“Bokuchu” Us vs the Police: 700-Day War

That day, Saijoh-kun and I were in the bookstore office. It was a couple days after that abominable “suspicion of shoplifting” incident. In front of us sat a discouraged looking bookstore owner. We looked down in silence.

The owner asked sullenly,
“So you’re telling me that there’s no way you can show me?”
“No. Absolutely not.”

There was a reason for us being in the bookstore office.

Because of Chuzai-san’s extraordinary revenge, our usual status of “regulars” had changed to “suspicious customers.” Though, Saijoh-kun was a regular because of “Monthly ** Fan”. How can he buy a super porno mag in town? Either way, “they’re not allowed here anymore” was a little too much.

Saijoh-kun and I came to the same conclusion. It was of course, “get revenge.” We were a lot better at pranks against ordinary people than against government officials such as Chuzai-san. Even then, the reason we didn’t cause (too much) trouble in town was because we “need them in our daily life.” The story was different now that we were “being treated as suspects.” We had to clear our charges beyond any doubt. On top of that, our pranks had to be funny.

The day before we were carried it out, Saijoh-kun and I were making something with some of our friends. What we were making was a bag.

We readied two vinyl bags (similar to a duffel bag with zippers) and destroyed part of the zippers.

“All right. This about right?”
“That’s good. It shouldn’t open too much.”

We were so methodic, I regret not having the same mindset with other things.

The day we carried out this plan was two days after our midterms.

Saijoh-kun and I went into the bookstore in the same manner as the other day.

“Oh.”

The bookstore owner noticed us coming in immediately. It meant that, “we were under surveillance.” It wasn’t fun for us, but it would have been a problem otherwise.

We acted as though we were looking for study guides and walked around the store, making sure that he was watching us.

After a while, we went behind some shelves where he couldn’t see us, and I gave the sign to Saijoh-kun.
“Let’s go…”
Saijoh-kun nodded silently in agreement.

From there, we madly dashed for the exit! Dash! Dash!

“Ah!”

Of course, the bookstore owner who was watching us dashed after us.

“Hey! Wait!”

Normally criminals don’t wait after being told to, but we were a little different. As we were milling around the bikes, the owner caught up. That was the reason for double locking our bikes.

“Hey. You guys! What are you in such a hurry for?”
“Nothing, something serious is going to happen if we miss the next train.”
“I’m sorry, but can you guys come with me?”

The owner grabbed our hands.

“No, we can’t miss this one…”
We said, but he replied,

“Is it life threatening?”
“Yes. It’s life threatening.”

The owner, angered by this answer, said,
“Forget it!” and pulled us inside his bookstore.

It was like an ant lion dragging in an ant.

So, happily for us, we were going to the bookstore office.

Owner: “I would like you to show me those bags.”

He looked at the bags we had clutched to our chests.

“We refuse.”
We refused suspiciously.

“Show me!” he demanded this time.
“We absolutely refuse” we refused again.

“So you’re telling me that there’s no way you can show me?”
“Nope. Absolutely not.”

The owner said to a female employee,
“I guess we’ll have to call in the Chuzai-san then.”