“I need to write something, quick.”
Something that would make whoever looked at the book realize that it was intended for one specific person. His impressions written out like a letter, but in a way that wouldn’t seem too pushy. Keiichi had told him to write something that only someone who had read the first volume in the photobook series would understand. Rintarou had replied simply that he thought he could manage that, but when he thought about the lady who bought the book, he couldn’t find any words.
A while later, Kimiko and Niimi left the house. While he sat there rewriting his impressions over and over again, the sun went down, and closing time for Frère passed.
Rintarou’s room had gotten chilly, so he turned his heater on. While he sat cross-legged at his desk, staring at the paper in front of him, Kimiko and Niimi came home, delivering some seafood yakisoba and xiaolongbao steamed buns to him in his room, assuming he hadn’t eaten. They asked him what he was doing, but he had no idea where to even start explaining. When he turned around after taking his food, he saw Chiyo had come back and settled in the hammock at some point.
“This is bad. This is harder than just talking to her face-to-face,” Rintarou grumbled, drooping as he stared at the draft he thought he’d never finish.
Rintarou made his way to Frère, making sure to visit on a day that Keiichi was minding the store.
“Thank you for your advice earlier.”
The student made a beeline to the counter and immediately bowed his head to Keiichi, whose eyes opened in surprise for a moment before softening as he recognized him from his last visit.
It had been ten days since Rintarou had come back to restock his shelf. He wasn’t thinking that just switching the selection would mean he’d instantly get sales, but he was wondering if anything had happened with the photobook.
“Kajiwara-san,” he began.
“Hm?”
“I completely underestimated how hard it would be. I’ve been writing reports every week, so I thought I’d get it done quick. But I was so, so wrong. Writing my impressions on something while thinking about the person they were for was so much harder than writing any report.”
Keiichi listened to Rintarou talk about his struggle with a smile. “Take a look at your shelf,” he said.
Turning around to look, Rintarou saw that there was a gap between the books. “Oooh, it looks like there’re fewer books!” Which one sold?
Just as he was about to go over to check, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It was Sakurai Haruka, the owner of Frère. He must have been on his way out, because he had a coat on over his jacket and was carrying a business bag. Holding Sumi firmly in his arms, his eyes softened behind his glasses.
“Shirane-san! Here to restock? Good work.” After letting his beloved cat down inside the store, he pushed his wavy hair back and faced Rintarou again.
“I just came to check on something today,” Rintarou said. “I’ve got a shift at my part-time job to go to after this.”
“I see. You two…it doesn’t seem like you’ve only just met,” Haruka observed.
“Kajiwara-san has been a great help to me.”
When Rintarou bowed his head again, Haruka held his stomach and laughed.
“You don’t need to be so stuffy with Keiichi. He might look scary at a glance, but he isn’t. We were classmates back in junior high. There were tons of students who looked up to him, but no one ever tried to talk to him, so I was always with him,” he explained, plopping a hand on Keiichi’s shoulder.
Haruka made the place brighter just with his presence. He and Keiichi were different types, but rather than just classmates, it seemed like they’d been close from the get-go.
“Oh yeah. Shirane-san, has Keiichi told you about his shelf yet?” Haruka asked.
“Not yet.”
Murmuring that Keiichi would never tell him unless he asked, Haruka led the student over. “It’s the best-selling shelf in Frère, so maybe you could learn a thing or two from it,” he said, pointing to a shelf labeled “Triple Sec.”
Not a single one of the books on the shelf was placed so you could see its cover. Looking at the back covers, they were all by authors that Rintarou didn’t recognize. When Haruka had said it was the most successful, he had expected it would be one of the fanciest decorated ones, so it was surprising.
“You just thought it looked plain, didn’t you?” Haruka said, pulling a book off of the shelf. “But that’s one of the unique bits about it. See how the way the books are displayed changes the impression you get, even if the books are the same? You can tell what the shelf owner is like from the way they try to sell their books. Keiichi writes out his impressions for every single book he puts out, which is why anyone who buys one will absolutely buy more. The shelves that sell always have some sort of gimmick, even if they don’t stand out. Like how you’ll feel that you can trust every book on this shelf.”
On the last page of each book was a sheet of paper folded in two. Casually unfolding it, Rintarou was flabbergasted. The entire sheet was covered with precisely written words.
“He’s down bad for these books, huh?” Haruka commented.
“Very bad,” Rintarou agreed.
“They’re love letters to the books.”
It had taken Rintarou an entire day to write his impressions on one book, so just how long would it have taken Keiichi to write something for every book on his shelf?
“He doesn’t do social media much anymore, but a while ago he’d post a lot of his impressions there. Look!” Haruka said, showing Rintarou his phone. It was Keiichi, using his real name on his account. The number of followers he had was yet another shock, and Haruka added that quite a few professional authors were fans.
“You used your real name. Is that safe?” Rintarou couldn’t help asking, turning to look at Keiichi.