“What's that?”

Employees commuting early in the morning to open up their respective places of commerce tilted their heads while staring at what looked like a stage being constructed practically in the middle of the street.

“Huh? Was there some kind of event scheduled for today?”

“Nah, I heard nothing about that. Maybe it's for busking?”

“Hang on, isn't that thing in front of the new pizzeria?”

“Oh? You mean that almost-bankrupt one?”

“What? It only opened two days ago or something, so how can it be bankrupt already?”

"But it is going bankrupt, two days or not. That record has to be unprecedented and stuff."

“Well, I guess you aren't exactly wrong there.”

“Man, it's not easy to go bankrupt that fast after opening a store in this location, you know?”

“I think the owner has a ton of money to burn. After opening the store, the owner didn't even bother to hire an emcee, didn't distribute any pamphlets, and didn't even think about handing out coupons or something. No one can survive in this world while running their store like that.”

“Sure. But, uh... Just what are they doing over there, anyway?”

“...Maybe they hired someone?”

The crowd stared at the stage with some puzzlement and interest. It was normal to think of this unusual occurrence as a newly-opened store organizing an event. However, the scale of the stage was a bit too grand to think that way. It was as if a regional broadcaster had set up a stage for a live event or something.

“Is it okay to set up a stage like that in the middle of...