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A loud thud broke the quiet ambiance of the cluttered Shinjuku bookstore along with a stark “Dammit!” coming from the young man who was sorting the shelves. Luckily no one was there at the moment to hear him except for his boss, an old man who spent most of his days in the back working the computer systems.
“Goro-san? Are you alright?” the man questioned from that room. Goro sighed sharply to himself as he snatched up the stack of books that fell and began sorting through them once again.
“I’m fine,” he responded, only slightly rolling his eyes. He was honestly a little impressed with himself - his reaction was rather tame compared to most other times when he was quick to lose his temper.
As he placed the books on the shelf in alphabetical order of the authors’ last names, he quickly scanned the front cover of each one. He was never much of a reader until he started working there part-time this year as he took a break semester between high school and college. It was only then that he began to take an interest in reading, his favorite genre being dark romanticism.
His eyes grazed over the cover of Poe’s A Descent into the Maelström as he heard the bell ringing from the opening doorway. He quickly turned his attention to the customer. Normally he wouldn’t be so happy to socialize with people, but he had recently overheard the old man mention a raise to a different part-timer. So, Goro was willing to put in the extra work for the chance.
“Ah, good even-” He froze as he saw who walked through the door. The customer didn’t hear him, but gave him a polite smile before walking over to a different bookshelf. Goro, suddenly irritated, walked a few feet over to the doorway to the back with the book still in hand.
“Pardon my intrusion, but he’s here again,” Goro whispered as he knocked on the door frame.
The old man darted his eyes back and gave him a nasty look. “Well, dammit, Goro! Don’t let him leave without paying, you hear?! I’m sick and tired of this boy thinkin’ this is a library!”
Goro nodded and turned back to enter the main room again. Sure enough, as he expected, the customer was sitting at one of the small tables, reading a book.
Goro, a bit agitated, approached the customer. “Excuse me, sir, but I’m going to have to ask you to-”
“Oh, is that Poe?” the customer interrupted before making eye contact with Goro. “Which of his books is that?”
Goro was a bit taken back by the boy’s interest. “O-Oh, it’s A Descent into the Maelström . Why do you ask?”
The boy bent the corner of the page down in the book he was reading before closing it. “I thought that’s what it was. I finished reading that one here a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it. Do you read a lot of Poe?”
Goro took a moment to respond. “As a matter of fact, yes, I do. Now, if you don’t mind, the exit-”
“Amamiya,” the boy interrupted again, further irritating Goro. Goro simply tilted his head in confusion. “Sorry, my name is Amamiya Ren. I see you here often, I’ve just never properly introduced myself until now.
The boys both jumped when the old man came out of the back room with an overbearing presence. “Whatever your name is, you shouldn’t be reading my books without paying. You need to go.”
Ren’s eyes widened at the man’s rudeness. “Oh, I see.” He stood from his chair and grabbed his bag. As he threw it over his shoulder, he turned back to Goro. “I’ve actually recently got into that kinda stuff, Poe and all that. I’d appreciate some suggestions, if you wouldn’t mind.”
The next afternoon, Goro stood at the checkout counter tapping his pencil in boredom. Nobody had come into the store that day but a few people, but that was to be expected on a Friday. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice at first when his boss emerged from the back room. He jumped when he heard the old man speaking.
“Goro-san, I’m going to run to 777 and get a pack of cigarettes. Hold the fort down til I get back.”
Goro nodded and propped his head on his hands. He stared out the shop’s front window and watched all the people walk by, likely heading to the strip’s multitude of clothing and jewelry stores. After people watching for God knows how long, he positioned his pencil upright on a piece of scrap paper on the counter and began sloppily writing.
“ The Black Cat by Poe”
Thirty more minutes passed when Goro got up and began sorting through books again. He dragged the return cart over to a shelf at the very back of the store and started looking through them. After only a few minutes he heard the door chime. This time he only looked between the shelf that stood between him and the door. It was that customer again.
Ren immediately grabbed a book from the shelf, the same one as yesterday and opened it to the page he bookmarked. Goro stood there and watched him without realizing.
Ren looked up from the pages as Goro approached him. “Oh, hey! O-Oh! Don’t worry, I’ll pay today.”
Goro sat down across from Ren with a completely blank expression. Ren didn’t really know what to think. “It’s alright. My boss is just a stickler for that kind of stuff. I apologize for his attitude yesterday.”
Ren smiled at Goro and tilted his head. “I never got your name, by the way.”
“Akechi Goro.”
There was a moment of silence between the two, leaving only the distant chitter chatter of the people walking the street to fill the room. The boys sat there in that moment without a word.
“Well, Amamiya-san, I should get back to work. Enjoy your stay here in the meantime.”
