Chapter 7

…What the heck’s going on here?

Just like I thought—Kiryu’s destination is over there.

‘Tis the kindergarten where I’ve perform’d a puppet show afore.¹

Umm, from that I can see, Kiryu-dono is playing with the children… And though I know not the reason, Anzu-dono is with him.

Uhhhh, is this where he’s supposed to be fighting that person? But there’s no way you’d go swinging fists in a place like this…?

More than likely, we’ve had a huge misunderstanding here.

Hm? Oh, looks like Kiryu’s noticed us.

Hasumi-danna…? And Tetsu and Kanzaki, too. Whatcha guys doin’ here?

Taishou! What happened with the beef you had?! Why’re you out here playing with some kids?

Huh? The beef? The hell’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?

Oh hey, Li’l Miss. Looks like Tetsu’s showed up with Hasumi-danna and Kanzaki for… some reason.

Hn? Oh yeah, I guess. We shouldn’t just stand around here talkin’—Let’s go inside. I’ve gotta go get ready soon, anyway.

…Ready for what?

It’s all my fault for jumping to conclusions! I’m so sorry!

Mm. I’m ashamed to have not realiz’d th’ truth until now…

Sigh… I started to doubt things about halfway here, but I never would have expected an outcome like this…

Raise your head, Nagumo. It’s Kiryu’s fault for acting in such a misleading way anyway. I understand completely where the misunderstanding came from.

Seriously, to think all those things you were saying were just lines from Momotaro.

Sorry ‘bout confusin’ ya, Tetsu. I wasn’t expectin’ you to walk in on me practicin’ those lines.

So basically, what you were saying is that…

After that day you spent here, Nito received a request from the kindergarten to come perform in a play.

But since Nito, and the rest of the broadcasting committee for that matter, had other obligations, they couldn’t accept. And that’s where you came in?

You got it. I didn’t want those kids gettin’ disappointed, and I’m sure Nito wouldn’t want that either.

But yanno, this ain’t a DreamFes or some other large-scale job off-campus, so it ain’t gonna do much for our unit.

It felt weird draggin’ you guys into this, or really any other units either, so I decided to do it on my own.

As long as I didn’t turn down the request, I’d still be savin’ Nito’s ass.

Nito’s always doin’ stuff for me, so I thought I’d go and return the favor for once.

But I was never too good at acting. I was too embarrassed to go practicin’ in front of anyone.

So I been runnin’ over my lines and practicin’ sword fighting in secret. And it musta got Tetsu all mixed up about what was goin’ on.

How incorrigible! If you’d just told us about this from the very beginning, none of this would have happened.

Honestly… Now I generally understand the situation, but why are you here, Anzu?

Oh, that’s ‘cause Tetsu wasn’t the only one who caught me practicin’ for the play. I ended up tellin’ the li’l miss about it, and she offered to help. Ain’t that right?

I see. I hadn’t intended to place any blame on you, Anzu, so I apologize for that.

This was all just a lot of coincidences piling up on top of each other. I don’t think anyone is to blame for it.

And thus, we’d come to follow after Kiryu-dono on the very day of his performance, watching as he purchased gifts for the children here.

Ahhh… But I’m so glad I got it all wrong~…

Oh! I mean, of course I believed in you, Taishou, don’t get me wrong. But I just kept getting more and more paranoid about the whole thing, y’know?

And of course if anyone’s in danger, you’d be the one to get involved.

This is exactly the kind of misunderstanding that arises when you try to take everything on your own shoulders. You’d better be reflecting on your actions.

Haha, no doubt about it. I do feel bad for makin’ ya worry, all three of ya.

Mine heart be at peace, howe’er, that nothing came of this.

Hum? It appears though the teachers call upon thee, Kiryu.

Huh? Oh, you’re right. What’s up?

Nah, these guys ain’t part of the play or nothin’. More like my guests…

Yeah, right. I’m still plannin’ on doin’ the play by myself. The li’l miss is gonna be workin’ behind the scenes.

Hm? Could it be that you don’t have enough people to put on the play?

Just barely, actually. I’mma be Momotaro, and the teachers are doin’ all the other parts.

But since we also gotta take care of the kids, ‘s like we’re pullin’ double duty.

Well, things might start gettin’ crazy behind the scenes, but we’ll figure it out.

This whole thing started because of you taking on everything yourself, and now you’re trying to do it again?!

I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I overlooked this—We are going to take part in this play!