When Shin-chan got home, Misae was taking a short nap in the living room.
The door opened, followed by two thuds as Shin-chan kicked off his shoes.
Misae lifted her head and glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Why are you back so early today?"
Shin-chan flopped facedown onto the floor. "I'm tired from studying."
"Tired from studying?"
"My head is full of tadpoles." Shin-chan's voice was muffled against the floor. "Even more than yesterday. They're lining up and spinning in circles."
Misae had already given up on trying to understand the strange words coming out of her son's mouth.
"Didn't you say you were going to a dinner gathering tonight?"
Shin-chan's body froze for about two seconds.
Then he suddenly sprang up from the floor.
"I forgot!!!"
His voice was so loud that Misae leaned back.
Shin-chan had already started running toward the entryway. Halfway there, he turned back and poked half his body out from the living room doorway.
"Mom, why didn't you say so earlier?"
"I thought you remembered."
Shin-chan ran back to the entryway with pattering steps and stuffed his feet into his shoes.
"Slow down," Misae called from behind him.
Shin-chan had already pulled the door open.
"When are you coming back?"
"I don't know."
His voice drifted in from outside the door, but he was already far away.
...
The sky had already begun to darken.
"Kakashi, face me in a contest!" Guy's voice could be heard from half a street away. "Five hundred laps around Konoha while running on our hands! Whoever finishes first is the winner!"
"No." Kakashi leaned against the wall beside the dango shop entrance, not even lifting his eyelids.
"Why?!"
"Boring."
A flame seemed to rise behind Guy. "Then you choose the event! Anything is fine! Swimming, rock climbing—"
"Guy, give up." Obito stood beside Rin, wearing an expression that said, I knew this would happen.
"That I cannot do." Guy turned around, his teeth flashing. "Youth does not allow giving up!"
Rin stood among them and stood on tiptoe, looking toward both ends of the street. "Shin-chan still isn't here?"
"He probably fell asleep somewhere again," Obito thought for a moment.
Yūhi Kurenai added, "Or he's chasing a pretty big sister."
"He may also have been distracted by some animal on the road," Shizune said softly.
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
Then they all sighed at the same time.
After that, hurried footsteps came from the end of the street.
Patter, patter, patter.
A small red figure turned the corner and ran out, his little legs moving fast.
"I'm here!"
Shin-chan came to an abrupt stop in front of the dango shop, nearly crashing into Obito.
"You're late," Obito said.
Suddenly, he felt that the few minutes he was usually late by didn't seem like much compared to Shin-chan.
That thought made his mood rather complicated.
"Everyone's here." Rin smiled from the side. "Then let's go in."
They pushed open the door of the dango shop, and the wind chime rang with a clear tinkle.
The owner stood behind the counter. When he saw the group of children come in, his gaze landed on the small red figure at the back.
"Young Master Shin-chan is here!" The owner's face immediately filled with smiles.
The entire shop went silent for about two seconds.
Rin's mouth opened slightly.
Kurenai, Shizune, and Uchiha Toru's gazes all landed on Shin-chan at once.
Shin-chan turned his head and looked left and right.
Then he raised one finger and pointed at himself. "Are you calling me?"
"Of course I am calling you." The owner came out from behind the counter and wiped the already clean tabletop again. "Please sit, please sit."
Although Shin-chan didn't really understand, he sat down openly and confidently.
Rin stood behind Shin-chan, frozen in place. "Young Master Shin-chan?"
"When did you become a young master?" Obito's jaw dropped a large amount.
Shin-chan scratched his head. "I don't know either."
The owner was not affected by their reactions at all and continued greeting them enthusiastically.
"You must all be Young Master Shin-chan's friends, yes? Come, come, please come inside. The best seats have been kept for you."
Obito's voice changed pitch. "Did you mistake him for someone else?"
"How could I possibly mistake him?" The owner's smile was almost flattering. "Her Highness the Princess instructed us that whenever Young Master Shin-chan comes to the shop in the future, he must be received with the highest level of hospitality."
Shin-chan sat on the chair, his legs dangling in midair and swinging back and forth.
"Then I'm going to order, okay?"
"Please order whatever you like." The owner bent at the waist.
Shin-chan opened the menu. "Chocolate sticks."
The owner's pen paused.
"We are a dango shop..."
Shin-chan's shoulders slumped. "You don't have them?"
"Yes, yes, we do." The owner quickly wrote it down on the paper.
Obito's eyes widened like copper bells.
Shin-chan didn't notice the expressions of the people around him at all and continued counting on his fingers.
"And pudding. Two."
"Understood. Two puddings."
"Dorayaki, with red bean filling."
"Dorayaki, red bean filling." The owner's pen scratched rapidly across the notebook.
Obito finally couldn't hold back anymore. "Um, owner."
The owner lifted his head.
"Does your shop sell dorayaki?"
"No."
"Then how are you—"
"I'll buy it from the snack shop on the next street." The owner's expression didn't change. "It's very close. I can run there and be back in three minutes."
Obito's mouth opened, closed, closed, opened again, and in the end, nothing came out.
Shin-chan was still ordering.
"And chips. The ones in the green package."
"Chips, green package." The owner wrote it down.
After Shin-chan finished ordering, the owner turned and entered the kitchen, then carried out a tray full of dango.
"You all eat this first." The owner untied his apron. "I'll be right back."
As soon as he finished speaking, he had already pushed open the door and run out.
The wind chime on the door rang, and the owner's footsteps grew farther and farther down the street.
The shop was quiet for about three seconds.
Obito's gaze moved back from the doorway and landed on the spread of dango on the table.
"This is way too exaggerated."
Guy had already picked up the first skewer of dango. "This is the power of youth!"
"What does this have to do with youth?" Obito also picked up a skewer.
Rin sat across from Shin-chan. "Shin-chan, what is going on?"
Shin-chan already had a dango stuffed in his mouth, and his voice came out muffled.
"What do you mean, what's going on?"
"This shop." Rin pointed around them. "Why did the owner call you young master?"
Shin-chan swallowed the dango in his mouth, tilted his head, and thought about it. "I don't know."
"And that princess?"
A confused expression appeared on Shin-chan's face. "What princess?"
"The one the owner mentioned." Rin pointed toward the door.
Shin-chan's brows furrowed, as if he were trying very hard to search through his mind for something.
The wind chime on the door rang.
The owner pushed the door open, panting, holding a large paper bag in his arms.
"Chocolate sticks." He placed the paper bag in front of Shin-chan. "Two puddings, dorayaki with red bean filling, and green-packaged chips."
He took the items out one by one and lined them up on the table.
"The dorayaki was just made at the snack shop on the next street. It's still warm."
Shin-chan's eyes lit up. "Thank you, owner!"
The owner straightened up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "At your service, Young Master Shin-chan."