Chapter 12 - Shopping Time

Later that afternoon, at 4:11 p.m., Kiyoshi left the city library with his research notes in his bag and head to a shopping mall to buy some essentials, as well as his favorite: stationery items. And upon arriving at the front entrance, he stopped at the middle of the busy corridor and look at his small, sleek notepad for his two shopping lists: one for stationery, and one for groceries/essentials. He then found out that the former was numerous than the latter, which only contains regular items like vegetables and meat. So, he then checked his budget, which was located in the back of the page of the lists, only to find out that his budget for this shopping time was nearly exceeded by the amount of items he wanted to buy.

"Wow, my budget seems to fit my lists," Kiyoshi commented to himself in his mind. He then shoved his notepad back in his shoulder bag, and resumed his shopping time.

At the mall's department store, Kiyoshi, with a hand-held, shopping basket in his right hand, browse through the aisles of the stationery section, searching for journaling supplies like stickers and highlighters. He do browsed for texture-printed memo and sticky notes, especially those like smooth marble. And upon seeing an aisle full of highlighters, colored pens, and other writing instruments of different kinds, colors, types, and brands. Thinking about the colors of highlighters he already had in his stash, Kiyoshi went for an aqua blue highlighter, before thinking that it would be a good one to his collection. He then tossed it into the basket after considering it as a good one. After that, he continue browsing through for more supplies for his journaling hobby.

After some time, Kiyoshi, once he had gathered all of his purchases, went to the cashiers to pay for it. And upon scanning the young man's purchases, the female cashier told him that the total price is 9,550 japanese yen. It, however, fits Kiyoshi's budget with minimum change, and he was willing to afford it right. Shortly thereafter, once was paid, Kiyoshi left the department store with his paper bag full of stationery and a receipt in it.

Later on, by 5:22 p.m., he went to the supermarket to buy some ingredients for his homemade meals, like vegetables and spices. For today, the prices seem to be more like in average price, barely changing. Kiyoshi's favorite meats are fish and beef, and he buys more of them than other meats. Luckily, the

prices of meat are average, enabling him to afford it without any problem. And as he walk down the aisle with a shopping cart, Kiyoshi double-check his list to make sure he didn't get the wrong product or get duplicates. He was very observant at what he was doing with seriousness. He then thought in his mind, "I must be careful with what I spend, otherwise things will go wrong, just like what mom told me to do." He then get a bottle of soy sauce when he realized he was out of that very essential ingredient of most of his delicious meals. After that, he get some packs of noddles for his hot meals like ramen noodles. It seems that it was a peaceful time for him. Nothing bad will happen to his day.