Ni Ikun Ja Nakatta ...: Tsuma Ni Damatte Sokubaikai

I walked in the door. My wife was folding laundry. She looked at my empty hands (I left the bags in the garage). She looked at my guilty face.

Five hundred yen. That’s less than a convenience store onigiri.

Last Sunday, it happened. A local electronics surplus sale. The kind of place where “unclaimed luggage,” “overstock from bankrupt factories,” and “slightly cursed robots” go to die. A flyer appeared in my social media feed at 2 AM. I was weak. I was foolish. And most damning of all—I decided not to tell my wife. I told her I was going for a “morning walk” to clear my head. She smiled, handed me a water bottle, and said, “Don’t buy anything stupid.”

But she did smile when the shrimp lamp arrived on the coffee table. Tsuma ni Damatte Sokubaikai ni Ikun ja Nakatta ...

“Very… walk-like,” I said.

Here’s a complete blog post based on your title, “Tsuma ni Damatte Sokubaikai ni Ikun ja Nakatta…” (I Shouldn’t Have Gone to the Surplus Sale Without Telling My Wife…). Tsuma ni Damatte Sokubaikai ni Ikun ja Nakatta… Date: October 12, 2024 Category: Confessions of a Middle-Aged Otaku Let me start with a simple truth: I am 43 years old. I have a steady job, a mortgage, and a wife who has the patience of a saint. You would think I’d know better.

I hadn’t.

“How was your walk?” she asked.

Just don’t tell her I’m going back next month. Next time, buy two mystery bags. One for you. One for her.

I think I’ll keep her. And the lamp.

I handed him the 500-yen coin without blinking.

I told myself: Just looking. Just browsing. I am a responsible adult. Then I saw it.

The seller, a man with no eyebrows, said: “It worked once. Probably.” I walked in the door

I kissed her forehead, lied straight through my teeth, and drove 45 minutes to a convention center that smelled of regret and old dust.

Then I saw the second item. A “mystery bag” of used game cartridges for the Super Famicom. No returns. Three thousand yen. Inside? Five copies of Pachi-Slot Kenkyuu and one unlabeled cartridge that just crashes to a green screen. A masterpiece.