In a stationery store in Tokyo, early in the morning, the clerk Amano Ryota was taking stock of the day's new arrivals when he noticed something—a Death Note-style Shinigami notebook.
He picked up a notebook and examined it. Apart from its cool cover, it looked like any ordinary notebook.
Amano Ryota had watched the popular Death Note anime and found it incredibly entertaining and exciting.
Judging by the cover, this was indeed the same type of Shinigami notebook from Death Note. However, calling it the "same type" wasn't quite right. The Death Note in the anime had the power to kill anyone whose name was written in it. In reality, there were no Shinigami, no such power, and it was impossible to actually kill someone by writing their name.
Therefore, this was essentially just an ordinary notebook with a cover designed to look like the Death Note from the anime.
Despite being just an ordinary notebook in nature, the price of the one in Amano Ryota's hands was far higher than that of regular notebooks—even twice the price of an equivalent quality one.
Who would actually buy a notebook this expensive? Amano Ryota couldn't help but wonder.
This thing wasn't even like a collectible figure; it was something that could be mass-produced without any technical skill whatsoever. It was just the same cover as the Death Note from Death Note, and they were charging so much for it—like they were robbing people blind.
With all that money, wouldn't it be better to just buy a few regular notebooks?
"People who buy these notebooks are either rich with nowhere to spend their money or just plain stupid," he muttered to himself, shaking his head. He put the notebook down and continued counting inventory.
After finishing the inventory and preparing the shop, he saw it was time and opened the door to officially start business.
A stationery store wouldn't be too lively, but since it was the weekend and students didn't have school, the shop wasn't completely empty even in the morning.
Amano Ryota routinely rang up customers while his mind began to wander to what he should have for lunch.
Lunch... that's always a tough decision.
Just as he was wrestling with this dilemma, a middle schooler-aged boy approached the counter with a Death Note-style Shinigami notebook, his face beaming with delight.
"Someone actually bought one!" Amano Ryota was secretly surprised.
Still, he dismissed it as a purchase by a child from a wealthy family.
Though not many, there were still one or two occasional customers.
He rang up the bill for the young man with a professional smile, saying, "Take care, and welcome back anytime," as he watched the boy leave in high spirits.
After the customer left, Amano Ryota continued pondering the age-old dilemma of what to eat for lunch.
However, before long, something baffling happened. Several boys, who looked no older than elementary school age, rushed into the shop, asking excitedly, "We heard you sell Death Notes here!"
"Uh..."
Amano Ryota was momentarily stunned before quickly correcting them, "Not Death Notes, but notebooks with covers identical to the Death Note."
"Ugh, just tell us where they are!" one of the boys demanded impatiently.
Amano Ryota pointed to the shelf where the Death Note-style notebooks were displayed. The boys swarmed the shelf, each grabbing a notebook. Without buying anything else, they rushed to the counter to pay.
Amano Ryota rang up each of them and watched them leave, muttering to himself, "These expensive notebooks are actually quite popular."
Even then, he didn't take it too seriously.
Elementary and middle school boys, still in the throes of their chuunibyou phase, were bound to be drawn to such "chuunibyou cool" things. He couldn't really fault them for it. Still, he decided his earlier thought needed a revision: "Anyone who buys a notebook like this is either rich and doesn't know what to do with their money, or they're an idiot, or they're a chuunibyou."
He chuckled and continued his work.
About half an hour later, an even more bewildering scene unfolded.
Two girls who looked like high school students came in together, and one of them actually bought a Death Note-style notebook.
"Death Note? Misaki, what are you buying this for? Don't tell me you're planning to curse someone?" her friend teased with a laugh, clearly surprised.
"No, no, it's not like that," Misaki shook her head. "This is merchandise from an animation my idol worked on. It wasn't very expensive, so I bought it for my collection."
"Oh, you mean that super handsome and young animation director you've been talking about?"
"Exactly! I'm telling you, he's so young, so handsome, and so talented... It's just..."
"Okay, okay, you've said it a dozen times. My ears are practically calloused."
"Mmm~"
The two girls chatted as they paid and left, leaving Amano Ryota standing there, utterly bewildered.
Is it okay to buy a notebook just to collect it because I admire the animation's Supervising Director?
Speaking of which, is the Supervising Director of the Death Note anime young and handsome?
He could tell from the animation that the director was talented, but he really didn't know if he was young or handsome.
High school girls who have a crush on him would also buy this notebook. It seems I'll have to revise my earlier statement. It should be: "People who buy this notebook are either rich with nowhere to spend their money, or they're idiots, chuunibyou sufferers, or female fans of Supervising Director Lin Zhiyan."
He thought this to himself, but just a few minutes later, a tall man in a suit and a petite woman in a suit also came to the counter with Death Note notebooks.
"Senior, why are you buying this notebook? Isn't it embarrassing?" the woman asked, looking puzzled.
The man smiled. "You wouldn't understand. Our department head has been assigning us increasingly bizarre tasks lately. I'm putting this Death Note on my desk to see if he'll be afraid to treat me like a servant from now on."
The woman paused, then nodded. "That actually makes sense."
Then, she also bought a notebook identical to the one in Death Note.
Seeing this, Amano Ryota was beyond words.
Buying a Death Note-style notebook for such a reason? That's utterly ridiculous!
Of course, the most absurd part was the price. In his opinion, no sane person would buy such an expensive notebook, yet several had sold within an hour.
And it didn't end there.
More and more people bought the same type of notebook throughout the morning.
By noon, every single Death Note-style notebook in the store where Amano Ryota worked had sold out.
Staring at the empty shelf, Amano Ryota couldn't help but mutter to himself, "I guess I'm the one who's not normal."
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