Chapter 56: Frenzied Tides
Suzuki Sonoko was a junior high school girl who had just fallen in love with the small, cute electronic pet game toy she saw on TV commercials the night before.
When I saw the price of 20,000 yen, I still couldn't suppress that urge in my heart.
She really wants it too much.
Especially that tadpole, it's really too cute!
Suzuki Sonoko ran into her own room and took out a small piggy bank from her drawer, which contained the spare change she had been saving for a long time.
Looking at the cute little rabbit piggy bank, a hesitant expression appeared on her face. This money was originally prepared for the concert ticket of her idol Mika Nakashima at the end of the year. If she takes it out now, her plan will be ruined.
A fierce ideological struggle was taking place in her mind.
To buy or not to buy?
In her mind, the three electronic pets of various colors that she saw on TV earlier kept popping up in her brain, and they were so cute.
Then Suzuki Makoto gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, seemingly having made a decision, and with force threw the ceramic piggy bank in her hand to the ground.
Bang!
The piggy bank fell to the ground with a dull thud, possibly because her strength was not enough, and the tatami mat was much softer than the cement floor, so the piggy bank only rolled over on the ground several times without shattering.
At the moment she was thrown out, a look of extreme regret appeared on Suzuki's face, and her eyes were instantly covered with a layer of water vapor, not for the money she had worked hard to save inside, but for the piggy bank that had accompanied her for a long time.
This is her mother's birthday gift to her!
Fortunately, the piggy bank fell to the ground without breaking. Her face showed a surprised expression in an instant, and she quickly squatted down to carefully pick up the piggy bank.
She patted her chest and returned to her desk, carefully removing the lid of her piggy bank and shaking it, pouring out the money inside.
The piggy bank kept making a rattling sound under her shaking.
Most of the coins in the piggy bank were, with a large number of 100-yen coins mixed with a small amount of 500-yen coins and a very few 1,000-yen bills.
As she poured out all the money from her piggy bank, Suzuki looked at the pile of cash on the table that she had saved up over half a year and her face showed reluctance once again. However, after hesitating for a moment, her eyes became resolute.
She carefully counted the coins that had fallen on the table, and even blew on a 100-yen coin to wipe it clean before putting it aside.
It took her nearly half an hour to count all these coins on the table clearly.
Even she herself didn't expect that in just over half a year's time, she had saved nearly 39,000 yen with one coin at a time!
It gave her some unexpected surprise.
Even if she bought her favorite Pokémon, she would still have 19,000 yen left over. Who knows, maybe in the second half of the year, if she works hard, by the end of the year, she won't miss her idol Mika Nakashima's concert.
Thinking of this, Suzuki's face, which was originally somewhat depressed, immediately revealed an extremely happy smile.
This was the best news she could have asked for.
On the morning of July 25th, Suzuki Sonoko took the train to Akiba, she knew this was the largest electronic product market, anyway the boys in her class said that you could buy anything related to electronics here.
And she remembered that in the TV program, the first launch was divided into three places, Akihabara retail stores, and several shopping malls in Tokyo and Osaka. However, only purchases made in Akihabara could receive a lottery ticket, which could be scratched to win prizes. The first prize was one of the three gold versions of the electronic pets, but only one of the three could be chosen.
This time, Jest launched a pocket version of electronic pets, with three pets and three versions.
He fully absorbed the experience of Japanese manufacturers cheating fans out of their money in later generations.
In addition to the ordinary yellow, white and pink versions, there are also a limited edition of 1,000 silver versions and a limited edition of 100 gold versions.
The silver version costs five times the price of the regular version, with a retail price of up to 100,000 yen. The gold version is not sold separately but can only be obtained through a lottery draw, where one ticket is given for each electronic pet purchased, and this ticket can be scratched off to reveal a gold version of the electronic pet.
Whether it's gold or silver, each has its own independent number and will never have a duplicate number.
Suzuki Sonoko, who had long yearned for the golden electronic pet she saw on TV, came to Akihabara without hesitation, rather than going to those shopping malls that were closer to her.
Although she knew the chances of winning were slim, she still wanted to give it a try.
What if?
Anyway, that's what she thinks.
Tamaki Yoshirou also arrived at Akihabara early in the morning, not only to check on the sales of the GP handheld console on its first day but also to present an award to the player who won the golden version of the GP handheld.
The advertising effect of GP is still good, although only a short period of ten days has been promoted so far, but there are still a large number of girls who have been attracted by the cute GP electronic pets seen on TV, and even many people from the Kansai region have taken the Shinkansen overnight to come and buy.
Of course, there are more buyers living nearby.
Sales can't be said to be hot, but it's okay to say they're still pretty good.
On the first day, Tamaki Yoshirou only sent 20,000 units to Akiba, and by evening, he roughly calculated that about 12,000 units had been sold, leaving 8,000 units remaining.
Those stores were also very satisfied, and they not only paid the full amount for the goods they had previously taken, but also immediately ordered another 20,000 units.
Tamaki Yoshirō is also quite satisfied with today's results, although it can't be said to be a complete victory, but it's still a good start.
For a handheld console with relatively low investment and cost, this sales volume is already quite good.
