oh, I'm sorry. Um, how much are these books?" He showed the shopkeeper the books in his hands. The man chuckled a little. "It's rare to see someone as overexcited as you when they found the books they wanted. So how about I'll give you a deal?" He stepped out from behind the shelf, then walked toward Tooru. "...If you buy the complete volumes, I'll let you buy it for a thousand yen," He said as his hands busily taking the books in Tooru's hands and taking another books left on the shelf for Tooru. Tooru was shocked.

"Really? Are you sure about that?" Tooru asked, almost to the point of shouting. He was too overwhelmed. Never mind only 500 yen left for him for the entire month. This once in a lifetime chance won't come by as easily as this! The shopkeeper smiled, and Tooru found him even gave a wink to him. "Of course. I've said it before didn't I? All the books here are very affordable by everyone. By that, I mean everyone. Even the most pauper of paupers could buy the books in our bookstore," He said nonchalantly. Then he walked to the counter while his hands busily sorting the books in his hands. "Are these all, customer?" He smiled at Tooru, lifting the books in his hands easily. Tooru was distracted for a while before he nodded.

Tooru walked to the counter, pulling out his wallet from his pocket and handing the shopkeeper his only thousand yen note. "Then, thanks for your patronage, sir. Please come again," The shopkeeper already put Tooru's books in a plastic bag before he handed the books to Tooru. "Yeah, thank you, too. I'll come again," Tooru finally smiled. Now he can be glad. Though his wallet only contained 500 yen (which he tried very hard not the depressed about), he managed to get his hands on the books he wanted. Walking out from the store, he looked back at the bookstore behind him. Smiling, he knew for sure that he'd frequent this shop a lot in the near future. But for now, he's going to head back home.

** End **

<- Day 1
Day 3 ->

Note :

*1500 yen = $ 16.50 in U.S.A.

P/S : I'm not knowledgeable enough about Law and its studies, so I tried to make it as vague as I can. Sorry if some of the part I wrote are wrong.