Chapter 8 : A Girl's Worry

After finishing the ten-minute experiment in the alternate dimension and returning, I changed the sign on the door from "Preparing" to "Open," and opened the shop again.

Even though I open it, not many customers come, but today is the day that girl is supposed to come, so I have to keep it open.

Losing a few regular customers would be a big blow.

Oh, speaking of which... 

"What good books have come in?"

"I think there are some old novels?"

"Ah, that's a shame."

With that, the regular customer started looking around the store as usual.

Actually, she's a blonde girl who was the first customer at this shop.

Since she started coming to this shop at least twice a month since her first visit, she seems to have become quite familiar with it.

For example, on days when she comes, she sometimes requests tea indirectly if she's thirsty, or complains without mentioning names, almost like she's at a rest stop.

Well, it's not a problem for me, and I don't dislike kids, but... she often talks about kids with white hair or kids with reptile-like faces, which somehow remind me of two of the legendary three ninjas, but since it hasn't been long since the end of the Ninja World War, it's unlikely that ninjas would easily leak personal information.

So I still don't know the name of this girl... I did try asking her name once, but she looked hesitant to answer, so I ended up leaving it vague and haven't asked since then.

It's not good to forcibly ask customers for personal information, I think.

"Maybe buying the wild plant encyclopedia I didn't buy last time would be nice, but I'm also interested in autobiographies. But I also want to get new ninja tools... hmm, it's tough to decide."

She, a genin, often stops by after missions or training, and sometimes she has bruises or cuts on her face or hands.

Since genin rarely go on missions involving combat, I think most of her injuries are from training, but as someone born and raised in modern Japan, I can't stand to see kids with bruises on their faces as if they've been hit.

Honestly, I've even thought, maybe I could use something like a "Red Potion"? But in the end, I didn't go through with it... I used it once when I cut my finger with a kitchen knife, and it healed so quickly that it was creepy, so I hesitate to use it on others.

I definitely don't want to be suspected for strange reasons.

It's unthinkable for an ordinary person to have medicine that heals several times faster than modern medical ninjutsu.

Oh? Come to think of it, I remember there were recovery magic cards like "Emergency Food" or "Moyan's Curry."

I wonder if eating them would make you feel full?

Alright, tonight's dinner will be curry!

"Shopkeeper!!"

"Whoa!? W-what is it?"

"I've decided on this today."

"'Complete Wild Plants'... that'll be 150 ryos."

"If my mission reward hadn't come in, I wouldn't have been able to buy it. Here's 200 ryos."

"Alright, that makes 50 ryos change."

She took the change and set up the folding chair used to reach the high shelf of books next to the counter, and sat down on it.

It seems she doesn't have any missions or training after this.

"(Something happened again...) What's up today?"

"Can I talk to you?"

Lately, it feels like the time spent choosing books is shorter than the time spent complaining or worrying like this.

Last time she came, she complained for over two hours about the lack of coordination with her teammates, and before that, she complained for over an hour about the pressure from her parents being great and how difficult it was... I mean, I've lived longer than this girl, right?

But since we come from different worlds, our values are quite different, and I don't think I'm a good listener.

Well, if listening to her complaints makes her feel better, I don't mind being the listener.

Now, I wonder what the topic is this time?

"This week, it was all missions like searching for missing pets or helping with house repairs."

"Well, I still don't know much about ninja missions...?"

"Huh? Oh, right! There are people who don't request missions. So, ninja missions are divided into S, A, B, C, and D ranks, but missions like I just mentioned are classified as D-rank missions, which are mostly for genin like me, or sometimes C-rank missions."

"What kind of missions are C-rank?"

"C-rank missions are quite diverse, but if I had to say, they're missions where combat between ninjas is out of the question, but there's a possibility of combat."

In the original, I think Tazuna's escort was a C-rank mission. In reality, it was supposed to be an A or B-rank mission since it was a hidden request because he was being targeted by ninjas, if I remember correctly, Kakashi-sensei said something like that. I feel like I've seen posters in the village saying that misrepresenting the content of a request is a crime.

"In short, D-rank missions aren't satisfying enough?"

"I hate to put it that way, but... in clear terms, yes, that might be the case. The escort mission I took before, which was a C-rank mission, was more like accompanying... I don't really want to fight, but still... you know?"

Even so, I'm sure she does have a desire to test her abilities.

I don't really understand... If I could live a relaxed life without worries, that would be better, I think.

Although I'm training too, it's only because I know about dangerous events, and if I didn't know about them, I would have been enjoying a comfortable hikikomori life.

Why am I in the world of NARUTO? I wish it was a world without fighting.

The conversation about missions and personal missions taken by other teams continued for about an hour, and just as the outside was starting to turn red, she left the shop.