“Ah, Akechi-san,” Ren piped as the other stood. “Thanks, for not kicking me out.”
Goro rolled his eyes to himself in a little bit of annoyance, but shrugged it off and nodded at Ren. He strolled back to his return cart and continued sorting through the books until Ren shouted a ‘Good evening’ to him and left. Goro nodded goodbye to him and just stood there quietly. Moments later, he dragged his feet back to the checkout counter and picked up his pencil again.
“ The Minister’s Black Veil by Hawthorne”
The next week continued with every day being mostly the same. Ren would come in, he would make small talk with Goro, he would leave without paying, and Goro would continue writing different novels and stories down on the scrap paper. He had made a habit of hiding the paper underneath the checkout computer’s keyboard.
“Goro, come into my office. I need to have a talk with you.” Goro felt his heart drop when he heard the boss speak to him in that monotone voice. It was also rare when the boss would say his name without an honorific - that fact didn’t help at all. He sighed to himself in an effort to calm his nerves before walking into the small back room. He knew he hadn’t been kicking Ren out like he was supposed to, though he didn’t know why he hadn’t been. Being rude and confrontational normally came naturally to him. Regardless, he needed this job.
“Look, Goro. I don’t know what’s been going on with you lately and why you keep letting that little punk read all of our books without paying. You are aware that’s a form of theft, correct?” Goro stayed silent and averted his eyes to the floor. He hadn’t thought of it like that before. “It’s not even like he’s your friend, yes? You hardly speak to him and I haven’t heard anything about him outside of here.” Another long pause sat between the owner and the worker. “Do you even still want this job?”
“Y-Yes! Of course I do, sensei.”
The old man stood up from his desk chair and slammed his open hands onto the desk. “Then you need to start kicking his ass out of here! I will not have a part-timer of mine encourage theft.” Goro sighed to himself and nodded before quickly taking his leave. The moment he stepped out of the back room and around the bookshelf that stood a few feet in front of it, he lifted his head only to meet eyes with his troublesome customer, who stood next to the checkout counter.
“Amamiya-san-”
“Yeah, I heard,” Ren interrupted. Goro huffed in annoyance; he had noticed recently that Ren had a habit of interrupting him starting the day they first spoke. “I’m sorry, Akechi-san, truly. I didn’t know I was getting you in so much trouble.”
Goro cut him off before he could continue, feeling an intense weight of confusing emotions. “No! It wasn’t your fault, it was mine. I was the one going against my orders so that I could have you in my presence.” Ren tilted his head in confusion. What did he mean by that? “Ah, I mean, this place is normally so empty, so…”
“I like being in your presence too.”
Goro froze, not knowing how to respond. There was an awkward breeze of tension and silence between them before it was interrupted by a shout from the back room: “Get him out already!”
“I’ll be taking my leave now,” Ren finalized as he readjusted his bag’s strap on his shoulder. “It was nice meeting you, Akechi-san.”
Goro’s heart fell to his stomach for a second time when he saw the other man turning towards the door. He should’ve been used to it by now, seeing him leave, but Goro couldn’t help but think that this might be the last time. “Wait! Amamiya-san, before you leave…”
Ren pivoted himself almost immediately as if he was waiting for Goro to stop him. Goro quickly dashed over to the checkout computer and snatched the scrap paper out from under the keyboard. He approached Ren swiftly and held it out to him.
Ren looked down at the small piece of paper, filled with sloppy handwriting and little random doodles.
“Oh, Akechi-san, you wrote all of these? For me?” Goro didn’t say a word, but Ren took that as a yes. “Wow, you really wrote a bunch down.” His eyes scanned the words, before coming across one that Goro had labeled as his favorite. “ The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Hugo, huh? I’ve… actually already read this one. I’d actually say it’s my favorite too.”
Goro’s face lit up from Ren’s approval, which he found odd due to his typically isolated personality but decided to brush it off for now. “Here,” Ren laughed, reaching into his pocket to pull out his wallet and then a small business card. “I run a coffee shop with my dad in Yongen-Jaya. I’d love to see you around sometime. We could have some coffee together, yeah?” Goro’s face flustered a bit at the request. His face grew even redder when Ren purposefully raised his voice and cupped his hands around his mouth towards the back room. “And we could probably even land you a good part-time job where you don’t have to deal with such an asshole of a boss!”
The old man quickly slung himself through the doorway, presumably to finally kick Ren out himself. Fortunately for Goro, he would never come to find out, as Ren grabbed him by his arm and pulled him out of the bookstore’s front door, chime ringing. Goro laughed to himself at not only the excitement but the realization that Ren had the book he had been reading in his hands as well.
That was the last time either of them stepped foot in the Shinjuku bookstore.