Chapter 10: The First Customer

December 7, nine p.m.

Tian Yi glanced at the clock on the wall, then closed his book, stood up, and stretched.

He walked over to the bookshelves at the back, running his fingers over the labels on a row of books and muttering to himself. “2010, 2000, 1990… Chemistry, hygiene products, wilderness survival… Hmm… Here we are… Home appliances.”

A few minutes later, he walked out of the shop carrying a VCR.

Outside, beneath the bookshop's display window, a drunk sat mumbling to himself.

The spot was hidden from view inside the shop, but Tian Yi seemed to have known all along that someone was sitting there.

“Mr. Ikeda, have you had so much to drink that you've forgotten the way home?” Tian Yi asked with a smile.

Takeshi waved his nearly empty bottle. “Shut up! I'm perfectly sober! Booze! Get me some!”

Tian Yi crouched down. “Mr. Ikeda, I'd like to trouble you with a small errand.” He set the VCR beside Takeshi. “Sell this for me.”

“Bastard!” Takeshi suddenly roared, then paused and belched. “You think I'm some junk collector? Looking down on me, are you?!”

Ignoring him, Tian Yi stood up and headed back into the bookshop. “I'd suggest selling it in the shopping district in the south of town. Try a few audio and video shops. Someone should take it off your hands, and you'll certainly get a little more than you would for scrap.”

Takeshi was still shouting in a drunken haze. “Hey! Bastard, can't you hear me talking?”

Tian Yi already had one foot inside. Leaning out of the doorway, he turned back to add, “Oh, yes. Please have it done before tomorrow afternoon. Whatever you sell it for is yours, and you can come back to my shop for an additional reward.”

The bookshop door closed before he had finished speaking.

Outside, once he had sobered up a little, the drunk picked up the VCR from the ground and accepted the deal.

…

December 8, half an hour before Matsuo arrived at the bookshop.

“Hey, kid. I sold that junk you dumped on me yesterday. You said there was another reward, right?” Takeshi got straight to the point as soon as he entered.

Tian Yi smiled. “Heh… I do appreciate people who get straight to the point.” He tossed the book he was reading onto the desk. “Unfortunately, I can't give you more drinking money, as you were hoping.” He gestured toward the book. “Here's your additional reward. You may take it.”

Takeshi had no intention of even touching the book. “What the hell? You bastard, are you screwing with me?! What good's a book?!” He turned to leave, cursing under his breath. “Damn it. Came all this way for nothing.”

Tian Yi rested his hands behind his head. “Are you sure you want to give up the payment you earned from our deal, Mr. Ikeda?”

Takeshi kept walking without looking back. “That's right, you little bastard. Keep it to wipe your nose with.”

The next second, Tian Yi burst into wild laughter.

Takeshi stopped. “Something wrong with you, moron?”

Shaking his head, Tian Yi gradually stopped laughing and took a sip of coffee. “Ah… Speaking of morons, there certainly is one in this room…” He looked up at the ceiling. “Accepted a bad check to throw a boxing match. When it came to light, the other party got off scot-free thanks to his powerful connections, while his own career was finished for good. Then came the drinking and gambling, mountains of debt, and finally his wife's suicide. He left Tokyo with his young son to enjoy a happy life without a penny to his name.” He lowered his gaze to meet Takeshi's furious stare. “Tell me, wouldn't you call someone like that a moron?”

Takeshi suddenly lunged, vaulted over the desk, and hauled Tian Yi up by his collar with both hands. “Who are you?! Who told you all that?!”

Tian Yi tilted his head and kept smiling, utterly unconcerned. “Heh… It's all written in that book.”

Takeshi released Tian Yi and turned to take the Book of the Heart from the desk, but an unknown force lifted him from behind and flung him three meters away. He landed on the rectangular tables pushed together in the middle of the shop. The books heaped haphazardly on them scattered across the floor, though the tables held.

Strangely, Takeshi felt no pain. It was as though he were an object that had been picked up and set down, rather than dropped onto the ground.

Tian Yi was comfortably reclining on his sofa again, his feet propped on the desk in front of him, his heels resting squarely on the black-bound book.

“Mr. Ikeda, there are two things I need to remind you of. First, moron though you may be, your memory can't be so poor that you've forgotten what just happened. You should therefore remember that you have already given up my reward. Once you've chosen to give something up, getting it back comes at a price. Otherwise, even if I really do use it to wipe my nose, it's none of your business.

“Second, please don't climb over my desk. This desk is something of a boundary. In recent years, everyone who chose to cross it was chopped up and fed to pigs.”

Takeshi climbed down from the tables and stood still. “What exactly did you just do?” he asked warily.

Tian Yi said, “That doesn't matter. What matters is that I've made you understand that violence won't solve your problems here. So let's discuss a deal. All you have to do is complete one small task for me, and you can take this book.” As he spoke, he lowered his feet beneath the desk, picked up the book, and casually opened it to show Takeshi one of its pages.

“Consider this a chance to inspect the merchandise first, so you can see that the contents of this book are real, and I haven't made them up.”

Takeshi saw his own innermost thoughts covering the white pages in black ink. This bizarre, absurd reality made him break out in a cold sweat. “Why are you doing this?”

Tian Yi replied, “You wouldn't understand my reasons even if I told you. All you need to know is that my bookshop holds a great many people's secrets. Once you've retrieved your own book, you can come back and make another deal to read someone else's. Stupid as you are, you should still understand how much you stand to gain by knowing another person's hidden past or their plans for the future.

“High officials, powerful people, those who control the economy or the military. You should know how much their private thoughts are worth. Oh, of course, I also have books belonging to drunks like you. They may not be worth much, but someone might still pick one up for a laugh or something to chat about over tea.”

“All right, I get it. What do you want me to do?!” Takeshi asked urgently.

Tian Yi scratched his head. “It's very simple. The afternoon after tomorrow, go to the izakaya as usual and stay there. Come home at midnight, then don't say a word to your son until dawn. Not a single word.”

Takeshi hesitated before replying, “What's my son got to do with this?! I'm warning you, don't drag him into it.”

“I'm only asking you to keep silent,” Tian Yi said. “And of course, writing things down or making gestures won't do either. Don't even think about it.”

“You'll know even if I think about it, is that it?”

Tian Yi gave a cold chuckle. He put Takeshi's book away and took out another to read. “You may leave. Don't interfere with my business.”