He patted his pocket, where he had a GP handheld game console that he had bought with his own money, featuring Charmander. He was planning to give it to his daughter as a gift, ever since she had seen the commercial on TV and begged him for one. Although he could have gotten it earlier due to his position, he hadn't done so.
After bidding farewell to his busy employees for the day, he got into a taxi he had called and headed towards the station.
He promised his daughter that he would definitely give her an electronic pet today.
At this time, he couldn't help but think of that girl named Suzuki Sonoko who won a golden version of Gyarados today.
He still remembers the girl hesitating between a golden version of Jigglypuff and a golden version of Clefairy, he remembers that the girl bought a pink Clefairy, it was this Clefairy's prize ticket that won the first prize, apparently she liked Clefairy a bit more, but after getting Clefairy, she wanted a different electronic pet.
But she also wants to get a gold version of Mewtwo, after all her favorite is Mewtwo.
The girl hesitated for over ten minutes, and finally reluctantly chose the golden version of Jynx. At that time, she looked at the golden version of Mew with a gaze that could only be described by one adjective.
That's heartbreaking.
Although this girl is a bit older, she still reminds Yushio Kijuro of his own daughter. Thinking of his beloved daughter, the smile on his face becomes happier.
"Sir, you're thinking of your family, aren't you?" The driver also saw the smile on Yushou Kichirou's face through the rearview mirror and couldn't help but ask with a smile.
"Yes, yes! I've brought the gift my daughter has been wanting the most!" Yoshida Kichirō said with a smile of happiness that he couldn't hide.
Suzuki Sonoko rushed home and couldn't wait to call her friends to show off that she had bought the newly released electronic pets, and even drew a limited edition of 100 golden version of Jenny Turtle!
This made her friends also unbearable curiosity, flocked to her home.
After Suzuki Sonoko finished the call, she originally wanted to wait for her friends to arrive and then show off in front of them, but she couldn't bear it and opened it ahead of time.
Then she became completely absorbed in this small handheld game!
In this small thing with a screen the size of half a palm, which only has black and white liquid crystal display, actually lives a pet that has its own life and its own thoughts!
Of course, this is Suzuki Maki's own idea.
And looking at the newly hatched tadpoles crying and shouting that they are hungry, Suzuki instantly fell in love with this small thing that cost 20,000 yen to buy. Then she fed it, bathed it, let it defecate, combed its hair, and put it to sleep... just like taking care of a real pet.
"This is getting interesting!" thought Suzuki Sonoko as she played along.
At this time, her several friends also came to her home, surrounding her and watching her take care of the exceptionally cute little pet in GP.
"What's its name? It's so cute." One of Suzuki Sonoko's friends gazed at it with a tinge of envy for a while before involuntarily asking out loud.
"This is called Mewtwo! I also want to buy it, but I like Charmander a bit more! However, one costs 20,000 yen, which is too expensive!" Another girl said with some pride, then her voice became somewhat depressed, apparently her money was not enough.
"Wow! Is that the golden version of Jeni Turtle?! Another girl looked at Suzuki Sonoko's unopened prize, a golden version of Jeni Turtle she had won in a lottery, with envy and exclaimed loudly."
"Take it apart and see, take it apart and see......" Then, there were a group of girls' voices constantly urging.
Originally, Suzuki Yoko didn't want to open it, she wanted to keep it well and collect it. However, under the persuasion of so many friends, she couldn't refuse either, so she gritted her teeth and opened the packaging paper of this golden version of Genie Turtle GP.
When the golden version of Genie Turtles was taken out of the box by Suzuki Sonoko, the outer shell that shone with a golden light, with the cute image of Genie Turtles printed on the pure metal outer shell in a rust-engraved manner, immediately attracted the attention of everyone present.
Suzuki Sonoko held this metal-made GP handheld console, feeling a completely different texture from the plastic-cased one she played with earlier.
This golden version of Genie Turtle feels really comfortable in hand.
Then, Suzuki Sonoko saw her friends staring at her or the PDA in her hand with eyes that had turned green like starving kittens.
At this time, Suzuki Sonoko couldn't help but shudder.
"Me too!" Then, her friends all shouted in unison and rushed towards Suzuki Sonoko...
Such a scene is being staged in many places where GP handheld game consoles are sold today.
The next day.
When Tamaki Yoshirou arrived at Akihabara from Osaka, he was almost shocked by the scene in front of him. It wasn't even half past eight yet, but long lines had already formed in front of all the shops with GP posters.
The vast majority are some young girls, and many boys who line up with the girls.
At this time, one of his newly recruited employees rushed towards him in a hurry.
"Boss! Boss! All 30,000 units have been sold out!" The employee came to his side, lowering his voice, and said the astonishing news in an extremely excited tone.
"Are they all sold out?" He repeated in a somewhat disbelieving tone, his voice even becoming slightly shrill.
Then, the employee nodded vigorously and said in a decisive tone: "Yes, President, all sold out!"
Then, Tamaki Kijuro suddenly felt a little dizzy.
Looking at the long queue in front of him that seemed to have no end, his mind was suddenly occupied by a single word, leaving no room for anything else.
Rampage!
