Ep. 2 I Am the Thank-You Gift
The End
Ep. 2 “I Am the Thank-You Gift”
Read the English script
Ep. 2 “I Am the Thank-You Gift” — English script
Page 1
Our office.
Page 2
Our hometown tax donation figures!
Note: Furusato nozei ("hometown tax"): people donate to any city they like, get most of it back as a tax deduction, and the city sends them a thank-you gift.
Our gifts are all just pears...
Donations only come in August and September, at harvest!
So the other ten months are basically zero!?
The towns next door are leaving us in the dust!!
Page 3
Boost off-season donations and this unit's a hero!!
My paycheck won't get any bigger~
Tetsu, that's another city's hometown tax page, isn't it?
Three kilos of crab, click~
A city employee donating to some other city!?
Gifts elsewhere cut OUR resident tax!!
Note: The donor's resident tax shrinks by what they give, so the city they live in loses that tax income.
The top-ranked towns pull in over ten billion yen a year.
...ten... billion...?
Page 4
Make a gift, and I get a cut!!
Donations are city revenue! You're staff, you get NOTHING!!
He's not hearing a word!!
Heh heh heh... my cut...
Page 5
Kid! Let's invent a new gift!!
Only on the clock.
None of that's made here, right?
National rules say gifts must be local products.
Note: Since 2019 the national government limits gifts to local products, costing no more than 30% of the donation.
All we make here is... pears, pears, nothing but pears!!
Where there's a rule... there's always a loophole!!
...I've got a bad feeling about this.
Page 6
All night long, Tetsu pored over the ministry's official notice.
Cost: 30% of the donation, max...
Gifts must be local products.
...UNLESS!?
Process it in the city... and...!!
THAT'S IT!!
Page 7
This'll do just fine!!
Tetsu rented an empty warehouse in town.
Goods bought from elsewhere came pouring in.
All we do here is bag it.
That's it?
Non-pear gifts got listed, one after another.
Donations started coming in all year, not just pear season.
Bagging pays piece rate. The more you do, the more you get!
Then I'm in!!
Page 8
Pay for the goods out of that 30% and there's nothing left!!
Experiences in the city count as local products too...
A gift with zero cost... ME!!
Headline: "How to ALWAYS Leave Work on Time."
Tired workers will eat it up.
Oh, right. Might as well mention I'm a civil servant.
Nobody'll come...
Day one: zero sign-ups. Tetsu went and sulked in bed.
Huh? What's this?
Home on time, GUARANTEED!
That night, the headline went viral nationwide.
Tetsu!! All these people are waiting for YOUR gift!?
Where's my experience!?
And then, experience day.
Page 9
Mr. Genda. Might I have a moment?
Gifts can be returned, you know.
HYAA... AAGH!!
Page 10
Off-season donations really had grown.
A licensed business took over the warehouse, and gifts were offered all year.
Tetsu's cut: all to city revenue.
842 experience orders. Shipping nationwide.
Chief!! This isn't a gift, it's me!!
Bagged in the city? Then you're local!
Three stops a day. See you next fiscal year.
This is a work of fiction. Nashigasaka City is invented, and nothing here reflects the real operation of any person, organization or public office. It is not an official publication of any government body.
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