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

Now that our midterms were over with terrible results, we gathered together in our usual spot. This day, since all of the clubs weren’t meeting, almost everyone was there. Our groups number was swelling and in total, we had about 22 or 23 people including freshmen.

The topic for today was of course about the “record store.” The reason for our misunderstanding for shoplifting at the bookstore was undoubtedly “Chuzai-san’s reckless action,” but there was no mistake that the record store owner set it ablaze.

“‘They were always suspicious,’ is pretty harsh.”
“Yeah, it’s too much.”
It was true. Even just with this group, how much money were we spending at the record store?
“Should we start a boycott? With the whole school.”
“No no. He might go out of business if we do that. That place is the only record store around. It would bother us more.”

The contents of our meeting would rival that of a town council! It’s hard to believe that we were just coming up with a “plan for revenge.”

“Hey, how about something like this?”
I started saying.

At the time, there was a free pamphlet called “Record Monthy.” All the records that were going on sale that month were listed in it, and we were going to look for the record “that would probably not sell the most.”

Everyone was serious.
“Hmm, how about something like “Koi no Malaria”?”
“Woah. What a name, but that’s by Hiroyuki Okita. We can’t use that. He has fans. We need to find something that will seriously not sell.”

Even at the Oricon, they probably don’t do things this seriously.

I’ll never forget what we saw next
“Kougai Blues.” (Pollution blues)
Performed by a group called Apuricotts.

“Yeah! This won’t sell. For sure!” We were overjoyed at our discovery. If someone who are involved in “Apuricotts” had heard our excitement, they would be in a rage.

Next, we split up the roles.

First, we gave roles to everyone else but Saijoh-kun and I (the two suspected of shoplifting).

Takaaki the cymbal man was the first to make a phone call.

“Hello. I was wondering if you had “Kougai Blues” there?”
“Oh I see. That’s too bad. When will your shipment come in?”
“A week, huh. No that’s ok. I’ll look for it elsewhere.”

Next, we caught one of the girls from our class and asked her.
“Hey. I want you to buy a record for us. It’s “Kougai Blues” by a group called Apuricotts.”
“Sure. That’s a weird name though.”
“Well, it’s pretty hot on Say! Young^*1 right now. But if they don’t have it, it’s ok. I’ll get it somewhere else.”

The next day we sent in two more people into the store, and had them ask about “Kougai Blues” at the front counter. There was no way they had it.

We tirelessly used different methods for a week.

One day, when one of our members made a phone call,
“Hello. Do you have “Kougai Blues”?”
“Really!? You do? Oh, ok. I’ll drop in to buy one.”

We confirmed that “Kougai Blues” was in with two more phone calls, and the first part of our plan was complete. We completely stopped our inquiries starting from the next day.

A couple days later, we saw a poster on the Record store.

“Currently causing a stir at Say! Young!
Kougai Blues, now in stock!”

Kougai Blues