Sequel Quest: The Strawberry Sale Mystery

Imagine this: in a quiet mountain town in Japan, the strawberries are sweeter than anywhere else.

Ryo-san grows them with care — patient hands, steady mornings in the field. His wife, Sumi-san tracks each sale by hand — lined notebooks, pencil smudges, enduring notes like “extra sweet today” and “gifted to Yamamoto-san.”

But this spring, something’s different.

Boxes aren’t moving like they used to. The stand is still full by noon.
She squints at the records, then sighs:

“So many boxes left. I don’t know what’s going on.
Maybe I missed something. Maybe it’s just a bad season.
But it’s never felt like this before.”

She presses a hand to her forehead.

“What are we going to do?”

Chapter 1: The Ledger and the Laptop

You offer to help.

She brings out the notebook — names, dates, amounts, all carefully written.
You sit beside her at a small table, munching on a few freshly picked, heavenly sweet strawberries, translating her handwritten notes into rows and columns on your laptop.

One table for sales. One for customers.
A clean, easy-to-follow table — all on a single page.

Then you write:

The query runs. A list appears.

Sumi-san squints at the screen. Her finger trails down the rows.

Pause.

“Yamamoto-san…
He hasn’t come this year. He always came in April. Rain or shine.”

It’s not a fix. But it’s a clue.

This is your first Sequel Quest.