Volume 1
Chapter 2-4
Murasaki, who seemed like she could not handle the heat of the bath water, got out of the bath after only thirty seconds. After leaving without Shinkurou, she went to the changing room. Despite wanting to stay a little longer, Shinkurou chased after Murasaki.
Murasaki commented that she liked the bath but that she had simply grown tired of how noisy it was. As Shinkurou left for the changing room, he thought about how he was probably nothing but trouble for his parents and older sister when he was younger. Once he got there, Murasaki was holding something while dressed in her underwear. It was a bottle of coffee milk that was sold at a nearby shop. When Shinkurou asked her where she got it from, Murasaki replied, “That man gave it to me.” She pointed toward an elderly man sitting on a ma.s.sage chair. The man looked at her with a friendly smile. Shinkurou recognized him as the owner of the neighborhood liquor store located in the shopping district. Shinkurou was somewhat acquainted with him as whenever there was a party at May Rain Manor, he would visit the local shops for supplies. Shinkurou bowed to the shop owner and he raised a hand in response. He was fond of children but even more so, he was the coach of the boys’ baseball team and was thus well known within the community. There was little doubt that he was the one who gave Murasaki the coffee milk.
“Did you properly thank him?”
“Thank him? Why would I?”
Murasaki looked at Shinkurou, puzzled as she held the bottle of milk with both hands and started drinking it.
“He only gave something to me. Nothing more.”
Shinkurou made a fist and lightly struck Murasaki on her head.
“Ow!”
Murasaki held her head with both hands and crouched down. At that instant, Shinkurou caught hold of her bottle of coffee milk as it fell. More than ten seconds pa.s.sed before Murasaki lifted her head. Her expression seemed to tell Shinkurou that she could not believe what had just happened to her as tears began to well in her eyes.
“Y…You hit me! With your fist! Your fist!”
Shinkurou struck her head once more.
“A…again!”
Shinkurou then spoke to Murasaki, who held her head and protested with teary eyes.
“If someone does something nice for you, you must properly thank him. It’s common courtesy and even if you’re just a kid, you must still do it.”
After saying this Shinkurou realized something.
Wasn’t I told this a lot when I was younger?
Has the day for me to be scolding someone about manners really come so fast?
Shinkurou started to worry that he may have gone too far when he realized that Murasaki remained silent but his needless worry quickly dissipated. Surprisingly, Murasaki regained her calm and closed her eyes as if she was contemplating what Shinkurou had said earlier. After a while, she nodded her head.
“I see, what you said is correct. I was at fault.”
Shinkurou was taken aback by her frank words. Murasaki then went on to say,
“I am sorry. Please forgive me.”
“Ah, it’s nothing…”
Shinkurou, too embarra.s.sed to reply, remained still as Murasaki went over to the liquor store owner and gave him her thanks. The shop owner smiled and pat Murasaki on her head with his large hands. Murasaki returned to Shinkurou, who was surprised at Murasaki’s actions. Once Murasaki had finished getting dressed, she turned towards Shinkurou to say something.
“Well, let us get going.”
Without waiting for his reply, Murasaki headed for the exit.
Shinkurou, still confused, dressed himself quickly and chased after her while holding their washbasins.
Somehow all I seem to do is to chase after her thought Shinkurou as he left the bathhouse.