A Quiet Bookstore (Momo)

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Momo owns a nice little beachside bookstore in Hokkaido, on a average afternoon a book falls from its shelf, after picking it up she notices there's only one thing written on it "Run".

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Warm...

That was the best way to describe what Momo was feeling right now, the brisk morning air coming through her open window, ever since she moved to Hokkaido with her sister Mina, life has gotten so much easier for her.

It was one of those morning where Momo could wake up and lay in bed with her eyes closed enjoying her slow start to the day, well, that's what Momo thought but that all came crashing down when a wave of cold water came washing over her slumbered state.

"WHAAAAA!" Momo yelled, jolting up in her soaked bed.

She darts her eyes around the room, assuming that the world was about to end, and the ocean was pouring into her room. Soon enough she finds herself looking at her little sister with an empty cup in her hand and a smug look on her face.

"Good morning Momo" Mina says with a smile. "Did you plan on opening the store today or were you just going to sleep all day?"

"And here I thought moving would get me away from Mom, but I turns out she moved with me" Momo said with a yawn "Also I can open my bookstore whenever I so choose"

With that Momo kicked Mina out of her room and began to prepare for the day, taking a morning shower, brushing her teeth, spending far too long picking out her outfit, and eating a hearty breakfast. As Momo prepared to head to her store she checks the time on her phone, "7:57 AM"

"Why is she so uptight about waking up? Who would even go to a bookstore before 8 AM?" Momo grunts to herself, as she walks down the peaceful streets, greeting the elderly couple on their daily walk. This type of quiet "off the beaten path" type of live is what she's always wanted ever since she graduated from University and worked her first few years in an office. Now she's 24 and loving her life with her little sister and her own business, it seems like nothing could turn life sour now.

A little time has passed and now Momo was sitting at the counter reading through the receipts from yesterday's sales, the unique aspect to her store is that patrons could choose to buy the book or exchange one of equal value, obviously Momo would determine the worth of the book, this meant that the inventory was more or less always consistent. But every now and then she'll find a peculiar book or person that made the slight loss in profit worth it.

Ding

And speaking of a peculiar person, walking through the door right now is the first friend Momo met here in Hokkaido, a young Korean girl named Jihyo, she had moved here after working in Japan for a few years and falling in love with the cuisine, eventually opening up a small restaurant here in Hokkaido. Lately Jihyo has struck up a deal with Momo where in exchange for a book Jihyo will bring her lunch everyday that she's open, it might seem like a bad deal for some but for Momo this was the best part of the day, free food from the cute friend.

"Momo! Guess what's for lunch." Jihyo chimed walking in with a tin foil covered bowl.

"Hmmm, maybe ramen?" Momo smiled.

"Momo... how could I have Ramen in this bowl? I was just running around with it." Jihyo questioned the sanity of her friend. "It's Kaisen-Don" (Google it)

Jihyo just silently places the bowl on the countertop and starts browsing the aisles for a new book to read. It's become a regular occurrence to trade Momo lunch for a book, Jihyo would normally return them when she finished but she likes to have a little stockpile and return them all at once.

Right now, Jihyo was spending a few minutes browsing the new selection of books Momo has obtained, there were a range of new books, some had some wear and tear and others were in foreign languages Jihyo has never heard of. Regardless, it was always fun to visit this little corner of the world.

"Momo~ I'm gonna borrow this one!" Jihyo shouts, holding up what looks to be a child's picture book with a red dog on it

"Do you even know what that says?" Momo questioned as Jihyo was walking out with the book "And don't lose this one!"

"Yeah yeah" Jihyo waved as she left the store, book in hand.

Momo went back to dealing with the receipts from yesterday, they weren't gonna do themselves and its not like Momo hired any help here, maybe Mina would come every once in a while, but that was rare. Its just a relief that yesterday was-

Momo was cut off by the sound of a book hitting the floor. Looking up from her work she finds a black book has fallen page first onto the floor.

"Jihyo is still causing messes for me even after she left" Momo said with a sigh, walking over to pick up the book.

"Huh? I've never seen this one before" Momo questioned, picking it up and flipping through it.

RUN

*flip*

RUN

*flip*

RUN

Momo was confused, why was this book in her collection and why did it only have the word "RUN" in it? It was the same thing on every page, same font, never ending. After that Momo brought the book back to her desk, she spent some time analyzing it, studying each page one by one but all of the wielding the same result, all just saying to run.

"RUN!" A voice yelled

"What the fuck?! Who said that?" Momo yelled stumbling out of her chair in shock.

"There's no time to explain, I need you to run or else we'll be in trouble" the voice answers back.

"That's very hard to believe, how are you even talking to me anyways, like where are you?" Momo questions looking around the shop.

Momo knew this must be one of Mina's prank, she was always messing around with her like this. She walked up and down the aisles and even into the bathroom, there was only one place left to check, in the storage room.

"Okay okay you got me Mina, come on out" Momo chuckled as she quickly pushed open the door, expecting to see her little sister, but what she saw made her fall back in fear.

A face staring back at her. The figure was shrouded in darkness, covered with a black robe but the face was perfectly lit.

"I'm Chaeyoung, and that's Jeff, or that what I call him" The book spoke up again. "And he's the reason you need to run"

"Why is he here?" Momo asked the book.

"He's been after this book for centuries, if he gets his hand on this, he'll be able to get himself back to full power and who knows what he'll do"

As Momo was listening to Chaeyoung explain she notices Jeff raise his hand, the hand in question starts to illuminate itself.

"Oh, you should probably run now" Chaeyoung says again but this time Momo could hear the smile in her voice.

But this time around Momo is a little easier to convince and she books it towards the front door. Not too long after she hears something slam again the wall she was presumably in front of, turning around she was greeted with the sight of Jeff cling to the wall with a wicked smile across his face. He had pale white shin with long skinny limbs and a smile that could kill. Momo imagined this was what it would look like if Pennywise fucked a spider.

"So is his name even Jeff? Or is that some kind of sick joke" Momo says as she sprints through the streets

"Well its not like his name ISNT Jeff, but his actual title makes people less willing to help me." Chaeyoung answers "I think they used to call him the herald of apocalypse or something like that."

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