They acted right away. Makoto Sakaki and Miss Miyano split up into two groups. Miss Miyano went straight to the fast food area, while Makoto Sakaki went to the back door of the supermarket.
Because he lives in a scenic area and doesn't have to worry about the flow of customers, Uncle Takeda did not choose a chain supermarket like 7-11 or FamilyMart. Instead, he set up his own business and opened a private supermarket.
The burden of purchasing channels, store management, product selection, quality control and even market research...
It all fell on him alone.
Fortunately...
Uncle Takeda used his connections to turn the convenience store into a special supermarket unique to Hakone. In addition to the national unified foods such as beverages, puffed foods, cigarettes, etc. that can be found everywhere...
Almost all other products sold in the convenience store are Hakone specialties, including handmade bread and sandwiches made that day.
Makoto Sakaki also saw the name and introduction of Takeda Convenience Store in the travel brochure that he received for free at the hotel.
The convenience store business is booming.
When Makoto Sakaki arrived at the back door, Uncle Takeda and another young man were moving drink boxes off the train. They had sweat towels on their shoulders and were sweating profusely.
"Uncle Takeda!"
"Xiao Cheng?"
Hearing the voice behind him, Uncle Takeda turned around, his eyes lit up:
"Why are you here?"
"I'm just hanging out here, and I want to help you."
Taking out a cigarette case, Sakaki Makoto passed a cigarette over, then rolled up his sleeves, bent over and lifted a box:
"Uncle, please go inside and rest for a while."
"Hey, how can I let you do that?"
Uncle Takeda put the cigarette between his ears and said quickly:
"I'll come, I'll come..."
"No, it's not much anyway."
When Sakaki Makoto arrived, half of the goods on the truck had been moved. The two of them finished the remaining dozens of boxes in just over ten minutes.
The last box was piled into the backstage warehouse. Uncle Takeda threw a bottle of energy drink and patted Makoto Sakaki on the shoulder. The two of them sat outside the back door, on chairs facing the park.
"You suddenly came to see me today, is there something wrong?"
As a convenience store owner, he has seen countless customers of all kinds and has developed a pair of sharp eyes. Uncle Takeda is no exception. He smiled and lit a cigarette:
"Go ahead, don't be shy."
"Um..."
Sakaki came straight to the point and didn't hold back:
"I want to see the store's surveillance video."
"Surveillance video?"
Uncle Takeda asked in confusion:
"What are you looking at that for?"
"A production crew came to Hakone yesterday. Did you know about this, uncle?"
"Of course I know. I heard that Okino Yoko is here too! I'm her fan!"
Speaking of this, the tiredness on Uncle Takeda's face disappeared. He looked inside the store first, then said excitedly:
"I was busy here and didn't have time to go over. Also, your aunt never lets me watch those young girls dancing, singing, and shaking their butts. It's so suffocating... Is there something wrong with the production team?"
"....right."
Sakaki Makoto nodded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry:
"A thief broke into Miss Yoko's room early this morning."
"What?!"
With a start, Uncle Takeda stood up:
"Is Miss Yoko okay? Was the thief caught?"
"She's fine. After being discovered, the thief jumped out the window and escaped."
"No wonder you came to my store to check the surveillance video."
Uncle Takeda suddenly realized:
"I received a report from the police station last night saying that a habitual burglar had fled to Hakone. Could it be him?"
“It’s possible, but it’s not certain yet.”
"Yes, I see."
Throwing away the cigarette butt, Uncle Takeda said:
"Originally, the store's surveillance cameras cannot be shown to outsiders. After all, we have to protect the privacy of our customers, but..."
"If it's to catch a thief, the situation is different."
"Come with me."
After saying that, Uncle Takeda stood up, opened the back door of the supermarket, and brought Sakaki Makoto to the manager's office.
"Our supermarket has 6 cameras, 4 in the shopping area and 2 in the warehouse. It has 360-degree coverage and is absolutely safe!"
While proudly introducing the supermarket's protection system, Uncle Takeda entered the login password on the computer and called up the surveillance footage:
"Come, sit down and take a look."
Six square grids were arranged in numerical order on the screen. Miss Miyano appeared in monitoring area No. 3, staring at a row of plum rice balls.
According to the date, Sakaki Makoto retrieved the surveillance video of August 23, which was the day, and directly dragged the timeline to 11 a.m., the time when the program crew had free time.
The slightly blurry picture froze for a short while, and then Miss Miyano disappeared, and was replaced by a group of unfamiliar customers.
In order to save time, Makoto Sakaki turned on the 2x speed playback, and the time bar in the upper right corner accelerated, and the picture suddenly began to become a little weird.
At 11:05, a group of tourist groups entered the supermarket and went on a shopping spree. Nearly 20% of the goods on the shelves disappeared in the blink of an eye.
“These guests are very generous...”
Seeing this scene, Uncle Takeda sighed from the bottom of his heart:
"They should be taking the afternoon bus back home, so they bought a lot of snacks and drinks."
At 11:10, the tour groups gradually left and the supermarket welcomed another group of customers.
"Huh?"
Sakaki suddenly hit the spacebar, paused the video, pointed at a woman who had just walked in the door and said:
"Isn't this Takenaka Momoe?"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
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