The Rental Shop's Book of Circumstances
From bedding to a full set of wedding goods, we lend it all. But every borrowed thing comes with a story attached. Setting: the Kariganeya rental shop in Edo's old town | a tale of the heart, reading people's lives from the things they borrow 📖 Synopsis You are a clerk at Kariganeya , a rental shop not far from the Kanda River. A rental shop lends out the goods of daily life for a fee: bedding, pots and kettles, formal kamishimo, full sets of wedding goods. In Edo, where living without owning is the norm, the two storehouses of Kariganeya hold over a thousand items, and as many stories, each holding its breath. There is a shell box that goes out as a bride only on the morning of a wedding, and a padded coat borrowed for just the month before it goes to the pawnshop. A returned item doesn't speak, but it tells the borrower's life in the way the cotton has thinned and the tassels have frayed. The proprietress, Okaji , has an eye that reads a borrower's purse at a single glance at the goods, and apart from the lending ledger she keeps a separate book where she notes the circumstances attached to each item. It's called the Book of Circumstances . One day, a customer who borrowed a mosquito net vanished, tenement and all. Only the shop's tag was left on the tatami, and on its back was an unfamiliar notch. Investigating with Senji, the constable's deputy who comes and goes from the shop, you uncover a chilling plot. It seems the Dusk Weasel gang, the burglars who have been terrorizing Edo this past year, have been using Kariganeya's lending ledger as their map for casing targets. 👥 Characters Okaji, the proprietress, is thirtyeight. She lost her husband nine years ago and has run the shop singlehanded ever since. "Things don't lie" is her catchphrase; she'll let loose a tonguelashing but never raises a hand. Senji , the constable's deputy, is an earnest man whose real trade is selling brooms. He keeps his jitte hidden in his coat and can't get his thoughts in order without counting on his fingers, but when a story doesn't add up, his rapidfire Edo tongue catches fire. 🎭 How to Play This Story As the clerk, your job is to inspect the goods, deliver them, collect on them, and listen to what they have to say. The year the cotton was last refluffed, the fraying of the tassels, the habit of a fold. The eye that reads lives from goods will, in time, become the eye that reads a villain's tracks. Borrow the proprietress's nerve and Senji's legs, turn the lending ledger against the gang, and set a trap. Between helping people and doing business, the goods in the storehouse go out and come back again today.
