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

Patrol Car

We didn’t know what turn of events caused Chuzai-san to suddenly say, “I’ll take you in my police car.” Since missing the train was a big lie, his statement was more of a bother for us.

But then,

“What? Is that all right?”
asked the bookstore owner.
“Sure. I was going on a patrol anyways. I’ll just add it in.”
How can you add it in, when you haven’t even asked us where we’re going? Well, we really didn’t have anywhere to go.
“If it’s all right with you then, I’ll accept your offer. Can you please take them?”
He accepted the offer without even consulting us.

“Well, maybe some other day… right?”
I looked at Saijoh-kun for support.
“Yeah. As they say, “things won’t seem as bad once they’ve past”"
Idiot. Your saying is wrong.

“Well, if the Chuzai-san is offering, you guys shouldn’t hold back and have him take you. You guys looked like you were in a hurry.”
The owner said nicely.
“Yes… but…”
“See. You should go ahead and accept. It’s not everyday that you get to ride in a police car.”
We were on one just the other day after getting caught. On top of that, it was for interfering with a Police officer in the execution of his duties.

For some reason, the negotiations went quicker than expected, and it was decided that we would be going somewhere in a police car.

I guess it’s all right. We’ll just use Chuzai-san in this situation and have him drop us off by Saijoh-kun’s place.

So that’s how we were happily cleared from our shoplifting suspicions, and we were on our way to the RPS across the street.

As we were leaving the store,

“Guys, I’m sorry about today. Take these.”
The bookstore owner handed us each a mechanical pencil in a box.

“No, it’s ok. You don’t need to do this much.”
I tried to say, but
“It’s ok. I took your time.”

We were speechless and because we felt so sorry for what we had done, we started to telling the truth:
“We can’t accept these. In truth, today’s events…”
But the owner cut us off.

“It’s ok. Now that I think about it, you guys are regulars who have been using this store since you were in elementary school. I remember the time when you came here in the middle of a snow storm to buy “3^rd Grade” magazine with snow all over you. You were short 10 Yen (5 cents) and even though I told you it was ok, you went home to get it. By the time you came back, it was closing time. It must have been so cold. I’m ashamed for having doubted you even for a moment. That’s why… take it. This is my gratitude for that time.”

My eyes were starting to well up from the owner’s kind words.

“I’m… very sorry.”

Chuzai-san rapped my head lightly. If I had been there 10 more seconds, it’s no doubt that I would have cried.

It’s not related to the story, but I still have the mechanical pencil that the owner gave me from this incident. It’s a black Mitsubishi brand mechanical pencil.

Chuzai-san’s “police car” wasn’t a big one like the ones used at the main station, but a tiny Honda Civic. We weren’t happy about it, but Saijoh-kun and I both got in the back. Since the RPS was in the shopping district, there were a lot of people walking by that were stopping to see what was going on. Instead of looking as if we were “getting dropped off, it must have looked as if “we were detained” The employees from the traditional Japanese candy store next door even came out to take a look. We asked Chuzai-san to leave as soon as possible.

But.

The bookstore owner came by.

I opened the window wondering what he wanted.

“Eat this while you go.”
He handed us a Yell chocolate each.

Yell

I was thankful for his repeated kindness, but…
You know, owner, to the bystanders, it can only look as if, “we were getting something before being escorted to juvenile hall.”
In fact, most of the people walking by stopped and were looking towards us.

Ahh… This town is getting harder and harder to live in…

<- Review?