The gift was a snack called yokan. Looking at the pictures in the store, it seems that it originated from a soup made from mutton in northern China. At first, this kind of soup was frozen into blocks and served with meals. However, it was introduced to Japan by the monks and was changed to be made from bean flour, chestnut flour and wheat flour. At the same time, because the monks loved to drink tea, it was usually tasted with tea and became one of the most famous tea snacks in the Japanese tea ceremony now.
Kazuya was satisfied with the gift. If he asked Naotaka to have snacks and tea, there could be no problem, right? Of course, the most important thing was that he could afford this kind of snack. He has some doubts that the wooden box may be more expensive than the snack itself.
He carried the gift and went directly to the Pure Flavor House. He found that the door curtain was not hung, which meant that it wasn't open for business. He stood at the door and calmed down, preparing to face the wrath of that little radish Haruka.
If Haruka got angry this time, he wouldn't be so confident. He opened the door with a slight guilt, "Excuse me."
In the lobby, Akiho was still standing in front of the chopping board and busy quietly, while Haruka was holding a stick to hang wooden signs of today's seasonal dishes. At the same time, Haruna was kneeling in the corne. Everyone heard the sound and look towards him.
Kazuya didn't pay attention to Akiho or even Haruna for a moment. His attention was completely focused on Haruka to prevent her from stabbing him. But to his surprise, Haruka looked at him expressionlessly. At a glance, she pursed his lips tightly, exposed two small pear dimples, and continued to hang signs one by one, as if he was a transparent person.
Haruna was kneeling there with lowered eyebrows and pretending to be a real transparent person. When she saw Kazuya, she got a little excited, stood up and shouted happily: "I heard you got into a fight. Why didn't you ask me to help..."
Haruka suddenly roared: "Kneel down! Do you still have the nerve to speak!"
"Yes, sister!" Haruna plopped down and knelt down again, but secretly winked at Kazuya, signaling him to come over quickly and whisper a few words.
Kazuya didn't know what trouble Haruna had gotten into again, so he refused to go over. He walked towards Akiho and asked in a low voice: "What's going on?"
Akiho used her apron to wipe her hands and replied, "Second sister ran back without participating in the club training. So big sister was very angry. She wanted second sister kneel until the training time was over. This will also happen in the future, or second sister just stay in school and train, or she come back and kneel."
Kazuya glanced at Haruna and was really helpless. Your sister who has explosive temper had already lowered her head to beg for help for your future, but you still want to make these troubles?
This was Haruna's matter. She was punished because of herself. He couldn't help her. Helping her is harming her. Kazuya pretended not to see Haruna anxious there and just continued to ask Akiho: "Was the business not affected yesterday?"
He instinctively felt that something was not right about Haruka's reaction. With her temper, she should pounce on him and hit him when they met. This is only reasonable!
"We closed the shop early yesterday as soon as my father left. Do you want to ask why big sister wasn't angry?" Akiho was quite smart, and easily heard the implication of Kazuya's words. "Yesterday, big sister was a little angry when we waited for you to eat. Then when the business started and you called my father and asked him to leave, she was even more angry. Fortunately, there were not many customers at that time. She apologized one by one and sent the guests away properly. When my father came back, she had a big quarrel... Well, she asked him what he was doing with you. My father had no choice but to tell her what happened. Then she is now like this."
Kazuya was confused, "So is she angry or not?"
"I can't say for sure. Big sister's personality has changed a lot since my mother passed away. I guess she's somewhere between angry and not angry." Akiho said calmly, "My father said you were trying to protect your sister from bad things. The fight started because some boys bullied her. Big sister attaches great importance to family ties. I think you did the right thing, but she feels bad for the money she lost yesterday."
Akiho didn't go into too much detail. In fact, Haruka went into a rage in the shop and threatened to kill Kazuya. Even after finding out the truth later, she still held back her anger. Fortunately, the compensation was not much. If she lost two to three million yen again, regardless of whether Kazuya did the right thing or not, she would definitely find other reasons to fight Kazuya again.
Akiho didn't want to deepen the conflict between her sister and Kazuya, so she avoided it with a vague explanation and asked, "How many sisters do you have? " She were used to having many sisters in her family, so she instinctively thought that Kazuya's family should be similar.
Kazuya didn't know how Naotaka explained to them last night, but it wasn't wrong to say that Yoko was his sister, so he replied: "Just one, but not my real sister..." He briefly told Akiho about Yoko and finally said: "I was so angry at that time so I took action. I'm really sorry for causing trouble to you."
As long as her respected big sister was not involved, Akiho was still a reasonable child, "It's okay, I think you did the right thing! Since you treat her as your sister, there is really nothing to blame in fighting to protect her."
As she spoke, she noticed the snack box in Kazuya's hand and changed, "Are you coming so early today to find my father?"
"Yes, is he busy now?"
"He's not busy. You can just go to his room."
Kazuya thanked her and went off. When he arrived at the door of the study and knocked on the door, he heard Naotaka call out: "Please come in, Matsuoka."
Kazuya learned his lesson this time and saw that Naotaka was still lying there drinking as expected.
"Sit here, Matsuoka." Naotaka didn't get up to greet him, but changed to sit cross-legged. He coughed and said with a smile: "Thank you for coming here early.Hope I have not caused you any trouble."
As he spoke, he picked up the wine pot and poured wine for Kazuya. Kazuya didn't object. He took out the snack box, put it on the table and pushed it forward. "Mr. Sakura, thank you very much for your help yesterday."
As a local native, Naotaka knew what it was at a glance, and he was not polite and started to dismantle it directly. This man was different from an ordinary Japanese, he didn't seem to pay much attention to etiquette "Is this yokan from Nogawabashi? It's been a long time since I've had it. Thank you."
He knew that this thing was not expensive, but he felt quite satisfied to know what Kazuya meant. Many young people always take it for granted no matter what others do for them. Sometimes they even refuse to say thank you verbally. On the contrary, they will be even disgusted and say that they don't ask others to take care of it.
But Kazuya felt completely different. This young man was both down-to-earth and worldly. If Kazuya said he was twenty-six years old and not just sixteen years old, he would believe it. This feeling is even deeper especially when compared with the four daughters at home. He really admired Kazuya, and always felt that he might have some great potential in the future.
"I'm happy to hear that you like it." Kazuya said politely. Naotaka taking a bite of lumpy yokan and raised his glass and took a sip of wine, which made Kazuya feel a little tight in his chest. This snack should be suitable with tea, right? Why do you take it with wine?
He could only pretend that he didn't see him, "Mr. Sakura, what did you want to say when you asked me to come here earlier?"
Naotaka said, "It's just some commonplace talk. I'm just curious about why Matsuoka wants to learn ancient swordsmanship."