August 13th, Thursday. Tokyo. Temperature: 33.1°C.
Since tomorrow was Comic Market, Tsushima Kagami had made arrangements with Sayuri and the other two to get together after returning to Tokyo today, intending to discuss the specific details of their sales at the doujinshi convention tomorrow.
That was why Tsushima Kagami brought Yukinoshita Shizuku back to their apartment in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward today. After the two tidied up for a while and played with Yukino for a bit, they had lunch and took the train together to the Marunouchi Bookstore near Tokyo Station at the agreed time.
When Tsushima Kagami and Yukinoshita Shizuku came out of Tokyo Station, they saw Kosaka Akane, Machida Sonoko, and Sayuri standing at the entrance of the Marunouchi Bookstore in the distance, waiting for them.
Tsushima Kagami and Shizuku quickly walked up to them.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Tsushima Kagami quickly apologized as he looked at the three who had arrived first.
"We haven't been here for long either," one of them replied.
"Long time no see, Shizuku-chan," another added.
The three waved their hands and smiled as they greeted Yukinoshita Shizuku.
Yukinoshita Shizuku stood to the side and smiled, bowing slightly to the three of them in greeting.
"Long time no see, Sonoko-senpai, Akane-senpai, and Sayuri," she said.
"Thank you for taking care of Kagami during the training camp in Sendai a while ago."
The moment the three heard Yukinoshita Shizuku suddenly mention the Sendai training camp, their smiles froze, and they exchanged slightly guilty looks.
Yukinoshita Shizuku also noticed their strange expressions, tilting her head as she looked at the three of them and asked, "Eh? Did I say something wrong?"
At this moment, Machida Sonoko quickly composed her expression and replied with a smile, "Oh my, not at all."
"It's just that after parting ways with Kagami-kun that day, a minor incident happened between the three of us, and we suddenly remembered it."
Yukinoshita Shizuku finally nodded, no longer probing into the matter.
"Did something happen to you guys afterwards?" Tsushima Kagami, who was standing to the side, also asked out of curiosity.
"Ahaha, it's nothing really. Alright, let's not just stand around here," Sayuri hurriedly chimed in, cooperating with Machida Sonoko to cover it up.
Tsushima Kagami nodded and pointed towards the inside of the bookstore. "Then let's go sit inside the bookstore for now."
"Let's just go over there," Kosaka Akane said, smiling as she pointed to the newly opened manga cafe nearby that they had visited together last time.
"We haven't had a chance to eat yet. The pasta there was pretty good last time, and they have a lot of desserts too," she added.
Kosaka Akane and the other two looked apologetically at Tsushima Kagami and Yukinoshita Shizuku.
Tsushima Kagami smiled and said, "Sorry, we already ate beforehand and forgot that you guys haven't eaten yet."
"Then let's go to that place. It's my treat today."
After saying that, Tsushima Kagami looked at Yukinoshita Shizuku, who also smiled and nodded.
Following a burst of cheering from Sayuri and the other two, the five of them walked towards the manga cafe from last time.
...
"Welcome, how many in your party?"
"S-Senpai!"
As soon as Tsushima Kagami and the other four walked in, they saw that the person standing at the door greeting guests today had changed from PA-san last time to Hiroi Kikuri.
"Hello there, Hiroi-kouhai," Tsushima Kagami greeted. "Are you all working part-time here together again today?"
"Y... Yes," Hiroi Kikuri nodded, looking a bit shy.
"Isn't it a bit too much for you to be greeting guests?"
Looking at Hiroi Kikuri, Tsushima Kagami recalled her socially anxious personality when she wasn't drinking—which was exactly like Little Bocchi's—and asked curiously.
"Ah, I've actually gotten used to it over this period," Hiroi Kikuri replied.
"Besides, standing here, I only need to say 'Welcome,' 'How many in your party,' and 'Please come again.'"
"It feels a lot easier than having to actively talk to customers when serving them."
Tsushima Kagami thought about it, and it seemed that was indeed the case.
Right at this moment, Ijichi Seika came out from the back kitchen to the side. Upon seeing her, Hiroi Kikuri called out.
"Seika-senpai, Yukinoshita-senpai is here."
Only then did Ijichi Seika look over.
The five of them bowed slightly in unison to greet her.
"Sorry to bother you, Ijichi-san. We have five people," Tsushima Kagami said.
Ijichi Seika also bowed slightly with a smile. "Come this way."
After saying that, Ijichi Seika led the five of them to the same sofa booth they had sat in last time.
She then handed them the menus.
Tsushima Kagami casually flipped through it before handing it to Yukinoshita Shizuku, letting her order with Sayuri and the others.
He looked at the bar counter not far away. It seemed Shimizu Nayotake wasn't here today; it was just Ijichi Seika and the other two.
"Is Nayotake-san not here today?" he asked.
Ijichi Seika was stunned for a moment, thinking to herself that he used to call her Shimizu-san. When did he start calling her by her first name?
Then, she finally smiled and said, "Nayotake-san has another part-time job today."
Tsushima Kagami nodded and looked at Ijichi Seika again. "How have the three of you been lately?"
"Not bad, I guess. Aside from practicing every day, we occasionally come here to work part-time," Ijichi replied.
"Don't forget to spend more time with Little Nijika and your mother," Tsushima Kagami gently reminded.
Hearing this, Ijichi gave a faint smile. "I do make time to accompany them."
"Besides, Little Nijika has already been bribed by the gifts I bought with my part-time salary," she continued.
"Right now, she probably prefers playing with the gifts I gave her over pestering me."
"That's good then," Tsushima Kagami smiled and nodded.
By then, Sayuri and the others had finished ordering their food. They handed the menu back to Ijichi Seika, who jotted everything down and took it to the back.
At this point, Tsushima Kagami looked at Sayuri and the others. "So, what's the plan for tomorrow's CM?"
Kosaka Akane quickly took out a printed copy of the venue instructions for CM exhibitors from her satchel and spread it on the table.
"Tomorrow's CM exhibition will still be held at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center," Kosaka Akane explained.
"Our turn is tomorrow, the first day, which is also the day with the most foot traffic."
"Ah, right, we've been assigned to this area in the East Hall this time," she added, pointing her finger at a location near the wall on the hall's floor plan.
For circles that generally draw large crowds at CM, the organizers would assign them to booths near the walls to make it easier to disperse the flow of people.
"By the way, how many copies did you guys print this time?" Tsushima Kagami asked again. "How did you price them?"
Machida Sonoko smiled and replied, "Like before, we usually print a total of three thousand copies."
"However, we felt that both our artwork and content have improved this time, so we directly ordered 4,000 copies from the printing factory," she continued.
"2,000 copies each for Sayuri and Akane."
"Then how many copies were printed for Kagami?" Yukinoshita Shizuku, sitting to the side, curiously asked Machida Sonoko.
"Ah, for Kagami-kun?"
"We printed 6,000 copies for Kagami-kun."
Hearing this, Tsushima Kagami thought to himself: wasn't this making it obvious that they were going to combine forces to hit a sales record of ten thousand copies?
"So, what's the pricing?"
Machida Sonoko replied once more, "Ours are 500 yen, and yours is 1,000 yen."
Tsushima Kagami nodded.
After all, his book had a total of 122 pages. But in the current CM, a 1,000-yen doujinshi was considered a high price. Compared to the page count, people were much more sensitive to the price.
Priced at 1,000 yen and with 6,000 copies printed—what if they couldn't sell them all? Wouldn't they be left with completely dead stock on their hands?
____
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