Chapter 16: Whose Life?

July 5th, Monday, 8:30 AM.

Akiwara Yuto held a stack of books in both hands and walked to the literature section in the top right corner of the bookstore, beginning to fall into distress.

She was a bookstore clerk, but she preferred to be called a book curator; her job was to place every book in the most suitable position so that the customers who needed them most would see and purchase them.

This job sounded simple, but the actual operation was far more complex, because no matter which book it was, each had its own target audience and sales cycle.

It could be said that deciding when and where to place the books in one's hands was entirely a science of management.

In this medium-sized bookstore where she worked, in order to sell books better, the entire store was divided into several sections, such as the manga section, literature section, and science and education section.

A curator was assigned to each section, specifically responsible for the placement and recommendation of books.

She herself was the person in charge of the literature section.

After placing the stack of books in her hands on the promotional display in the literature section, she sighed and continued to "distress."

As the literature section curator, she managed all the literature books in the entire store, but she had to distinguish between books that sold well and those that did not.

So the question arose: which unpopular book should be thrown into the "cave" today?

The so-called "cave" actually referred to the bookshelf next to it; the origin of this term was inseparable from the placement of the books.

If it was a very important book, especially a bestseller, customers had to see it immediately.

Therefore, such books would be placed neatly and flat on the display table like offerings, revealing the entire exquisite cover, waiting for the patronage of customers.

Generally speaking, these types of books were also the easiest to sell.

But if it was an unimportant book, most could only fall to the point of being inserted into the bookshelf. Once it reached this point, only a tiny spine could be revealed, as if it had entered a "cave."

Perhaps one day a kind-hearted customer would come over, dig it out of the cave, and take it away.

She stood by the bookshelf, searching for a suitable place to insert them, while pulling a book from the stack in her hand, her mind constantly wandering.

Book-sama, I am truly sorry; if this week's sales don't meet expectations, I will definitely be scolded by the store manager... so, please go into the cave and rest for a while.

After she inserted a dozen or so books into the bookshelf, she slowed down her speed and decided to be lazy and "read" for a while.

Although this was being lazy, it could be done openly and honestly; after all, without properly looking at the content of the book, how could one know if this book would sell well or poorly?

She picked up a book at random and glanced at the title.

Huh, isn't this "New Novel," which hits the bottom of the sales charts every week? Why was I so unlucky to draw this one today?

Forget it, I heard that "The Footsteps of Searching" serialized in it is not bad; let's just take a simple look today.

She leaned against the bookshelf just like that and started reading. After more than 20 minutes of reading, her heart became increasingly disappointed.

What is this content? The detective method is boring to death, there are a bunch of irrelevant environmental descriptions, and the pacing is so slow it makes people want to sleep... and at the very end, it suddenly produces a bunch of inexplicable clues for the police, directly solving the entire case.

What is the author's intention? To introduce sightseeing routes to readers?

Also, I heard this story was written based on real police stories; do Japanese police work like this? I'm really a bit worried about my own safety.

She shook her head, but in her heart, she gave "New Novel" a life sentence, preparing to let this book go into the "cave" to cool off.

Just then, her hand habitually swiped to the next page, and she saw the content of the first page of "Little Ornament and Yoko":

"If Mom wanted to kill me, what method would she use? For example, she might beat me with something hard like she usually does, or use the usual beating method, strangling my neck; or perhaps, push me off the balcony to create the illusion of suicide."

This opening is a bit creepy, isn't it?

She couldn't help but stop her hand that was preparing to close the book and decided to read a few more pages.

But as she read on, her heart was fiercely twisted together because of Yoko's encounter, and her whole person was completely immersed in it.

From the beginning of Yoko being abused, to Yoko being treated kindly by her grandmother, to her younger sister, Little Ornament, being pushed off the balcony, and finally that eerie smile from her mother...

All these scenes appeared in her mind in the form of images, one after another.

The more she read, the more uncomfortable she felt, but she couldn't bear to put it down. It was only after a long time that she calmed her mood.

By this time, she discovered that the corners of her eyes were already moist; it turned out she had cried without realizing it.

Why did I cry? She couldn't help but think.

She pondered for a long time and was surprised to find that her life had many similarities with Yoko's.

She also grew up in a single-parent family from a young age; her father took care of her younger brother in every possible way but was indifferent to her, and even felt abnormal disgust toward her because she looked more and more like her mother who had run away from home.

Under such circumstances, she even once wanted to give up on life...

When she was in extreme pain, her high school homeroom teacher gave her a book as a gift, with a message written on it, hoping that she could obtain her own life after graduating from high school.

Encouraged by this book and the message, she held on until high school graduation. After thanking her teacher, she left her hometown and her original family and began her new life as a bookstore clerk.

As a result, now...

She was silent for a while, flipped to the page with the author's information, saw the four characters "Akiwara Yuto," and wondered what kind of person the other party was and why he could write such an article.

The deep meaning contained in this kind of article about obtaining a new life from pain could definitely not be written by a writer who had never had a similar life experience.

Presumably, this Mr. Akiwara, like herself, had also had a period of unbearable past experiences, right?

She glanced at the promotional display and decided to move out a position for this story that touched the depths of her heart.

This story called "Little Ornament and Yoko" should not be buried in the bookshelf; let it be placed on the promotional display. Perhaps it could also help someone who needed it?

While Akiwara Yuto was contributing her meager strength to the sales of "New Novel," someone was looking at the "New Novel" in front of him with a look of disgust.

He scratched his head in distress, but muttered in his heart.

This pile of horse manure in front of me, how should I write it to make it smell fragrant? ===== CHAPTER 17 =====