Chapter 18 Grandfather's Business Report
I checked the contents of the box I brought back from my parents' house again, and when I opened the latest record, there was a record of tea leaves bought from Mr. Junce's shop.
The fragrant tea leaves he shared with me the other day.
Yuruyana told me drinking too much isn't good, so I've decided to have a cup after dinner.
"So, Mr. Junce, you just easily shared it with me, huh?"
Probably he's surprised that I liked the same thing grandpa chose, just like him.
──Are the traces of grandpa everywhere really just coincidence?
"This one has the master's name on it."
Yuruyana, flipping through another year's ledger, showed me the open page.
Sure enough, there was a name, Elmer, along with traces of buying soap, shampoo, and cosmetics.
"So, that picture, that was 'Mr. Momota and his business partners', right?"
"They seemed pretty close for just business partners."
"Maybe they got close? From what I hear, Mr. Momota was a real smooth talker."
"Smooth talker..."
Come to think of it, back when I used to visit, someone was always dropping by, chatting for a while, and it seemed like he was either taking on something or asking for a favor.
I thought it was amazing that such a small store could get by like that, but I guess it was all built on those kinds of connections.
"...Doesn't seem like I could do it, huh?"
No connections, no charm, nada.
Trying to run the store with only the Arcanist and Arcane Engineer licenses?
Yeah, that probably won't work.
But Yuruyana just tilted his head as if none of that was a big deal.
"Huh? It's fine, if it's Tsukumo."
What reason does he have to say that?
Well, if Yuruyana can make the same products as Mr. Elmer, and if I can get supplies from Mr. Junce, then at least the shop won't be completely empty.
"And then there's hardware, fabric products... those are probably from the industrial district. Oh, and they even sold sweets. This shop's close to Mr. Junce's place."
Before I knew it, Yuruyana was getting real cozy with the downtown crowd.
If you're talking local legends, Yuruyana's the real deal. It's only a matter of time before people start calling it his place instead of mine.
"Check out this supplier list, looks like we can guess pretty well. Time to go over the business reports, huh?"
Yuruyana always seemed more interested in that stuff than the ledgers.
I was curious too, so I pulled out a box from my bag, digging up the latest entry from when we closed up shop.
I flipped to a random page, and there were notes about the weather and temperature next to the dates.
It was like a diary, jotting down the nothing-special days, and I hesitated to read more.
Pages of simple stuff like who came by and what they bought, or what repairs they asked for, kept on going for a while,
"This is the last page."
I reached a page that started with 'Today's the final day for this long-running store,' a bit of a heartstring tugger, and I was about to close it when,
"Wait, is there something on the next page?"
Yuruyana noticed some ink had bled through to the other side.
He tilted his head, wondering if there was more to write, and flipped the page.
'Only Tsukumo would read this far. How many times has it been?'
The same slanted, thin handwriting that I'd been looking at suddenly called me out by name.
'Retired already? Well, whatever. Reading through boring business reports means you've probably been told to take over the shop. Always listening to what people say, that's both your strength and weakness, Tsukumo.'
It felt like the words were talking right to me.
"So, I was totally seen through..."
Grandpa liked to play pranks.
I can picture his youthful, satisfied grin when he pulled one off.
'Left a key with Senri, but did you get it? You probably did; Senri's reliable. If you go to the shop, check the warehouse on the first floor. Peel back the matting on the floor, there's a present for the new owner. I think you'll like it.'
And just like that, Grandpa's message came to an abrupt end.
"The warehouse?"
Yuruyana looked up with a sidelong glance.
"There was a place like that here?"
It was a cramped, empty room next to the counter of a general store where they used to keep stock.
Yuruyana, who avoids places without purpose, hasn't peeked inside this room before.
"A rug on the floor...?"
I haven't been inside since I did a light cleaning, but I do remember there was an old rug on the floor.
"Now that you mention it, I did wonder why that rug was left there when I cleared everything else out of the shelves."
I had even completely forgotten about planning to throw the rug away.
"Let's go check it out. It must be a present from Mr. Momota."
"Mm..."
"Come on, hurry up."
Yuruyana pulled at my arm, which was clinging to a chair even though I hadn't decided to become the shop owner.
"Waaah, geez!"
Of course, there's no way his slender arms could actually pull me up, but he seemed pretty serious, so I reluctantly stood up halfway.
As Yuruyana's body, which was already off-balance, threatened to topple over, I was surprised to find him surprisingly light when I caught him, as if I was just messing around with Thomas.
Following Yuruyana, who bounced towards the back of the store, the rumored rug was still there as expected.
It was just a dusty, wine-red rag rug, nothing special.
"Can we peel this off?"
Grabbing the edge of the heavy mat, I flipped half of it back.
And underneath the rug was a door, like a trapdoor in the floor.
"A basement!"
Yuruyana shouted excitedly, reaching the conclusion even before I did.
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