Their faces transformed instantly. “May I step inside for a moment?” Mrs. Sakuma asked and then entered, the rest of the group filing in behind her.
“Well, well, well,” the woman clucked, “what a darling dear you are! Of course our Mitsuhiko would have such an adorable little sister. So then, are you not feeling well? Let me take a good look at you. How long have you been feeling this way?”
After giving Jewel a quick examination, Mrs. Sakuma turned to Mrs. Kanagawa, another association member. “Can you get your car? Let’s take her to Dr. Sakaida.”
“I think it’s probably just a cold, but since it’s flu season, let’s be on the safe side. Mrs. Ōtsuka, will you go up to the meeting room and arrange the sofa, so the girl can sleep when she returns? I think a girl her size will be comfortable there. Mrs. Misumi, I think the two of us should be able to get her as far as the car. Let’s get to it!”
“Forgive the imposition, Mrs. Sakuma. This is a tremendous help.” Mitsuri bowed her head in thanks, and Mrs. Sakuma smiled. “She’s the sister of our dear Mitsuhiko, isn’t she?” she replied. “You know how grateful we all are to him. There’s no way to repay his kindness, but we’d do anything for him.”
Mrs. Misumi, standing on the other side of Mrs. Sakuma, nodded in sincere agreement.
“When we’re done at the clinic, I’ll come back here to buy ice and something for her to drink. I’ll let you know how she’s doing at that point, so you can stay and run the store as usual, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Mitsuri went outside with Mrs. Sakuma and the others, helped to put Jewel in Mrs. Kanagawa’s car, and returned to the store. Perhaps sensing the strange shift in the atmosphere, several customers looked worried. She returned to the checkout counter. “I’m sorry for leaving you two alone on the job,” she said.
“Forget about that,” Ukulele said, “but is the girl okay?” His voice was a notch higher than usual. “Is she sick? Beautiful girls are always getting sick.”
“And while we’re on the subject, what does she have to do with the store manager?” Unlike Ukulele, who was a study in sincerity, Muraoka adopted a more casual attitude. Mitsuri addressed them both. “She’s the manager’s younger sister. She may have put herself through too much stress, coming to visit him when she wasn’t well. Mrs. Sakuma said it’s probably just a cold, but her fever was awfully high, so that’s a concern.”
Mitsuri let out a sigh and looked out the window toward the car park for a quiet moment, and then bedlam erupted in the store. It was almost as if an armed robbery were in progress.
“Wh-wh-what? The manager—the manager’s sister? A beauty?”
“You don’t say? He has family? I thought he was all alone in the world!”
“Wait, wait—I wasn’t really looking when they came out! I want to see her! I want to see!”
“Excuse me! Did someone say the manager’s sister is coming?”
“Mr. Shiba has a beautiful, sick sister? No! Perish the thought!”
The occupants of the store surged in unison toward the checkout counter, surrounding Mitsuri. “Now I’ve really done it,” she said ruefully, looking at the clamoring, hysterical crowd. She’d spoken carelessly.
“When I asked the manager if he had a family, he whispered, ‘Take some time to get to know me.’ Now must be the time!”
This last comment came from a friend of Muraoka, cheeks blushing red. Mitsuri didn’t know how long he’d been in the store, but he’d been coming to do his shopping there nearly every day lately. Muraoka overheard and gasped in shock. “Not you, too! What are you saying! You like the manager…?”
“Think before you speak!” his friend snapped. “I’m not so crude that I’d look at him that way. He’s a noble soul!”
Muraoka was speechless. A woman standing nearby blurted out, “How can you be such a fool?”
“I knew that he had a sister! He has an older brother, too. So there are three of them.”
“That’s right, you’re way off base! There’s also a dog that’s like a member of the family. His name is Silver, and they’re inseparable, I know for a fact.”
“Hey! Hey! Enough about the siblings, I know his grandmother’s name! She’s called ‘Hatsune,’ which means ‘first song.’ Lovely, isn’t it?”
“Her name has nothing to do with anything right now!”
This is utter chaos, Mitsuri thought. They’re behaving just like Kōsei used to do. In elementary school, when he got really intent on a card game, he’d make the same faces. “Ha ha! My card beats them all!”
“Hey there, excuse me!” Takiji Ōtsuka appeared, apparently sent down by Mrs. Ōtsuka. “They said Shiba’s sister was ill? That’s rough. My wife told me to buy ice and frozen water bottles and leave them in the meeting room?”
Another woman, who had been waving around a gift card, called out, “What? What? The manager’s sister is returning?” She was holding a gift bag from a famous local confectionary, most likely another gift for Shiba. Mitsuri felt cold sweat running down her back. She had made a terrible mistake. She had completely forgotten what a high percentage of Shiba fans would be in the store today.
“Listen, Mr. Ōtsuka, um, that is…” Mitsuri tried to send him a silent signal with her eyes to say only what was necessary. But he didn’t catch on. He recoiled a little from the woman, who was now clutching his sleeve, but responded, “Yes, that’s correct.” Hearing that, the woman decided for some reason to give a triumphant fist pump. Then she thrust the bag toward Mitsuri and said in a wheedling voice, “Will you give this to the little sister to eat? It’s a fruit tart from the manager’s favorite shop. I’m certain his sister would enjoy it as well.”
“No, no, no!” another customer interjected. “You can’t give a tart to a child with a cold! That’s nothing but trouble. Excuse me, but I’ve just purchased all these fruit jellies. Why don’t you give those to the girl instead? And if you don’t mind, why don’t I help care for her?” She raised her shopping basket, crammed with the store’s entire stock of fruit jellies.
The fruit tart woman snapped at her, “Don’t be ridiculous! If the manager finds a strange woman hovering around his treasured little sister, he’s just going to be offended. Isn’t trying to lure him in with convenience store jellies a little bit crude?”
“What? Mr. Shiba loves Tenderness sweets, so I think he’ll be delighted, not offended.”
“You think so? Or will he just marvel at what a dull, unimaginative woman you are?”
While the two were bickering, more customers were joining in with comments. “What? The manager’s sister?” “A catastrophe!” The situation was getting out of control, and Mitsuri was starting to feel dizzy. What should she do…?